The terms Arita and Imari are often used interchangeably. While not technically correct, one can hear the terms used to refer to the same object. The term Hizen is most often reserved for older ware. Hizen ceased to exist around 1868¹.

The following is an overview of the Japanese names, English equivalents, and descriptions.

Hakuji

White porcelain, 1680-1740, included items for ceremonies—such as funerary ware—and plates and bowls for household use.

White porcelain with underglaze pressed design, 1700-1750. The less the iron content in the glaze, the whiter the piece.

Hakuji² refers to undecorated white porcelain. It is unclear what was first produced in Hizen, plain white porcelain or blue and white. The general consensus is that they were both made in Hizen at roughly the same time. The potters that started the Hizen kilns were Korean. In Korea, white was the most highly regarded color of domestically produced porcelain. There are many reasons for this. One being it was a color associated with religious ceremonies. Another reason put forward is cobalt wasn’t readily available.

The range of items produced in the Hizen kilns is impressive. Plates, bowls, incense holders, containers for cosmetics, funerary war—including jars to hold the ash from cremations—to more mundane items such as the rollers for sliding doors. Not every kiln produced every item. The kilns that produced high quality items far outnumbered the kilns producing items for everyday use.

There are a lot of differences in the quality of the materials that went into the clear glaze that was used. If the iron content was high in the base materials the glaze would appear bluer. The less iron content, the whiter the glaze would appear. The word for the most sought-after of the whitest ware from Hizen is Nigoshide, which was produced from 1650-1690. By 1690, it wasn’t possible to get pure enough ingredients anymore to continue to make Nogoshide.

Tetsuyu

Tetsuyu³ is the Japanese name for a number of iron-bearing glazes. With iron content running from 1 to more than 10 percent, the color changes toward black as the iron percentage goes up. The names are, in order from least the smallest iron content to the largest, Kikashoku, Kashoku, Ame, Temmoku⁴. The highest percentages result in black glaze. Iron glazes start out with a base of ash glaze, to which the iron is added. Fired iron glazes, to meet Japanese expectations, should be as matte as possible. There are many different ways the ware was glazed including ware that was glazed only half way down from the top, half-iron glaze and half-clear glaze or black-only applied in small areas. Black glazes have been around for a very long time. They were very common as an everyday glaze for ware in daily use, often found on regular bowls or grinding bowls.

Ruri

Ruri on Ruri, 1670-1690.

Ruri with pressed underglaze design.

Ruri is the Japanese name for natural cobalt-bearing⁵ bluish glaze. There are a number of types of application. On ware that has raised decoration, the glaze was painted on, leaving the raised parts a little less covered, giving an effect of blue background and a white foreground. Ruri glaze applied to the outside, while the inside was left white. Underglaze applications of ruri with an over application of the same, for a blue on blue effect. For a short period, ruri with a silver overglaze application was produced. The period was roughly from 1650-1700. Overglaze application of gold had a much longer period of manufacture. Starting about the same time as silver overglaze decoration it really became popular as the 1700s progressed.

Seiji

Celadon with fluted design with iron highlights.

Celadon bowl with iron highlights, 1690-1740.

Seiji⁶, called celadon in English, is rare out of the Arita kilns prior to 1637 because the kilns in Arita were busy making other types of decorated ceramics. Most celadon were chiefly made in China and Korea. But after 1637 the Japanese started to produce celadon in large quantities.

Of the Japanese celadon that was made, there are several types of decoration, with underglaze carving and underglaze etching of lines being the most common. Celadon was also used as a complement to other types of glazing; that is to say there are pieces that have an application of celadon glaze to highlight decoration.

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¹ What is now called Arita, was once called Hizen, Imari porcelain is still produced there
² Haku = white, ji = the abbreviated form for jiki, porcelain.
³ Tetsu = iron, yu = the abbreviated form for yuyaku, glaze
⁴ Temmoku has an interesting history. The name comes from a mountain in China. It is now used in Japan as the name of a specific glaze. It technically refers to a shape, but the usage today in Japan is commonly understood to mean a certain type of iron-bearing glaze.
⁵ Ruri glaze contains the Japanese natural cobalt, gosu, mixed in with a base glaze. Gosu is not as strong as cobalt that has been highly refined. Gosu color was used on the earliest Imari blue and white ware. If comparing it side by side with Chinese cobalt, imported as the Chinese did, it is obvious it is almost a different material.
⁶ Seiji = sei = blue, ji = the abbreviated form for jiki, porcelain.

David Pike is a Worthologist who specializes in items from Japan.

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

The level of abstractness in Japanese blue and white antique porcelain is impressive. The older the piece, the more abstract they seem to get.

The oldest work from the porcelain producing area of Japan, called Hizen until around 1867, show the greatest level of abstractness in the picture quality. It is notable that ware from this early period—called Shoki Imari¹—was produced for the domestic Japanese market. As export trade developed, the type and style of underglaze painting changed to suit the tastes of the European market.

The ware made for the Japanese market embraces and really personifies the slippery qualities of Wabi Sabi². The notion of Wabi Sabi is critical to understand when looking at anything Japanese—the earliest Shoki Imari no exception. The best definition I have come across is “That which is enough.” Not too much, but enough to suggest the point. This notion permeates Japan, the Japanese, and certainly the art in Japan. Not too much. A suggestion. A suggestion that is insufficient isn’t going to cut it. I think that is the magic. Enough clues but bits left out so as to let the viewer finish the story.

It is important to explore the concept of Wabi Sabi a little more to understand the bias towards having a high level of non-representation.

Wabi Sabi can be broken into its two component parts. Wabi, in a greatly simplified definition, means a work’s inward, subjective qualities. A way of thinking; the spiritual aspect of something. Sabi—again greatly simplified—deals with an object’s outward aspects, a more quantifiable angle to understanding something, the secular if you will. This breaking down of the term should in no way suggest the concept Wabi Sabi is easily broken apart and analyzed. Wabi Sabi permeates Japanese cultural. It is an appreciation of things incomplete, imperfect, modest, humble and unconventional. An example that can be seen almost anywhere is in Japanese houses. The outside walls are often sided with wood. The wood is left completely untreated, no paint or varnish. As the years progress and nature does her thing, the wood ages in a way that is considered extremely beautiful in the Japanese esthetic.

The items pictured come largely from Shoki Imari from the early to mid 16th century. They were made for the domestic market. Looking at export-bound work from the same period shows that the technical know how was there. Highly sought after today by collectors, it is rare to see pieces of this quality come to market. When they do they are very expensive.

One can only imagine the worry of the Dutch East Indies company, having had their porcelain supply disrupted by civil wars in China, realizing they would have to deal with the makers of this type of ware to supply the tastes of the European market. The Japanese adapted and changed the designs to fit the order, there by setting the stage for the porcelain ware that would come out of the Arita, Kutani and other kilns in the following years.

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¹ Sho = beginning, ki = period, Imari is the port name where most of the porcelain was shipped.

² Wabi Sabi is a very difficult concept to define. If asking a Japanese person, the answer is almost invariably, “That is a difficult one.” My small definition is in no way complete. It is just a simple starting point to illustrate my point.

David Pike is a Worthologist who specializes in items from Japan

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth