The pottery existing in the treasure house of the Nara Shosoin Repository is shown on the left. The word “porcelain” in the product name was used in confusion with the word “瓷”, which means glazed pottery, not the kind of porcelain used today. The old theory that all items of this type were made in Japan and not in China is incorrect. There are ten pieces of earthenware in Kitakura. All of them are black-gray (tile-colored) earthenware of a type called gyoki ware, and some of them have a luster due to ash, as if they had been glazed with salt. The pottery is decorated with a salt glaze.
In the south storehouse, there are six inkstones. The south storehouse contained sixty-five pieces of pottery, all lead-glazed in the Tang Sancai style. There are one porcelain drum, 25 porcelain bowls, one porcelain vase, 29 porcelain dishes, and nine pieces of porcelain pagoda remnants.
