A Brief History of Takatori Ware
by Andrew Maske

Article originally published on Morgan Pitelka's site Japanese Ceramics. Reproduced by permission.

Introduction

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.

The Uchigaso Kiln (1614 - 1620s)

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, underglaze painting. Perhaps the most significant stylistic aspect of Uchigaso teawares, 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 Yamada Kiln (mid-1620s - 1630)

At some point in the 1620s, the Korean potter Hachizô applied to return to his home country. Records are unclear about the exact date, and there is debate over whether this occured as early as 1623, the year Kuroda Nagamasa died, or several years later. In any event, Nagamasa's son Tadayuki, the new lord, was incensed at Hachizô's presumptuous request, and confined him and his family to the village of Yamada (modern Yamada city) where they were forced to live with no stipend, subsisting on the sale of utilitarian wares to local residents. Although the site of the Yamada kiln is known, it was buried by refuse from coal mining operations in the 1940s and is now inaccessible.

The Shirahatayama Kiln (1630 - 1660s)

Around 1630 Kuroda Tadayuki lifted Hachizô's banishment and directed him to build yet another new kiln. The site chosen was Shirahatayama, a mountain north of modern Iizuka city. According to Edo period records, Tadayuki sent Hachizô and his son Hachirôemon to Fushimi in Kyoto to meet with the famed tea master Kobori Enshû (1579-1647) and to receive his directions concerning teaware style. (tea bowl of kirikata type designed by Kobori Enshû, from the Fukuoka Art Museum, below).

Enshû was well known for his kirei sabi aesthetic which combined the subdued and plain preferences of Sen Rikyû (1520-1591) with a taste for elegant and smooth forms appealing to Enshû's daimyo tea disciples. Thus the wares produced at Shirahatayama became thinner and sleeker than those of earlier kilns. Excavations of the site show that the kiln size (seven chambers) was much smaller than Uchigaso and that production centered on specialty wares for tea to the exclusion of utilitarian ceramics. Kuroda domain letters show that Lord Tadayuki was personally involved with directing production at Shirahatayama and was well acquainted with Kobori Enshû. This indicates that Shirahatayama was indeed a go-yô-gama, a kiln operating under the control and direction of a domain lord. Tadayuki also brought Igarashi Jizaemon, a ceramics technician from Hizen province, to Shirahatayama to improve firing and other technical aspects of production. The Igarashi family would remain an integral part of Takatori production until the end of the Edo period.

The most famous products of the Shirahatayama kiln were tea caddies, small ceramics containers for powdered tea. (See example of tea container with decorative handles, named "Somekawa" or Dyed River, above). Some of the finest Takatori tea caddies were given titles and box inscriptions by Kobori Enshû himself and were later designated chûko meibutsu (Recent Treasures) by the important teaware connoisseur Matsudaira Fumai (1751 - 1818). In fact, more Takatori tea caddies received this high designation than those of any other Japanese kiln with the exception of Seto. Takatori tea caddies became known for their extremely thin walls, elegant shapes, fine clay and beautiful, multi-hued glazes, trademarks which continue to characterize them today.

The Tsuzumi Kiln (1660s - 1680s)

Takatori Hachizô died in 1654 and was buried near the site of the Shirahatayama kiln. His eldest son Hachirôemon had become sickly and was unable to take over production, so Hachizô's younger son Hachizô Sadaaki succeeded to family leadership. At some time in the 1660s production was moved to Tsuzumi village, in the southernmost corner of the province, just south of the modern pottery village of Koishiwara. The reason for the move is uncertain, but a few test pieces of porcelain found at the Uchigaso and Shirahatayama kilns seem to indicate that the Kuroda domain wanted the Takatori potters to begin large-scale porcelain production and that the raw materials for doing so were to be found in or near Tsuzumi. Accordingly, porcelain production was begun within a few years of the move, not at Tsuzumi, but at the Kaminoharu kiln in what is now Koishiwara village. The Takatori Tsuzumi kiln, however, continued to operate separately. There Takatori Hachizô Sadaaki and other members of the growing family continued to produce tea caddies and other teawares, although Hachirôemon's second son, Hachinojô, moved to Koishiwara, perhaps to aid potters from the Arita area with porcelain manufacture at Kaminoharu. After this, stoneware kilns were established at Koishiwara, producing utilitarian wares which made the village's fame as a folk ceramics center, a reputation that continues even now.

The Oganotani Kiln (1680s - 1704)

At Oganotani a samurai named Inatomi Kizaemon carved small ceramic sculptural pieces such as incense burners and incense boxes. These were fired in the Oganotani kiln, and bear Inatomi's artist name, Taikyûken Hôenshi. (An example of an incense burner bearing this signature can be seen above). Other examples of Takatori wares from this kiln which utilized the talents of other artists include tea bowls bearing designs painted by the Kyoto artist Miyazaki Yûzen, credited with perfecting the silk dyeing technique known as yûzen-zome. The Oganotani kilnsite has not been excavated, but a large number of tea caddy sherds have been recovered near the site of the old kiln, indicating that tea caddies continued to form a large part of production.

