Re: shino is a white glaze

[Lee Love]

Sorry if you have to read this more than once folks.

John Britt wrote:

>I don't believe that this is correct: "by definition and history....shino
>is a white glaze. some experts believe it was the first truly white glaze."
>
>I believe that the Japanese were trying to emulate a Chinese white glaze
>and came up with Shinos. This is a fairly recent discovery in the 10,000
>year history of glazes and I am pretty certain that there were white
>glazes before this. Nor do I think we should “officially” call shino a
>white glaze.


You are correct John. I have never seen a Shino in Japan that is
actually white, except to the modern ones that look like milk glass.
They tend to be some shade of iron color on them. This is especially
true of the most famous shinos.

I think the confusion is that folks think that the "Shi" in Shino is
related to the "Shi" in the Japanese word for white, shiro. But the
characters are two different characters. They say that shino is probably
named after Shino Sohshin (1444-1523), a master in the art of incense or
the name comes from a tea caddy in Shino's possession that was called
"Bamboo Grass," which is also pronounced "shino."

Also, the types of shino are called:

* e-Shino (decorated, or "pictured" ware;
iron-oxide designs applied under shino glaze)
* muji Shinoor Shiro-Shino (plain white)
* aka-Shino (red Shino)
* beni Shino (red)
* nezumi Shino (gray or "mouse-colored");
designs carved into iron slip; piece covered by Shino glaze


You wouldn't designate a white shino Shiro-shino if all shinos were
white. I'll put photos of the various Japanese shinos on the web at a
separate web page.

--
李 Lee Love 大
愛　　 　　 鱗
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://hankos.blogspot.com/ Visual Bookmarks
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft

"With Humans it's what's here (he points to his heart) that makes the
difference. If you don't have it in the heart, nothing you make will
make a difference." ~~Bernard Leach~~ (As told to Dean Schwarz)

[Tatsuo Tomeoka]

Hi All:
Wanted to post on this topic the first time it came up, but too busy with
kids to get to much e-mail these days. Glad that it has surfaced again.

I'm no expert on Shino wares, but had done some reading & looking a few
years ago when our daughter was born and we named her "Shino." Wanted to
have the info for when she grew up, but also to answer everyone's question
"What does that mean?"

In fact, most Japanese people don't feel that their name has any literal
meaning, but just explain the etymology of the Chinese characters used to
write their name. In this case, we wanted her to know the pottery history as
well.

In terms of being caled a "white glaze," most historical sources start Shino
wares with early 16th century "White Temmoku" items, possibly from nearby
Ise. Early glazes were ash, and then replaced by feldspathic glazes. The
local clay in the Tajimi and Toki areas was/is "mogusatsuchi." Other clays
still in this area are "gotomaki" and "odo," but most like the tea wares
that we see used in the historical Shino wares were comprised of the mogusa
clay. The clay/glaze combination is what produces the small pin holes,
"suana" (lit. "nest holes") that give the texture of "yuzu hada" (citron
skin) that is a Shino characteristic. Painting on "e-shino" (picture Shino)
was done with brown iron-oxide.

The actual use of the name "Shino" doesn't start till later in the 16th
century. As Lee wrote, the name is usually associated the Tea & Incense
Master, Shino Soushin, who died sometime around 1500 (there are different
dates.) Because the name of the pottery doesn't jive with his dates, some
see this as big hole in the story. But, think of all of the things that are
named for people after they die. Doesn't seem such a stretch for me. And, we
do know that he was influential enough to have a "Koudou" (Way of Incense)
School named after him.

Lee gave several given translations for "Shino." The first character is
"kokorozashi," and read as "Shi" in this case. A standard translation is
"ambition." The character "no" as in "nohara", can mean field or plain. We
tell people our daughter's name means "Boundless Ambition," but again names
usually don't carry a literal meaning.

Lee also names the several types of Shino wares. To that list, I'll add
other names that I've seen used: "Hai-Shino" (Ash Shino), "Beni-Shino"
(Crimson Shino), and "Neriage-Shino" (Marbled Shino).
To this day, I don't know the difference between Beni-Shino & Aka
(Red)-Shino, but have seen both names appear on the same list, so there must
be a difference. If anyone knows, and has photos, please post.

