Since the main part of the History of Hizen Pottery is mainly about open kiln sites directly related to Joseon Dynasty, we have decided to include pottery sites that are not related to the main part of the History of Hizen Pottery, or are not closely related, or are unknown, as a separate volume.
Hizen ceramics have been made since very early times, and the earthenware in the shape of a jar about one foot long, which is now on display at the museum in Saga City, and the wide-mouth jar excavated from a field in the Mizo district of Jinno Village, Sakae County, are all relics of the ancient times.
Earthenware from Mikawachi
In front of the Aza Imafuku East-West Exemption Hall in Mikawachi Honmura, Oriose Village, Higashisonogi-gun, a number of earthenware vessels were excavated during the construction of a national road around 1882, some of which can be considered to be pots and pans from the Jindai period. Some of the pottery was found to be potsherds from the Jindai period, while others, such as the unmarked Yayoi pottery from Hamada Castle outside Karatsu City and the same pottery from Kamitabuse-cho, Saga City, were all identified as being from 2,000 years ago.
Yayoi Jar Coffin
Two unglazed jars, each measuring over four feet in height, were excavated in Yamazaki, Misatomura, Ogi County, and are said to be from about 1,500 years ago. Many Yayoi style jar coffins were found in Tashiro village, Yumida, Kinui-gun, Asahi village, Yabu-gun, and Nakahara village, Nakahara-gun, Yabu-gun. A pottery dish and a bowl over 6″ in diameter were excavated from the Kamii nagaya of Gochoda Village, Fujitsu County.
From a pass called Yoshinogari in Mitagawa Village, Kanzaki-gun, a jar coffin similar to the one described above was excavated whenever soil was dug up. It is 2.8cm high and has the same fitted shape. There are also earthenware with a height of 1.2 cm and a f5 cm. Also, earthenware with a jointed body of about 8cm in height or something like that was excavated from a clay pit called Sarugan in Higashio, Yabu-gun. There are also pottery from Kuma and Fuyuno, both in Fujitsu County, all dating back several thousand years.
Crested Pottery
Pottery and stone tools were excavated from the Onizuka burial mound in Kawakami, Asahi-mura, Kishima-gun. Yayoi style pottery was found in Takuda, Kanzaki-gun. The oshi-shaped pattern pottery from Senjogadani, Teragari, between Sefuri and Nibisan in Kanzaki-gun, and the Yayoi style pattern pottery from Kashiwazaki, Kuri-mura, Higashimatsuura-gun, are very good material for research. Other relics from the period of the Sanhan invasion are water bottles found in an ancient burial mound in Ozaki, Nishigo-mura, Kanzaki-gun.
Place name of Sakae
There is a theory that the sisters of the Tsuchigumo (clay spider) who built a shrine in Oarada at that time were wise women, and this became the name of the place, leading to the name of this area as Saka.
Doji Township
Doji Township is also known as Mikazuki Village (now Mikazuki Village) in Ogi County. In Kanzaki-gun, there are records of Doji-go place names such as Tsuru-mura, Goka-mura, Yokamachi, Yoka-machi, Hiragari, Mizubaba-mura, Doigami-mura, Tsuji-mura, Oomegari, and Nishimizo-mura.
The Beginning of Hizen Tiles
In the reign of Emperor Koutoku, the 36th Emperor of Japan, there is an article stating that tile burning began in the province of Hizen. At that time, the burning of roof tiles was a rare occurrence. Ancient roof tiles were not simple objects like modern products, but a type of architectural art with various patterns from Rirô.
Dongwei ware
Higashio-yaki is located in Shirakabe (Kitamoyasu-mura), Yabu-gun (today’s Sanyogi-gun), about 7 miles from Nakahara Station, where there were 130 households. The origin of Higashio-yaki is very old, and was started as a porridge test for a Shinto ritual at Chikuguri-Hachimangu Shrine in Chikugo-barrier.
The porridge test
The porridge was cooked on the fifteenth day of the New Year, cooled, and the ingredients were used to determine the good or bad harvest of the five shrines in the Kyushu area. However, one year, when the porridge was moldy and could no longer be judged, the traditional iron kettles were abandoned in favor of clean earthenware kettles, and these were replaced each year.
Matsumura Sweep
In the Kawamichi Township of Shirakabe, there was a man named Matsumura Sweep, a descendant of a Heike warrior, who was in charge of this task. (The ritual was changed to March 15.) The old document from this time is now in tattered condition, with black stains remaining in places, and the brocade used to wrap it is now only the fibers of the ground threads.
Mystical Production
After the production of this earthenware, they began to make miscellaneous vessels, which were considered mysterious at the time, and they always sat on a woven mat with a raven-hatted coat and went to the potter’s wheel to cleanse themselves. The succession of this pottery family was always passed down from one generation to the next, with the second and lower generations cooperating by helping to hand down the pottery to the next generation. The Matsumura family name was limited to one family. （In later generations, more and more people were engaged in this pottery business, mainly making roasting pans, but also making sehira pots and fire extinguishing pots, all of which are unglazed.
Hashiyama, Japan
During the Kaei era, Ogawa Genichi of Shiraishi, a neighboring area, tried Raku ware and produced various types of tea utensils. He was of mixed Dutch descent and called himself Nihon Sousan, and traveled to various potteries to study their production methods. He spent three years there, creating a kind of vermillion mud pottery, which is the style of Higashio-yaki today.
Ichijiro Koga
Koga Ichijiro (Ichiro’s foster father) was a master potter in the modern age. He produced a variety of unglazed ceramics with a brownish-brown ground that was polished to give the appearance of glazed ware, and some of them had a grain that could be mistaken for paulownia wood. This type of brazier has the advantage of maintaining the light catalyst and temperature control of hand-roasting, and it does not burn like porcelain. There are about 20 potters today, with an annual production value of about 20,000 yen.