The multi-faceted activity of Oganotani came to an abrupt end in 1704 when the kiln was abruptly closed down by the domain. According to records, ceramics ordered through the domain by the Edo government commissioner of Nagasaki were not produced as required, and as a result the potters were forced by the domain to cease production and the kiln was dismantled. The Takatori potters were thus left without employment, a state which lasted thirteen full years. Unlike Hachizô at the Yamada kiln (as described above), however, this time the potters continued to receive minimal stipends despite their forced unemployment.

The Higashi Sarayama Kiln (1716 - 1871)

In 1716, the Takatori potters were returned to active production, but under much stricter control by the Kuroda domain. A domain ceramics commissioner was appointed who was responsible for enforcing a series of regulations relating to all aspects of the potters' work. By this time there were four branches of the Takatori family involved in production as well as one family comprised of the descendants of Igarashi Jizaemon. The main line of the Takatori family was the lineage of eldest sons descended through Hachirôemon, Hachizô's eldest son; it was responsible for representing the potters in their dealings with the domain. The potters of this line continued to reside in Tsuzumi village, while the descendants of Hachinojô maintained their residence in Koishiwara, both branches fullfilling their potting duties in Fukuoka in six month stints all the while. The other two Takatori branches, however, moved to Fukuoka, as did the Igarashi family.

The new kiln was located west of Fukuoka castle in Sohara village (now the Nishijin area of Fukuoka city). Only two years later, in 1718, a new group of kilns firing utilitarian wares was established by the domain less than half a kilometer to the west of the Takatori kiln. This kiln group became known as Nishi Sarayama (West Plate Mountain) to distinguish it from the Takatori kiln, which subsequently acquired the name Higashi Yama (East Mountain) or Higashi Sarayama (East Plate Mountain), the name by which it is known today. Teawares and other elite ceramics were fired at the Higashi Sarayama kiln (See flower vase of broad, thin-rimmed type above), and all production was required to be submitted each year to the domain for distribution to domain members or for use as gifts to lords of other domains or even to the shogun himself. The Nishi Sarayama kilns, on the other hand, produced jars, ceramic flasks and kitchen mortars of a rough, reddish-brown stoneware for sale to raise revenue for the han.

The new system worked smoothly through most of the eighteenth century, but around 1770 the Kuroda domain suddenly reduced the samurai rank of the Takatori potters. The potters immediately took steps to persuade the domain elders to restore their former status, most significantly by compiling and submitting records of Takatori production history. This task was performed by Takatori Tadasaku Jôshun, head of the main line, who applied to the domain three times before the potters' status was restored. The principal influential document was the Sarayama yakusho kiroku (Sarayama Office Record), compiled in 1779. In addition, Tadasaku used the same records to create a work called the Takatori-ke kiroku (Record of the Takatori House, 1781) specifically for the Takatori potters themselves. These two works were later combined in a single document, the Takatori rekidai kiroku (Record of the Historical Generations of the Takatori Family), which has survived in several versions. If not for the crisis brought about by the reduction of the Takatori potters' status, these documents might never have been compiled and much less would be known about Takatori history today. It is also worth noting that much of the information in these documents dealing with the seventeenth century is corroborated by sections of the scholar Kaibara Ekken's Chikuzen no kuni zoku fudoki (Gazetteer of Chikuzen Province, Continued), published in 1708.

The next significant recorded event in Takatori history was the domain requirement in 1823 that all "presentation pieces" (kenjôhin) submitted bear a stamp known as the marutaka, a circle surrounding the character taka of 'Takatori' (see closeup below of inscription on broad, thin-rimmed flower vase base). Since in principle all wares had to be submitted to the Kuroda domain, this requirement generally has been misconstrued to mean all wares were required to bear the stamp from that year forward. However, dozens of sherds recovered from the site of the Higashi Sarayama kiln have yielded only one bearing the marutaka mark, showing that the order specified only one class of objects: wares for presentation, either to the lord or to elites outside the domain.

The Takatori potters had continued to produce tea utensils for use by Kuroda domain members and for gifts from the domain to high personages in other domains or in the capitol Edo, but they also expanded the types of wares made to include elite tablewares, handbasins and planters. In the eighteenth century the potters also began to produce alcove ornaments (see carp ornament below) -- glazed stoneware figures of birds, animals or auspicious beings such as the Seven Gods of Good Fortune (Shichifukujin). These were carved during the winter months when the weather was too cold to throw on the wheel. From the nineteenth century the bases of some wares began to bear the incised names of the makers, along with the marutaka mark (see base inscription above), but the majority of wares seem to have remained unmarked.

