EXHIBITION OF JAPANESE TRADITIONAL POTTERY

- Work in Traditional Styles by Modern Potters -

KITAOJI Rosanjin (1883-1959) Large bowl with colured design

JAPANESE POTTERY AND TRADITION

This exhibition is intended to present an overview of the present state of Japanese traditional pottery. The exhibitors are potters of all ages, although the emphasis is primarily on relatively young artists in their thirties and forties. Although not famous, these are potters at the forefront of their art whose work suggests that they will establish firm reputations over the coming years. The exhibition also includes works by veteran potters and Living National Treasures artists of the first rank in their field whom the government has designated as "masters of traditional craft techniques" I, in addition to works by the late Hamada Shoji, a potter whose achievement met with international recognition.

Contemporary Pottery and Tradition
Looking at the wide range of Japanese pottery today, one might be tempted to think that traditional pottery is merely one form of expression of ceramic art. The historical development of Japanese pottery has been closely linked with the everyday lives of ordinary Japanese people over the ages. But it was during the early modern period that creative forms of expression based on traditional techniques came into being, forms which contained within them an unresolved contradiction between the demands of function and decoration. With contemporary developments in the field of claywork, we see potters attempting modes of abstract expression on the same plane as the fine arts. But at the same time one should take note of forms such as man, the coloured porcelain which was exported in the past from Japan to Europe, where it attracted many people and stimulated the development of European kilns, and 'tea pottery", in which links are forged between Zen and pottery. As in the case of these styles, the superb tradition of Japanese pottery as manifest in the past is, for today's potters, quite evidently a tradition of great value which must be inherited and developed.
Work based on traditional skills enjoys extensive and deep-rooted support.
This exhibition does not focus solely on the work of the Living National Treasures who stand at the forefront in the world of traditional pottery, nor solely on the work of potters belonging to the Japan Art Crafts Association whose output has maintained a consistently high level.
It also features work by potters belonging to other organizations or not affiliated to any organization at all who are striving to express themselves through the medium of traditional pottery. In consequence, we are able to see work covering a far wider range than is customary at Japanese exhibitions. Although the pieces are all based on traditional techniques, the differences between potters in terms of conceptual approach to their art are such that it is unusual for such a wide variety of pottery to be exhibited at the same exhibition.

Pottery Techniques
Technical development covering every branch of ceramics has made the work of the individual Japanese potter much easier than it was in the past. In particular, enormous advances have been made in kilns and kiln facilities such as shelves, and these have brought about a dramatic increase in the possibilities which a potter is free to explore. Experimentation with techniques for realising artistic ideas are further greatly facilitated by today's high-performance, easily operable kilns. There is a tendency particularly among potters working in traditional idioms to realise creative ideas in the realm of technique; test-firing is thus indispensable if good results are to be achieved. Tests may involve the nature of the clay to be used, methods of forming, composition of glazes, and the handling of decorative techniques.
Potters will increase their technical proficiency by carrying out these tests repeatedly until they have obtained entirely satisfactory results. Many potters possess a rich fund of data which they combine in various ways to give rise to individual forms of expression. We seem here to be a long way from the image of the potter of old for whom the caprice of clay and flame was the main determinant of his work; today's potters are equipped with artistic talent, and their work comes into being through the exercise of creativity and polished sensibility.
Until the 1 960s it was common for individual potters to use the traditional type of kiln known as the "climbing kiln" (nobori-gamal. Such kilns were made from fire clay, and pine was used as fuel. With its strong caloric force and long flames, pine was the ideal fuel for increasing thermal efficiency. But, when used in climbing kilns, large quantities were required and it was difficult to control the caloric force, in contrast to the easily controllable kilns of today. Potters can still use kilns of this type if they possess a safe area of land. Experience is of the essence in the case of climbing kilns: clay and glaze must be regulated in accordance with the imagined conditions inside the kiln, and the kiln has to be loaded after assessing the direction of the heat flow inside it. There are several factors which explain why kilns so difficult to operate were in such common use: exposure for a long duration to strong flames produces a well-fired clay, and unexpected results can be obtained as a consequence of the physical changes in the clay and
the glaze which occur at high temperatures in the range of 1,2450C and which appear on the surface of a pot. Such subtle changes are in line with Japanese aesthetic taste; known as keshiki (scenery), they constitute one of the main attractions of pottery. Kilns are now so simple to use that these changes can be artificially induced.
Many forms of traditional pottery are based on the ceramic techniques of regional kilns, and, indeed, many potters are still active in the regions. However, improvements in transport facilities have made it possible for potters living in the major cities to practise traditional techniques and obtain clay from all over the country.

