He is said to be the founder of the Kihara Pottery in Kihara Mountain, Higashisonogi-gun, Hizen Province (Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture). 1598 (Keicho 3), he came to Japan from Korea with the Marquis Matsuura, opened a kiln at Yoshinomoto in Kihara Mountain in 1603, and began firing pottery using many Korean potters as laborers. Hisanaga apparently did not use an alias for the rest of his life. Hisanaga’s birth year is unknown, and it is said that he died at the age of over one hundred and ten during the Jouou period (1652-5). His tomb stands on the ruins of Yoshimoto’s kiln, and the inscription on the monument reads “Soukin, Myoei. Munejin is the legal name of Hisanaga Kim, and Myoei is the legal name of his wife.
There seems to have been an inscription on the reverse side, but the gravestone is too worn to read. (On Kohkihara-yaki and Kohkihara-style kilns)
