japanese antique Imari ware blue and white small cup with design of octopus arabesque

Imari ware is the generic name for porcelain produced in Hizen Province (modern-day Saga and Nagasaki Prefectures), centred on Arita-machi, Saga Prefecture, where porcelain production is said to have begun in the 1610s when Toyotomi Hideyoshi brought back Ri Sanpei, who discovered ceramic stones used to make porcelain in the Izumiyama area of Arita.The name derives from Imaritsu (port), the port of shipment of porcelain.

Imari ware was the first domestically produced porcelain in Japan, as before that time only pottery made from clay and fired at low temperatures were produced in Japan.