It is said that in the age of the gods, Amaterasu Oomikami was returning from a trip to the land of the gods when she was attacked by a demon. The sun goddess’s spear was broken, and she was forced to return to the land of the gods. It is said that at that time, those who followed her fled to the Kagamidani area of Omi and began making pottery there. However, the ancient records of this event are vague and uncertain, so the oldest pottery in Japan with a Korean origin should be considered to be Karatsu ware from Kamimatsuura in Hizen Province.
The expedition of Empress Jingu
In the ninth month of the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Chuai, the 14th emperor of Japan, Empress Jingu set sail for the Three Korean Kingdoms, and from that time on, the port of Matsuura became her base of operations.
Before the expedition
the Empress pulled a thread from her skirt and let it hang down from the top of a rock in the Tamashima River to see whether the expedition would be successful or not. When a large fish caught on the thread, she was surprised and said it was a rare occurrence. there is a legend that the name of the area was changed to Matsuura County in later generations, based on the scenic beauty of the area, and that it was later called Matsuura Village (the area of Matsuura Village is now Kagamimura).
Thus, the Empress set out to invade the Three Kingdoms after three months, and at this time the King of Baekje presented her with a famous sword that was both a weapon for self-defense and a weapon for defeating the enemy. And the people of the Three Kingdoms who accompanied the Empress on her triumphant return in the last month of the year opened a kiln in the village of Mihara and fired unglazed pottery, which is said to be the origin of Karatsu ware.
Naturalization of the Three Officials
According to local legend, these three princes were taken to the area by Takeuchi no Sukune, and were all given the name Tarokanja, Fujihirakanja, and Kojirokanja. The names of the villages where they now live are Tara, Fujinohira and Kojurokanja. Since they were princes from the Three Kingdoms, they could not be left in this area, and they were certainly taken to the capital, but if you think about the fact that they were made to assimilate into Japanese culture here, they must have been of a certain rank, perhaps even of noble birth. There are also those who argue that the name “Kansha” was derived from the Minamoto and Taira clans during the Heian period, but it is not clear whether the name was originally a phonetic transliteration of a Chinese character that was later corrupted over time.
As Kojiro was skilled at pottery, he engaged in pottery making in his place of residence, and there are people who have inherited this skill from generation to generation, and as if they had been making pottery for many years, there are the remains of old kilns next to Kirikimura Nashikawachi. Also, the Kamado Shrine here enshrines Kojiro, and the festival day is December 22nd every year.
The beginning of Karatsu Koryo
Next, during the reign of the 37th emperor, Emperor Saimei, a Korean person made large, Korean-style tea bowls here, and this is said to be the beginning of the use of the name “Koryo-yaki” for glazed pottery in Japan. There is a folk tale that this place was called “Toumura”, but it is not known which place this corresponds to today. (There is a record that the pottery of the time was called Sue-no-mono, and the old name for Sue-no-mura was Mamasue-mura. The reason why the name Sue is used here is because there is a place called Tokusue in Kitahata-mura, but it is said that it was previously written as Toku-ie, so it is not certain that this is the place of research).
I think that this was when the empress went to Tsukushi to fight against Silla, and the potters who came with the army opened a kiln here. In this way, each time there was a war, this Matsura area became a base, and it is thought that they came to help promote the progress of pottery making in Japan.
Cai and others came
On the 18th day of the 7th month of the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Seiwa, a Chinese ship carrying 36 Chinese merchants, including Cai, arrived at the port of Kamimatsuura (now known as Mitsushima). became a trading port for China, Korea and India, and from this point on the region was renamed Karatsu, and this gateway for the exchange of foreign culture and goods became an important location in the north of Kyushu, alongside Hakata in Chikuzen.
Karatsu goods
It is not difficult to imagine that there were many different types of pottery among these imported goods, and that many potters came to Japan from overseas. Therefore, the origins of pottery making in this area are very old, and just as in Kanto, pottery is generally referred to as “setomono”, in Kansai it is called “Karatsu-mono”. In some places, pottery is called “Karatsu-mono” and porcelain is called “Imari-mono”.
Koryo and Karatsu
The Koryo ware produced in Japan is not limited to the Karatsu ware produced in the Karatsu area, but also includes the pottery produced by the Korean potters in the Saga, Takeo, Hirado and Omura domains. The mountains where the Koreans opened kilns at the time have their tombs, and the things obtained by excavating the kiln remains and the places where the burnt fragments and burnt kiln tools were thrown away (also called a dump) are called Karatsu Ichimei Hori-dashi Koryo. There is also a specialty of Korean Karatsu ware, which is made by Koreans using soil from their own country, and which is called “hito” in Japan, as it is only used for making fires.
Karatsu ware and authentic Korean ware
Even if there are some differences in the clay used when compared to the Goryeo ware that originally came from Korea, as they were all made by the same Korean potters, it is not always possible to accurately determine which pieces are imports and which are Karatsu ware. If we look at this appreciation from a technical standpoint, rather than from a superficial appreciation of elegance, there are many works from the second and third generations of the Korean immigrants that surpass the works from their homeland, such as those with inlaid patterns and brushed patterns. Among these, the works that best express our country’s appreciation of the tea ceremony can be seen in this period.
Hisashi Hata
In the reign of Emperor Temmu, the 38th emperor of Japan, Hisashi Hata came down from the capital to take up the post of guard against foreign invaders, and for over 400 years his descendants ruled the Kamimatsuura region. From then on, they ruled from a castle built at the foot of Mt. Kishidake (now Kishidake in Kitahata Village), and the area became known as Kamimatsuura, but in later generations the name was changed to Hata.
In the first year of the Shouryaku era (990), the first year of the reign of Emperor Ichijou, Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a direct descendant of the Seiwa Minamoto clan, was appointed governor of Hizen Province and moved to Kamimatsuura. The stone torii gate at the shrine on Kabeshima Island (a medium-sized shrine dedicated to the deities Tashinohime, Tatsuhime and Ichikishimahime)
the stone torii gate is said to have been donated by Minamoto no Yorimitsu at the time. One of the four heavenly kings who followed him at that time, Watanabe Minamoto no Gengo no Butsuna, was the founder of the Hizen Matsuura Minamoto clan.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Tsunenobu
He was the grandson of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the Left, and the son of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the Minister of the
Kyuu attacks Kyukan
As the descendants of the Hata clan, the Kyuus wielded great power and influence, and as they repeatedly rebelled against the imperial court, the man Tsunenobu Minamoto, who was in Kyoto at the time, in the fourth year of Chogen (1032), he received a royal command and marched to the Matsura Chikaga region, where he defeated and pursued Kukan, and finally defeated him on the banks of the Matsura River. (The reason this area is called Onizuka Village is because there is a tomb of Kukan, who was feared like a demon at the time.
Defeating Mt.
However, in the second year of Choukyuu (1041), Hata no Otsukasa was frequently threatening the surrounding villagers by taking up positions on Mt. Mayuyama (the border between the villages of Matsuura, Okawa and Wakagi), so Hisa and his third son Kamoe Saburo attacked and subdued him. (The stone called Oku-san’s stone in Amagi Valley in Chijiga is probably this Oku.)
Tsukasa and Yasu
Tsukasa, the younger brother of Yasu, lived in the Nagoya mansion and was known as Lord Nagoya, but his son Yasu was known as Takiguchi no Tayu, and it seems that he once went to Kyoto and was in charge of guarding the imperial palace, and later he went west and lived in the Uwato Castle in Tsutsui (now Hata Village) Tatsumi (now Hata-mura) and settled in Kamitono Castle (also known as Tsutsui Gendayu Castle), but on December 29th of the first year of the Enkyu era (1069) he landed in Imafuku, Shimomatsuura, and decided to make this place his base. (There is a theory that his son Hisa landed at Imafuku, but Hisa was only six years old at the time.)
Building Kajitani Castle
In the first year of the Eicho era (1096), the eldest son of Yasu, Minamoto no Gendaibyokan Hisa (who was 33 years old at the time), built the Kajitani Castle and took possession of the 2,230 cho of the Uwamatsuura and Agematsuura estates, thus laying the foundations of the Matsuura clan. His descendants are said to have prospered, with more than 40 clans. (It is likely that the Matsuura clan was not just a clan of the same surname.) He passed away on the 15th of the 9th month of the 4th year of the Kyuan era (1148) at the age of 85, and was buried at the Anryoji temple in this area.
Hata Mochi,
who had succeeded to the title of Mikuriya-no-kimi, took the surname of the Matsura clan as his family name, and his third son, Minamoto no Jiro Mochi, was granted the fief of Hata in Kamimatsuura. Seven hundred and fifty years ago, Mochi built a castle on Kishidake and lived there, and this castle was called Koshibune Castle, and it came to be a stronghold of this region and wielded power over the surrounding area. Mochi then took the name of the place, Hata, and changed his name to Hata Genjita.
Kishidake Pottery Kiln
There is a theory that Mochi invited the descendants of the aforementioned Kojiro Kanja and had them open a pottery kiln in the mountains below Kishidake Castle (Ayukimi, Kitahata Village), but there is also a folk tale that says that Korean potters came to Japan at this time, but the details are unknown. In later years, some of the potters from this Ido kiln were sent to Koshi (the old name for the Shi-no-mine area of Minamihata Village), and it is said that from this time on, the use of pottery spread widely among the local people of this area.
Wari-take-shiki style kiln
The old kilns in the mountains of Mt. Koshidake have been known for a long time, but they were rediscovered by Takeo’s old kiln maker Kimpara Kyoichi and Karatsu’s Nakanosato Tarokumon, etc. on an exploration, and on November 25, 1931, Kurahashi Tojiro, a director of the Tokyo Industrial Association, and the aforementioned Kimpara Kyoichi were excavated, and it was discovered that the Iidō jars and paulownia wood trays were built about 700 years ago and were of the split-bamboo type, which is characteristic of the northern part of Korea. This discovery caused a great sensation in academic circles.
The split bamboo kiln is shaped like a half-split bamboo pole, and the Ido kiln is 54 shaku long, while the kiln ruins of the paulownia wood kiln, which is separated by about 20 ken, is about 60 shaku long.
I think that the partitions inside the long kilns built on this sloping surface later became the climbing kilns that were used to connect round kilns, and so they are valuable materials for research into kiln styles in this field.
Kaitakadai and Yaki-hama
Among the products of this old kiln, there is a type called Kaitakadai-yaki, in which small clams or mussels are placed on a Yaki-hama (a kiln made of fire-resistant clay) in groups of five or six , and then they are baked with other items placed on top, so that the marks of the lion shells, etc. appear on the bottom of the kiln in a stamped pattern, even though they are not visible on the kiln itself. And of course, the marks of the clamshells are also clearly visible on the kiln.
The solution to the rice husk
The traces of rice husks on the high stand are thought to be due to the fact that it was difficult to obtain the kind of flat boards (boards on which to place the vessels) that are used today, and so it seems that they were used on flat ground. It is said that the rice husks were spread out to regulate the moisture of the ground and the drying of the dishes, and that the dishes were placed on top of them, and that they were not dishes that were spread out and baked with rice husks.
Many of the products made here are of a very high quality, and all of them are glazed. In the same period as, or even before, his contemporary Kato Shunkei came to Seto in 1263 to open a pottery, he was producing such excellent pottery that there was nothing else like it in the whole country. This shows how long and how well the Karatsu ware had been developed.
After the Ido-gama and Kiribiki-gama kilns, the Hoshira-gama (Kitahata-mura) was built, and then the Miyatani (Ouchi-mura, Kamisari), Hiramatsu (Ouchi-mura, Kamisari), Otani (Ouchi-mura, Shimosari), and Saraya-gama (Kitahata-mura, Tokusue) kilns were built, and these are collectively referred to as the Kishidake-gama. Also, the name “Hieda-yaki” refers to the Saraya kiln, and the name “Miyatani” is also written as “Michinoya”.
Ido Pottery
Many of the old Ido pottery pieces are glazed in a dark brown color, but some of them have no decorative design, and others have various patterns carved into the rim. There are also pieces with a rim made of the same glaze, and there are thin blue porcelain and seven-handled tea bowls from Tenryu-ji Temple. There are also tea bowls and plates with a gray clay body and a thin glaze of the same color, decorated with a brush pattern using iron cat, but all of these are unglazed.
It is thought that the rare examples of high-fired glazed ware, such as the large yellow-glazed morning glory-shaped tea bowls, are not from later periods. The name of the place, Ido, is thought to have come from the fact that in later generations, large water jars and pots were made here, and the reason why the factories in each pottery-making area are called “touya” (pottery factory) is that in the Arita area, the pottery wheel workshops are still called “kuruma-tsubo” (wheeled pots).
Mast
The remains of the mast kiln have a light green glaze on black clay, and some have a white glaze or a blue-brown glaze with a thread-cut back. There are also many examples that show the influence of the Kiyomizu kiln, and some have a color similar to thin blue-green porcelain, but all of them have fine double crazing on the glaze surface. In rare cases, white coating may have occurred due to exposure to wind and rain over many years, or because the geological structure is weak and similar to earthenware.