Material Culture and the History of Pottery
The history of Japanese pottery stretches back more than ten thousand years to the earthenware of prehistoric times. Advances in production techniques occurred during these years as a result of the introduction of techniques from areas more advanced in this respect than Japan, such as the Huanan district of China and Korea. Earthenware was followed chronologically by unglazed stoneware, glazed pottery, and finally, about four centuries ago, by porcelain.
The Japanese national temperament has been shaped through adaptation to natural conditions such as the variation of the four seasons and the mild, humid climate. As if in reflection of this temperament, the main features of Japanese pottery in the past have been its gentility and natural, unaffected beauty, In contrast, the pottery of China has always aspired to a flawless perfection in respect of both form and glazing technique.
Almost all Japanese pottery has been intended for utilitarian purposes. The main types are thus storage vessels of various sizes (jars, vases, bottles, cooking vessels (pans, pots, bowls), tableware, jugs and teapots. Archaeological surveys have made it clear that such functional differences already existed to a considerable extent during the age of earthenware.
Other items produced in the same manner as earthenware and stoneware (i.e. by firing) include earthen figurines and relics thought to have been used in the context of religious ceremonial. Such items throw light on the spiritual life of the early Japanese people. Although religious, implements are most commonly of metal, ceramic altar goods incense burners, flower vases, candle-holders began to be manufactured during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.
With the strong sense of seasonal variation and plentiful supply of high-quality timber which characterise Japan, it is only natural that wood should have been the structural material most commonly used in everyday life for purposes such as building and the manufacture of furnishings and effects. Tools for felling and woodworking as well as skills for the application of lacquer for bonding and coating purposes advanced greatly through the centuries to the end of the Muromachi period; until the appearance of porcelain about four centuries ago tableware continued to centre around wooden and lacquered vessels. We thus see that wood and potter's clay have been the two materials which have shaped the material culture of the Japanese people.

