Traditional craft
Mino Yaki
美濃焼
Gifu pottery with more than 1,300 years of history, famous for the tea-ceremony styles of Shino, Kizeto and the bold green Oribe.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 22 July 1978
- Type
- Ceramics
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 美濃焼
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 多治見市、土岐市、瑞浪市、可児市、恵那市、可児郡御嵩町
Fifteen styles in one region
Fifteen kinds of Mino Yaki are designated as traditional crafts. The best known, Shino, Kizeto (yellow Seto), Oribe and Setoguro (black Seto), are prized for their colour, with soft bodies, gentle glazes and balanced designs. It is made in Tajimi, Toki, Mizunami, Kani, Ena and Mitake in Gifu.
Carved, combed and glazed
Pieces are shaped on the wheel, pinched by hand or pressed in moulds. Potters carve patterns or draw lines with bamboo or metal combs, then bisque-fire. Shino, Kizeto or Oribe glaze goes on before the main firing, and overglaze painting uses Japanese enamels.
From ancient kilns to the tea room
Mino pottery goes back more than 1,300 years, to Sue ware techniques brought from the Korean peninsula. By the 10th century, ash-glazed shirashi ware was being fired and kilns multiplied. From the Azuchi-Momoyama to the early Edo period, as the tea ceremony became fashionable, Mino kilns made ware to suit tea masters' tastes.
Good to know
- Look for Oribe's green glaze and deliberately warped, asymmetric shapes; they still look modern 400 years later.
- Tajimi and Toki, east of Nagoya, are the heart of Mino ware.
Questions travellers ask
What is Oribe ware?
A bold Mino style with green glaze, warped shapes and geometric patterns, named after the tea master Furuta Oribe.
How many types of Mino Yaki are there?
Fifteen types are designated as traditional crafts, including Shino, Kizeto, Oribe and Setoguro.
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.