Miyatani
On May 22nd, 1934, Karatsu’s Furudate Kuniichi and Nakazato Taroemon discovered Ekaratsu, and it was discovered that this area had previously only been used for making unglazed pottery. It was thought that the kilns here only produced unglazed pottery, but at this time, fragments of the main type of Karatsu ware, Edo Karatsu, with their beautiful pigments, were unearthed one after another. There were also some unusual items, such as the shrimp and flower designs that are not seen in the traditional E-Karatsu ware, and all of them were designs that cleverly demonstrated the essence of Korean culture.
Hieda Saryaya
The old pottery of Hieda Saryaya is characterized by the use of the Korean Karatsu style of vitreousness, and the most outstanding products of Karatsu ware are produced here. Among them are such masterpieces as the powder-coated hand-moulded ware, the uniform-fired sea cucumber ware, and the Karatsu celadon clogs. This was the residence of Hata no Akimori Toshikado, a powerful vassal of the Minamoto clan, and it is said that the descendants of the Koreans who came to this area from the Korean Peninsula are descended from the Koreans who came to this area from the Korean Peninsula.
At the time of the construction of Kijidake Castle by Hata Mochi, that is, during the Bunji era (1185-1190) of the reign of Emperor Go-Toba, the resident of Chikugo Province, Kusanagi Jirota, a member of the Nagamine clan, settled in Onigajo Castle in Kamimatsuura Omura (Tamashima Village). Onigajo is an ancient Korean-style earthen castle, and is said to be the oldest castle in Japan after Motoyoshi Castle in Hizen Province. The Kusano family tree is as follows (see Kusano Family Tree).
According to another theory, Nagatsune, the third son of Sadanaga Takagi, took up residence in the Kusano region of Chikugo Province (in what is now Mitsui County) and took the name Kusano, and in 1164 he moved to the Yoshiki Takeizaka region of Yamamoto County in the same province, where he served under Yoritomo and distinguished himself in battle, and was granted 3,000 cho of land and made governor of Chikugo Province.
Kusano Tsunenaga
From that time, the fifth generation Kusano Shichiro Tsunenaga (posthumously awarded the title of Junior Fourth Rank) became famous for his bravery in defeating the foreign invaders together with the Matsuura clan during the Bun’ei-Kouan War. He was the hereditary head priest of the Kagami Shrine in Kamimatsuura from 1275. The descendants of Nagakane lived in Onigajo Castle for generations.
Yamase Pottery
In the mountains of Hamasaki Village there is an old Karatsu pottery called Yamase Pottery. The old pottery includes dishes with designs of grass and birds in iron glaze on a base of candy or gray glaze. There are also deep brown bowls made with a yellowish-white glaze and a mixture of stones, or small plates with a crackled white glaze or yellow Seto glaze, or large bowls made with a uniform glaze and sea cucumber glaze, etc. All of these unglazed tall bowls have creases in the silk crepe pattern. There is something elegant about the unglazed tall stand with a small dish with a light blue glaze that has been pressed into an oval shape with the tip of a finger, and many of them are fired to the level of stoneware. There is also a clumsy stoneware pot with a black glaze that looks like ironware, about five or six inches high and with a narrow mouth, that looks like it has been cut in half from the body.
At a time when travelers were rare in the mountains two and a half ri from Chiji Station, it is said that the lord of the castle, Mr. Kusano, invited a branch of the Kojiro clan to open a pottery here, although the details of the history of the place are not known.
Kishidake Castle was under the rule of Hata Yasushi, and its influence was great, and in the Bunmei era it came to possess the whole of Iki Province.
Succession struggle for Kishidake Castle
When the fifth generation Shimotsuke no Kami Morishige died, there were no male heirs, so his widow, Jingo (the daughter of Takakura no Yorimoto and the niece of Matsuura Koshun), tried to support her son Fujiwara no Toudoumaru, the son of her relative Arima Yoshinao, the lord of Hizen Takaki Castle , but the chief retainer Hidaka no Kiyokazu (Ariura Ichikoku) opposed this, and he intended to succeed the castle to one of the three children of Shima no Kami Takayoshi, the younger brother of Mori, and thus the Hata family’s internal strife came to a head.
Poisoning Yamato
In 1544, the widow poisoned Yamato, the mastermind of the plot, using sake as an excuse. On December 29th, 1564, Kaihō Katahide, a man from the Yamato clan, set fire to the stables of Kishidake Castle and killed the widow, while Manpō-nyō escaped and sought refuge with Ryūzōji Gōchū ( ) and Hōshū turned to Matsuura Takanobu of Hirado for help. On the 27th of the 12th month of the same year, Takanobu led 300 cavalrymen to the naval base of Hoshika, but unfortunately a storm prevented them from advancing.
At this time, Takayoshi’s grandson Ryuzoji Takayoshi attacked and captured Kishidake Castle for the sake of his widow, and Hōshū was defeated and fled to Iki. From this point on, Kai gave his daughter in marriage to Matsuura Takayoshi’s fourth son Nobumasa, and Iki was effectively annexed by Hirado.
Hata Shigenobu’s succession
Thus, Kishidake Castle was taken over by Arima no Fujishige no Maru, who became the successor, and was called Taro Jiro Shigenobu, but he was later renamed Mikawamori. However, Chikara wanted to punish the members of the Hata clan, who had opposed him in the past, and attacked Tsuruta Masaru, the lord of the castle in Hizuki (Okawa Village, Nishimatsuura County), but he was defeated and had to rely on Kusanagi Chikayoshi to finally return home.
Defeat the army under the pretense of being a member of the army
On the 10th day of the 4th month of the 2nd year of Genki (1571), Hidaka Hideyoshi arrived at Nagoyaura (later renamed Nagoya) with his younger brother Shinsuke Katsuhide and over 300 soldiers, including Nakao Sukekazu and Horino Gengoro. They were met at the Kisidake Castle by Aina Nakatsukasa and Horino Gengoro, and a battle ensued in which Gengoro was killed. Hohu, who had asked for help from the lord of Tsushima, Muneshige, conspired with Tateishi Toshikazu and others, and on July 16th of the same year, they lured the Tsushima forces of Muneshige and defeated them at Honguura in Iki Province.
Takayoshi attacks Uwamatsuura
In December of the first year of the Tensho era (1573), Ryuzoji Takayoshi of Saga marched on Uwamatsuura with his cousin Nabeshima Hidemoto Nobushige (formerly known as Naoshige) as his general. the lord of Kishidake Castle, Hata Mikawamori Shizune, the lord of Shishigatake Castle (now northwest of Kimura Hana), Tsuruta Echizen-no-kami Mae, and the lord of Hizari Castle, Tsuruta Inaba-no-kami Masaru, were all welcomed and honored. On the third day of the first month of the same year, the army of Ryuzoji attacked and captured Onigajo Castle, and the lord of the castle, Kusanose Tsunenaga, fled to Chikuzen Takasu and sought refuge with his father-in-law Harada Ryoei. Ryoei persuaded Tsunenaga to surrender to Takayoshi, and it was decided that the family of Ryuzoji (whose mother was Takayoshi’s daughter) would adopt Iemizu as their heir. In this way, Chinyo passed away on the 20th day of the second month of the third year of Genna.
The domains of Hizen
At that time, the domain lords of the Matsura coast of Hizen Province were divided into the five domains of Kamimatsuura (Imari, Yamashiro, Sashi, Hata and Kusanosho), and the eight domains of Shimomatsuura (Arita, Tahira, Sasa, Mikuriya, Shisa , Yoshida, Oshima and Uku were called the eight families of Shimomatsuura, but by this time they had come under the control of the Ryuzoji clan, and were then brought under the control of the Toyotomi clan.
In January of the 15th year of the Tensho era (1587), Hideyoshi went down to Kyushu to conquer Shimazu Yoshihisa of Satsuma, and he came under the control of Hata Chikayoshi (later renamed Chikayoshi). At that time, the domain of Hizen was divided as follows: Takanobu’s son, Masaya, ruled over seven counties; Naoshige Nabeshima ruled over two counties and assisted Masaya; Tadanobu Matsuura ruled over Hirado; Sumitada Omura ruled over Omura; Sumiharu Arima ruled over Shimabara; Morikatsu Uku ruled over Goto; and Chikara Hata ruled over Karatsu.
He incurred the displeasure of his lord
In April of the first year of Bunroku (1593), when Hideyoshi entered the new castle at Nagoya to begin the Korean campaign, all the lords of Kyushu came to Hakata to greet him, but Hata Chikara alone failed to attend the welcome party and incurred the displeasure of Hideyoshi, but thanks to the intervention of Nabeshima Naoshige, he was eventually forgiven. Chikara then joined forces with Naoshige, who had a total of 2,000 men under his command, and advanced deep into Korea, fighting hard until they had lost half their men.
Amusement at the Nago-ya Camp
At one time, Hideyoshi held an entertainment at the main camp at Nago-ya to relieve the boredom of the troops, and all the daimyo and other men and women in the camp were invited to watch, but Hata Chikara ‘s wife (also known as Aan or Hidenomae) had excused herself from the party to stay behind and guard the castle while her husband was away, but she was forcibly invited to attend and, despite begging to be allowed to return to the castle, was not allowed to do so.
The Lady is found guilty
However, at this time, it was discovered that she was hiding a small sword in her bosom for self-defense, and she was found guilty of a serious crime. The lady was the daughter of the late Buzen no Kami Taneie and the adopted daughter of Takanobu. She was first married to Oda Nagamasa, the lord of Hasuike Castle, but when Nagamasa rebelled against Takanobu, she was killed by Takanobu’s ally, Otomo Sorin. She was a beautiful woman, and after her death, she was married to Hata Chikara.
Hata’s territory confiscated
In January of the first year of the Keicho era (1596), when Hata Chikara returned from Korea, Kuroda Nagamasa went to Ogashima Island to deliver Hideyoshi’s orders to confiscate Hata’s territory, and Hata was placed under the care of Satake Yoshinobu of Hitachi.
When this news reached Kishidake Castle, everyone was shocked.
Great Council at Kishidake Castle
The Hata clan, who were in the castle at this time, were as follows: the Lord of Shishigatake Castle (500 koku at Tono-ya), Tsuruta Echizen no Kami Maesue; the Lord of Hizugatake Castle (500 koku at Okawano), Tsuruta Inaba no Kami Masaru; the Lord of Ubagatake Castle (500 koku at Kurokawa), Kurokawa Sagen no Kami Shu; the Lord of Shinkudatake Castle (500 koku at Ide-no), Ide Hida no Kami Togen , and the other important vassals included Kuga Genban-no-kami Chikudo, who was lord of the Hogyo domain (800 koku in Itagi), Kawazoe Kanmono-no-kami Koichi, who was lord of the Honjo domain (500 koku in Shigehashi), Nakamura Akimori Toshikado, who was lord of the Hieda domain (500 koku), Eri Nagamori Tensho, who was lord of the Ouchi domain (350 koku in Sari), and Tashiro Hyuga-no-kami Hayashi, who was lord of the Okawano domain (300 koku).
At this time, Kuzaki Motonobu was so determined to charge the main camp at Nagoya and end the Matsura samurai’s reputation with a single death that he was even prepared to attack the castle, which had a garrison of 100,000 men, but he decided that this would be too reckless a plan and that decided that it would be better to bide their time and plot the revival of the Hata clan, and so the two men, Tensou, the governor of Etchujima, and Hikoshiro Hisamitsu (with 200 men from Kanda), were assigned the task of sneaking up to the place of confinement below Mt. Tsukuba in Hitachi Province and rescuing the lord.
Myouan-ni
The lady, who had once tried to have him killed, was persuaded by his retainers to hide in Dan-no-Tani (Minamihata Village), and there she and her son Yataro (also known as Magosaburo or Matahikosaburo) were protected by Hachinami Musashimori Shige (see Iki Sa 300 koku Matsuura family chart) and Matawari Gorohachi Toshitsune, and they were able to settle down in the town of Saga. Then, when Shigetomo was planning to revive the Nabeshima clan, he died of illness on August 13th, 1598. His wife, who had become a nun and taken the name Myoan, built a hermitage and prayed for the repose of her husband’s soul. (The Myoanji Temple on Myoanji Koji was built on the site of her hermitage.)
The Hata Clan is Defeated
It came to Hideyoshi’s attention that the samurai of Kishidake had secretly gathered at Kenpukuji Temple in Okawano to plot an attack, and he immediately ordered the surrender of Kishidake Castle to his vassal Terasawa Tadao Hirotaka and the dispersal of the Hata samurai. The two samurai, who had been in charge of the eastern route, had suffered many hardships and had lost their parents, and they were planning to gather the samurai of Kishidake and take refuge in Mt. Kurokami , he was planning to secretly make his way to the great court in Imari, but his father died of illness, and everything came to a halt, and the 15th generation of the Saga Genji family, which had been famous for 500 years, came to an end.
The collapse of Kishidake
Karatsu ware is said to have originated in the Kishidake mountains. With the fall of the family, many potters were scattered in all directions, and the five families that had previously been hiding moved to the Ushigatani and Okawara areas (both in Minamata Village). It is said that many of the ronin also came to this area and found new ways to make a living.
In particular, there is a theory that the potters who moved to a slightly more distant location, to Nagaba-yama in Mikawachi, a part of the territory of Hirado, came here and fired the Koyama seaweed glaze.
