This is a rendering of a find in Tajimi, Japan. The Yamajawn style bowls were the root of the wabi-sabi aesthetic ideal that Japanese pottery is famous for. Rice bowls like these would develop into the sophisticated shiro tenmoku, for instance, popular among the ruling elite and used in the tea ceremony. Yamajawan (mountain bowls) were used as tableware by commoners, and produced in large quantities. An interesting detail: you will see many small cavities in the base if you turn the bowl so you can see what it looks from underneath. Potters used the shells of rice grains to put the bowls on when they were fired in the kiln. This is so they wouldn’t stick to the surface underneath in the heat. The cavities are from those rice grain shells. We encourage you to come and learn more here.
Onada village, Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
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