Traditional handpainted Kutani ceramic Japanese tea sets (kyusu and yunomi)

Kutani-yaki pottery and porcelain teaware for sale at Amazon

Japanese Tea Set Gold Arabesque Kutani ceramic

I think one of the pleasures to use Kutani ware is feeling its touch of the surface. It is true that the fine paintings attract our eyes, but the small elevation is too good to miss. That results from the coloring of Kutani-yaki, which is less common in other Japanese ceramic.

 

We indeed pick up the tableware including the tea cup and the teapot, unlike the vase. Whenever you pour Japanese green tea into the cups or drink with them, you hold directly.

 

In addition to that, there are the types of pottery (earthenware), porcelain and cloisonné in Kutani ceramic. It makes you fun to choose a tea set from the ceramic.


Kutani-yaki (ware) 

The history of Kutani-yaki began in 1655.

 

The first Daishoji Domain lord Maeda Toshiharu made Goto Saijiro learn the technique of Arita (Imari) ware and start the pottery industry in his domain. The name of the village where the porcelain stone was produced was Kutani. So, they called the porcelain as “Kutani-yaki”.

 

The old Kutani ware has a feature of a green body. And the craftsmen took advantage of the color as one of the paints. Otherwise, the style using five colors, green, yellow, purple, red, and navy was famous old Kutani.

 

Though the pottery gained the reputation, the industrials disappeared from the Daishoji Domain just some 50 years after. The apparent reason hasn’t come out yet. But the researchers gather that it is the financial difficulties or policy shift of the domain.

 

After about 100 years of the passing, the movement of the renaissance came off. It brought forth the master craftsmen who created porcelain with red as based color or gold lines. 

 

Since then, the Kutani plate and vase gained popularity around the world as a work of art. On the other hand, Japanese people love the pottery as a tableware for everyday life.

 

 

 

If the tea cups get cracked…

 

Kutani ceramic Japanese tea sets

Kutani-yaki includes earthenware and porcelain. If you want thick and warm yunomi or kyusu, earthenwares are best. But if you prefer a smooth and strong one, you had better buy porcelains .

 

Furthermore, the various fine patterns would make you are unable to decide.

 

 

Pottery

Porcelain


Why don’t you check also the tea sets of Imari (Arita) ware?

 



Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.