Page 326 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

250 Fresh water container
Takatori ware
h. 15.5 (6>/8)
Edo period, first half iyth century
Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo
The modest complex of Takatori kilns, es-
tablished under the auspices of the
Kuroda family, was one of several begun in
the early seventeenth century with the
backing of Kyushu daimyo. The Kuroda
clan received control over their domain in
the northern Kyushu province of Chiku-
zen, part of present-day Fukuoka Prefec-
ture, for supporting the victorious
Tokugawa leyasu (1543-1616) at the Battle
of Sekigahara in 1600 (cat. 104). Typically,
immigrant Korean potters were responsi-
ble for beginning production of the Taka-
tori stonewares.
As recorded in retrospective accounts
such as the Takatori rekidai kiroku (Record
of the successive Takatori generations), an
1820 compilation of Takatori-related oral
tradition and written evidence, the earliest
official clan kiln was established by the
249 daimyo Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-1623) at
the base of Takatori mountain after his
move to Chikuzen in 1600. The operation
of this kiln, Eimanji Takuma, is attributed
to the Korean potter P'alsan (also known
by his Japanese name Takatori Hachizô)
who came to Japan following Hideyoshi's
Korean expeditions. A second clan kiln
was opened in 1614, at Uchigaso. After Na-
gamasa died in 1623, P'alsan and his son
fell into disfavor with the next-generation
Kuroda daimyo, Tadayuki (1602-1654), for
asking permission to return to Korea, a re-
quest that was not granted; they were ban-
ished to Yamada where they are said to
have begun another kiln.
Extensive investigations at the sites of
the first two kilns have clarified the char-
acter of their products and broadened a
once-narrow perception based on the
wares of later kilns that reflect an aesthetic
associated with Kobori Enshü (1579-1647),
the important seventeenth-century arbiter
of tea taste. The Eimanji Takuma kiln, ex-
cavated in 1982, was found to be a modest
i6.6-meter multi-chambered noborigama
(climbing kiln). Although some tea objects
were fired, most of the wares were utilitar-
ian. The subsequent Uchigaso kiln, exam-
ined from 1979 through 1981, was a much
larger 46.5-meter noborigama. The exca-
vated sherds suggest that a great variety of
utilitarian and tea objects were produced
in a number of different styles; ranging
from simple but robust jars to teabowls in
the flamboyant style associated with
Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), which exerted a
250 great impact on many kilns throughout Ja-
pan during the early seventeenth century.
Sherds of pieces closely related to the
products of the later Shirahatayama kiln
were also found. These excavations also
indicate that certain types of objects

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