Mashiko ware is produced in Mashiko Town, Haga County, Tochigi Prefecture. It was founded by Otsuka Keizaburo in 1853 (Kaei 6). The former feudal lord of the time, in an effort to promote the prosperity of this product, appointed Otsuka Keizaburo as an official potter and loaned 50 ryo of funds to those newly engaged in the production of pottery to encourage it. In 1855, he took white clay from Nagai Village in Shioya County, painted it white, and made earthenware pots and jars that resembled those of Kyoto ware. In the same year, he invited another craftsman named Tanaka Chohei to produce only inexpensive utilitarian items, which were well received by the public.
Since then, the business gradually flourished, and by the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912), more than 50 households were engaged in manufacturing. At the time of its founding, the company’s products included water jars, kataguchis, and suribachi, followed by earthenware bottles, hibachi, benibachi, gyohira, hot-water pots, tea sets, and flower vases. In recent years, the pottery of Shoji Hamada has become well known, and folk art artists such as Totaro Sakuma have also emerged. (Tochigi Prefecture Industrial Handbook, Japan’s Early Modern Ceramic Industry History, Kogei, 39)
