The main volume of Hizen Pottery History focuses on the kiln sites that were directly descended from the Joseon dynasty, so we have decided to publish a separate supplementary volume that includes information on pottery sites that are not directly related to this, as well as sites that are only loosely connected to it, and sites where the pottery production is unknown.
As Hizen pottery has been produced since ancient times, there are examples on display at the Saga City Museum of Antiquities, such as the earthenware jars about 30 cm in diameter excavated from the slopes of Mt. Takagi in Kasuga Village, Saga County, and the wide-mouthed jars excavated from the rice paddies of Mitsumizo in Kamino Village, Saga County. such as the earthenware pots, which are about 30 cm in diameter, and the wide-mouthed jars excavated from the rice fields of Mimizo in Kamino Village, all seem to be ancient relics.
Mikawachi earthenware
During the construction of a national highway around 1882, a large number of earthenware vessels were excavated in front of a shrine in the village of Mikawachi, located in the village of Oriose in Higashi-Tosu County. Among these excavated items were some that could be seen as substitutes for pots from the age of the gods. Also, the undecorated Yayoi-style earthenware from the ruins of Hamada Castle in Karatsu City, and the same type of earthenware from Kamitafuse-machi in Saga City, were all judged to be from two thousand years ago.
Yayoi-style jar coffin
Two unglazed jars, each over 120 cm in length, were excavated at Yamazaki, Sanri-mura, Ogi-gun, along with a stone coffin. These are thought to be relics from around 1,500 years ago. In addition, many Yayoi-style urns have been discovered in the areas of Yasuida and Inuta in Tashiro Village, Kii County, and in the Asahiyama foothills and Kamijihime area of Asahi Village, Yobu County, and some of these are thought to be over 2,000 years old. In addition, earthenware plates and bowls over 6 cm high have been excavated from Kamiinagaya in Gojoda Village, Fujitsu County.
In the area of Mitagawa Village, Sanda, Kanzaki County (from the pass called Yoshinogari, whenever earth is dug up, the aforementioned urns are excavated. They are two feet eight inches high and the same width, and two urns of the same size are found together. There were also rare earthenware vessels 1 shaku 2 sun in height and 1 shaku 5 sun in diameter. In addition, earthenware vessels with a diameter of about 8 sun were excavated from a clay pit called Sarugan in Higashio, Yobu-gun, and other earthenware vessels were excavated from Kuma and Fuyuno in Fujitsu-gun. All of these appear to be several hundred years old.
Pottery with patterns
Pottery was excavated along with stone tools from the Onizuka tumulus in Kawakami, Asahimura, Kishima-gun, and Yayoi-style pottery was discovered in Takuda, Kanzaki-gun. Also, the stamped patterned earthenware from the Teragari Senjogadani site between Sefuri and Niiyama in the same county, and the Yayoi-style earthenware with patterns from the Kashiwazaki site in Kurimura, Higashimatsuura-gun, are extremely good research materials. Other items, such as the water bottles excavated from the ancient tombs in Ozaki, Saigo-mura, Kanzaki-gun, are said to be relics from the time of the Three Kingdoms Expedition.
The name of Saga
It is written in the previous section of the Japanese pottery history that in the reign of Emperor Keiko, the first ceramic statues of people and horses were erected in Saga in front of the gods, but there is a legend that the sisters of the earth spider who built a plan in Oharuta were wise women, and this became the name of the area, and the area came to be called Saga.
Tsuchi-no-kuni
The name Tsuchi-no-kuni is recorded in the Kojiki as the name of the village of Kamikura (now Mikazuki-mura) in Ogi-gun, and in Kanzaki-gun the names of the villages of Tsuru, Itsuka, Yoka-machi, Yoka-machi, Hiragari, Suibaba-mura, Doiue-mura, Tsuji-mura, Omegari, and Nishimizo-mura are recorded.
The beginning of Hizen roof tiles
There is an article that says that the making of roof tiles began in the country of Hizen during the reign of Emperor Kotoku, the 36th emperor of Japan. At that time, it was a rare time even to be able to make roof tiles. It seems that the roof tiles of ancient times were not just plain, like modern products, but were a type of architectural art with various patterns imported from Greece.
Azumao Pottery
Azumao Pottery is a type of pottery produced in Hakubeki (Kitamoyasu-mura), Yabugun (now Miyaki-gun), which is a one-night stop located 70 ri (approx. 220 km) from Nakahara Station. The origin of this Toi ware is very old, and the motivation for its creation came from the rice porridge tasting ceremony that is held as part of the Shikuri Hachiman Shrine’s rituals at the Chikugo ferry crossing.
The rice porridge test
On the 15th day of the New Year, rice porridge is cooked and then allowed to cool. The grains of rice that rise to the top of the porridge are then used to divine the harvests of the five shrines in Kyushu. Every year on the holiday of the 3rd day of the 3rd month, a family from the Hekizuka area of Chikugo Province would come to perform this test. However, one year, the rice porridge was not moldy, so it was impossible to judge, so the traditional iron pot was abolished and a clean earthenware pot was made, and it was decided that it would be replaced every year.
Matsumura Saburo
At that time, there was a man called Matsumura Saburo, who was said to be a descendant of the Heike clan, living in the village of Kawamichi, which was famous for its white walls. He was in charge of this task, and he searched deep underground for clean clay and made earthenware pots, and it is said that the oracle of the rice porridge test came out well, and this was an event that took place on the second day of the second month of the first year of Kenji (1275). (The date of the ceremony has since been changed to March 15th.) The old documents from this time have become so worn and tattered that they are almost black, but some of the original stitching can still be seen, and the silk wrapping has also become old and worn, with only the ground thread remaining.
Mysterious production
After this earthenware was produced, they began to make miscellaneous pottery, but at the time this was considered mysterious, so when making it, they would always sit on a mat in their eboshi ceremonial dress and purify their minds and bodies before facing the potter’s wheel. In addition, it was decided that the succession of this pottery family would be passed down from father to only one child, and the next child and below would cooperate by passing on the skills. And the Matsumura family name was limited to one family. (The descendants of this family still live in Kurume today.) In later generations, the number of people working in the pottery industry increased, and the products were mainly rokaku, with other items such as snow-flat pans and fire-lighter/extinguisher jars, all of which were unglazed.
