Ureshino Clan
In the year 995, Omura Naozumi ruled over the three manors of Hiki, Takagi and Fujitsu. At that time, he placed the Omura clan, a branch of the Ureshino clan, in Nokomi and the Ureshino clan in Ureshino, making them the two main families in the east and west of the region. To begin with, the ancestors of the Ureshino family were descended from Fujiwara no Kamatari, the 13th regent, regent, and grand minister of state, and in the Daiji era (1126-1131) of the Emperor Sutoku, the 5th generation descendant of Kamatari, grandson Fujiwara no Yukimichi was appointed as governor of Hizen and became the lord of the Ayabe castle, and in the first year of the Heiji era (1159) of the Nijo Emperor, he became the governor of Hizen.
His son, Minamoto no Michinaga, also became a general and took control of the Kanzaki region, but he rebelled against the then-powerful Kiyomori and was beheaded in 1167 after fighting and dying in battle against the Heike general Taira no Sadatsune. His son Michibon inherited the Kishima-sho Shiraishi estate in the third year of the Emperor Go-Toba’s Bunji era (1188), and from then on the family became the hereditary lords of the Inasa district. From then on, the sixth generation Shiraishi Rokuro Michiyasu (posthumously awarded the rank of Junior Fourth Court Rank) fought against the foreign invaders of the Kōan era together with Ryūzōji Toshifusa and Kusanose Nagahira, and was awarded for his great achievements, eventually coming to rule over Ureshino as well.
The Ureshino family name
Seven generations after Michiyasu, Michitomi, the governor of Echizen, died in battle against the Ashikaga forces in the third year of Bun’un. His son, Yataro Michiharu, took up residence in the Fujitsu district of Ureshino and adopted the family name Ureshino, becoming known as Ureshino Yuzo and became a retainer of the Takaki domain lord Arima Sen’gan, but he also managed the 16 Zenshin deities in the Okusano area of the domain and built the Hoshakuji temple in Kawase. He also built Yunoda Castle on Gengen Mountain during the Genbun era. It is said that his son, Michinori, changed the name of Ureshino to Ureshino when he was affiliated with Ryuzoji Takanobu. This is similar to the Ureshino lineage of Okaza.
The Ureshino Family of a Different Branch
However, there is another branch of the Ureshino family, and that is the descendant of Arima Jibu Daisuke Sumimichi of Takaki, named Mangoro Michitsugu, who was under the banner of the Arima family and changed his name to Ureshino Jiro Shosuke. He ruled over Minamihakono, Udedo, Kawase, Niwaki, Jinkuro, Odashi Okusano and Kitaminami Imagawa, and died on September 8th, 1573. Udede, Kawase, Niwagi, Kamuroku, Odashi, Okusano, and Kitaminami Imagawa, and died on September 8th, 1573. There is also a theory that his eldest son, Kabe Daisuke Michiharu, was also the lord of Iwaya Castle.
Furthermore, the area ruled by the aforementioned Ureshino clan also extended to Yoshida, Udote, Kawase, Niwaki, Kamuro, Odashi, Okusano and Imagawa. On September 9th, 1576, Ureshino Michitsugu (also known as Michiharu) is said to have fought against Gotoh Takaaki at Ureshino Shimojuku and died in battle. It is said that the Arima-related Tōji fought against Goto Takaaki outside Iwaya Castle in December of the same year, but it is still unclear which version is correct.
The Ureshino Ware Region
The Ureshino Ware region, as described above, refers to the entire area of the Koshima and Fujitsu districts, including the mountains of Higashi-Kawato and Nishi-Kawato. The Higashi-Nishigawato region was the territory of the Goto clan, but it was also a contested area between the lords of the two counties from time to time. Although the theory that the distribution of the Korean potters who came to the area followed the Goto family is plausible, this area was part of the Hiki domain, and there are still many examples of Hiki ware from the time when the kilns were first opened, so we have decided to describe it as part of the Fujitsu lineage.
The oldest kiln in the Kushima area is the Uchida kiln in Higashikawato, and in the Fujitsu area, the oldest kilns are the Okusano kiln in Shioda and the Fudoyama kiln in Ureshino. In describing these in geographical order, starting with Kushima County, Higashikawato already had a considerable settlement in the Nanbokucho period, and the stone torii gate of the Kibune Shrine in Hakama is a structure that should be seen as a village shrine, and it is inscribed with the name of Goto Hyogo no Kami Mitsuaki (the 11th lord of Takeo) and the year Genkyou 1 (1321).
Uchida’s Saraya
The old kiln site in Uchida, Nagano, is located 1.23 ri from Takeo, and the Korean tomb called the Kora Shrine is located in Saraya Valley, which is about 4 ri from the main road. If you climb up the back of the Okuyama family’s house, you will find a rectangular natural stone about three feet high standing on the hillside, with its head shaped like a traditional Japanese hat.
A Study of the Monument to the Korean God Uchida
On the right side of the monument is the date “Kan’ei 1st year (1624)”, and on the left side is the date “October 20th, the sponsor respectfully requests”. And below the character for “honor” in the center, there is the inscription “Konru Su Chishun Seki Shouji Zenjouni Fukei Waka Soya (many characters are unknown, so this is a guess)”, but the Zenjouni inscription is thought to be that of a woman, or perhaps the wife of a Korean who came to Japan after the Korean campaign of the Bunroku and Keicho periods. The kiln site here already has a pear tree that has grown to about one arm’s length in height, so it must have been around for quite some time.
Kawatou Uchida’s old kiln ware
This ancient burial mound was originally located at the top of Motoya Oku, but when a farmer named Urakawa Eisaku was building a pond there, he moved it to the foot of our house, called Sekidozan. It seems that the base of this mountain is the top of an old kiln, and if you search through the bamboo grove here, you will find bowls and small plates with light blue, gray glaze, greenish brown glaze, reddish brown glaze, and brown glaze. The small plates have deep shapes and protruding bottoms, and the unglazed parts of the foot rings are all very wide. Some of them have a coiled pattern, and some have a crinkled pattern.
There are also seven-inch plates with a yellowish or grayish glaze, with a wide lily pattern and a cat circling the rim, and there are also some with a few reeds drawn on the bottom, as well as some tea bowls and small plates with crude iron painting that looks like bent grass tips. Or, there are patterns on 24cm plates with a thin caramel glaze that look like unknown plants. And in all, it is a very primitive style of work.
Chuhei Valley
In Uchida’s Chuhei Valley, several local farmers pooled their resources and invited Nakajima Chusaku, a former potter at Arita Hieko, to build a 5-6 room climbing kiln here (now behind the Higashikawa village office). They invited potters from Arita and Odashi to make porcelain . The raw material used was Amakusa stone, and the products included stoneware such as braziers, bowls, plates, bowls, flat bowls, and vases, all of which were made using the natsumono-gata-uchizome-tsuke method, and sold at the Imari market, but the kiln was closed down after 45 years.
Hakamano Kamaya
The kiln of the aforementioned Uchida Sara-ya is said to be the Hakamano Kamaya-dani, and it is likely that this place only produced stoneware jars, as only fragments of these jars have been found there. It is also thought that the Eguchi kiln was divided into two kilns in Yumino, and that they also produced pottery there. The above are the old kiln sites in Higashikawa-no-mura, and there are currently no potters living there.
Yumino Mountain
Next is Yumino Mountain in Nishikawato Village, which is now a village of 80 households. It is said that the kilns were separated from the aforementioned Uchida and Hakamano during the Kan’ei era. Among the old pottery, there are large plates with a chestnut-colored base, white slip, and iron glaze, and blue glaze. There are also water jars with pine trees painted in blue on a white slip, and interesting designs painted in iron on the trunks, which are exactly the same as those of the Takeo-kei Kawaragoya pottery, and are also copied in the Futagawa ware of Miike in Chikugo Province.
Garden-cutting mortar
There were not many products made in this area, and as they moved on to making inferior items such as jars and mortars, the reason why there are so few examples of the high-quality items such as garden-cutting mortars and Oda-shi is that they are very scarce. The fact that they were one rank below the garden trees and Oda-shi at that time can be seen in the fact that, even when making the same mortar, the Oda-shi had a foot ring, but the Yumino-mono did not have a foot ring and were called “niwa-giri” (literally “garden cutting”), and were not allowed to have a foot ring, and were called “ito-giri” (literally “thread cutting”), etc., and it is clear that there was a class distinction during the domain system.
Yumino’s Mechazuke
After the discovery of a magnet in the neighboring Jiroku mountain, they began to produce a soft, light gray porcelain in the Arita porcelain-making method. This was called mechazuke, and the bottom of the bowl was glazed in a snake-eye pattern and layered. At this time, in addition to the old kilns, a new upper kiln was built, and then a lower kiln was constructed. From this time, the discovery of the use of Amakusa stone led to its being mixed with the local clay of Kamuroku, and although the business was very prosperous for a time, it declined year by year, and many people changed careers, and it was truly a state of flickering.
Eguchi Kamejiro
Kamejiro, the second son of Harada Uemon of Daimyo-machi in Chikuzen Fukuoka, studied the art of Hakata doll making under Fujiwara Kiyoshige, but later wandered around the countryside as a doll maker, eventually ending up in Yoshida-yama in the Fujitsu district. At that time, two people, Nakamura Sapei and Nakao Bunzaemon, from Yumino accompanied Kamejiro to Yumino Mountain for some reason, and Okugawa Genzaemon invited him to his home and had him make something for the first time, which was the origin of the Yumino dolls that we know today. This was in 1882.
Yumino Dolls
In 1887, Kamejiro became an adopted son of Tomisaburo Eguchi and took the surname Eguchi. He called his son Matajiro. Since then, this area has become a production center for clay figurines, and there are six other families in the same business as Kamejiro. Recently, this craft has finally come to be recognized, and there has been a large order from Glico Confectionery in Osaka from Rikichi Ezaki, who is from Hasuike in this prefecture, and now it is on the verge of developing as the only as the only local doll in Saga Prefecture, and now they have organized a trade association, with Hiroyoshi Nakajima (a graduate of the Arita Technical School, 6th class) as its head, and are working to promote the dolls.
Kamejiro’s monument
In recent years, they have received many orders from Osaka and other places, and their annual production value has reached over 30,000 yen. The clay used to make the clay figurines comes from Nagano in Higashikawa-mura and Chokai in Nakadori-mura. On February 29th, 1932, the local doll makers of this area built a monument to the founder of the doll-making industry, Eguchi Kamejiro, at the east entrance to Yumino.
