The Ko-Kutani kilns - 1655-1730
Introduction
Ko-Kutani kilns are those, amongst all kilns history, for which the most controversies exist. In fact so many stories, or even we could say tales have been perpetuated that it is difficult to separate the reality from the fiction. There are some sort of legends which surround these beautiful ceramics and each specialist, even today, is having his own interpretation.
On the other hand very few records have subsisted and it is hard to established the truth, even if by European standard end of 17, beginning of 18 century is not so far away. But we are in Japan and many wooden constructions including documents have been destroyed by fire or by other calamities. It is mainly after World War II that questions have started to raise on the origin of Ko-kutani. Different investigations and research were performed during the last 30 years in Kutani area and also in Arita kilns where recently shards of Kutani pieces were found in 4 different Arita kilns. But so far there is no clear explanation. I do not say that we will never know but the time is passing and it is getting more and more difficult. There are also some irremediable damages which have been caused by construction or by urban development. Kutani village disappeared in 1970 overflowed by a dam and part of the ruins of Kutani kiln number one has been destroyed long ago in order to built a road.
Therefore I have tried to give here a comprehensive resume of different versions and approach including of courses the legends and will leave the reader free of making up his own interpretation.
The old stories
Maeda Toshitsune (1592-1658) 3rd Lord of Kaga, one of the most powerful Han in Japan was found of art, of tea ceremony and more particularly of ceramics. He had already opened in 1637 a purchasing office for his Han in Nagasaki and was importing ceramics and other goods to Kaga Han. In fact Toshitsune was collecting ceramics for his pleasure. When in 1639 he decided to retire and to establish Daishoji Han he already had in mind, beside the industrial development of the southern part of his Han, the development of ceramic. His son Toshiharu, first Lord of Daishoji-Han, will only implement his father intention by initiating the process which will be completed by Toshiaki, his young brother. Toshiharu followed scrupulously his father instructions and he planned and organized the development of the pottery business.
In order to do this, Toshiharu instructed Goto Saijiro, one of his Samurai, whose main activities were related to mining and metal processing to organize the project. Goto Saijiro had left Kaga Han in 1639 to follow Toshiharu in Daishoji Han and engaged in development of mining activities. At that time the main goal was to find gold mines.
Goto Saijiro is today very famous but we do not know so much about him, also it is not clear how many Goto Saijiro have been involved and what was their relationships. The records we have, even so not precise, give three names: Yoshisada, Sadatsugu and Tadakiyo. From the information pilled up so far from different sources and mainly from Kitade Fujio research work <1> we can get the following information or guess.
The name Goto Saijiro Yoshisada can be found engraved on a sword in the Hakusan Hime temple in Kanazawa. He was the pupil of a sword master, Goto Kenjo the 7th. Yoshisada had been first a vassal from Toshitsune and received a salary of 100 Koku. Salary was paid at that time in equivalent of rice. One Koku represents 180 liters and corresponds to the consumption of rice required for one person for one year. To have some comparison the total production of Japan at that period is estimated at 25 millions Koku. Yoshisada worked after for Toshiharu in Daishoji Han but was mainly involved in silver business. He died in 1653, therefore he was probably not involved at all in the Kutani development.
Goto Saijiro Sadatsugu was working for Toshiharu, in Daishoji Han and he received also a 100 Koku salary. His name his engraved on the bell of the Daishoji Ganjo and Honzen temples. The bell of the Ganjo temple was rebuilt in 1846 but was first manufactured in 1639. Honzen temple bell has been built in 1641. It is said in the book of Daishoji temple that he died in 1683. But the book was rewritten around 1840, therefore we are not sure if we can trust completely the records. He was first specialized in mining development and industry then later started doing pottery. It means that it was already quite old around 1660 when he was supposed to go to Hizen.
Hizen is the area in Kyushu where Imari technique was developed by local potters using method imported from China.
Sadatsugu is then probably not the Goto Saijiro we are interested in, nevertheless he was a metallurgist and a chemist, therefore he might have participated in the initiation process of ceramic industry by ordering and buying painting material from Hizen.
Goto Saijiro Tadakiyo was a potter and he was also working for Toshitsune. He died on March 3rd 1704, so there are possibilities that Tadakiyo was the person who managed actively to get the pottery technique and developed Kutani kilns.
Based on the above we can assume that Maeda Toshiharu instructed Goto Saijiro Sadatsugu to organize the development of ceramic. He was probably assisted by the young Tadakiyo who might have been his son but this is only pure supposition.
