Presentation 5

The Unique Qualities of Ceramics
in Japan: A Comparison with China
Mr. Atsushi ImaiSupervisor, Research Div., Curatorial Research Dept., Tokyo National Museum, Japan

ProfileAtsushi Imai was born in Tokyo in 1961 and earned his Masters in the History of Art from the Faculty of Letters, Tokyo University. His past positions
at the Tokyo National Museum and Agency for Cultural Affairs are as follows:Ceramics Section, Decorative Arts Division, Tokyo National Museum (TNM);
Chinese Arts Section, East Asia Division, TNM; Senior Researcher, East AsiaDivision, TNM; Senior Manager, Northeast Asia Section, TNM; Curator,Collections Section, Collections Management Division, TNM; Senior Manager, Special Exhibitions Section, Programs Planning Division, TNM; SeniorManager, Regular Exhibitions Section, Exhibitions Division, TNM; SeniorManager, East Asian Section, Research Division, TNM; Supervisor, Education
Division, TNM; and Senior Cultural Properties Specialist, Art/Curation Division, Agency for Cultural Affairs.
As a specialist of the history of East Asian ceramics, Atsushi Imai has curated
a number of exhibitions including JIXIANG: Auspicious Motifs in Chinese Art(1998) and SOMETSUKE: The Flourishing of Underglaze Blue Porcelain Warein Asia (2009). His books and academic articles include: Chinese Ceramics,Vol. 4: CELADONS, Heibonsha, 1997; “Ma Huang Ban: The Celadon Teacup
Handed down East to Japan.” Dong Fang Bo Wu, Vol. 3, 1999; and “Design ofChinese Ceramics and Their Hidden Meanings.” Toyo Toji (Oriental Ceramics), Vol. 29, 2000.

Almost all the fundamental technologies used in ceramic production, including kilns,
potter’s wheels and glazes, were introduced to Japan from China via Korea. The importof Chinese ceramics also thrived from the Heian period onwards. These were highlyprized in Japan and they had a huge influence on Japanese ceramic design. However,Japanese ceramics are not simply copies of their Chinese counterparts.
From the Song dynasty, China was ruled by cultured scholar-bureaucrats, with theemperor at the apex. The social and cultural strata were essentially congruent and there
was a clear division between the cultural accomplishments of these scholar-bureaucrats (poetry, calligraphy and painting) and the decorative arts produced by craftsmen.
Ceramics produced at official kilns for the imperial court were considered to be the best.
There was a shared concept of ideal beauty, with production technology progressing in
one direction and standards and specifications strictly followed. This left little room forindividual artistic expression. These characteristics are clearly on display in the development from the primitive celadon of the Shang dynasty (Fig. 1) to the celadon produced at
the official kilns of the Southern Song dynasty. They are also prominent in the increasing
refinement and complexity of the painting techniques used at the official kilns of theMing and Qing dynasties (Fig. 2).
In contrast, culture in Japan from the Kamakura period was more pluralistic, withthe cultural elite comprised of members of the warrior class, aristocrats, and even townspeople who had grown rich through commerce and industry. Cultural strata were notclearly demarcated, with the division between fine arts and decorative arts also vague.
Raku tea bowls were created by the potter Chojiro based on the ideas of the tea mas44

International Symposium: The Arts of Japan in a Global Context: Beyond Orientalism and Occidentalism

The Unique Qualities of Ceramics in Japan: A Comparison with China

国際シンポジウム

45

International Symposium

ter Sen no Rikyu. Chojiro eschewed the potter’s wheel in favour of sculpting by hand,with the bowls then fired in small indoor kilns. The roots of this technology trace backto the three-color glaze ceramics produced in Fujian in southern China, but Chojiro
stripped away all the decorative and contrived aspects to create his Raku bowls (Fig. 3).
Donyu, a third-generation Raku family potter, then made some bold changes. His Raku
tea bowls were lighter, brighter and imbued with a novel decorativeness (Fig. 4). In otherwords, in Raku tea bowls there is no binary opposition between contrived and random,
plain or decorated, or between traditional and avant-garde.
Ogata Kenzan was born in Kyoto as the third son of a rich merchant. He was also theolder brother of the painter Korin. One of Kenzan’s representative works is a square platefeaturing a painting by Korin (Fig. 5). These collaborative items are more for appreciation
than practical use. They are more akin to paintings in ceramic form than vessels decorated with pictures. With them, Kenzan created a new style of ceramic art. The Rinpa
school incorporated flat depictions and a sense of decorativeness into their paintings, sothese could be classed as a type of decorative art. At the same time, Kenzan’s ceramics
could be described as a type of painting. Put simply, Kenzan’s art flourished in the region
between the Western and Chinese classifications of “fine art” and “decorative art.”
Hon’ami Koetsu turned tea bowl production into a sublime form of individual artist expression. He ignored convention to freely create bowls for connoisseurs to enjoy(Fig. 6). This poses a question about whether the relation between Koetsu and the Raku
family is a hierarchical one between amateur and professional, artist and craftsman. Teabowl makers like the Raku family were protecting the standards of tea bowls rather thanany particular form. As a calligrapher from a family of sword connoisseurs, meanwhile,
Koetsu was keenly interested in the form of tea bowls and he studied this topic deeply.
As such, it would be a mistake to simply suppose that Koetsu’s tea bowls are held in suchhigh regard because they are the free-wheeling work of an amateur.
I believe the difference between Chinese and Japanese ceramics is not a matter ofsuperiority and inferiority. If Chinese culture can be likened to a pyramid with its clearlydelineated strata, then Japanese culture can perhaps be likened to a Möbius strip, whereartistic achievements emerge from the front, the back, and from the interplay between
the two. While sitting alongside China and learning from its hugely powerful and universal culture, Japan has developed the wisdom to retain its own identity without slavishly copying its larger neighbour.
Moreover, the Japanese and Chinese people view and appreciate Chinese ceramics
in a different way. Japanese people consider the activities of both official and private
kilns when trying to capture the spirit of each age. One may ask whether there can be anobjective and absolute idea about culture. One may also say the views and ideas of theJapanese people about Japanese art are not absolute either.