The style of Yumino dolls
Although Yumino dolls are originally from the Hakata style, in contrast to his cultural style, this place demonstrates a lot of classical local color. The method is almost a push-in type, and for products over 5 inches, paper is attached to the bottom, etc., which is unique in the whole country. The types of toys are very diverse, including Fukujin (god of wealth), tama (money balls), tokozai (floor ornaments), masks, and Buddhist statues. In particular, the oiran clay dolls made by Kamejiro are very unique, with some being over a shaku (approx. 30 cm) in height, and showing a very different style of making. The dancing children made by Kose Yosaburo and the Kiyomasa horse rider are also worth seeing.
It is unclear whether the Korean potters at Uchida Sara-ya were originally from Korea or whether they came from elsewhere, but it is known that they were active from the Manji and Kanbun periods to the Genroku period, and judging from the many old kiln sites in these two mountains, it seems that they were gradually increasing in number. It seems that the three mountains of Niwaki, Odashi and the aforementioned Yumino were all branches of the same kiln.
Niwaki
It is said that there were originally 150 households in Niwaki, but now there are only 110 or so. The old kiln sites in this area include the following: Sotosaki, Imoguchi, Umekihara-neji, Shinzan, Doigihara, Hachininzuka, Itaya-gama-no-tani, Itaya-monohara-ue, Itaya-monohara-shita, Dosonomoto, Yomoshikuchi-ue, and Monoshikuchi-shita.
Garden-tree quail-feather
This area is rich in firewood and is also conveniently located near the Kamimuro Mountains, which are a source of raw materials. Furthermore, the skill of the potters here is also evident in the excavated ancient kiln products, which are of a quality that is not inferior to the Takeuchi kilns, which are of the same lineage. Among these, the Uzume ware is a superior product that is unmatched by other kilns. (This is a technique in which white clay is kneaded with clay of an egg-white or brown color to create a mottled pattern, and is the same technique as the “momi-komi” of Shigaraki ware)
Doi Kihara
Among the old Doi Kihara ware, there is a shakuguchi meshi-dashi plate with a chestnut-colored glaze and a white saya-me pattern or girih pattern on the green rim, and a white drawing of a cluster of chrysanthemums on the inside. There is also a 24cm diameter plate with a four-tiered floral pattern in white slip, surrounded by a blue glaze. Or there is a 21cm diameter plate with a white and purple swirling brush pattern in a light brown glaze, all of which are unglazed with a wide foot ring.
There is a 13.5 cm diameter water bowl with a chestnut-colored base, white wave patterns on a green background, and white glaze with vertical streaks running through the middle. Before the glaze dries, horizontal streaks are added in several layers, and the vertical streaks are scratched to reveal the pattern. There is also a sake bottle with the same base and wave brushwork. There are also sake bottles with a length of 30 cm that have been glazed with a reddish brown glaze and then covered with white enamel, and sake bottles with a length of 18 cm that have been glazed with a bluish-chestnut glaze and then covered with white enamel.
Itaya Kiln Valley
Among the old wares from the Itaya Kiln Valley are a large-bodied vase with a shakuguchi neck and an iron-colored unglazed surface, and a 15 cm tall leaf tea jar with a black iron surface and a tear-shaped toro-iro glaze, as well as a 15 cm tall flower vase with a white slip and a flared rim.
Itaya-mono-hara
The old wares from the Itaya-mono-hara kiln include sake bottles with a white slip on a steel body, and sake bottles with a brownish-red glaze on the same body and a white glaze on the rim, with a large body and a narrow mouth.
Imoguchi and Kawachi-guchi
Imoguchi ware from the old kilns includes small gourd-shaped sake bottles with a brownish-yellow glaze and decorated with a floral Mishima pattern. The old kiln products of Kawachi-guchi are generally large items such as jars, pots and orchid pots, and this area is also known as the “Jar Shop”. Among the products, there are also vases that are 15 cm in height, with a pattern of pressed designs around the iron shoulder, and a flow of candy glaze.
Old pottery from the Niwa-ki kiln
Among the other old pottery from the Niwa-ki kiln, there is a large plate with a reddish-brown background and white wave brush marks, and a chrysanthemum pattern brush mark on the bottom, with blue glaze and gold-brown glaze applied on top. There is also a large plate with a brown glaze and white net brush marks or wave brush marks, or a finely crafted large plate with a sword-tip Mishima-te pattern. The reverse side is completely unglazed outside the rim, which is common to garden tree plates.
There is also a large plate with a decorative pattern of six layers of dark-line glaze, sieve marks and wave brush marks. There is a large plate with a light chestnut-colored glaze with white streaks, and a strong comb pattern of male and female waves, with blue medicine scattered over the top. There is also a large plate with a thin chestnut glaze and a small standing wave brush pattern on the rim, and a whorl brush pattern on the bottom.
There is also a large plate with a dark greenish-blue glaze and a white slip, and a large plate with a yellow glaze and a comb pattern on the bottom. There are also large plates with a design of Mishima-te (a type of pattern) in white on a background of greenish brown glaze, and a large plate with a design of chrysanthemums on the bottom, or a large plate with a design of eight-shaped patterns on the bottom, all of which are unglazed with a high foot.
It is said that a man named Sakaguchi Kenzo from Arita came to Hirado during the Tenwa period (1681-1684) and transported the garden wood from this area to Hirado, where it was sold in large quantities.
The production of garden tree porcelain
Although it is unclear when this happened, the materials from Itaya and Kawachiguchi were discovered, and Arita potters were invited to produce porcelain, but all of it was soft and had a light gray color. Hara and Kawachiguchi, and now all that remains of the porcelain is found in the two kilns, and the pieces that have been fired to a pure white color are thought to be products made by adding Amakusa stone to the stone used by Shinroku in his later years.
Itaya porcelain
Among the porcelain from the Itaya Hachinotsuka old kiln, there is a 5-inch flower vase with a wide green-shaped handle, on which pine, bamboo and plum are drawn in underglaze blue, and there is a sense of eccentricity in the way the brushstrokes seem to fly off the page. There is also a similar-patterned oil bottle. The Itaya Motohara porcelain includes sake bottles with a shoulder and a wide mouth, and large sake bottles with a narrow mouth. Other old kiln porcelain includes bowls and plates in a reddish-brown or yellowish color.
It is said that this type of porcelain was discontinued 120-130 years ago, and that some of it was moved to the Omura domain’s Mimata area or to the Arita domain’s Kuromuta area. There were about 20 earthen burial mounds in the area, which were thought to be the tombs of the Korean people, but at some point they were ploughed into the fields and now there is not even a trace of them.
The old kiln at Doigihara
The only old kiln that remains from that time is the one at Doigihara, which has a floor space of about 200 square meters. When the young men of the village, who dislike work, go missing from time to time, they are usually found sleeping in this old kiln, so it is called the hideout of the lazybones.
The Korean House in Umenokihara
In Umenokihara there was a Korean house with a thatched roof 10 ken long and 6 ken wide, with a protruding entranceway and a splendid garden in front. However, it was completely destroyed by a typhoon. As I think, it was a building that served as both a residence and a factory for a single Korean family, and there is a single pottery wheel left in this house.
The Hyakken Kiln and the Garden Trees
After the Korean people opened the kiln here, it is unknown how many potters were brought in from the mountains, but there are currently 18 households of Shikkiin temple parishioners living in the Sumiyoshi village of Tachinokawauchi. Although this place, Tachinokawachi, is about two and a half ri away, when you consider that this is the location of the Hyakken Kiln, you can’t help but wonder if the people who worked at the Hyakken Kiln didn’t move on to work in the gardens. Now, this place has become a farming village, and apart from a few remains in the primary school, the smoke from the kilns has completely disappeared.
Oda-Shiyama
If you cross the Tobimatsu Pass here, you will reach Oda-Shiyama. This place has also been completely abandoned. Of the several hundred households in the village, only thirty or so are still occupied, and of these, only one household still has a kiln. The old kiln sites in this area include the Okawaguchi New Kiln, the Shintateyama, the Odasigama Kiln, Shirakihara, Kamimatsuyama, Shimomatsuyama, Nosen-dani, Kashinoki-yama, Kameya-dani Kiln 1, Kameya-dani Kiln 2, and Kameya-dani Kiln 3.
Shintateyama
The old pottery from Shintateyama has a large bowl with seven stripes around it, and a floral pattern is applied to the top, and a white slip is applied, but it is fired to a hardness similar to stoneware. And in terms of style, with the high-fired unglazed ware, Oda’s work is generally similar to garden trees.
The head of Oda’s kiln
Among the old wares from the head of the kiln, there are bowls with a thin chestnut-colored glaze and a Tenmoku-style glaze, and there are also large plates with a chestnut-colored Tenmoku glaze and a floral pattern in the style of a seal.
There are also large plates with three white dourakus (stripes) circling a gray glaze, and blue medicine flowing over them, as well as large plates with white dourakus circling a dark gray glaze.
Shirokihara
Shirokihara’s old kiln products include a large plate with a chestnut-colored glaze and a wave brush pattern, and a large plate with a rim that is slightly raised on the front.
Kashinoyama
Among the old wares from Kashinoyama, there are large dishes with a chestnut-colored glaze and white glaze applied in a flying makeup pattern, and large dishes with a chestnut-colored thin glaze and four-tiered stripes, with Mishima-te and stamped patterns in between. There are also large plates with a pattern of eight-pointed stars carved into the space between the stripes of light purple glaze, and others with pressed-on decorative patterns such as Chinese flowers and sword-tip Mishima designs. There are also sake bottles with a Tenmoku glaze and white brushstroke design, and others with a yellow Seto glaze and green Tenmoku glaze, with rough chrysanthemums painted on the body.
Hiurak Mountain
There is a mountain called Hiurak Mountain, where Koreans at the time would hold drinking parties and dance the Hiurak dance to dispel their homesickness.
The Origin of Oda Shiji Porcelain
The exact date of the origin of Oda Shiji porcelain is unknown, and there is a theory that it was discovered in the Kyouhou era when a magnet was found in the mountains of Kamuroku and the valley of Atamae, but this is not clear. At the time of the initial discovery, it was used for black-lacquered hanging scrolls and brushwork, but after the porcelain-making method of Arita was learned, it was possible to create soft porcelain for the first time.
The use of Amakusa stone was also spread to this region, and by adding local clay such as Jiroku clay, tableware was produced in large quantities. However, the great storm on August 9th, 1828 (1930) dealt a heavy blow to the pottery industry here.
Higuchi Chikaji
Concerned that the Oda-yaki pottery industry might be destroyed by this disaster, Chikaji Higuchi worked hard to come up with a recovery plan.
However, the night of the storm, the Arita-yaki potters who had been displaced by the fire came to work in Oda, and the number of people who moved to this area eventually reached over 100. At the same time as this, the face of Oda products was renewed, and the company benefited from supplying substitute products to Arita ware manufacturers who were struggling to stay in business. (At this time, Baba Ihei and others from Arita are said to have come to this area to request the supply of old pottery.)