The principal clay used at the Higashi Sarayama kiln fired to a light fawn color and had surprising density and strength, almost approaching that of porcelain. Documents record that the source of this clay was Mukaesano village, located within the modern city limits of Dazaifu city, more than fifteen kilometers to the southeast. The clay was heavily refined to produce a dense stoneware. Glazes were produced by combining a variety of types of glazing stone, ash, and mineral colorants such as iron. As had been the case throughout Takatori history, the juxtaposition of contrasting glazes, both subtle and bold, continued to be a major characteristic of Takatori style. Of particular note is a golden-yellow glaze called dôkeiyû (lit. 'road-shape-glaze') which beads or runs in rivulets on the ceramic surface, making a small, repeating pattern on a vessel, over which a brightly colored splash of contrasting glaze might be applied for effect (deep tea bowl below). The dôkeiyû glaze was adopted at Seto and elsewhere, where it was generally known as takatori-yû (Takatori glaze). A thick, translucent glaze of a deep green to greenish-yellow color called takamiya-yû was another commonly used glaze at Higashi Sarayama (as on the flower vase above).

The area in which the Higashi Sarayama kiln was located has become a residential area and few traces of the kiln itself survive, but information given on a drawing of the kiln workshop dating from 1816 states that the kiln had eight chambers. Since the kiln was undoubtedly rebuilt numerous times during the nearly 150 years of production at Higashi Sarayama, however, we do not know whether or not the number of chambers was consistent throughout the period.

Beginning of the Meiji Period (1867 - 1912) and the Abolition of the Domain (1871)

Production seems to have progressed fairly uneventfully until the abdication of the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu in 1867 and the abolition of the domain system in 1871. At that time, the Takatori potters lost their stipends and most of them eventually ceased potting. The head of the main family returned to his home in Tsuzumi and even the potting families who lived near the kiln appear to have abandoned ceramic production, apparently either unable or unwilling to take on the additional arduous tasks of procuring raw materials and fuel (tasks which previously had been handled through the domain) and the commercial distribution of the finished products.

Transfer of the Takatori Style

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 which 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.

A Revival in Interest

By the early 1950s the Takatori tradition seemed in danger of dying out. In 1957, however, a female descendant of the main family of Edo period Takatori potters, Takatori Seizan (1908-1982), began taking steps to resurrect her family's potting tradition, building a new kiln at Tsuzumi. At the age of forty-eight she successfully undertook to learn the difficult tasks of her ancestors' profession, including throwing the thin shapes of Takatori, composing glazes and firing a woodburning kiln. Later, she organized and published many of the Edo period documents handed down in her family, including the most complete version of the Takatori rekidai kiroku, in the volume Takatori-ke monjo (Takatori Family Documents, 1979). This publication, combined with archaeological excavations of the earliest Takatori sites in the 1980s, ushered in a new era of interest in Takatori.

Takatori Ware Today

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.

Many of the images shown above will be featured in Andrew Maske's book, Takatori Ware: Potters and Patrons in Edo Japan, tentatively slated for publication by Harvard University Council on East Asian Studies Publications in the year 2006.

Many thanks to Andrew Maske for sharing this article. Andrew is Curator of Japanese Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA. Email: .

© Andrew Maske

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Iizuka-shi. Shirahatayama yôseki (The Kiln Remains of Shirahatayama). Iizuka city: Iizuka-shi kyôiku iinkai, 1992.
• Kaibara Ekken. Chikuzen no kuni zoku fudoki (The Topography of Chikuzen Province, Continued). Meichô shuppan, 1973.
• Katô Ichijun and Takatori Shûsei. Chikuzen no kuni zoku fudoki furoku (Appendix to the Gazetteer of Chikuzen Province, Continued). In three vols. Bunken shuppan, 1977.
• Koishiwara-mura. Nakano Kaminoharu koyôseki (The Ancient Kilnsite of Nakano Kaminoharu). Koishiwara village: Koishiwara-mura kyôiku iinkai, 1991.
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• Maske, Andrew. "New Advances in Tea Ceramic History: Recent Excavations from Consumer Sites." Chanoyu Quarterly 70 (1992): 8-21.
• Maske, Andrew. "The Continental Origins of Takatori Ware: The Introduction of Korean Potters and Technology to Japan through the Invasions of 1592 - 1598." Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 4th ser., vol. 9 (1994): 43-61 .
• Nôgata-shi. Ko-takatori Eimanji Takuma yôseki (The Old Takatori Kilnsite of Eimanji Takuma). Nôgata city: Nôgata-shi kyôiku iinkai, 1983.
• Nôgata-shi. Ko-takatori Uchigaso yôseki (The Old Takatori Kilnsite of Uchigaso). Nôgata city: Nôgata-shi kyôiku iinkai, 1982.
• Ozaki Naoto. "'Enshû Takatori' seiritsu zenya" (On the Eve of the Establishment of the Enshû Taktaori Style). Tôsetsu no. 526 (Jan. 1997): 30 - 39.
• Takahashi Yoshio, ed. Taishô meikikan (The Taishô Period Compendium of Famous Vessels) no. 5. Taishô meikikan hensansho, 1923.
• Takatori Seizan. Takatori-ke monjo. (Takatori Family Documents) Yûzankaku shuppan, 1979.
• Tochinai Reiji. Ko-takatori Yamada-gama (The Old Takatori Yamada Kiln). Fukuoka, Japan: By the author, 1936.

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