In 1647, clay material suitable for pottery was found around Kutani village, near Yamanaka Onsen. Sadatsugu decided to establish a kiln. Kobori Enshu, Toshiharu tea ceremony teacher, recommended to Goto Saijiro to get a technical support from Tamura Gonzaemon, a potter from Kyoto. Kobori Enshu, was a student of Oribe and had served under Tokugawa Ieyasu as authority on tea ceremony related affairs and has been quite active in promoting art and culture in Kaga Han. It seems that Tamura Genzaemon and Goto Saijiro made a good team as the story says that Genzaemon gave his daughter to Tadakiyo.
Anyway around 1650 they were ready to built the kiln. It was a 12 rooms Nobori kiln which uses the same technique than the old Imari kilns we can find in Arita.
The name Imari is coming from the name of the port in Kyushu used for the shipment of the ceramics. Arita is the name of the main city where ceramics are produced. However there is a tendancy to call old ceramics by the name of Imari such as Ko-Imari by opposition to modern ceramics which are called Arita even so they are coming from the same place.
Considering such a challenge it is difficult to believe that Goto Saijiro and Tamura Genzaemon could manage to built and to start such a big kiln without technical assistance. It is also clear that they had already contact with Arita potters and that some sort of transfer of know-how had been organized.
This possibility can be substantiated refer to Kitade Fujio book which reports that in 1960 before the flooding of the Kutani village some rough investigations were carried out, but no report were issued. Two interesting points came out. Firstly some words typically from Kyushu region were used only in Kutani village, which I recall is completely lost in the mountain, and second point, in the village, some family were called by the name of Achira, which means in Japanese "over there". This name is not used at all in Japan. We have to remember that we are in the 17 century and there were no family name for ordinary people, so this name could have been used to call foreigner coming from Kyushu. There is no proof whatsoever but it is just a fact which has to be considered.
Anyway Goto Saijiro and Tamura Genzaemon managed to operate the kiln and it is at that period that Kutani style is believed to have been established and Goto Saijiro is considered as the pioneer. The production started around 1650 with white pottery, sometsuke and colored motifs. Most of the pieces produced at that time were flat bowls and large dishes.
Why was the kiln built in such a remote place? It may be possible that in fact Daishoji Han decided on purpose to built the kiln in such a remote and inaccessible place in order to hide the kiln. Was this for keeping secret the technique he wanted to develop or was it simply to hide the kiln from possible travelers or visitors who may have reported to the Tokugawa family in Edo? Nobody knows and all possible reasons might be envisaged. Now there is a very simple and natural reason, they built the kiln as usually, close to the raw material sources, I mean wood and clay without considering the trouble they will have to commute from the city to the kiln and to transport the ceramics back to the city.
On other important point to consider is the financing conditions. The budget required for the kiln construction was quite huge and Toshiharu had to find some way to finance the project. In 1653 Toshiharu decided to cut the Daishoji Han expenses in sending back to Kaga Han 23 Samurais with their servants whose salary was amounting to 15.000 Koku. When compared to the total budget of the Han which was 70.000 Koku, we can imagine the size of the investment the Han was making to promote ceramic industry. By comparison the revenue of the Kaga Han reached 1.192.000 Koku, it was quite enormous and as one of the richest Han in Japan was usually called Yakumangoku i.e. 1 million Koku
From the investigation made in 1970 and 1971 it was discovered that kiln number 1 was used first to produce mainly tea ceremony wares, a low temperature ceramic, a kind of faience, Toki in Japanese, for maybe 4 years up to around 1652. Then the kiln started later to produce ceramic as dishes which indicate the date of 1655 have been recovered.
As far as the style is concerned; the production began mainly with the introduction of Imari technique. But the Kutani potters had problems to manufacture perfect porcelain, they could not reach a high enough temperature and therefore many pieces had defects. The wares made at that time often could be referred to as what we call in Europe half-porcelain. It is thick and the color is not clear white, rather gray or cream.
As the quality of the biscuit produced in the kiln was not always very good, the production was not sufficient for the needs, so white pottery had to be imported from Arita and painted in Daishoji area before being transported to the Kutani kilns.
