Wide-Mouthed Jar (Kame)

Between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries, more than eighty regional kilns across Japan produced unglazed stoneware vessels in standardized forms, including wide-mouthed vats as well as narrow-necked jars. Versatile, watertight, and durable, such vessels served many purposes, from storing grain and fermenting sake to holding cremated remains according to Buddhist burial practices. The makers of these utilitarian wares were often farmers who only worked clay occasionally. In the sixteenth century, the Echizen kilns—developed under the influence of Tokoname—adopted the use of large ōgama (climbing) kilns, enabling mass production and wide distribution along the Sea of Japan coast. Among the regional stoneware centers, Echizen joined Bizen, Shigaraki, Tanba, and Tokoname in establishing a lasting ceramic tradition that endures today.