Miyajima Osuna Ware

Miyajima osuna ware are ceramics from Hiroshima prefecture made by mixing sand (suna) from the main shrine at Itsukushima Shrine with clay. It originated in the mid-Edo period (1615–1868) and continues to be produced today in the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima, which looks out over Miyajima. After it was founded in 593 AD, Itsukushima Shrine was originally dedicated to the deities of navigation and safe travel.

In the Edo period, in Aki province (the former name for the Hiroshima region), a custom called Osunagaeshi (returning the sand) developed. When embarking on a journey, travelers would take some of the sand from under the main shrine building for protection and, upon their safe return, they would return the sand to the shrine mixed with sand from their destination locale. The sacred sand from the shrine, known as "osuna," fulfilled the role of protective talisman. One traveler who had safely returned from a journey made a ceramic vessel incorporating the sand that he had brought back and gave it as an offering to the Shrine. This event was the first step toward the ceramic tradition of Miyajima osuna ware.

The manufacture of unglazed pottery containing sand from underneath the main Itsukushima Shrine building began in Miyajma in the Bunka era
(1804–18) of the Edo period. These items, which were used in rituals, came to be known as osuna ("honorable sand") ware or shinshayaki ("divine sand ware"), because sacred sand was used. These ritual objects also came to be sold as souvenirs to worshipers.

In the Bunsei era (1818–30), with the aim of stimulating industry, the lord of Aki had pots containing Itsukushima Shrine sand made on the mainland near the island of Miyajima to be transported to the island and sold to worshipers as osuna ceramics.

Many people from all over Japan came to worship at Miyajima, and so the fame of osuna ware spread far and wide. Although they has had some dips in popularity, osuna ware ceramics survived through the Meiji (1868–1912), Taishō (1912–1926) and Shōwa (1926–1989) periods of the twentieth century and are still preserved by many people today. Today’s Miyajima osuna ceramics are the direct descendants of these original pots. Three producers are currently involved with Miyajima osuna ware, namely Kawahara Gen'eidō, established in the Taishō period, Yamane Taigendō, and Kawahara Keisaigama, which spun off from Kawahara Geneidō in the Shōwa period.