Japanese pottery and porcelain

Moriyama pottery 森山焼

Moriyama ware is pottery made in Mori Town, Shuchi District, Shizuoka Prefecture, and it follows the school of Shitoro ware. When they built the kiln in 1909, Nakamura Hideyoshi, also as known as Nakamura Tokichi the 1st, was inspired by the story of Kato Toshiro (Tamikichi), who restored Seto ware. So, he invited Suzuki Seison, a Shitoro potter, and they mainly made everyday tableware, tea utensils, sake sets, and flower vases. Their name was inspired by the name of their location, Moriyama, Mori Town.They currently have four potteries, Nakamura pottery workshop (Nakamura Tokichi), Seizan pottery workshop (Matsui Seizan), Seison pottery (more…)

Hanno pottery 飯能焼

Around 1832, Namiki Seikichi invited potters from Shigaraki and built a kiln in Hachiman Town, Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture, and made simple everyday pottery painted using the slip trailing technique. In their heyday, the kiln was as famous as Mashiko and Kasama in the Kanto region, but they closed in 1887. Namikihonke Hanno ware collection (more…)

Onta pottery 小鹿田焼

Onta ware is pottery made in Onta village, which lies in the center of Sarayama, a valley in Hita City, Oita Prefecture. They use many techniques including “Tobikanna,” “Uchi Hakeme,” “Yubikaki,” “Kushikaki,” “Uchikake,” and “Nagashikake.” Those pottery techniques were designated as Important Intangible Cultural Property of the country in 1995, and in March 2008, the whole village was selected as an Important Cultural Landscape under the name of “Onta Pottery Village.”They refrain from adding personal marks on their own ceramic pieces, which resiliently preserves folk pottery, thus many of their products come with the distributor’s label on them. Onta ware (more…)

Horikoshi pottery 堀越焼

Horikoshi ware is pottery inspired by Sano ware, and is produced in Horikoshi District, Mure, Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.It is said that in 1887, Uchida Zenzaemon, a resident of Sano Village, Sawa District (currently Sano, Hofu City), found the soil there suitable for pottery, so he built a climbing kiln and started a business in Horikoshi, Mureson Settlement, Sawa District.After that, the business temporarily declined, but Zenzaemon’s apprentices, Rinji Emon and Miyamoto Kamejiro revitalized the shingama kiln. By the start of the Meiji period, they had 19 potters, and in the heigh of their prosperity, they had 38 flourishing potteries. (more…)

Isshochi pottery 一勝地焼

Isshochi ware is pottery that was made in Isshochi, Kuma Village, Kuma District, Kumamoto Prefecture. In 1776, Migita Denpachi, a feudal retainer of the Sagara Domain (currently Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture), went to learn pottery techniques in Edo and came back. He then established a kiln in Shiromoto, Hitoyoshi. He invited Kawahara Hoko, a craftsman who made Satsuma ware in the Ryumonji kilns, and sought his guidance. After that, Denpachi immigrated to Isshochi and established a kiln. This is said to be the start of Isshochi ware. 日本遺産 人吉球磨58.人吉球磨のやきもの（上村焼、一勝地焼） – 日本遺産 人吉球磨 (more…)

Shodai pottery 小代焼

Shodai ware is pottery made in northern parts of Kumamoto Prefecture, such as Arao City.It is traditional pottery that has existed from the Kanei era, in the Edo period.It is made of Shodai clay, which has high iron content, and is known for its simple, powerful style.A delicate coloring technique is used to create blue, yellow, and white Shodai by adjusting the glaze’s mix ratio and the firing temperature. (more…)

Kosenjo pottery 古戦場焼

End of the Edo period – Early Meiji periodIt is one of the Owari ware of the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, and was fired by Seto potter Kato Katsusuke Harunaga in Okehazama, Chita-gun, during the brief period between Kaei (1848-54) and the beginning of the Meiji era (it is believed that the kiln was closed in 1871).The kiln fired mainly tea utensils and sake cups as well as daily life goods. (more…)

Tamamizu pottery 玉水焼

It is pottery originated by Ichigen who was the illegitimate child of the fourth generation Raku, Ichinyu, and is called Tamamizu-ware because the kiln was opened in Tamamizu, Minamiyamashiro.After the death of the first Yahei (Ichigen), it continued with the second generation Yahei (ikku), the third generation Yahei (Nindosai), and the fourth generation Yahei (Rakuo) (it is unknown in what generation it was finally abandoned). It is said that all of them were masters of Raku-ware, and even within ‘wakigama’ where there is a number of Raku-ware, they became associated with being the most well-known.It was common for works of (more…)

Sakuraisato pottery 桜井里焼

It is pottery from Settsu Province (Osaka Prefecture) Shimamoto Aza Village, Mishima District Sakuraisato. It is also known as Samurai Yoiyama-ware or Kusunokiko-ware.In 1782, a person called Shimizu Kanzo learned pottery from the first generation Dohachi in Kyoto and opened a kiln. From then until 1912, pottery spanning four generations had been produced.It is said that the first Kanzo came from the lineage of the Shukujin Kusunokiko family, and was set on becoming a potter in order to honor the history. Around the second generation Mokuzaemon, he invited Ogata Shuhei and Okada Kyuta from Kyoto, and left behind excellent work (more…)

Oro pottery 尾呂焼

It is pottery fired in Owari Province (currently Shimohadagawa Oro, Seto City, Aichi Prefecture) said to have been produced in the Kyoho era (1716-36). Also, since it is regarded as having been a kiln that violated prohibition at the time and produced illicitly, it is said to be extremely rare pottery with very little existing.There has been speculation about the excavated items with there being things like tea bowls, water jugs, sake bottles and Buddhist ritual implements, but very few kinds of daily necessities such as plates and containers. So, the possibility of the kiln belonging to a tea master (more…)

