edo period

Ogawa Bunsai 小川文斎

1809–1885malekaseyama potteryotokoyama potteryIn the beginning, during the Bunsei era (1818–30), he went all over Japan touring various kilns to hone his pottery skills, and established his own kiln in 1839 at Tenma, Osaka. In 1847, he was invited by the head of the Ichijo clan to teach the Kaseyama ware technique, and in 1870 he was invited to teach the Otokoyama ware technique. In the latter years of his life in 1878, he established a kiln on the Kiyomizu hills, and his pottery style was subsequently inherited by the 2nd–5th generation (Ogawa Kinji).His particularly excellent wares are dyed porcelain, true (more…)

Okada Kyuta 岡田久太

?-1832malesakuraisato pottery The founder, Okada Kyuta (birthdate unknown–1832) also worked under the pen name Sakura Kyuta, and is said to have originated from Kaga, but this is currently unclear, and there are records of him working as a master ceramicist for Aoki Mokubei in Kyoto, earning him the title of Master of the Potter’s Wheel, and he mostly made thin teapots from white mud. Additionally, together with Ogata Shuhei, he also worked at the Sakuraisato ware kiln in Settsu. He passed away on 20 August.The name of Kyuta the 2nd (birthdate unknown–1877) was Kyubei and he inherited the founder’s potter’s (more…)

Okada Beisanjin 岡田米山人

1744–1820Okada Beisanjin was well-known as a master of Nanga (which focused exclusively on landscapes, birds, and flowers), and it has also been confirmed that he was on close terms with many artists and literati of the time and was versed in a wide range of fields, and this might have been what led him to dive into pottery in the latter stage of his life, creating tea bowls, ornaments, images of people, and tea ware in the Raku ware style, and his works branded with the stamps “Beisanjin” and “Uji” have been discovered intact. (more…)

Ohi Chozaemon 5th 五代 大樋長左衛門

1781 (or 1799)-1856maleohi potteryBorn as the eldest son of Chozaemon the 4th (Doan), he studied his father’s techniques and inherited the family business as Chozaemon the 5th in 1824.Patronized by the 13th Lord of the Kaga domain Maeda Narinaga, he presented the Opuku Tea Bowl to the court as is customary, and in 1850 demonstrated his skills in front of the 11th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ienari, at his main residence in Edo, maintaining his family’s legacy.Additionally, he was particularly good at making black tea bowls which use cut-out decorations and molds, and was said to be only second to the (more…)

Ohi Chozaemon 4th 四代 大樋長左衛門

1758–1839maleohi potteryBorn as the 3rd son of Chozaemon the 3rd, he inherited the family business and was well-known as a master artisan surpassing his predecessors, researching and developing the Ohi ware standard that include Ohi’s traditional candy glaze and Raku ware that used brown sugar glaze and white glaze. He made his mark with brilliantly made tea ware as well as artistic ornaments.In the year 1824, he retired and took on the name Doan. (more…)

Ohi Chozaemon 3rd 三代 大樋長左衛門

1728–1802maleohi potteryHe was born as the 2nd son of Ohi Chozaemon the 2nd, and inherited the family business. The 3rd’s branding stamp is different from his predecessors’ and uses a unique representation of Ohi, but he also preserved the works by the 2nd which were branded with oval-shaped branding stamps. (more…)

Ohi Chozaemon 2nd 二代 大樋長左衛門

1686-1747maleohi potteryHe was born as the eldest son of the first Chozaemon when he was practicing in Kyoto, and his birth name was Choji. He inherited his father’s name, Chozaemon, and business, and as the 2nd practiced the trade only for a short time, there are very few of his works that still exist, but his skills stood out the most among all the Chozaemon. (more…)

Obori Sama 大堀左馬

Early Edo periodmalesoma potteryHe established his kiln in Fukushima’s Obori. Later, he moved to Soma and rebranded his wares to “Soma ware”.During the Hoei era, he had 106 kilns. He drew pictures of horses on the teabowls and delivered them to be sold in the Kanto region. Later, in the Bunka era, he invited Kondo Tokichiro from Kyoto to learn and make even more sophisticated wares. (more…)

Ohashi Shuji 大橋秋二

1795–1857maleyoro potteryHe was born into the Inagaki family of botanists on the Nushima Island in Kaito District, Owari, but was later adopted by the Ohashi (Seiemon) Clan and mastered medicine.Shuji was a man of refined tastes and enjoyed tea ceremonies and painting, and he sought apprenticeship with Kyoto’s Ogata Shuhei and created replicas of various ceramic wares such as Seto, Karatsu, Hagi, Korai, and Mishimade. His outstanding talents were noticed by the Lord of the Owari domain, who invited him to court but he showed humility by rejecting the offer because it was not his primary job. Later in life, (more…)

Ogata Shuhei 1st 初代 尾形周平

1788–1839malekyo potteryBorn on 28 May as the 3rd son of the founder, Takahashi Dohachi, his brother (Nin’ami) became Takahashi Dohachi the 2nd.He trained under his father, Dohachi, and his brother, and moved to Kiyomizu Akoya, Kyoto in the year 1817, achieving independence but did not establish his own kiln and continued making pottery exclusively at the kiln shared with his father and brother at Gojo. In the next year, 1818, he was invited by Okada Kyuta to join the Sakuraisato ware school in Osaka’s Settsu. The next year, he was influenced by Ogata Kenzan’s pottery manual and took on the (more…)

