Tamori Pottery: Handmade Japanese Tableware and How to Choose It

Most pieces carrying the Tamori Pottery name are made to be picked up rather than admired from across a table: a rice bowl that fits one palm, a rim you trace with a thumb, a dish barely wider than a coaster. Saga, Japan is the origin behind all of it.

Porcelain is the default here

Pieces from Tamori Pottery come in Porcelain, Japanese porcelain, and Japanese pottery (ceramic), so the material shifts from piece to piece even within the same workshop. This large rice bowl, finished in a two-color fine-stripe pattern in blue, climbs to 6.4cm, tall enough to hold a full portion rather than a garnish.

Where the pottery pieces sit

Not everything from this maker is porcelain. This red small bowl breaks that pattern: it is Japanese pottery (ceramic), and its rim reaches only 2.5cm, low enough that it reads as a dish for a condiment rather than a course.

A flat plate finishes the set

Back in porcelain, a black carved plate measures 1.6cm at its rim, the lowest of the three pieces here. Line the numbers up and the pattern is clear: 1.6cm for the plate, 2.5cm for the small bowl, 6.4cm for the rice bowl. Height, more than color or pattern, is what tells you whether a piece is meant for a garnish, a side, or a full serving.

Browse the full Tamori Pottery collection, or go by shape with Plate, Small Bowl, or the Bowl Collection.