Hirado Ware Water Jar (Mizusashi)

Unlike the fire-breathing, gold-hoarding, and maiden-kidnapping variety in Western mythology, the dragon is a positive symbol in Asia as the bringer of rain and controller of floods and storms. Here, a dragon flies through clouds just above a turbulent sea. Appropriately enough, this jar was made to hold fresh water during the Japanese tea ceremony, or chanoyu 茶の湯. Water would be removed with a bamboo ladle and transferred to an iron kettle for boiling.

This water jar was made by a member of the renowned Imamura family in kilns at the site of Mikawachi in Hirado on the island of Kyushu. Hirado was famous for producing very high-quality, pure white porcelains with blue underglaze decorations. The design here cleverly combines blue underglaze for the waves with a design of clouds and dragons carefully incised, or cut, into the clay. The handle of the lid at the top is in the form of a minogame 蓑亀, a sea turtle so old that seaweed grows from its shell, like a long beard. It is a popular symbol that expresses wishes for longevity.