Asahi-yaki

Asahi-yaki (朝日焼) are a world-renowned pottery studio located at the foot of Mt. Asahi in Uji. Their founder produced wares for the tea ceremony in the late 16th-early 17th centuries, at the height of chanoyu’s artistic development, and his works were loved by chajin Kobori Enshū (who succeeded Furuta Oribe and Sen-no-Rikyū as leading tea master). Since then, Asahi-yaki have continued to make wares that capture Enshū’s aesthetic philosophy of ‘Kirei-Sabi’, which is a more refined take on Rikyū’s ‘Wabi(-sabi)’.

Today, they are headed by 16th generation potter Matsubayashi Hōsai XVI who leads his studio in producing wares for both the Japanese tea ceremony and for the brewing of loose-leaf teas. They continue to use local Uji clay, mined from the surrounding hills, which they call ‘hanshi’. Since the 8th generation head, they also make sencha and gyokuro wares out of porcelain from Kyūshu.