Japan is an island nation in the Far East, but it’s not an isolated island; foreign culture continually flowed in from overseas. The tea ceremony is, needless to say, a uniquely Japanese culture, but it is known that the tea masters from the Momoyama period to Edo period used imported items from all over Asia as their tea utensil. Now, tea ceremony has become a tradition, but if we go back in time, tea ceremony might have been the cutting-edge cultural activity that incorporated foreign cultural relics.

The world of Pottery has developed in close association with the tea ceremony, and there are many examples of tea ceramics favored by the tea masters that have techniques and designs of foreign origin that took root and became Japanized.

One example is the “inka” (porcelain with pressed flower design) decoration technique. When the surface of the Surface of the porcelain is still dry, a flower-shaped stamp is used to create a pattern by concaving the surface. This technique was popular on the Korean Peninsula during the Yi Dynasty. The technique was further developed to produce vessels with a white clay layer embedded in the depressed areas in the shape of flowers. The “inka” technique to make patterns with stamp and to embed the depressed area with a different clay (inlay=Mishimade) combined together, called “Mishima inka,” was eventually produced in Japan as well.

The small plate in the image, which is filled with ancient colors, is the work of Daisuke Ikeda, a currently active ceramic artist.
The motif is based on the elaborate Mishima inka of the Yi Dynasty, but instead of using inlaying to express the design precisely, he brushes on a decorative clay to create a casual “inka” piece. Some of the techniques and designs developed by our predecessors have been eliminated because they no longer fit with the times, but it is important for artists to reflect their own sensibilities in their designs and arrange them to suit the sensibilities of modern people, as Ikeda’s works do so.
The rearrangement of old handcrafts by contemporary artists is, in my opinion, a “reproduction of aesthetics,” and it is through such constant work by the makers that traditions can take on new life.

From “arts and crafts” of tea ceramics to “daily life crafts” for everyday use. The new “inka” vessels, with a modern retouch, will continue to be loved by a wide range of people for a long time to come.

(inka plate: Ikeda Daisuke)