Zen’emon Mori and Kagenobu
Like the potters who were dispersed throughout the country after the collapse of Mt. Kikitsu, Zen’emon Mori, who had built a pottery kiln in Hisajiri, Mino Province, accompanied Kagenobu Kato to Karatsu (presumably Shiinomine) accompanied him to Karatsu (Shiinomine), and as a result of Kagenobu’s visit, the traditional kiln style of Oono was completely improved, and he was posthumously honored as the founder of Mino’s central region. And of course, it goes without saying that Zenukomon was a member of the Kishidake group.
Hikosaburo Ienaga
According to various documents, when Hideyoshi was encamped at Nagoya, he summoned the head of the Ienaga family, who was from Takagise village in Saga county, to make tea utensils from the roof tiles of the castle that were being burned at the time. , as he was the most skilled at the time, he was appointed as the chief of the Hizen pottery makers on December 26th of the first year of Bunroku, and it is recorded that he was given a red seal by Hideyoshi and entrusted with the Iki domain.
Nago Castle (the castle of the descendants of the local lord Nago Hizen no Kami Tsunekazu, who was rebuilt by Echizen no Kami Tsukasa) was completed in the spring of that year, and Hideyoshi entered the castle on April 25th of the first year of Bunroku. However, in the space of just a few months, he had progressed so much that he was entrusted with the role of Iki no Kami and even given a red seal, which is quite a feat.
Kawaharayashiki
The Kawaharayashiki in Takagise Village was a tiled house on the banks of the Tafuse River at the time. One theory is that Hikosaburo Ienaga and Chokunosuke Masaki made the tea bowls used by Hideyoshi, but there is another theory that they were actually made by a man called Genkun Hiramatsu, using clay from the Kuni-bun area of the village of Hisai (in the Saga district).
Hizen Tile
In the 19th year of the Tensho era, Hizen Maru was commissioned to make tiles for the Nagoya Castle keep, and Ogawa Soemon baked them in Ezu, Ogi County. In the first month of the Bunroku era, he was appointed by Maki was ordered to be the general representative for the construction of the castle tower, and as a reward for the speed with which it was completed, he was granted a red seal from Hideyoshi to the effect that he should be promoted to the position of builder of the nine provinces of Kyushu.
Naoshige ‘s construction of the castle tower
As you can see, there are many different and exaggerated accounts of each family, and this is the kind of material that confuses historians in later generations. As for the construction of Nagooya Castle, it is said that Nabeshima Naoshige was involved, and there is a record of this in the Nabeshima Naoshige family register, as follows. it is thought to have been in the 19th year of the Tensho era.
In order to build a castle for the shogun to stay in when he comes to the area, Hata Mikawamori built a castle in Nagoya, in the territory of Uematsuura. and a large tower was built. The three-bay tower was 13 ken long. The magistrates were Ishii Ikkaku (Yoshimoto), Kai Yasakomon, and Notomi Ichikomon. At this time, Lord Naoshige wrote a letter to the shogunate
from Nagoya For the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements. I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary arrangements for the use of the lord’s residence, I will make the necessary The work is being done with great care, and the magistrates are not neglecting it. I hope you will be pleased with it. It is said that Ishida Moku (Masazumi, the older brother of Mitsunari) and Kinoshita Hanjiro (Yoshitaka) can do it.
July 11th, red seal
To Nabeshima Kaga no Kami
Norikuni
According to some accounts When Nabeshima Naoshige first returned to his post, he brought with him the potter Hannya and ten or so of his relatives from Busan, and Hideyoshi ordered them to stay at Hakurozan and make tea utensils. Ienaga Hikosaburo was put in charge of supervising them. From this point on, he studied under Hannya He studied under Hakuo and became very knowledgeable, but it is said that many of the tea utensils made at the time were made by Hakuo. It is also said that the white cranes with white clouds on their backs that were made at Hieida-sara-ya in later years were also made by Hakuo.
Hakusakiyama
However Shirasagiyama is not the name of a village, but the name of a mountain on the island of Kamitsushima, which is a small island two ri from Nagaoya Castle and two ri from Karatsu. (At that time, there were many there were many egrets living there, but in later years they were cut down and moved to the Chikuzen Himejima area), and it was discovered that there was another place called Shirasakiyama, and that it was a misprint in the Fudoki.
Shirasakiyama is in the mountains, six or seven chō away from Nagoya Castle was located in the mountains, about six or seven chō away from Nago Castle, and at that time, Gamo Ujisato, the commander of the army, was stationed there. The area produced white pottery clay, which was used as a raw material for Karatsu ware in those days. Some say that some of the Korean potters were housed here, and others were sent to Karatsu in Sashimura to make pottery.
The official potter at Nago Castle
According to the Hirado theory, during the war, Hideyoshi ordered Matsuura Chikara to find a skilled potter, and he sent a potter named Jouni Kan from Kumagawa in Hamgyeong Province to the kiln at Nago Castle, but there is a lot of research to be done before this can be accepted as fact. There are also many other Koreans who came to Japan and made tea utensils in the Nago Castle at this time, but it is difficult to believe that they did so as a means of glorifying their ancestors, and it is hard to believe that they did so.
Even the magnanimous Hideyoshi would not have thought of allowing foreigners from the warring states to live in the castle, even as potters, during the war at the time, let alone the remnants of his Kishidake collapse , he should be considered to have had a large army of over 100,000 men surrounding the area several miles outside the Nago Castle, and the level of vigilance must have been extremely strict.
Sonkei came
It is said that Sonkei (also known as the son of Sonbon, the lord of Busan Sea), a Korean potter who came to Japan in 1598 with Kato Kiyomasa and settled in Karatsu, stayed in this area for a while and studied Karatsu ware. (Isn’t that the Kojiro Kansha kiln in Kirikimura?) He then returned to his home mountain, and in 1600 he came back again and was invited by Hosokawa Tadaoki to create the Ueno ware in Buzen, as mentioned above.
Hirotaka Takeshiro
After the fall of the Hata clan, Hirotaka Takeshiro, who had inherited the Karatsu domain, was appointed as the first Shima-no-kami. He was a retainer of Hideyoshi, and his father was Fujiwara no Hirotada, a samurai from Owari Province. He first served Oda Nobunaga, and then Hideyoshi, and was known as the Lord of Etchu. Hirotaka was a man of great courage and talent, and he distinguished himself in the Korean campaign, where he served for seven years. However, when the Kishidake Castle was burned down one night (there was a rumor that the Hata ronin had set it on fire), he built a castle in the northwest of the Tanakamura village in Tokui (now the village of Tokusue in Kitahata) and lived there.
Construction of Maizuru Castle
When the materials for the castle were obtained by dismantling Nagoya Castle, construction began on the site of the present-day Mitsushima Mountain in Karatsu in 1602, and after seven years, Maizuru Castle was completed. The area is located between the two rivers of Tamashima and Matsuura, and the harbor is deep. The arrangement of Takashima, Oshima and Torishima is like a miniature landscape, and on land, the princess Sayohime is seen holding up the mountain of Ryokufuri. Looking up, you can see the floating mountain of Ukidake in the high clouds of the eastern sky, and looking down, you can see the pine grove of the rainbow, which is reflected in the silver waves. The scenery is truly unsurpassed in the world. Since then, merchants have flocked to the area below the castle, and the city has become a place where people like the wealthy merchant Kamitani Sōtan (1663-1749) from Hakata, who came to this area to trade with Korea, China, Lu-song, Silla, and Annam, and who died in 1749 at the age of 85, have come to trade with Korea, China, Lu-song, Silla, and Annam, and who died in 1749 at the age of 85, have come to trade with Korea, China, Lu-song, Silla, and Annam, and who died in 1749 at the age of 85, have come to trade with Korea, China, Lu-song, Silla, and Annam, and who died in 1749 at the age of 85, have come to trade with Korea, China, Lu-song, Silla
The remaining bandits of Kishidake
At that time, the remaining bandits of Kishidake were scattered and many of them became retainers of the Nabeshima clan, or became village headmen in the villages within the domain. There were also a considerable number of them who became townspeople or potters, and the domain was very tolerant of these ronin. And even though the Kishidake Castle fire was the work of these ronin, it is said that they were so moved by their compassion that they stopped the investigation and passed it on, and from this the common people greatly submitted to them.
Lee Gyeong-ho
Gwang-ho also summoned the Korean potter Lee Gyeong (whose name was Yugwang) and the potter Shichibei, who were both on the island of Tsushima at the time, and had them make tea utensils using clay imported from Joseon clay, and had tea utensils fired on the Shi-no-mine hill, but any that did not turn out well were buried in the ground, and only 56 perfect pieces were selected.
Hitori-yaki
is highly prized by connoisseurs as a masterpiece of Hitori-yaki. As mentioned above, Ri Keiki was renamed Sakamoto Sukehachi and later founded the Hagi pottery in Nagato.
When Hirotaka was firing pottery, he transported the clay and glaze ingredients from Korea, which seems very similar to the praise, but if you look at the situation at the time of the war, you will find that this is not the case. As mentioned before, this was done in order to maintain the stability of the Genkai voyage, and it was loaded as a substitute for weight , on the one hand, the conventional idea that Korean pottery was the best in this period, and on the other hand, the special respect for the unique raw materials that only that country had, were also factors in the decision to import them. This is also the reason why there is a similar type of pottery in the old town of Satsuma.
Hirotaka’s increased stipend
In August 1600, Hirotaka, who was part of the Eastern Army at the Battle of Sekigahara, was rewarded for his distinguished service with an increase in his stipend of 40,000 koku of rice from Amakusa Island in Hizen Province, and 28,360 koku from Itoshima County (now Itoshima County) in Chikuzen Province (now Itoshima County), and he came to possess a total of 157,766 koku, made up of his original fief of 82,416 koku and the additional 75,350 koku.
The relocation of the clan kiln
The three potters who had been naturalized as Hirotaka Matahando were summoned, and the clan kiln was opened in the Karahori area on the west side of the castle town. was moved to Karifusa in Shimura, then to the clan kiln in Hieda, and then to Tsutsue in Tashiro (Okawa Village, Nishimatsuura County), before being moved to Okawara (Minamihata Village, same county) in 1603, and finally to Shiinomine in 1615.
Hirotaka passed away on April 11th, 1633 at the age of 71. His eldest son, Shikibu no Shosuke Tadaharu, had passed away at the age of 23 on April 1st, 1618, so Hirotaka’s second son, Hyogo no Kami Katataka, succeeded to the family name.
Kentak’s encouragement of the pottery industry
He encouraged the potters who had been affected by the collapse of Mt. Kishidake to open kilns in the local area, and this led to the pottery industry being revived. He also repaired the kilns in Karahori and fired pottery to be presented to the shogunate, and this is the kiln of the Bozu-machi domain.
The old kilns of the Kishidake lineage that were founded during the Keicho period include the Abo Valley and Kaya Valley in Fujinokawauchi, Matsuura Village (Nishimatsuura County), the Katsuto kilns in Tei, Matsuura Village, the Umezaka kilns in Okawa Village (same county), and the Yakiyama Upper Kilns and Yakiyama Lower Kilns in Okawa Village (same county).
Abo no Tani
Fujinokawauchi is a mountainous area with 57 households, and there are the remains of old kilns in Abo no Tani and Abo no Tani-shita no Mei no Tani. If you climb the mountain behind Kaya no Tani and go about 5 or 6 chō, you will find the remains of the kilns in Abo no Tani on the left side of the Kasajii Road.
There are also fragments of gray-glazed square dishes with crude depictions of cats, and a large gourd-shaped sake bottle with a raised inscription in the upper part, made with a tenmoku glaze. There is also a bottle with a sea cucumber design in a gold-brown glaze.
There are also gray glazed large plates, small plates with black glaze on top of wave-patterned recessed carving, and the same type of item with a reddish brown glaze and a drawing of grass on the bottom, like an orchid. There are also bowls with a dark greenish-brown glaze and small plates with a dark brown glaze and birds painted on the rim, and there are also bowls with a gray glaze and grass painted on the rim with four vertical lines. There are also round plates with a candy-like glaze, bowls with a light green glaze or a makeup glaze, or bowls with an egg-colored glaze, tenmoku glaze, or shell glaze, and there are also many unglazed tall bowls with creases in the surface.
Abou medicine
At that time, a Korean named Abou came to Karatsu and began using a green glaze (copper green from alum) at one of the kilns, and this green glaze came to be called Abou medicine. Some people think that the name “Abo” comes from the fact that the kilns were opened in the valley of the Wisteria River, but the application of this blue glaze is actually found in much greater quantities in the old kiln products of the neighboring Kinzokuhara area than in this area.
Kayano-dani
Among the old pottery from Kayano-dani (also known as Shobuga-dani), there are jar-shaped vases 3.3 cm in height with a black tenmoku glaze and a tear-shaped design in an amber glaze, as well as jar-shaped vases 6 cm in height with a sea cucumber design in a blue glaze and a tear-shaped design in an amber glaze.
There is also a tea jar with a tortoiseshell glaze and a similar item with a gray glaze. There is also a sake bottle with a brown clay body and a white glaze, and a similar item with a tenmoku glaze, all of which are thread-cut.