Shiraishi Pottery
Shiraishi Pottery is located in the northern mountainous area of Shirakabe, Kitamoyasu-mura, present-day Kitamoyasu Village, Sanyogi County, about 10 towns away from the Higashio Kiln, a village of 50 houses. There is a legend that pottery production in this area dates back to the Genpei period, but the details are unknown. The raw materials were orange and steeple-colored clay from the area, and since the Kyouho era, the people of the township have made pottery as a sideline to their farming and a few other jobs. This place was the un-eup of Naohiro Yamashiro (8,616 stone), who was a member of the Katadae Nabeshima clan along with Higashio, and his genealogy is as shown on the left. (See Shiraishi Nabeshima Genealogy Map)
Shiraishi Shichirin
During the year of the Emperor, a man named Masuya Kinemon from Naruse (Tachibana Village), Kishima County, failed at his pottery business in the neighboring area of Ueno, and eventually took his wife and child and moved to Nakahara, near Shirakabe, to stay at a lodge. He came to know Tansaku Fukabori, who was in charge of the mountain office of Nabeshima Yamashiro (Naosho), the lord of this euphonious city, and invited him to come to Shiroishi to create pottery, and to use the clay to make fired earthenware such as shichirin and fire extinguishing pots to sell to the Kurume area.
One day, a family in the Kurume domain purchased a shichirin and used it in the castle. The shichirin was so popular because it was sturdier and more durable than conventional ones. The Masutani family history is as follows.
In Keizo’s generation, he was appointed to the position of azumakuri-ranked lord of the eup, and he changed his family name from Masutani to Matsumoto.
Fujisaki 110
In the 12th year of Kansei Era, a potter named Fujisaki Hyakuju from Nabeshima Clan’s kiln in Okawachi Mountain, Matsuura County, came to this place with his wife and children due to some troubles. The lord of the euphony dared to conceal the fact that he was making pottery in violation of the law, but the style of his work was exactly the same as Okawachi-soba. Thus, a certain Sato, a later generation of Fujisaki, also began to produce pottery for the lord of the oup.
Kyokubuchi Waemon
At the end of Bunka era (14 years before 119), Kyokubuchi Wajikomon, the treasurer of Nabeshima Kouchi (Naotaka), the lord of the eup, built his own kiln and invited workers from Arita to produce Hakkaso-yaki again. There are some sweets bowls with dyed maple leaves or painted rims, and some small plates with dyed decoration on their bottoms. The Saga clan also highly valued this pottery, calling it Nanking ware, and granted a number of licenses to Masutani Yoishi, his other family members Hanbei Dou, and Waemon.
Takeda Tsuneemon
He was also ordered to work at the imperial kiln in Kitao Township, Shirakabe, where he was studying the production of a type of pottery, and became a returning customer. (His son Ichiro succeeded to the Koga clan in Higashio.)
Sawada Haruyama
Next, the Oupu family was fortunate to have the arrival of Sawada Haruyama, a potter from Kyoto, who stayed at the factory of Nakayama Yohachi, a kiln owner, and made Kyoto-style tea ceremony utensils (Haruyama was formerly of Wakasa). (Haruyama, originally from Wakasa, first came to Iseya-cho, Saga, and later worked with Namura Tatsuzan on porcelain in Sue, Chikuzen (pottery for the lord Kuroda), and later came to Shiroishi to work with Husanami).
Usui Hashinami
During the Ansei Era, Kyokubuchi’s successor hired Usui Hashinami, a master potter from Kyoto. He was born into a family of former priests and was also known as Hosetsu, and in addition to his pottery skills, he excelled at painting flowers and plants, and was also skilled in the Eraku style of metal painting.
Since Hashinami’s arrival, the style of Shiraishi ware has completely changed to form a kind of local color with a touch of Kyoto style, and the products of this time are known as Hashinami ware. Unfortunately, he lost his eyesight and had to return to Kyoto, where he inherited the skills of two master potters among his students. He was succeeded by two master craftsmen: Kichijiro Noda in the craftsmanship and Kihei Nakamura (later changed to Kichi) in the calligraphy.
Matsushita-do
In the 10th year of Meiji (1877), Lord Shusei Jojima, a Shiraishi’s retainer (later president of Kobe Pier Association), discovered a new coloring glaze with a kind of bluish tint after traveling in China,
He left behind a piece with the Matsushita-do seal on it, which he separated from rekka-yaki ware.
Hashinami’s Works
His posthumous works include a seven-square-meter tall Tokugaru (sake cup) with peonies and orchids painted on the white rekkate with a brush in the shape of a peach and a seven-square-meter high porcelain bowl with peonies on the same hand, and a brush washer in the same hand with plum and peony design. Also in the same hand is a teapot with a hand-twisted side handle by Shunka with a high relief of hydrangea flowers and branches and leaves in gosu porcelain by Souba. Also, there is a 1.5 meter-long vase with a split-edge rim and peony edges in red and blue in the same hand, which was made for export by Husanami later, and was produced up to 3 meters in length.
Next, among the white porcelain produced by Suwanami, there is a hyun-decorated earthenware vase with four Chinese characters in the calligraphy of “Four Princes” written by Suwanami in 1869 (the inscription “巳” was written by Suwanami in 1869), and an excellent example of the same hyun-decorated earthenware vase with “Li Bai” written on one side and a poem by “Yun Sen” written in sloman on the other side. There is also a warming bottle with a high shape chrysanthemum design in stain, a teapot with a hagi edged side handles, a tea bowl and a sake cup. There are also white porcelain vases with red paintings of peonies (kumadori), plum blossoms (hana shoko kumadori), and chrysanthemums, as well as teacups (hana chinkin dama) with chrysanthemum paintings of autumnal oranges, bush clovers, lilies, boxwoods, and other flowers.
