Mino ware

Forms, use and context#

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries Mino kilns made the tea ceramics now called Seto-guro, Ki-Seto, Shino and Oribe; these were long credited to neighbouring Seto until a 1930 kiln-site find. Mino ware has been a METI traditional craft since 1978.

Body#

For pottery the METI standard lists mogusa clay (もぐさ土), Mino clay (美濃陶土), kibushi clay (木節粘土), gairome clay (がいろ目粘土) and similar; porcelain is also made. The Gifu prefecture Shino record names the local mogusa clay (百草土) for Shino. The Tajimi museum text links production to clay laid down by an ancient lake, low hills for kilns, and resinous red-pine fuel.¹¹³²

Glazes#

Methods#

1. Forming (METI standard) Wheel throwing, slab (tatara), press moulds and hand-building; decoration by carving, combing, stamping and cloth impressions; underglaze painting in gosu cobalt or oni-ita iron; glazes applied by dipping, ladling or brushing.¹
2. Shino decoration Designs painted in oni-ita iron pigment before glazing show through the translucent feldspar glaze; for nezumi-shino an iron coat is scraped through and then glazed.⁸¹³
3. Kilns: anagama Single-chamber tunnel kilns dug into hillsides were used in Mino from about the 7th century, with a stone smoke-dividing pillar at the front of the chamber.³
4. Kilns: ōgama Larger, partly above-ground kilns appeared in Mino in the later 15th century; covered peepholes let potters check firing and pull pieces out red-hot for Seto-guro, so one firing could give several colours.⁴
5. Kilns: multi-chamber climbing kiln (連房式登窯) Introduced in the 17th century from a Chinese model; chambers up a slope reuse waste heat, large kilns could fire over 100,000 pieces, and this capacity met demand for Oribe. Bunka's record also ties mass Oribe production to the climbing kiln at Motoyashiki.⁹¹²

Typical objects#

Tea bowlterm: 茶入 chaire (tea caddy)term: 水指 mizusashi (water jar)term: 水注 water ewerterm: 花入 hanaire (flower vase)term: 向付 / 皿 tableware (plates, bowls)

Periods#

1. 7th–8th century – presentThe METI page dates Mino's origin to over 1,300 years ago, with Sue ware techniques said to come from the Korean peninsula; the Tajimi museum begins its sequence with 8th-century unglazed Sue ware.
2. HeianGlazed white ware (白瓷) begins and the area becomes a full production centre.¹
3. late 16th century – early 17th centuryMomoyama tea ceramics. Bunka's Motoyashiki record gives the sequence: tenmoku bowls and plates at first, Ki-Seto and Seto-guro from the end of the 16th century, Shino in earnest in the early 17th century, then large-scale Oribe after the climbing kiln. Shino and Oribe shards are found at castle and town sites across Japan, centred on the Kinai cities.¹²
4. Sengoku–Momoyama – MomoyamaThe Tajimi museum links the rise of Mino tea wares to Oda Nobunaga (based at Gifu from 1567), Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Sen no Rikyū, and lists chawan, chaire, mizusashi and water ewers among Mino tea utensils.⁵
5. early 17th century – c. 1615Oribe flourished for only about 30 years, ending around the death of Furuta Oribe (1544–1615).¹⁰
6. Edo – 1930Shino declined in the Edo period and its techniques were long lost; revival began after the 1930 kiln-site find.¹³

Kiln sites#

Ambiguities#

• Seto or Mino? The names Seto-guro and Ki-Seto contain 'Seto', and Momoyama Shino was believed to be Seto ware until 1930, when Arakawa Toyozō matched a Shino bowl's red clay to Mino and found matching shards at Mudadō (now Kani). Mino museum and heritage texts now treat Seto-guro, Ki-Seto, Shino and Oribe as Mino wares. Readers will still meet 'Seto' attributions in older books and in style names; the seto entry should carry the reverse note.¹¹⁵¹²
• Dating of Shino differs: the Tajimi museum heads Shino 'late 16th century', slightly after Seto-guro and Ki-Seto; Bunka's Motoyashiki record says Shino production began in earnest in the early 17th century; Gifu prefecture says ōgama production ran from the late 16th to early 17th century.⁸¹²¹³
• The name Shino is of uncertain origin: perhaps a sound shift from a word for white, or from the tea master Shino Sōshin (d. 1523), who is said to have liked white bowls.⁸
• Oribe is named for Furuta Oribe, but the Tajimi museum says no record clearly shows that he favoured the style.¹⁰
• Mino is defined by place, not by one style: the METI designation covers 15 types and both pottery and porcelain, so 'Mino ware' on a modern tea bowl says where it was made, not that it is Shino or Oribe.¹²

Heritage listings#

Other recorded fields#

Other influences

• Relation: influenced Note: The Tajimi museum says Ming sansai imported from southern China strongly influenced Ki-Seto, and its green later became a common Oribe element. Name: Ming southern Chinese sansai (三彩) ware⁷
• Relation: influenced Note: The METI page says Mino's ceramic origins go back to Sue ware techniques said to come from the Korean peninsula. Name: Sue ware techniques from the Korean peninsula¹
• Relation: influenced Note: The Tajimi museum says the climbing kiln, like the earlier anagama and ōgama, came from China. Name: Chinese kiln designs (anagama, ōgama, climbing kiln)⁹
• Relation: influenced Note: Gifu prefecture says some mass-produced Momoyama Mino wares imitated Chinese white porcelain and blue-and-white. Name: Chinese white and blue-and-white porcelain¹³

Related#