Chawan-ya Kyubei (Kyubei also wan kyuu is also known as Kyurobei) was a pottery merchant in Sanjo Kawaramachi, Kyoto. During the Meireki era (1655-18), through a business relationship with Aoyama Koemon, a potter in Arita, Hizen, he learned the secret Hizen method of kinrande firing, which he passed on privately to Ninsei. After working day and night, Ninsei finally produced kinrande, which marked the beginning of Kyoto akae (red painting). Later, the truth was revealed and Kouemon was executed, and Kyubei went mad upon hearing this. This is a legend in Kyoto, which was later adapted into a play called “Urkyu Monogatari” (Tales from the Bowls of Kyoto). Legend has it that Kyubei was a skilled puppet maker, but after recovering from his insanity, he did not sell the puppets he made to actors because he hated that his name had been tarnished in “Bouriku” and other such kyogen plays. According to a tombstone at Jissoji Temple in Teramachi, Osaka (Tennoji Ward), Kyubei died on the first day of September in the fifth year of Empo (1677). (Kanko Zusetsu, History of Japanese Ceramics in the Early Modern Period, Dictionary of Japanese Literature)
