The Many Faces of Japan

Japanese Vintage Hagi-yaki Pottery Six Tea cup Set for Sencha Green tea by Famous Senryzan Kiln

$138

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Japanese vintage Hagi-yaki pottery six tea cup set for sencha green tea was made by the famous Senryzan Kiln about 30-40 years ago per our trusted seller in Japan. There are very beautiful in shape and color. These are actually handmade and fired in an old-fashioned kiln, see more below. One of the greats. In traditional Hagi ware peach color with cream-colored added touches around the rim and top of the side. The really neat and unusual foot is called a 'warikodai' or a split foot.

They are marked on the bottom side of the warikodai with the inscribed stamp of the kiln. They are in excellent condition with no cracks or chips and look to have been stored away for some time. See more below about Hagi-yaki and the famous Senryzan Kiln.

Size for Each of Six Cups:
Diameter 2.5 inches or 6.3 cm, Height 2.1 inches or 5.3 cm. Weight 15.87 oz. or 450 grams

Senryuzan kiln of the Yoshiga Family

Many kilns in Japan make Hagi-yaki, but only a few fire the old-style wood-burning nobori-gama, or climbing kiln, a long, narrow structure built on a hillside consisting of several consecutive firing chambers. The fire is built in the first chamber, and the flames rise during firing through each chamber in succession. Results are unpredictable, and often the potter will discard a high percentage of the firing. The other types of kilns use gas or electricity, which, because they burn evenly and can be controlled thermostatically, produce more predictable results. Very few of these pieces must be thrown away because of flaws.

Such as is the Senryuzan kiln of the Yoshiga family has four firing chambers (the uppermost one is used for bisque firing), each about 8 feet high, 8 feet deep, and 15 feet long. According to Yoshiga Hatao, it is the largest in Hagi. Ido tea bowls, he says, are fired only once - the glaze is applied directly to the raw clay. They are placed in the back of the firing chamber, where the temperature is lowest and most difficult to control (sometimes not a single acceptable Ido bowl comes out of an entire firing). Hagi-yaki is fired twice, first without glaze (bisque fired), then glazed and fired again at higher temperatures. Vases and large jars, for which the Yoshiga are known, are fired at the front of the chamber, where the flames are hottest and show the most contrast in texture and color. Hatao makes large exhibition pieces covered with an opaque white glaze blushed with pink, sometimes streaked with black.

Yoshiga Hatao the Senryuzan's leader as quoted by the Tablin Store: ‘You have to live with Hagi-yaki to see its beauty. It takes time, but it is the time you give it that makes it worth the price.’ Whether or not this accounts for Hagi's high prices, perhaps more than any other of Japan's pottery, Hagi ware acquires what Japanese connoisseurs call ''aji,'' literally, flavor - a richness of texture and color that comes only with age and use.

If you are planning on visiting Japan: Senryuzan, the kiln of the Yoshiga family, is located on Highway 191 in Mae-obata (Chinto 4404, Hagi; 2-2448). The size of the parking lot across the road from the kiln gives some indication of the size of the business. Unlike the Miwa and Saka families, descendants of the Korean potters who came to Hagi at the beginning of the 17th century, the Yoshigas do not have a long history of making Hagi-yaki. Yoshiga Hatao, the third generation of his family at Senryuzan, explains that his grandfather bought the kiln at the beginning of the Taisho period (1912-1926). Because of his training at Tokyo College of Arts, his father, Yoshiga Taibi, now in his 70's, was always a ceramic artist rather than the ''unknown craftsman'' celebrated by folk art enthusiasts. Nationally famous, his work brings high prices - from $80 for a small cup to almost $16,000 for an Ido-style tea bowl.

And the excerpts above are from the article ‘The Where and Ware and Who of Hagi’by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum is a writer and a specialist in Japanese textiles who is based in New York. Published: July 3, 1988

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Item id: A2318
Type: Ceramics, Hand Made, Hand Painted, Pottery, Studio Pottery
Origin: Japan • Japanese
Purpose: Teacups
Item type: Vintage