Improvement of Oda products
One example of the improvement in quality was that, whereas the traditional tea bowls were all plain, from this time on they were decorated with Arita-style designs on the waist or rim, and high-quality products were made with designs on the inside and bottom, and the workmanship was also very skillful, so from this time on they were known as Oda-shi products and were highly valued in this region. In this way, Oji built a new kiln at Okawaguchi in May of the following year, and from then on, he devoted himself to improving his craft, and he was eventually ordered to make wares for the Nabeshima family, the feudal lords of the area.
Kisaburo Matsuo
In the Meiji era, Kisaburo Matsuo (the son of Zenza Komon) made great efforts to develop the industry and his achievements were outstanding, and there was a revival of the Oda pottery industry. He was also a famous potter with outstanding skills in the areas of design, glaze preparation and other pottery techniques. In June 1885, at the time of the opening of the Commercial Silk, Textile and Lacquer Ware Exhibition in Ueno, Tokyo, the then Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Saigo Jundo, presented Kisaburo with a certificate of merit and 30,000 yen, together with the first Kakiemon.
Bath tub tiles
In 1889, Kisaburo created a set of hexagonal combination tiles for bath tubs, and although he intended to exhibit them at the National Exhibition at the time, he missed the deadline and was unable to do so. These tiles were later used for the first-class bath tubs at the Ureshino hot spring resort. He also pioneered the use of copperplate printing in this area, and he passed away on August 4th, 1915 at the age of 82.
Higuchi Harumi
On December 2nd, 1887, Higuchi Harumi (the son of Harutaka) of this place invented the Kanzu ware and obtained a patent for it (No. 405). He once discovered a piece of porcelain that was transparent, and after considering the possibility that there must be a method to make a brilliant transparent pattern appear in the material, he continued his painstaking research, and although he was at one point so consumed by his work that he even lost his family fortune and sank to the depths of despair, he finally managed to complete his work in 1886.
Hanzu yaki
It was said to be more elaborate than the Ming-style Hotei ware, with some parts decorated with underglaze blue designs that made the pattern look like scattered flowers on the surface of the unglazed clay. and as a commemoration of the promulgation of the constitution in February of the same year, they carefully produced a teacup with the imperial crest of chrysanthemums and paulownia trees clearly visible on the transparent surface, and presented it to the Imperial Household Ministry, which ordered it for official use.
(The Hanju-yaki ware was not damaged as much as it could have been.
Tegai company
From this point on, in October of the 21st year of Meiji, Jitsumi raised 10,000 yen in capital and organized the Tsubakikaisya trading company for direct overseas trade at 7 Honkouzen-machi, Nagasaki, and ran various businesses, but he passed away in 1930 at the age of 79. (Meiji In 1896, Utaro Tanaka of Kamihasamiyama produced the Matagane ware, which was discontinued around 1924.
As mentioned above, since the founding of the pottery by the Korean people, they have shown great skill in pottery making, and even in the age of porcelain, they were the best in the region, but now they have completely disappeared. only one person, Okugawa Kameemon, is still making bowls in a coal kiln, and the remains of the pottery smoke can still be seen in the plate mountains of Minami-Keshima, outside of Yumino.
Fujitsu Sho
Fujitsu was formerly called Kuzutsu or Katsutsu, and in ancient times it was said to be the home of the Tsuchigumo race, and it is said to be the land where the people have lived since the earliest times in the province of Hizen. The 13th Emperor of the Imperial Family In the fifth year of the reign of the 13th Emperor Seimu, a governor was appointed to the county, and the grandson of the governor, Shihiko, was entrusted with the governance of the region from the Gojo rice field. His descendants, including Fujiwara no Fujitomo, lord of Seibukijo (Kinoshima-gun, Tatsuomura), came to rule over part of Kashima from the Kinoshima border.
In the fifth year of the Shouryaku era In the fifth year of the Shouryaku era (995), the Fujitsu manor became the domain of Omura Naozumi, the lord of Omura.
Isa Kanemoto
On the 27th day of the third month of the third year of the Kanjin era (1020), the pirate army of the Toi invaded the coast of Matsuura, and the local samurai, Isa Heiji Kanemoto (the father of the founder of the Shingi sect of Shingon Buddhism, Kyoukyou Daishi) father) and Okawano Saburo Tomo of Kamimatsuura, he became a government official in Dazaifu and was granted four manors, and he became a local lord in the Fujitsu area, belonging to the Omura clan.
Later In the battle against the Mongols, Omura Matataro, a branch of the Omura clan, and his son Heitaro, together with the Koshiki clan of Okusano and the Hara clan of Shioda, distinguished themselves in battle, and Matataro was given the title of lord of Nokomi Castle and was granted a portion of Fujitsu, as well as the Choushiraishi clan of Ureshino and part of their territory.
In the first year of the Bunmei era In the first year of Bunmei (1469), Omura Chikachika, the lord of Ario Castle, defeated Chiba Shikitane and annexed the area of Koshima, which was outside of his own domain of Fujitsu. In the ninth year of the same era, Chiba Toshitomo attacked Fujitsu and invaded Koshima, capturing Ario Castle and greatly increasing his power.
The power of the Arima ‘s power
In 1495, the Omura clan’s Takayoshi Arima conquered Shimomatsuura and, in recognition of his services, was granted control of the whole of Fujitsu and the two villages of Ushiroishi and Nagashima in Kijima. His grandson Harusumi (Sengan) became a retainer of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and was granted a fief of 310,000 koku in the areas of Takaki, Fujitsu and part of Kishima, and he extended his military power to the surrounding areas, and from there he invaded the Ogi area and came to compete with Ryuzoji Takanobu of Saga for supremacy.
In the fourth year of the Tensho era In 1577, Arima Yoshinao (the son of Harujun) made his headquarters at the Washi-no-su Castle in Kashima, while his son Yoshizumi took up residence at the Matsuoka Castle on the coast. The structure castle in Kashima (also known as the Yokosawa Castle) was defended by Fukamachi Owari no Kami, Hara Sakon no Dayu Ujinao (the lord of the Nokomi Castle), Iwanaga Kazu Izumi no Kami, etc., and also strengthened the Toritsuke Castle in Gojoda, and other than that, the lord of the castle of the powerful clan of Fujitsu, Hara Bungo no Kami Naoya, the lord of the castle of Ureshino Takano, Ureshino Echigo no Kami Michinori, the lord of the castle of Iwaya, Ureshino Yamato no Kami Michiharu, the lord of the castle of the same day, Ureshino Awaji no Kami Michiyoshi, the lord of the castle of Yoshida Yoshida Sakumon Tayu Iemune, the lord of Kuma, Kuma Kanro Moritane, the lord of Takakami Fukae, Yasutomi Shimotsuke no Kami Sumiyasu, the lord of Taira, Taira Sakumon, the lord of Obu, Obu Ukemonzasa, and other commanders in the upper reaches and Ifu, all defended their positions tenaciously.
Takanobu Defeat the Arima forces
On the 6th of the second month of the same year, Ryuzoji Takanobu attacked the Arima forces in Fujitsu, using Suko Castle on Kijima Island as his base, and first captured Yokozou Castle. He then defeated the forces of Takaharu, the governor of Fukamachi, Iwanaga, the governor of Izumi, and others, and captured the forces of Junharu, the governor of Tabe, Yoshida, Kuma, and Ureshino, and others. He then defeated the forces of Iemori, the governor of Hara (the eldest son of the Shouke family, Toshiyuki), and set up a fort on Morioka. (the eldest son of Naoe Noriyuki), and he stationed Inuzuka Danjo Shobu (the lord of Kamata Castle, Goryuuji Harima no Kami Moriie), Tokushima Chikugo no Kami Toshitoki, and Nabeshima Buzen no Kami Nobufusa (the elder brother of Naoshige) at Tsunehiro. Also, at the castle of Washizu Tsukasa, and at the Matsuoka Castle, Yokoake Hyogo no Kami Iesada, Kamitaki Shima no Kami Morisada, Nagata Ukyo no Suke Michiki, Tokushima Samanosuke Nobu (the lord of Ashikari Castle), and Tsuji Jinkuro, etc., to defend the various fortresses that had been captured, while the Arima forces retreated and consolidated their forces.
Isa quickly took Oomura
In the fifth year of the Tensho era, Takayoshi attacked and quickly took Iza Haya, Isago, and Fukahori, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oomura, and then attacked and quickly took Oom Toyomae no Kami, Yagami no Kami, Enoura no Saemon, Nagahama no Kuramoto, etc., and then asked for peace from Omura no Tango no Kami Sumitada and Sumitada, and arranged for his daughter to marry Takayoshi’s second son, Ietane.
Takakuni attacked Takakuni attacked
Takaki, and Takayoshi attacked Takaki. Takayoshi’s army included Takayoshi’s brother Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s son Takayoshi, Takayoshi’s without fighting, and Arima Shigenobu (the son of Yoshiaki) finally surrendered and made peace, and the woman of his elder brother Yoshiaki became the wife of Takanobu’s eldest son Toshikatsu (the future Masaya).
From this time on, the fighting the war finally came to an end, and the various village chiefs of Fujitsu were each reassured in their own fiefdoms, and came to work on the administration and industry of their land under the rule of the Ryuzoji clan. After that, in 1585, in 1585, Takayoshi attacked Arima again, but he was unable to gain any advantage against the reinforcements sent by the Shimazu clan, and on March 24th he was killed in battle at Shimabara. In 1588, his son Masaya was granted a fiefdom in seven counties in Hizen, but in later years he succeeded Nabeshima Naoshige and divided the fief of 20,000 koku between his son, Izumi no Kami Tadamasa.
Tadamasa’s fiefdom
In the following year, in November 1589, Tadamasa was transferred from Yahagi in Shimousa Province to Kashima in Fujitsu County. The Kashima Nabeshima family tree is as shown on the left.
(See the Kashima Nabeshima family tree)
And in the era of the han system, the area of Fujitsu was divided up completely, with Kashima, Hama, Nokomi and Koeda being the territory of the Kashima clan. A part of Shioda, Kuma, Gochoda, Ureshino and Yoshida belonged to the Hasuike clan, and were the territory of Kaimori Naozumi, the third son of Katsushige. In addition, only Nanaura and and a part of Yoshida, as well as the areas of Sara-yadani, Uchinoyama, and Shida-higashiyama in Ureshino Fudoyama, were under the control of the Saga clan. Tara and Oura were under the control of the Isahaya clan, who were related to the Ryuzoji clan.
Ureshino ware and Fudoyama
It is said that the origin of Ureshino ware and Ureshino tea was in the 12th year of the Eikyou era (1440) when a Chinese person (probably a Korean) named Fujitsu Shou Fudoyama came to Ureshino from Hirado and started making pottery, and at the same time planted tea trees for his own use. During the Eisho era (1504-1521), a man named Ming-jin Hongmin brought a Nanjing pot (a Tang-era pot) with him and founded the tea industry. After that, the pottery industry died out, but it was revived during the Kouchi era (1555-1558).