But the target of Daishoji Han was to reach a level similar to Imari and the only way was to have access to the proper technology. In the mean time Toshiharu died and was replaced by Toshiaki who requested Goto Saijiro to get the technique from Arita potters. The Kanbun period (1661- 1672) is the peak for enamel overglaze, red color painting and Kakiyemon style in Arita, and many kilns were opening. As a matter of fact, before or after Kanbun period a policy of secrecy has been enforced by the local Lords and the kiln technique, accordingly, well protected. So it was the best timing to have access to this know-how. In 1661 Goto Saijiro Sadatsugu under request from Toshiaki dispatched Tadakiyo to Hizen, to learn the enamel overglaze technique which had been imported from China.
There are several stories around the way Tadakiyo succeeded in getting the precious know-how. Someone said that in order to get the secret of enamel overglaze, he married the daughter of his teacher and run away several years later after having accomplished his duty.
It is also said that he could not easily succeed in learning this technique and brought back with him several Chinese potters who established the base of Ko-Kutani. Finally one says that to get the precious secret Tadakiyo went to Arita with some colleagues disguised in monks in order to approach the kiln without giving special attention.
There is maybe also a more simple and not so exiting story, but let say more realistic. Nabeshima Han was the first Han which succeeded in ceramic production and Kaga Han wanted to follow the same way. In fact Maeda Toshitsune was the first to receive as a present ceramics from Nabeshima Kazushige in 1650. So Goto Saijiro might have been simply sent officially or even invited by Nabeshima Han in order to learn the technique of enamel overglaze.
Anyway these stories show that the technique was probably well protected by Kyushu potters but nobody really knows what happened. Just by some ways it seems that Goto Saijiro succeeded to have access to it and, in 1667, back from Hizen, he continued, as Kutani kiln manager with the technical assistance of Tamura Gonzaemon the production of Kutani wares.
They introduced Akae style or red paint similar to Imari style. But soon the style changed maybe due to the introduction of Kyoto or rather Ninsei style painting which has led to this unique art of glazes of deep green, dark blue, light purple, red and yellow colors on a "Gosu" black lines, which is well known among Kutani lovers.
In his old age Goto Saijiro moved back to Kanazawa city where he died in march 1704 at the age of 71 years. As he had no children and no pupils, nobody was able to succeed him.
The closure of the Kutani kiln
In fact we have almost no information related to the history of this kiln. When did it open exactly, when and why did it close? Today only remains a stone and some ruins on a small hill in the middle of the mountain. The digging performed from 1970 shown that the first kiln may have been closed around 1700. This 12 rooms Nobori kiln was quite big, 34 meters long and 2,6 meters wide. Few meters away is the kiln number 2, of a same nature but smaller, 13 meters long, 1,6 meters wide and composed of 6 rooms. We suppose that it was closed down between 1700 and 1750. These kilns were heated with wood, and it was very difficult to reach the 1300 degree required for the overglaze painting. More than one week must have been necessary to complete the firing and a huge quantity of wood was needed. Therefore these kilns were fired only once or twice a year. In addition due to the difficulties in heating it was not easy to have homogeneous temperature in the rooms and only a small quantity of ceramic were of a good quality. To add on top of this, after firing the white porcelain had to be transported to Daishoji to be painted then brought back to the kiln for enamel overglazing.
Why did the Ko-Kutani kilns disappeared is still unknown and will probably remain unknown, there is only some hypothesis or guess, but it is worth reviewing the raisons which may at least partially explain the situation or give some ideas of what may have happened.
If we consider only the economical aspect, at end of 17 century the production of overglaze enamel pottery reached his peak in Arita. This is a period of mass production. Arita potters used a technique they called "work division", to increase efficiency. Each painter was specialized in drafting or painting a special motif and just keep repeating it. They invented the "chain work" long before it became developed in the US. Sales in and out of Japan became very important. Arita potters had mastered the multicolor technique as well as the quality and furthermore these pottery were also quite cheap. On the contrary, Kutani kilns had a very small manufacturing scale, even so they had good painters they had many problems for making good quality pottery and had almost no channel for sales.
We know also from the excavations made, that around 1700, before closure, the kiln number 1 had again some problems, it could not reach anymore a temperature high enough to get a proper glaze. The production stopped around 1700 on kiln number 1 and disappeared a little later on kiln number 2 after a short period of production of tea ceremony wares. The raisons which could explain the closure of the kilns may just be then a combination of technical and economical problems.