Other Shiraishi Pottery
There is a brown-glazed tea bowl with a raised twist, a rare brown ware with a black and white spiral pattern, a thin-stemmed kyusu (teapot) with a black and white spiral pattern, and a small flower stand of the same type, both made by Matsumoto Tenji. There is also a Keizo porcelain two-piece Kano style landscaped sake cup with dyed decoration, and a Kyokuchi semi-porcelain eight-piece sake cup with light blue rekkate made by Kyokuchi.
The Export Period of Shiraishi Ware
In accordance with the Important Products Association Law, a pottery cooperative was established in 1898 to develop the market both domestically and abroad, and all products were inspected.
Shiroishi’s modern products
Shiraishi is now only made of ceramics and porcelain, and although stoneware was once made with a small amount of Yoshida stone from Fujitsu-gun, it is now mainly made of local clay, including earthenware pots, brazier, jars, rice bowls, flowerpots, ink bottle wax dishes (5″ round or square cylindrical dishes with a brown glaze inside), and other items. (round or square 5″ round or square shaped waxed plates with brown glaze inside), etc. There are about ten potters, including Magosaku Sato, a descendant of Fujisaki, whose annual output is estimated at about 15,000 yen.
Ozaki Pottery
Ozaki Pottery is located in Nishigo Village, Kanzaki-gun, a village of 70 households. In the year Engen, Prince Kaira established the Seisifu in Kikuchi-gun, Higo Province, and a certain Kawachi Prefecture resident followed him to this area, where he established a pottery business. It is said that a man named Choemon, a pupil of Ienaga Hikosaburo, a potter in Chikugo Province, moved to Ozaki Village and made tea utensils from clay in this area, which he presented to Hideyoshi. His descendants, who were surnamed Tsuchiya, produced pottery from generation to generation, but this is not known.
Hanjin burial mound at Jetoribashi
There is a Korean burial mound near Jedori Bridge, about half a mile from Kanzaki-yi, bordering Anegawa village. It is thought that Anegawa Nakamitaisuke Nobuyasu, who served under Nabeshima Naomochige during the Joseon Dynasty, may have brought the local potters with him, but if the area from this stream to Ozaki is Kawakubo’s private euphony, it may have been Kiheiji Kamishiro who was accompanied by Ieyoshi.
Ozaki’s Old Pottery
Ozaki’s old pottery was unglazed, light in quality, white with occasional black spots, and had a tortoiseshell-like pattern, but it was very fragile. One hundred years ago, there were many famous potters such as Ito Eizakomon, Takayanagi Tahei, Shinozaki Isuke, Ishibashi Juichi, and Takayanagi Zenroku, who made miscellaneous wares and produced a considerable amount of output. Today, five other households, including Miyaji Ninzo, the successor to Takayanagi Yoshitaro (Zenroku’s son), are said to produce about 3,000 yen, about one-fifth of what they did at the time.
Current Products of Ozaki
Current products include earthenware such as fireboxes, braziers, burners, furnaces, clay pots, fire extinguishing pots, flowerpots, and roasting pans, as well as dolls and totekko (pigeon-shaped flutes).
There are also tile makers, but only to a limited extent, to meet local demand. In terms of style, the black spots on brazier tiles are reversed today, with white patches on a black background and black dots in the center of the white patches. The black mottling was reversed in modern times, with white patches appearing on a black background and black tokuten in the center, making it slightly more solid in texture.
Imayama-Shaped Ware
Imayama-Sho-Yaki is located in Kawakami Village, Saga County, about 2 ri away from Saga City. At the foot of a fifty-family house village called Yokobaba, in a thickly wooded tunnel, across two streams, and through a forest swarming with mountain mosquitoes, you will find warped shards of dyed porcelain strewn about.
The main raw material is Imayama stone, which was discovered on this mountain three hundred years ago and is said to have been used by the first Kakiemon of Minamigawara. The origin of this pottery is unknown, although there are inscriptions dating back to 245 years ago.
Old Imayama products
This small incense burner with three legs, which appears to be the oldest product, has a brownish color at the glaze edge due to the soft clay of the clay, and has the Hizen Imayama ware seal on the back of the rim.
The homemade pieces include a medium plate with a six-sided dish with a water-ash bottom, a tea bowl, a bowl, and a flower stand. The home of the home is a small space where you can see the home of the artist and the home of the artist’s family.
The nameplate of the Imayama Kiln Site
There is a nameplate of the historical site at the site of the Imayama Kiln. According to the plaque, in the 3rd year of Keicho, Naoshige Nabeshima ordered Masajun Taku Nagato to have a Korean, Lee Sampei, burn celadon porcelain at the Imayama Kiln. However, it would be a great hardship for anyone who has a heart to confirm this historical theory.
Imayama Pottery after the Meiji Restoration
Imayama Pottery also underwent many changes, and before the Meiji Restoration, the chief priest of Kawakami Jisso-in invested in Isaku Mori of Honjo-machi, Saga, to revive the decline of the kiln. Some of the kilns, such as the Taji house, were owned by Isaku, and have since been abandoned.
Daeganji ware
The name “Daeganji-yaki” refers to the kiln located half a mile from the aforementioned Yokobaba, at the end of a cemetery, which was used in the past for baking clay tiles. In the past, Hojo Tokiyori came to this place on a pilgrimage, and when he became very sick, he made a great prayer for his recovery, and in later years, five shrines (Nakai, Jingu, Eishin, Hime-taijin, and Kasuga Myojin) were built here, hence the name. On the bank, there is a tombstone of Otomo Hachiro Chikahide, who was killed in a surprise attack by Nabeshima Naomochi in August of the first year of the Genki era. The foundation of pottery production in this area is not known, although it is very old. The products include jars, water bowls, orchid bowls, etc. The pottery has been completely destroyed.
