Page 337 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

2Óo Large dish gathered from these two sites, including lution to the Ko Kutani debate, if there is
Ko Kutani ware white porcelains that were possibly in- one forthcoming, awaits further archaeo-
diam. 40.5 (16) tended to receive overglaze enamel deco- logical and art historical research.
Edo period, late iyth century ration later, some underglaze blue The large dish from the Umezawa
porcelains, and celadons, have not conclu- Kinenkan (cat. 260) has twelve hexagonals
Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo
sively solved the mystery, though some of along the rim, surrounding a central roun-
Important Cultural Property
the characteristic types of so-called Ko Ku- del that contains a floral motif dominated
tani were not represented. In the nine- by two large peonies. The realistically de-
teenth century, a revival of porcelain picted flowers face away from each other,
2Ói Sake ewer production took place in the Kutani area, one fully open and the other just begin-
Ko Kutani ware though these later products should not be ning to bloom, outlined and detailed in a
h. 16.8 (6 5/s) confused with Ko Kutani wares. fluid black line and densely colored with
Edo period, late iyth century The earliest written record concern- purple enamel. Green stems and leaves,
Eisei Bunko, Tokyo ing the start of kilns in Kutani, dating to one tinged with yellow, complement the
Important Cultural Property 1736, is retrospective in nature. It notes flowers along with two red line drawings of
that during the Meireki era (1655-1658), butterflies, one large and the other small.
Despite the unsettling persistence of unre- Maeda Toshiharu (1618-1660), the first dai- On the rim, the major elements of the
solved historical issues, the artistic merit myo of the Daishôji domain and a son of central design are abstracted into a motif
of the enameled porcelain wares known as the enormously wealthy Kaga daimyo and composed of two contraposed butterflies
Ko Kutani, or Old Kutani, remains un- art patron Maeda Toshitsune (1593-1658), viewed from above against a background
questionable. The painted designs of Ko ordered a person by the name of Goto to of purple peony petals. This motif is
Kutani porcelains are as exuberant and make pottery at Kutani, adding that an- placed in six of the hexagons, which alter-
boldly drawn as the designs of Nabeshima other type of ware, similar to Chinese nate with six others filled with a maze of
wares are distilled and precise. The typical Nankin porcelain, had once been made green geometric decoration. The over-
Ko Kutani vessel is thickly potted from a there but was no longer. Two later docu- glaze enamels are applied with great free-
relatively coarse grade of porcelain clay ments present more elaborate stories. Ac- dom, allowing accidental overflows of
and sometimes decorated with a limited cording to one from 1784, the second color beyond the boundary lines. Three
amount of underglaze blue. Designs, usu- Daishôji daimyo Maeda Toshiaki (1637- sections of blue enamel floral scrollwork,
ally outlined and detailed first in black, are 1693) sent Goto Saijirô to the large com- each with a purple peony blossom, wind
colored with richly-toned overglaze plex of advanced porcelain kilns at Arita in around the back of the bowl.
enamels, including green, purple, dark Hizen to acquire ceramic skills, after Of the few known Ko Kutani sake ew-
blue, yellow, and red. Most of these wares which he returned to Kutani and opened a ers with a similar low, round form derived
are decorated with naturalistically de- kiln. The substance of the story, that the from metal prototypes, the example in the
picted floral motifs, landscapes with Chi- Kutani kilns were started on a technologi- Eisei Bunko (cat. 261) is generally regarded
nese figures, and bird-and-flower themes, cal foundation introduced from Arita, is as the most finely executed in both shape
alone or more often in combination with supported by physical evidence. In the and decoration. The meticulously formed
abstractions and geometric patterns. early seventeenth century, the ceramic in- vessel, supported by three small legs, has a
The Kutani problem focuses on the dustry at Arita was the first in Japan to spherical bottom, a bulging register encir-
questions of where objects that have tradi- produce porcelain, and the type of kiln cling the top, and a broad, knobbed lid.
tionally been called Ko Kutani were actu- and the kiln furniture excavated at the Ku- From a single point at the back, an arching
ally made, and what the relationship is tani kilns are similar to those used at Arita. round handle spans the top of the vessel to
between these wares and Kutani, an iso- The complicated Ko Kutani question the front where it divides and attaches to
lated village located in the Daishôji do- has spawned a substantial body of litera- the body just above the appended half-
main. Daishôji, a part of the large Kaga ture and opinion. Some ceramic historians cylinder spout.
territory (presently part of Ishikawa Pre- have reassigned what were originally Colorful, animated decoration enliv-
fecture) under the control of the powerful thought to be products of the Kutani kilns ens the vessel. A scroll of red peonies on
Maeda clan, was ruled by a Maeda branch to Arita, and blue-and-white sherds exca- brown stems with green and blue leaves
family. The sites of two porcelain- vated at several Arita kiln sites are clearly forms a ground for five blue and green
producing kilns in Kutani were examined of a type that has traditionally been shishi, mythical lionlike creatures that
during a series of archaeological excava- thought of as Ko Kutani. Another theory frolic over the vessel, one on the lid and
tions begun in 1970. The earlier kiln was a is that Arita-made porcelain bodies were four distributed around the sides of the
large multi-chambered noborigama (climb- shipped to Kaga where they were deco- body. An underglaze blue floral scroll with
ing kiln), about thirty-four meters in rated. Recently, fresh discussion has been three chrysanthemum flowers decorates
length, which scientific tests indicate was sparked by the recovery of Ko Kutani the handle, while the spout has a decora-
probably used until the latter part of the sherds during examinations conducted tive pattern in green and yellow. To mask
seventeenth century. The start of this kiln from 1984 through 1986 at the site of the an apparent kiln defect, the very bottom
is accorded a date no later than that in- Daishôji daimyo residence in the capital of the vessel is painted with a leaf in blue
scribed on an excavated sherd that reads city of Edo (presently Tokyo). Until this enamel. AMW
Meireki 2 [1656], Kutani. The second kiln, discovery, no Ko Kutani sherds had been
also a noborigama, was much smaller, less found in any of the excavated Edo-period
than fourteen meters long. A combination residential sites around Japan. The new
of documentary and archaeological evi- findings, in a house occupied by the dai-
dence suggests that it was fired until prob- myo of the territory in which the village of
ably the late seventeenth or early Kutani and its Edo-period kilns are lo-
eighteenth century. The various sherds cated, argue for a close connection be-
tween the Maeda clan and Ko Kutani
wares; the nature of this connection,
though, cannot yet be determined. A reso-

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