Aizu Hongo Ware

  • Ceramic
  • Fukushima

Aizu Hongo Ware Aizu Hongo Yaki

Aizu Hongo Ware is unusual in producing both pottery and porcelain. Its porcelain features blue-and-white decoration and colorful overglaze painting, while its pottery is known for rustic, richly textured finishes using traditional amber and natural ash glazes. Each kiln maintains its own distinctive style. It was designated a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government in 1993.

Description

What is Aizu Hongo Ware ?

Aizu Hongo Ware is a traditional ceramic craft produced mainly in Aizumisato Town, Fukushima Prefecture. On July 2, 1993, it was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government.

One of the most distinctive characteristics of Aizu Hongo Ware is that both pottery and porcelain are produced within the same region. Some kilns specialize in pottery, others in porcelain, while some produce both, resulting in a wide variety of individual styles.

Porcelain pieces are particularly known for sometsuke underglaze decoration using gosu, a cobalt-based pigment that produces blue designs. Traditional painting methods such as line drawing, tsuketate, and dami are used to depict landscapes, plants, and other motifs. Some pieces also feature multicolored overglaze decoration.

Pottery is traditionally finished with glazes such as dohai-yu ash glaze, amber-colored ame-yu, shiro-nagashi, and ao-nagashi. These glazes highlight both the character of the clay and the natural flow and color variations created during firing.

Traditional forming methods include wheel throwing, hand forming, and slab building. For porcelain, nationally designated techniques also include fukuro-nagashi and niju-nagashi slip-casting methods, followed by careful trimming and water finishing.

Aizu Hongo Ware includes tableware, tea utensils, sake vessels, flower vessels, and many other practical objects. Today, each kiln continues to develop its own distinctive approach through different combinations of clay, porcelain bodies, glazes, decoration, and firing techniques.

History

The history of Aizu Hongo Ware is traditionally traced to 1593, during the rule of Gamo Ujisato. Tile makers were invited from Harima Province to produce black roof tiles for the renovation of Wakamatsu Castle, establishing an early foundation for ceramic production in the Aizu region.

Full-scale pottery production connected with present-day Aizu Hongo Ware began during the early Edo period. Around 1645, Hoshina Masayuki, founder of the Aizu-Matsudaira domain, encouraged ceramic production, and potters including Mizuno Genzaemon, originally associated with Seto in Owari Province, began working with clay found in the Hongo area.

By the late seventeenth century, techniques such as suihi, or clay levigation, were introduced to improve the preparation of ceramic clay. Practical wares including jars, pouring vessels, sake bottles, and grinding bowls were produced for everyday use.

The Aizu domain later turned its attention to porcelain production. In 1797, Sato Ihei traveled to other major ceramic centers to study porcelain-making techniques. By 1800, successful production of white porcelain had been achieved, establishing Aizu Hongo as a distinctive center where both pottery and porcelain were made.

Supported by the domain, the ceramic industry continued to expand during the late Edo period, and by the end of the period a substantial number of pottery and porcelain workshops were operating in the area.

The Boshin War of 1868 caused devastating damage to the kilns and workshops, but local potters worked together to rebuild the industry. By the middle of the Meiji period, Aizu Hongo Ware was being exhibited at domestic industrial exhibitions and exported overseas.

In 1916, a major fire in Hongo destroyed many workshops and homes. Despite this setback, the ceramic industry was rebuilt once again.

In 1958, a nishin-bachi herring bowl produced by Munakata Kiln received a Grand Prix at the Brussels World’s Fair, drawing renewed attention to the practical beauty of Aizu Hongo pottery.

On July 2, 1993, Aizu Hongo Ware, including both pottery and porcelain, was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government.

Today, kilns in Aizumisato continue to preserve traditional techniques while developing their own individual forms, glazes, decoration, and approaches to ceramic production.

Production Process

  1. Step 1: Preparing the Raw Materials
    Aizu Hongo Ware includes both pottery and porcelain, and different raw materials are used for each.

    For pottery, ceramic clay is prepared by drying and, when necessary, levigating the raw material to remove sand, small stones, and other impurities.

    For porcelain, porcelain stone and related materials are finely ground and refined to produce a smooth, dense clay body suitable for white porcelain.
  2. Step 2: Preparing and Wedging the Clay Body
    The prepared pottery clay and porcelain body are thoroughly mixed and kneaded to achieve uniform moisture and consistency.

    Pottery clay is wedged to remove trapped air and adjusted to the appropriate plasticity for wheel throwing, hand forming, and other methods.

