Hasami Yaki

Porcelain for every table

Hasami Yaki has translucent white porcelain and delicate blue sometsuke. Because it has always adapted to the times, the range runs from traditional to modern, and prices are friendly. It is one of Japan's biggest makers of everyday tableware, after Mino and Arita. It is made in Hasami, Kawatana and Higashisonogi in Nagasaki.

Three firings for colour

Amakusa porcelain stone is shaped on the wheel, by hand, by pressing or by slip casting, then bisque-fired at about 900°C. Designs are painted in high-fire colours, the pieces are dipped in glaze and fired at about 1,300°C. Pieces with overglaze painting get a third firing at about 700 to 800°C.

Bowls for the river boats

Hasami is said to have been started by Korean potters brought back by the Omura lord after Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea. Porcelain began in the early Edo period. Its thick blue-and-white rice bowls were used by vendors selling food and sake to boat passengers at Osaka's river landings, and became famous as kurawanka bowls. Hasami also made Kompura bottles, filled with sake and soy sauce and exported from Dejima in Nagasaki to the Netherlands and Southeast Asia. By the late Edo period, its output was the largest in Japan.