What makes Shino unique is that the history of this Momoyama Period ware was
unclear until re-discovered and revived by Arakawa Toyozo and others in the
20th century. This is probably why there is such confusion over what
qualities constitute the designation "Shino."

This historical rhetoric might not mean much to most, but consider this in
the arguments for and against calling something "Shino." It's been
described, on this list & elsewhere; as a glaze, a firing technique, a
color, etc. Bear in mind that historical Shino-yaki is a regional ware, as
it is a branch of Mino-yaki (which also includes Oribe, SetoGuro [Black
Seto], and Ki-Seto [Yellow Seto].) As such, the clay body, glaze, firing
technique, and decorating traditions all play a part in the definition of
this ware.

In this day and age, availability of materials makes it possible to make
wares outside of their region of origin. For example, I have no problems in
calling something Mashiko-yaki that is produced outside of Mashiko with
Mashiko materials & traditions. However, substituting materials, even when
the pot is made in Mashiko, makes is what we call "Mashiko-fuu" ("fuu" being
"like, apperance, style, type, etc.") and "Mashiko-rashii" (similar to
Mashiko), or possibly not Mashiko-yaki at all. I think the same should hold
true of Shino-yaki. "Shino" has become a term widely used without regard to
traditional pottery nomenclature in Japan, because it is somewhat of a
mystery ware. But consider that no one calls something truly "Bizen," unless
it is Bizen clay. All extant wares in Japan have gone through some sort of
evolution (good and bad), so change is not an issue in nomenclature. But,
some respect for tradition is important is name designation of wares.

I think that calling something American Shino or Quebec Shino is a good
start in recognizing that not every Shino is the same as historical
Japanese Shino. However, there should also be some standard, in terms of
materials and methods, as to what comprises an American Shino. Has this
happened yet?
In the meantime, shall we call it "Shino-fuu", Shino-type, ware?

Another aside about Mino wares is that Shino and Oribe wares, highly
influenced by not only the Tea Ceremony, but by individual Tea Masters and
tastes (Shino Soushin & Furuta Oribe in these cases) might be considered as
some of the first wares in Japan that are similar to what to the
artist-potter creates today. We often assume that late 19th & early 20th
century potters, such as Tomimoto, Hamada, Rosanjin, & Kawai broke out of
the mold of traditional potters to become the first studio or
artist-potters, but I think that Shino & Furuta may have done something
similar back in the Momyama Period, although they may have not been actual
potters, but the designers of truly creative wares that speak to us
differently (in an almost modern and fresh way) than almost anything that
preceded them in traditional Japanese pottery.

Tatsuo Tomeoka
Seattle, WA

P.S. I hope that my daughter takes up pottery some day. Maybe she'll invent
"Shino-Shino".

[Edouard Bastarache Inc.]

YAY Tatsuo,

" I think that calling something American Shino or Quebec Shino is a good
start in recognizing that not every Shino is the same as historical
Japanese Shino. "

"Ils sont fous ces quebecois"
"They are insane these quebekers"
"Están locos estos quebequeses"
Edouard Bastarache
Irreductible Quebecois
Indomitable Quebeker
Sorel-Tracy
Quebec
edou...@sorel-tracy.qc.ca
www.sorel-tracy.qc.ca/~edouardb/Welcome.html
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/smart2000/index.htm
http://www.digitalfire.com/education/toxicity/

[Lee Love]

Thanks Tatsuo! I was hoping you'd have something to say about your
daughter's name-sake. :-) I will put this on a shino photo weblog I just
put up.

One thing I'd like to add, that along with calling American Shinos
"American Shinos", the newly developed shinos here in Japan should be
called something different, like maybe Shin-shinos "New Shino" because
the tradition of shino here is not an unbroken tradition but one that
was independently "recovered." Many of the shinos, like Osamu Suzuki's
or Ken Matsuzaki or the Murasaki Shinos of Tomio Suzuki sometimes look
less like the traditional shinos than do American shinos, that were
based on the Freer analysis of mino samples.