Nihon Hashiyama
During the Kaei era (1848-1855), when Ogawa Genichiro of the neighboring town of Shiroishi was experimenting with various tea utensils, a man named Hashiyama came from Kameyama in Nagasaki. He was a child of mixed Dutch and Japanese parentage, and called himself “Hajiyama” (meaning “running mountain” in Japanese). He traveled around various pottery-making areas, researching the production methods. He stayed here for three years, and it was during this time that he created a type of pottery in the reddish clay style that is the current style of Higashio pottery.
Ichijiro Koga
Ichijiro Koga (Ichiro’s foster father) was a master potter in the modern era. Nowadays, various unglazed ceramics are being produced, and some of them have a luster like glazed ceramics, with a brownish-red base that is polished to reveal a wood grain that is almost indistinguishable from paulownia wood. This type of brazier retains the feel of a hand-brazier and allows for temperature control, and its advantage is that it does not burn out like porcelain. The annual production of the twenty or so potters of today is around 20,000 yen.
Shiroishi ware
Shiroishi ware is produced in a village of 50 households located in the mountains to the north of Hakubeki, Kitamoyasu Village, Miyaki County, about 10 towns away from the location of the Azumao kiln. There is a legend that pottery making in this area began in the Genpei period, but the details are unknown. The raw materials are orange and red clay that is produced in the surrounding area, and since the Kyoho era, the locals have been making a small amount of pottery as a side business while farming. Together with Azumao, the Katatae Nabeshima clan, led by Yamashiro no Kami Naohiro (8,616 koku), was based in Umeyama, as shown in the family tree to the left. (See the Shiraishi Nabeshima Family Tree)
Shiraishi Shichirin
During the Horeki era (1751-1764), a man named Masutani Kaneukomon from Naruse (Tachibana Village) in Kishima County failed in his pottery business in the neighboring Ueno area, and he and his wife and children decided to go to the Chugoku region. On the way, they stayed at an inn in Nakahara, near Shirokabe. At that time, a census-taker came to the area and the village headman, Nabeshima Yamanori (Naoshiro), learned of the situation. Kaneku was invited to Shiraishi and began making pottery, using the local clay to make charcoal braziers and fire extinguishers, which he sold in the Kurume area.
At one time, a member of the Kurume clan purchased these charcoal braziers and used them in the castle, and they gained a good reputation for being more sturdy and durable than conventional products, and this is how the reputation of Shiraishi charcoal braziers came about. The lineage of the Masutani family is as follows.
In the time of Keizo, he was specially selected by the village headman and given a lighter tax rate, and he changed his family name from Masutani to Matsumoto.
Hijikata Hyakujyu
In 1800, a potter named Hijikata Hyakujyu from the Nabeshima clan’s kiln in Okawachi, Matsuura County, fled to this area with his wife and child due to certain circumstances, and he created a type of white crackle ware that resembled semi-porcelain by using a type of stone called Gokokusan from Amakusa. The village head was embarrassed by the fact that he was making pottery in violation of the ban, and tried to conceal it from the clan, but the style of the pottery he made was exactly the same as that of Okawachi ware. In this way, Fujisaki’s successor, Sato, also came to make pottery as the village head’s official kiln.
Kubuchi Kazuemon
At the end of the Bunka era (1818), Kubuchi Kazuemon, the treasurer of the Nabeshima clan (Naotaka), built his own pottery kiln and invited Arita potters to work there, producing Hakuranki ware. These were made using only the clay from this area as the body material, and include sweets bowls with designs such as scattered maple leaves and rim-painted ring-shaped patterns, as well as small dishes with a sun-dried bottom. In the Saga domain, they were also highly prized and called Nanking ware, and in particular, Masutani Yoishikomon, his branch family, Hanbei, and Waikomon were granted some special permission to produce them.
Takeda Tsuneemon
After that, Takeda Tsuneemon of Shirakabe Kitao was ordered to work at the imperial kiln, but while he was researching the production of a type of black pottery (ceramics), he became a guest who never returned, so the imperial kiln was passed on to his son, Takayoshi, who was two years old at the time, until he reached the age of 15. And while Jo-kichi was still a young adult, the feudal system was abolished (Jo-kichi’s son Ichiro took over the Koga family in Higashio).
Haruzan Sawada
Next, the village headman was fortunate to have the Kyoto potter Haruyama Sawada come to the village, and he was placed in the factory of the potter Yohachi Nakayama to make Kyoto-style tea utensils. (Haruyama was originally from Wakasa, and first came to Iseyacho in Saga, and later worked with Tanzan Namura to make porcelain in Sue in Chikuzen Province (for the use of the lord of the Kuroda clan), and together they later came to Shiraishi (they collaborated on some pieces), and he was given a stipend of 100 rice measures per day.
Usui Hasunami
In the Ansei era (1855-1860), a certain descendant of Magaribuchi hired the famous Kyoto potter Usui Hashiba. He was born into a family of former Shinto priests and was known as Yoshizo, and also had the pseudonyms Koyu and Hoshetsu. He was skilled at painting flowers and plants on ceramics, and was also skilled at the gold lacquer technique of the Eiraku style.
The style of Shiroishi ware changed completely from the style of the Rōhō ware, and a local color was formed that was reminiscent of the style of Kyoto, and the products of the time were also called Rōhō ware. However, the master of this style of pottery, who was a skilled potter, unfortunately became blind and had to return to Kyoto, and two of his students succeeded to his skills. These were Noda Kichijiro in the field of pottery and Nakamura Kichibei (later changed to Gokichi) in the field of pottery calligraphy.
Matsushita-do
In the tenth year of Meiji, Shiroishi clan retainer Jojima Shizuka (who later became president of the Kobe Pier Company) discovered a new type of blue-tinged colored glaze after traveling around China, and
left behind works with the Matsushita-do kiln mark on them, including crackleware and yakibuki ware.
Hosoba’s works
Hosoba’s last works include a 21cm tall sake bottle with peony and orchid designs in underglaze blue on a white crackle background, a 17cm tall peach-shaped confectionary dish with pine and peony designs on the same background, and a 17cm tall washbasin with plum and peony designs on the same background. Also, there is a teapot with a spring flower motif, which is hand-twisted and has a high relief of hydrangea flowers, with branches and leaves in underglaze blue. Also, there is a vase with a red lapis lazuli interior, which is decorated with a split rock peony design, and has a rim that is 1 shaku (approx. 30 cm) in length. This type of product was made for export after the Hōsai period, and was produced up to a size of around 3 shaku.
