# Seto ware

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Type of Japanese pottery

Wide-Mouthed Storage Jar with Peony Vines. Kamakura period, 14th century. [Important Cultural Property of Japan](/source/Important_Cultural_Property_of_Japan). [Tokyo National Museum](/source/Tokyo_National_Museum)

*Kiseto* water jar, clay covered with glaze and iron-brown splashes and black lacquer cover, Momoyama or Edo period, 17th century

Stoneware [tea caddy](/source/Tea_caddy) with wood-ash and iron [glazes](/source/Ceramic_glaze), Edo period, early 19th century

**Seto ware ([瀬戸焼](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%80%AC%E6%88%B8%E7%84%BC), *Seto-yaki*)** is a type of [Japanese pottery](/source/Japanese_pottery), stoneware, and ceramics produced in and around the city of [Seto](/source/Seto%2C_Aichi) in [Aichi Prefecture](/source/Aichi_Prefecture), [Japan](/source/Japan).[1] The Japanese term for it, *setomono*, is also used as a generic term for all pottery.[2] Seto was the location of one of the [Six Ancient Kilns](/source/Six_Ancient_Kilns) of Japan.[3]

## History

Pottery made in Seto dates back to the 13th century. Katō Shirōzaemon is credited as the first to produce wares in the town. In the 1220s he studied the art of pottery in China. After several failed attempts in various locations, Shirōzaemon founded a successful kiln at Seto.[4] Other potters followed thereafter and Seto became a renowned center for ceramic production.

Potters drew inspiration from [Chinese ceramics](/source/Chinese_ceramics), including green [celadon](/source/Celadon) porcelains and dark brown *[tenmoku](/source/Tenmoku)* wares. The earliest Seto ceramics may have evolved from failed attempts to reproduce Chinese celadons. During the [Kamakura period](/source/Kamakura_period), wares produced in Seto imitated the pottery of the [Song dynasty](/source/Song_dynasty) in China.[5] Later, in the [Muromachi period](/source/Muromachi_period) (1337–1573), Seto glazes were refined and the styles developed there spread to other areas in Japan such as modern [Gifu Prefecture](/source/Gifu_Prefecture).

Later Seto works were given a brown iron glaze and fired at high temperatures to create glossy surfaces.

During the [Kan'ei](/source/Kan'ei) era (1624–44), the first *[daimyō](/source/Daimy%C5%8D)* of [Owari Domain](/source/Owari_Domain) [Tokugawa Yoshinao](/source/Tokugawa_Yoshinao) (1601–1650) had a kiln constructed at the corner of the Ofuke enceinte (*Ofukemaru*) of [Nagoya Castle](/source/Nagoya_Castle) and invited potters from Seto to make pottery there.

The [Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum](/source/Aichi_Prefectural_Ceramic_Museum) in Seto has a large and exemplary collection of Seto ware.

## Characteristics

Example of Kiseto style glaze. Exhibited in [Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum](/source/Aichi_Prefectural_Ceramic_Museum).

The most distinctive feature of Seto ware is its use of a wide variety of [glazes](/source/Ceramic_glaze), and during the Kamakura period, Seto was the location in Japan that made use of glazes. This glazed pottery, or Ko-Seto (古瀬戸) impacted the development of bowls used for the [Japanese tea ceremony](/source/Japanese_tea_ceremony). The clay available in Seto is a high-quality kaolin and porcelain stone which turns white when fired and helps produce colored glazes.

The different types and glazes of Seto ware are:

- *Kiseto* (黄瀬戸), a yellow glaze

- *Setoguro* (瀬戸黒), a black glaze

- [Shino ware](/source/Shino_ware) (志野)

- [Oribe ware](/source/Oribe_ware) (織部)

- *Tetsuaka* (鉄赤), an iron red glaze

- *Haigusuri* (灰釉), [ash glaze](/source/Ash_glaze)

## See also

- [Tokoname ware](/source/Tokoname_ware)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-dict_1-0)** Wolf, Martin L. (1951). *Dictionary of the Arts*. New York: Philosophical Library. p. 633.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Munsterberg, Hugo (1964). *The Ceramic Art of Japan: A Handbook for Collectors*. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing. p. 633.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-britannica_3-0)** ["Japanese Pottery"](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/718530/Japanese-pottery#toc283216). *[Encyclopædia Britannica Online](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Online)*. [Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica). Retrieved 30 December 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-franks_4-0)** Franks, Augustus (1880). [*Japanese Pottery: A Native Report*](https://archive.org/details/S0001934). London: Chapman and Hill. pp. [28](https://archive.org/details/S0001934/page/n45)–9.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-museum_5-0)** ["Seto ware mizusashi (water jar)"](https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/s/seto_ware_mizusashi_water_jar.aspx). [The British Museum](/source/The_British_Museum). Retrieved 30 December 2012.

## Further reading

- Shosaku Furukawa. *Kiseto and Setoguro*. Famous Ceramics of Japan. Kodansha Amer. 1983. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0870115677](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0870115677)

## External links

Media related to [Seto ware](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Seto_ware) at Wikimedia Commons

- [Momoyama, Japanese Art in the Age of Grandeur](http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/84980/rec/1), an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Seto ware

- [Homepage of the Seto ware Sinkokyokai](http://www.setoyakishinkokyokai.jp/)

v t e Japanese pottery and porcelain Ancient pottery Haji (also haniwa) Iriya Jōmon (also dogū) Kamuiyaki Sue Yayoi Ceramics Agano Aizuhongō Akahada Akazu Amakusa Asahi Banko Bizen Echizen Hagi Iga Iwami Izushi Karatsu Kasama Kiyomizu Koishiwara Kosobe Kutani Kyō Mashiko Mino (also Oribe and Shino) Mumyōi Ōborisōma Onta Ōtani Raku Satsuma Seto (also Ofukei) Shigaraki Shitoro Shōdai Takatori Tamba Tokoname Tsuboya Zeze list of Japanese ceramics sites... Porcelain Arita Hakuji (also Seihakuji) Hasami Hizen Imari Iro-e Jiki Kakiemon Kotō Kutani Mikawachi Nabeshima Sometsuke Tobe Japanese export porcelain Glazes Iro-Nabeshima nigoshide Seiji Seto-guro Tenmoku Tetsuyū-tōki Gold applications kinrande kintsugi yūri-kinsai Objects chaire chasen kusenaoshi chawan choko donabe futa-oki guinomi hanaire hibachi kensui kōgō kōro kyūsu mizusashi mizutsugi sakazuki shimamono suiban suribachi tokkuri yunomi

Authority control databases: National Japan

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Seto ware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seto_ware) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seto_ware?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.