Excavated from Obama City, Fukui Prefecture
13th century
Height: 34.7cm, Bore: 12.4cm, Body: 30.0cm, Bottom: 11.5cm
Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum
This pottery was excavated from a medieval cemetery in Obama City. Unfortunately, the mouth rim is missing, but it is thought to be a slightly outward-curving trumpet-shaped mouth and neck. The slender neck, strong shoulders, and the lower half of the body, which is tapered toward the bottom, suggest that it must have been made in the middle of the Kamakura period (1185-1333). It has three Kosedo-style horizontal ears on one sunken line drawn on the shoulder. The base of the shoulder is decorated with a diamond-shaped design in a brush pattern, and between the three ears are engravings in the shape of cedar leaves along the sunken line. In addition, there is an engraving of a pine tree with large branches and grass under the tree. This is probably intended for the front of the vessel. Echizen ceramics of the Kamakura period (1185-1333) are extremely rare with ears, but the style of placing inscriptions between the three ears is seen in Atsumi, Tanba, Suzu, and other areas, and is probably a good example of this in Echizen ceramics. The clay is slightly sandy, and both the interior and exterior surfaces have been carefully adjusted with horizontal nadirs. The firing is relatively good, with a thin natural yellowish-green glaze characteristic of Echizen on the shoulder.
