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Korean Bowl
Ko-Mishima Style
15th-16th Century
Yi Dynasty
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Edo Period
Chawan with
Calendar Motif
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Mishima Oke
O-meibutsu from
15th-16th Century
Photos courtesy
of Sano Museum
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Most styles of Japanese pottery are named after the city or area where they are made, while others bear a family name, such as Raku. However, one style of pottery is named after a place that has nothing do to with its production -- the Mishima style (slip-inlay style).
As far back as 1636, there was a certain calendar published at the Grand Shrine of Mishima (Mishima Taisha) written in little squiggly kana lines. Because the "rope curtain" designs of 15th-16th century Korean Punch'ong stoneware resembled the lines of the calendar, works of this pattern came to be known as Mishima.
The Mishima name may be 17th century, but the style itself goes back to Korea's Koryo Period (935-1392) when bowls decorated in this way were known as Korai-jawan or Korai tea bowls. These were inlaid with various motifs such as floral and animal depictions. A potter would incise the design in the body, fill it in with contrasting colored clay or slip and then cover it with a transparent glaze. This technique peaked in Korea in the 12th-13th-century Koryo celadons, deemed "first under heaven." It's also referred to as zogan. Another inlay style is called reverse inlay. This is where the potter cuts away the background, leaving the design in relief, then the background is brushed over with a slip and the excess is scraped away.
The first mention of the Mishima style comes in Eiroku 8 (1565) in a tea diary. Yet the mi kanji recorded in this diary is that for "to see," while the city of Mishima uses the kanji for "three," its whole meaning being "Three Islands." Some scholars therefore believe that the Mishima for which the pottery is named is derived from an island off the coast of Yamaguchi called Mishima, its kanji being the "see" one. A stopping place for trade, city-bound users of the tea bowls would only hear the island's name "Mishima" without seeing the kanji. This ambiguity has caused some confusion and leaves a page of the history of Mishima ware unwritten.
Other styles of Mishima ware include:
- Hori Mishima (carved)
- Ko Mishima (old)
- Mishima Koyomi-de (calendar-"rope curtain")
- Mishima-hakeme (white-slip brush)
- Hagi Mishima
- Karatsu-Mishima
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