Tamba ware mizusashi (water jar)

From Japan
Edo period, 17th century AD

According to tradition there were six major centres in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) with kilns producing pottery with a natural glaze (resulting from the glassification of ash falling from the walls of the kilns): Seto, Tokoname, Echizen, Shigaraki, Bizen and Tamba. They were all in provinces in Honshū.

Only Seto developed a deliberate glaze in imitation of Chinese wares. The remaining kilns have continued to produce ash-glazed wares like this piece, with its typically rough, gritty body, which is stamped, incised and partially glazed.