Sometsuke 染付 is one of the most important foundational aesthetics in Japanese ceramic history — and it is the aesthetic that most people globally instinctively associate with classical Japanese porcelain.
It began from Chinese Yuan / Ming dynasty blue & white. Japan initially imported ko sometsuke (古染付) from China early Edo — and then started to master their own.
Arita / Imari area was the first successful region in Japan to master porcelain production (17th C) Arita becomes the “home” of Sometsuke in Japanese identity.
