Large Jar (Ōtsubo)

Ceramic vessels were once essential for storing water and grain, among other practical uses, yet their strong, simple forms continue to hold great artistic appeal today. This jar belongs to the tradition of Japan’s “Six Old Kilns”: Bizen, Echizen, Seto, Shigaraki, Tanba, and Tokoname. At the Tanba kilns, located in Hyōgo Prefecture, production of unglazed wares began around the twelfth century, and by the fourteenth century a distinctive Tanba style had emerged. These ceramics are fired to a lustrous sheen, their surfaces enlivened by bright-green natural ash glaze. The example on view was coil-built and carefully smoothed with a spatula; the surface was burnished and then well fired to a glossy reddish brown. The side facing the kiln’s flames is covered in a dripping yellowish-green natural glaze—an effect reminiscent of a natural landscape. In modern times, Tanba wares caught the attention of Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961), the founder of the mingei (folk craft) movement.