Tokoname

Tokoname, on the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture, is the oldest of Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns, with production tracing back to the late Heian period, around 1100 CE, drawing on techniques from the earlier Sanage kilns nearby. It was historically the largest of the six kiln regions and influenced the development of both Tamba and Shigaraki ware.

The region’s clay, formed from sediment left by an ancient lake that existed roughly 650,000 to 1 million years ago, is unusually rich in iron, giving Tokoname ware its distinctive red-brown color and requiring comparatively low firing temperatures. That clay was traditionally shaped into large storage jars and everyday pots using himozukuri, a coiling technique that builds a piece up from ropes of clay rather than throwing it in one motion. Today, Tokoname is best known internationally for a very different product from the same clay: unglazed kyusu teapots, prized because the iron in the clay is said to soften green tea’s bitterness during brewing.