Quite a few people may have their favorite pottery teaware like kyusu teapot and yunomi teacups as well as their interests in tea and tea leaves.

Particularly, Arita ware and Imari ware are perhaps many people’s favorite?

What is Arita ware / Imari ware?

Arita ware / Imari ware is the porcelain produced in and around the areas of Arita in Saga.

Pottery has several types: Porcelain is one of them and Arita ware / Imari ware is the origin of porcelain.

It is said that the beauty of Arita ware / Imari ware even inspired one of the most famous porcelain brands Meissen.

Difference between Arita ware and Imari ware

Arita ware and Imari ware are originally the same.

In the late 17th century, foreign companies got to purchase Arita ware products and exported them from Imari port. That is why Arita ware also got to be called Imari ware.

Now porcelain produced in Arita is called Arita ware, the one produced in Imari is called Imari ware to distinguish them.

Features of Arita ware and Imari ware

The features of Arita ware / Imari ware are their hardness and solidness.

Bright and colorful decoration is designed on clear white porcelain, which influenced the history of European pottery. Arita ware / Imari ware is called “IMARI” and is still popular in Europe.

Particularly, the clear white porcelain is admired as “white gold” and highly valued all over the world.

Also, porcelain is generally produced with the mixture of multiple types of clay, but Arita ware / Imari ware is a very rare type of porcelain as they are produced with only one type of pottery stone fragments.

The history of Arita ware / Imari ware

The history of Imari ware originated about 400 years ago.

Japanese porcelain was first produced when one of the potters, who’d come from Korea to impart their pottery techniques to Japan, discovered the pottery stone in Izumiyama located in Arita.

That would have been going to be Arita ware / Imari ware later.

Later, when Arita ware / Imari ware products were able to be produced constantly, they got to be exported to the world as a substitute for Chinese pottery.

At that time, Chinese pottery was the most popular in the world, but the domestic war in China reduced the production and export of Chinese pottery.

Once Arita ware / Imari ware products were exported, their gorgeous and detailed design attracted the Europeans and became considerably popular. Now they are one of the most famous porcelain products in the world.

It can be said that Arita ware / Imari ware is miraculous porcelain made by layers of luck: The material had accidentally been discovered and was luckily perfect for porcelain, the products were luckily exported at the best timing.

Some people may use their favorite pottery tea ware to brew when drinking tea.

A lot of pottery ware is produced in various areas in Japan. This time, we are going to pick up the one to introduce, which is the pottery that has lately been featured: Hasami ware in Nagasaki

What is Hasami ware?

Hasami ware is the porcelain that has been produced for ages in and around the areas of Hasami in Nagasaki.

Hasami is a small town whose population is about 15,000. There are about 150 potteries and trading companies, and about 20-30% of the population is involved in the Hasami ware industry. While the industry was having a heyday, about 70% of the population was involved.

Now about just under 20% of household tableware in Japan is Hasami ware and a lot of tea ware is also produced.

Features of Hasami ware

There are several features of Hasami ware, and we are going to share two of them that are easy to get.

Role as a household tableware producer

Porcelain may remind you of luxury products, but Hasami ware does have household tableware. The high quality and reasonable prices have made Hasami ware popular among people in a wide range of age groups.

There are no certain techniques/methods

There are no certain techniques or methods to make Hasami ware. Therefore, it can be produced as designs and shapes can flexibly change according to the needs of the times, which is the strength of Hasami ware.

Hasami ware has a variety of designs and sizes and the products are available at many stores such as tableware stores and variety stores as well as specialty stores.

History of Hasami ware

Hasami ware is not well-known but has a long history: it is said that Hasami ware originated about 400 years ago.

Pottery was highly featured in Japan at that time, and people could get privileged only by possessing valuable yunomi teacups. Therefore pottery was treated as like an heirloom.

Once, noble daimyo lords brought potters from Korea to acquire advanced pottery techniques and got them to work in three places in Japan.

It is said that one of the three places was Hasami, which was the origin of Hasami ware.

Arita porcelain and Hasami ware

One of the reasons why Hasami ware is not well-known is because Hasami ware had been sold as Arita porcelain for a long time, which hadn’t brought many opportunities for Hasami ware to reveal the name/brand.

In fact, Hasami ware and Arita porcelain were both called Arita porcelain because the producing areas of Hasami ware and Arita porcelain are located next to each other and the productions were both shipped from Arita.