Hyozan Kiln: Handmade Japanese Tableware and How to Choose It

Hyozan Kiln pottery is easy to recognize once you've held one piece from it: the surface carries a carved or shaved texture rather than a smooth glaze, and the shapes lean toward bowls, plates, and cups sized for daily use rather than display. The kiln works in Gifu, Japan, and Pottery (ceramic) is the material behind every piece on record.

A texture you can feel before you see it

The small plate above is a Gifu piece: a round plate with a thick shaved rim and green penetrating through the glaze, standing 2.6cm tall. The shaving technique leaves a ridged edge you can feel with a thumb, which is part of what distinguishes this kiln's plates from a smooth-rimmed alternative.

That same shaved, carved approach shows up across the kiln's other shapes too, from small plates through to the shallow bowls below.

One clay, one region, several depths

A shallow bowl from the same kiln measures 15.5cm across and 4.6cm tall, wide enough to serve a shared dish rather than a single portion. It is built from the same Pottery (ceramic) as the plate above and made in the same place, so what changes between the two pieces is depth and width rather than material or origin. At 4.6cm the wall is low enough to reach into with a spoon and high enough to hold something with liquid in it.

Choosing by shape and size

Bowls, plates, cups, and a rice bowl make up the shapes on record from this kiln. A cup in white slip, shown below, carries the same shaved surface treatment as the plate above but in a form meant for drinking rather than serving. Other pieces from the kiln range from a 3cm-tall small plate to a 12.5cm rice bowl, so the sizing spans single-cup to shared-dish use.

Where to start

Between a small carved plate, a shallow bowl, and a white slip cup, the three pieces above cover most of what this kiln makes. Browse the full Hyozan Kiln collection, or narrow by shape in the Bowl and Cup collections.