Bizen Pottery: A 1,000-Year Legacy of Fire and Clay
6 Video Views·Aug 20, 2025
Bizen is one of Japan's six oldest kilns with a history going back some 1,000 years to the Heian era (794-1185), when these wares were already in production.
At the end of the Muromachi era (1392-1573), the rustic, undecorated qualities of these wares was particularly popular among tea ceremony aficionados, resulting in the production of many tea bowls and other tea ceremony implements.
The most distinctive feature of Bizen is the special clay that has been deposited under the rice paddies around here.
In the Middle Ages, most of the Japanese pottery was made from clay from the same land.
But in the same way as it was 300 or 400 years ago, the clay that has been deposited under the rice paddies around here has been used.
In the case of Bizen, it is a unique clay.
In the case of Bizen, we use clay that has been deposited for more than 10 years.
The clay changes and the ash on top of it changes in various ways.
The interesting thing is that the shape of the person who makes it is included.
I think that you can make various works with the changes.