Page 51 - Zhangzhou Or Swatow The Collection of Zhangzhou Ware at the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

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The Use of Zhangzhou Ware in Japan

Archaeological finds confirm that Zhangzhou ware painted in blue and white and overglaze enamels was
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exported to Japan in large numbers, starting in the late 16 century. It became highly appreciated during the
Momoyama period (1573-1603). During this era, the demand for Zhangzhou porcelain seems to have been
concentrated in metropolitan areas such as Edo, Kyoto and Osaka, and in commercial cities such as Sakai,
Nagasaki and Hirado. Shards of Zhangzhou ware came to light also in several castles around Japan.

Most Zhangzhou porcelain was imported to Japan via the port of Sakai, near Osaka, a prosperous city with a
cultivated elite.

Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), known as the greatest master of the tea ceremony, was originally a merchant of
Sakai. Because of the close relationship of the tea ceremony and Zen Buddhism and because of the prosperity
of the citizens, Sakai became one of the main centres of tea ceremony in Japan. It is therefore not surprising,
that Zhangzhou wares, available in abundance in Sakai, attracted the attention of the tea masters and were used
increasingly for the tea ceremony, chanoyu in Japanese.

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In the Japanese tea ceremony, a number of vessels are employed for special purposes. All vessels should blend
into a particular kind of aesthetic system creating an atmosphere of naturalness and refined simplicity. What
was the fascination for “coarse” Zhangzhou ware in Japan, a culture with a highly sophisticated taste for
ceramics? It seems that the free and vigorous, often bold style of decoration in bright colours strongly appealed
to the taste of a certain group of aesthetics.

The Japanese tea masters of the Momoyama and early Edo period, the arbiters of taste, were always looking
for the most extravagant, eccentric or sophisticated designs, and became therefore attracted by the appeal of
Zhangzhou ware, particularly by wares decorated in the palette of red and green enamels, gosu akae in
Japanese, and with red roundels in the style of kinrande. Zhangzhou bowls for sweets, small jars and boxes for
incense therefore fitted perfectly into the sophisticated aesthetics of the “perfection of imperfect” of the
chanoyu.
And there were other uses for large Zhangzhou dishes in Japan in the Momoyama and Edo period: they were
used for lavish banquets. Japanese people, like the Chinese, traditionally ate from bowls and small dishes. In

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