There are also large plates with iron-painted dark gray glaze, tea-glazed sea cucumber-shaped water jars with shoulder rings, small plates with iron-painted orchids on light blue glaze, and tea bowls with white transparent glaze on brown glaze, which give a pinkish hue and a sharkskin-like appearance on the outside with the same glaze on the inside.
In addition, there are sake bottles with a light weight and a thin body, which show the effects of firing in a kiln with a red clay body. Furthermore, although there are many descriptions of the old kilns in Kawauchi as being of the Saga style, the sea cucumber glaze and other styles are clearly of the Karatsu style, and geographically, they are only half a ri away from Shiinomine.
The Korean Tomb in Fudegaya
In the cemetery of the three pine trees in Fudegawachi, there is a Korean tomb. It is a square monument about 1 shaku 5 sun high and 1 shaku wide, standing on a two-tiered stone base measuring 3 shaku by 4 shaku. It is inscribed in the center with the name “Shaku Genjin”, and it seems to be the tomb of a Korean who was naturalized in Japan in the late 17th century.
Korean tombs in Kuragi
There was a round mound of about 500 square meters in the Kuragi area near the valley of the Fuji River, and it is said that there were a dozen or so round towers on top of stones about 5 cm square, but now they have all been lost, and only the base stones remain in one place.
Katsuhisa
The neighboring area of Fujinokawauchi is Katsuhisa in Tei no Kawa (several hundred and fifty households in the Matsuura village area), and many of the old kiln products from this area have Tenmoku glaze or tortoiseshell glaze, and the tea bowl stands are unglazed, and the excavated items, such as the gourd-shaped flower stands and flat incense stands, all have thread-cut bottoms. The kilns that branched off from Koshoku are said to be Suteiko and Doen.
Sotokobo and Doen
Sotokobo is located on the hillside behind Myosonji Temple on the Tei River, and many of the old wares are bowls with a lead-colored clay body and a dark brownish-red base, with the Tenmoku glaze applied unevenly, so that the brownish-red base is revealed halfway through, and the unglazed high-fired ware has a crinkled texture. Also, among the old wares from the same Jidōen kiln, there are small plates with a light blue glaze, tea bowls with a dark green glaze decorated with iron painting, and others decorated with iron painting of wild grasses, such as the Kakitenmoku style. There are also tea bowls with a high foot and unglazed Tenmoku glaze decorated with elegant iron designs. Among the kilns that were opened later, there is the Bionrin kiln in Kinzuhara (Matsuura Village), the Tani kiln in Mochida, the Tani kiln in Mochida, the Kurabuto kiln in Yamagata (Matsuura Village) , Kurigidani, and Muta no Hara-dakeyama in Nakanohara (Matsuura Village), Kamiya in Kawahara (Okawa Village), and Yamazaki in Motobu (Wakaki Village, Kijima County). It is not known exactly when these kilns were built or how they came to be.
Mion Hayashi
There is a record of an old kiln in the Kinzokihara area called the Nakagoya kiln, but there are no remains of an old kiln in the Hirotani area, and it was in the neighboring Miinrin area. If you search the terraced fields at the foot of the mountains here, you will find small shards among the shadows that pass over the young leaves of the persimmon trees. included brown sake bottles with fine carving and dark-glazed tea bowls, and in particular there were many tea bowls with tortoiseshell glaze, and there were also rare sea cucumber glaze pieces, all of which were unglazed.
Kanezawara is a small district in Nakanohara, Matsuura Village, and is a distance of one and a half ri from Imari. Traditionally the place famous among old potters as the Kinzokuhara pottery is the valley of the two kilns in Mochida, east and west, and in the Higashiyama area, there are still remains of a climbing kiln about four ken wide.
The valley of the east kiln in Mochida
The valley of the east kiln There is a large tea bowl in the style of the original Gonyo ware, with a light green glaze inside the glaze and the edges of the tear marks showing white and dark blue, and the base showing a purplish red color. There are also some with sea cucumber patterns on the outer rim, and others with dark blue or golden brown patterns inside. there are also deep bowls with reddish brown glaze, bowls of various sizes and shapes, and bowls with tortoiseshell glaze. There are also large bowls with blue glaze and bowls with white glaze inside and blue glaze outside.
There are also large bowls with yellow Seto glaze and greenish yellow glaze that are very shiny. There are also bowls with red clay , there are also tea bowls with a dark gray glaze or a blue glaze with dark flecks, and tea bowls with a copper glaze. All of these are unglazed, but there are also tea bowls with a reddish-brown glaze, a dark gray glaze, or an egg-colored glaze. there are no examples of unglazed takadai bowls carved into a crescent shape, nor are there any examples of crinkled silk. There are also examples of tokkuri sake bottles with tortoiseshell glaze, and small water jars with a brownish background and tenmoku tearstains.
Mochida’s Nishi-gama Valley
Nishi-gama There are deep tea bowls with tenmoku glaze, large tea bowls with blue tea glaze, or tea bowls with sea cucumber or brown tea glaze, and tea bowls with reddish brown or red tea glaze. There are also various types of sake bottles, such as yuji tenmoku, black tenmoku, Kiyo ware sea cucumber, yellow Seto, light yellow, or decorated sake bottles, many of which have blue glaze on the mouth. In addition there are water jars with dark brown tea glaze, tea jars with dark reddish brown tea glaze, and small flower vases with brownish-yellow glaze on lead-colored clay. In particular, there is a masterpiece of a three-inch-tall clay statue of Bodhidharma wearing a monk’s robe and holding a green leaf in his hand.
Muta Nakanohara
Nakanohara is a mountain village with several hundred households, and the old kiln site of Muta-no-hara is located behind the Kumano Gongen Shrine, about 14 or 15 chō (approx. 2.5 km) from Kanekibara. The kiln site on the left is that of Gakunoyama, and the kiln site under the three pine trees on the right is that of Muta-hara. The shards include yellow clay, lead-colored clay, and unglazed bowls with black-brown, black-tenmoku, or tortoiseshell glazes, as well as unglazed tall bowls with waist-shaped rims.
Gakunoyama Yama
Yama is opposite this place, and the old kiln products are similar to those of Muta-no-hara, but in general they are like those of Muta-no-hara, and there are also brown-colored, line-carved, eight-inch-high vases, large, five-inch-high vases with black tenmoku glaze, and vases of the same shape with brownish-red glaze and iron glaze flecks. There are also large, three-inch-high vases with black tenmoku glaze and tear marks, and small, square, four-cornered dishes with amber glaze and buds painted on them. tears, and a small square dish with a bud design in a caramel-colored glaze.
There are hundreds of kilns in the village of Matsuura, and there are two old kiln sites in the mountains here, in the valley of the temple and the valley of the chestnut tree. there were kiln remains in Goeda, but here, two valleys away from Kurigidani, no traces of any kind have been found.
Kurubo
The remains of the kiln at Kuratsubo include sake bottles with greenish-brown or reddish-brown glazes, and yellowish-grey fire-jars, as well as fragments of the usual jars and pots. In addition, all of the tea bowls, including the Tenmoku tea bowls, were fired without a glaze.
Kurinoki Kuri
Kuri There are deep brown bowls with a thin coat of white glaze on the brown clay body, allowing the color of the clay to show through. Or there are large plates with a lead-colored clay body and a brownish-red glaze. There are also stoneware bowls with a surprise glaze or yellow Seto glaze, or bowls with a white glaze applied to the same area, and all of these have a glaze that covers the entire surface from the inside to the outer rim, giving them a primitive style that is quite different from the hard and precise texture of semi-porcelain.
Yamazaki
The Yamasaki kiln site is located in the neighboring village of Matsuura, but this is a small village of 14 or 15 houses called Ogawauchi, which is a small district of the main village of Wakaki in the Kushima district. It is said that the kiln site was located on a hill to the east of this area, but it has now been developed into farmland, and it is not even easy to find any fragments of it. there is only a natural stone about a foot high that is called the tomb of a Korean person.
The raw material are made from the clay of this area, which is rich in viscosity, and there are also large jars with a mouth of about 30 cm, which have been glazed on the inside, as well as small dishes with a blue-green or grey glaze. There are also small dishes with a wide rim and two leaves on each side, and a small dish with an orchid design on the bottom, all of which are unglazed.
Old Pottery There is also an old pottery shop in the same neighborhood called Nagao, which used to be a place where pottery was made, but now the land has been completely cultivated and there are no traces of it left.
Momono Momono-kawagama
Although this area is not part of the Karatsu domain, there is a place called Momono-kawagama in Matsuura village. This is a one-night stop on the road between Imari and Nagaoka, about 2 ri 8 cho from Imari, with 250 houses.
Nakano Seimei
Matsuura Village was originally under the control of the Hata clan, but later came under the Nabeshima clan, and Nakano Jinkomon Seimei, who was in charge of the Momo River from Saga, came to rule this area. He then followed Naoshige to Korea and, on his return, brought back Korean potters with him and began making pottery here.
This area is known as the best place in Hizen for making jars, and they are sold at a price 10-20% higher than those made in Tarara and Ueno. in the old days, they made dishes ranging from 67 cm to 30 cm in diameter, which were glazed in brown or dark brown and brushed with white around the rim. There were also small There are also many shallow dishes that are 7 sun in size and have a white brush pattern on top of a small bean glaze, but many of these are unglazed and have a snake-eye pattern.
Seimei’s tombstone
Seimei retired to this place in his later years and died here, and his grave is located here. It is about 16.5 square meters in area, with a stone garden made of packed earth, and the tombstone is 165 cm high, 144 cm wide, and about 12 cm thick. In the center of the flat stone, which is shaped like a bird’s cap, the words “Shōjōin Tō Zenjimon and inscribed on the right is “Namu Tanyorai, died in 1621 in the year of the monkey, and on the left is ”Namu Shakyamuni, built on the first anniversary of his death on July 18th.
(The grave of died, and his grave is in the cemetery in Ogi. The eldest son of Seimei, Shogen Masamori, is said to have ruled the people well, and in particular to have protected and encouraged the production of pottery in this area. The Nakano family lineage is as follows (see Nakano family lineage).
Momono Kawayaki
The raw materials used here are a mixture of clay from the areas of Sankenzaka (Nakadori Village, Kushima County), Mateno (Takeuchi Village, Kushima County), Toshikawa (Okawa Village, Kushima County), Yamaguchi (Okawa Village, Kushima County), etc., and the kilns produce large jars of up to 500 liters, as well as clay pipes, flowerpots, roof tiles, etc. The current Ito Inosuke is the fourth generation of the family business, and there are two other potters in the village. At one time, they supplied a large number of jars to the Kagoshima region as containers for Awamori, and their annual production was said to be worth over 10,000 yen, but now it is said to be worth only half that amount.
Kentakou On November 9th, 1637, in the domain of Hizen Province Shimabara, which was the fief of Itakura Shigemasa, when the followers of the Christian religion rose up in rebellion, Terasawa Kenkou, who was in charge of the domain of Amakusa, farmers, and as he did not send an army to suppress them, he was accused of being unable to deal with the uprising and was stripped of his 40,000 koku fief in Amakusa. Kenkou regretted this greatly, and on November 18th, 1677, at the age of 39, he committed suicide at Kaiji Temple in Asakusa, Edo.
His successor Katsutaka
was ordered to surrender his fiefdom, and on the 24th of the same month, by order of the shogunate, the lord of Toyooka Castle (740,000 koku) Nakagawa Shuzen Masakatsu (the great-grandson of Seibei Kiyohide, died on the 18th of March in the 2nd year of Shouou, aged 60) and the lord of Matsuyama Castle in Bingo Province (50,000 koku) Mizutani Ise-no-kami Katsutaka (Katsutaka’s second wife was Kentakata’s younger sister. Katsutaka died on the third day of the fifth month of the fourth year of the Kanbun era, at the age of 68) and his party came to Karatsu and received Maizuru Castle, and they became in charge of the administration of the castle as its guards. the clan kiln in the Bozu-machi area also came to be under the direct control of the shogunate and produced pottery.
Okubo Tadaoki takes over
In 1649, Okubo Tadaoki (the son of Okubo Tadayuki) was transferred from Akashi in Banshu and became the lord of Karatsu, with a stipend of 87,000 koku . As he was the grandson of Ieyasu through his mother, who was the daughter of Okudaira Mimasaka no Kami Nobumasa, he became a great administrator as the governor of Chinsai. , Nakagawa Hisamori and Mizutani Katsutaka returned to their own fiefs, but only Uemura Rihei, who had followed Katsutaka at the time, remained behind.
Uemura Rihei
Rihei was deeply interested in the tea ceremony and had a great knowledge of tea utensils, and in particular, he had a deep knowledge of painting.
He once wandered around, making dolls in a place called Roku in Fukuyoshi Village, Itoshima County, Chikuzen Province, and also painting pictures on fans, but he also came to Saga Domain and observed the pottery industry in the Mikawachi region from Arita and returned to Karatsu, where he made a proposal to the feudal lord Tadaoki, and collected clay from Mugata (Aruura) Village to use in the clan kiln in Bozu-machi, where he produced pottery to be presented to the shogunate.
