There are more than 300 kilns in the town of Mashiko. Many were damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 and have since been repaired or rebuilt. Others were totally destroyed, forcing their owners to start from scratch. Potters from all over the world came together to help Mashiko potters rebuild after the earthquake.
Mashiko has three main types of kilns. The anagama kiln is the oldest style of kiln in Japan. It is a wood-fired kiln that consists of a single long firing chamber with a firebox at one end and a flue and chimney at the other. Firing times vary from one day to several weeks.
Anagama kiln (image: newworldencyclopedia.org)
1 Door about 75 cm wide 2 Firebox 3 Stacking floor made of silica sand 4 Dampers 5 Flue 6 Chimney 7 Refractory arch
Anagama kiln
Noborigama (multi-chamber climbing) kilns were invented around the seventeenth century in Japan. This kind of kiln is similar to an anagama but with several connected chambers built going up a slope. The chamber at the bottom is fired to the correct temperature and then as the heat travels up the other chambers are fired in succession until all chambers have been fully burned.. Ten to 20 times more pottery could be fired at one time than with previous methods. Many of Mashiko's noborigama kilns were damaged or destroyed in the 2011 earthquake, but several have been rebuilt.
"Tahei" noborigama kiln at Iwashita Pottery, the oldest kiln in Mashiko. The tahei kiln was heavily damaged in the earthquake and is currently not in use.
Tetsuo Iwashita, 5th generation potter with Tahei kiln
Inside Tahei noborigama kiln
Noborigama damaged by earthquake
Firing of Hamada Shoji noborigama kiln in Mashiko, February, 2015
Many potters in Mashiko now use gas-fired kilns to fire their pottery. Pottery can be fired more quickly and in smaller batches than in the anagama and noborigama kilns but cannot produce some of the special surfaces and effects of wood-fired pottery. Some artists will fire the bulk of their work in a gas kiln with an occasional special firing in one of the larger wood-fired kilns.