setoyaki　瀬戸焼

KEY WORD :　 art history / crafts

Seto 瀬戸 ware. Pottery made in Seto city and nearby areas of modern Aichi prefecture. The Seto area was the center of pottery manufacture in the Kamakura period; koseto 古瀬戸 (old seto) designates pieces made at this time. At the end of the Muromachi period the center of the pottery manufacture moved to nearby Mino 美濃 (see *minoyaki 美濃焼). At that time, wares made in the area from Seto to Mino were called setoyaki. In the early Edo period, some pottery manufacture moved back to Seto. In 1822, Katou Tamikichi 加藤民吉 (1771-1824) introduced sometsuke jiki 染付磁器 (blue-and-white porcelain; see *sometsuke 染付) from Arita 有田 in modern Saga prefecture, and this porcelain, called shinsei 新製 (new production) rather than the original Seto ware pottery, hongyou 本業 became standard. In the Meiji period, setoyaki adapted Western techniques, gaining great popularity. In addition to plain seto, mujiseto 無地瀬戸, the Mino kilns also produced several types of Seto wares from the mid-16c, including setoguro 瀬戸黒 (black seto), and kiseto 黄瀬戸 (yellow seto). Kiseto, fired at the same kilns as *shinoyaki 志野焼 and setoguro wares during the Momoyama period, featured fried bean-curd glaze, aburagede 油揚手 developed in emulation of Chinese celadons. It utilizes an iron-rich wood-ash glaze and is reduction fired at a high temperature to produce a celadon-like texture and bone color; in an oxygen-rich kiln, the minerals in the clay and glaze create a distinctive opaque yellow glaze. Motifs are etched in the clay, then highlighted in green. Typical shapes, glazes and decoration all reflect functions in the tea ceremony or kaiseki 懐石 meal. Setoguro wares were made by removing a black-glazed stoneware vessel directly from a hot kiln at the point of glaze maturation, and allowing it to cool in the open air. The sudden temperature change turned the thick glaze a deep glossy black.

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