Spiritual Culture and the Pottery of the Tea Ceremony
Pottery is closely connected with the formation not only of material, but also of spiritual culture. The supreme examples of this are the vessels created for use in the tea ceremony, such as tea bowls, jugs and flower vases. As is suggested by the presence of many such vessels at this exhibition, the tea ceremony has had a truly profound influence upon traditional Japanese pottery. It goes without saying that contemporary potters are well aware of the conventions governing the production of tea ceremony utensils, such as the required dimensions and the need for the utensils to be readily usable during the performance of the ceremony. However, rather than adherence to convention, the most important requirements of modern tea bowls and other tea ceremony utensils is a direct and original form of expression based on a spirit of creativity. While taking works of the past as their models, contemporary potters constantly explore technical and formal possibilities in order to enhance their powers of creative expression.
The tea ceremony was brought to perfection in the context of the tea gatherings popular among families of the hereditary military class during the Muromachi period, when this class constituted the ruling segment of the population, Although the main purpose of such gatherings was to drink tea, it was considered important to decorate the room and select the utensils with great care in order to create an atmosphere of high refinement. The tea ceremony being a cultural product of the ruling class, emphasis was placed upon formality. This is illustrated by the frequent use of fine specimens of pottery from China and Korea, the sources of the finest examples of ceramic art at the time, Reacting against this tendency, tea masters gradually began to stress the importance of the spiritual relationship between host and guest and other such aspects relating to the inner nature of tea gatherings.
The Chinese utensils these tea masters valued were not celadon and tenmoku tea bowls of the highest quality, but rather the lower ranking export celadon ware and rough Korean tea bowls. In place of high quality Chinese items, use was also made of unglazed Japanese stoneware in forms such as the products of the Shigaraki kilns. The tea masters would enjoy the fresh and unaffected sensation resulting from the use of such items Adoption of these utensils inevitably had an influence on the decoration of the tea room and on the manner of combination with other utensils, resulting in changes in approaches to the structure of the tea room as a whole and to harmony within it. Zen served as the spiritual basis for the qualitative development of the tea ceremony. And it was the great master of the tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyu, who, from the standpoint of Zen, did away with all traces of empty decoration and raised the tea ceremony to the status of an art in which achievement of a sense of fullness of the inner spirit was the ultimate goal. Sen no Rikyu commissioned potters to create black tea bowls in the Raku style. These bowls, their unaffected grace so different from the qualities of celadon and tenmoku bowls, possessed the strength to support a tea ceremony of profound significance as envisaged by Sen no Rikyu.
After the death of Sen no Rikyu, the emergence of several new masters of the ceremony with creative abilities meant that emphasis in tea ceremony pottery came increasingly to be placed upon subjective expression: utensils deliberately fashioned in an asymmetrical manner and tea bowls and vases with distorted shapes took their place in the tea ceremony. Bowls on which cracks had appeared inside the kiln in the course of firing were considered to be of particularly great beauty. Effects both accidental and deliberate stimulated the imaginations of the tea masters and resulted in the appearance of new utensils. Such new developments in tea ceremony pottery inevitably influenced the regional kilns; pottery specifically for use in the tea ceremony came to be produced, bringing about a change in the age-old production system centring on utilitarian ware.
Ceramic tableware underwent changes under the influence of the tea ceremony, with the emergence of new trends as regards shape, colouring in the form of combinations of glazes, and painted designs. One might even say that ceramic tableware itself emerged from out of the tea ceremony.
As an art which developed in close connection with everyday life, the tea ceremony exerted an influence on the daily lives of the Japanese people in many different ways. The thoughtfulness required when entertaining guests and the care taken with objects are aspects of Japanese behaviour nurtured within the framework of the tea ceremony. However, the ceremony became increasingly formalised during the two centuries of Japanese national seclusion, and the original freshness and immediacy of the art were diluted with the passage of time.

Traditional Pottery and the Development of Modern Pottery
Modern Japanese pottery has consisted essentially of a wide variety of individualistic forms of expression based on the modern concept of the self and produced by potters who, while rooting themselves in traditional techniques, have attempted to achieve a harmony between function and decoration.
Having emerged from centuries of national seclusion, Japan embarked upon the path to becoming a modern state. The nation's first priority was thus to acquire strength through exports. Pottery-producing areas stood at the forefront of industry at the time and were among the first to put stress on importing Western technology and machines, improving efficiency, using mass production methods, and achieving a uniform level of product quality. Many of the finest products were exhibited to high acclaim at international expositions. Basking in their new-found fame, many potters began to take a more "artistic" approach to their life and work. Another development was that many students who had received higher education in the fine arts set out on the road to becoming potters. There was thus a gradual move away from the idea of the craftsman-potter to the idea of the potter as a modern artist who happened to be active in the field of pottery.
Craftsman-potters of former times led lives dependent on the areas where they had their kilns. However, the new generation of potters built their kilns and worked in the cities. Participation in international expositions kept potters abreast with new developments all over the world, and information concerning the visual arts overseas was gradually introduced into Japan. Eclectic pieces based on traditional pottery techniques but incorporating Western decorative styles were created. During the 1 920s and 1 930s the Japanese crafts experienced a temporary boom brought on by various developments which occurred at this time. In particular, one might mention the flourishing of the modernist movement, whose practitioners attempted to introduce Western styles such as Art Deco, and of the Folk Crafts movement, whose advocates believed that the authentic form of the crafts was to be found in the unsophisticated handicrafts of the
common people and attempted to reassess the crafts from this standpoint. Further stimulus was provided by the increased involvement of potters in the movement aimed at establishing a crafts section at the annual Kanten art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. At the same time, new approaches rooted in scholarly research were introduced into the appreciation of an art which had for long been preoccupied with the creation of tea ceremony utensils. The stimulus provided thereby brought about advances in surveys of old kilns and in research into the history of Japanese pottery. But the 196O's was perhaps the liveliest decade in the history of Japanese pottery as regards both techniques and modes of expression. The precise meaning of the concept of traditional pottery was clarified and conveyed to the general public at this time.

