Storage jar

The town of Shigaraki, southeast of Kyoto, was one of Japan’s great pottery-making centers, producing huge numbers of large storage jars and sturdy mortars (vessels used for grinding seeds and spices). Shigaraki clay contains high levels of sand and the mineral feldspar—imperfections that burst, or “bloom, ” in the kiln, giving the surface its characteristic roughness. This jar also has an unusually heavy deposit of natural glaze, the result of wood ash settling on the vessel’s shoulder, liquefying in the heat, and then running down the sides in dramatic, uneven drips.