Kyoto

Kyoto pottery developed to put the food first. The painting and the form are both worked out for the moment a dish is served on it.

What sits here is the work of makers based in Kyoto. Porcelain so thin and light it seems to have come off the palm. Plates painted by a craftsman who still works at a Kiyomizu kiln. Crazing shown through the glaze like cracked ice. Shigaraki clay carried into Kyoto and layered under five or more glazes. Cups in a cream glaze edged with dark brown or blue. Kyoto has drawn people and techniques from every region for a thousand years, which is why each maker starts from somewhere different.

Kyo-yaki and Kiyomizu-yaki do not name a particular clay or glaze. They are collective names for pottery fired in Kyoto, which is exactly why the range is so wide. Painting in cobalt under the glaze is sometsuke, and the gosu pigment only turns blue inside the kiln. The ring your finger finds underneath is the kodai, the one place the bare clay shows. For the history, read Kyo-yaki and Kiyomizu-yaki.