Kuniyaki refers to tea utensils made in countries other than Seto, Owari Province (Seto City, Aichi Prefecture). In the tea ceremony, Seto is the main kiln and all other kilns are called Kuniyaki. However, there were various pottery kilns in Kyoto, which imported pottery clay from various places and produced various types of vessels using clay from Omuro, Awata, and Jyuraku kilns, which are not included in the Kuniyaki category. Some of the pottery kilns in other countries are even older than Seto, but their rise and fall differs according to the quality of the clay, the skill of the potter, or the location of the kiln. Some of them are no longer in existence, and some of them are limited to daily-use products only. In particular, since tea containers are the most difficult of all ceramics, very few kilns in Kuniyaki have produced tea containers, and only a few kilns have produced so-called masterpieces among them. The reason for this is that tea caddies are only qualified as “masterpieces” when they are made by someone like Enshu, who had a special interest in the shape and glaze color of tea caddies, and who ordered them specifically according to the merits of each kiln. Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule, but the fact that most of the best tea caddies in Kuniyaki are limited to those that were produced by Enshu Tezawa is probably due to the above reasons. Among Kuniyaki ceramics, the only kilns that produced famous tea containers are Satsuma, Grandmother Kaigai, Takatori, Bizen, Tanba, Zensho, Karatsu, Shigaraki, Shidoro, etc. (History of Japanese Ceramics, “Nihon toshi shishi”). (History of Japanese Ceramics, Taisho Meikikan)
