At first glance, you can see small plates with a variety of patterns, each one of them with beautiful designs.

But there's a little secret behind these patterns.

If you hold the plates up to the light, this is what you'll see:

How beautiful... You can see the light through it. Is there a hole in it?

Actually, there are no holes, so your drinks are perfectly safe inside. It's made with a special technique!

We'd like to introduce this beautiful tableware collection with lace-like translucency.

Beautiful "Hotarude" tableware

This tableware, with its beautiful translucence, uses "Hotarude" 蛍手, a kind of openwork pottery technique that originated in Ming dynasty China and was brought over to Japan, where it followed its own path as it adapted to Japanese sensibilities.

To make Hotarude, a pattern is hollowed out and the area to be decorated is covered with a special transparent glaze, then fired in the kiln.

When held up to the light, the hollowed-out area glows softly like the light of a firefly (蛍 hotaru in Japanese), hence the origin of the name.

It looks like there's a hole, but it's actually coated several times with a transparent glaze.

The grape SHOP has a wide range of "Hotarude" tableware, including sake pitchers and cups, with a beautiful translucent look.

Hotarude gold-trim cup and saucer set

This cup and saucer set features cups without handles in the style of sake cups. With the gold trim, they'll add a touch of glamour to your dining table.

There are four different patterns in total.

Nami (波) - Waves

Kumo (雲) - Clouds

Hana (華) - Flowers

Wa (輪) - Rings

They can either be used separately as plates and sake cups or together as cups and saucers.

You can serve tea cakes, sugar cubes, dragees, bonbons, or other small food items on the plates when entertaining guests.

The sake cup can also be used not only for pouring drinks but also as a small bowl for appetizers.

It has a luxurious design that may change the image of your usual dining table.

Hotarude gold-trim sake pitcher

You can use this sake pitcher together with the sake cups (and the saucers too, if you're also serving snacks to go with sake).

Just like the cups and saucers, they have beautiful gold trimming.

The elongated shape of the pitcher combined with the Hotarude pattern gives it a very elegant impression.

When used with the sake cups, it looks like this:

You can fill it with cold sake in the hot summer months, or with hot sake when the temperatures fall.

In addition to sake, you can also use it to pour oil or salad dressing.

This simple yet elegant and luxurious "Hotarude" tableware is recommended as a gift for people of all ages.

It can be used all year round, regardless of the season, so why not add it to your collection?