Takatori 高取 ware. Made in Chikuzen 筑前 Province (modern Fukuoka Prefecture) of northern Kyūshū 九州, the Takatori kilns were likely established in the early 17th century under daimyō 大名 Kuroda Nagamasa 黒田長政 (1568-1623) using immigrant Korean potters.
The first official clan kiln was probably established at the base of Takatori Mountain around 1600 for the Korean potter Palsan 八山 (Japanese name Takatori Hachizō 高取八蔵, ?-1654), who came to Japan following Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 豊臣秀吉 (1536-98) Korean expeditions. Another story holds that the general Katō Kiyomasa 加藤清政 (1562-1611) brought back a potter known by the Japanese name of Ido Shinkurō 井土新九郎, who was then employed by Nagamasa. The first Takatori kiln, called Eimanji Takuma 永満寺宅間, dates to the Keichō 慶長 era (1596-1614). The second kiln was built in 1614 at Uchigaso 内ヶ磯 with a large *noborigama 登窯, producing a variety of utilitarian and tea objects in a range of styles. The Shirahatayama 白旗山 kiln opened by Kuroda Tadayuki 黒田忠之 around 1630, and the Koishiwara 小石原 kiln of 1665 made understated tea wares, especially *chaire 茶入 (tea caddys), in the style associated with Kobori Enshū 小堀遠州 (1579-1647).