Hirayama Kamigama
However, in later years, he came to Aichi and built a kiln in the west of the valley of Hiranoueyamaji Haze in Aichi, and invited potters from Mikawachi to work there, but after five years he stopped and left the area again left the area and wandered around, but it is a great pity that he ended his life as a master potter while working as a tea house keeper in Wada (Kizuka Village, outside Karatsu) in his later years.
In the ninth year of the Kanbun era On April 19th, Okubo Tadamasa passed away at the age of 69 (7), and was succeeded by his son, Uesugi Tadaaki (actually the second son of Ukyo-no-suke Tsunetaka, Tadamasa’s uncle), who was the second generation of the Uesugi family. However, he was transferred to the Sakura domain in Shimousa Province.
Matsudaira Norihisa replaced
Matsudaira Norihisa, the lord of Matsukura in Shimousa, in July of the 6th year of Enpo (1678). He succeeded to a domain of 70,000 koku, and The second generation was Izumi no Kami Noriharu, and the third generation was Sakon no Kami Norishiki, who was transferred to Toba in Shima Province in February of the fourth year of the Jōkyō era (1687).
Doi Yoshikazu replaced
Toshikatsu Doi (the second son of Toshitaka, the governor of Totomi Province, who died on the 25th of the fifth month of the leap year in the third year of the Shoutoku era) as the lord of Toba in Yamashiro Province, and received a stipend of 70,000 koku on the 29th of the fifth month of the fourth year of the Genroku era (1691). The fourth year of the Shoutoku era On April 27th, the second generation Oi-no-kami Toshizane succeeded, and on April 18th, 1738, the third generation Oi-no-kami Toshihiro (who was actually the son of Toshikiyo, the governor of Bingo) succeeded, and the fourth generation was Toshizane’s younger brother Toshizato.
And in 1627, or possibly 1719, the clan kiln in the Bozu-machi area was moved to the tea bowl kiln in the present-day Tochinomachi, Azaya-cho area, as it was too close to the coast. In the fourth year of the Jōei era (1627), or possibly the fourth year of the Kyōhō era, the clan kiln in the Bōzu-machi area was moved to the tea bowl kiln in the present-day Tōjin-machi, Aza-Tani-machi, as it was too close to the coast.
Then, in the ninth month of the Jūryaku era (1635), Riri returned to the Kuni-koga area of his former fief.
Mizuno Tadanori replaced
Mizuno Tadatomo (the adopted son of Kanemoto Tadanobu and the younger brother of Mizuno Tamiya), the lord of Okazaki in Mikawa Province, took over the Karatsu domain. However, at that time, there were a succession of natural disasters and the crops failed, and in addition, Tadanobu arbitrarily changed the laws and greatly distressed the people, so the farmers in the domain rose up against this tyranny, and on July 20th, 1711 (Meiwa 8th year), there were 22,000 people who gathered at Niji-no-Matsubara
Chigetsu and Sai Among them were the priest Chigetsu of Joraku-ji Temple in Kagimura, and the head farmer Tomita Saiji of Hirahara in Tamashima-mura, who both became martyrs. The second generation Shikibu Shosuke Tadanaga was transferred to the domain of Hamamatsu in Totomi Province, and the domains of the third generation, Izumi no Kami Tadamitsu, and the fourth generation, Etchu no Kami Tadahiro, were succeeded by the domain of the fifth generation, Ogasawara no Kami Nagamasa, in June of the first year of Bunsei (1818).
Ogasawara Nagamasa Masayoshi
In the first year of Bunsei (1818), the domain of Ogasawara Chikara Nagamasa became the domain of Ogasawara Chikara Nagamasa, and he received a stipend of 60,000 koku. The Ogasawara family is descended from Kaikajira Tohmi, the fourth generation of the Seiwa Genji Shira Saburo Yoshimitsu, and the family tree is as follows. (See Ogasawara Family Tree)
White Clouded Crane
Iki no Kami Tadafumi held the domains of Kunisaki and Yoshida in Bungo Province, and from the time of his son Nagamichi, the domain of Kakegawa in Enshu was held by the successive generations of Nagayoshi, Nagayoshi, and Nagayoshi, until it was transferred to the domain of Tanagura in Oshu in the time of Nagayoshi. Nagamasa had experience in supervising pottery production in his domain, he greatly encouraged this art, and in his tea bowl kiln, he produced white-patterned cranes tea utensils modeled on those of Korea, which he presented to the shogunate (white cranes are cranes carved in prose on the surface of the vessel, and then inlaid with white porcelain (The white cranes were carved into the surface of the vessels, and then white agate inlay was applied, but in later times, there were many more inlaid objects, and even this style came to be called “white crane” inlay).
The second generation Choutai came from the Sakai family, who were the lords of the Hakuu Tsurugaoka castle, the third generation Chokai came from Chikatsu in Buzen, the fourth generation Chowa came from Yamato Koriyama, and the fifth generation Chikuni was adopted. From the Tenmei era, the pottery that was presented to the shogunate was decided to be in October every year. The sixth generation Chokyo (he was actually the son of the first Chosho, and the son of the sixth Chosho, who was adopted by the fifth Chosho) was two years older than the fifth Chosho.
Ogasawara Akizane Ogasawara
Myozan (also known as Kokka or Hakka, and also known as Tenzanryu) was a famous Myozan (also known as Kokka or Hakka, and also known as Tenzanryu) who, as a young councilor at the time, carried out the payment of compensation for the incident involving his son’s wheat.
The Karatsu clan kiln , there were two families who had been engaged in the production of pottery for generations: the Nakazato family and the Oshima family.
The Nakazato family had a seal with a circle in it, and the Oshima family had a seal with a M in it. Both families produced outstanding potters, and the Nakazato family’s lineage is as follows.
Nakazato Matashichi
The first Matashichi was said to be the son of a Korean potter named Yasaku, but in fact he was a member of the party that survived the collapse of Mt. Kijidake, and he did not reveal his true identity for fear of being ostracized. At the time, was a time when Korean potters were worshipped as gods. Therefore, even in the case of Matashichi, it was thought that he was a Korean pretending to be Japanese.
Kamikazuemon, the God of the Kiln
Matashichi was a worker at the Tashiro clan kiln. The second generation Taro Uemon was made to work at the clan kiln in Okawara (Mominokidani) when it was moved there in 1603. The third Kanyuemon was at the clan kiln in Shiinomine during the Genna era, but for some reason he returned to Okawara, and at Shiinomine he was so skilled that the kiln god left and he became despondent.
The fourth Taro It was during the time of the fifth generation Taro Ukemon that the collapse of the Shiinomine kilns in the 11th year of the Kyoho era led to the order for him and the fourth generation Oshima Ya to be transferred to the clan kilns in the Bozu-machi area.
Maeda Toji Uemon
Prior to this, there was a famous painter called Maeda Toji Uemon, who was a top student of Uemura Rihei’s paintings.
Kiheiji and Hiraibo
Studied under and studied under him. The works of this master potter, Kiheiji, are known as Chuko-yaki. The seventh generation Taroemon had a pupil named Hirao who was also a master potter. The twelfth generation Taroemon is continuing to produce works privately at the site of the tea bowl kiln.
Quail-feather brush brush marks
and he has been presenting various elegant works as a member of the Arita New Pottery Association.
In particular, he has a style of work called “Teshuri style, which is a type of brushwork called “mame”, is a mortar-shaped confectionary dish with a blue background and small cracks in the glaze, and it is decorated with brushwork that looks like Mishima-te at first glance, and there is also brushwork in the shape of chrysanthemums on the bottom. Also, together with the Nakazato family , the Oshima family was a long line of potters who worked at the clan kilns and displayed their skill.
Among them, the sixth generation Yatahei was an incomparable master potter. The eighth generation Gennosuke is said to have been the Ogasawara Sadomori, but there are no details of his achievements. people such as Kenta, Kisakomon, Shinkuro, and Kichisaburo, but as the Oshima family went out of business before the Nakazato family, it is extremely difficult to investigate the history of the Oshima family, which is said to have moved to the coal mining area of the Shimabara region.
The decline of Karatsu ware decline
As you can see, Karatsu ware, which had a long history and passed on special skills, also declined without a trace. There was no one to revive it in Karatsu, including the former feudal lord, and even if they had shouted it out, there was no one with the determination to invest in it.
Kusaba Mitsue
In 1889, the gynecologist Kusakabe Mitsusetsu (Bon Taro’s eldest son) of Karatsu Town was so saddened by the thought of Karatsu ware dying out that he regretted the extinction of Karatsu ware, and invested a great deal of money to set up facilities in Tanimachi, or gave his own designs, or tried to decorate white porcelain with cranes, etc., and worked hard to revive it, and for a time tried to promote it at exhibition halls in various places, but he passed away on September 28, 1906 at the age of 63. (His son Eiki (who was formerly the principal of the Gifu Higher Agricultural and Forestry School)
Yamauchi Sueki
the third son of Mise, became an adopted son of Kohei Yamauchi, and succeeded to his father’s will. In the same year, he employed Yoshitoku Hamada (also written as Yoshitoku Matayoshi, the first graduate of the Arita Technical School) of Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture to make various glazes glazes and clay, and he invited Matsushima Rin for sculpture and Kakunori Sumi (a graduate of the school’s third term) for painting, as well as employing other Arita potters to make floor vases, vases, tea utensils, tableware, etc.
At times, he exhibited his work at expositions and competitions, and in 1906, he provided products to the Imperial Household Department through Baron Yoneda Torao. exhibitions and competitions, and in 1906, the products were offered to the Imperial Household Department by Baron Yoneda Torao. , when he was planning to revive the industry, he passed away at the age of 37 on November 14th of the 44th year of the Meiji era, and the business also came to a halt, which was a great pity.
Nakano Renrin
The next person to rise to prominence was the giant statue artist Kanrin Nakano. There was a man named Kotaro Maeda who was in charge of mixing the clay and glaze for the Karatsu ware that was presented to the court, and in his later years he borrowed money from Kenzaburo Kusaba using the secret recipe for the mixture as collateral. Kanrin built a kiln in the depths of the valley built a kiln in the depths of the valley, and at the time, Naoyuki Fukuda, who had been training in Kyoto, returned to his hometown and engaged in pottery making using the same climbing kiln.
Nerin’s style seems to be best suited to large statues of horses and crabs. At his shop in Honmachi, he has on display a 15-shaku-long horse and a group of crabs that can climb into a large basket. It is said that his specialty is the production of giant clay statues, and this is due to the secret of the aforementioned clay mixture and his skill, and there are not a few statues and famous horses from various places that have been produced using photographs, as they can be perfectly produced even if they are as large as 10 feet high.
The various ingredients of Karatsu ware
From here, the article returns to the beginning. As for the clay used for Karatsu ware, in the past, only clay with a high iron content was used. The ingredients used in large quantities were the Muga clay (blue-white) from Arita, the Kabeshima clay (white) from Nagoya, the Hieda clay (red) from Kitahata, the Yamahiko’s soil (white), Sarino’s soil (white) in Mutabe, Saichi Village, gravel (white) in Nishi Karatsu Village, clay (red) in Kanda Nishiura, and many other types.
Kasashii clay
In 1616, good clay with little iron content was discovered in Kasashii (Minamata Village), and the pottery industry in the neighboring area of Shiinomine flourished. (on the top of Tara) and two new climbing kilns (in the middle of Tara and at the bottom of Tara) were built, and the continuous length of each was 20 ken. is about half a ri from here, and the clay was very convenient to transport, and this clay was known as the “dono no tsuchi” (lord’s clay) and was transported to the Karatsu domain kilns, where it was so highly prized that it was forbidden to be taken without permission.
Shiino Mineyama
Shiinomine is a village in the current Minamata Village. Minamata was incorporated into Nishimatsuura County along with the three villages of Hatazu, Kurokawa and Okawa in November 1878, but all of them were under the jurisdiction of Karatsu. The name of Shiinomine was called Koshi in ancient times, and it was the castle of Shiinomine Gakura, a retainer of the Hata family. being only one ri from the Imanari market, it was very convenient for transporting goods, and the development of this industry presented the appearance of being the representative area for Karatsu ware, and at its peak there were over 350 households.
This mountain has always been a pottery center second only to Kishidake, but the pottery industry here really took off after many of the potters from Kishidake moved here, and the pottery families that settled here included the Nakazato, Oshima, Ogata, Fukushima, and Fukumoto families.
The protection of the Karatsu domain
The Terasawa , the feudal lord of Karatsu, treated potters very well, especially the five potters who worked for the clan, each of whom was given a stipend of rice, and they were allowed to pay this back in the form of pottery. In addition, 50 cho (approx. 165,000 square meters) of forest in the vicinity of Shiinomine were given to them as fuel for pottery production.
Takahara Gorosuke’s descent
to the capital Takahara Gorosuke, who had served Hideyoshi as a potter at his Shurakutei residence, was a man of such ability that he devised the iron cannons used during the Osaka Siege, but after the fall of the castle, he came to Hakata in Chikuzen in 1616 and is thought to have made pottery in this area for a time, using the priest Toshuku of Jotenji as his agent, but there is no clear record of this. (There is also a theory that he opened a pottery in Onarudani, Kurate-gun there is also a theory that he opened a kiln in Onarudani, Kurate County).