Next, there is a white porcelain teapot with a design of the Four Gracious Plants in underglaze blue, which is inscribed with the words “Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Shouka Sh There are also items such as a high-form teapot with a design of chrysanthemums in underglaze blue, a teapot with a design of bush clover on the side, and a tea set and cups with a design of wild geese. There are also white porcelain tea bowls decorated with peonies (flower-patterned Kumadori), plum-patterned tall-shaped bottles, chrysanthemum-patterned sencha tea bowls (flower-patterned Chinkin dami), and others decorated with autumn roses, bush clovers, lilies, pomegranates, etc.
Other Shiroishi ware
There is also a tea pot with a brown glaze and a twisted handle, and a rare brown-glazed teapot with a white and black spiral design and a small flower design. There is also a two-sho tokkuri (sake bottle) made by Keizo in the Kano style of underglaze blue and white, and a half-porcelain eight-sho tokkuri (sake bottle) made by Magaribuchi.
The Export Period of Shiroishi Ware
Shiroishi ware was exported to foreign countries to meet the tastes of foreigners at the time, and in 1908, a pottery association was established under the Important Products Association Act, and the market was developed both domestically and internationally, with all products being inspected.
Modern Products of Shiraishi
Nowadays, the production of white needles and porcelain has ceased, and only pottery is made. In the past, there was also the production of stone ware using a small amount of Yoshida stone from the Fujitsu district, but now it is mainly teapots that are made using only local clay, and other items such as earthenware pots, fire bowls, jars, bowls, flowerpots, inkwells, candleholders (wooden candleholders with a brown glaze inside, in the shape of shallow round or square dishes about 15 cm in diameter) etc. continue to be produced. There are about ten pottery workshops is said to be around 15,000 yen per year, with around 10 kilns, including the descendants of Fujisaki, such as Magosaku Sato.
Ozaki O
zaki ware is produced in a village of 70 households in Saigo-mura, Kanzaki-gun. In 1336, when Prince Kaneyoshi was ordered to establish a military government in Higo Province’s Kikuchi County, he settled in this area of Kawachi Province and began making pottery, which was passed down through the generations. One theory , a younger brother of the earthenware craftsman Ienaga Saburo of Mizuma County in Chikugo Province, settled in Ozaki Village and made tea utensils from the local clay, which he presented to Hideyoshi. His descendants took the name Tsuchiya and continued to make pottery for generations, but the details are unknown.
The Korean Tomb at Korean Tomb at the Serpent Bridge
There is a Korean tomb near the entrance to the Serpent Bridge, which is located about half a ri from the Kanzaki Station and borders the Anegawa community. one wonders whether it was not the case that the local potter was brought along by Nakatsukasa Taisuke Nobuyasu, who followed Nabeshima Naoshige to the Korean campaign, but if the area around Ozaki is considered to be the village of Kawabukuro, it is thought that it may have been the people who accompanied Kiyohira Jihei.
Ozaki Pottery production in the olden days
The old products of Ozaki were unglazed and light in weight, and although they had black spots on the white surface, which gave them a tortoiseshell-like pattern, they were extremely fragile. a hundred years ago, there were famous potters such as Eizakemon Ito, Tahei Takayanagi, Isuke Shinozaki, Juichi Ishibashi and Zenro Takayanagi, who produced a considerable amount of miscellaneous pottery. In modern times , the successor to Yoshitaro Takayanagi (Zenro’s son), and five other potters, the total production was said to be about 3,000 yen, which was one-fifth of the production of the time.
Ozaki current products
The current products include earthenware such as hibako (fire boxes), hibachi (fire bowls), kama (earthenware stoves), shichirin (earthenware charcoal braziers), koshitsu (earthenware fire extinguishers), flowerpots, and rokaku (earthenware baking trays), as well as dolls and totteppo (pigeon-shaped whistles).
There are also some people who make roof tiles, but they only make enough to meet the demand of the local area. Furthermore In terms of style, the black spots on braziers, etc. are reversed in modern times, and items are produced with white spots on a black background and a black dot in the center, and the texture has also become slightly more solid. They are then polished several times when they are still slightly damp, and the shine is increased to make them good products.
Imayama yaki
Imayama-yaki is produced in Kawakami-mura, Saga-gun, about two ri from Saga City. at the foot of the mountains in the village of Gokabo, which is called Iyama, there is a tunnel of thickly growing mixed trees, and if you cross two mountain streams and fish in the forest where there are swarms of mountain mosquitoes, you will find pieces of distorted blue and white porcelain lying abandoned there.
The main The main ingredient was discovered on this mountain 300 years ago, and it is now known as Iwayama stone. The origin of pottery making here is not known, although there are oral traditions that date back 245 years.
The oldest product old products
The oldest product, a small incense burner with three legs, has a brownish glaze and the Imayama ware seal on the back.
Other The remains of the kiln include many inferior pieces, such as a six-inch deep dish with a design of a landscape in underglaze blue, a shallow bowl, a bowl, and a vase. Some of the older pieces have a good underglaze blue, but it seems that all of the later pieces were made using only cobalt blue for the underglaze blue on everyday items.
Imayama Signboard at the site of the kiln ruins
A signboard has been erected at the site of the kiln ruins. states that in 1608, Nabeshima Naoshige ordered Taku Nagamori Masajun (this is probably Anjun) to have the Korean potter Yi Sam-pyong make celadon ware here. It is probably very difficult for anyone with a conscience to accept this historical account.
Imayama After the Meiji Restoration
Imayama-yaki also went through many changes, and in order to revive the decline that had set in before the Meiji Restoration, the priest of the Jissoin temple in Kawakami arranged for Isaku Mori of Honjo-machi in Saga to invest in the kilns, and the fourteen potters of the area formed a cooperative to produce Imayama-yaki , until around 1881-82, the seven-room climbing kiln was busy belching out clouds of smoke, but it later declined, and some of the land, including the rice fields and residences, was transferred to Isaku’s ownership, and now it has completely fallen into disuse.
Daigan Daigan-ji ware
Daigan-ji ware is named after the Daigan-ji temple, which is located about half a ri away from the Yokobamba area mentioned above, and is said to have been used for the production of Nunome roof tiles in ancient times. Hojo Tokiyori came to this place on a pilgrimage and fell ill, and as his illness was very serious, he made a great prayer for recovery, and in later years he built the five shrines (Nakaai, Jingo, Ojin, Hime-no-okami, Kasuga Myojin) here, and this is how the place got its name. Also, on the bank of the river , there is a tombstone for Otomo Hachiro Chikahide, who was killed in a surprise attack by Nabeshima Naoshige in the first month of the first year of Genki. The origins of pottery production in this area are very old, but the details are not known. The types of products made here, such as jars, water bowls, and orchid pots, have now completely died out.
