Bizen ware vase

At a glance

- Bizen-yaki (備前焼), Ibe, Bizen City, Okayama; one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns
- By Shibaoka Hirokazu (柴岡宏和) of Shusen Kiln (秀泉窯); Bizen Potters Association member
- Wood-fired 10 to 14 days; no glaze applied; develops a soft sheen with handling

There is no glaze on this vase. The surface you see is the clay itself, transformed by ten to fourteen days of wood firing at temperatures that cause natural ash to settle and melt onto the body, leaving markings that could not be planned or repeated.

Bizen-yaki (備前焼) from Ibe, Bizen City, Okayama Prefecture, is one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, a tradition reaching back over a thousand years. It is the only major Japanese ceramic tradition that fires without glaze, relying entirely on the clay body, the flame path and the wood ash to create the surface. The result is a vocabulary of effects: hidasuki (火襷) red flash marks from rice straw, goma (胡麻) sesame-like ash spots, and bidoro (ビードロ) natural glassy pooling from melted ash. This vase is made by Shibaoka Hirokazu (柴岡宏和) of Shusen Kiln (秀泉窯) in Ibe, the historic pottery district at the heart of Bizen production. Born in 1977 as the son of a Bizen ceramicist, Shibaoka trained at the Okayama Prefectural Bizen Ceramics Training Centre and has been selected for national exhibitions including the Nihon Kogei-kai Chugoku branch, receiving the Sanyo Shimbun Award. The slightly asymmetric form with a gently flared mouth suits ikebana or single branches. The unglazed surface gradually develops a soft sheen with handling.