I remember seeing Osamu Suzuki's humongous bright orange shino bowls at
the opening show of National Living Treasures at the Ibaraki Ceramic
museum. I wondered if he made them for Bozo the Clown. ;-)

Speaking of Matsuzaki, he did a workshop in Liverpool in May. You can
read more here (see images of his work, essay and bio):

http://www.clayart.org.uk/ken/matsuzaki-ken.htm

Svend Bayer is listed at this site too. I cannot think of two more
different potters. I wish I could arrange to get Sven to come here and
do a kiln building workshop.
--

Lee Love

in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://hankos.blogspot.com/ Visual Bookmarks
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft

About the best pots:

"They are not necessarily amenable to intellectual analysis,
and, in fact, that analysis can destroy a person's real
appreciation and understanding of a piece."
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-- Warren MacKenzie

[Tatsuo Tomeoka]

>Lee Love wrote:
>One thing I'd like to add, that along with calling American Shinos
>"American Shinos", the newly developed shinos here in Japan should be
>called something different, like maybe Shin-shinos "New Shino" because the
>tradition of shino here is not an unbroken tradition but one that was
>independently "recovered."

Good suggestion Lee. On a similar note, a Japanese customer recently asked
if I had any
"Shin-Ko-Imari" ("New-Old-Imari") pieces. I actually carry only a bit of
Imari in inventory, and replied that I was not familiar with the term. She
said they were new versions of Ko-Imari (Old Imari.) I wanted to tell her
that in English we call those "reproductions," but held my tongue. Maybe I'm
wrong. Perhaps Mike in Taku has heard of these, he's close to the area.
Point is, we can also get carried away with making up labels if it's for
marketing sake.

>Lee also wrote:
>Many of the shinos, like Osamu Suzuki's or Ken Matsuzaki or the Murasaki
>Shinos of Tomio Suzuki sometimes look less like the traditional shinos than
>do American shinos, that were based on the Freer analysis of mino samples.

Considering the amount of analytical research available, this Shino question
would make a great thesis or research paper topic. Keep up the buzz, and
maybe someone will take up this task!

Tatsuo Tomeoka

[rickma...@comcast.net]

Been done alerady,  The American Shino show took care of that.  along the same line Herbert Sanders called what most outside of Japan labeled as Raku "American Flashfire" because it had little relation to Raku.  

 

Rick

[Mike Martino]

Hi Tatsuo, Everyone,

I've never heard 'shin ko imari', but I've heard 'ko imari fu' a lot.
One of the reasons could be that only the older stuff is called imari
yaki by the people I know. They all live in Arita, so anything newer is
called Arita yaki, then subnamed with style, etc... One of the artists
featured on my website does original designs in a 'ko imari' vein. Very
nice stuff, lots of color without the gaudiness of a lot of Arita ware
(Koransha, for example).

I'm not sure if this is the case or not, but I get the idea that Imari
ware got its name from the West, rather than Japan. A vast majority of
the kiln ruins and modern kilns are concentrated in Arita, I hardly see
any in Imari.

On a side note, the Arita area produced Karatsu yaki before toseki was
discovered in the area. I recently found an old kiln ruin, not on any of
the kiln ruin maps, which had shards that were e-garatsu light colored
stoneware. Talk about exciting! Wish I had taken my camera. Didn't
liberate any of the shards as it is highly illegal, though being an
ex-archaeology dude and knowing what usually happens to those artifacts,
I think there needs to be more access allowed to them by local
governments.

On another side note, my wife and I just closed on the land for our new
house which will begin to be built about mid next month. This was a
coincidence, but it happens to be about 400 meters from Tojinkoba Gama,
the kiln ruin of the first kiln built by Ri Sanpei after he came to
Japan and lived in Taku, before he discovered toseki and moved to the
Arita area. It's a very small waridakeshiki(split bamboo)noborigama, and
almost no wares were found, just what was left discarded in the kiln.
All Korean bowl and plate forms in a fairly white stoneware. The
monohara (discard pile) was never discovered, and everyone figures it
was eliminated in the building of rice fields or other public works
several hundred years ago. The kiln is located at the bottom, and
predates, a huge cemetary which climbs up the hill in a large strip. The
bottom being the oldest with the residents from the Edo period and
earlier. When I started to climb up into the grave area, you should have
heard my Japanese friends! Really a strong belief that there are ghosts
inhabiting these areas that will haunt/possess/otherwise ruin your day.
Who's to say they don't have a point?

