Miyama
●Mino-yaki brand company : Miyama
Dishes born over time and by touch
Off to the side of Origawa River flowing behind a certain factory lies a stone monument to risenyaki, a method representing an attempt at copper plate transcription-based picture design first established in Japan in 1846 (the 3rd year of the Koka period in Japan). It was in the same location of the already-perished art of risenyaki where Miyama Co. Ltd., as an inheritor of the risenyaki spirit, had come into being in 1977.
This technique, which entails figuration through the pouring of mud-like white porcelain casting clay into a plaster mold, has been passed down amongst numerous craftsman to realize the dish product it is today.
The production of our dishes is rooted in an industrial process. This comes from our desire to create dishes that are as easy as possible for customers to handle and hold as well as products that are superior in quality.
This is why we repeat the very same production process each and every single day. Anyone observing this moment of creation, in fact, might very fail to perceive whether or not it is carried out by man or machine.
Consideration is indeed given to the human touch, however. Despite any appearances of redundancy in our operations, the manner of creation varies on a daily basis.
It is the continuation of such small, subtle variations that leads to significant improvement in the process.
Succession of such techniques is never a smooth path. It is, however, an accumulation of trials and experiences on the ascension to greater standards and achievements.
The time spent on such inheritance and amassment of creative ideas is, in itself, a valuable asset to be cherished.
Risenyaki
The birthplace of the very first initial attempts in Japan at pictorial painting through copper plate transcription, a process whose origins took place in 1846 (the 3rd year of the Koka era) in Osatomura (currently Inazu Town, Mizunami City in Gifu Prefecture). Risenyaki is currently obsolete.
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Plaster mold casting
A cast for molding dishes and other types of pottery. This cast, created from plaster with high water absorbency, allows for casting/molding through exclusive absorption of moisture following the infusion of mud made from water-melted clay.
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Pressure casting
This method, primarily used for the formation of dishes, pots and cups, involves pressure-based mud injection into mold casts.
Pressure casting enables the creation of dishes with characteristic features such as quadrilateral objects and partitioned plates.
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Sludge casting
This process is used for making pouch-shaped receptacles such as pots and vases whose top necks/apertures are smaller/narrower than their midsection bases.
This pottery/dish formation method, while sharing identical theories with those utilized for pressure casting, entails a significant number of accessory items and requires a considerable amount of time and effort.
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Suyaki (Dry, glaze-free pottery)
This dish/pottery-making process involves the burning of moisture and impurities as well as hardening and water absorption enhancement. This means that the 1st sintering is achieved at approximately 800 degrees Celsius.
This process increases the precision of both pictorial painting and glazing.
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Pictorial painting
Our company excels at initial preparations for pictorial painting performed through copper plate transcription which regulates the flow of risenyaki. It is through this process that we manually perform work on each product, an operation which is followed by glazing of those dish items.
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Glazing
This procedure entails complete, overall dish glazing through use of the moisture absorbency of suyaki as well as a liquid glazing agent containing glass that gives dish products their gloss and texture during the burning process.
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Calcination (burning/baking/firing)
The dish/pottery calcination process consists of reduction firing at 1350 degrees Celsius for white porcelain glaze with shiny gloss as well as oxidation firing at 1240 degrees Celsius for oribe and other forms of pottery with characteristic glaze-produced coloration.