Kutani Porcelain*

This page is STILL under construction!

A few of the many Kutani items that can be bought inexpensively. Picture taken 1-6-2010.

JAPANESE KUTANI PORCELAIN

 

Hand-Painted Japanese Kutani have long been favorite items for me to collect.  I have done as much research as possible on Kutani, Satsuma, and other Japanese wares, and the history is quite exhaustive.  I will touch on some highlights, but if you really want to go deep, just do a little research and you will see why I like them so much.  Now, you can spend quite a bit of money buying the rare Ko-Kutani pieces that were made hundreds of years ago, or you can buy some of the newer pieces and save allot of money.  Some collectors specialize in certain periods, like the ones that just say “Occupied Japan”.  You may like collecting the ones that just have Japanese writing on them instead of the ones written in English.

 

 

A small vase showing the "crackle glaze" that Korean potters were well known for. Picture taken 1-6-2010.

 A BIT OF KUTANI HISTORY:

 

Kutani porcelain history dates back to the first year of the Myoreki epoch in the year 1655.  In the Kutani Village (meaning Nine Valleys), there were gold mines of the Daishoji Clan.  A particular white stone was found that could be used for making fine porcelain wares.  Lord Maeda Toshiharu sent a fellow by the name of Goto Saijiro to the Arita Village in the Hizen province (where the exquisite Imari porcelain wares were made) to learn how to make porcelain wares.  Porcelain items from this time period are known today as Ko-Kutani and were produced until the early 1700’s (50-60 years) then the kilns were shut down.  You have to realize there isn’t that much accurate written history because of wars, fires, etc., and much has been destroyed, so there isn’t any real information as to why the early Kutani kilns were shut down.

 

In 1800 the Kutani kilns started back up again in Kasugayama, Kanazawa City (GEEZ, what names!!!).  I think they were primarily used to make commercial type products.  This kiln was destroyed by fire after only being in operation for a few years.  Then Honda Sadakichi built new kilns in Wakasugi somewhere between 1806 and 1820.  His purpose was to revive the old style.  The Yoshidaya Kilns were built in 1823-1831 on the site of the old Ko-Kutani kiln to make commercial porcelain wares with printed designs.  That kiln is still in production today.

 

One of the many plates in Suzanne's collection. Picture taken 1-6-2010.

 

 

 

 Most all of the Kutani Porcelain wares exported from 1868 until today, are done on the ‘Shoza” style.  I used to have several documents written on the history of Kutani, styles, the different kilns, marks, firing process, etc. but they aren’t on this computer.  So, as I once again do some further research, I will re-write my documents and put them on the blog.

There are some comments that I want to make about the decorating and marks on the bottom of the wares.  You may notice that the same characters and designs are on pieces from different kilns (you know they are different kilns because of the marks on the bottom).  This is because many of the artists traveled from kiln to kiln and put the same things on all of them.  After WW II, all products made in Japan were required to say “made in Japan or Occupied Japan.”  Previously they were written in one of the many writing styles in Japan (and there were many).  They were written right to left, left to right, top to bottom, or bottom to top.  The styles varied so much, that not even 80% of the Japanese population could interpret it.  I do have a site that lists many marks and and also one that actually explains the Japanese alphabet.

To accurately give a great history, you would also have to research on the many kilns that made Kutani Porcelain.  I have information on 20 such kilns…  That is, if I can find them in all the papers I brought to Mississippi.

This page has the following sub pages.

• Ko-Kutani
• MORE Kutani Pictures