Kyo pottery and Kiyomizu pottery date back 400 years and have become symbols of Japanese pottery.
At the end of the Azuchi-Momoyama period and the beginning of the Edo period, a master potter, Nonomura Ninsei, appeared.  He was originally a potter in Niwa and then, in Kyoto, started making tea pottery and honed the Iroe technique of pottery with pictures on; he also made graceful Iroe pottery, which would be the basis of Kyo pottery or Kiyomizu pottery. His name spread throughout Japan.  Ogata Kanzan, his pupil, invented decorative and unique patterns on the pottery.  After Ogata, many potters made efforts to produce splendid pottery with refined and fine designs and involving great skill.
Now, not only high-grade tea pottery are popular, but coffee cups, too.  Fine, graceful and skillful pottery emphasizing  tradition exists alongside pottery that suits our modern lives; each form of pottery has a unique feel.