A slender flower vase with a flared, rolled lip and two small clay lugs on the shoulder — in Japanese these are called mimi, 'ears'. The kiln fired the body in shifting tones of rust red, smoky plum and toasted gold, darkening to iron-brown at the neck, while ash settled over the rim in a grey-green crust.
A single raised line sweeps diagonally across the front, and on the back the fire left branching lines of orange like the limbs of a small tree. Made for a single stem or a few branches.
Unglazed Bizen stoneware, wood-fired in one continuous firing near Bizen, Okayama (GPS 34.7456°N, 134.1894°E). Its colour and markings are kiln transformation (yōhen) — the record of earth and flame in a single moment, not a pattern anyone chose. One of a kind, shaped by human hands, and impossible to reproduce. Traceable to the kiln that made it.
Dimensions
Height: 137 mm
Width: 66 mm
Mouth: 34 mm
Capacity: 230 ml
Weight: 230 g
Fragile by nature and packed for the journey. Ships worldwide from Japan.