The propagation of Christianity in the Fudoyama area
At the time of Ureshino Tadamasa, the local Christian population, who were under pressure from the Omura domain, fled to the Fudoyama mountains and remained there for 15 or 16 years, until the Eiroku period (1558-1570), where they were able to propagate their religion in secret. It is said that the Korean people re-established the temple after the Korean War in the Keicho era, but it is not known whether they were the same people as the followers of So-gen who re-established Uchino-zan, or whether they were other Koreans.
Strict prohibition of Christianity
In 1601, with the permission of Nabeshima Katsushige, a church was built in Kashima and Takeo, and at this time Fudoyama was also given official permission, and for a time the number of believers reached its peak. was strictly prohibited, and in 1633, Omura Shirobei and others were arrested and executed after fleeing to Karatsu, and this place was also famous as a hiding place for Christian believers.
The beginning of Ureshino tea
In the year 1606, Yoshimura Shinbei, the village headman of the village of Shiraishi in the Kishima district, came to Fudoyama and, as a sideline to his pottery business, cultivated the mountains of Sara-dani and grew tea plants. Ujichika followed his father’s death on March 24th of the third year of the Meireki era, and he too died in the line of duty on April 11th of the same year. After that, the tea industry gradually declined as the main industry, and the whole mountain became a tea plantation, and the name of Sarayagaya was changed to Shinyagaya. In 1853, Keijo Oura of Nagasaki’s Aburayamachi district consulted with the Dutchman in Dejima, and provided him with a sample of Ureshino tea. This led to an order from the British trading company, Wold, and Ureshino tea became very popular in Russia, leading to annual sales of 100,000 yen.
Originally, Fudoyama was a village of the Hasuike domain, but only Sarayadani was under the control of the main domain. At present, there are several hundred households in the upper part of Fudoyama, and 35 or 36 households in Sarayadani. From Ureshino, take the Kikuni Road to the right for two ri, and then cross the mountain to the Omura domain of Hasami for one ri. Although the pottery industry has now completely died out, the tea industry is growing year by year, and it is said that the annual production value of the tea produced on Kami-Fudoyama alone is over 10,000 yen. It seems that there is a connection between the geological conditions for cultivating tea plants and the geological conditions for producing pottery clay.
The Kiln Valley in Sarayadani
The oldest of the old kiln sites is the Kiln Valley in Sarayadani, followed by the Lower Sarayadani Kiln, Kaneda (also known as Kareki) and Ofune. The old pottery from the kiln valley includes unglazed pottery made from coarse clay, and there are shallow bowls with a tight-fitting bottom and a diameter of 45 to 60 cm, as well as shallow bowls with a diameter of 60 to 70 cm, which are primitive products that seem to be the remains of an indigenous tribe.
Also, there is a water jar (without a lid, with a damaged rim) about 23 cm in height, with a brown clay body and a greenish-blue glaze, which shows traces of the rough cutting of the spiral-shaped body, and which is glazed even to the bottom of the thread-cut rim, and has an ancient and venerable appearance. In addition, they are firing various light gray-colored vessels, as if they were transporting them over the mountains to use them here.
There are also slightly whitish porcelain seaweed-shaped hand-salt-cellars, and celadon ware is also being produced, and it is said that the Koreans of a certain period were good at producing this kind of ware, and they passed on the production method to the Tōzan pottery in the territory of the village of the neighboring mountain, and it became famous. And now, fragments of soft-looking pale celadon and Tenryū-ji-te are being passed around. There are also bowls with a six-inch diameter that are made in the style of the Yi Dynasty, with a sword-shaped border in relief on the outside, and there are also cups with a thin, flat base and a waistband that are made from the same material as the bowls, as well as various white porcelain wares made from Amakusa stone.
Kanda
The Kanneda kiln is located at the foot of the mountain opposite the aforementioned location, separated from the Sarayadani-shita kiln by a stream. It appears that black-glazed wares were first produced here, and rare grey-glazed tall, unglazed tea bowls and small plates with a candy-like glaze of the same type have been excavated. It is said that around 1888, a man named Niu Sueyoshi from Hiki came to this area and started producing porcelain using the materials from the San-no-mata kiln, with Ishimaru Shikichi and Shikataro, the father and son of Kihara, as the foremen. However, it is said that they used Amakusa stone as the main ingredient. The kiln was probably closed down after a short time due to financial difficulties.
The old kiln porcelain from this area includes small plates with a four-way twisted pattern in the vertical lines, as well as the same type of plate with a wave pattern in the same lines, and there are also plates of the same type with a five- or six-inch diameter. In particular, the dragon design on the 5.5-inch bowl is strikingly similar to the eccentric brushwork seen in old Chinese sometsuke. It seems that the fragments of the Shimo-sara Yaya kiln are also very similar to this.
Ofuna
In the village of Ofuna, which is located next to Sara-yadani, the potter Tamizo Yamaguchi started a pottery business in the early Meiji period (1868), and he produced a large number of blue-and-white tableware using Amakusa clay and Mitsumata clay, but this kiln has also been completely abandoned. Although there are four sites that are known as the old kilns of Fudoyama today, if we consider the period at the time, we can imagine that there were probably still a few more pottery kilns from Sara-yadani to Ofune area.
One book says that in the Kyoho era, Yumino Fuchizono Sanzaemon and his son Shichizaemon were famous as potters, and they also made roof tiles. Next, when Mizoguchi Ichibei, Takamachi Tohei and others tried to make porcelain, they tried to use the old pottery kilns, but they were unable to make it work (they must have tried to fire it using an oxidizing flame). There are articles about how around the Bunka era, Nishida Ichibei invested a large sum of money in an effort to revive the Ureshino ware, but it was not successful.
Nishida Ichibei’s lodging ware
Nishida Ichibe was the son of Ichiroemon, a former resident of the Ureshino Inn (which had 50 rooms), and the ware that was known as “Ureshino ware” at the time was not actually produced in this area, but rather was made by digging clay from the valley called Kanya here and transporting it to Odashi Mountain to make blackware. Looking at the 15-shaku-5-sun sake bottle that is in the family today, we can see that it is made of red clay with an ame glaze, and has Mishima-te (a type of stencil) imprinted on the shoulder and waist, while the middle part is inlaid with small cranes and herons in white, and the beaks and legs are painted in iron. Ichibei died on October 11th, 1830.
Takanosu Kama-yama
In the spring of 1889, Kiyokichi Onohara built a six-ken-tou kiln in the Inariyama area of the Takanosu district and began to make pottery there. Using the local clay as the raw material, they produced clay pots, clay pipes, mortars, and flowerpots, and earned an annual income of 3,000 yen, but the kiln was closed in 1916 when the business was taken over by his son Yukimatsu.
Uchino-yama Kora-jin
In the Uchino-yama area of Ureshino, there is a stone shrine to Kora-jin (a deity of Korea) that stands alongside a shrine to Tenjin (the god of learning) under a pine tree between the new kiln and the old kiln. The carving on the stone dates from 1589. The god’s image is carved in high relief inside the double doors of the gabled roof. Nearby, the date of March 9th, 1772 (Meiwa 9) is inscribed.
In the ninth year of the Meiwa era, there was an outbreak of an epidemic in this area, and it seems that the carving was made in response to a prayer from the mountains of Uchino, and the original stone shrine was enshrined in a place called Takami, but in the fifth year of the Showa era, it was moved here and enshrined alongside the Tenjin Shrine. However, there is a theory that it is difficult to accept the theory that the kiln was opened in the Tensho period, as there is a 56-year gap between the Keicho and Tensho periods. Furthermore, it is difficult to say whether the investigation of this object was thorough or not, so there are also theories that do not accept this theory. It would be better to investigate it in more detail.
Sogen and Kingen
It is said that when Nabeshima Naoshige returned from the Korean campaign in 1606, three Korean potters – Sogen, Kingen and another – came to Uchiyama and unpacked their traveling luggage. Now, only the tombstone of Sogen remains here, and it is not known whether the other two left this place and opened kilns in other mountains.
The large tombstone of Sogen
In the graveyard on the side of Mt. Takao here, there is a large tombstone that is 8 shaku high and 2 shaku 1 sun wide, and on the front is an inscription that reads “Seiyo Myodoku” and “Shingetsu Myoseki” side by side and on the right is the date “Kan’ei 17, Katsun, August 13th (1641)” and below that is “Aihara Sōza Kōmon no Jō”, who was probably the son of the couple, and this is the tombstone of the Sōgen couple.
Now, the descendants of the original family, the Aihara family, are farming the land. It has become customary to hold a ceremony at the grave of Sougen on the 15th of both February and November every year. Furthermore, there is a Korean-style tomb in this graveyard, with the name “Kan’in” carved into a natural stone, and the name of the person who paid for the tomb, Kojima Iemon, is also carved on the right, along with the year “Enpou Kounin” (1645).
Uchino-yama New Kiln
The old kiln sites at Uchino-yama are the old kiln, the lower kiln, and the new kiln. The old kiln products from the new kiln include tea bowls with a blue glaze on the outside and a blue glaze on the inside, as well as small plates with a “snake’s eye” pattern and tea bowls with a gray glaze on the bottom and a three-eyed pattern. There are also bowls with a five-inch diameter with a raised snake-eye pattern and a gray glaze on the inside, and bowls with a light yellow glaze, all of which are unglazed.
Uchino-yama Shimo-gama
Among the old wares from the Shimo-gama kiln, there is a seven-inch Asai with a black glaze on the outside and a white enamel slip on the inside, and a six-inch bowl with a black glaze on the outside and a white enamel slip on the inside. There is also a bowl with a diameter of 8 cm that has a wave pattern of white glaze on a dark brown glaze.
Other old kiln products from this area include sake bottles with a black mouth and a white glaze on a steel-colored glaze, and sake bottles with a yellowish-green glaze on a black mouth. Looking at the fragments of the old kilns, there is no difference from the fragments of the two kilns mentioned above, so it is thought that this is the site of an old abandoned kiln, and that the fragments of the two kilns mentioned above were brought here and used. Also, the products of this Uchino-yama kiln included a lot of dark-colored iron 6-sun (approx. 18 cm) meshi-dashi plates that were made in Higo at the time.
From this point onwards, in the Kan’ei era (1624-1645), the descendants of the Koreans who had come over and the Japanese potters greatly multiplied, and the number of potters from other regions also increased, reaching a total of several hundred to several hundred and seventy households . From the latter years of the Shoutoku era (1716), in addition to the traditional pottery, there were those who began to produce white porcelain using Amakusa stone as the main ingredient, and they built new kilns in addition to the old ones.