Ainoura Pottery
Ainoura Pottery is located at the foot of Amayama in Kitataku Village, Ogi County, where Aiura Castle (also known as Jooo Castle) was once the residence of the Aiura governor (later Sewi Tonosuke). There are many ancient relics in this area, and jade and other objects can be found here from time to time. The pottery industry has been completely abandoned, and there is no way to know the origin of the pottery, but the products of the time, such as plates and tea bowls, appear to be roasted brand ware, but the quality of the pottery is very delicate.
Kawakubo-Soak
Kawakubo-S燒 is located in Kubo-izumi Village, Saga County, two and a half miles from Saga City, where there are 360 households and 160 stations. There are three kiln sites located on a hill seven or eight chou east of Kawakubo: Otsukayama, Tateyama, and Sarayama. The most important thing is to make sure that you have a good idea of what you are looking for.
The homeme of the Kawakubo Kiln
The homemade cups are often decorated with a candy-colored glaze, white brushwork, or cosmetics on a gray or brown background. Many of these dishes and bowls were fired in the serpentine style, and not a few of them were glazed with a “sohake” technique. There are also thin lidded bowls and rimmed bowls.
Some of them are completely unglazed on a brown ground, while others are large dishes with gray or white glaze, and there are also pieces of candy-glazed ice cracker ware. There is also a medium-sized dish with a heart-shaped leaf of grass painted with gosu enamel. In short, the stoneware here is more like semi-porcelain, and was produced under the rule of the Kamishiro clan, a feudal lord in the first year of the Genroku period.
The Jindai Clan
The ancestors of the Jindai clan were the descendants of Takeuchi Shukune, the eldest son of Takeushinomikoto, the great-grandson of Emperor Kogen the 8th, who took the family name Monobe and lived in Mt. His son Yoshimoto was followed by his great-grandson Minbu Shosuke Yoshitada, and then his grandson Yoshimoto, who followed Ashikaga Takauji and was a distinguished military commander.
His descendant Katsumoto moved to Hizen Province, where his son Toshihisa married a woman of the powerful Jinnai Yamatomori Toshiyo of Kamisaka Senbu Village, and with her son’s victory and bravery, he followed Chiba Koki from the beginning, He came to compete with Ryuzoji Takanobu of Saga for supremacy, but upon reaching Nagara, he belonged to Ryuzoji and became the lord of 500 chou. He later became a subordinate of the Nabeshima clan, and held 4,300 koku in Kawakubo, residing at Nishihara no Tachi. The Jindai Genealogical Map is shown on the left. (See Jindai Genealogy Map)
Ochaya ware
There is another pottery called Ochaya-yaki in Kawakubo. It was produced by Naobo Ootachisuke Kamishiro, the future lord of Kawakubo, at his residence in Nishihara over 70 years ago, and is known for its skillful production of light celadon bowls and chrysanthemum-shaped plates. However, it seems that all of them are stoneware or porcelain.
Todojo Pottery
Todojo Pottery is located on a mountain behind Miyajitake Shrine in Matsubai Village, Saga County (2 ri north of the city), where the remains of a 10-kiln climbing kiln can still be seen. The products were first fired in red clay, and included mainly snowflake pots and kataguchi-nagago, as well as tea kettles glazed with nokko (green glaze). In a short time, he found the raw materials for porcelain at a place called Hiike on this mountain, and fired soft, light gray porcelain. The first products were dyed with gozu pigment, but later works were mainly colored with cobalt.
The first products were dyed with Ini pigments, but later productions were mainly colored with cobalt.
Matsugaya Pottery
Ogi’s Matsugaya Pottery was created during the Genroku period by the third Ogi lord Nabeshima Kinomori Mototake, who invited craftsmen from Minamigawara to build a kiln in his villa in Matsugaya, and began to produce pottery for recreational use in his garden.
The Ogi Nabeshima genealogy map is shown on the left. (See Ogi Nabeshima Genealogy Map)
The Matsugaya villa is located east of the Gion River, east of the Jiouwamatsu Village Office, and has an excellent view from its elevated location. Motobu established a factory here to produce celadon porcelain as well as white porcelain from amakusa (a kind of celadon made in the traditional Kakiemon style). The Kakumatsu inscriptions on Matsugaya porcelain are unknown, but it is likely that the Kakubaku inscription was used only on Kakiimon’s work. The Kakugaya porcelain was made for the amusement of the feudal lords without any profit, and was a very fine piece. The reason for this is that the sake cups were made for the entertainment of the feudal lords without any profit, and were so highly prized that even a single small sake cup was prized by the feudal lords.
Minamikawahara craftsmen
According to an old Ogi document of the time, on April 6, Genroku 12, Mototake, feudal lord of the domain, gave 50 monme of silver to Matsui Hyoumon, a pottery master in Minamigawara. On August 25 of the same year, there is a document stating that a silver coin was given to Tokuro Sakaida, an Arita potter. Next, in November of the 6th year of Shotoku, there is a record of a grant of silver and money for sake and snacks to Nagasaki Tozaakumon, a master of the same pottery. On September 9, 17, Genroku 17, there is a document stating that Shokokei teahouse keeper Zen’emon Yamada was given silver for his work. In the fifth year of the reign of the Emperor, there is a record of an akaegoshi. In the diary, there is also a note that reads, “Last autumn, I requested that the akae-eshi be granted, but since the editors are involved in a number of lawsuits, I am unable to grant the request at any time.
It seems that these artisans were all from Minamikawarayama, Arita Township, and were the same people who worked as potters in the production of Matsugaya ware.
In Kyoho 11, during the reign of the fifth feudal lord, Kagamori Naohide, it was transferred to the domain and a special official named Sarayama-kata was appointed to oversee the project. Naoei’s office also took a great interest in this pottery, and he is said to have encouraged it.
Incense Burner at Iwazoji Temple
The incense burner in the possession of Iwazoji Temple, an ancient temple in Iwamatsu Village, was made in the fourth year of the Genbun Era (1871), and has the inscription on the back of the burner as shown at left.
