Black tea pot (kurojoka), Black Satsuma Ware

The most representative black Satsuma is the choka, meaning earthen teapot in Kagoshima dialect. The word is usually represented by the Chinese characters 茶家, but sometimes also千代香 or 猪牙. A well-known type today is the black chaka, a stylish shōchū (distilled liquor) warmer, which is mainly designed with a wide body that resembles the beads on an abacus. This shape, however, originated in the Shōwa period, and during the Edo period it was common to make the body round.