Page 327 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

thought over the years to be Karatsu ware
were also fired at the early Takatori kilns.
The Shirahatayama kiln opened
around 1630, during the tenure of Kuroda
Tadayuki. The Enshü-influenced wares
typical of this and later kilns are character-
ized by understatement and subtle con-
trast, effectively employed in this Takatori
mizusashi (fresh water container). The cy-
lindrical mizusashi, potted from finely tex-
tured clay, is glazed with earthtones that
have fired into a sleek coat. Overlaps of
the smooth exterior glaze laid on in four
well-considered applications create four
delicate lines arcing from top to bottom.
Another sweep of glaze, also a somber
tone, washes the lip of the vessel, while
the interior is covered with a fine, irregu-
lar, mazelike pattern. The bottom is un-
glazed.
The stylistic traits associated with Ko-
bori Enshü were perpetuated at kilns es-
a
tablished in 1665 * Koishiwarazumi.
There the major output consisted of tea
wares, especially great quantities of chaire
(powdered-tea containers). The close asso-
ciation between the Takatori lineage of
potters and successive generations of
Kuroda daimyo continued with new kilns
being sponsored until the end of the Edo
period. AMW

251 Flower container
Agano ware
h. 17.8 (7)
Edo period, first half iyth century
Eisei Bunko, Tokyo

Agano is another of the western Japanese
ceramic wares established by immigrant
Korean potters under local daimyo patron-
age in the early seventeenth century. It
was produced in the northern Kyushu
province of Buzen (parts of the current
prefectures of Fukuoka and Oita) at the
official kilns of the Hosokawa clan. The
transfer of Hosokawa Sansai (Tadaoki,
1563-1646) from Tango Province (the
northern portion of Kyoto Prefecture) to
Buzen more than doubled the worth of his 251
holdings. This was his reward for his sup-
port of Tokugawa leyasu at the Battle of
Sekigahara in 1600 (cat. 104).
As recorded in later documents, San-
sai, a daimyo reknowned as a poet, painter, ramics, though it is possible that not all spondences between the two kilns, and
and important tea disciple of Sen no were fired at this small kiln. with the Karatsu kilns, can be drawn in
Rikyü (1522-1591), began production of ce- Agano ware was made on an ex- terms of techniques and glaze types. Some
ramics at a small kiln in the garden of his panded scale at the Kamanokuchi kiln, sherds at Kamanokuchi show a stylistic af-
castle in Kokura, where he moved in 1602. probably opened during the first decade of finity with Hagi wares (cat. 253), more than
The kiln is said to have been operated by the seventeenth century and operated by is evident at other Kyushu kilns. Nearby at
Chonhae (also known by his Japanese Chonhae. Sherds recovered from this site, Iwaya Kôrai, another kiln was also active
name, Agano Kizô), a Korean potter who excavated in 1955, show that both utilitar- at this time.
came to Japan after Hideyoshi's Korean ian and tea wares were made there. The Sansai relinquished the post of dai-
expeditions, living first in the Karatsu do- kiln was a large 4i-meter noborigama myo to his son Tadatoshi (1586-1641) in
main and then moving to Buzen at San- (climbing kiln), thus similar in scale to the 1621. Around 1625 another kiln, the Agano
sai's invitation. The possible site of this nearby and roughly contemporary Takatori Sarayama Hongama, was opened. Produc-
kiln, uncovered in 1982, yielded a great va- ware Uchigaso kiln (cat. 250). Indeed, tion continued there under Hosokawa pa-
riety of types of glazed and unglazed ce- though there is a marked paucity of irregu- tronage until the clan was moved
larly shaped wares at Kamanokuchi, corre-

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