I have a first cousin who is a potter. We do not live near each other, and have met just recently for the first time.
We talked about pots, pottery places, pottery people, materials and techniques for hours.
It was the happiest "geeky" I can get outside the Potters Guild of NJ.
She has a beautiful studio, full of light.
We began planning to meet some months ago. In the meantime, she went to Japan on a gardens-and-pottery tour.
She brought home two little pots just for me. They are from Onta. The women of the potteries* in Onta process the local clay, rich and yellow in the raw state with iron oxide. The men of the potteries form them into pots on the wheel. The pots have white clay slip brushed and trailed on the surfaces, and chatter marks made with special trimming tools designed to hop over the skin of the pot lightly.
Now I have a teeny cup , and minuscule storage for something special, all the way from Onta village, Japan.
The yellow of the raw clay turned brown when fired in the kiln. The clear glaze darkens the brown further.
The covered jar is perhaps 3 1/2" tall with its lid on.
* A "pottery" is the place where pottery is made.