Aino Ura ware
Ura ware was produced at the foot of Mt. Tenzan in Kitatsukamura, Ogi-gun, where the castle of Ura-no-kami Mononobe (later known as Ura-no-kami Nukata) stood in the olden days. has many ancient relics, such as the excavated Magatama beads. The pottery industry has now completely died out, and even its origins are unknown, but the products of the time, such as plates and tea bowls, look like they were made using the rokakuyaki method, but the pottery is very finely fired.
Kawakubo Kawakubo ware
Kawakubo ware is named after the village of Kuboizumi in Saga County, which is located two and a half ri from Saga City and has a population of 350 households. is a hillock called Otsukayama, Tateyama and Sarayama, and there are kiln remains in all three places. It is said that the kilns here were unusually large for Hizen kilns, with each one measuring over six feet in length and width, but now the land has been completely cultivated and is used for growing red clay, and the land is completely planted. can be seen on a hill called Sarayama, but the other two places are rarely found.
Remains of the Kawakubo Kiln
The remains are mostly gray or brown in color, and many of them have been glazed with a caramel-colored glaze or a white brush pattern, or have been decorated with a decorative glaze. These are often made using the “snake’s-eye” technique, but there are also many with a glaze applied over the entire surface. There are also thin-walled tea bowls with lids, and bowls with rims.
Among them are unglazed brown bowls, grey-glazed bowls, and white-glazed bowls, as well as pieces of cracked ice-glazed ware. There are also plates have leaves of heart-shaped grass painted with underglaze blue. In short, the stoneware here is rather like semi-porcelain, and it is said that it was produced in the first year of the Genroku era (1688) under the rule of the local lord, Kamishiro.
Kamishiro The ancestors of the Kamishiro family were the descendants of Takeuchijukune, the eldest son of the great-grandson of Emperor Kogen, the eighth emperor of Japan, and they took the surname Mononobe and settled in Takarayama, Chikugo Province. In 1185, they changed their surname to Kamishiro, and settled in Kumashiro Village, Chikugo Province. Yoshimoto, the great-grandson of Yoshimoto, was a military commander under Ashikaga Takauji.
His descendants moved to Hizen Province during the time of Katsumoto, and his son Toshihisa married a woman from the powerful Jinnai clan of Kamisa Kasenbu Village. Their son, Katsutoshi, was a man of unparalleled bravery and courage, and he first served under Chiba Katsunari, but later became the lord of the castle at Kanzaki Shozanose as the lord of the castle, he wielded his military power over a large area, including parts of the three counties of Sawara, Naka and Itto in Chikuzen, and he even came to compete with Ryuzoji Takanobu of Saga for supremacy, but on his way to Nagara he came under the control of Ryuzoji and became the lord of 500 chou. Later, he came under the control of the became a retainer of the Shimazu clan, and ruled over 4,300 koku in Kawakubo, living in the Nishihara residence. The genealogy chart is as shown on the left. (See the genealogy chart)
Ochaya-yaki
There is also a type of pottery called “Ochaya-yaki” from Kawakubo. was produced by the later lord, Kamishiro Ooisuke Naohiro, at his residence in Nishihara, and included skillfully made items such as light blue porcelain tea bowls and chrysanthemum-shaped plates, but the products that are handed down today are extremely rare and cannot be seen. they are all stoneware or porcelain.
Tuduki Castle Pottery
The remains of a climbing kiln measuring about ten ken in length can still be seen on the hillside behind the Miyajidake Shrine in the village of Matsubai (located about two ri north of the city) in Saga County. The products were initially fired in a climbing kiln using red clay, and mainly produced snow-flat pans and single-handled ladles. Within a short time, porcelain raw materials were discovered in a place called Hichiike on this mountain, and soft, light grey porcelain was fired. was produced using the mineral pigment known as “Gosu” for the first products, but later products were mainly colored with cobalt.
This pottery was founded sixty years ago, when the tea house of the aforementioned Kawakubo family was closed down. It is said that a man named Kousuke began making pottery here, and not long after the discovery of the raw materials, he began making porcelain dishes and other tableware. from the discovery of raw materials, he turned to the production of porcelain and made dishes and other tableware, but within a few years, it was as if the kilns had been abandoned.
Matsugaya ware
Matsugaya ware from Ogi was produced by Nabeshima Mototake, the third lord of the Ogi domain, who invited artisans from Minamikawara to build a kiln at his villa in Matsugaya during the Genroku period (1688-1704).
Ogi Nabeshima The family tree is as shown on the left (see the Ogi Nabeshima family tree).
The Matsugaya Villa Sho is located to the east of the old Iwamatsu village office on the east side of the Gion River, and is a place with a high, clear view. Mototake set up a factory here and had white porcelain and celadon made using materials from Amakusa, and some of the pieces, such as the one pictured above, are exactly the same as the Kakiemon style, and among them are pieces with underglaze blue There are also dishes with a design of pine, bamboo and grapes, and a dish with a design of pine, bamboo, plum and iris, etc., which have the Kakiemon family crest, and there are also celadon dishes with a diameter of 6.3 cm. In particular, there are many Matsugaya It is unclear when the porcelain was first made, but there are many pieces with the Kakumatsu mark, and it seems that only the Kakumatsu mark was used for pieces made by Kakiemon. were produced as a popular pastime without any thought of profit, and so they are extremely high-quality works. For this reason, even if a samurai of the time obtained a single small cup, he would cherish it as if it were a priceless gem, but since there were so many products made during this period, the number of items that remain today is rare.
Minamigawara craftsmen
In the Ogi ancient documents from that time, there is a document from the feudal lord Mototake dated April 6th, 1699, in which he gives 150 monme of silver to the Minamigawara potter Matsui Hyoemon. There is also a document dated August 25th of the same year, in which he gives silver to the Arita potter Sakaida Tojuro. Next, there is also a record of In November of the same year, there is a record of giving silver and food and drink to the same potter, Nagasaki Tozaemon. There is also a record of giving money to Yamada Zen’emon, the tea house keeper at Shokakei, on September 9th of the 17th year of Genroku. There is also a record of giving money to the red-dyed cloth maker in January of the 5th year of Hōei. Also, in the diary it says, “Last autumn, the red-painting artisans requested to be employed, but since they were involved in a lawsuit, they were not employed.
It seems that it seems that these potters were all from the Minamigawara area of Arita, and that they were the potters who worked on the production of Matsugaya ware.
