Excavated from the precincts of Butsudoji Temple, Iga City, Mie Prefecture
13th century
Height 31.2cm, mouth diameter 23.5cm, body diameter 32.2cm, bottom diameter 16.0cm
Butsudo-ji Temple
In Iga, no kiln older than the Goinoki Kiln, which is located on the border of Shiga Prefecture and dates from the end of the Kamakura period, has yet to be discovered. Despite this, the reason for assuming that this jar is from the Iga kiln lies in its clay taste and molding technique. At first glance, this medium-sized jar looks like an old Tokoname jar, but the shape of the neck of the mouth clearly indicates that it was made under the influence of the Tokoname kiln. The clay has a high iron content with fine particles of feldspar, and the entire surface of the vessel appears to have been covered with black spots caused by small iron particles molten into the clay. The mouth rim is folded back to form an N shape. The molding was done in a seven-step hagi-zukuri technique, in which the center of the body was smoothed from the top and the joint between the body and the lower half was shaped in a wavy pattern, which is a technique unique to Iga. The jar is very well fired and covered with a dark green natural glaze from the mouth rim to half of the body. It is one of the oldest Iga jars known today and was excavated from the precincts of Butsudoji Temple.
