Japan On present evidence Japanâs ceramic culture is the earliest in the world -- the first Japanese ceramics appeared around 10,000 B.C.E. However, for much of its history, Japanese potters eschewed the technological advances of the rest of East Asia. Instead they focused on developing a unique Japanese aesthetic that anticipated modern notions of the role of spontaneity and chance in the process of artistic creation. Since early times there seems to have been an unspoken appreciation of the rough surface textures and irregularities of form that contribute to the individuality of Japanese stonewares. But it was the emergence of the tea ceremony in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that decisively articulated this aesthetic. Tea masters such as Sen no Rikyu (1521-1591) propagated the concept of wabi -- austerity -- as an aesthetic ideal, and found its embodiment in indigenous stonewares. The tea masters Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), indeed, is credited with directly influencing the shapes and styles of wares used in the tea ceremony. The influence of the wabi aesthetic may have been a factor in the late development of Japanese porcelain. Although its beginnings can be traced only to the late sixteenth century when Korean potters were brought to Japan, the following century saw the rapid emergence of new styles, some targeted at export markets in Europe and Southeast Asia. Other styles, such as those of Nabeshima wares reserved for an elite Japanese clientele, exhibit a technical virtuosity equal to the finest imperial Chinese porcelains, yet are imbued with a sense of design that is unmistakably Japanese.