Small Water Pitcher by Noharaya Kiln

This small jug by Kagoshima based ceramicist Kaori Sasaki shows influences of her training in Okinawa.

The dot formations and dripped glaze on its surface reflect techniques in the yachimun ceramics of the Okinawa islands. But it is also an item rooted in Kagoshima's ceramic tradition, with a pale slip coating and locally sourced ceramic ingredients.

It is 8cm in diameter and 9cm high.

It weighs 250g, and holds 200ml of liquid.

About Noharaya Kiln (Kaori Sasaki)

At her Nohara-ya kiln in the Kagoshima interior, Kaori Sasaki fires ceramics that reflect both her training on the southern island of Okinawa and the ceramic traditions of her home region. In Okinawa she was one of the early disciples of Yoneshi Matsuda of the Kita-gama kiln, which has become a renowned training ground for craft potters. Here she learned a dedication to materials, and techniques such as the dotted pattern work and high footed bowls for which Okinawa's yachimun ceramics are known. But Kagoshima holds a tradition too that she began to explore on her return. In particular the Kuro-mon (Black Satsuma) lineage that occurred in several strains, such as Ryumonji and Naeshirokawa. These were ceramics used in everyday life, with forms that expressed their region's history. At Nohara-ya, Sasaki collects materials local to her, such as clay deposits from rivers, and glaze ash from the Sakurajima volcano. Her work is the summation of the influences and skills that inform her ceramic imagination. It expresses too a modern spirit of Kuro-mon, ceramics with beauty and Kagoshiman terroir, that are a pleasure to use.