Kasugayama Kiln was located in Kasugayama, Yamanoue-mura, Kawakita-gun, Kaga Province (Kasuga-machi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture) during the Bunka era (1804-18).
Founded by Aoki Kime. At that time, there was no porcelain production in Kaga Province, and a large amount of money to purchase porcelain was lost every year.
In 1806, the Kanazawa Town Council decided to invite Kibe, a master craftsman from Kyoto, through Kameda Junzo, the town’s senior councilor. Kikume came to Kanazawa in September of the same year and borrowed the kiln of Heibei Utatsuyama for trial firing, and having obtained satisfactory results, he returned to Tokyo and came back to Kanazawa in April of the following year with his assistant, Sadakichi Honda, with a plan to stay permanently in Kanazawa. In April of the following year, he returned to Tokyo and opened a kiln near Kasuga Shrine on Kasuga Mountain under the management of Kizaemon Miyatakeya and Heishiro Matsuda. However, when he fired his first kiln in November, the results were not satisfactory due to humidity, and after firing three or four times, Kiomai returned to Kyoto the following year, even though he was still in the beginning stages of his business. There are various speculations as to the reason for this, and some say that Kikumai was dissatisfied with his treatment, or that he was relieved of his position as a result of frugality due to the fire at Kanazawa Castle in 1807, or that he retired due to the death of his uncle, Naojiro. At that time, his products included celadon porcelain, Nanjing red glazed porcelain, Sung and Hulu, Nanban, Korai, and Inqing porcelain, as well as some of Kikumai’s own creations. After Kikume left, under the management of Matsuda Heishiro, Honda Sadakichi, Koshinaya Heikichi, Taya Tokuzaemon, and others were engaged in the business, and they produced red-painted Nanking, Sung and Guroku style wares, following Kikume’s example. However, after Honda Sadakichi left for Wakasugi Kiln in 1811 (the same year), Sunkoroku Kasugano-shi declined, and the kiln had to be closed at the beginning of the Bunsei Era (1818-3). However, after this kiln, pottery kilns continued to be established in the four counties of Kaga. This is a great achievement of Kibe Kinyu. The seals of the Yone period include “Kinpu” made in the “Kinpu” period, “Kinbunshunka” Hakkinjo Dongsan “Kime”, “Kinjo Teikeizan”, “Kinjo Kasugaizan” made, “Kinpu” in the nail engraving, and “Kinpu Shinsei”, “Kinjo Sei”, “Kin “Sei” in the calligraphy seal, “Kinjo Bunka Nen”, “Kinjo”, etc. When test-firing in Heibei’s kiln, Heibei used the “Kinjo Dongsan” mark, which he often imitated to make ceramics in a foreign style, as it is said to have been used in his extra skills.
Furthermore, after Kikumae left, Honda Sadakichi and others used “Made in Kinjo Bunka Year”, “Made in Kinjo”, and “Kasuga Mountain” as their signatures. The kiln owner Matsuda Heishiro also made matcha bowls and other items copied from Korea during this period, and used the inscription “Ma Sung” (馬宋), the name of a Korean copyist. (Kaga Etchu Toki Koso, Heian Meito-Den, Kutani Toki Shi)