Dedicated to Matsukoya Sarayama
Hurrah, 4th year of the Genbun Era
Dedicated to Shokadani Dish Mountain, Tenzangu Shrine, Genbun 4
The back of the vessel has the following inscription on it: “Dedicated to Shokadani Sarayama Shrine at the fourth year of the Genbun era, on the good day of September. Although there are no historical records available regarding its subsequent history, it is clear that it was continued until the time of the sixth lord of the domain, Kii-Mori Naonori. Therefore, it is possible to see pottery smoke here until the An’ei period.
The Opening of the Matsugaya Kiln
If Matsugaya-yaki was started during the Genroku period, as mentioned above, there is a contradiction that it was started before the discovery of the use of amakusa stone in Shotoku 2. The question arises as to whether or not Motomochi Kii, the first lord of the domain, was the first person to create the monument.
The reason for this is that there is an old document from 14 Kan’ei, when a selection of potters in the Sarayama area of Arita was carried out, as follows. Old Document Against the Kii Governor
The following is an old document addressed to Kii-Mamoru from the Kii-Mamoru, and we are sending you a bill of sale for the following.
June 9
Taku Misaku-dono (Shigetatsu)
Morooka彥右工門 (Shigeyuki)
Of course, the magnet in Arita Izumiyama was so heavily regulated that not even a single stone could be transported anywhere else at the time, but I wonder if the Lord of Ogi was allowed to use it for some special reason. Kii-no-Motomo is the eldest son of Katsushige, and although he is actually the daughter of Katsushige’s wife, Kogenin’s attendant, Oiwa (Konishi San’ikumon’s daughter), he is the brother of the feudal lord Tadanao, so it is a matter to be studied whether his wishes were not satisfied.
Hinohi no Ike Burning
In addition, in Hino-ike, Kogeki Village, Saga County, pottery production began around 1917, but the kiln was abandoned in a short time due to lack of good raw materials. This is the end of the list of pottery production in Saga Prefecture, and the following is a description of pottery production in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Koga Dolls
Koga dolls are made in a village of about 30 houses called Fujitana in Koga-mura (formerly Kukan-mura), Kitakarai-gun, 32 chou (3.5 km from Nagasaki) from Kisatsu Station. This area was formerly the domain of Shigemasa Matsukura Bungo, lord of Shimabara Castle, but in Kan’ei 15, it was placed under the direct control of the Shogunate, without succumbing to the rule of Isahaya after the invasion by the Kirishitan.
During the Tenbun era, a samurai from Omura named Ogawa Kin’emon lived and farmed in this Koga village, but when he was the third generation of Kozaburo, a potter from Kyoto named Tokirikusuke came and stayed there for one year.
Kizemon Ogawa
During the Tenna period, Ogawa Kizemon, the second Ogawa Kizemon, was commissioned by the Lord of Higo to make ceremonial earthenware and studied the local doll making industry. During the Bunka era (1905-1926), the company began to produce dolls for the dolls and began to expand its sales channels. Until around 1909, three of the Ogawa family’s succeeding households made dolls, but from 1960, only two households made dolls.
In March of the same year, Gentaro Ogawa and Kotaro visited Saga and Fukuoka prefecture to see the places where clay dolls were made and made various improvements, but the sales channel has gradually declined. Today, Iemoto Kotaro is the only one who still makes clay figurines, and he continues to use clay from Kujeri.
Types of Koga Dolls
At first, there were eighteen types of dolls, including small owls, monkeys, cats, Pekinese pugs, drummers, and fukusuke, with only red and black coloring since the Bunroku period.
One of these dolls is a monkey holding a chicken. The story goes that a farmer on Shiwu Mountain once kept chickens, but they were kidnapped by a fox.
Other works, such as the Tuckjanggang doll, the Haiken doll, and the Aranda Kohitan doll, are all very simple and interesting in style. If the conventional coloring could be improved to more subdued colors, they would be even more elegant.
Kameyama ware
In the first year of Bunka Era, Kameyama-Shaping was established in Kakineyama, Irabayashi, Nagasaki Village, Kogi-gun (Nagasaki Village was incorporated into Nagasaki City in April, 1887). Jingohei Ohgami of Hachiman-cho, Nagasaki, in cooperation with Heibei Yamada, Kaemon Sawaya, Kahei Koga, and others, began to produce water jars that the Dutch were demanding year after year, and opened a kiln in the suburb of Irabayashi, which was called Mikayama-yaki.
Hida Yoritsune
However, when this manufacturing business did not yield the expected results, Heibei, Kaemon, and Kahei left the cooperative, leaving Jingohei to manage the business on his own. In the third year of the same year, under the protection of the Nagasaki magistrate, Hida Bungomori Raitsune, he hired workers from Arita to produce white porcelain from Arita stone, which was designated as the vessel to be presented to the shogunate by the magistrate, and the name was changed to Kameyama ware.
Jingohei Ogami
Jingohei himself excelled in drawing and painting, and some of his creations are reminiscent of the old dyeing techniques of China. Although he succeeded his younger brother Upei, he did not succeed himself as a master of the art, and both his fame and price declined.
Yagyu Hisabo
In the 12th year of Tempo, Nagasaki magistrate Yagyu Isemori Hisabo was also greatly encouraged by the government of Nagasaki, and he moved the bad soil from Bishu in the Qing Dynasty to produce sake cups, tea cups, and tea cups. The porcelain was painted with the so-called “tortoise landscapes”.
