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 “Seigadou “is a specialty shop that specializes in selling a particular type of Arita ware called ”Sometsuke”.
In the old days, Arita ware was popular mainly in Europe as“Imari” porcelain.
Our shop was founded 70 years ago. We have specialized in selling a blue-and -white colored Arita-ware called “Sometsuke”. In Japan there are only a few shops that just sell Sometsuke Arita ware, even here in the town of Arita.

Since we are now remodeling our website we apologize for the inconvenience to our overseas customers. The reason for this is that we are creating internet shopping pages in the English language for the foreign Sometsuke fans so that they can purchase our  products more easily and in a safer way.

 We have a lot of modern Arita Sometsuke table ware which inherits the traditional technique of KO (old)-IMARI porcelain. Please discover the charm of the “Ai-no-utsuwa(blue-and -white porcelain)”.
Seigadou was founded by my father in 1946. In 1985 I took over the shop, remodeled and reorganized the shop into a company.  I changed the name from Seigadou to “Ai-no-utsuwa (blue-and-white porcelain) Seigadou”

Each Japanese Kanji character has its own meaning. The character “Sei” (青) means blue color. “Ga”(雅)  means elegance. “ Dou”(堂) means store. Our shop name Seigadou(青雅堂) means the store of blue elegant products.  When I remodeling the store, I renamed the store name to “Ai No Utsuwa (藍の器)(bule-and-white colored porcelain) Seigadou” because I wanted to specialize in selling blue-and-white Sometsuke Arita tableware of Arita ware. The Japanese character “Ai（藍）” means a color of indigo blue, and “utsuwa “（器） “ means tableware.

Arita ware, which was once transported from Imari port and exported through Nagasaki, gained high appraisal as a luxury porcelain in Europe at that time.  One of the reasons Arita ware was highly prized in Europe was the quality of porcelain stone used for making the basic clay of Arita ware. The porcelain stone was discovered for the first in the Izumiyama in Arita 400 years ago and this porcelain stones gives a unique warmth and texture to the clay.  Nowadays, Arita ware is made using stone from Amakusa which has the same characteristics as the original Izumiyama stone.

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Other reasons which made the Arita ware highly valued in Europe are its painting technique and design.  Artistic color drawings based on the beautiful white ceramics are the characteristic of the Arita ware.

Since painting of Arita ware requires high level hand painting techniques, and the multiple firing processes according to the number of color being used, most of them have been created mainly for art crafts

The oriental style of Arita wares influenced Meissen, where the first hard porcelain was manufactured in Europe, and many copies were produced. Furthermore, as a model of Meissen, the Arita ware styles spread to ceramics production through Europe and influence many later famous brands. Arita ware with high quality and luxurious decoration became popular and prized as their showcase collection among royal aristocracy at the time.

“Sometsuke”, a traditional painting technique that paint motif by blue color on the white ground, provides beauty as an art craft and high practicality. The texture that shows foods beautifully and the unique motif design of Sometsuke of Arita ware have been fascinating many people as high-class tableware. 

We, Seigadou think the true values in pottery are not only in how beautiful as an art craft but also in how much it enhances your life. The noble Sometsuke fulfills both of the essence and that is why we specialize in selling Sometsuke ware products.