Although Kimura Morikazu now lives in the traditional pottery production area of Echizen, he hails from a pottery-making family in Kyoto. Rather than follow his father's manner of producing Kyoto ware with colorful overglaze enamel decoration on earthenware, he decided to become a specialist in Chinese-style iron-glazed stoneware known as temmoku. Temmoku is produced by firing vessels coated with an iron oxide-rich glaze in a reduction atmosphere (oxygen deprived). Typical temmoku is characterized by reddish-brown streaks against a purple-black background. A rare variation occurs when the glaze contains an overload of iron oxide and is allowed to cool slowly, producing crystals or iridescent "oil spots" on the surface of the glaze. This large platter is a spectacular example of this technique.