arita yaki

Arita is also a porcelain place but in Saga. It's just 5 km away from Hasami but has a very different history apart from the very beginning. The technique was brought in by a Korean potter and they have the monument for this potter Ri Sanpei. He found a clay mountain in the area and the local government took charge of the pottery businesses. 

Arita started with free-hand drawing style like Hasami (Actually Hasami Kurawanka style started from this). However, Japan at that time imported porcelain from China mainly, Arita started copying their Jingdezhen style. Their design was much designed and detailed. They became very successful not inland but abroad as China went into an unstable period of the dynasty changing. With the increasing demand from abroad they built huge noborigamas (climbing chamber kiln) in the town. Arita was then exported as Imari (also another porcelain place nearby with a port to ship!).

Arita grew not only in the business but also in the style. They developed own design from Jingdezhne style and started akae (red drawing) which they painted on-glaze red colour on cobalt underglaze as well as on-glaze colours and gold guilding. These luxury items made it into palaces in Europe but also were copied there.

When China got back in the world business Arita produced luxury items for domestic supply. They were also often used in tea ceremony too. So you can imagine how shocking and new the athetics of Sen Rikyu (please have a look at my Raku yaki post!) could have been in tea ceremony world at that time!

As the porcelain became available anywhere Arita was no longer unique on its own and each potteries developed their own styles. I visited Riso gama that is in 4th generation at the moment. In the factory there were 5 painters, desks lined up along the window. The first woman was tracing design onto the bisqueware and the other women were specialising in drawing and colouring. A woman who was in charge of linear lines had eyes just a few centimeters away from the tip of the brush! That is how minute their work is...! (I can never do it!)

They were very beautifully made and drawn but for that work it cannot come cheap. Hopefully I can afford one some day!?!?

波佐見の次は有田です。有田駅と上有田駅の間には45キロ程の長さの皿山通りがあって、通り沿いに、窯元、お店、ギャラリー等が並んでいます。私が訪ねた平日は歩く人の姿はほぼ無く、有田という響きに期待していただけに、かなりびっくりしました。春の陶器市の際には人で溢れかえるようですが。

有田の陶器の歴史はちょっと複雑です。もともとは朝鮮出兵の際に連れてこられた陶工が始めました。李参平という技術を持ち込み、有田に土山を発見した人の碑があります。有田の磁器産業も時の肥前鍋島藩主の下、皿山代官なる役職があったほど、徹底して管理されていました。当時の日本の磁器は中国景徳鎮から輸入ものがほとんどだったため、有田もそのスタイルで磁器を作るようになったそうです。しかし、意外にも有田の産業が伸びたのは、中国が王朝交代で混乱期にある時に、海外から磁器産地の代替地として選ばれたからだそうです。そこで有田は景徳鎮から独自のデザインを発展させ、赤絵や上絵、金襴手という技術を取り入れていきました。当時有田は「伊万里」の名で輸出されていたそうです。

中国がまた磁器の輸出事業に戻ると、有田は国内向けに高級品と生活用品とを作ります。窯ごとに専門とするものを分けて、効率化と質の均一化を図ったようです。けれども、磁器が特定の産地だけの珍しいものでなくなると、有田という地域ブランドではなく、窯元それぞれが独自のものを作るようになったようです。

皿山には有田が誇る窯元、深川製磁、香蘭社、今右衛門窯、、、とありますが、どれもお座敷の高い感じがとても入りにくかったです。それでも、しっかり覗いてこいと勧められたのが李壮窯で、波佐見で知り合った方がご好意で話を通してくださったおかげで、暖かく迎えて頂き、職人の作業の工程も見せて頂きました。絵付けの職人はまた女性ばかりで、工程ごとに分かれ、とても繊細な仕事をしています。彫刻の制作で始めた1代目、酒器を専門にした2代目、3代目に続き、4代目は食器を主にしています。昔ながらのデザインでありながら、モチーフがかわいらしく描かれているせいか、今の家にもとても合います。ぜひ、有田は陶器市の際に訪ねてみてください。