Onta Yaki Shallow Plate — Wavy Brushwork Rim, Ash-Cream Glaze, Wide Unglazed Footring

This shallow plate 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 clay in water-powered mills (karausu). The form is a simple wide, flat-bottomed dish with a gently curved wall and a dark iron-glazed rim edge. Unlike the tobikanna (chatter-carved) pieces in your other listings, this plate is decorated with a freehand painted wavy line band — loose, rhythmic brushstrokes in dark iron pigment running just inside the rim, a simpler and more painterly Onta decorative style sometimes called nagashigake or hakeme-adjacent brushwork, distinct from the combed or carved patterns. The interior glaze is a soft ash-cream tone with visible concentric throwing rings radiating from the center, and a fine crackle runs through the surface. 

Details:

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

• Form: Shallow, flat-bottomed round plate with dark rim edge

• Technique: Freehand painted wavy line border in dark iron pigment, rather than carved/combed decoration

• Glaze: Soft ash-cream glaze overall with visible throwing rings; dark iron glaze on the rim edge and on the raised central disc of the base, with a pale ash/slip drip accent

• Base: Wide unglazed stoneware footring surrounding a raised, dark-glazed central disc

• Condition: Good vintage/secondhand condition — please see photos for glaze crazing, light surface staining near the center, or firing marks

• Quantity: Single piece

• Dimensions: approx.  (L) 15cm x (H) 3.5cm