Traditional craft
Akazu Yaki
赤津焼
Pottery from the Akazu hills of Seto in Aichi, made with seven traditional glazes and once the official kiln of the Owari Tokugawa lords.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 30 March 1977
- Type
- Ceramics
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 赤津焼
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 瀬戸市
Seven glazes, twelve techniques
Akazu Yaki uses seven glazes, among them Shino, Oribe, Kizeto and Ofuke, and twelve ways of decorating. These include carving with a spatula (hera-bori), pressing stamps (inka), combing lines and waves (kushime) and mishima-de, white clay inlay on dark grey that came from Korea. Painters add iron-brown pictures in a style handed down from the Momoyama period. It is made in the Akazu district of Seto in Aichi, mainly as tea ceremony and ikebana ware and fine restaurant tableware.
Ten years at the wheel
Pieces are thrown on the wheel, built from slabs pressed into moulds, or hand-built from coils and pinched forms. Potters still say it takes three years to learn to knead clay and ten years to master the wheel.
From Sue ware to the lord's kiln
Akazu Yaki goes back to Sue ware fired around 700 in the Nara period. From the Momoyama to the early Edo period its glazes were established, and today's techniques and names took shape in the early Edo period. It flourished as the official kiln of the Owari Tokugawa family and continues today. For Seto's porcelain, see Seto Sometsuke Yaki.
Good to know
- Akazu is a hilly pottery village at the eastern edge of Seto, about ten minutes by car from Owari-Seto Station, with old climbing kilns here and there.
- Akazu tea bowls suit the tea ceremony; look for the seven glazes side by side in kiln shops.
Questions travellers ask
What is mishima-de?
A technique from Korea where white clay is inlaid into a dark grey body, often as chrysanthemum patterns.
How is Akazu related to Seto?
Akazu is a district of Seto city, and Akazu Yaki is its traditional pottery.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.