Excavated from Asaka City, Saitama Prefecture
12th century
Height 34.4cm, mouth diameter 22.3cm, body diameter 33.5cm, bottom diameter 14.7cm
Tokyo National Museum
This is the most beautifully glazed of all the ancient Tokoname sutra jars. The gently curved joint between the neck and shoulder, the slight inward tilt of the neck, and the slight hint of a rim band at the edge of the mouth, which opens in a large bend, indicate that this jar was made near the end of the 12th century. The body is formed in two sections and the shoulders and neck in a four-tiered joint, and the surface is shaped by using the sommelier vertically. The surface of the vessel is shaped using a vertical jar. The firing was good, and the brownish-brown surface of the vessel, characteristic of Tokoname, is covered with a rich yellowish-green ash glaze, which flows down the lower half of the body, showing a powerful and splendid appearance. It is one of the representative examples of Tokoname sutra jars from the late Heian period.