Of course, it goes without saying that he was a member of the Toyotomi clan and was very wary of himself and kept his movements secret.
Goro Shichi comes to the peak of Shiinomine
In the fifth year of Genna In the fifth year of Genna (1628), Goroshi came to the peak of the Shiitake trees, and if you look at the fact that he had been living there for seven years, it is not difficult to see how attached he was to the area and how he taught the local potters to create a style of pottery that was unique to him. (There is a theory that the Gorohachi tea bowls that are popular today originated from this style of pottery. there is a theory that the Goro Hachi tea bowls that are popular today originated from this place), and it was the perfect place for a ronin to hide himself away while researching the pottery techniques of the Korean lineage.
The visit of Imamura Sanjō
Imamura Sanjō of Mikawachi also came to this mountain to ask Gorōshichi to teach him pottery techniques, and at the same time he also wanted to see the excellent pottery styles of this area. , it is certain that his visit to Shiinomine was one of his long-cherished dreams, due to the fact that the kilns at Nagayamayama were opened by potters who had fled from the collapse of Kishidake.
The gathering at Shiinomine Gathering at Shiinomine
From the Keicho period to the Genna period, many ronin who were ashamed of the world, such as the survivors of the battle of Togahara and the remnants of the Osaka castle siege, became potters in this mountainous area using Gorosichi as a reference, and there were not a few who settled down by joining the ronin of Kishidake. However the design of the rustic simplicity of the local area, combined with the elegance of the refined sake, has been refined, and it is a creation of a different kind that should be seen.
Doi Rikio came to the mountain
Genroku In the year 1692, the feudal lord of Karatsu, Doi Shuho, stopped at this mountain on his way to Nagasaki and inspected the work of five potters working for the clan: Taroemon, Yajibe, Kiheiji, Sakuhei and Tazakomon. it seems that Taroemon was a Nakazato, and Yahei was an Oshima, but that Kiheiji and Sakuhei were either Kogata or Fukushima.
Thus, for eighty years, the potters were nurtured under the protection of the local lord and through the diligent study of the great masters, but then the incident of the collapse of the Shiinomine occurred in this prosperous pottery town.
The collapse of the Shiinomine collapse
Although this area was hit by a major fire in July of the third year of the Kanbun era (1663), it was an incident that occurred after that that fundamentally destroyed the industry here.
However there are two theories about the collapse of this peak, and according to the Komatsu family chart, it also occurred during the Kan’ei era, but it is not certain when the collapse occurred, and there are some differences in the dates of the incidents, so we have only excerpted two of them.
The first The first
incident occurred in 1697, when the majority of the pottery kilns in this area (also known as the kiln owners, or the common name for the pottery makers) had previously received funding from Imari merchants to help with production, but not only did they fail to pay back the money by the deadline, they also ignored the terms of the agreement and secretly took most of the pottery out of the kilns, the money lenders and other merchants became very angry and, in collusion with the village headman of Ide, they took the matter to the Okawano magistrate’s office.
The magistrate immediately investigated the matter, and as the merchants’ claims were indeed correct, the majority of the potters were ordered to be punished. only a few kilns remained, and the pottery industry in this area, which had been so prosperous, suddenly came to an end.
Later events
The first event occurred in 1717. the techniques used in pottery making are similar in principle, but the most painstaking and difficult part of the process is the preparation of the glaze. Therefore, there are many special secrets and techniques that are common to all the mountains, and it seems that there was a great deal of effort involved in finding the ingredients used in the glaze.
Yamabushi gathered
the glaze materials used here until the Meiji Restoration, they learned that stones from the Okawachi-yama Shorikibo (Saga Domain) flowed into the Iwankurikawa River in Imari, and secretly snuck out in the middle of the night to cross the Ike-no-touge Pass to collect them. They were on their guard against each other, and in advance they did not use the name Shorikibo, but used the anonymous name Yamabushi.
That was because there was a fear that if this were to be discovered, the other party would bring up a strict discussion about the matter of the Nabeshima domain’s entry into the pot, and it would be difficult to know what would happen. Therefore, it is said that sometimes they would pick them up in a basket, dressed as if they were a night-time thief. after the Meiji Restoration, of course, and it became an era when both the white clay from Enohara in Okawachi Village and the red clay from Koishiwara in the same village were openly transported.
The secret of the secret method of glazing
However, at the time of the feudal system, the secret of this glazing method was the lifeblood of the pottery mountains. The incident occurred in this area, close to Saga and Takeo, and someone who had been bribed by the kilns of these pottery mountains was accused of having taught the secret of the traditional glazing method of Shiinomine method to the local official, who was very angry and decided to investigate the matter.
The kilns and other places
It was discovered that there were many more people involved than expected, and it is said that all of the kilns were closed down, including the workers and the rough carpenters (carpenters who do the menial work under the direction of the craftsmen).
However it is said that the fifth generation Nakazato Taroemon and the fourth generation Oshima Yahei were forced to move to the clan kiln in the nearby Bozu-machi area.
Exclusion from the Exemption from the census
There is a record of the exemption of the census of Taroemon and Yahei in May of the 5th year of the An’ei era (1776) from the Shiinomine mountain people’s census. However the kilns of Shiinomine at the time had dispersed to other mountains or had been discontinued, and only the two households of Yaemon (Nakazato) and Ichibe (Ogata) remained.
The politics of our domain During the Edo period, the government did not consider the benefits of industry, and instead judged cases based on morality and right and wrong. This was a far cry from the modern world, where countries are obsessed with calculating diplomacy and only consider the gains and losses of their own trade.
The old kilns in Valley
There are four locations for old kilns in the valley of the Buddha: Kamitara’s Buddha Valley, Nakamura in Nakamitara, Komotani in Shimotara, and the old Koshishinoyama kiln. The Buddha valley is located in the most remote part of the mountain field, with valleys on either side, and the topography of the hill and slope facing the kiln is completely mysterious. are all old Karatsu ware with thin glazes and a thread-cut base, and the texture is similar to stoneware. There is also a white-glazed tea bowl with a high foot that is unglazed and almost like porcelain.
The most common type of shard here the largest number of shards are brownish in color, and they are of the type that includes plates, bowls, and tea bowls. In addition, the comb-like lines inside this type of grinding bowl are drawn in twelve directions, and there are also bowls with gray or yellowish-green glazes decorated with designs of leaves. In short, this Butsu-no-Tani kiln seems to be the next oldest kiln after the Ido kiln. it seems that the older kilns were generally fired more tightly than the middle-aged kilns, perhaps due to the fact that the forests were more abundant at the time, and that the tendency to pay more attention to the cost of fuel led to a slight decrease in the amount of firewood used in the middle-aged kiln period.
Nakamura
Nakamura and Komoya kilns were opened in 1616, as mentioned above. There are also round tea bowls with a white glaze applied to a chestnut-colored base, and small tea bowls with a blue-gray glaze and iron-painted rim, as well as summer tea bowls with a dark yellow glaze and a snail-patterned base. There are also stoneware-like robust pieces.
There are also summer teacups include those with tenmoku glaze or chestnut brown glaze, or those with sea cucumber glaze or yellow glaze.
Or there are also tea bowls with a greenish-blue glaze and a cherry-red glaze, and small dishes with a three-centimeter-wide pattern of cherry blossoms pressed into the glaze, as well as small bowls with a cherry-red glaze and a pattern of pressed flowers around the rim, and white makeup applied on top, and various other high-quality products have been fired.
Komoya
The old kiln sites at Komoya are located at the entrance to the Kora Shrine. Here, bowls with an egg-colored glaze are often produced, but there are also rare examples of bowls with a black Tenmoku glaze, and bowls with a snail-patterned glaze, as well as round bowls with a gray glaze. Late-period porcelain was also produced here. Next the new kiln at Kojii is the one that is currently used as the Mine To kiln at Kojii, and it goes without saying that this is a kiln that has been rebuilt since it was first opened over a hundred years ago.
Other old kiln products from Kojii Mine
There are no shortage of outstanding products from the old kilns at Kojii Mine. Although it is unclear which kiln produced them, there is a superb teabowl with a tear-shaped lip and a teapot with a rough design of a Chinese flowering quince in white glaze on top of a brown or grey glaze.
There is also a large teacup with a blue glaze and a small plate with a design of a plum tree in the same glaze. There is also a large teacup with a four-inch diameter that has been decorated with a blue glaze, a small three-inch plate with a plum design in the same glaze, and a small plate with a brownish-red glaze and inlaid iron brown glaze. There is also a fire bowl with a thick, round handle that has been decorated with a design of Karatsu ware in a brown glaze. There is a 18cm sake bottle with a dark yellow body and white patterns, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm sake bottle with a dark brown body and a rim with a Tenmoku glaze, and a 18cm there is a 7-inch sake bottle with a black glaze on the rim and a white glaze with a Dokuraku pattern on it, and there is also an 8-inch sake bottle with a brown glaze and a white Dokuraku pattern. In addition there is a vase with a rim of chicken droppings glaze and a six-inch flower vase with a rim of blue-green glaze and a ring of Tenmoku glaze.
Shiino porcelain
In 1896, Ueda Yonezo (Hara-ya) of Imari Shimo-machi took over the kiln equipment of the Koenotsuji Maekawa pottery, which had gone out of business, and transported it to Shiinomine, where he began to make porcelain using Amakusa stone as the raw material. was managed by Yukichi Mizumachi of Imari Genkai Koji, who brought together a group of 15 or 16 potters from this area, including Ogata Kichitaro, and hired 15 or 16 craftsmen from Yoshidayama in the Fujitsu district to produce cheap tableware using copperplate printing, but the business was discontinued after five or six years.
Around 1912 Around 1912, a certain Mr. Nakazato revived the production of porcelain here, and manufactured low-grade items such as Canton tea bowls and teacups, but this business was discontinued after a year or so, and from then on the production of traditional black pottery (ceramics) was resumed.
Imari Exclusive dealings with Imari
From around 1873, the pottery of this area entered into exclusive dealings with Ishimaru Zenzaku of Imari Hamamachi, and it is said that there were not a few excellent products from that period, such as the Zundoh vase and the sea cucumber-shaped vase with marbled spots, but that the style of production gradually declined along with the price.
After Zenzaku , the production of Shiinomine ware gradually declined, and the annual production of the four potters, including Nakazato Shojiro, was only a little over 3,000 yen. However when they sent their wares to the Osaka area from the port of Imari, they lost the convenience of shipping them on Japanese-style boats, and the kiln-makers in this area began selling their products directly, so Sadakichi also completely stopped trading with them, and this was more than ten years ago.
Shiinomine sea cucumber and tenmoku
However, the kiln techniques of Shi no Mine were worthy of the old traditions, and if they were to apply sea cucumber and tenmoku glazes to make large vessels such as hanging vases and half-cylinders, they would be able to prevent the importation of goods from the Shanghai area at the time Some Arita merchants sent master potters from Arita to try their hand at it, and they even encouraged the local kilns to try it, but this was not taken up because there was a fear that the potters from other areas might learn the traditional glazing methods.
In the old days which at one time boasted 350 households, is now down to just 13 households, and has been incorporated into the Fusho district of Minamihata Village. , it is currently being run as a pottery, and there are also small-scale operators such as Keishi Nakazato, Torajiro Ogata, and Kozo Eguchi.
Small-scale family name change
Takayo is a descendant of the Kogata family who have been using the Kogata or Ogata surname for generations, but when he became the lord of the Ogasawara clan in the first year of the Bunsei era, he changed his surname to Ogata to avoid the use of the small kanji character in the name of his predecessor, Hirobei Takayoshi, and the name has been passed down to his descendants, including Takayoshi’s grandson, Takamasa, and then to the present-day Takayo.
Nakazato Head of the Family
The head of the family of the Nakazato clan of the Motoshii region is the aforementioned Keiichi, and if you trace back, you get Keiichi’s father Hyakukichi, his father Shojiro, his father Keiichiro, who died in 1876, his father Tahei, who died in 1841, his father Magokumon, who died in 1812, and his father Taichi, who died in 1841, and his father Shigeichi, but it is unknown before that.
I think , who moved to Mikawa, was probably from this lineage.
Current products of Shiinomine peak
The types of products currently made include yuba, flowerpots, floor vases, and flower vases, and even among the inferior products there are some splendid sea cucumber-colored products, and there are even some that are so beautiful that they are better suited to being made into duck sake bottles than to being used as flower vases.
It is likely there seems to be plenty of room for further improvement in the techniques used to make floor ornaments and vases.
There is a Korean tomb at the foot of the hill here, and it is four feet and five inches high, with fine, shallow letters engraved all over it, which are now completely unreadable.
There is a shrine the god of the peak of the mountain
There is also a shrine that worships the Koryo god as the god of the peak of the mountain, and it is located to the left of the Komogaya kiln ruins. There is a worship hall with a high roof that is about eight tatami mats in size. the oldest of the three stone shrines at the back of the hall was built in the 5th year of the Kansei era (August 1793), and the names of the donors include NAKAZATO Yaemon, OSHIMA Ichimon, NAKAZATO Tsukasa, OGATA Kiyoharu, OGATA Rizaemon, FUKUSHIMA Sanemon, and OGATA Unosuke.
