satsuma-yaki 薩摩焼

Keywords
Art History
Crafts

Satsuma 薩摩 ware. A general name for pottery and porcelain made in Satsuma and Ōsumi 大隅 in Shimazu 島津 fief (modern Kagoshima Prefecture). Shimazu Yoshihiro 島津義弘 (1535-1619), a disciple of Sen no Rikyū 千利休 (1522-91) and daimyō 大名 of the Satsuma domain in southern Kyūshū 九州, returned from Korea in 1598 with more than seventy Koreans including the potters Kinkai 金海 (Japanese name Hoshiyama Chūji 星山仲次; 1569-1621), Hōchū 芳仲 and Hōchin 芳珍. The first kiln, built at Nawashirogawa 苗代川 in around 1607, made simple utilitarian vessels with a glaze producing a mottled surface, a forerunner of the rich black glaze kuromon 黒物, characteristic of later satsuma-yaki. It also produced a white glaze shiromono 白物 ware. A second kiln of the Ryūmoji 竜門司 style was built in Kajiki 加治木 by Kawahara Jūzaemon 川原十左右衛門, mainly to make everyday wares. The third type of Satsuma ware, created at the Chōsa 帖佐 kiln of the Tateno 竪野 school was of higher quality superior and most ko-chōsa 古帖佐 (old Chōsa) tea caddies and tea bowls were made there. In 1619 Kinkai was brought to Kagoshima-jō 鹿児島城 where he built a Tateno style kiln; his descendants continued working there to the end of the Edo period. During the Kan'ei 寛永 era (1624-44) *sometsuke 染付 (blue and white) and seiji 青磁 (celadon) were introduced. In the Keian 慶安 era (1648-52), a technique of brocade-pattern glazes, nishikide iroe 錦手色絵 was introduced from Awataguchi 粟田口, Kyoto, and satsuma nishikide 薩摩錦手 (multi-colored Satsuma ware) was begun, producing a wide range of ceramics in colorful overglaze enamels.