Uchino Mountain guard house and protection
As Uchiyama was under the control of the Nabeshima clan, the pottery industry was protected and supported to a great extent. A guard house was built at the north and south entrances to the mountain, and guards were posted there, armed with spears, clubs and sleeves, to prevent travelers from passing through.
From the Kanpo era From the Kanpo era (1741-1744), it came under the jurisdiction of the Arita magistrate, and it was customary for the mountain to present sake cups made from refined Korean porcelain and floor ornaments to the feudal lord every New Year. In addition the New Year’s sake cups and sake jugs made at the Tanoyokome Office (the former magistrate’s office) were also made from the Kuromono of the Uchinoyama ware, and were delivered from this place at the end of every year.
In addition, the fuel for the pottery kilns was supplied from the local forests at a nominal cost. The Arita magistrate would then lend the money for the kilns, which had to be repaid by June 20th of each year, but the amount was limited to 100 sacks of brown rice and 300 ryou in gold.
Decline after the plague After the Plague
As it was In the final year of the Meiwa era, the epidemic in this area was so severe that it was impossible to count, and on top of that, due to the poor harvests caused by the bad weather, the potters were completely exhausted, and even though they asked for help from the local feudal lord, the number of households had decreased to a few hundred, and the old kilns and lower kilns were finally abandoned.
After that at the time of the Meiji Restoration, there were still 16 kilns in operation, but they gradually declined, and after 14 years, the new kilns caught fire and were never rebuilt , and those who went bankrupt or switched to other industries one after another, and the remaining number of kilns became three for porcelain and one for pottery, and the number of workers also dwindled to just 14 or 15 people.
Tominaga Genroku
In 1889, Genroku Tominaga built a new kiln here and produced blue-and-white porcelain, which became very famous, but by 1907, three of the four remaining kilns had closed down three of the remaining four kilns were closed down, leaving Genroku as the sole potter in the area. The Korean-style pottery that had been produced here, which had been visited by his former apprentice, Gorojiro, also came to an end.
Genroku yaki
As a result of observing and researching pottery production in various parts of the country, Genroku developed a style of pottery that was unique to him. This style was characterized by the use of underglaze blue to draw peonies, and the coloring of flowers with a round-shaped flower petal and the outlining of leaves with a Gozu technique. the mark (meaning “Tomi”) was used, and in the same year, the Genroku-yaki Stock Company was established, and it came to be called a specialty of the Ureshino hot spring.
New hot spring tiles
In the new bathhouse at Ureshino Onsen, hexagonal and square tiles made by Genroku Seisen are used. The bottom tiles are decorated with embossed images of elephants and turtles to prevent bathers from slipping, and the colors used include gold-brown, green and red, as well as various other designs such as bamboo shoots and citrons, which were drawn by Nagata Sekiryō (a student of Naritomi Tsubakiya, who died in 1895 at the age of 59).
Tominaga Genroku died on February 5th, 1920 at the age of 63. He became the mayor of Nishi-Ureshino Village in 1889, and was elected to the Saga Prefectural Assembly in 1899.
The second Genroku
the eldest son, Shinichi (who graduated from the Arita Technical School in its second year), took the name Genroku II, and in January 1922, the company was renamed Genroku Yagomei Kaisha. Genroku II was granted a patent on July 4th 1923 for his No. 5043 kiln for firing ceramics.
Kaieda Kaida was sent by the
Imperial Household Ministry to the Genroku Kiln Factory at the behest of His Highness Prince Narihito, the Commander-in-Chief, during the large-scale military maneuvers held in the Hizen-Chikuzen Plain in 1923.
In October 1929, the company was reorganized as the Genroku Kiln Co. In October 1929, the company was reorganized as the Genroku-yaki Stock Company, and now has branches in Nagasaki, Sasebo, Beppu, and Saga, as well as an agency in Nagasaki and an office in Ureshino.
Yoshida YAMADA
The history of the Yoshida area in Fujitsu County is very old. If we look at the record of the village shrine, Shozutsu Shrine, which was built on September 3rd, 710 (Wado 2nd year), we can see that this village already existed in the reign of the 43rd emperor, Emperor Genmei. In the Meiou era (1492-1501) of the Emperor Go-Shirakawa, a certain Taro Sakon no Kami named Yoshida Sato took possession of 300 cho of land in the Yoshida district and used the name Yoshida as his family name.
The Yoshida Iemune
Iemune, the grandson of the family head of several generations before him, was under the banner of the Arima clan of Takaki, but in February of the fourth year of the Tensho era (1577), Ryuzoji Takanobu attacked and defeated him, and Iemune surrendered to Takanobu along with the other generals of Ureshino. In the same year in June, Takayoshi marched into the Arima domain in Taka, and Iemune was ordered to lead a force to fight in the eastern part of the country.
The discovery of Narukawa stone
At this time he came upon the Kanegawa River, which flows past the quiet village of Yoshida-Shonai, and discovered white stones of andesite at the bottom of the river. This is the reason why the Yoshida stones were mined. In the midst of this military campaign, Iemune, who had a deep desire to rule the country and develop industry, must have been able to understand the people’s feelings.
Analysis of the Narukawa Analysis of the stone (Analysis of the Yoshida Narukawa stone)
Silica 76.37%, Alum 13.89%, Iron oxide 0.62%, Lime 0.44%, Magnesia 0.09%, Potash 4.79%, Soda 3.38%, Loss on ignition 0.68%
Yoshida Dishes
At that time, the raw materials were collected from the neighboring pottery mountain, and were used for the decoration of pottery, such as brush marks, etc. Later, the method of making Arita porcelain was passed down, and the addition of the clay from the Toriibaru area (which is thought to be hydrated silicate clay) ) and began to produce soft, light grey porcelain. The number of potters gradually increased to twelve households, and the area became known as Yoshida Sara-ya. It is said that the Yoshida area is part of the Fujitsu lineage, which is also known as the Nakatsuji lineage.
Denbei Domain land
When Nabeshima Katsushige inherited the fief of his father, Naoshige, Yoshida became the fief of his uncle, Toyotomi Nobufusa, and in 1610, the two Iwa were divided into the Kashima fief. Then, in 1640, the Yoshida area became the territory of the Hasuike clan. Yoshida’s Naito-no-doro, Nakadori-ji-no-heta, Mine-no-mura, Manzai, Iwanoshita, Akase, Kawauchi, and Kasuga were given to Nobufusa’s grandson Denbei Shigeru (actually the second son of Nobu of the Goto family in Takeo, see the Imanari family tree), who was given 2,660 koku of rice as a fief.
Only Denbei’s fief, which was half of Yoshida only the domain of Denbei, which was half of Yoshida, was under the control of the domain, and from the 12th year of the Bunroku era (1762) the kilns in this area were allowed to produce only 500 bales (42,500 kg) of Arita Izumiyama 500 bales (42,500 kg) of porcelain were allowed to be produced each year, and pottery was made at this pottery shop until around 1882 (Meiji 14). However, afterwards, due to the rise of the neighboring Hasuike domain Yoshidayama, all the kilns in this area were moved there, and the old Yoshidayama was completely abandoned.
Yoshidayama today
The Yoshidayama of today is a domain of the Hasuike clan, and at first, like the Saraya, it was made mainly from Narukawa stone. Looking at the excavated old ware excavated from the kiln, such as small plates and bowls, all have a reddish hue with a high iron content, and are soft-paste porcelain with crude and crude Goushu paintings. The exact date of the founding of this area is unknown, but it is thought that the above-mentioned plate shop people moved here and the Uchino-yama potters moved here. It is thought that the development of Yoshida developed the foundations of the industry, and of course this was due to the great encouragement of the founder of the Hasuike clan, Naozumi, as shown in the Hasuike Nabeshima family tree below.
Nabeshima Naozumi
Katsushige’s third son, Naozumi, who rode into the enemy castle of the Shimabara Christians on February 27th, 1638 (the 15th year of the Kan’ei era) and made a name for himself throughout the land, was granted 52,620 koku of rice in his fief of Hasuike in Kanzaki County. 52620 koku to his heir, Settsu no Kami Naoyuki, and on August 23rd of the same year, he retired to the separate fief of Gotoda (2625 koku) in Fujitsu County, where he devoted himself to encouraging industry and supporting the pottery industry in the area.
Invitation of leaders from Minamigawara Invitation of leaders from Minamikawara
Naozumi first tried this business in Gochoda, but the area was not suitable for pottery production, so he invited four people from Minamikawara in Arita-go, which was part of his territory, to develop the pottery industry in Yoshida: Soejima, Muta, Kanagae and Ienaga, who became leaders , they abolished the existing small kilns and rebuilt them into large kilns, and not only did they make it easier to manufacture and sell the wares, but they also took steps to provide all kinds of preferential treatment, such as supplying materials for firing and respecting the kiln owners’ status. And in the Go the pottery industry of Gochoda was moved to Kuma Village in the Shouou era (1652-1655). It is said that the opening of the kilns in Kuma Village was in the Meireki era, but in fact it was probably started at this time.
The mouth of the Gochoda Kiln Mouth
Naozumi opened a kiln in Gochoda, but it is unclear where it was. However, in light of the fact that there is a place name in this area that means “kiln mouth” or “fire mouth”, we searched for it, and the place called “kiln mouth” is the site of Naozumi’s Yoshikura villa between the ruins of Naozumi’s villa and the Gotonda Elementary School, and although at first glance it is not possible to find any remains from that time, it is probably worth continuing the search a little further.
The limited number of Yoshida kilns limited
number of potters, Naozumi founded Ifukuji temple (which burned down in 1875 and was later rebuilt as Daisyoji temple) on a hill in Yoshida and made it his retirement home, and he took the potters from the old kilns and added four more, including Soejima, to run the pottery business with a total of sixteen people , and he personally worked to support the industry while watching the smoke from the kilns rising from the heights of Ifuku-ji.
These sixteen potters were granted the privilege of a lifetime license to protect the industry, and it was decided that there would be 17 and a half potters, with Naozumi himself retaining the rights to one and a half of them. However, when he passed away one of the places was lost, and half a person was added to Shigekazu Soejima, and it was changed to sixteen and a half people. However, this allocation was probably based on the number of climbing kilns and the size of the kilns.
Shigekazu Soejima
This first generation Soejima Shuemon was the leader who came from Minamigawara, and it seems that he was particularly favored by Naozumi, and he passed away on June 19th, 1714 at the age of 96. Thus, Yoshida and the lord who fostered the pottery of Kuma and Yoshida, passed away at the age of 55 on March 5th, 1670 (Kanbun 9) at the Yoshida residence in the village of Gochoda.