The Shinto Festival and cherry blossom viewing
This festival was held on April 8th, and in previous years it was a very popular event, with theatrical performances and sumo wrestling. and from the 9th, the cherry blossom viewing parties began, and although it was customary for the artisans to indulge in drinking for five or six days, now it has become a quiet little village, and the stone torii of the god of Tara, which reminds us of the prosperous times of old, is just covered in moss as it ages.
Kora mochi
is made as an offering to the gods during the Korean Festival, by mixing rice and sticky rice in equal parts, pounding them together, sieving the mixture through a fine mesh, and steaming it into a flat, rectangular shape about 3-4 mm thick. cooked and mashed azuki beans are spread on top without adding any salt, and it is cut using a bamboo knife, not a metal knife. It is said that this is called “Koryo-mochi” because it is served with miso soup and is also served to guests. it is probably the origin of the modern koma-mochi with its thick layer of sugar bean paste.
From here, the story returns to the beginning. The aforementioned collapse of the Shi-no-mine mountain range scattered in all directions, and kilns were opened in places such as Tanaka in Kitahata Village and Hatajima in Onizuka Village. there were also those who opened kilns in Katakusa, Sajiro, and Zentoku in Okawa Village. In particular, it is said that they opened kilns in the sugi (Japanese cedar) forest in Mikawachi and in Yoshii in Itoshima County, Chikuzen.
The valley of the Hatajima Valley of the Kilns
Hatajima was the fief of Hatajima Shuzen no Masamasa (400 koku), a vassal of Motohata, and the remains of the old kilns here are in a valley in the mountains to the right of the water mill, one ri west of Onizuka Station. If you look through the fallen leaves are found among the kiln tools, and there are also bowls with a bluish-grey glaze on a greyish-brown clay body, and bowls with a white glaze that is uneven in places.
Pot-shaped Jizo Jizo-son
There is a village called Hatajima, which is located three or four streets south of here, and the Jizo-son (Jizo statue) there is famous in this area. The main body of the statue has a broken nose, which has been shaped and cemented into place, and it is said to have been a spiritual manifestation since ancient times. is a five-inch-diameter, iron-colored, deep bowl that is shaped like a bowl turned upside down, and the top is made to look like a gem. , the two sides of the bowl are decorated with a swastika in relief, and there is an inscription dated 1758, and it is said to be a product of the aforementioned valley kiln.
The following Katakusa, Sajiro, Zento, and other old kiln sites are all in the village of Okawa, which has been incorporated into the town of Imanishi Matsuura, but since there are so many old kiln sites in this area, we will describe them separately. The main station, Okawano, is a strategic location, located three miles from Imari, and is currently a station on the Hokutetsu line.
Okawano Okawano
Yu, a member of the former Matsuura clan, lived in the castle at Hizukuri in Kawanishi, in the territory of Okawano Yu (1,580 koku), while his younger brother, Minegoro, lived in the Mine castle in Kawanishi (the ancestor of the Matsuura clan of Hirado and the Imari clan).
However the descendants of Yū, who took the surnames Tsuruta, Tashiro and Kawahara, settled in this area and, in addition to this, under the banner of the Hata clan were Minamoto Saburō Yasumichi (400 koku at Okawano Minami no Tate), Hara Zenshiro Minamoto no Sasa (300 koku at Okawano), Minamoto Tango no Kami Taira no Michinaga (300 koku at Kawanishi Mineno Tate), Minamoto Gorō Hachitō (150 koku at Shimogo), Tashiro Hiyama no Kami Hayashi (300 koku at Kamei no Tate), Akagi Jibudayu Hideshige (300 koku at Kawahara), Tsuruta Kamejūmaru (300 koku at Yamaguchi), and others. ) Tashiro Hiyama no Kami Hayashi (Kamei no Yakata 300 koku) Akagi Jibu no Dayu Hideshige (Kawahara 300 koku) Tsuruta Kijumaru (Yamaguchi) and others, but among them, Tsuruta Inaba no Kami Masaru (500 koku), the lord of Hibi Castle, and his younger brother Kawahara no Aza no Kami Takanori (200 koku) were especially renowned for their bravery. Family tree As shown on the left.
(See the Tsuruta-Kawahara Family Tree)
Allocation Return of Land
When the feudal lord of Karatsu, Mizuno Echizen no Kami Tadakuni, had the entire domain surveyed, he found that the total rice yield was 18,000 koku more than the total tax yield, so he returned the fertile Okawano region to the shogunate. from this point on, it became a directly administered area of Edo, and after that, it was successively administered by temporary administrators from places such as Shimabara and Tsushima in Hizen, Satsuma, and Hita in Bungo Province (governor Shioya Daishiro Masayoshi “died on September 8th, 1836 at the age of 68, posthumously awarded the rank of senior fifth court rank” took up the post). it was probably because of the abnormal crop failure in the aforementioned territory that they were made to rule as a way of supplementing the food supply. Furthermore, the pottery-making areas in this region are all located around the foot of Mt. Mayuyama, and this is probably because of the clay that is used as a raw material, and of course the local village chiefs protected them.
Tachikawa Motoya
Tachikawa in Okawa Village is a village of 80 households in the mountains, 20 chō away from Okawa-no-shuku, and is divided into two parts, Jono and Ryōbu. It is the estate of Fuchida Yūshirō Hidenori (300 koku), a vassal of Motohata, and if you go up the mountain for 10 chō or more, you will find the remains of kilns in a place called Nishimotoya. include bowls with blue or gray glazes decorated with various black or dark brown designs, as well as bowls with a yokan-colored glaze or chestnut-colored glaze with white brush marks. There are also there are also pieces with small spots on a sea cucumber-colored glaze, pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, as well as pieces with a brush pattern on a gray glaze, and pieces with a brush pattern on a candy glaze, ‘s tomb
Tachikawa is a famous old battlefield, and there are the tombs of Ryuzoji Hamanomori Morie (formerly Inuzuka Shizuka) and his son Saburo Shirogama, who died in battle on November 23, 1585, attacking Tsuruta Masaru at Hiyori Castle. There is a natural stone about 2 shaku 2 sun 1 sun in height and 1 sun in width, with a single nine-wheeled pagoda carved into the top of the front face, and three wooden swords made from rough oak are offered in front of the monument.
The descendant of Taira no The end of the era of Morimori
There is also a descendant of Morimori called Komatsuna, and according to the family register, a descendant of Morimori came to Yamagata in the middle of the Tensho era (now there is a Komatsu Shigezo in Yamagata and others), and in the Keicho era they moved to Kawahara to make pottery, then in the Genna era they moved to Shiinomine, and in the Kyoho era they moved to Tachikawa to make pottery, and this is recorded in the family tree. A copy of the family tree is shown below.
Komatsu Family Tree
Komatsu Mitsunari, the fifth generation grandson of the third Komatsu
Komatsu Yasuzaemon Harumori, Komatsu Yasutaro Hidemori
Takeo Goto family, summoned to serve with a stipend of 500 koku
Komatsu Shigenoyoshi Kageshige, Morinoyoshi Komatsu, Moruemon Komatsu, Gengoemon Komatsu, Yahachiro Tameshige, Shotaro Komatsu, Kansaburo Komatsu, Shigesakemon Komatsu, Kantaro Komatsu, Mokubei Komatsu, Sukenoyoshi Komatsu, Sumayoshi Komatsu
In the year of Tensho In the year 1592, the Goto family reformed and became a group of samurai. At that time, they were forced to move to the Matsura district of Yamagata and lost their family records and weapons in a fire. After that, they stopped being samurai in the year 1596 and became farmers in Kawahara village.
Komatsu Gentaemon, Komatsu Gennomoto
In the year 1615 Komatsu Yaemon and Komatsu Sukemon moved to Shiomine in the year of Hōei
Komatsu Yaemon and Komatsu Sukemon moved to Tachikawa in the year of Kyōhō
Komatsu Yaemon and Komatsu Sukemon moved to Tachikawa in the year of Kyōhō
Komatsu Eihachi
Komatsu Eihachi continued to work as a kamayaki until the year of Meiwa, but then stopped.
Komatsu Yashiro, Kansuke, Keizo
Mizuno Izumi no Kami (Tadamitsu)
In the 11th year of Bunka, in the 9th month of the 5th year of the sexagenary cycle, I have written this record.
Bunsei 1st year, August 18th, I have written this record.
Tashiro Tsutsue
The Tashiro ware of Okawa Village, which was once a domain kiln, is called the Tashiro ware of the present Higashi-Tashirobe Tsutsue (about 7 or 8 chō before Tashiro, about half a ri from Okawano, with about 30 houses). was the fief of Tashiro Ooisuke Yasumori (a vassal of Motohata, who lived in the Tsutsue residence, a branch of the Tsuruta family, and had a stipend of 500 koku). The remains of the old kilns are at the foot of the mountain opposite the river, and the area is now used as a rice paddy.
The remaining pieces from Tsutsue fragments include large plates with a thin gray glaze on red clay, and others with a gray glaze and a honeycomb pattern. There are also unglazed, matte brown pots and jars with a candy glaze. There are also water bowls with a red iron and rope patterns are raised on the surface. There are also tea bowls and plates, but the majority are large items, and the stands are relatively small.
Zentoku
The next village of Kawahara has 400,000 households, and this area is the prosperous village of Kawahara no Yoshitaka. The Zento kilns in Nagano There are only a few dozen houses in the Zentoku kiln in Nagano, but if you go up the bank here, you will find an old kiln at Itaya, and among the remains there are many grey-glazed round tea bowls with iron bands around the rim and the top of the bowl, and within them there are also many with a few lines drawn in the same glaze, and there are also rare yellow-white glazed round tea bowls without any bands.
Katakusa and Jiro
The next Umesaka (a pottery made of stone with the same name but a different location on the Tei River) and the old Katakusa kiln are also in a village in Nagano, and like the Katakusa kiln, which was used exclusively for Senma pottery, there are kilns that have been used to make pottery from the black clay here for over 20 years, and in later years, they have also been used to make porcelain. The remains of the Sajiro kiln , and among the stoneware produced here there is a tea caddy that was fired to perfection, and it is a practical and excellent piece with a three-foot height, iron-colored base, and three-sided knotted ring on the shoulder.
Kamiya
Kamiya The remains of the kiln (not a pottery shop, but a village of a dozen or so houses on the riverbank) have now been cultivated into rice paddies, but there are fragments of dishes with various designs of Karatsu-ware painted on top of the candy glaze, as well as dishes with white makeup on a red background, and others with bamboo painted in light ink on the unglazed surface of the same material. There are also large dishes with reeds , or a deep bowl with a gray glaze and light ink-painted bamboo design.
The grave of Ichiwaka Dutch Grave
If you go into the thicket at the foot of the mountain called Ichiwaku, which is next to the kiln ruins, you will find the remains of a stone monument buried under a tree. This is the Dutch Grave.
Four hundred years ago, two Dutchmen came to this area and made a type of pottery. It was completely different from the traditional Karatsu ware was said to be completely different from the traditional Karatsu ware. It is not known whether these Dutchmen came to Karatsu, landed at Hirado, or came from Nagasaki.
Yakiyama Kamagama
Next, if you pass the riverbed and look for the Yakiyama Kamagama (there are 14 or 15 houses here), you can follow the embankment from the Fugen Road and climb up into the valley for two chōdo, where you will find fragments of kiln remains among the pine stumps. These include glazed deep bowls with a flat bottom and a diameter of 6 inches, grey-glazed tea bowls, and tea bowls with a dark brown glaze applied in a running pattern, all of which are unglazed with a high foot and have a picture of Karatsu ware inside. There were also unglazed brown There were unglazed dishes with rims, and fragments of jars of the same type were also found. In the middle of the site, a shrine dedicated to the god of the kiln with a stone roof stands forlornly in the bushes.
These are the remains of the old kilns in Okawa Village, which have been completely destroyed.
Hyōseki
In recent years It is said that many flower vases and tea bowls with amber or gray glazes were excavated from the Hyoishi area, which is located 5 or 6 towns away from the Tajima Shrine on Kabeshima Island in Yobuko. This area has always produced pottery clay, so it is likely that pottery was made here at some time in the past. Arasayaki ware is said to have used the same raw materials as this).
Kami no Ura
Kami no Ura kiln is also called the Yamashita Kiln in Achi Village. The old kiln products from this area include tea bowls with a black glaze on top of red clay, and large tea bowls with a black glaze and white brush marks, all of which have a high-fired glaze.
Nakayama
Itagi Nakayama kilns are located in a village in Hatazu (formerly known as Motohatazu, now part of the town of Imanishi in the Matsura district), and there are around 34 households here, in front of the Itagi branch school, which is called Umenoki-dani. In old kiln products there are tea bowls with a light brown base and thick white Shino-style glaze, or with a thick white brushstroke design on a light brown base. There are also tea bowls with a brownish-red or chestnut-colored glaze, and a white brushstroke design on top, or a white brushstroke design on top of a glaze.
