Banko ware 萬古焼

What is Banko ware?

Banko ware (萬古焼, banko-yaki) is pottery from Yokkaichi, in Mie prefecture, on the coast south of Nagoya. It's the clay body you're actually touching if you've ever cooked in a Japanese donabe hot pot: Yokkaichi potters make somewhere around 80 percent of the donabe made in Japan. The kiln traces back to a Kuwana tea merchant, Nunami Rozan, who started firing tea wares in the late 1730s and stamped his pieces "banko fueki," roughly "unchanging forever." The name stuck to the region's pottery even after his own kiln closed. Production dropped off after his death and was revived decades later by the Mori brothers, Yusetsu and Senshu, then grew into the Yokkaichi industry it is today, helped by the port and railways to ship from. In 1979 the Japanese government named it an officially designated traditional craft. The name is easily confused with the unrelated Mashiko ware, which is a different folk pottery from Tochigi prefecture, far to the northeast; the two share a rustic look in pictures but no clay body, place or history.

Why are most Japanese donabe Banko?

Because Yokkaichi potters found a way to make clay that doesn't crack under direct flame, and almost nobody else has matched it. Ordinary pottery clay expands unevenly when it heats up fast, which is exactly what happens when you put a pot straight on a gas burner. That's why most clay cookware needs a diffuser or slow, careful heating. For decades, Banko potters have mixed petalite, a lithium-bearing mineral, into the clay body at roughly 40 to 50 percent. Petalite barely expands when it's heated, so a pot made with it can go straight onto an open flame, take a hard temperature swing, and not split. That's the whole reason "Japanese donabe" and "Banko ware" are close to the same thing in most kitchens. The flameproof clay is a Yokkaichi specialty, and it's what lets a donabe do the one thing a regular ceramic pot can't.

What else do they make?

Donabe get the attention, but Yokkaichi's other signature product is the kyusu, the small teapot used for sencha and other green teas, and in particular the shidei kyusu, thrown from unglazed purple-brown clay. Shidei clay runs high in iron, and firing it in a reduction atmosphere (low oxygen, so the iron doesn't fully oxidise) is what gives it that dark reddish-purple colour rather than the usual terracotta orange. The association describes the unglazed purple-brown body as well suited to green tea and says it gains flavour and lustre with use. Beyond donabe and kyusu, Yokkaichi kilns also turn out vases, sake sets, and everyday tableware, but the two flame-and-tea specialities are what the region is actually known for. If the shidei teapot in particular appeals, the kyusu object guide covers it among the other teapot shapes. You can also read what changes with an unglazed clay kyusu before the first brew. For the other big everyday-tableware kiln region, Mino ware in Gifu covers a lot of the rest of Japan's daily tableware.

How do you tell a Banko donabe?

Mostly by what it's made of rather than how it looks. A genuine Banko-clay donabe should feel gritty and slightly matte rather than glassy, because the petalite body isn't trying to be fine porcelain. The clay is usually a warm buff or grey-brown before glazing, and the unglazed foot ring will show that texture even on a glazed pot. If it's marketed honestly, a Banko donabe or Banko-clay item is usually labelled as such by the maker, since the heat-resistant formulation is the whole selling point. It's not a decorative style you'd mistake for something else at a glance. A shidei teapot is easier to spot: no glaze at all, a dense reddish-purple-brown surface with a slight sheen from handling and use, and a noticeably heavier, denser feel in the hand than a glazed teapot of the same size.

If you want to know whether a specific pot in front of you is genuine Banko clay, the honest answer is you often can't tell just by looking. Ask the seller, or look for the maker's mark on the base.

Using one

A flameproof clay body still isn't indestructible, and thermal-shock cracks and dry-fired pots are the two ways people actually break a donabe. I've written a separate guide to seasoning and using one properly, worth reading before the first time you put it on the stove: seasoning and using a donabe. If a cast iron kettle shares the same stove, that care routine is a different one again.

Browse the donabe collection if you want to see what we currently have in.

Quick answers

These are the questions people ask us most often about Banko ware, answered briefly.

Is Banko ware the same as donabe? No. Banko ware is the pottery tradition and clay body; donabe is one shape made from it, a cooking pot. Yokkaichi's Banko kilns also make teapots and other tableware that isn't donabe at all.

Where is Banko ware made? In and around Yokkaichi, in Mie prefecture on Japan's Pacific coast, south of Nagoya.

Why can Banko donabe go on direct flame when other clay pots can't? The clay is mixed with a lithium mineral called petalite, which barely expands when heated, so the pot resists the cracking that ordinary clay gets under a fast temperature change.

What's a shidei teapot? An unglazed, high-iron Banko clay teapot fired reddish-purple-brown. It's the other product Yokkaichi is known for, alongside donabe.

When was Banko ware officially recognised as a traditional craft? In 1979, when the Japanese government designated it under its traditional craft industry law.

Is Banko ware the same as Mashiko ware? No, they are unrelated traditions with a similar-sounding name. Banko ware is from Yokkaichi, Mie, in central Japan, the flameproof clay behind most donabe. Mashiko ware is a separate folk pottery from Mashiko, Tochigi, far to the northeast, known for its rustic brown-glazed tableware and the potter Shoji Hamada. They share a handmade look in photos but no clay body, place or history.