《Characteristics》
Koito-yaki (Koito pottery) uses two types of clays as its “clay body”, a mixture of clays to form a specific pottery. It uses mainly the local clay dug from a mountain in Hida Furukawa, a town about 20km north of Takayama City (Gifu Prefecture, central Japan), and additionally Gairome clay (a type of kaolin) from Seto City (Aichi Prefecture, bordered by Gifu) to increase refractoriness of the clay body.

Koito pottery is basically glazed with “Irabo glaze”, which is a traditional, brown glaze and known for its somewhat coarse texture.

Recently, by adding some pigments into Irabo glaze, “Ao-Irabo glaze” (‘ao’ means ‘blue’ ) has been newly developed and become the most popular glaze color among Koito pottery.

Ao-Irabo glaze produces a tasteful, deep cobalt blue color—a special color which can be seen only in Koito pottery.

Today, Irabo glaze has three colors: blue, brown and Uguisu (close to olive-green). These colors are created by varying mixing ratio of pigments contained in the glaze.

After firing, the pottery is so hardened and the applied glaze is well vitrified (becomes glass-like); thus, the pottery doesn't easily absorb smells of food and is welcomed as daily tableware. At first, it can be felt slightly coarse because of Irabo glaze, but characteristically, the more it is used, the smoother it becomes; and also, the color will get more and more tasteful.

[Local Handicrafts in Gifu Prefecture]
Courtesy of Koito Pottery

Translation: Tae Yamaguchi