Kasama

Kasama is a kiln town defined by having no fixed style. Because of that, each maker's own character shows plainly in the work.

What sits here is the work of a maker based in Kasama. Shallow bowls, plates with standing rims, mugs, vases, and a furidashi for the tea room. Some plates are finished to read like bark, others carry a surface closer to metal. The range hardly looks like one person's shelf, but pick any of them up and the same thinking is there.

Kasama is one of the oldest kiln sites in eastern Japan, begun in the mid-Edo period when a potter from Shigaraki opened a kiln here. Because no single style ever set, makers moved in from across the country after the war, and there are still more than a hundred kilns. The ring your finger finds underneath is the kodai, where each maker's habit of trimming shows. For the history, read Kasama ware.