Shigaraki-yaki Round Vase — Marui Seitō "Hechimon" Tama Form, 17 cm (Turquoise or White)

A 17 cm spherical Shigaraki-yaki vase from 丸伊製陶 (Marui Seitō) under their contemporary art-vase brand "へちもん" (Hechimon). The Tama (玉 "orb") form-class is a perfect ball form with a clean circular mouth, hand-finished with vertical kakitsuke drag-line incisions running top-to-bottom across the body. Available in two distinct glaze variants — choose the one that fits your interior.

Two variants

• Variant A — Seiran 晴嵐 ("Clear Storm Wind") TURQUOISE — A matte turquoise / cyan glaze across the whole sphere. The dark, unglazed Shigaraki clay interior is visible through the round mouth opening. Calm, atmospheric color — reads as Japanese sky-and-water blue.
• Variant B — Hakutessa 白鉄砂 ("White Iron Sand") WHITE — A cream-white speckled glaze with even iron-oxide flecks throughout, plus a distinctive fringed-glaze halo around the mouth where the white glaze drips and feathers in a sun-rays pattern revealing the warm tan clay beneath. Quieter, earth-toned reading.

Both variants share the same form, the same kakitsuke vertical drag-line texture, the same Shigaraki dark-clay body, and the same Marui Seitō Hechimon brand-line provenance. Pick by interior palette.

Made by Marui Seito / Hechimon Shigaraki Ware in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, curated by ZenKiln

About Shigaraki-yaki & Hechimon

Shigaraki ware (信楽焼) is one of the Six Ancient Kilns of Japan (六古窯 / Rokkoyō) — six pottery-producing regions whose tradition stretches continuously from the Heian and Kamakura periods (10th–13th centuries) to the present. Shigaraki was designated a Traditional Craft of Japan (経済産業大臣指定伝統的工芸品) by METI in 1976.

Marui Seitō's brand-line "Hechimon" (へちもん) takes its name from Shigaraki dialect: a hechimon is an "out-of-the-ordinary thing" — a deliberate, sculptural piece that breaks from convention. Their Tama (玉 "orb") form is the round-sphere counterpart to the taller, broken-rim Banju series (see our companion 24cm "Banju Natsume Vase" listing).

A note on the two glazes

Seiran (晴嵐) literally translates as "clear storm wind" or "mountain mist in clear weather" — a Japanese poetic phrase for the cool, calm atmospheric blue-green of mountain air after a storm clears. The turquoise glaze is named for this color-mood.

Hakutessa (白鉄砂) translates as "white iron sand" — referring to the iron-oxide speckle distribution that decorates the cream-white glaze ground. The "iron sand" effect is a traditional Japanese ceramic decoration where iron-bearing material is dispersed in the glaze to create the warm flecked appearance during firing.

Uses & display

• Single-stem ikebana or asymmetric small-arrangement vase
• Bud vase for cherry, plum, ume, eucalyptus, or grass branches
• Standalone sculptural object on a shelf, mantel, low table, or genkan entryway niche
• Pair both variants as a complementary still-life on a sideboard
• A wabi-sabi or modern Japanese interior accent