Shiraishi Ware is pottery at Kitashigeyasu in Miyaki-machi, Saga Pref. It is characterized by the simple and nostalgic warmth. The craft dates back to the middle of the 17th Century, when local farmers began to make pottery as their side work. In 1806, a cadet branch of Nabeshima family in Shiraishi invited potters from the official kiln of Nabeshima Province, and opened another official kiln in Shiraishi, which has became a pottery town since then. Later in the late Edo period, sometsuke porcelains made by Soha Usui, a potter invited from Kyoto enjoyed a high reputation all over the country, from which ensured that Shiraishi Ware was also estimated as highly as Arita Ware. With the end of the shogunate system, Shiraishi Ware declined and they gave up making porcelains and only pottery items were produced.  In the early Showa period, most of the tea pots for sales aboard a train were made in Shiraishi. Presently vessels for daily use are mainly produced. Traditional techniques of tobi-kanna (creating carved patterns with a planer), yakijime (firing without glazing), and kakiotoshi (scraping the slip away to score marks on the surface) together with painting with modern tastes are applied to the white motifs and create this handsome pottery ware.