A potter from Hizen Arita. During the Meireki and Kanbun periods (1655-73), he constantly traveled back and forth to Kyoto and Osaka to sell Imari ware. At that time, Hizen porcelain was in the early stages of red painting, but he divulged the secret of the red painting technique to Kyubei, a teacup maker in Kyoto, who passed it on to Ninsei, who soon began to express the technique in colored nishikimon (brocade patterns). This fact was later discovered and Kouemon was severely punished by national law for leaking the secret technique to another country. Kyubei is said to have gone mad upon hearing this. There is a slightly different theory about this.
The “Bauku Monogatari” is based on this legend. (The Pottery Review, Kanko Zusetsu, History of the Arita Pottery Industry)