The Raven of Murakumo
Naozumi Although he had passed away, Naozumi’s seal, which guaranteed his rights to the Yoshida mountain kilns, was protected and would never change, and it was called the Murakumo no Karasu, and it was the greatest honor for the potters of this area. In this rule all the merchants in the Yoshida area, including kimono shops, sake shops, rice shops and tofu shops, were all included within the business rights of the pottery, so these merchants were not only unable to operate without the permission of the pottery association , not only were they not allowed to operate, but the kiln owners were even given the right to collect all the profits from these businesses and use them as they saw fit.
The right to engage in other businesses
It is said these businesses were started as a side business to protect the kilns from the start, and among these sixteen tradesmen, there were rice shops, sake shops, kimono shops, and other shops that were also involved in the business. Therefore, the merchants who were allowed to do business under this association if the merchants licensed to operate under the association incurred the wrath of the potters, they would be subject to an unjustly large tax, so it is said that Okasanpei could not bear this burden and later paid a large lump sum to buy the right to brew sake from the association.
Yoshida Shimo-gama construction
After that As the industry developed, the second sons of the sixteen potters obtained permission from the clan to use their names for business purposes, and the capitalist Yazakomon Soejima built a new kiln in the Bunka era (1804-1818). The potters were then able to continue their work even when they needed a little more money even if it required a little more money, the clan founder would always take a scroll of the crows of the village of Kumo as a shield and ask the clan lord for more funding. It was no wonder that the Hasuike clan was also in a difficult situation.
At some time in history there was a magistrate called Wada Nao, who borrowed this ink seal and took it to Hasuike, and as a result, the special protection granted to the clan since its founding disappeared like the crows of Murakumo, and it was completely lost. It is said that the pottery of this area is said to have been quite independent until around 1875.
Yoshida’s tea-cake production
From the From the Tokugawa period (1711-1716), the use of Amakusa stone was discovered, and the main ingredient for this pottery was produced by combining this with the local stone from Narukawa, which was two ri away, and was shipped by sailing boat. The types produced were numerous, and included tea bowls and flat tea bowls, and were completely everyday items. From the Bunka-Bunsei period, direct transactions with Osaka began, and the kilns flourished as never before. In order to make up for the shortage of products, new kilns were built in addition to the existing front and back kilns.
The Yoshida Hika of the Bunsei-Tempou period From the end of the Bunsei era (1830) to the beginning of the Tempo era (1831), there was an excess of production, and as a result, prices fell and it became difficult to run the business. Even the potters, who had been living a luxurious lifestyle since ancient times, gradually fell into a difficult situation , and the kilns, exposed to the elements, became overgrown with weeds and presented a tragic sight as they struggled against the autumn wind. The kilns were in dire need of funds complained of the depletion of funds, and asked for a recovery plan, and the lord of the Hasuike domain, Unsō (Naoki, the governor of Settsu), sent Ogata Koretsune to rebuild the pottery kilns and provide materials to restore them to their former state.
Soejima Ungetsu
During the Tempo era (1831-1845), a famous potter of the time, was given the name Ungetsu by the famous lord Unso of the time, and was famous for his superior blue-and-white porcelain. He also liked haikai poetry, and and was fond of haiku, and many haiku poems he was presented with by haiku friends from various countries at the time have been passed down to us. Takahashi Dohachi III of the capital also visited this residence, and he is one of the people who left behind products. It was probably in the early years of the Meiji era when he came to Arita.
Soejima Jisaku
The Soejima family , many people have inherited the name of Shoukoumon over the generations, and many master craftsmen have come from the family. Like the eighth generation Jisaku (adopted son of Jubei Shoukoumon (adopted son of Shukoemon), was an outstanding craftsman in the fields of twisting and carving, but he passed away on November 14th, 1893 at the age of 61. In this way, the Shohachi of the present day has also ceased to exist.
The Ienaga family also ceased to exist in later generations (the current educationist Kichisaburo Ienaga and the army lieutenant general Naotaro Ienaga are his descendants), and it is said that the only person continuing the business today is Tatsusaburo Soejima.
Seiseisha and Tatsusaburo Soejima With the Meiji Restoration, when the government issued certificates of old-style government bonds to the samurai, it invested these in industry and encouraged them to engage in business, and Yoshidayama established Seiseisha in 1880 based on the idea of Risaburo Soejima (a branch of the Shogunate family), with investment mainly from local samurai. From this time, the company enjoyed a period of great prosperity boom, and in the 15th year of Meiji, they broke free from the bonds of their old fiefdoms and built a new climbing kiln, which they used as their company kiln. From this point on, the three climbing kilns that had been built jointly three climbing kilns that had been jointly used were completely abandoned, and in later years, individual climbing kilns were newly built.
The above-mentioned boom also came to an end after a short time, and the general recession caused by the effects of his fiat currency was not something that only potters could reverse. encountered in 1882 and 1883, Yoshida changed the course of his compass in order to overcome this huge wave, and converted his products, which had previously been aimed at the domestic market, to products aimed at China.
Yoshida’s period of production for China
The first person to start selling Yoshida ware to the Chinese, albeit in small quantities, was Iwanaga Yakuro, and the next person to sign a contract for large-scale production and trade was Soejima Risaburo, who was looking to the future. This good beginning , it was because the price of Yoshida ware had fallen due to the recession at the time, just as the promotion of trade had increased due to the fall in the exchange rate.
Since then, for more than ten years, it was a period of active production for China manufacturing period, and due to the extremely prosperous times, people such as Ogushi Torajiro, Ishii Tanegoro and Yamaguchi Matashichi were very active. However, after the Sino-Japanese War many Chinese merchants moved from Nagasaki to Kobe, as it was more convenient for import and export with their own country, and as trade with Nagasaki became less frequent, the high level of growth that had been seen up to that point began to decline, and they returned to the domestic market, manufacturing products similar to those from Iyo and Owano.
The period of Yoshida’s trade with Korea
In the year 1889, two Korean merchants, Mr. Koshun of the Hangchun Trading Company and Mr. Chikoku, came to Japan with samples of their wares, and, through the introduction of Mr. Ishizaki, they concluded a special contract with Okasanpei, Otogenzo and Yamaguchimata. In the year 1890, Yamaguchimata built a kiln, and in the year 1891, Ishizaki Danjiro built a kiln. Kushine Matsuo built another kiln and steadily increased production.
The Taisho boom in Yoshida
After that, business with the Koshun-go and other companies trading with the Korean market came to an end, Yamaguchi Matashichi set up a branch in Incheon, and in 1929, Okushige Matsumoto began manufacturing and selling on a large scale after making a special agreement with Sueishi Kyujiro (1 Kyu), a pottery trader in Imari, who had started trading with Korea. By around 1900, each kiln had either set up its own store or expanded its business through direct sales, and the Taisho boom in the manufacture of goods for export to Korea had come into being.
Articles of Association for the Sole Export Agent to Korea
The Articles of Association for the Sole Export Agent to Korea were drawn up on December 15th, 1888, and are reproduced below for reference.
The purpose of the agreement made with the Keijo Commercial Conference of Korea, Chapter 2, Article 3, is to establish a single wholesaler at the Incheon Port of Korea, expand the sales channels for Hizen pottery, and aim to create a lasting public bond. In order to prevent the export of poor quality products that do not meet the tastes of the Korean consumers, and to ensure that the future of exports is not jeopardized, the following provisions have been established for this wholesaler
Article 1
In order to facilitate the export of Hizen pottery, a single wholesaler will be established in Incheon, Korea, and the export goods of Korea will be handled by this wholesaler.
Article 2
The single wholesaler will be the sole wholesaler of Hizen pottery in the Empire of Japan.
Article 3
The sole agent may conclude special reduced tariffs with regular sailing ships, and endeavor to keep the amount of transportation costs, etc. to a minimum for the goods handled by the agent.
Article 4
- For goods exported from Korea, those exported from Nagasaki Port may be handled by the agent at Nagasaki Port, and those exported directly from Imari may be handled by the agent at the Imari branch office.
However, it is not permitted to transport goods from outside this location.
Article 5
When there is a request for goods, the wholesaler in question may attach a sample, price, and other necessary documents to the request and notify the association office.
However, it is not permitted to place orders on one’s own accord.
Article 6
When receiving an order, the fixed regulations (Chapter 2 of the regulations concluded with the Keijo Conference in Korea) must be observed.
Article 7
When receiving goods from a wholesaler, the name of the goods and the number of items, as well as the price, must be reported to the relevant control office.
Article 8 - Export cargo from Korea must be stamped by the local commissioner and must go through the procedures in Article 4.
Article 9
The following rules apply to the money paid to the commission agent and the interest rate for money exchanged - The money paid to the commission agent is 10% of the selling price.
- The freight and other expenses shall be borne by the shipper.
- The freight shall be 6 rin per 100 mon per year and per bale.
- The freight and interest on the money shall be 6 rin per day.
Article 10 - The loss incurred at the time of delivery shall be borne by the shipper.
Article 11
In the event of a fire, flood, windstorm, earthquake or other disaster, the consignee shall be responsible for the loss.
Article 13
Consignments from various places may be sold by the sole agent of the Hizen porcelain of the Empire of Japan, even if they are shipped directly to the destination.
However, consignments that are shipped directly must If the goods are sold without going through the wholesaler, the price of the goods can be seized and the relevant authorities notified.
Article 14
If the term of this agreement is extended beyond five years, the decision to extend it will be made at a meeting of the association.
However, if the wholesaler is found to be acting improperly, the term may be changed.
Article 15
If a wholesaler sells goods at a loss or sells inferior goods, the wholesaler shall seize the goods and notify the relevant regulatory office of the details of the incident.
Article 16 - Those who have violated Article 4, Article 8, Article 9, Article 13, or Article 15 shall be required to pay a penalty of between 300 yen and 500 yen.
Article 17 - The amount of the penalty for the previous article shall be 7/10 of the total amount of the penalty, and 3/10 of the total amount of the penalty shall be used to cover the expenses.
However, the amount of the penalty for each region shall be covered by the relevant regulatory office.
Article 18 - In the event that the number of potters is increased or decreased, or the number of kilns is increased or decreased, the approval of the Saga Prefectural Office and the Nagasaki Prefectural Office must be obtained after consultation with the Ceramic Industry Association and the sole wholesaler for Hizen pottery in the Empire of Japan and the Incheon Port in Korea.
Addition
When products within the union are delivered to a person outside the union, the union shall notify the Nagasaki wholesaler or the Korean wholesaler of the same, and request that the buyer be given the authority to make a claim when the products are shipped.
If a person who is not a member of the association has signed the consent form required in Article 8 of the association rules, and if that person were to sell the goods again, the goods could not be sold again.
Ooto Seisakusho
During the period of prosperity in the Joseon market, one third of the total production of Yoshida-yama products (approximately 200,000 yen) was manufactured by Oogushi Oto Matsuo. At the time, products from Mino and Owari were also exported to Korea, but the fact that all of them were sold with the name of Ooto inscribed on them shows how much the products of Yoshida were welcomed by the Koreans.