To support this possibility, we know that at the end of 17 century the financial situation of the Han was quite bad. At first in 1681 a huge famine hit Japan and in Kaga area more than 2700 people died, then the following year in 1683, a great fire in Edo destroyed the houses of Toyama, Daishoji and Kaga Hans.
Due to the system called San kin kotai established by the Tokugawa government, all Daimiyos had to spend alternatively time in Edo. For this they had to maintain housing in Edo to lodge their family which was kept as a hostage in the city. This system intended on purpose to be very costly was also making an heavy burden on the Han finances.
10 years later, in 1693, Daishoji city was destroyed by a fire. Finally the seclusion policy of the Tokugawa government had led to a general deterioration of the living standard. So there is a high possibility that the Daishoji Han could not finance anymore the kiln and close it down or sold it. In addition Goto Saijiro getting old, he left the kiln and died in 1704. Possibly private investors tried to reopen the kiln without great success.
Regarding the closure of the Kutani kilns there is one other story which has no serious foundation, but which is part of the legend and which is interesting to report as it gives some ideas of the policy of the Tokugawa government or better as people felt that the policy was.
Maeda Toshitsune, 3rd Lord of Kaga decided to produce ceramics for his own use. For this he brought specialists from Korea and China, then selected a very remote area in order to hide the manufacturing place. However several years later the success of Ko-Kutani has reached Edo. Also trading activities were quite important specially maritime transportation was flourishing and some rich merchants were successfully trading with China.
On the other hand, this is the period of the seclusion policy and the Tokugawa may have been afraid that Kaga Han became more and more powerful through a successful trading with foreign countries and to some extent wish to question the supremacy of the Shogun. The Tokugawa also wanted to keep the monopoly of the ceramic trading trough Nagasaki and Hirado which were ports directly controlled by the Bafuku and which were bringing a great source of revenue to the government.
Therefore Tokugawa made some pressure on Maeda family to stop production of Kutani ceramic. As a proof to his willingness and his obedience to the Shogun, Maeda was obliged to kill all the Chinese potters employed in the Kutani kilns and destroyed the kiln and every documents which may show its existence.
There is no means to substantiate this version of the fact, but it shows clearly that the Bafuku government had a very strong influence on the feudal Lords, even the most powerful.
Questions on the origin of Ko-Kutani
We have reviewed the history or rather the stories of the Ko-Kutani kilns one can imagine from the information we had so far but there is also one or several other theory or doubt which have developed recently and which have to be considered and analyzed. As shown here above there are many uncertainties and no records whatsoever regarding the development of these kilns. In fact nothing can prove that the ceramics which we call Ko-Kutani has really been made in the old kilns close to the Kutani village. This is a big question mark and the subject of much discussion between specialists.
One of the most recent break trough on this subject has been made by Oliver Impey, a specialist of Imari ceramics,<3> who after deep investigations in the local Kyushu kilns clearly states and proves in his book "The early Porcelain Kilns of Japan : Arita in the first half of the Seventeenth century" that Ko-Kutani porcelains were made in several kilns located around Arita area.
On the other hand, the names Kutani and Ko-Kutani are not old at all. It seems, refer to Jyo Shimazaki, Vice Director of Ishikawa Prefecture museum <2>, that at first the pottery made in Kutani area were called Nankin yaki, it is only from Bunka period (1804-1818) that the term Kutani yaki was used, that is to say from the first reopening of kiln in Kaga Han, roughly opening of Kasugayama kiln . Regarding the term "Ko-Kutani" it is only from end of Meiji beginning of Taisho period that people started to use the name Ko-Kutani mainly to differentiate the new production from the so called old Kutani. Quite often on the wooden boxes used for ceramics produced from 1830 up to end of Meiji, we can find written Shin Kutani in other words "new Kutani", at that time the name Ko-Kutani did not exist.
The digging performed by the Ishikawa Prefecture from 1970 has allowed to recover on kiln number 1 several thousand of broken pieces, most of them of a small size. Amongst the pieces found, there were some white ceramics but most of them coming from Arita. This substantiates the possibilities that part of the white base pottery used in Kutani was imported from Arita. On the other hand few pieces with overglaze painting have been also found, therefore it is also clear that this kiln had produced some overglaze ceramics. It was also discovered that at the beginning the kiln produced a sort of Raku yaki for tea ceremony and then switched slowly to overglaze production. But it seems that few years later it could not get anymore biscuit of good quality. Around 1695 Kaga Han restarted to import ceramics from Arita, so we can suppose that the kiln closes down or had some trouble at that period.