Shinonome pottery 東雲焼

In 1893, Kimata Toshiaki, who had samurai family ties to the Owari clan, opened a kiln in the Higashi Furuwatari district of Nagoya.Production centered on various daily life things such as tea implements, vases, and earthenware pots, but because there were a range of highly elegant and refined works, they created a lot of demand and he opened a sales office in Suehirocho. However, in 1924 the kiln was handed over to an antiques dealer, Yokoi Beikin.After that, Beikin devoted himself to research and study, improved them, and made implements and receptacles in the style of Annam, Karatsu-ware and Iga-ware. (more…)

Naniwa pottery 難波焼

It is said to have been originated by the potter Kuno Shohaku during the Enpo era (1673-81), but there are various theories that also say it had already been fired in the second year of the Joo period (1653).At first, it was also called Kozu-ware because it is said to have started near Kozu Shrine, in Kozu, Osaka (currently Tennoji Ward), but after that, it came to be called Naniwa-ware because the kilns were moved to places like Namba and Imamiya.Ordering clay from Kurodaniyama in Kyoto (Okazaki, Sakyo-ward), the range of production was wide including Goryeo’s gosu porcelain style, iron (more…)

Kishu pottery 紀州焼

It is mainly pottery by present-day artists that points to the work of first and second generation Samukawa Seiho. It is famous for the ‘Nachiguro glaze’ (Black from Nachi) tea bowls.Also, Kairakuen-ware and Nanki Otokoyama-ware, which were pottery for the Kishu domain during the Edo period, are also sometimes collectively referred to as Kishu-ware. (more…)

Oda porcelain 網田焼

It was originally founded around 1793 when Hosokawa Tatsuyuki, Uto feudal lord of Higo Province, invited several potters of Takahama-ware from Amakusa, of which Hizen potters Yamamichi Kiemon and Kiemon were instructing porcelain making at that time.At first, they made excellent pieces of work by receiving the patronage of clans, and offering presents such as ornaments and incense burners to various feudal lords and daimyo. However, from around 1822 patronage from the clans ceased so from then on they centered on producing daily life receptacles etc., but they kept falling into decline with the quality becoming naturally lower, and the (more…)

Nagayo porcelain 長与焼

Porcelain from Nagayo Village in Hizen Province (Nagasaki Prefecture) said to have originated around 1667. It was in production for about 200 years, with two revivals until the kiln was abandoned in 1859.It was first originated in 1667 by potters of the time, such as Asai Kakuzaemon, Onomichi Kichiemon, and Yamada Genemon, and continued production for over a period of about 30 years.Although production was discontinued for a while, someone called Tarobei from the same place in Hasami revived the kiln in 1712. After that, it flourished for about 100 years, but was abandoned due to the time’s fall in (more…)

Suisetsu pottery 酔雪焼

It originated around the Tenpo era (1830-1844) at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, when Tsuji Sobei of Nagoya, under the name of Niko, built a kiln in the garden of the Ryotei Suisetsuro, and made mainly tea bowls modeled on Raku-ware.In the early Meiji era, it was inherited by his child, Shojiro Tsuji, as Yosamu-ware. (more…)

Yosamu pottery 夜寒焼

Tsuji Shojiro the head of the Ryotei Suisetsuro and child of Tsuji Sobei (who originated Suisetsu-ware), started this pottery under the name Ryokodo Suigetsu in Yosamu-ri, Furuwatari, Nagoya around 1879. At first he got a reputation for firing masterpiece tea bowls, and established the Tsuji Ceramics Factory in 1896. He expanded the business and from then on also fired things used in daily life etc.In the early days, the style was soft pottery like Raku-ware, but there were many works with blue and white dyed porcelain using blue glaze, and pottery painted by neighboring Japanese painters (Yamamoto Baiso, Oda Kyousai, (more…)

Rakurakuen pottery 楽々園焼

It originated in the Manji era (1658-61), when Tokugawa Mitsutomo, the second feudal lord of the Owari domain, built an Oniwa-ware kiln at the Toyama clan’s residence in Edo. Originally the work was called Toyama-ware (戸山焼) or Toyama-ware (外山焼). This kiln was soon abandoned, but years later in 1841, the twelfth feudal lord of the time, Tokugawa Naritaka, invited potters from Seto and Akatsu to revive it, and often had them make imitations of the Seto-style and Raku-ware.Since clay from Sobokai was ordered, there are works that have ‘Sobokai’ stamped on them as well as ‘Rakurakuen’ and ‘Masaki’ seals, and (more…)

Azuma porcelain 東焼

In 1895, Nagoya’s Matsumura Hachijiro ‘s pottery was the first in Japan to imitate the pure white hard porcelain of France. He mainly produced things ranging from Japanese bowls to Western bowls.Hard porcelain has the advantage that the basic matter is harder than existing porcelain, and has strong resistance regardless of how low or high the temperature is, and so does not easily break. It is characterized by a more milky white color when compared to white porcelain. (more…)

Sakazu pottery 酒津焼

Pottery from Okayama PrefectureIn 1869, Okamoto Suekichi, who was a powerful figure in Sakazu, Kurashiki City, invited potters from all over the country to the kiln he had set up, to produce things like receptacles for daily use, tableware and sake cups.From the latter half of the Meiji era to the Taisho era, it flourished tremendously at its base in the Chugoku region, and in the Showa era, under the guidance of potters from pro-folk art groups such as Hamada Shoji and Bernard Leach, it developed into a folk art kiln, and continues to this day. (more…)