Then, in the 11th year of the Kyouhou era In the 11th year of the Kyouhou era, under the rule of the 5th lord of the domain, Kaga-no-kami Naohide, the production of these wares was taken over by the domain, and a special official called the Sarayama-kata was appointed to oversee the production. Naohide’s wife was also said to have been very interested in the pottery, and to have encouraged the production of these wares from the side.
Incense burner from Iwakouji Temple
The incense burner in the collection of Iwakouji Temple, a historic temple in Iwamatsumura The censer in the possession of Iwakura-ji, a temple in Iwamatsu-mura, was made in 1739, and on the back of the vessel is the following inscription.
Dedicated to Matsukadani Sarayama
Tenzan-gu, 4th year of Genbun
Dedicated on the auspicious day of the 9th month of the 4th year of Genbun
There is also a record that in the 4th year of Enkyo, the Sarayama area was entrusted with the role of There is no historical record of the subsequent history of the kiln, but it is said that it continued to be used until the time of the sixth lord of the domain, Naoi Naomasa. Therefore, it is thought that pottery smoke could be seen rising from this place until the An’ei era (1772-1781).
Matsugaya Opening Kiln
The legend of this Matsugaya ware is that it was made by artisans in Minamigawara using Amakusa stone as the raw material, but if it was created in the Genroku era (1688-1704) as mentioned above, there is a contradiction in that it predates the discovery of Amakusa stone in the second year of the Shoutoku era (1717). Perhaps the question arises as to whether the first was not the first lord of the domain, Motoshige Kii-no-kami, is a problem that arises.
It is not to be overlooked that there is an old document as follows when the selection of potters in the Arita Sarayama area was carried out in the 14th year of the Kan’ei era. Kii-no-kami’s response to the old document
One potter As for the two people, please do not dismiss them. The Kii governor has sent us a letter, and we are now sending you this letter. If there are many potters, please let them know that they can work in the mountains. We will send you a letter with a seal, so please understand.
June 9th
Takumi Mimasu (Shigenobu)
Morioka Hikoemon (Shigenobu)
Of course, at the time, the Arita Izumi mountain porcelain was strictly controlled and not even a single stone could be taken out of the area, but for some special reason, I think that it was allowed to be taken to the Ogi domain lord. And then, Motomaro was the eldest son of Katsushige, and was actually born to a lady-in-waiting of Katsushige’s wife, Iwa (the daughter of Konishi San’emon), but as he was the elder brother of the lord of the domain, Tadanaga, it is a matter that should be researched as to whether or not his wishes were particularly granted.
Hinoike Pottery
In addition, pottery making began around 1917 in Hiiike, Koseki-mura, Saga-gun, but the kilns were closed down after a short time due to the poor quality of the raw materials. This marks the end of pottery making in the Saga prefecture, and we will now move on to the pottery making in the Nagasaki prefecture.
Koga Dolls
The Koga dolls are made in a village of about 30 houses called Fujidana in Koga Village (formerly Kuga Village) in Kitakamigun, which is 32 chō (3.5 miles, or 3.5 ri) from Kikitsu Station (3.5 ri from Nagasaki). This area was originally was the territory of the lord of Shimabara, Matsukura Shigemasa, but after the Christian uprising of 1637, it was made a direct domain of the shogunate, and was not subject to the control of the domain of Isahaya.
During the Tenbun era a samurai from the Omura clan named Ogawa Kinko, became a ronin and settled in Koga Village, where he worked as a farmer. When he was in his third year as a farmer, a man named Tsuchikishi Hitachisuke from Kyoto came to stay with him for a year . It was in the first year of Bunroku that he began making clay figurines of the Ogawa style while working as a farmer, having studied under Kosaburo after he had made clay vessels for Shinto and Buddhist use.
Ogawa Kizo Uemon
In the Tenwa era (1532-1555), the art of making earthenware for ceremonies was entrusted to him by the lord of Higo Province, and he is said to have researched the making of dolls while he was there. In the Bunka era (1804-1818), the business expanded somewhat when Kimpo Ogawa began making Hina dolls. Until around 1909, the dolls were made in the Ogawa family home in Mitsuno, but from 1912 they were made in Ninohe.
At the time, Nagasaki Governor Kensuke Ando Ken’suke Ando, the governor of Nagasaki at the time, encouraged the production of these dolls as the only local dolls in the prefecture, and in March of the same year, Minamoto and Kotaro Ogawa inspected the clay doll production areas of Saga and Fukuoka prefectures, making various improvements, but the sales gradually declined. The current producer is now limited to the Iemoto Kotaro family, and the clay used is still that of Kokonoe.
Koga doll types types
The first dolls were small in size and came in 18 different types, including owls, monkeys, cats, Shiba Inus, drum-playing Buddhist monks and Fukusuke dolls. The coloring was limited to red and black, in the style that had been used since the Bunroku era, but later yellow and purple were added were added, and from around the Tenwa era, the number of dolls increased to 33 types, including Chinese, Dutch, Genroku dolls, and warrior dolls, and this tradition has continued for several hundred years.
Among these dolls is one in which a monkey is holding a chicken. If you listen to the history, in the old days, a farmer in the Shiyu Mountain area used to keep chickens, but they were occasionally stolen by foxes, so one day, when he was leaving the village, he asked the monkeys in the mountains, who he loved, to look after his chickens , and when he returned home, he found that one monkey was holding a chicken in its arms. This incident became a big hit at the time, and it was a romance-themed work.
Other works include Tsukkyan-gyan (shoulder puppet), Hiken (a monkey wearing a drum-shaped hat), and Aranda Kobidan, which have a very simple style and are very interesting. Furthermore, if the traditional coloring were to be improved to a more subdued color, it would have a more elegant feel.
Kiyama Ware
Kiyama ware was first produced in 1804 in the Kakineyama area of Iraginogo, Nagasakimura, Hizen Province (Nagasakimura was incorporated into Nagasaki City in April 1889). It was a collaboration between Jingohei Omi of Nagasaki Hachiman-cho, Heibei Yamada, Kaikomon Sawayaya, Kabei Koga and others, who produced water jars that were in demand by the Dutch year after year. They opened a kiln in the suburb of Irabin, and this was called Kameyama-yaki.
Hida Yoritune
However, as this manufacturing business did not bring in the expected profits, Heibei, Kaemon and Kahei left the association, and it became a business run by Jingobei alone. In the third year, they came under the protection of the Nagasaki magistrate at the time, Hida Bungo no Kami Yori Tsunenari, and hired artisans from Arita to produce white porcelain using Amakusa stone as the raw material. The magistrate then decided that the porcelain should be presented to the shogunate, and from this point on, the name of the pottery was changed to Kiyama-yaki.