From the excavation done on the kiln number 2 it was found out that the kiln was devoted to the production of wares for tea ceremony and not for overglaze painting, the production period has continued later up to around 1730. It means that only kiln number 1 could produced ceramics during only several decades (1655-1695). Now if we consider the situation in Arita, the overglaze ceramic production in Sometsuke as well as multicolor porcelain started quite early.
A potter called Ri Sanpei in 1616 introduced the first ceramic technique from Korea. Then overglaze ceramic was imported from China and Kyushu potters and in particular Kakiyemon try to copy the Chinese porcelain. Kakiyemon succeeded to complete the process in 1644. Arita potters were therefore already quite advanced specially as far as technique and quality are concerned. The production scale on the other hand was huge compared to Kutani and an important part went overseas mainly trough the East India Company. The timing was perfect as due to political turmoil in China, the East India Company could not get anymore ceramics from China and naturally switched to Japan as a new source of supply. The Company imported from 1650 from Arita to Europe a total of more than two millions pieces of ceramics.
The Kakiyemon style, which is the first overglaze painting, developed in Japan at that period is also very close to some Ko-Kutani overglaze painting, at least the technique being similar. So may be Ko-Kutani production has been in the past grossly over estimated and we have a situation now were ceramics which were called in the past Ko-Kutani are in fact Ko-Imari and are recognized now as such. Specially Sometsuke or blue and white ceramic which were called in the past Ai-Kutani have not been produced there but in Arita, this was confirmed by investigation and digging in the old Arita kilns.
So what is the real number of pieces which have been produced in Kutani, have they been really produced in Kutani kilns or simply made in Arita kilns for the sole use of Maeda family who had required a specific design which we cannot find anywhere else, this is a mystery.
However if we compare so called Ko-Imari and Ko-Kutani styles, there are certainly some differences. Imari painting was done by professional painters from Karatsu or from the area. This place had a long history for ceramics compared to Kutani. On the contrary there were no painters at all in Daishoji, as there has never been any kiln in this area. So this is one of the reasons, which could explain why Ko-Kutani style is different, it is not matured like Ko-Imari, amateurs, but genius amateurs made it. The style is often quite simple, some times childish, or with a rough design, especially Gosu lines which are generally more thick, stronger and wider than Kakiyemon or Ko-Imari which are more delicate. Ko-Imari style favored first, dark blue and red, then purple, green and yellow and of course also silver and gold, on the opposite Ko-Kutani generally is mainly using purple, green and yellow with more seldom dark blue and red, but no silver and no gold. So Ko-kutani style is quite unique where ever was it made.
On the other hand, we know that Kakiyemon sold some of his painting as well as other Imari ceramics to Kaga Han. Then it is not too difficult for some one to imagine that Ko-Kutani was produced in Arita for Kaga Han, specially when in some case it is quite difficult to differentiate Ko-Kutani from Ko-Imari. This is a big question for which as far as I know we have no definite answer
Even Tokyo National Museum does not want to take position. The labels of Kutani ceramics exposed in the museum now have been changed to read "Imari-Ko-Kutani style". So there are two opposite positions and no clear opinion. It is very difficult after 350 years of legends, especially for Kanazawa people, Kanazawa museums and more generally all Kutani industry to admit that the most famous Ko-Kutani ceramic was not made in Kutani. Therefore there is a very strong resistance to this theory.
At a least we can say that potters and painters who produced the Ko-Kutani ceramics defined and established a unique style. Lord Maeda spent a fortune to establish the Kutani kilns and we cannot imagine that the local potters always failed for more than 20 or 30 years to produce some overglaze ceramics even of an inferior quality. The fact that one of the characteristics of Ko-Kutani is to cover most of the surface with enamel confirmed their intention to hide the poor quality of the biscuit.
But human being are always much more interested in the legends, and quite often there is some part of truth in a legend, and even if this beautiful ceramics have been made in Arita, we can always say that this style has been the basis for the development of Kutani ceramic by Daishoji potters, painters, artists and it reflects simplicity, variety, and a unique sense of colors. There is no comparison with any other style and where ever the Ko-Kutani ceramics been produced, it will never change the fact that Lord Maeda wishes were in fact completed, as a new era of production started in Kutani from 1806 and that today, 350 years later, Kutani ceramic is one of the most popular in Japan, one of the most beautiful in the world and certainly one of the most representative of the Japanese culture.
References
