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ceramic

ceramic Takatori ware is well known to practitioners of the tea ceremony, but its relatively limited and specialized production has caused its four hundred year history to be overlooked by many lovers of Japanese ceramics. The various tribulations and triumphs of the Takatori potters are remarkably well documented in a number of historical sources dating from the Edo period (1615-1867), bringing a moving, human side to the story of these elegant wares. Furthermore, archaeological excavation of a majority of the seven Takatori kilnsites, has helped to define the stylistic development of the wares. Thus, both the historical significance and the aesthetic appeal of Takatori ware make it worthy of wider recognition. As was the case with other high-fired ceramics from southwestern Japan, including Arita (Imari), Satsuma, Hagi and Karatsu, the first makers of Takatori ware were Korean potters who were brought to Japan during and immediately following the Japanese invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598. Takatori ware was the official ceramic of the Kuroda, rulers of Chikuzen province (now Fukuoka prefecture), for nearly 300 years until the abolition of the domain system in 1871. The Beginnings of Takatori Ware and the Eimanji Takuma Kiln (ca. 1600 - 1614) Although most of the Korean potters were brought to Japan as captives, it appears that the first Takatori potter, whose Korean name was Palsan, may have come willingly, since his wife and child were allowed to accompany him and he was given a generous stipend by Kuroda Nagamasa (memorial portrait as a monk, above), the warlord responsible for his arrival. In 1600, Nagamasa and his army of retainers, were awarded the province of Chikuzen, located on the northern coast of Kyushu, as a reward for services rendered in the battle of Sekigahara, in which Tokugawa Ieyasu and his supporters defeated Ishida Mitsunari and the supporters of Hideyoshi's heir, gaining control over the entire country. Soon after, Palsan and his father-in-law, known only by his Japanese name Shinkurô, built a kiln on the eastern border of the province, at the base of Takatori Mountain (east of present-day Nôgata city). Kuroda Nagamasa gave Palsan the family name 'Takatori' after the site of the kiln, and changed his Korean name to the Japanese name of Hachizô. Today, the site of the first Takatori kiln is known as Eimanji Takuma. The site has been excavated by archaeologists who found that the wares made there by Takatori Hachizô and his helpers were of a dark colored, sandy clay and were covered in simple glazes based on straw ash and wood ash. Many of the pieces were thickly made as a result of the poor fire-resistance of the clay, and were utilitarian in nature, although some wares for tea were fired at Eimanji Takuma as well. The kiln structure was of the 'split-bamboo' type of 'climbing' kiln commonly found in Korea in the sixteenth century and had six chambers. After locating better clay, Takatori Hachizô received permission in 1614 to move production to a site several kilometers to the north. At this new kiln, called Uchigaso, the scale of production was greatly increased, as numerous apprentices were taken on and a huge fourteen chamber climbing kiln was built, modeled on an improved style of kiln used in neighboring Hizen province (home of Karatsu stoneware and Arita porcelain). Hachizô and his son Hachirôemon were given higher stipends by the Kuroda domain in reward for their fine work. Excavations have revealed that a wide variety of ceramics were fired at the Uchigaso kiln during its eight years of operation. In addition to dishes, bowls and other utilitarian wares, beautiful and stylistically daring tea ceremony utensils were produced as well. These display such techniques as glaze splashing, stamped decoration, incising, openwork and, rarely, under glaze painting. Perhaps the most significant stylistic aspect of Uchigaso tea wares, however, is widespread use of purposeful distortion of shape, similar to that found in Oribe ware (Mino province, modern Gifu prefecture) of the same period. Wares of this type from the Uchigaso kiln have been recovered in large numbers in teaware-related excavations in Kyoto, proving not only that Uchigaso wares were exported to other parts of Japan during the early seventeenth century, but that they were even popular with the most sophisticated tea connoisseurs in Japan's cultural center. (Figures above: water jar for tea with decorative handles, Fukuoka Art Museum; and cake dish for tea with bridge handle and openwork design). The potters at nearby Nishi Sarayama, however, had wider experience in practical matters of ceramics as a business and made use of their established production system to take over the recently liberalized Takatori style. It is unclear how soon after the beginning of the Meiji period this began, but it is evident that within ten years of the Meiji emperor's accession in 1868, wares in Takatori style were being produced in large numbers by potters who had made only utilitarian ware during the Edo period. The new wares bore the marutaka mark on the bottom and were thinly made of lightly colored clay and glazed with Takatori style glazes. In comparison to Higashi Sarayama wares, Meiji period wares from Nishi Sarayama kilns have a somewhat dry-looking, less dense and less hard whitish clay, a tendency toward elaborate carved and molded decoration on vessels and very widespread use of dôkeiyû glazing (see sake flask below). The marutaka mark also varies slightly from its Edo period counterpart, with the corners of the taka character somewhat rounder than the original. Relatively few tea ceremony wares appear to have been made at these kilns compared to objects such as decorative flower vases, steeped tea (sencha) utensils as well as stylishly fashioned tablewares. So completely did the Nishi Sarayama potters appropriate the Takatori style and name that after World War II the area surrounding their kilns was officially renamed 'Takatori,' while the area of the defunct Higashi Sarayama kiln to the east retained the older name, Nishijin. At least half a dozen workshops were active in the Nishi Sarayama area from the middle of the 1880s until the 1940s, producing a wide variety of ceramics, including industrial pieces such as ceramic barrels; pump spouts and acid resistant storage containers. After the war, cheaply made metal and plastic vessels reduced the market for many of the ceramic items produced there. Only one kiln, that of the Kamei family (which claims a member of a Higashi Sarayama potting family as an ancestor) has succeeded in thriving by riding the crest of renewed interest in the tea ceremony, particularly in the postwar period. Another Nishi Sarayama potting family, named Hara, now maintains a Takatori style kiln elsewhere in Fukuoka city. Interestingly, some members of the original Takatori families returned to potting after their preliminary abandonment of the profession. During the Meiji period, Takatori Eiichi, head of one of the four family branches at the end of the Edo period, headed several kilns that produced mostly small tablewares and tea ceremony utensils. Production was not, however, continued by his heirs after his death in 1910. Takatori families in Tsuzumi and Koishiwara seem to have kept some potting skills alive as a result of their close proximity to the active folk/utilitarian ceramic industry at Koishiwara, but significant production by these families had ceased long before, and the increased industrialization of the Japanese ceramics industry prior to World War II resulted in a gradual loss of those skills that had survived. At present, Takatori style kilns exist not only in the western part of Fukuoka city and in Tsuzumi (see entrance to the contemporary Takatori kiln at Tsuzumi, above), but in Koishiwara village and at several locations near the old kilnsites, including Eimanji Takuma and Uchigaso. The most popular style generally has been that of the thin, colorfully glazed wares of Enshû taste fired at Shirahatayama. Recently, however, rougher, more distorted wares such as those in the style of the Uchigaso kiln have begun to find popularity. The total number of workshops mainly producing ceramics in one Takatori style or another does not exceed ten, however, and most production is limited in quantity and often confined to specialty wares such as tea utensils. Despite the fact that Takatori ware is highly admired among specialists for its vessels for tea, it remains unknown even to many ordinary Japanese. Nonetheless, examples of the ware, both historical and contemporary, have found their way into private collections around the world, as well as major museums in Japan, North America, and Europe. Deeper understanding of the role Takatori ware has played in the development of taste in tea wares and other types of vessels cannot help but create a better appreciation of Japan's ceramic art. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1453