YAMACHAWAN (MOUNTAIN TEA BOWL), Sanage, ash-glazed, B, Kamakura Period (1185–1333 CE)

An ash-glazed Sanage mountain tea bowl dating to the Kamakura period.

This shallow mountain tea bowl rises gently; concentric wheel marks encircle the exterior, and grains of clay and small black stone fragments remain visible. Width 13.6cm, height 5cm. Its modest form is typical of an everyday bowl, yet the earthy character of the clay is strongly expressed both inside and out, with a ruggedness characteristic of medieval ceramics.

The Sanage kilns are an ancient cluster of kilns that once extended from eastern Aichi Prefecture into western Mikawa. Beginning with Sue ware in the Kofun period, they produced ash-glazed and green-glazed ceramics in the Heian period and, in the medieval era, shifted to the production of mountain tea bowls. The Kamakura-period mountain tea bowls are plain, utilitarian vessels; depending on firing conditions, the melting of ash or natural glazes and the roughness of the clay are revealed on the vessel surface.

The glaze is sparingly applied, the ash‑white clay body carrying faint yellow and gray‑green tones. The bowl’s interior shows areas flushed with fire color, and the inner surface bears small stone inclusions and granular roughness produced in the kiln. On the exterior the throwing lines remain clearly visible, presenting the simple, rustic form of a mountain tea bowl.

A visible joint runs from the rim to the body and has been mended with kintsugi. The rim shows chips and wear; inside and out there are firing marks, stone-pops, and clay deposits. The coarse clay surface lends this mountain tea bowl a deeply appealing, rustic character.