Onta Ware Tobikanna Flower Vase - 10 cm - Onion / 小鹿田焼 一輪挿し

To reach the village of Onta ware, you travel into the mountains of Hita, Oita Prefecture. Before seeing the kilns, you hear them. The soft, rhythmic sound of karausu / 唐臼 — traditional water-powered wooden mills — echoes through the valley as they slowly crush the local clay. It is a sound that seems to belong to the landscape itself, and a sign that you have arrived in Sarayama, the small pottery village where Onta ware has been made for around 300 years. Known in Japanese as 小鹿田焼, Onta ware is still made by only nine family-run kilns. The craft has been passed down through generations in this rural village, preserving a way of making that is humble, honest and deeply connected to everyday life. This is also why Onta ware resonated so strongly with Yanagi Muneyoshi / 柳 宗悦, the founder of the Mingei movement / 民藝運動. Yanagi believed that true beauty could be found in ordinary objects made for daily use — not in excessive decoration or individual fame, but in the quiet strength of handwork, tradition and function. Onta ware, with its unsigned vessels, practical forms and village-based making, became one of the clearest expressions of this Mingei spirit.

The patterns on Onta ware are not painted like illustrations. They are created through rhythm and movement while the clay is still alive on the wheel. A small metal tool may be used to carve repeated marks across the surface, a technique known as tobikanna. Slip may be brushed on by hand to create hakeme / 刷毛目, or combed into flowing lines known as kushigaki / 櫛描き. Glaze may be poured or layered so that it runs naturally across the form, leaving each vessel with its own quiet movement. Simple, rustic and full of character, Onta ware is not made to be admired from a distance. It is made to be held, used and lived with — carrying in each piece the sound of the water mills, the hands of the maker, and the enduring beauty of Japanese folk craft.

We visited the kilns in person to source the pieces presented in this collection. Each piece was chosen directly from the village, and only one of each is available. There is no identical piece offering. Irregularities in size, glaze, colour and texture may occur and reflect the artisan nature of the product and should be embraced.

As every piece has its handmade feature, slight irregularities in size, glaze, colour and texture might occur and reflect the nature of the artisan product.

◾ Hand-Made in Japan

◾ What's included? - One (1) Vase.

◾ Size: Diameter 8.5 cm x Height 10 cm, Mouth 2.5 cm

◾ Material: Pottery

◾ Not suitable for Dishwasher.