Shino 志野 ware. One of the best known of the Mino wares *minoyaki 美濃焼, first produced in the Momoyama period. The origin of the name is uncertain, although legend credits as its founder the tea adept Shino Sōshin 志野宗信 (d.1491 or 1522), founder of the Shino school of incense. Shinoyaki is made from the local clay mogusatsuchi 百草土. Beginning in the 1580s, earlier ash glaze gave way to a feldspathic glaze chōsekiyū 長石釉 which turns a milky white when fired and through which are visible parts of the red body. Beginning in the 1570s, e-shino 絵志野 (painted shino) were decorated with simple motifs, painted in brown iron-oxide on the vessel body, which show up beneath the semi-opaque glaze.
There are several types of shinoyaki: hai-shino 灰志野 (ash glaze with feldspar), nezumi-shino 鼠志野 (gray), beni-shino 紅志野 (crimson), aka-shino 赤志野 (red), neriage-shino 練上志野 (marbled). Nezumi-shino, featuring an iron-rich slip applied with a ladle that fires gray ("mouse-colored"), was often used with the fluid glaze played against etched rectilinear designs which fire white. All types of shinoyaki were prized by tea masters.
