Mino Ware: Shino, Oribe, and the Kilns of Gifu

Mino ware (美濃焼, Mino-yaki) is the pottery of eastern Gifu Prefecture, made in and around the towns of Tajimi, Toki, Mizunami, and Kani. It is at once the most historically loaded and the most ordinary of Japanese ceramics. The Momoyama tea masters got their Shino and Oribe bowls from these hills, and four centuries later so does the rice bowl on an average Japanese kitchen shelf. If you have eaten from a Japanese ceramic plate, there is a fair chance it came from this valley.

This guide covers where Mino ware is made, the four Momoyama styles that made its name, why the region carries so much of Japan's tableware production, and what to look for when you buy a piece.

Where Mino ware is made

The production area sits in the Tōnō region of southeastern Gifu, in central Japan. The Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries lists the main manufacturing area as Tajimi City, Toki City, Mizunami City, Kani City, Ena City, and Mitake Town. This is not one kiln or one family workshop but an entire industrial landscape — clay miners, kiln builders, mold makers, painters, and several hundred producing entities within a few valleys of each other.

Fifteen designated types is unusually many. Most designated crafts are defined by one recognizable look; Mino is defined instead by a place and a set of glazes. So "Mino ware" on a label tells you the geography and the technical lineage, not the appearance — a Mino piece may be rough grey stoneware or crisp white porcelain. The clays, at least, are local and named: mogusa, Mino, kibushi, and gairome are the permitted bodies under the traditional-craft standard.

Thirteen centuries in one valley

Pottery in the Tōnō region goes back more than 1,300 years. It is thought to have begun in the late Kofun period, in the seventh century, when hard unglazed Sue ware was fired in anagama — tunnel kilns cut into a hillside. The technique arrived by way of the Korean peninsula.

By the Heian period, in the tenth century, Mino potters were producing ash-glazed wares. Ash glaze, made from the ash of burnt plants and trees, had come from China by way of Korea, and it stayed in use through most of Mino's history. Kiln numbers grew, and the area became a production center rather than a scattering of workshops. For the neighboring tradition that took the opposite road — unglazed, fire-finished stoneware — see our Shigaraki ware guide.

Then came the sixteenth century, and everything changed.

The four Momoyama styles

During the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1615), the tea ceremony created demand for Japanese-made vessels rather than imported Chinese models. Mino had the clay, the firing knowledge, and the road to Kyoto. Four styles came out of that moment, and they are still the names people mean when they say "Mino ware."

Shino is a thick, creamy white feldspar glaze over stoneware, made in Mino for the tea ceremony — mostly tea bowls, water jars, and mukōzuke food dishes. Many pieces carry simple iron-brown designs of landscapes, plants, or geometry beneath the glaze; this was the first underglaze painting on Japanese ceramics. Variants include grey nezumi-shino, in which designs are etched through an iron-black coating before the white glaze goes on, and rusty-red beni-shino.

Oribe is named after Furuta Oribe (1544–1615), a Sengoku-period military commander from Mino and a leading disciple of the tea master Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591). The best-known Oribe wares carry a copper-green glaze: ao-oribe pairs green-glazed passages with iron-brown drawing on white, Narumi-oribe uses a reddish clay for contrast, and sō-oribe is green throughout. Forms are deliberately off-balance, and the oval kutsugata "shoe-shape" bowl is the signature. Oribe ware first appears in the written record at a tea gathering hosted by Furuta Oribe himself, and 28 February is now marked as Oribe Day.

Ki-Seto ("yellow Seto") is a pale yellow ash glaze. Mino potters raised the silica in the mixture, which caused devitrification and produced the yellow. Most Ki-Seto pieces are tableware, sometimes stamped with plant or character designs while the clay was still soft, with accents of copper green or iron brown over the glaze.

Setoguro ("Seto black") is a jet-black glaze achieved by firing above 1,200°C and then drawing the piece out of the kiln to cool rapidly, which fixes the iron in the glaze as a deep, shining black. Rikyū favored it for tea bowls: the black sets off the green of whisked matcha. Many Setoguro bowls have tube-like bodies with spatula-cut ridges and an undulating rim.

All four styles stopped being made after the early Edo period and were revived in the twentieth century. There is a second twist to that revival. For a long time these Momoyama tea wares were catalogued as Seto ware, from neighboring Aichi. Twentieth-century excavation in the Mino hills reattributed them to Mino kilns — a correction that gave the region both its history back and a generation of artists working in the revived styles. Our Seto ware guide covers the other half of that tangle.

Why Mino makes so much of Japan's tableware

Mino ceramics accounts for around 50% of Japan's total ceramic production, according to figures published by the Gifu Economic and Industrial Promotion Center covering the 2017 ceramics industry. That share is the reason so much unbranded Japanese tableware carries no kiln name at all. It is Mino, and in Japan that is simply what dishes are.

The scale is partly an accident of the First World War. European factories stopped exporting dishware, Japanese exports grew to fill the gap, and southeastern Gifu — already a working ceramics district — expanded both its number of manufacturers and the size of its plant. The Tōnō region has held Japan's top share of pottery production since.

