Jun Kato: Handmade Japanese Tableware and How to Choose It

Jun Kato porcelain shows up in one form here: the small plate, made in Gifu, with a rim that sits low — closer to 2 cm than to the taller sides of a bowl. That low profile is the point. A plate this shallow is meant to be looked into as much as eaten from, which is why the decoration on each one matters more than it would on a deep bowl where the glaze disappears under the food.

Why the rim stays low

Porcelain takes a finer decorative line than pottery clay does, because the body is smoother and the surface fires harder. On Kato's plates that shows up as painted motifs — leaves and fish worked in blue, and dotted flowers and leaves worked in red — sitting crisply against the white porcelain ground rather than blurring into it. A low rim, around 1.7 to 2 cm depending on the piece, keeps that painted surface visible from directly above, which is the angle you actually see a plate from at the table.

Two plates, two palettes

The blue leaves-and-fish plate above uses a cool palette that reads calmly next to plain white tableware, with the fish and leaf shapes painted in the same blue rather than outlined separately. Set beside it, a second plate takes the opposite palette: red dots scattered among painted flowers and leaves, on a porcelain body about 2 cm deep at the rim. Where the blue plate is quiet, the red one is the piece you would put out to be noticed — as a single accent plate rather than one of a matching pair.

The plain option: ash-glazed and ridged

Not every piece in the range carries painted decoration. A third plate, the ash-glazed ridged small plate, skips the motif entirely in favor of texture: an ash glaze over a ridged surface, with a rim closer to 1.7 cm — the shallowest of the three. Where the painted plates work as a focal point, this one is built to sit underneath something else, a cup or a small dish, without competing with it for attention. It is the plate to reach for when you want the porcelain body and the low profile but none of the color.

Choosing between the three

If you only want one, the choice comes down to how much you want the plate to say. The blue leaves-and-fish plate works as a quiet everyday piece. The red-dotted plate works better as an occasional accent, set out for a guest rather than used daily. The ash-glazed ridged plate is the one to buy if you already own painted porcelain elsewhere and want a plain surface to rest it against. All three, along with anything else currently available, sit in the Jun Kato collection.