Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima osuna ware

In the Bunka period (1804-18) within the Edo period, the manufacture of unglazed pottery for use in rituals, containing sand from underneath the main Itsukushima Shrine building, began in Miyajma. These items came to be known as o-suna ware or shinshayaki, because sacred sand was used (shinsha in shinshayaki means “divine sand”). These ritual objects also came to be sold as souvenirs to worshipers. In the Bunsei period (1818-30), with the aim of stimulating industry, the lord of Akino had pots containing Itsukushima Shrine sand made on the Hiroshima Prefecture mainland and transported to Miyajima to be sold to worshipers as o-suna ware ceramics. Many people from all over Japan came to worship at Miyajima, and so the fame of o-suna ware spread far and wide.