Jingoro Omi
Jingoro was a skilled painter, and the pieces he made were reminiscent of the old Chinese sometsuke style. When he died, his younger brother Uhei succeeded him, but he was not as successful as his older brother, and his reputation and value both declined.
Yagyu Hisakata
In the 12th year of the Tempou era, the Nagasaki Magistrate Yagyu Ise-no-kami Hisakata greatly encouraged the production of porcelain, and at this time, the clay from the Bishu region of China was transferred to Nagasaki, and sake cups, tea utensils, tea bowls, etc. were produced. The so-called Kameyama landscape was then painted on the porcelain.
Itsun, Tetsuou, and Gomon
Also, the famous people of Nagasaki at the time were Itsun Otona Kinoshita of Yahata-cho (also known as Shikanosuke, his real name was Aizai, and he also had the names Yochakuzan and Jorazanzan, he died on August 4th, 1866 at the age of 67) Tetsuou Shaku of Shuntokuji (his real name was Hidaka, he died on December 15th, 1871 at the age of 81) and Gomon Miura (his real name was Isumi, he died on August 1st, 1867 at the age of 67) (real name: Hidaka, died on December 15th, 1871 at the age of 81), and Miura Gomon (commonly known as Sosuke, real name: Isumi, pen name: Shusuke, also known as Shusei, Ryō, and Yūsai, and a skilled painter of landscapes). However, the kiln was closed down again due to financial difficulties, and it was not until the third generation, Jimpo, that it was reopened.
Yoshiroku Ida
In the first year of the Ansei era (1855), the famous Edo potter Ida Kensai (also known as Kichiroku, born in the village of Fuma in the Kai province, died in the first year of the Bunkyu era at the age of 70) came to Kameyama with his son Miura Kanya to try to revive the Kameyama pottery, but due to a lack of funds, they were forced to leave after three years.
Okabe Nagatune
In the 6th year of the same era, during the time of Nagasaki Magistrate Okabe Nagatune, the Kameyama Pottery Works was re-established, and a subordinate official from Edo named Kojima Kizaemon was appointed as the head of the works, but in the 16th year of Meiji, the works was closed down.
Hōgasaki ware
Hōgasaki ware was first produced in 1815 by Kamachi Masanori (later renamed Chikuhisa) in Hōgasaki, Fuchigo, Urakami-mura, Hizen-gun (now part of Nagasaki City). He died on October 12th, 1834 at the age of 78.
Kamachi Muwaisai
Next, a person from Nakatsu in the former Buzen Province succeeded to the Nakamura Hideyoshi Kamachi family, which was located in Nagasaki’s Gin-ya-machi. He called himself Muwaisai, and was good at poetry, and he fired elegant stoneware here. There were few works of art that he wrote poems or praises for, such as landscapes, flowers and birds, or his own poems. Hideyoshi’s given name was Shigetoku, his posthumous name was Shimei, and he later changed his name to Gakunosuke. He died on January 25th, 1861 at the age of 67.
Former Products of Hōgasaki
Among his later works are teapots with square-shaped handles and sides decorated with poems written in white glaze on unglazed iron, as well as water jars with dragons carved on the sides and white glaze spattered on the body, and incense burners with iron-painted cloud patterns. There are also plates with a poem written in the Nagasaki dialect, “This month is half-moon”, and there are also pieces made from clay from Suzhou in China, which are marked “made from clay from Suzhou in China”. In this way, the kiln was discontinued in the Kaei era (1848-1855).
Aki-no-ura ware
Aki-no-ura ware was first produced in 1857, when bricks for the factory were being fired on the banks of the present-day Second Dry Dock, on the opposite side of Nagasaki to the Nagasaki Ironworks. when they were firing bricks for the factory, they used Amakusa stone as a raw material to make Dutch-style porcelain, some of which was decorated with red designs. In later years, the area became the Mitsubishi Shipyard, and when the shipyard was being excavated, fragments of kilns, plates, bowls, etc. were excavated from the area, and it is now called another place. Also, the name Hachikenya-yaki is thought to have been given to the products made here.
Inasa ware
Inasa ware is named after the kiln that was opened in 1854 by Asakichi Kamachi, who had previously worked at the Hōgasaki kiln in Nagasaki, in the Hirado cottage in Fuchinohira, Urakami-mura, on the opposite shore of Nagasaki. produced stoneware from a type of soft pottery stone that was found in the Fuchiyama area on the border between Urakami and Inasa. Some of the pieces were modeled on English-style pottery, and it was also known as Fuchiyaki. However, when the Hirado Hut became a resting place for foreigners from the third year of the Ansei era, Asakichi moved to the aforementioned Kameyama.
Hasuda ware
Hasuda ware is named after a place called Ito no Kuchi, which was at the entrance to Urakami from Nagasaki. There was a Hasuda field there, but it has now been buried and few people know where it used to be. It is not known whether the pottery made here was called Hasuda-yaki.
Kosone ware
Kosone ware was produced by Kosone Shintaro, the son of Kosone Rokusaburo, a wealthy man who lived in what is now Kosone-machi in Nagasaki City, when he opened a pottery in 1892. He produced blue and white porcelain using materials from Amakusa. The types of ware produced included vases, tea utensils, plates, bowls, sake jugs, and many other items. He invited artisans from Arita, Okawachi, and Odashi, and used his considerable wealth to produce a great variety of beautiful wares.
Kenzo Kosone
Rokusaburo Kosone, the son of Rokuzaemon, was known as Kendo, and studied calligraphy (kaisho) under Shunro Seki, seal engraving under Ogi Yasui, and painting under the priest Tetsuou, and was particularly skilled at engraving. On May 3rd, 1873, he was given the task of carving the Imperial Seal of Japan on a large gold seal block measuring approximately 2 inches square, and he soon fulfilled his duty of carving the Imperial Seal of Japan.
Seikai Kosone
Shintaro, who also went by the name Seikai, was also a skilled seal carver, and he was able to carve poems and writings onto some of his own products. At the time, the supervisor of the porcelain manufacturing was Matsuo Kizaburo, a famous potter from Odashi in Kushima County, but the kilns were closed down after about three years. Thus, Utaro Tanaka, a former Shimabara clan retainer who had lived in Odashi and who had also been making insulators for a long time in Nakaoyama, Hasami, bought the materials from the defunct Kozone pottery, but he did not have the resources to revive it and sold it on to someone else.
