Excavated from Funatsu Aitakayama, Numazu-shi, Shizuoka
12th century
Height: 24.3cm, Bore: 11.0-11.5cm, Body: 20.2cm, Bottom: 11.0-11.8cm
Tokyo National Museum
　This item was excavated from a sutra mound on Mount Aitaka as an outer container for a sutra case inscribed with the name “Nian 3 (1168). There is no doubt that this is a product of the Atsumi kiln, judging from the clay and firing. The clay is grayish-white and somewhat viscous for Atsumi, and the firing was very good, with a dark green natural glaze on the shoulder. Atsumi-gama often made such long-bodied short-necked vases as sutra-tube outer vessels, and this vessel is thought to have been made as a sutra-tube outer vessel, rather than being adapted from a utilitarian item.