Itsukumo, Tetsuou, and Oumon
There were also some famous Nagasaki masters of the time: Itsukumo Kinoshita (a.k.a. Shikanosuke, a.k.a. Sosai, a.k.a. Kozai, a.k.a. Yochiku Sannin, Nyorai Sannin, graduated on August 4, Keio 2, aged 67) of Yawata-cho; Teeluo Sakae (a.k.a. Hidaka, graduated on December 15, 1871, aged 81) of Shuntokuji; and Omon Miura (a.k.a. Sosuke, a.k.a. Korejun, a.k.a. Sousuke, a.k.a. Akiho, a.k.a. Kariyo), who was a member of the Aisho Mechikaku (a.k.a. Kaijo Mechikasu, a.k.a. Kaijo Mechikasu), He was also known as “Fusukei” and excelled at landscape painting. However, the kiln was once again under financial difficulties and was abandoned by the third generation, Jingohei.
Ida Kichiroku
In 1858, Edo master craftsman Ida Kenzai (also known as Yoshiroku Fumiisai, a resident of Numa Village, Maritime County, Shimoso, graduated in 1868 at the age of 70) accompanied by his cousin Miura Kenya, worked to rebuild the Kameyama-So kiln, but left this area after three years due to a lack of funds.
Nagatsune Okabe
In September of the same year, Okabe Surugamori Nagatsune, a magistrate of Nagasaki, decided to further establish the Kameyama Pottery, and Kizakomon Kojima, an official from Edo, came to take charge, but the pottery was abandoned in 1886.
Pengasaki-Soak
Pengasaki-Soak was founded by Masairi Kabaike (later renamed Chikyu) of Higashihama-cho, Nagasaki, in Pengasaki, Fuchigo, Urakami-mura, Kappi-gun, in the 12th year of Bunka (1218).
Kabaike Mudaimasai
The next name is Nakamura Hideyoshi Kabaike, a former resident of Nakatsu, in the Province of Toyozen, who succeeded to the Kabaike family in Ginya-machi, Nagasaki. He succeeded Nakamura Hideyoshi Kabaike of Ginya-machi, Nagasaki, and produced elegant stoneware under the name Mutamesai. He produced a small number of works of taste, such as landscapes, flowers, and birds, as well as his own poems and writings of praise. He was born in Pengkezaki in 1868 and died in 1869 at the age of 67.
Peng Kesaki’s old products
Among his works, there is a teapot with a side hand and a square mouth on which a poem is written in white glaze on an unglazed iron ground, a water jar with a dragon carved on the side and a white glaze on the body, and a fire pot with a cloud pattern painted on iron. There is also a dish on which a Shokusanjin wrote a Nagasaki-accented Kyoka (“Kongen Tsuki wa etsutsu nakabai”), and another made from clay found in Suzhou, China, is inscribed with the words “Made in Suzhou, China. Thus, the pottery was abandoned during the Kaei era.
Akinoura Pottery
Akinoura Pottery was founded in the 4th year of the Ansei Era (1615-1715) in Akinoura, Yosa Township, on the opposite shore of Nagasaki. When the Nagasaki Steel Works was established, bricks for the works were fired near the present No. 2 Dock, and porcelain in the Aranda style was made from amakusa stone, with some of it decorated in red. When the dock was excavated, a kiln and many pieces of plates and bowls were excavated from the site. The name Hachikenya-S燒 is probably derived from the products of this area.
Inasa-yaki
Inasa-yaki was founded by Asakichi Kabaike, who abandoned his kiln at Pengasaki, in Hiradokoya, Fuchi, Urakami-mura, on the opposite shore of Nagasaki, in 1875. Some of the pieces were English-style imitations, and were also called fuchi ware. However, Hirado-koya became a resting place for foreigners in Ansei 3, and Asakichi moved to the aforementioned Kameyama.
Hasuda-Soak
Hasuda-Soak was made at the entrance to Urakami from Nagasaki, where there used to be a lotus field. The pottery produced at this site is known as Hasuda-yaki, but the site is not known for certain.
Kosone Pottery
Kosone-yaki was established in Nagasaki City in 1872 by Shintaro, the son of the then chief of the town, Kosone Rokusaburo, who produced dyed porcelain using amakusa (natural grass) materials. He invited craftsmen from Arita, Okawachi, Odashi, and other areas, and with his abundant financial resources, he produced porcelain that is highly praiseworthy.
Kosone Kendo
Rokusaburo was the son of Rokuzaemon and was named Kiendo. He studied standard style calligraphy under Shunroishi, slavish script under Zeni Kotora, art under the monk Tetsuo, and seal engraving under Yashizu Oshiro, and was especially well known for his engraving skills. On May 3, 1873, he received an order to engrave the national seal of Japan on the upper floor of the Ume-no-Ma (Plum Room) at the Imperial Palace, and he engraved the Great Seal of Japan on a large pure gold seal about 2″ square.
Kosone Seikai
Shintaro, whose name was Shintaro Seikai, also excelled at seal engraving, and engraved poems and calligraphy on some of his products. At that time, Kisaburo Matsuo, a famous potter from Odashiyama, Kishima County, was in charge of overseeing the production of porcelain, but he abandoned the kiln after only about three years. Tanaka Utaro, a former Shimabara clan member who lived in Odashi and for a long time made insulators at Nakao Mountain in Hasami, bought the materials from the abandoned kiln, but he did not have the funds to restore the kiln and sold them to others.
Kosone Zogan
A craftsman from Takada, Higo came and made inlaying hands, which were very beautiful, but they were completely abandoned within three years.
Yamasatoyama Pottery
Yamasatoyama-yaki is the product of Mabuchi Ryuseki of Matsuyama-cho, Urakami, Nagasaki City. He learned waka poetry from the Kiyomizu poet Rengetsu Ohtagaki at an early age, and then learned pottery techniques from the master of hand-twisting Rengetsu ware, Ryozan (Mitsuyoshi) Kuroda, who had given him a bowl. In 1886, when he was twenty-nine years old, he came to Nagasaki and worked as the final Kameyama-So-Yaki potter, but after abandoning the kiln, he went to various mountains and opened his own kiln in the same year.
