13th century
Height 6.4cm, Bowl diameter 15.5cm-16.3cm, Bottom diameter 6.6cm-7.2cm
Tokoname City Ceramic Research Institute
Because of their coarse quality, so-called mountain tea bowls have been a major part of everyday tableware in combination with small bowls since ash-glazed ceramics.
Although mountain tea bowls are one of the main products of the Tokoname Kiln, they have been produced in a separate kiln from the pots and jars since the beginning of the Tokoname Kiln. This was the inevitable result of mass production, but in another aspect, it was necessary to distinguish the kilns because of the use of white clay, which has a higher refractoriness than that of jars and pots.
This bowl is one of the most common types of mountain tea bowls from the early Kamakura period, and it is unusually decorated with a line carving of a ship. The large ship with mast and sail may represent the ships of the time that transported Tokoname kiln products to distant parts of Japan by sea.
