This Akazu-yaki Ki-Seto chawan (matcha bowl) has a classic soft yellow glaze and is decorated with an inscribed floral motif highlighted with a splash of green copper glaze called tanpan (胆礬). These bowls were designed and produced as a collaboration between Tezumi and Katō Hiroshige of Kasen Kiln.

Following the traditional Ki-Seto technique, each bowl was hand-thrown and then the design is etched into the surface. The Ki-Seto glaze is a mix of ash and feldspar with a little bit of iron-rich clay called oni-ita which turns the glaze yellow in oxidation firing. 

Please note that due to the organic nature of hand-throwing, glazing, and painting, there are variations between pieces, with each bowl being unique in shape and design. Three pieces are pictured above to display these natural variations.

 
Ki-Seto wares first appeared in the mid 1500s, originally on plates and bowls for kaiseki and other food service. On occasion, some of these food bowls began to be used as matcha bowls in the tearoom and thus they became a classic style of chawan.

Katō Hiroshige (加藤裕重) is a 14th generation potter, and the 12th head of Kitagama Kasen (喜多窯 霞仙), based in the Akazu hills in Seto. In the early Edo period, his family was one of four protected by the Tokugawa Shogunate in order to fire tea ceremony utensils for Nagoya Castle. These Oniwa-yaki (garden fired) wares for the Nagoya Tokugawa developed into a style called Ofukei (御深井). His family's kiln is the only remaining of those original four.

Katō-san specializes in traditional Mino and Seto styles such as Shino and Oribe, as well as the Akazu-yaki speciality of Ofukei. In addition, Katō -san loves developing new styles and pursuing his own unique artistic expression.

Akazu-yaki (赤津焼), from Akazu in Aichi Prefecture, is often seen as merely a subset of Seto-yaki, however Akazu is one of the oldest pottery sites in the region was also the official kiln site for the Tokugawa family in Nagoya castle, with Akazu potters also firing wares in the castle garden. Many of the styles associated with Mino-yaki were originally developed in Akazu. The turmoils of the Sengoku Era caused potters to flee the Seto region over the mountains to Mino. Today, the Akazu traditions are upheld by roughly a dozen potters. 

Dimensions:

12cm (4.7in) - width
7cm (2.8in) - height

Condition: New

This Japanese item ships from the United States.