Cheers,

Mike

[Lee Love]

rickma...@comcast.net wrote:

> Been done alerady, The American Shino show took care of that. along
> the same line Herbert Sanders called what most outside of Japan
> labeled as Raku "American Flashfire" because it had little relation to
> Raku.

The first handmade pots I owned were MacKenzie's shinos. I always
followed MacKenzie's practice back home, of calling my shino "Shino Type
glaze" when writing them up for slides or shows.

Now, I think of the Wirt Neph Sye/Spodumene shinos as "Minnesota
Shinos." I always call Davis' shinos MD Shino or Carbon Trap Glaze
(shinos don't tend to carbon trap here in Japan.) Hank's shinos with no
soda ash I think of as "Hank's Shinos." Hank's are similar to what they
are doing in Japan today, except he doesn't have to fire as long. You
could call them "Save the trees Shinos" too. ;-) Matsuzaki uses over
2500 bundles of pine and chestnut to fire his for a week.

[Lee Love]

Mike,

Can you go back and photo the old kiln site? Also, it'd be great to see
photos of the waridakeshiki noborigama.
What kind of kiln are you going to build?

One of the deshis while I was studying, was placed in a house in the
woods behind my teacher's workshop, next to a kofun burial mound
(Tsukada, Tatsuo.) People talked about it being bad, because of the
ghosts but I found it fasciating. Also, the 17th century tea house is
right next to (partially on top of) a kofun.

[Lee Love]

Tatsuo Tomeoka wrote:

> In this day and age, availability of materials makes it possible to
> make wares outside of their region of origin. For example, I have no
> problems in calling something Mashiko-yaki that is produced outside of
> Mashiko with Mashiko materials & traditions. However, substituting
> materials, even when the pot is made in Mashiko, makes is what we call
> "Mashiko-fuu" ("fuu" being "like, apperance, style, type, etc.") and
> "Mashiko-rashii" (similar to Mashiko), or possibly not Mashiko-yaki at
> all. I think the same should hold true of Shino-yaki. "Shino" has
> become a term widely used without regard to traditional pottery
> nomenclature in Japan, because it is somewhat of a mystery ware. But
> consider that no one calls something truly "Bizen," unless it is Bizen
> clay. All extant wares in Japan have gone through some sort of
> evolution (good and bad), so change is not an issue in nomenclature.
> But, some respect for tradition is important is name designation of
> wares.

This is very enjoyable!

I am not sure if I agree about the materials. Just a brief note for now
　(it is the womans' english class night and me & Taiko make for the
studio before they arrive.)

Just a quick example, grist for the mill. The best thing about doing
Toki-ichi was meeting other potters. Something I have been able to
figure out, is that the great majority of potters in Mashiko don't use
Mashiko clay. Many use Shigaraki nami, because it is a nicer clay to
work with. But also, while I knew that the Mashiko Clay Coopreative's
iron clay was probably not made of Mashiko Aka tsuchi. Just to look at
it, it looks like they just take nami and put Red Iron Oxide in it.
Mashiko iron bearing clay looks more like milk chocolate, like my
teacher's clay does. I was surprised to find that my new clay, mixing
about 1/5th of the ocher colored clay, gives you a milk chocolate type
of clay.

It is not for certain, but Euan thinks the cooperative's Mashiko clay
has shigaraki nami added to it. Out of the ground, Mashiko matures at
Seger cone 7. If this is true, then people using cooperative clay are
not using pure Mashiko clay. I think they might add keibushi. What ever
they do, the clay looks and feels different, compared to the clay from
the quarry near my home.


I'll write more about this, but I think it is a valid question to ask
what Mashiko's tradition actually is. Mashiko is more flexible than
other clay centers in Japan. And if it weren't for Hamada putting
Mashiko on the map, I think the principle activity in Mashiko today
would be farming.

I will talk about why this is so later. Like I said, this is fun...

