early 14th century

Kamakura period

Unglazed gray stoneware
H: 49.0 W: 40.4 D: 40.4 cm
Japan

Purchase F1998.79

Between 1100 and 1600, more than eighty regional kilns in Japan manufactured unglazed stoneware vessels in a standard repertory of wide-mouth vats, narrow-necked jars, and mortars. The versatile jars were used for any purpose that required a durable and watertight container, from storing seed grain to fermenting wine to interring cremated remains according to Buddhist practice. The makers of these jars were farmers who occasionally made pottery; thus the jars exhibit a range of skill.

This gray jar was made at a kiln in a region where the technology of earlier sue ware was adapted to produce heavier, flat-bottomed jars. Potters at such kilns continued to finish the jars with carved wooden paddles, which left their imprint on the textured surface, and the sue-ware firing procedures produced gray surfaces on the jars. Such wares gradually lost their market to kilns producing with more fuel-efficient firing methods, especially to those located near water transportation for efficient distribution.