Page 323 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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247 Covered dish tea-related wares were embraced by an against Mino and by the mid-^oos had
Mino ware, Green Oribe type enthusiastic group of patrons whose subjugated it, an important early triumph
h. 6.3(21/2) x 1.27.9 (11) membership included prominent military for the instigator of the movement toward
Momoyama period, figures, as evidenced by the recovery of a unified Japan. Nobunaga was interested
early 17th century Mino ceramics from excavated daimyo in regulating the ceramic industry in his
Tokyo National Museum residences from many sites throughout domain and was a practitioner of tea. He
Japan. was served by the tea masters Sen no
In Mino Province, now the southern part During this same period, Mino's im- Rikyü (1522-1591), Imai Sôkyu (1520-1593),
of Gifu Prefecture, the production of portance as a center for ceramic activity and Tsuda Sógyü (d. 1591). In 1600, Mino
highly innovative glazed ceramics pros- was matched by its significance as the was the setting for the pivotal Battle of
pered at a large number of kilns from the stage for major political personalities and Sekigahara (cat. 104), in which Tokugawa
middle of the sixteenth century through events. In the sixteenth century, Saitô Do- leyasu (1543-1616) won the position of
the early seventeenth century. The Mino san (d. 1556) overthrew the Toki clan to be- preeminence that was maintained by his
potters, while mindful of the need to sat- come a daimyo of Mino. To improve descendants for 250 years.
isfy the requirements of function, experi- relations with Oda Nobuhide (1510-1551), In the fifteenth century, the technol-
mented with glazes and decorative daimyo in the neighboring province of ogy for producing glazed ceramics was in-
schemes as well as with shapes and the Owari, Dosan married his daughter in 1548 troduced to the Mino area from the
techniques for forming them. Their to Nobuhide's son, Oda Nobunaga (1534- well-established kilns of neighboring Seto.
1582). Nobunaga subsequently moved

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