Gotta trim some pots.!

--
Lee Love

in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://hankos.blogspot.com/ Visual Bookmarks
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft

[Tatsuo Tomeoka]

Lee, thanks for writing this. A good example of how "tradition" changes over
time.

>Lee Love wrote:
>Something I have been able to figure out, is that the great majority of
>potters in Mashiko don't use Mashiko clay. Many use Shigaraki nami, because
>it is a nicer clay to work with. But also, while I knew that the Mashiko
>Clay Coopreative's iron clay was probably not made of Mashiko Aka tsuchi.
>Just to look at it, it looks like they just take nami and put Red Iron
>Oxide in it. Mashiko iron bearing clay looks more like milk chocolate, like
>my teacher's clay does. I was surprised to find that my new clay, mixing
>about 1/5th of the ocher colored clay, gives you a milk chocolate type of
>clay.
>
>It is not for certain, but Euan thinks the cooperative's Mashiko clay has
>shigaraki nami added to it. Out of the ground, Mashiko matures at Seger
>cone 7. If this is true, then people using cooperative clay are not using
>pure Mashiko clay. I think they might add keibushi. What ever they do, the
>clay looks and feels different, compared to the clay from the quarry near
>my home.

Tatsuo writes:
Yes, I had heard from someone that much of the "local" clay now has
Shigaraki clay added to it. How long this has gone on is a good question. I
remember bringing Mashiko pots (or photos), that I had picked up from
dealers around the country, to a few old timers in Mashiko. They would take
one look and say, "That black glaze is from the 1970's," or "That clay is
from before the war." Change has been occuring constantly. Remember too that
the early teachers in Mashiko were from Shigaraki & Seto. The famous "Sansui
Dobin" (Landscape Teapot) of Mashiko fame is actually from Shigaraki
patterns. Maybe there's an old reason for the addition of Shigaraki clay.

Another issue to note is that while Mashiko is pretty much the mecca for
"folk style" pottery, it is one of the newest folk pottery towns in Japan
(being started in 1858, near the end of the Edo Period, and close to the
beginning of the modern period.) It is close to Tokyo, newer than most
traditional potting centers, and made the transition from traditional folk
wares to contemporary table & even art pots due to the presence of Hamada.
In other words, it's short history & unique circumstances have provided the
flexibilty for change, and also survival, even though the Mashiko of today
is not exactly the Mashiko of (not so) old.

The issues that interest me are where the areas of consistency are within
these changes, and how continuity is affected by said changes. What keeps a
tradition alive (even through change) and what kills it (as I mentioned once
before, I think there is really no such thing as Kasama-yaki anymore even
though the town is full of galleries & potter's studios making and selling
"Kasama-yaki." )

>Lee also wrote:
>I'll write more about this, but I think it is a valid question to ask what
>Mashiko's tradition actually is. Mashiko is more flexible than other clay
>centers in Japan. And if it weren't for Hamada putting Mashiko on the map,
>I think the principle activity in Mashiko today would be farming.
>

Tatsuo adds:
Probably would not have made it even to Hamada were it not for two prior
events:
1. The railroad coming in at the turn of the century killed a large number
of out-lying pottery centers simlar to Mashiko with cheaper, standardized
wares from Seto (the "Setomono" that is still used in allmost every Japanese
household today. But, Mashiko's proximity to all the Tokyo routes got it the
contract for the bento, tea pots, etc. that you've written about before. In
the old days, you'd get your tea from a vendor on the train with a little
cup. Thin, bisqued wares that were the early disposables. Then, came
plastic. Now, people hardly buy on the train anymore (I always feel sorry
for the vendors schlepping up & down the aisles), they buy cans from the
vending machines lining the platforms at every station.
2. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that provided a huge demand for every
kind of kitchen ware in Tokyo. Even though Mashiko wares had been dying out
due to the rise of gas cooking use and metal pots, this event cut off gas
for a while and people needed anything they could cook & eat with quickly.
Hamada came right after this and brought a new pottery dimension to Mashiko,
making it what it is today.

>Like I said, this is fun...

I agree, natsukashii!

Tatsuo Tomeoka