Kosone inlay
In addition, they used the remaining unglazed pottery kiln in the factory after the kiln was closed, and a craftsman from Higo Takada came to make inlay work, which was worth seeing, but this also completely died out after three years.
Yamasato ware
Yamasato ware is the product of Ryuishi Mabuchi, who lived in Matsuyama-machi, Urakami, Nagasaki. He was originally from Kyoto and was called Shinzaburo. As a child, he studied waka (Japanese poetry) under the poetess Otagaki Rengetsu, but he learned pottery techniques from Kuroda Ryozan (Mitsuharu), who had studied under Rengetsu and learned the art of pottery making. ) and learned the art of pottery, and he took to carving waka poems on the surface of his own pottery as a hobby. In 1883, when he was 29 years old, he came to Nagasaki and worked as the last potter at Kameyama-yaki, but after the kiln was closed, he went to various places to enjoy himself, and in 1899 he opened his own kiln as Yamazato-yaki.
Ryusei’s guidance
After that, he spent four or five years commuting to the Shimabara Peninsula as the instructor of Kohama-yaki, and then lived in Nakaoyama, Hasami, for ten years. During that time, his students included the current Baba-Tsuyama. He also spent a year or so with Katsutaro Matsuo in Iwayagawa, where he taught his youngest son Nagahisa (the father of Hitoshi Matsuo) and others.
After that, he returned to his hometown and continued to make yakimono, and in 1934, at the age of 83, he became a master craftsman. (His son Tatsuichi is continuing his work.) The main ingredients are from Nagayo and Amakusa, but some pieces also use clay from Kyoto. The pieces are made by hand, using a wheel, and are mainly vases and tea utensils.
Ryuseki’s products
The products include teapots with red clay sides, and brown glaze is applied to teacups, teacups, etc., and then white or light yellow glaze is applied on top, and elegant landscapes are drawn on the brown underglaze to reveal the brown. There are also items of this type that have been carved with a white glaze on a chestnut-colored glaze, or that have a little blue glaze poured on them. They also seem to be good at making Tang-style (unglazed) tea utensils with high relief landscapes, such as the Mingo-style tea utensils.
There are also tea bowls with a rough spiral brush pattern in white, with a reddish brown or light ink glaze. In addition, there are tea bowls with a high foot, which are unglazed, but have a high foot with a glaze applied in a chakuzumi style. There are also various elegant pieces made, such as 15 cm tall vases with a black chestnut glaze and white marbling, and sometimes with blue speckles.
Choshu Yama-yaki
Choshu Yama-yaki was produced in the Umeen Garden in Nakashima, Nagasaki City, around 1903-1904 by Jitaro Okano (later the chairman of the Kobe City Assembly), who ordered the raw materials from Satsuma and produced them. It is a completely Satsuma-style egg-colored crackle ware with the same Satsuma-style design painted on top. In other words, it was a very excellent work that could be said to be Satsuma ware made in Nagasaki, but it was discontinued around 1862.
Nagasaki ware
Nagasaki ware is made in Atago-machi (formerly Takaya-heigo) in Nagasaki City, and the kiln master is Hitoshi Nakahara of Yamaguchi Prefecture. In the Kanbun era, the Mouri clan employed a potter named Tomohira, and opened a kiln in Shingu-yama, Kishiki-gun, Suo-no-kuni, but the kiln was closed down after Tomohira’s death. In the Meiji era, the twelfth generation of the Nakahara family, Katsuhisa, took in the second son of his relative, Fujii Tokiwa, as his heir.
He studied pottery under the 9th generation master, Saka Koraizakumon, and from 1896 he spent four years studying at the door of the Dutchman Sukitomori in the Osaka settlement. In 1901 he joined the Katsuno Pottery Partnership in Daido Village, Kikishiki County, and was in charge of teaching the Sakudarizaki method, but in 1906 he moved to Nagasaki City while drunk.
Radium clay
In the vicinity of the city, he discovered clay containing radium, and at the time, he was commissioned to make tea utensils and flower vases from the materials of the abandoned kilns of the Choshu Yaki pottery, and the then Nagasaki Prefectural Governor, Ryusuke Lee, named them Nagasaki Yaki. In November 1926, he was ordered by the prefectural government to inspect the pottery industry in the Malay Peninsula. On March 21, 1928, he received a visit from Prince Hirotada of the Kachō-no-miya family, and in April 1929, he received a visit from Prince Haruhito of the Kan’in-no-miya family.
Nagasaki ware products
The raw materials used to make the pottery were the clay from the aforementioned Jyorokoyama and the soil from Unzen-dake Besso, and the products included black Tenmoku bowls with an outer glaze, and pumpkin-shaped bowls with a chestnut-colored base and white Besso clay that created a pattern resembling a wood grain, and there were not a few products like this. In addition, a combination of boric acid and alum is used to create a true-blue glaze, and the types of products are diverse.
Urakami flowerpots
From 1927, Sakamoto Kuzo of Ueno, Katsura-mura, Kushima-gun, has been making small flowerpots, charcoal braziers and fire extinguishers in Hashiguchi-machi, Urakami. He used clay from Choko and Gotō, but now he only uses clay from Chōoku.
Making Statues
Also in Okamachi, in the same Urakami area, there is Okumura Fujihiko, who has specialized in making statues of the holy since 1929.
He, too, is from Shimabara in Minamikata, and until half a year ago he was carving at Koyu in Unzen. He is now making only clay statues of Christ, using clay from Choko and Goto, and so he is commonly called a “Gozou-zukuri” (image maker).
Fuji Hiko is also a Catholic, and his sculpting, which is done with a devout attitude and a burning faith, is something to see. Not only does he use the right technique in the right place, but he is also able to supply works that are no worse than those that have been imported from abroad, at a price that is less than a third of the price of conventional imported goods.
Doi no Kubi
Doi no Kubi is located in Egawa, Doi no Kubi-mura, Saikikuni-gun, on the western peninsula, about a mile and a half from Nagasaki City. This area originally belonged to the estate of Fukahori Nakatsukasa no Sukehito (3,000 koku), and during the Keio era (1865-1868) it was a place where black wares such as mortars and flowerpots were made. In 1916, Okabe Chutaro of Nagasaki City and Fukagawa Chuji of Arita Town established the Nagasaki Toki Kabushiki Kaisha (Nagasaki Pottery Co., Ltd.) in collaboration, and Chuji sent his own factory worker, Umeji Jinichi, to prepare the kilns and other facilities. became president, and manufactured rubber bowls and coffee makers using low-grade stones from Amakusa, but later, with the sharp decline in rubber production, demand for these products fell, and by 1929 the company was destined to close down.