Ryuseki’s Guidance
Four or five years later, he spent five or six years teaching Kohama-Sho-Yaki on the Shimabara Peninsula. He also lived in Nakaoyama, Hasami for ten years, where he studied under Baba Tsutsuzan. He also spent some years living with Katsutaro Matsuo in the Iwaya River, where his youngest son, Nagahisa (father of Hitoshi Matsuo), and others helped him to leave the area.
After that, he returned to his hometown and started making Yamasatoyama-yaki pottery, and in 1934, at the age of 83, he is still vigorously working at his craft. (His successor, Ryukoku “Eiichi,” has inherited his skills.) The raw materials used are mainly from Nagayo and Amakusa, but some clay from Kyoto is also used in rare cases. His works are made by hand, not by lapis lazuli, and consist of vases and tea utensils.
Ryuseki Products
Ryuseki products include a teapot made of red clay with a side hand, tea bowls, teacups, etc., covered with a brown glaze and then covered with a white or light yellow glaze, with elegant sansui to show the brown color of the underglaze glaze. There are also examples of this type of ware with white glaze on a chestnut-colored ground with a white glaze and a small amount of underglaze blue. He is also said to be good at making tea utensils in the style of the old days, such as the high relief landscape tea utensils made in Tang ware (unglazed).
There is also a sencha bowl with a reddish brown or light sumi ink glaze on the base glaze and coarse swirls of white brushwork on the glaze. There are also tea bowls that are unglazed inside the high porcelain bowls, but have the foot of the high porcelain bowl glazed with chadako. There are also a variety of elegant wares, such as a 5-inch-long Zundo flower vase with a black chestnut glaze marbled with white and splashed with blue between the glaze and the flower vase.
Choshuyama Pottery
Choshuyama ware was made by Jintaro Okano (later chairman of the Kobe City Assembly) in Nagasaki City’s Umezono Plum Garden around 1903/7, using materials imported from Satsuma, and was made in the Satsuma style with egg-colored ice crackers and topped with a Satsuma-style intricate painting. In other words, it was a very excellent piece of Satsuma ware made in Nagasaki, but it was abandoned in around 42 of the same year.
Nagasaki ware
Nagasaki ware was produced in Atago-cho (formerly Takaya Heigo) in the same city, and the kiln was owned by Nakahara Niichi, a native of Yamaguchi Prefecture. During the Kanbun era, a potter named Tomohei was hired by a Mori Clan official named Nakahara Tarozakumon Katsufumi to open a kiln on Shinguyama, Yoshiki-gun, Suo Province, but was forced to abandon it due to the death of Tomohei. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), during the reign of the 12th generation Nakahara Kanpo Katsuhisa, the second son of his relative Fujii Tsuneyan was adopted as his heir, who is the present-day Niichi.
He studied pottery under the ninth generation Saka Koraizakumon, and from 1894, he studied under Skitmor, an independent potter living in Osaka, for four years. In 1922, he joined a pottery cooperative in Katsu, Omichi-mura, Yoshiki-gun, and was in charge of teaching Sadaruso-Soaking, but moved to Nagasaki City in 1964.
Radium Clay
He found clay containing radium in the vicinity of Nagasaki City, and took over the materials from Choshu Yama-yaki Kiln to produce various elegant ceramics such as tea sets and flower vases, which were named Nagasaki-yaki by the governor of Nagasaki Prefecture, Ryusuke Lee. In November of 1926, he was ordered by the prefectural governor to visit the kilns on the Marai Peninsula. On March 21, 1922, he was visited by His Imperial Highness King Hirochu of Hwacho Palace, and in April 1929, His Imperial Highness Prince Haruhito of Kanyin Palace.
Nagasaki Ware Products
The raw materials used were the aforementioned Jurozan clay and Unzen Besso clay, and there were many products such as black tenmoku (outer glazed) Nankuri-shiri bowls and white Besso clay on a chestnut-colored ground with a grain like that of quail hands. A variety of products were also used, such as a true rim-colored surfacing glaze made by mixing heavy cholomate and chalcopyrite.
Urakami flowerpots
Sakamoto Kamezo of Ueno, Tachibana Village, Kishima County, has been making small flowerpots, seven rings, and fire extinguishing pots in the town of Hashiguchi, Urakami since 1927. He used clay from Choko and Gotō as raw materials, but now uses only Nagaoku clay.
Making Statues
In Okamachi, also in Urakami, there is Fujihiko Okumura, who has specialized in making sacred images since 1929.
He is also a native of Shimabara in Minami-Takarai, and had carved the statues in an old bath on Mt. He is commonly referred to as a statue-maker because he only makes sculptures related to the Christian faith using clay from Choko and Gotō.
Fujihiko, of course, is a Catholic, and his carving techniques are extremely impressive, as he is a devout and faithful believer in the Urakami Church of God, the home of the faith. In addition, he is able to produce works that are no less than one-third the price of traditional imported works, and that should be encouraged as a national product to help prevent imports.
Doi no Kubiyaki
Doi no Kubiyaki is located in Aza Egawa, Doi no Kubumura, Nishisonogi-gun, one and a half kilometers west of Nagasaki City on the western peninsula. This area once belonged to the eup of Fukabori Chushin Daisuke Junken (3,000 koku), and during the Keio period, the village produced black pottery such as mortars and flowerpots. In 1916, Chutaro Okabe and others in Nagasaki City established Nagasaki Toki Kabushiki Kabushiki Kaisha in cooperation with Chuji Fukagawa in Arita Town, and Chuji sent Uneme Jinichi from his own factory to build a kiln and make other preparations, and Chutaro became the president and manufactured rubber bowls and coffee cups for the South Sea using Amakusa’s inferior stones, but later lost demand as the rubber harvest declined sharply. However, with the drastic decline in the rubber harvest, the company lost demand and was forced to retire from business in 1929.
