Japanese Traditional Culture

Chu-chan’s “Go Straight Towards Japanese Traditional Culture” 【PART 5】 Shocking Price Data

Kondo Chuji = Director of Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association

A uniquely Japanese non-round plate (Oribe ware on the left)

It is the time of year when grilled ayu (sweetfish) is delicious, but most people probably think of a rectangular plate of grilled fish, not just ayu, when they think of serving it at the dinner table.

However, rectangular plates, which are common in Japan, are quite rare on a global scale. Outside of Japan, it is rare to see tableware in any other shape than round. As far as I know, fish-shaped plates are made in Mexico. However, these are ornamental souvenirs, and even if they are used, they are at most used as jewelry containers or something, and I don't think they would ever be used on the dinner table.

However, in Japan, it is common to see non-round tableware lined up in the cupboards of many homes, including not only rectangular plates for grilled fish, but also broken sansho (a small bowl shaped like a split peppercorn) used to serve ohitashi and other dishes, and chrysanthemum-shaped individual plates.

Why are Japanese people the only ones who use tableware that is not round? With this question in mind, we trace history back to the early Jomon period's Ryutaimon pottery, and come across a Sengoku daimyo named Furuta Oribe, who served as tea master in both Toyotomi and Tokugawa governments. The tea bowls he produced, known as "Oribe ware," overturned conventional wisdom up to that point. After all, they were misshapen to begin with.

Since ancient times, the skill of a ceramic craftsman was shown in how well he could make perfectly round tableware. The tool for this was the potter's wheel. Craftsmen trained repeatedly to skillfully use the wheel to make perfectly round tea bowls. However, Oribe was content with tea bowls that were far from perfectly round, as if they had been crushed by hand while the clay was still soft before the bisque firing. Moreover, the bowls must not be distorted in an obvious way. He wanted a distortion that looked as if it had been created by nature, without any sense of artificiality. This was truly revolutionary.

Furthermore, Oribe had abstract designs such as circles and squares painted on the distorted dishes. I believe this gave Japanese tableware freedom in both shape and design. Brothers Ogata Korin and Kenzan beautifully arranged the tableware, which Oribe had gained freedom of shape by distorting it randomly and intentionally, into squares, chrysanthemums, and fans, and painted famous paintings on them. Japanese tableware thus became the most free in the world.

I dream that the non-round tableware that is unique to Japan will surely captivate the world one day. When I say this, many people declare that "non-round tableware will never sell overseas because people don't use it." When you see people in uncivilized societies who don't wear shoes, do you give up and think, "Shoes won't sell," or do you get excited thinking, "There is a huge potential demand for them?" I think it's the difference, but I am convinced that the day will come when people all over the world will use Japan's non-round tableware.