Doi’s head tile factory
However, in the following year, the Osaka Ceramic Industry Co., Ltd. supported Naojiro Takekoshi (a native of Gifu Prefecture), who was the managing director and chief engineer of the aforementioned former company, and , and mainly produced porcelain tiles by adding the frog eyes of Owari to the Amakusa stone, and it was renamed the Nagasaki Porcelain Tile Manufacturing Works. Demand for the tiles is high, and they are exported to the South Seas, China, Manchuria, etc., with the majority of South Seas exports going through the hands of Mitsubishi Corporation. The factory currently employs 58 workers and is said to produce 50,000 yen worth of products per year.
Bizan Pottery
Bizan Pottery was produced by Hyakutaro Horibe with the cooperation of a few investors at the port of Shimabara in Minamikamigun around 1894. It was also called Minato-yaki (port pottery). The name Bizan was taken from the name of the mountain that stood in front of the former mountain of Unzen, or Mt.
The pottery was made from Amakusa stone, and the chief potter was Nakajima Chusaku from Arita Hekoba. In addition, Ushijima Kounosuke and Tanaka Seiichi from the same area were employed as painters, and a dozen other craftsmen from Mikawachi were also hired. A kiln 24 feet long was built and ordinary products were made, including dishes, bowls, vases, etc., ranging in size from 6 to 7 inches, as well as sculptures and soba-te (soba-shaped bowls). The business continued until the end of the Sino-Japanese War, but was discontinued after three years.
Kohama ware
The Obama pottery of Minamikawachi-gun was started by a man named Nakamura Shusaku about thirty years ago in a place called Yamagami, but the kiln was closed down after only a year.
Honda Makisen
After that, Honda Makisen (Chikashi) added Unzen clay to the clay from Kiba and made a kind of pottery that was a hobby of his own. The products, which were made with a reddish white glaze, were braziers and bottle holders. These were shaped by the hands of the craftsmen, and Makisen himself carved poems from ancient and modern times and proverbs, etc., and inlaid them with clay containing iron.
There are also other items such as glazed pottery, but most of the pieces are the white glazed inlaid pottery mentioned above, or the tea utensils, sake cups, and side dishes that Makisen hand-twisted, which are very elegant. At first, Ryuishi of the Yamazato Pottery was hired as a technician, and also Hashiguchi Sanshiro of Arita was one of them. Although there are still a number of incomplete works (unfinished pottery) left behind from his days as a potter, they are now preserved as non-sale items.
Sheep farming and Makisen
Makisen was not only a master calligrapher, but also a man who always approached business from a theoretical standpoint, and it is said that he left behind many things that benefited later generations. Sheep farming on Mount Unzen was also one of his creative ideas, and he called himself “Mokusen” (Shepherd) for this reason. He also tried beekeeping, and he was also involved in the pottery industry in the hot spring resort of Beppu. He passed away on August 9th, 1932 at the age of 78.
Shisen Matsuura
One of the students of Shisen Maki, who he had studied under since childhood, was Shisen Matsuura (Shoichi). He was particularly good at making sculptures, and he had studied the pottery techniques of various places, but he had done most of his research in Satsuma and Takatori. While he was in China later in life, he received news of his teacher’s sudden illness, and after about 16 years he returned to his hometown, where he looked after his teacher for over a month before saying a final farewell.
In addition to various tea utensils, his works include sculptures fired at around 1200 degrees centigrade with crackled white glaze, and vases with a yellowish-white glaze and Greek-style colored patterns. The area is known for its scenic beauty, with the hot spring resort of Senho and the scenic Tachibana Bay, and there are high hopes for the research of Shisen as a souvenir pottery from the area.
Unzen ware
Unzen ware is a type of pottery that was produced in the small village of Kojigoku (population 14 or 15 households) at the foot of Mt. Unzen, starting around 1913, when the aforementioned Makisen opened a pottery workshop there with Shisen. The products were tiles for use in hot spring baths and wall panels, and were white and green glazed. However, this plan was not very successful, as there was a lack of suitable products of this type, and his marble-like products would deteriorate over time due to the effects of the hot spring water. It is said that the ceramic grindstones devised at this factory were practical, and that they were made from fine-grained white grindstones to coarse grindstones mixed with diamond sand.
Classification of this volume
In order to avoid confusion in the descriptions, the following is a classification of the kilns used in the production of ceramics in the Saga area: Karatsu-style Shiinomine kiln, Takeo-style Takeuchi kiln, Fujitsu-style Ureshino kiln, Hirado-style Mikawachi kiln , Omura-style Hasami kilns, Isahaya-style Togami kilns, Imari-style Minamigawara kilns, Saga-style Okawachi kilns, and Taku-style Arita kilns.
This classification is based on geographical considerations and the relationships between the articles, and in the case of the branches, the people of each lineage and their descendants intermingled with each other, and as a result of as a result of living together, there are many things that cannot be distinguished at all, such as techniques, and due to marriage between Koreans and Japanese, they have become naturalized to the extent that they cannot be distinguished from the original ethnic group.
Tōzan and the local lords
The development of the local area of Tōzan was due in large part to the protection and encouragement of the local lords. The lords also fought each other to expand their power, and in order to extend their territory they fought each other, and there were many wars, some of which led to prosperity and some to decline.
However even in the pottery techniques that were kept secret by each mountain, there was a covert stealing of techniques, and each lord set up a system to defend against such incursions, and some prospered while others declined. The rise and fall of these lords is similar to the struggles between the lords, and it is also a source of great interest in history.
The relationships between the lords relationships
of the various lords, the Hata clan of Karatsu, the Imari clan of Imari, the Arita clan of Arita, and the Matsuura clan of Hirado, all branched off from the same family, while the Omura clan of Omura was related to the Arima clan of Shimabara, and the Goto clan of Takeo was related to the Goto clan of Shimabara. these clans were conquered by the Ryuzoji and Nabeshima clans, who were descended from the same family as the Omura, Arima and Gotoh clans, and then became related through marriage, and it is no wonder that the pottery traditions of each of these clans were eventually unified into the production of porcelain.
Therefore it is necessary to consider the situation at the time by describing the family trees of the lords of each lineage and some of the famous battles, and this is why I think it is necessary to consider it. Surely