Research on earthenware with a snail-like pattern
The research on manufacturing techniques that emerged during this period was the completion of the above-mentioned technique. Originally, all earthenware products made from Amakusa stone, and in particular the glazed products made from the large amount of Tsu-shu clay, had the characteristic of always having a red line of snail-like pattern exposed on the glazed surface when the above-mentioned technique was used.
Only Arita stone products do not show this quality even if they are left in damp conditions for a long time.
This research was first attempted at Seiseisha in 1880, but due to the nature of the clay, it did not produce good results and was abandoned as completely impossible. In 1911, Gorō Kasahara was very disappointed by this, and he invited Suminosuke Kajiwara from Arita-Kuromuta to start the business again. Meanwhile, Shohachi Soejima gradually perfected the production of the fabric through his research into improvements to the production process. The above-mentioned lintel (about the size of a door) is now being used for everyday items such as 8-sun-sized kumi-i, futa-i, large outer lids, and sweets bowls.
Yoshida’s coal kiln
In April 1923, after completing a tour of the Oono pottery-making area, Heigorō Kasahara, Shigehachi Soejima, Shokichi Aikawa, Seiichi Ishii, and Wakitsugu Ogushi began researching pottery kilns, and from the following year, 1924, 15 or 16 kilns were converted to coal-fired kilns Although the kilns were rebuilt as coal-fired kilns, they were unable to compete with the low-cost production of the Oono products, and in addition, they were affected by the general economic depression following the European War, and they switched back to manufacturing for the domestic market.
The great typhoon of 1926 caused great damage to the pottery industry in Yoshida-yama, but the potters of this area worked tirelessly to restore the industry. At the height of its prosperity, the annual production value of this area was calculated at over 600,000 yen, but it is needless to say that it has fallen considerably since then. At present, there are fifteen or sixteen kilns in operation, including those of Oogushi Otoh, Ishii Seiichi, Yamaguchi Chuzo, Oogushi Wakiji, and Oogushi Kenji.
Owatari Store
There is also the Owatari Store, which acts as a wholesaler, and is also convenient for the pottery (Owatari Kenzo passed away in 1912, his younger brother Yuzaburo passed away in 1915, and the son of his youngest brother Chohachi (the current Kumaji), he is now a member of the Saga Prefectural Assembly and a member of the Council of Councillors) There is a regular taxi service between here and Shioda-machi and Kashima-machi, which are two ri apart, and one ri to the hot springs of Ureshino-machi. Even in the current economic downturn, it is still the number one producer in the area.
Okusano and Kukai
Okusano, a salt field, is the place where Kukai (Kobo Daishi), a Buddhist priest, came from China in 807 to protect the Great Iwa Wakyo Sutra and the 16 Good Gods, and founded the Shingon sect Seifukuji Temple. Later, in the 9th year of the Kounin era (819), when an epidemic broke out in the land, Kukai was asked to pray for the removal of the disease, and he came back to Okusano from the capital to make the Iwakawa Shingyo Kagi at Shofukuji and pray for the disease to be removed.
It is said that Koreans came to this Okusano area and opened a pottery, but just as the site of the aforementioned Shofukuji temple has been turned into a field, it is a pity that the exact location of the pottery kilns cannot be specified.
Torokake
There is a place called “Kora” where they can barely pile up small stones, and every year around August, even though there is no fixed date, they hold a small festival called “Torokake” when they have a spare moment during the farming season.
Among the fragments found here, there are a few unglazed tall bowls, but most are unglazed pottery that has been fired at a high temperature to create a luster on the surface, and some of the tall bowls are made of bamboo, making them very primitive works. There is also a folk tale here about the firing of soft blue porcelain in ancient times. Even though we have not seen the actual products, it is inevitable that this region had a demand for them, even from a religious perspective.
Shingon Buddhist Rituals and Celadon
When Kukai, the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, was propagating the Shingon esoteric teachings, he would always use celadon Buddhist ritual vessels when offering the various deities of the heavens during Shingon Buddhist rituals. Furthermore, the neighboring area of Kashima is the birthplace of the founder of the Shingon sect, Kukai (who passed away on December 12th, 1142 at the age of 49). Therefore, the theory that celadon was fired in the Okusano area, which was a center of the Shingon sect, is a reasonable assumption. However, this industry in this area had already died out long ago, and there is no record of its history.
Shikina
In 1893, Kogei Higuchi, a potter from Odashi, came to Shikina and opened a kiln to make exclusively blue and white bowls, but he passed away at the age of 69 on October 6th, 1920. His son, Hikosaburo, has continued the business. Until three or four years ago, they specialized in making wares for Korea, but now they also make blue and white dishes such as bowls, teapots and tea bowls.
The raw material is made from Amakusa stone, with an addition of 10-20% of San-no-mata stone. Since the opening of the kiln by the previous generation, it has been the sole pottery industry of the Higuchi family, with no other potters in the area. The area has good access to water, and there are water mills for grinding the raw stone. On the other hand, the name of the large grassland, which has an abundance of water, shines as a famous place for the fireflies of the Genji clan.
Kuma Village was under the rule of the Ryuzoji clan during the Tensho era, and was the territory of Kuma Kanjiro Moritane (Satsuma no Kami), but later came under the rule of the Nabeshima clan, and outside of Shida and Higashiyama, it became the territory of Hasuike from 1637 (the 14th year of Kan’ei).
Winterno earthenware
This area has been used for firing pottery since the Imperial period, and in recent years earthenware has been excavated from the banks of the pond in Winterno, and it is said that these pieces are at least a thousand years old.
Shida Higashiyama
There is a legend that the pottery was first made here by the descendants of Koreans who came to the area during the Meireki era (1655-1658), but as mentioned above, the founder of the domain, Naozumi moved the pottery industry from Gotendo to this location, we have to look back a little further and see that it was founded in the Shouou era (1652-1655).
However, if we look at the evidence of this old kiln, which produced items such as amber-colored and gray glazed tea bowls and excellent Mishima-te style large plates, we can’t help but wonder whether Koreans or their descendants were making pottery here before that time. The term Kyōdō-jikyū was used to refer to the Shida-Higashiyama ware of later years.
Shida-Nishiyama
Shida-Nishiyama was a kiln that branched off from Shida-Higashiyama during the Genroku period (1688-1704). Therefore, the name Shida-Higashiyama was also used to refer to Shida-Nishiyama. If we look at the old pottery from this period, which includes unglazed sake bottles with a white slip and a chestnut-colored glaze, and large brown-glazed tea bowls, we can see that, in addition to porcelain, some black wares were also being produced at the time.
By the Kansei era (1789-1801), the traditional Yoshida stone and Amakusa stone were being used together to make white porcelain, and the appearance of white porcelain was completely renewed. In the Tempo era (1831-1845), the result of overproduction was a temporary blockage of sales channels, and both Umeyama and Amagusa declined greatly.
Urakawa Yoemon
At this time, Urakawa Yoemon (the father of Teiju) of Nishiyama worked hard to restore the industry, and with the support of the feudal lord Unso (Naoki), who lent him money and even supplied him with firewood, he was finally able to revive the industry.
Shida Hachi
After 1877, Shida Hachi produced a large number of 9cm, 30cm, 31cm and 32cm plates using the stencil dyeing method, and these are known as Shida Hachi of the time. In addition, there was also a large amount of production of bento boxes and multi-tiered boxes.
Shunzo Urakawa
Shunzo Urakawa was a man who devoted himself to the development of Nishiyama Pottery. He was a former retainer of the Hasuike clan, and he ran the pottery business. He passed away on October 26th, 1926 at the age of 74. (He was the father of Tadazo Urakawa, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Japan)
Shobei and Gunroku
There was a master potter in the Nishiyama area called Matsubei Eguchi. He was also a painter and sculptor, and he worked at the Koransha pottery in Arita for many years, but he died at the age of 71 on March 7th, 1883. Another man from Nihira in Kumamura was named Urakawa Gunroku (Yorishige), and he and his younger brother Kinsui were both masters of ceramic painting, but Gunroku passed away in February 1894.
Fujitsu County Pottery Company
In 1889, the Fujitsu County Pottery Company was established, with Minamoto Gennroku of Uchinoyama as president. In the 42nd year of the same era, the Nishiyama Shida Porcelain Stock Company was established (with a capital of 150,000 yen), and Noda Uirino of Ueno in Kushima County was appointed president. And during the prosperous period of the Korean Peninsula in the Taisho era, this area also achieved a large production volume.
Kamikuma Mountain
Kamikuma ware was the first place to start manufacturing porcelain, but at the time it was traded at a lower price than Shida ware, which was seven and a half times cheaper. About ten years ago, the Kamikuma Pottery Company was established, with Shigehachi Hirano as president, but it has now been dissolved and he is now operating as an individual. There are only a few kilns still in operation today.
Shida Higashiyama used to have a dozen or so kilns, but now they have all closed down and there are no longer any potters in the area. In Nishiyama, there are a few potters still in business, including the aforementioned Shida Pottery Co.
Nishiyama hibachi
The current products are mainly hanging vases and hibachi, and the raw material is entirely Amakusa stone. In the good old days of the three mountains of Kumamoto, the annual production was said to be over 40 million yen, but the current production is only 12 to 13 million yen.
Kamifuku’s kiln floor
Shioda-machi was originally the estate of the former Ryuzoji temple, and after it became a Nabeshima fief, it was renamed Hasuike in 1637. During the Kyoho era (1716-1736), a descendant of a Korean family opened a kiln in Kamifuku, this area, and produced porcelain in the Arita style using materials from the Imayama area of Saga Prefecture. Looking at the products now, although the hue is not pure white, there are sake bottles with a narrow mouth that have red designs on a blue background depicting theatrical kabuki actors and other Genroku-era figures, as well as oil bottles with the same red design, and they all have a very classical glaze.
The production of Kamifuku pottery was stopped
However, at that time, a man named Saika Muneharu (the ancestor of Kajiro) was transferred to this area by the Saga Domain, and when he saw the Kamifuku porcelain, he thought it was very rare and unusual, and without hesitation, he reported it to the Saga Domain . It was decided that the secret industry of Arita’s Sarayama was not to be allowed to be manufactured elsewhere, and this is how the production of Arita-yaki came to be stopped.
The convenience of water in Shioda
After that, the use of Amakusa stone became popular, and the raw materials from the region were transported by Japanese boat across the Hayasaki Strait, up the Ariake Sea and the Shioda River to this area, and were unloaded here. The coastal areas of the Shioda, Yoshida, Ureshino and other rivers such as Gochoda, Shikina, and Okusano, which all have good access to water, were used with stamp-type water wheels to crush the salt, and then Yoshida stone was added to reduce the firing temperature and produce the salt.
