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anagama

anagama

1 9.9
A traditional Japanese wood-fired kiln for firing pottery that makes natural ash glazes
  • noun
  • /ˈænəˌɡɑːmə/
  • Specialized
: anagama
  • All anagamas are cross-draft kilns; air enters at one end, passes through a ware chamber, and exits through a flue.
  • anagama kiln
  • anagama firing
  • anagama ware

Examples

  • Selecting or mixing clay for an anagama firing is like setting out the two-by-fours for a house.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Anagama firings, therefore, tend to be long, from a few days to a month or more.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Traditional anagamas are loaded through the front fire door.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Traditionally, anagama firings start out slowly.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • (The distinctive character of an anagama pot comes largely from its contact with gases and ash from mineral-laden wood bark.)

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The Japanese contend that in the best anagamas, this last layer always cracks in a pattern like a turtle's shell.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Although the Japanese are generally credited with perfecting the anagama kiln, the design is Korean, brought over to Japan perhaps as early as the fifth century.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Anagama kilns like Jack's, wood-burning tubular chambers built on a gentle slope to promote draft, burn hot enough to fire porcelain.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The weather, especially the wind, is one of the uncontrolled natural elements that help form anagama ware; in the stacking and in the stoking of the kiln, however, one can't miss the clear assertion of human will.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • At the workshop, the potters carefully selected the clay that would be used in the anagama to ensure beautiful glaze effects.

Synonyms

kiln
vsanagama
  • Specialized
16 6.3

A hot oven for drying and making things like pottery or bricks hard

is a specific traditional wood-fired form used for pottery with unique glazes

How Traditional

anagama
  • Specialized
1 9.9
kiln
  • Specialized
16 6.3

Surface Forms

anagama singular
anagamas plural

Etymology

Anagama comes from the Japanese parts ana 'hole' and gama 'kiln', so it means a 'hole-kiln' or cave-like oven. That's why an anagama is a traditional wood-fired kiln where wood ash and smoke fall on the pots and create the special natural glazes people admire.