    Porcelain clay is also carefully prepared according to the forming technique. For slip-casting methods, the porcelain body is mixed with water to create a fluid slip.
  3. Step 3: Forming
    The clay is formed using different techniques according to the intended shape and function of the piece.

    Nationally designated traditional techniques for both pottery and porcelain include wheel throwing, hand forming, and slab building.

    Wheel throwing shapes the clay on a rotating potter’s wheel, while hand forming relies on direct shaping by hand. In slab building, flattened sheets of clay are cut, joined, and shaped.

    For porcelain, traditional methods also include fukuro-nagashi and niju-nagashi slip-casting techniques, in which liquid porcelain slip is poured into molds to form the body.
  4. Step 4: Trimming and Decorating the Unfired Surface
    After forming, the piece is partially dried and trimmed to refine its thickness and overall shape.

    Aizu Hongo Ware also includes a variety of nationally designated decorative techniques applied before firing. These include stamping, combing, brush marking, itchin slip trailing, faceting, applied decoration, textile impressions, slip coating, and carving.

    Stamping creates patterns by pressing tools or molds into the surface, while combing produces linear textures. Brush marking applies slip or other material with a brush, and itchin decoration creates raised patterns by trailing liquid clay from a nozzle.

    These techniques are especially common in pottery, although their use varies by kiln and type of product.
  5. Step 5: Drying
    After forming and decorating, the pieces are thoroughly dried.

    Both pottery and porcelain must be dried gradually, as overly rapid drying can cause warping or cracking. The moisture level is carefully reduced according to the size and thickness of the piece.

    Once fully dry, the ware is ready for bisque firing.
  6. Step 6: Bisque Firing
    The fully dried pieces are placed in a kiln for bisque firing.

    This first firing stabilizes the form and prepares the surface for underglaze decoration and glazing.

    Because pottery and porcelain bodies have different characteristics, firing temperatures and schedules are adjusted according to the material, kiln, and intended finish.
  7. Step 7: Underglaze Decoration
    After bisque firing, underglaze decoration is applied when required.

    The nationally designated traditional techniques include line drawing, tsuketate brushwork, dipping application, and dami shading.

    For porcelain, sometsuke decoration using gosu cobalt pigment is especially characteristic. Iron-based and copper-based pigments are also used to create landscapes, floral designs, geometric motifs, and other patterns.

    Fine outlines may be painted first, with larger areas then filled using dami shading.
  8. Step 8: Glazing
    Glaze is applied either over the underglaze decoration or directly onto the bisque-fired surface.

    Nationally designated glazing techniques include dipping, pouring, and brush application.

    Traditional porcelain glazes include wood-ash glaze, lime glaze, celadon glaze, namako glaze, iron glaze, copper glaze, yellow porcelain glaze, and crystalline gold glaze.

    Traditional pottery glazes include earthen ash glaze, amber glaze, white-flow glaze, blue-flow glaze, iron glaze, copper glaze, yellow glaze, crackle glaze, and opaque white glaze.

    The type of glaze and the method of application influence the final color, luster, flow, crackle, and overall appearance of the piece.
  9. Step 9: Final Firing
    After glazing, the pieces are loaded into the kiln for the final firing.

    At high temperatures, the ceramic body is fired to maturity and the glaze melts and bonds to the surface.

    In pottery, the firing emphasizes the character of the clay together with the flow and color of the glaze. In porcelain, it brings out the dense white body, underglaze decoration, and clarity of the glaze.

    Firing temperatures and kiln atmosphere are adjusted according to the clay body, glaze composition, and desired color effects.
  10. Step 10: Overglaze Decoration and Firing
    Some pieces receive overglaze decoration after the main firing.

    The nationally designated traditional techniques include line drawing, tsuketate brushwork, and dami shading.

    Red, green, yellow, and other overglaze enamels are used to add decorative motifs, and gold decoration may also be applied when appropriate. The piece is then fired again at a lower temperature to fuse the overglaze colors to the surface.

    This process is used only for pieces that require multicolored overglaze decoration.
  11. Step 11: Unloading and Finishing
    After firing, the kiln is allowed to cool sufficiently before the pieces are removed.

    For pottery, the glaze flow, color, crackle, and overall firing effects are inspected. For porcelain, the underglaze decoration, overglaze colors, glaze surface, and quality of the white porcelain body are carefully checked.

    Each piece is examined for cracks, warping, glaze defects, and other imperfections. The foot or base may be polished as necessary before the final inspection is completed.

    The Aizu Hongo Ware piece is then finished.

Facility Information

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