Pieces of this type and age are attributed to the productions of the Ryumonji kilns; however, this type of glaze was also used on Soma Obori and Shigaraki wares. Ko Satsuma production included articles for use in the tea ceremony. Such articles were generally small in size. There were many varieties of Ko Satsuma which would not be accepted as “refined” by Western standards. However, to the connoisseur of Japanese ceramics, such wares are highly prized and sought after. This pot was made for domestic use and not for export. A nearly identical tea pot is illustrated in Figure 243, page 139, “Treasury of Satsuma” by Sandra Andacht.

Kutani (“nine valleys”) is a small village in Kaga Province on the northwest coast of the main island of Japan with a long history of porcelain production. In 1823 the Yoshidaya Kilns were established at the site of an earlier Kutani kiln which had long since ceased production. Wares produced at this kiln were patterned after the Old Kutani wares and are known as Revival Kutani (“Saiko Kutani”) or as Yoshidaya wares (“Yoshidaya Yaki”). Many pieces produced by this kiln are very well potted with beautiful coloring, clearly showing a Chinese influence.

Actually, Karatsu is not one ware, but the stoneware products of several different kilns in western Japan, all of which were shipped through the port of Karatsu. From the earliest times this port had been a point of contact between Japan and the Asian continent, and it was here that Korean influences poured into Japan in the late 16th century. Though made at kilns adjacent to the refined, decorated porcelain production area of northern Kyushu, Karatsu ware never lost the vigor or the original Korean stoneware from which it descended. These wares showed many of the features which the Japanese had found appealing in earlier imported Korean ceramics. Looseness and spontaneity of form, texture and color of body, and subtlety of glaze were the admired qualities, all of which are well exemplified in this piece.