The porcelain side of Mino is younger than the stoneware side. Mino kilns began producing porcelain in the nineteenth century, under the influence of the Arita and Seto porcelain kilns, and have mass-produced blue-and-white and overglaze-enameled porcelain ever since. That is why a modern Mino catalogue can run from wabi-sabi tea bowls to luster-glazed sake cups without contradicting itself. Our Arita ware guide covers where that porcelain knowledge came from.

What to look for when buying Mino ware

Because "Mino ware" covers so much ground, the useful questions are about the piece rather than the label.

• Body first. Stoneware feels warmer and heavier, often with a visible clay foot; porcelain is whiter, thinner, and rings when tapped. Our guide to telling Japanese stoneware from porcelain walks through five tests.
• Glaze name, not just color. A seller who can say "Shino" or "Ki-Seto" rather than "cream" or "yellow" is describing a technique with a lineage behind it.
• Look at the foot ring. Trimming marks, a slightly uneven rim, and glaze pooling are signs of hand work, not defects. Our guide to telling handmade Japanese pottery from factory work goes further.
• Ask about the maker. Mino's scale means most output is factory production, which is honest and often excellent. A named kiln or potter is a different proposition and should be stated plainly rather than implied.
• Check care before you buy. Plain glazed Mino porcelain is frequently microwave and dishwasher safe. Hand-decorated stoneware, luster finishes, and gold surfaces usually are not.

To place Mino on the wider map, see our overview of Japan's pottery regions.

Mino ware in the ZenKiln catalogue

We buy and pack from Japan, so the notes below come from the pieces themselves rather than a catalogue sheet. Our Mino shelf runs across both halves of the tradition.

• Tabata Shigemichi Double-Wall Rock Cup, 300 ml — a stoneware rock cup by Tabata Shigemichi of Kinshō-gama, built with a hollow double wall and finished in bordeaux or black luster, boxed in paulownia. The named-potter end of Mino.
• Mino Champagne Luster Sake Set — a two-piece Ninpou set pairing a 300 ml katakuchi pouring vessel with a 50 ml cup, in red or white porcelain. This is the nineteenth-century porcelain lineage, worked in a contemporary luster finish.
• Mino Kobachi Set of Eight — eight square porcelain small dishes, no two decorated alike, in a paulownia gift box. A good illustration of what Mino's tableware capacity actually produces.
• Mino Mushroom-House Incense Burner — a small hollow house under a red mushroom-cap roof, with smoke rising through the chimney.
• Mino Cat Incense Holder — a white cat beside a square blue dish, hand-painted by Hodai-gama.

Worth saying plainly: we do not currently stock a Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, or Setoguro tea bowl. When we hold one, we will say which style it is and who made it. The pieces above are modern work from the same valley, and we would rather name that distinction than blur it.

Browse the rest in Drinkware and Incense & Kōdō.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mino ware?
Mino ware is Japanese pottery and porcelain made in eastern Gifu Prefecture, principally in Tajimi, Toki, Mizunami, and Kani. It was designated a national traditional craft on 22 July 1978, and fifteen distinct types fall under that designation, including Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, and Setoguro. Production in the region goes back more than 1,300 years.

Is Mino ware one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns?
No. The Six Ancient Kilns are Seto, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Bizen, Echizen, and Tamba. Mino is not among them, although it borders Seto and shares much of its early technical history — the "Seto" in Ki-Seto and Setoguro is a trace of that overlap. Mino's own record in the Tōnō region runs back more than 1,300 years.

What is the difference between Shino and Oribe?
Shino is defined by a thick, creamy white feldspar glaze, often over simple iron-brown underglaze drawing. Oribe is defined by copper-green glaze, bold geometric patterning, and deliberately distorted forms. Both emerged from the Mino kilns during the Momoyama period, with Oribe appearing somewhat later than Shino.

Is Mino ware stoneware or porcelain?
Both. The historic Momoyama styles are high-fired stoneware. Mino kilns began producing porcelain in the nineteenth century under the influence of the Arita and Seto porcelain kilns, and now make blue-and-white and overglaze-enameled porcelain in quantity alongside their stoneware lines.

Can Mino ware go in the microwave or dishwasher?
It depends on the piece, not the tradition. Plain glazed porcelain is often microwave and dishwasher safe; hand-painted stoneware, luster finishes, and gold decoration generally are not. Follow the care information supplied with the individual item rather than a rule about Mino as a whole.

Who was Furuta Oribe?
Furuta Oribe (1544–1615) was a Sengoku-period military commander from Mino and a leading disciple of the tea master Sen no Rikyū. Oribe ware takes its name from his fondness for the style. Its first appearance in the written record is at a tea gathering he hosted, and 28 February is now observed as Oribe Day.

Editor's note: Researched and written by the ZenKiln editorial team in Japan, drawing on the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles, and the Gifu Prefecture Tourism Federation. We hand-pack every piece in Japan. Where a maker, date, or attribution could not be verified, we describe the period rather than invent a name.

Sources: Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square, MINO Yaki (Ceramics) · JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles, Ten Styles of Mino Ware · Gifu Prefecture Tourism Federation, Mino Ware