Porcelain

Be aware that telling someone she or he but usually a she has porcelain skin is not necessarily a compliment. I know you mean it in a good way, that it is finely grained, almost translucent, the the process of making base material into porcelain, as opposed to ceramic or pottery, is tantamount to torture. 

We are spending a rainy Saturday in Japan's porcelain birthplace, Arita. It is a couple of hours by train north of Nagasaki, and is still a village in a steep valley, with trade running along one main road north to south.

It was here that a Korean ceramicist (by most accounts) living in Japan discovered kaolin clay in the nearby hills in the early 1600s. Making porcelain had already been developed in China sometime in the first millenium AD and spread to Korea among other countries, from whence it traveled to Europe. The actual word "Porcelain" comes from an Italian word for cowrie shell (porcellana) because the material was as fine and strong and clear.

I don't know why kaolin clay was so vital for making porcelain because I am not a artist in that milieu, but I am sure wikipedia or someone who actual knows would be happy to explain its chemical qualities to you if you asked nicely or bought them a glass of wine or some cake. All I know is what the Museum in Arita told me and I have no reason to doubt it.

It's not just the type of clay that makes porcelain so special, it's also the process. Stoneware, which is generally of unrefined clay, is fired at a temperature of just over 2,000 degrees F. Earthenware, such as terra cotta, is more porous, but takes glaze well. It gets fired at less than 2,000 F. Porcelain, however, gets fired at 2,300 degrees F, making it strong and smooth. It takes glaze and enameling well, and the finest porcelain is so translucent, you can hold it up to the light and see your finger through it.

Anyway, back to our story. 

At the end of the Ming Dynasty in China, when porcelain had reached its artistic height, the craft fell off. By this time (mid-1600s), Dutch traders knew how popular it was back home and in other parts of Europe and so looked for another source of production. Enter Japan, which was just entering the field. Quick to learn, Japanese ceramicists were able to supply the West with what it needed and wanted, which was primarily blue and white items, and then raised the art form in its own way, such as the more enameled work being produced in Arita. As well, many Chinese potters fleeing the problems back home, came to Japan and brought their skills.

The closest port city to Arika was Imari, and so the finely coloured porcelain, etched with gold, became known as Imari-ware. In fact, the porcelain made in Imari was generally white and blue, whereas Arita-ware included red, green, blue and gold. 

This must have blown European sock off, presuming they wore socks, and because we are talking some 350 years ago, that seems potentially unlikely. Just as well. Not great to have socks and have them blown off when you are living in cold northern Europe.

Let me show you what I mean. Only one of these 7 pieces was made less than 100 years ago - the others were all made between the late 16th and late 17th centuries - can you guess which one?

It's the big pale bowl, made about 50 years ago. 

Can you imagine someone, and only a very rich someone, used to seeing ceramics of regular, repetitive pattern like this:

And then coming across something abstract and colourful and made for a regular person like this:

Well, my socks were blown off, metaphorically speaking. 

The town of Arita still produces porcelain in many kilns. The main street is full of workshops and galleries, mostly for wholesalers, filled with good quality and cheap pieces alike, in old styles and modern, for traditional use and contemporary. They are mostly housed in heritage buildings, which have been kept and used for this trade and made the town a bit like a living musuem. some of the old kiln chimneys still exist, but aren't used any more, and the bricks are sprouting grasses. 

There are bits of old porcelain embedded in the streets, and the bridge over the river is decorated with gold-edged pots.

close up of pot on bridge

Even the shinto shrine has a porcelain gate, and lovely porcelain lanterns and other pieces that have braved the elements for decades, if not centuries. 

My favourite was a garage decorated by an enthusiast, who knows that even a closed metal door can and should look beautiful.

But by mid-afternoon, the storm had grown. Although warm, there was torrential rain, monsoon-style rain, and a blustery wind, so we took refuge in a cafe until our train was ready. Even there, our coffee was served in original Arita-ware right down to the spoon, made by a local artist, specially for the cafe.