Three Key Styles: Thick White Shino Ware (Late 16th Century)
Shino ware emerged slightly later than Seto-guro (Seto black) and Kizeto (Seto yellow) ware. It is distinguished by thick, white glazes that are often textured with tiny holes and reddish accents. The origin of the term shino is uncertain, though it is thought to be a corruption of the Japanese word shiro (white) or a reference to tea master Shino Sōshin (d. 1523), who supposedly favored white tea bowls.
Until the advent of Shino ware, the main component of glazes in Mino had been wood ash, which became opaque when fired. Shino ware instead uses an applied feldspar glaze that turns translucent white. Potters utilized this quality by painting designs with iron oxide pigment onto the formed pieces before glazing them. When fired, the designs would be clearly visible through the glaze, as seen in the examples below. The pigment was made with a local iron- and manganese-rich clay called oni-ita that turns red, black, brown, or even purple when fired. This combination of painted designs under a translucent glaze gave Mino potters many new ways to vary the coloration and design of each piece.
One subset of this style, called nezumi-shino (gray Shino), is produced by reversing the coloration of field and ornamentation. Potters cover a piece with iron powder, then scrape away a design before applying the feldspar glaze. When fired, the feldspar and iron fuse into a dark gray color, while the scraped-away sections come out white.