Collection: Seto Ware

Seto ware (瀬戸焼) comes from the town of Seto in Aichi Prefecture, where pottery has been made for more than a thousand years. Seto is one of the Rokkoyō (六古窯), Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, and the only one to have produced glazed ware throughout the medieval period.

The town's importance is written into the language itself: "seto-mono" (瀬戸物) became the everyday Japanese word for ceramics, regardless of where the piece was actually made. Few crafts get to name their entire category.

Seto's signature glazes are Ki-Seto (黄瀬戸, "Yellow Seto"), a warm yellow-green ash glaze refined for tea ceremony in the late 16th century, and Ko-Seto (古瀬戸, "Old Seto"), a deeper iron-rich tradition rooted in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.

From Nakagawa with Suigi Pottery, we carry an Essential Set of everyday rice bowls, plates, and mugs in both Ki-Seto and Ko-Seto glazes. Also from Nakagawa: two small dual-glazed vases — one shaped like a bird, the other like a vintage sake bottle — palm-sized, easy to keep with a single stem, and an easy size for a gift.

We also carry Setomaneki by Chugai Toen — a contemporary take on the maneki-neko (招き猫), the beckoning cat that has invited good fortune into Japanese homes and shops for centuries. Seto is one of the historical centres of maneki-neko production.