Kutani Yellow-Iroe Tsubaki 5pc Plate Set — Hand-Painted Meimei-Zara 14.5 cm

Kutani "Ki-sai Tsubaki" Yellow-Iroe Camellia 5pc Plate Set — Hand-Painted Meimei-Zara via Tōjudō (Ø 14.5 cm × 5)

The pattern — Ki-sai Tsubaki

The supplier's name for this design is 黄彩椿 (Ki-sai Tsubaki) — "yellow-coloration camellia." Tsubaki (椿 / Camellia japonica) is one of Japan's canonical kachō (birds-and-flowers) motifs, read traditionally as a symbol of longevity, fidelity, and graceful aging — the winter-blooming flower associated with the tea-ceremony's chabana floral arrangement in January. Each plate carries two blossoms hand-painted by the kiln: an upper white camellia with delicate red-line edging and small yellow stamens, and a lower full orange-red bloom — joined by a dark-brown branch with green iroe leaves, all floating against the yellow ground's fine speckle field. The plate's rim is wrapped in a deep purple-brown vertical-stroke wash that frames the composition.

The set

Five matched plates, each Ø 14.5 cm (5.7 in / supplier catalogue 4.8号) with a soft-square slight-wave (handa-gata) rim — the rim's intentional irregularity is part of the handmade-feel finish typical of Kutani modern artisanal commodity-tier. The 14.5 cm size is the classic meimei-zara (銘々皿 / individual small plate) form, sized for individual servings of wagashi, dessert, sweets-with-tea, small appetizers, sashimi-side, pickle-side, or as personal share plates at a table setting. Set of 5 is the conventional Japanese full-table grouping (5人組 / 5-person grouping), suitable for both daily use and gift presentation.

About the body

The supplier did not provide an explicit material spec for this SKU, but the observed white underside (Photo 3) and the Kutani-yaki tradition norm together indicate this is a fine porcelain (磁器) body — Kutani's standard material class. We mention the lack of explicit supplier spec for transparency; if you require certified material confirmation, contact us and we can request supplier confirmation before shipping.

About the underside seal

The plates carry a small turquoise-green underglaze square seal on the underside (Photo 3) — a Kutani signature mark. The seal's calligraphic strokes are present but at our photo resolution are not crisply legible, so we attribute this set generically as "Kutani via Tōjudō K9-180" rather than naming a specific kiln. If we encounter a clearer reading on the physical inventory, we may update this attribution.

• Made by Kutani-yaki via Tojudo in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, curated by ZenKiln.