This 17th-century Karatsu ware chawan was made in the Kihara kiln in Kyushu.
Located in Oriose, Sasebo City (Nagasaki), the Kihara-yama kiln was active in the Edo period and became renowned for its skillfully brush-painted Karatsu ware. The name “Kihara” here likely refers to the locale or family operating the kiln.
Kihara-yama pieces often featured classic e-Karatsu motifs – bold brushstrokes in iron oxide – and some were so well-crafted that they blur the line between stoneware and porcelain. In fact, the Kihara kiln was active during the transitional period between Karatsu ware and the rise of Imari porcelain (approximately 1624-1671). Some Kihara kiln products are called hanjiki (半磁器) – half-porcelain – because of their refined, pale clay and use of underglaze cobalt blue decoration, a technique more typical of early Imari ware.
One antique Kihara Karatsu chawan from the 17th century, for example, displays cobalt-blue painted characters under a crackled glaze – a rarity in Karatsu ware, showing the experimentation at that kiln. This bridging role makes the Kihara kiln historically significant: it preserved the Karatsu rustic style while also contributing to the development of porcelain in Kyushu.
Most Kihara Karatsu tea bowls found today are excavated pieces.