Doi’s neck tile factory
In the following year, Osaka Tougyou Kabushiki Kaisha, supported by Naojiro Takekoshi (Gifu Prefecture), the managing director and chief engineer of the aforementioned former company, decided to continue the business, and began to manufacture porcelain tiles mainly by adding Owari frog-eye to Amakusa stone, and changed the name to Nagasaki Porcelain Tile Manufacturing Company. The demand for these tiles came from Mitsubishi Shipyard, South Seas, China, Manchuria, etc., and the export of tiles to South Seas was also being done through the hands of Mitsubishi Corporation. Currently, there are 58 workers and the annual production is estimated at 50,000 yen.
Bizan Pottery
Bizan-yaki was produced by Hyakutaro Horibe with the cooperation of 23 investors at the port of Shimabara in Minami-Takarai County around 1894, and was also called Minato-yaki. Bizan is the name given to the mountain that rises in front of Unzen-dake (Mt. Unzen), which was once called Bizan.
The chief potter was Chusaku Nakajima of Arita Milieu Furuba, and he also employed Mitsunosuke Ushijima, Seiichi Tanaka, and ten other craftsmen from Mikawa as artisans. They built a seventy-eight-kiln climbing kiln and produced a wide variety of items, from six- and seven-inch plates of flowers and birds to tableware and vases, as well as carvings and buckwheat noodle hands. The pottery continued until after the Sino-Japanese War, but was abandoned after three years.
Kohama Pottery
Kohama Pottery in Minamitakarai County was founded 30 years ago by a man named Nakamura Shusaku, who began making pottery in a place called Yama-no-ue and abandoned the kiln within a year.
Honda Makisen
After that, Honda Makisen (Oyamoto) added Unzen clay to Kiba clay and produced a type of pottery that was his own personal hobby. It was made with a reddish white glaze, and the overlapping products were hibachi (brazier) and kettle hanging. These were molded by hand, and Makisen himself engraved ancient and modern poems and proverbs on them and inlaid them with iron clay.
There are also other types of pottery, such as candy-glazed and unevenly glazed pieces, most of which are inlaid with the aforementioned white glaze, as well as tea utensils, sake cups, and plates with dishes facing each other, all hand-twisted by Makisen, that are very elegant. At first, Ryuseki of Yamasatoyama Pottery was invited as an engineer, and Hashiguchi Sanjiro of Arita was also one of them. There are not a few pieces of his pleasure products that have been preserved for sale since his death.
Sheep and Maksen
Maken was not only skilled in the art of ink making, but also in the theory of managing various industries, and his failures have not gone unnoticed. The sheep farming on Mt. Unzen was also an invention of his, hence his own name of Makien. He also tried beekeeping, and even started a pottery business in Beppu, the capital of Japan. He passed away on August 9, 1932, at the age of seventy-eight.
Matsuura Shosen
One of Makisen’s students since childhood was Matsuura Shozen (Shoichi), who excelled at making plastic sculptures as well as cars, and had studied pottery techniques in various mountains, especially in Satsuma and Takatori. Later, while in China, he received news of his teacher’s sudden illness and returned to his hometown about sixteen years later, and after more than a month of nursing his illness, he bid his teacher a long farewell.
In addition to various types of tea ceremony utensils, Seon Seon’s works include a plastic sculpture with a white Xinghui glaze fired at about 1,200 degrees Celsius and a vase with a yellowish-white glaze with a Riro style color pattern. The study of celadon porcelain is expected to become a souvenir of Kohama, a hot spring resort of Sendo, located in the scenic Tachibana Bay area.
Unzen Pottery
Unzen Pottery is a small hell (145 households) on Unzen-dake, where the aforementioned Makisen opened a kiln with his wife, Shai-Sen, around 1913. The products were white- and green-glazed tiles for hot spring bathtubs and wall panels. However, this kind of ceramics was not suitable for this purpose, and even his marble changed over the years due to the action of the hot springs, making this project very unsuccessful. However, the ceramic whetstones devised in this factory were practical, and they were produced as coarse whetstones mixed with golden sand rather than fine white whetstones.
Classification of this volume
In order to avoid confusion, the Hizen Ceramic History is divided into the following nine sections: Shiinomine Kiln, Takeo Takeuchi Kiln, Ureshino Kiln, Hirado Mikawachi Kiln, Hasami Kiln, Isahaya and Yagami Kilns, Imari Minamikawahara Kiln, Sakae Okawachi Kiln, and Taku Arita Kiln.
In the case of the branch kilns, the Koreans of each lineage and their descendants mixed with each other and lived together in various places. As a result, many of the techniques are not distinguishable at all, and many of them may have been naturalized to the point where they cannot be distinguished from their original people due to marriage between Koreans and Japanese.
Potteries and Lords
The development of Pottery Mountain in this region is largely due to the protection and encouragement of the local lords. The lords also fought each other in war to expand their own power, and fought each other in war to take over other domains, some rising and some falling.
Even in the secret art of ceramics, the lords of the various mountains would set up systems to protect themselves from the invasion, and in the meantime, the art would rise and fall. The rise and fall of the lords, similar to the wars between lords, is of great historical interest.
Relationships among the Lords
The Hata clan of Karatsu, the Imari clan of Imari, the Arita clan of Arita, and the Matsuura clan of Hirado, among the lords of Hizen, all diverged from the same clan, while the Omura clan of Omura was related to the Arima clan of Shimabara, and the Goto clan of Takeo was also related to a married couple. The Omura clan of Omura is also related to the Arima clan of Shimabara, and the Goto clan of Takeo is also related by marriage.
Therefore, it is not useless to describe the lineage of the lords and some of the famous wars in each lineage in order to understand the situation at that time. However, as for the military history of the Ryuzoji and Nabeshima clans, we can learn a part of it in each lineage, and it is not easy to describe it in the Sakka lineage.
