Kutani Wine Cup Pair — Bizan Kiln Kotori Shunshū Spring Autumn Bird 15 cm

Kutani Bizan Kiln "Kotori Shunshū" Spring & Autumn Songbird Wine Cup Pair — Gold-Stem Goblets, Ø 7.2 × H 15 cm

A paired set of two Kutani-yaki wine cups from 九谷 美山 (Bizan-gama / Bizan Kiln), Ishikawa Prefecture, distributed by 九谷焼の陶寿堂 (Tōjudō). The supplier's name for this design is 小鳥春秋 (Kotori Shunshū) — literally "Little Birds, Spring & Autumn" — a paired set of two cups divided by season: one for spring, one for autumn.

The paired motif

This is one of Japan's most beloved decorative idioms: 花鳥 (kachō / "birds-and-flowers"), divided across two cups so the pair stands for the turning year.

• Spring cup — A brown sakura branch sweeps across the white porcelain ground, hung with pink, white, and yellow cherry blossoms and teal leaves; a small blue songbird perches mid-branch, looking up at the new flowers.
• Autumn cup — The same branch reappears in autumn light: teal and green Japanese-maple (momiji) leaves in their late-October flush; a small brown-and-blue songbird perches in the same spot, looking down at the falling leaves.

Both birds are painted in the gosai (五彩) Kutani palette — red, green, yellow, purple, cobalt blue — outlined in iron-red and filled with hand-applied iroe overglaze enamel.

The form

A 21st-century Western wine-glass silhouette executed in Japanese craft: porcelain bowl + slim gold-toned metal stem + wide circular foot. Each cup is Ø 7.2 × H 15 cm (≈ 2.83 × 5.91 in) overall, holding roughly 100–140 ml of wine (approximate, not supplier-stated). The cups stand together as a his-and-hers / spring-and-autumn / kanpai pairing — well suited to a couple's anniversary, an engagement gift, or simply two glasses of plum wine on a quiet evening.

The kiln seal

Each cup carries the red square 九谷 美山 (Kutani Bizan) seal in red brush on the porcelain body, just above the join with the metal stem (visible in the bottom photo of either cup).

Care

The supplier does not specify microwave or dishwasher use, and the metal stem makes this set absolutely incompatible with microwave — metal will arc, and the iroe overglaze painting would not survive heat cycling. We recommend hand-wash only: warm water, mild dish soap, soft cloth; rinse and towel-dry promptly so water does not sit at the bowl-stem join. Because each bird and branch is painted by hand, slight differences in line work and color density are part of how kachō painting is made — not defects.

• Made by Bizan Kiln / Kutani-yaki in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, curated by ZenKiln. Distributed via 九谷焼の陶寿堂 (Tōjudō).