There are also tea bowls with a chestnut-colored glaze on a black clay body There are also tea bowls with chestnut-colored glaze on black clay and high-fired bowls with rust-colored glaze, as well as flat, high-fired bowls with light green glaze. In particular, the Hirokawa water jar with candy-colored glaze is completely made of stoneware. Other pieces with light purple glaze are made of semi-porcelain, and these are of course works from later generations. This area was the fief of Kuga Genban Akiyoshi (800 koku), a senior retainer of Motohata.
Shoru
The fact that the kilns in Shoru (with a population of several hundred households) in Aruura Village were opened in a much later period can be seen from the fact that the old kiln products here are almost entirely similar to porcelain. This area was the fief of Hirotaka, the Governor of Yamato (with a rice tax of 1,000 koku), and was located three ri west of Karatsu. Now, due to land reclamation, the kiln sites and pottery fields at the foot of the mountain have all been removed, and it is not easy to find even a single shard. The few shards that remain include a bowl with a Kezu-sometsuke-kusa-e design and a round bowl with a plum design, as well as a small plate with a coarse earthenware pattern and a base that has been fired in a snake’s eye pattern, but all of these are only crude, rough-made vessels with a light gray hue.
The old pottery from the Hatada area of Okawa Village is also similar to the Shoura ware, being half-porcelain. Although these were on the path to progress, they were still at the level of a ladle with legs, and the first products were truly poor. Even in this period, there were semi-porcelain wares made using the same clay as tea bowls, but with a glaze made using the Gozu Enka technique, which was influenced by the general environment of the kilns.
It goes without saying that the distinctive feature of Karatsu ware is its elegant iron cats.
Kanda
Kanda (with several hundred households) was the estate of Iida Hikoshiro Hisamitsu (with a rice tax of 200 koku), and the kiln site is in the mountainside of Uchida, which is in the northern foothills of Nishi-Karatsu. If you search through the sweet potato fields here, you will find fragments of sometsuke porcelain. There are tea bowls with a round pattern and a twisted pattern on the rim, as well as small plates with a pine needle pattern on the bottom and bowls with a floral pattern. The pottery here is made from the genuine article, and of course it is made using Amakusa stone as the raw material.
Among the kiln furniture here, there is a cruciform stand. This is a stand that is used to place small vases on top of it, with the center of gravity at the center of the four wings. It is said that this porcelain production was of course carried out at a later kiln, and that the current owner, Kajiyama Matsudaira’s great-grandfather, regularly purchased the remains of abandoned kilns and developed them into farmland.
Rice quantity
There are many types of Karatsu ware that can be classified according to their style. The term “Yone-ryo” refers to earthenware produced during the Genkyo era (1716-1736), which has a thin glaze but no luster, and comes in a variety of shapes, such as the square-shaped containers used to measure rice in ancient China. If we look at the fact that the 40th emperor of Japan, Emperor Monmu, decreed that the square measure be used in all countries in the second year of the Keiun era (705), it is likely that the square measure was already being used as a refined item before the Genkyo era, and that it was then produced again.
Value
The tea bowls known as “Nukeru” were made between the years 1334 and 1466, and although the clay is white and red, the inside of the foot ring (tall stand) is not glazed, and like the rice, there are no creases. This type of ware is highly prized in later generations, and has a name that means it is priced far above the norm.
Okukora
The term “Okukora” refers to the many pieces of Goryeo ware that were produced in the area around Choryang-jin in Busan at the time, but this type of ware is actually a copy of the type of ware produced in the remote regions of Joseon, and is therefore called Okukora. This type of ware was produced from the Bunmei era to the Temmei era, when tea ceremony was very popular. The glaze is slightly dense, and the color is similar to that of a loquat, or it is yellowish-green, and the presence of a wrinkled pattern in the rim is a sign of a good piece. These three types are called Ko-Karatsu.
Seto Karatsu
Seto Karatsu is the name given to works produced from the Ounin era to around the Tensho era, and the name comes from the fact that they use Seto glaze. The glaze has a yellowish tinge, and the area around the rim is reddish-black.
Shino Karatsu
There are also pieces that have a thick white glaze applied to white clay, which gives the appearance of a crack in the ice, just like Shino ware. All of these pieces have creases in the rims.
E-Karatsu
E-Karatsu is a style of pottery from the Keicho-Manji period, and some of the pieces are sometimes confused with Korean salt cellars. Many of these are tea bowls, plates, bowls and other miscellaneous vessels, and the clay is blue, yellow, black, etc., and there are also many cats with a gloss on the gray glaze and grass patterns, but there are also some that demonstrate the skill of the design, which has been omitted to the utmost. And the creases of the crêpe appear within the wheel rim.
Kujira-te and Oribe Karatsu
There is a type of Kujira-te with a bluish glaze and a reddish-black rim. There is also a type called Karatsu Oribe, which resembles Seto Oribe ware.
Joseon Karatsu
Joseon Karatsu is a style of pottery produced from the Tensho era to the Kan’ei era, and is characterized by its many water jars and dish bowls. The origin of the name of the tea bowls, which are also called “hitoto”, is as described in the previous section. The clay is reddish-black with a bluish-white sea cucumber glaze, and those with a flowing glaze are considered to be of the highest quality.
Snake and scorpion Karatsu
There is an old type of Karatsu called “snake and scorpion Karatsu”, which is made with a snake and scorpion glaze and is said to be very heavy in style, but it is said to be a work made around the Kan’ei era that is popular with tea ceremony enthusiasts.
Excavated Karatsu
Excavated Karatsu is a type of Karatsu ware produced from the Kan’ei to the Kyouhou periods, and the clay is hard and the glaze is blue-black in color. The rim of the bowl is either visible or not visible. All of these pieces have a crinkled texture, and this type of Karatsu ware was made by digging up wares that had been discarded as defective or damaged in the kiln at the time. In general, Seto Karatsu, E Karatsu, Korean Karatsu, and excavated Karatsu are known as famous Karatsu wares.
Korekara Karatsu
Korekara Karatsu is characterized by its rough clay and the application of sea cucumber glaze, and the inside of the foot ring is concave and forms a hood.
Karatsu Mishima-te and Karatsu Hakeme
Karatsu Mishima-te is a style of ware made during the Genroku and Kyoho periods, and there are some pieces that are glazed around the foot ring, while others are not. In addition to this, there is also Karatsu Hakeme.
Kenshou Karatsu
Kenshou Karatsu refers to tea utensils such as white-patterned cranes and kyogen hakama, which were produced in tea bowl kilns as tribute items by the Karatsu domain lord from the Tenmei to the Ansei periods, by ordering the artisans Nakazato and Oshima. Kyogen hakama are made of inlaid Korean porcelain in a cylindrical or go-seki shape, and are often glazed in light yellow or gray, with a few round white patterns on them that look like chrysanthemums. They are said to be the origin of the unkaku hakama, as they have horizontal stripes on the top and bottom that resemble the pattern of the hakama worn by kyogen actors. This is a name that has been used by tea enthusiasts in Japan since the middle of the Edo period.
Difficulty in distinguishing
Even though they are classified in this way, it is not easy to tell at first glance where they are from, and even if you do, the age of the tea is very doubtful when you look at it from an antique perspective. Therefore, as mentioned in the previous section, even when distinguishing between old and new, there are actually works from the same period, and there are also many cases where works that appear to be Nanban or Korean are actually Hizen ware, and there are also many cases where it is difficult to determine the origin of the Hizen ware.
Karatsu tea bowls
Overall, there are many tea bowls in Karatsu ware. In the past, Karatsu tea bowls were known as Seto tea caddies, and there was a time when tea bowls, which play the most important role among tea utensils, were produced in Karatsu. Other pottery from Shigaraki, Ibe and Iga was mainly used to make agricultural vessels such as seed jars and soaking jars, but in later generations, these were also used by tea masters as tea jars and water jars. Other miscellaneous vessels were also used for tea ceremonies and tea gatherings later on, but Karatsu ware, which was originally entrusted with the production of matcha bowls, must have been an important part of the pottery world of the tea ceremony period.
Bowls and tea bowls
Of course Karatsu is the most famous, but it would be hasty to assume that all of the old Hizen pottery described here are matcha bowls. Even the people of Hizen, the home of the famous Ureshino tea, did not survive by drinking tea, but generally used tea bowls for eating, so it goes without saying that they were also used for tea.
The merits and demerits of Karatsu ware
Karatsu ware is particularly prized for its Ko Karatsu and Hori-dashi wares, and some people say that the works produced after the war are very poor in terms of their subtle beauty. There are also those who say that, although there are few works with brushwork or Mishima-te techniques, many of them have a deep coloration due to the excellence of the full glaze, and that the characteristics of the crinkled silk and the base ring are generally superior to those of other wares.
In short, Karatsu ware, which was nurtured in the style of the Goryeo and Yi dynasties, was popular with the upper classes and tea ceremony enthusiasts in Japan at the time, and, like Arita porcelain, it incorporated Chinese composition and spread to overseas trade, but the business in this area lagged far behind, and it came to be seen as a completely retired work.
Without consistent protection
The reason for the slow progress of Karatsu ware, which has a long tradition, is that at the time, the industry developed only under the protection of the local lords, and as mentioned above, the lords changed frequently , and because the protection and encouragement they received was not always consistent, the industry was only able to remain within the scope of tea bowl production, and even that was repeatedly discontinued, which is also one of the reasons for the sympathy that is felt for it.
And now, Karatsu ware has switched to the production of porcelain, and it is difficult to accept that it is a wise strategy to enter into the competition of modern inferior goods and tread the path of Shiinomine. Karatsu ware should continue to improve based on its traditional roots, and strive to entertain tea masters with its profound tea flavor.
Drunk on Tea Utensils
Although there are no tea drinkers who are drunk on tea, tea drinkers are all drunk on tea utensils. Therefore, even the most annoying speckles on white porcelain are actually the result of a failure in the firing technique, and in the case of pottery, there is even something to be valued in the flaws. These wares are not only made in China, but also have clever names, such as the greenish blue of the Jing ware celadon from the Ming dynasty, the liver-red of cinnabar, or the mottled pattern of the mottled glaze.
A sense of exclusive ownership
Ordinary, straightforward products are not able to satisfy the sense of exclusive ownership of wealthy tea ceremony enthusiasts and the perverse tastes of tea ceremony practitioners. Antiquarians who take advantage of this situation are not able to charge exorbitant prices for ordinary, common products, and so they have started a craze for kiln-wares, and in their cleverness in giving even various failed pieces of pottery names that make them seem precious, the Japanese are not inferior to the Chinese.
One of the anomalies
Even if all the pottery is fired in one room, the color of the firing will differ depending on the relationship between the pieces and the way the fire is distributed, so it goes without saying that the color of the glaze will also differ in shade and color. And when different phases appear due to the presence of certain mineral molecules, celadon with sand spots, or celadon with mottles or flecks, is highly prized. due to the soft glaze or high firing temperature, the celadon ware was damaged in the firing process, and it is thought that this was the beginning of the prized “flying pattern” ware of the time.
Two of the altered objects
were highly valued for the speckles that appeared on the glazed surface due to uneven firing, and it seems that these were used as models for making other pieces. The concave part of the bowl where the tea is collected is called “chadame”. The small wrinkles on the glaze are called “crepe wrinkles”, and the appearance of small bumps is called “yudate”. Also, brown or black stains are called “ame-nurete”. Or, if there is a place where the glaze has been carelessly left unpainted, it is called “mado-hiraki” and loved.
Three types of oddities
The roughness of the clay or the fact that it has been left un-glazed are praised as “creases”, and the appearance of small cracks in the rim is also praised as “creases”. Or, they love the ones with bulges on the glazed surface, calling them “rice cracker hands”. And when the artist is old and the technique is used with trembling hands, it is called “dancing brush” and is highly valued.
The fourth
In order to send a number of tea bowls from Korea as inferior goods, the bottom tea bowl in a stack of more than ten was cut off on two sides to prevent the rope from slipping. Of course, it was handled as a product from the beginning, and the rope-hanging platform was praised as the true proof of the Korean transfer, and it was a high platform that was deliberately produced in our country afterwards. There is even an anecdote of a tea bowl with a single character design that was bought for a rare price of 100,000 yen.
If these works are by famous artisans, they are particularly valuable works with a history, but even if they are by ordinary artisans with no history, they have a deranged tea spirit in that they deliberately make the same mistakes over and over again. Of course, there are some works that are truly valuable and should be treasured, which are free from the trivial taste of later generations and which demonstrate the wonder of primitive natural beauty, but in general, these works are imitations of Korean works and are extremely rare as works with a rich sense of profundity.
The authentic Korean taste
The original Korean wares reveal their rough naturalness, and the flaws, broken glaze, stone inclusions, snail shells, glaze pools, wheel marks, tea whisk marks, glaze runs, jumps, distortions, and production marks are not at all intentional, but rather are interesting because they are the result of leaving things to nature and not worrying about them. There is no point in Japanese people deliberately making them to look especially elegant.
Karatsu ware, which has a long history and a tradition of many great artisans, has the potential to transcend this eccentric taste and grow even further. I hope that the people of Karatsu, who have produced great men such as Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Hanzuiin Chobei and Okumura Iokichi, will work with the local volunteers and the businesses involved in this project to ensure that the true beauty of pottery is studied and developed, and that this artificial beauty, in addition to the natural beauty of the beach, will be demonstrated on a global scale.