Yoshijiro Nishi
As a result, the salt fields were used as a key port for transporting Amakusa stone, and they only served as a medium for supplying raw materials to the various pottery mountains, but about 50 years ago, Sadashichi Kamachi (Tsurutaro) began manufacturing porcelain here again, and in 1885 in 1885, Seikajiro (the father of Hikosaku and later the head of the pottery association in this area) brought over a set of multi-tiered boxes decorated with underglaze blue designs and tried to expand the sales market from Singapore in the South Seas to the Bang Khae area in Siam. However, the attempt was a failure because the insects depicted on the ware were considered to be abhorrent from a religious point of view.
Activity in Yubai and Urami
In 1887, Kenkuro and Sohei Maruta, father and son, came from Arita and began making pottery here again. In 1889, Kajiro Nishi, as vice-chairman of the Saga Prefecture Pottery Industry Association (the chairman at the time was Ihei Hirabayashi of Arita), traveled to the Indian city of Uda to inspect sales. In the same year, he also traveled to Russky Island to sell items such as thick-walled cups. In 1928, he traveled to Siberia, and continued to work hard, but he passed away on May 10th, 1920 at the age of 71.
Yosaburo’s inspection tour of Manchuria
On September 23rd, 1906, Yuzaburo Sugimitsu (the elder brother of Kazumitsu Sugimitsu) left this place together with Shigeru Kawahara, a member of the House of Representatives representing the Matsura district, and Tokusuke Matsuo, a potter from Arita, to inspect the state of the porcelain trade as a member of a committee investigating the resources of Manchuria and Korea.
The representative potters of Imaizumi were Sadao Sugimitsu and Soichi Kuda (So’s younger brother), and there were also a few other potters. At first, they produced items such as Shida bowls, but now they mainly produce braziers, bottle holders, and tableware.
The Second Ceramic Testing Center
In the winter of 1927, the Saga Prefectural Assembly passed a proposal to establish a ceramic testing center, and with the donation of the Karatsu-based Takatori family, it was decided to establish a branch in Shioda-machi, Arita-cho, and on November 25th of the same year, the completion ceremony was held for the Second Ceramic Testing Center. The director was Osuga Shinzou, who was also the director of the first ceramics testing center, but from 1912, Shigetomi Hideo, who had previously been the director of the Tobe Technical School, was appointed as the director (Hideo passed away on May 10th 1914 at the age of 50).
Fujitsu County Pottery Industry Association
The Fujitsu County Pottery Industry Association was established on September 11th 1931, and on December 26th of the same year, Sadao Sugimitsu (the son of Wasaburo) was elected as the head of the association.
Minoyama
The village of Minoyama in Gochoda was also under the control of the Hasuike clan, and had a population of around 160 households. It was close to Shioda-machi and three ri from Takeo Station. The kiln was built with a joint investment of 45 people, including Tomohachi and Tokujyu, and pottery was made using Amakusa stone and Yoshida Narukawa stone, but it was abandoned after a short time. After that, Kishiro Horie tried to revive it, but the kiln was abandoned again. Next, Katsutaro Tominaga from Okawachi came to try to revive it, but it was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again, and the kiln was abandoned again
In May 1918, Aoki Kohei, a pottery merchant from Arita, asked Omagari Enichi and Nakajima Isao to make electrical equipment, and from 1923, Enichi has been manufacturing the aforementioned Aoki products on his own. In addition to this, there is also a company that has been manufacturing mainly blue and white dinnerware since 1920, and it is said that the annual production value of this company is around 10,000 yen.
Happongi
Happongi is a former Kashima domain territory, and it is also called Hamayama-yaki because it is located near the present-day Hamacho area. It is said that the descendants of Koreans came to this area and opened a kiln here during the Manji era (1658-1661), and that the old kiln products included sake bottles with a white glaze on the clay and designs of bamboo and other motifs painted in Gozu. There are also bowls with chrysanthemum-like patterns on the same white slip, and all of them show small cracks on the surface.
Koichi Iwanaga
In 1862, Koichi Iwanaga began making porcelain using materials from Amakusa Fukae, and at present, only Kusunoki Kohei continues to make it using a coal kiln. The types of products are mainly low-grade items such as blue and white sake cups and tea cups, and the production volume is naturally small. From ancient times, this area has been producing mouth-blown items called Hamayama sake bottles.
Kuboyama
Kuboyama was also part of the old Kashima domain, and is located near the Yutoku Shrine, which is one of the three most important Inari shrines in Japan, along with Fushimi and Toyokawa. In 1876, Nabeshima Akinori, Kuboshira Shigeo, Yamazaki Shoichi, Sanbara Uemon, Tsuruta Sokichi, Tsuruta Kinosuke, Murayama Koukichi, Ueno Jutaro and others began making pottery together The first kiln to be fired was in Gonohe, but since then it has declined, and although Takenori Ono built a new kiln in June 1879, it has not been used, and the only one that is continuing the business is Sokichi Tsuruta in Ichinohe. The products are the same as those of Hachibokiyama, and they are mainly made of Amakusa stone, and they are also making inferior products such as sake bottles and tea bowls.
Ueno Pottery
Ueno is located in Tachibana Village, Kijima County, and has about 200 households. It is about a one-mile journey from the Takeo Station. This area was formerly the territory of the Goto clan, but it borders on Kuma Village in the Fujitsu district, and it is certain that it was a contested area during the Warring States period. It is said that the Ueno pottery was founded by a Korean potter from Kuma Village who came to this area and opened a pottery, but there is no evidence of this today.
Hashikamokunoju
About 200 years ago, there was a man called Hashikamokunoju (real name Oda) who started making large jars, and since then this place has specialized in making jars, as well as clay pipes, water bowls, flowerpots, etc. The largest jars hold four koku (approx. 180 liters) and are made from clay from the Onohara area. The production value is said to be around 5,000 yen at present, and the kilns are run by four people, including Hizen Earthenware Manufacturing Company (President: Uiri Noda) and Hideyoshi Yamaguchi. The old kilns are located in Minami Ueno, where the current company’s kilns are located.
Zenpei and Kiyonobu
In 1901, the famous Okawachi potter Zenpei Shibata came to the Yamaguchi Hideyoshi pottery and produced various works of art using Shida clay, including unglazed pottery with reliefs of landscapes and pomegranates , and there are tea utensils and water jars with handles, and on one side of the water jar with handles, there are two cranes carved, and all of them are hand-twisted work without using a wheel. Then Zenpei died on June 2nd of the following year, 1562, at this factory.
Next a Yamaguchi Prefecture native named Kiyonobu also came to Hideyoshi’s factory and produced red clay tea utensils similar to those made of red clay from Onohara, as well as works such as five-inch lidded containers in the shape of mandarin ducks. This place is a pottery-making area specializing in jars, and this Ueno area was probably called “Jar Field” in the past.
Naruse Kamayaki
The Naruse Kamayaki pottery is also located in the village of Tachibana, which is a village of around 90 households located about half a ri from Takahashi Station. In the past, this area was called Ashihara, but in later years, due to the relationship with the temple, the Ashihara village was divided into the Tachibana and Hashishita villages. In the sixth year of the Meiji era In the sixth year of Meiji (1873), Tanaka Tinsuke, Kubo Chuzo, Soejima Heikichi and others from this area built a kiln 11 ken (approx. 21.9 meters) long, and invited potters from the village of Tataru in Takeuchi to use the local clay to make jars and other pottery, including a large jar called “Oshiiishi”. Demand The main customers were in the Chikugo area, and they also supplied containers for awamori (a type of distilled liquor) in Kagoshima, with an annual production value of over 5,000 yen, but the kiln was closed in 1891.
Naruse NARUSE
Naruse ware took advantage of the economic boom of 1880 to build a kiln in Rokumato, employing artisans from the Kuma mountains to produce blue and white porcelain using Amakusa clay. The types The annual production was around 3,000 yen, and included dishes, bowls, bowls, braziers, etc. the work of the master potter Urakawa Gunroku, such as the two-shaku bowl with a dragon and tiger design, was outstanding. In addition, in 1885, he entered his work in the Five-Product Joint Exhibition in Ueno, Tokyo, and was awarded a prize in the name of Soejima Kamezo. The kiln was closed in 1890.
Katashiro
Katashiro also had around 50 households in the same village of Tachibana, and was a village located between Naruse and Ueno. In 1897, Kumeyoshi Kakihara, who had previously been a Naruse ware potter, built a four-ken-tou kiln in this area and produced items such as 8-sun sashimi plates using Amakusa clay, earning an annual income of 1,560 yen However, the kiln was closed down after only five years, and although there were people who later produced pottery savings jars, fire extinguishers, and mortars, the kiln has now completely fallen into ruin.
Naozumi’s industrial policy industry policy
As I come to the end of this account of the Fujitsu area, I would like to consider the aims of the production of Hizen ware under the domain of Naozumi. In the past, the motivation of many domain lords to protect this industry was that they produced it for their own tastes, as a hobby, and only later did they begin to encourage it as an industrial product.
This was not the case with Naozumi , he did not set up a clan kiln, but instead focused on everyday items, and invited a leader from Minamikawara to give his opinion and reform the structure of the pottery kilns, in order to expand the pottery industry in the domain. There are those who argue that since the local area does not produce good raw materials, it is impossible to make good pottery, and so they only make inferior wares, but the fact that they are still willing to try even in such circumstances shows the true nature of their work.
Furthermore, Naozumi was a rare and fierce warrior who was the first to attack the Christian castle, which was a stronghold at the time.
With his will and financial resources, what could he not do? However, he , he placed his thoughts on the welfare of the people of the domain, and with the prosperity of the industry as his main concern, he protected it with great care, and the lords of later generations also paid attention to the development of the industry, as can be seen in the way that they sold Hirose ware in Osaka.
Shakudai
When the feudal lords of later generations took charge of the pottery industry, there was one person who was hard to overlook as an advisor. That was the priest of Ryūkōji Temple, Shōtai Ryokuchi-ji temple, whose name was Genkou, and whose pseudonym was Gekkei, and whose pen name was Maturo Ryoko, and who was originally from the Imari-no-ura clan, died in 1772 at the age of 93. He was a great priest who was famous for his poetry at the time. Ieyasu, it is well known that the feudal lord also deeply trusted Taiko and always listened to his opinions. Therefore, in the policy of the Hizen In terms of the policy for the Hizen ware industry, if there was a need for high-quality products, he would pay a high price to purchase them from other kilns, and he would encourage potters to produce everyday items for the general public, and he would also provide them with financial support, so that they could produce high-quality products.
In this way, we can see the influence of his admiration for Taisho. the lords of the day, and the potters of Yoshida and Kuma, on the other hand, also faithfully carried out his wishes, and devoted themselves to the production of daily necessities, observing the status and overall picture of their own pottery mountains, and not being swayed by immature antiques, etc., it is nothing short of admirable. Even if they were excellent