The System of Living National Treasures and the Exhibition of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts
All pottery created by Japanese potters may well seem foreigners to be intrinsically Japanese and traditional. However, within Japan, the limits of what is considered to be traditional pottery are determined by the trends evident in works submitted to the Exhibition of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts, which has been held every year since 1 954. This exhibition includes traditional Japanese pottery and hard-fired stoneware, as well as celadon and white porcelain with their origins in China; the range of pieces on show far exceeds the scope of skills used traditionally in the past. Although the most common forms are urns and bowls, these are different from the forms employed in the pottery of the twelfth to mid-nineteenth centuries, being characterised by a more individualistic form of expression and greater originality.
In addition to pottery created through the exercise of traditional craft techniques, the Exhibition of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts features works in fields such as woven and dyed textiles, woodwork and bamboowork, lacquer, metalwork, dolls, cloisonné, and cut glass. Since it has a history stretching back some three and a half decades, it is only natural that many stylistic changes should have occurred between the initial years of the exhibition and the present.
New legislation governing the preservation of Japanese cultural properties came into effect in 1 950. Two systems were instituted, one governing buildings, works of visual art and other items formerly classified as tangible cultural properties, and the other governing intangible cultural properties such as craft techniques and performing arts including Noh and Kabuki. The system of Important Intangible Cultural Properties was instituted some four years later, resulting in specification of the finest traditional crafts and designation of those considered to possess mastery over their techniques. This is generally known as the "Living National Treasure" system. The main standard for the selection of a Living National Treasure is that the skills which he or she possesses "should be of particularly high artistic value, should occupy an important position in the history of the crafts, and should show strong evidence of regional qualities." The original purpose of the Exhibition of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts was to present the work of artists designated as Living National Treasures. In later years, when the exhibition became open to general submission, the essential standards for the selection of works were that they should be based on traditional crafts techniques as well as being creatively inspired.

Conclusion
There are several places in Japan where development since the Kamakura and Muromachi periods has centred around ceramic kilns and where pottery continues today to be the central occupation. In order to produce pottery, an area needs deposits of high quality potter's clay, and easily obtainable supply of fuel-especially pine-and a plentiful water supply. Different pottery techniques were handed down through the generations in each of the producing areas. During certain periods these techniques underwent radical development in the hands of creative potters, while at other times the chain of transmission to succeeding generations threatened to break. Most of the potters designated as Living National Treasures are masters of their art who have contributed to the revival of classical methods. It is above all their skills which merit the label of "traditional." As leaders in their field, it is their obligation to pass these skills on into the future, and the government provides financial assistance to this end. The necessity of fulfilling this obligation explains why only living craftsmen can be designated as National Treasures.
Tradition must be both inherited and created. Without the creative volition of potters, Japanese pottery traditions would not have been handed down to the present day. Traditional pottery may not have the immediate impact of the modern. Nevertheless, we may look forward in the future to the emergence of yet more vital forms of pottery produced by contemporary craftsmen possessing the same lively spirit of creativity as that of their predecessors.

HASEBE Mitsuhiko
(Chief Curator, Crafts Gallery, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)(1988)