Onta Yaki Miniature Jar (Tsubo) — Banded Tobikanna Pattern, Amber Drip Accents

This small, round-bodied miniature jar comes from the Onta ware (Onta-yaki, 小鹿田焼) kilns of Sarayama village in Hita, Ōita Prefecture — a UNESCO-recognized folk-pottery community where potters still throw on kick wheels and grind their clay in water-powered mills (karausu). The compact spherical body tapers to a short, narrow, unglazed neck, giving it the look of a tiny display jar or bud vase rather than everyday tableware. The surface is decorated in the classic tobikanna chatter-carving technique, laid out in horizontal registers: bands of fine teardrop-shaped chattered marks alternate with a looser hand-combed wavy line band circling the widest point of the pot, building a layered, rhythmic texture typical of Onta decoration. The cream glaze pools and runs unevenly, with warm amber/ochre drips breaking across the pattern near the shoulder and a touch of pale blue-green flashing — natural effects of Onta's ash-feldspathic glazes fired in a communal climbing kiln (noborigama).

Details:

• Origin: Onta ware (Onta-yaki), Sarayama, Hita, Ōita Prefecture, Japan — traditional mingei folk kiln

• Form: Miniature spherical jar (tsubo) with short flared neck, narrow mouth, footed base

• Technique: Tobikanna (chatter-carved) teardrop bands alternating with hand-combed wave bands, in horizontal registers

• Glaze: Cream glaze with amber/ochre drip accents and pale blue-green flashing near the shoulder; neck rim, foot, and interior left unglazed in raw grey-brown stoneware

• Base: Unglazed stoneware foot, no visible maker's mark

• Condition: Good vintage/secondhand condition — please see photos for glaze crazing, small nicks to the unglazed rim, or firing marks

• Quantity: Single piece

• Dimensions: approx. (Diameter) 7–8cm x (H) 6–7cm