Okuda Mokusa 奥田木左

1829–1879maleBorn as Okuda Mokuhaku’s son, he succeeded his father and took on the pen name “Mokusa”.It is said that he was a pottery master neither more nor less than his father, being talented at replicating Ninsei and Hagi’s wares and was commonly called Mokuhaku the 2nd. (more…)

Okuda Mokuhaku 奥田木白

1800–1871maleakahada potteryIn the beginning, he ran a shop (called Kashiwaya) selling household goods, but the family business was later closed down and he went independent with the name “Mokuhaku” and started making Akahada ware.His wares imitated Kyo ware in the beginning, replicating elaborate wares such as Ninsei and Satotomo’s wares, but he gradually started incorporating Nara paintings, Takatori and Hagi-style ware techniques, and even Raku ware and clay molds, showing talent in a variety of pottery schools. From artistic creations to decorating utilitarian vessels, he was and is still considered the master of Akahada ware, and his clay Noh ornaments (more…)

Daiki Toyosuke 4th 四代 大喜豊助

1813–1858malehoraku potteryBorn in the family of a potter who served the Owari-Nagoya clan as an official potter for generations. The family name of this kiln was Kato for generations, but after the third generation, the family name was changed to Daiki on his mother’s side. He is believed to be the fifth generation, although this is not known for certain due to the existence of multiple sources.He learned pottery from Kato Toyohachi, also he learned Japanese tea ceremony and literature of Kawamura Kyokuzen, and Haiku poetry of Yoshiwara Kozan.Other than Toyohachi’s pottery techniques, he also developed his own wares based (more…)

Kato Shubei 2nd 二代 加藤周兵衛

1848 – 1903maleseto porcelainKato Shubei was born the first son of first-generation Kato Shubei (business name: Haku-undo, ‘white cloud hall’), a potter who began making dyed Seto ware from around the end of the Edo period. In 1877, he inherited the household and took on the title Shubei II.While his father made blue and white ceramics, Shubei II received high praises from the Morimura Group (presently NORITAKE), and began producing ceramics for export overseas. Working exclusively with Morimura, he left behind wonderful pieces of Western-style tableware, which were characterized by their detailed art linework on thin materials. For the artwork, (more…)

Kato Monemon 6th 六代 加藤紋右衛門

1853 – 1911maleseto porcelainKato Monemon VI is part of a family of Seto ware potters who have passed down the title of Monemon for generations. The first-generation Monemon was active from around 1764 to 1780. The first three generations worked with firing pottery, but Monemon IV switched from firing pottery to firing porcelain in 1827 to meet the demands of the time.Monemon VI inherited his titled in 1870. He prepared for the new reforms issued by the Meiji government by refining raw materials and registering trademarks, and received high praises at exhibitions. Entering the decline of Meiji ceramic arts, in (more…)

Kato Zenji 3rd 三代 加藤善治

1848 – 1918maleseto potteryZenji is a name passed down through the generations of a family of potters in Owari.The first-generation potter was named Zenemon, who took on the artist name of Sobaitei and primarily created tea ware that paid homage to older works during the Bunka-Bunsei period from 1804 to 1830. He was also known for producing around 2,000 Kobo Daishi statues, which he distributed to the common people of the area, earning him the nickname “Kobo Zenji.”After Zenji I went into seclusion during the Tempo era (1830 to 1844), he passed his titles of Zenji and Sobaitei down to (more…)

Kato Gosuke 加藤五輔

1837 – 1915malemino porcelainKato Gosuke was born the first son of Kato Kaemon, who served at Kyoto’s Murakumo-gosho temple making blue and white ceramics.From the end of the Tokugawa shogunate to the early-Meiji era, he worked as a high-level artisan at Nishimura Enji III’s studio in Tajimi. Afterward, he went independent and worked under the name Seto Engosuke, using the skills he had learned to create products aimed overseas.He is well known as a quintessential Mino ware potter of the Meiji era, and was selected for a prize at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris. (more…)

Kato Shunji 加藤春二

1864 – 1945maleseto potteryKato Shunji was born the child of potter Kato Genju of Owari-Seto toward the end of the feudal era. In 1890, he went independent when he was bestowed an elliptical emblem bearing the characters for “Shunji” from Tokugawa Yoshiakira, the 18th generation head of the Tokugawa clan. Later, in 1909, the 19th generation Tokugawa clan head, Tokugawa Yoshichika, bestowed upon him a golden aoi (‘hollyhock’) emblem. Thereafter, he made works such as bowls for the Tokugawa clan using a kiln named Aoi-gama.His works favor a classical style, and shine for their use of traditional techniques such as (more…)

Kato Kagenori 加藤景典

? -1849maleseto potteryThe 15th Seto Akazu ceramics potter in line beginning from founder Masataka, active in the latter half of the Edo period.He went by the name Shunzan, and specialized in Ki-Seto (‘yellow Seto-ware’), Setoguro (‘black Seto-ware’), and Oribe pieces, but few of his works remain, and many aspects of his life are unknown. Details are unknown, but he is reportedly Kato Shuntai’s father. (more…)

Kato Kiheiji 2nd 二代 加藤喜平治

Mid-Edo periodmaleseto potteryReal name: Kiheiji. Kato Kiheiji was a Seto potter active in Owari Province (modern-day western Aichi) between 1764 and 1772. He left behind masterful works under the name Shunzan that feature thick applications of Oribe and Shino glazes. (more…)