Ceramics is a collective term for pottery and porcelain, serving as both artistic crafts and utilitarian objects.

Dating back to the Neolithic period, there were rough, simple styles of colored pottery and black pottery. Ceramics and porcelain differ in texture and properties.

Ceramics, made primarily from clay with high viscosity and strong plasticity, are opaque, possess fine pores, slight water absorption, and produce a dull sound when struck. Porcelain, made from clay, feldspar, and quartz, is semi-translucent, non-porous, and corrosion-resistant, with a hard and compact body, emitting a crisp sound when tapped. Ceramic artistic crafts, known for their quality and aesthetics, hold significant artistic value and are renowned worldwide.

The development of Japanese porcelain spans over 500 years, from the Aeon to the Showa period, witnessing continuous progress in the porcelain industry and technological advancements. Japanese porcelain patterns and images often feature vibrant colors, predominantly reds, greens, blacks, and whites. Moreover, Japan's tableware, such as teacups, sake cups, bowls, and plates, commonly exhibit golden glaze along their rims.

Japanese porcelain features a variety of glaze colors, including green, white, deep red, blue, gold, and coral. The glaze materials used during processing are relatively pure, providing a tight bond between the glaze and body, a thin and uniform glaze application, a glossy surface, and a hard and compact body.

Japanese pottery categories include angular-mouthed jars with animal-shaped handles, plum bottles, lantern-shaped bottles, vases, human-figure vases with flat backs, gourd-shaped bottles, and more.

Animal-shaped handles of angular-mouthed jars are elliptical. Japanese teapots exhibit unique features, comprising Kyoto teapots, coffee pots with side handles, barrel-shaped pots, and handle pots. Japanese water jugs are often barrel-shaped. Some tea canisters have heart-shaped openings on the body and hexagonal patterns on the top cover.

The mouth of Japanese jars can be flat or round, scooped inward resembling a comma, serving not only as containers but also as heaters.

Since the Jomon pottery era, the age of pottery in Japan has endured for a significant period, estimated by current historical perspectives to span over 15,000 years in the native land of Japan. Around the 5th century AD, Japan imported Sue ware, high-temperature-fired ceramics from Korea. Thus, Japan's traditional pottery techniques underwent significant changes influenced by external cultures.

The popularization of the tea ceremony in Japan contributed significantly to the development of Japanese ceramic culture. From the Muromachi period to the Momoyama period, with the widespread adoption of the tea ceremony, uniquely Japanese pottery experienced vibrant growth, resulting in numerous masterpieces in tea pottery that persist to this day.

In the early 17th century, adopting Korean firing techniques, Japan successfully produced porcelain in Arita and Hizen. This method's proliferation spread to various regions like Kutani, Seto, Kyoto, Tobu, and Aizu, leading to the widespread use of porcelain in society. Consequently, Japan's ceramic culture became diverse and rich.

Simultaneously, elegant glazed porcelain crafted in Arita, such as the "Kakiemon style," exported European royalty and nobility at that time.

After centuries of historical development, contemporary Japanese ceramics boast a distinctive cultural style, garnering widespread attention and appreciation.