Satsuma Ware

September 29, 2011

Satsuma ware originated when the Shimazu prince of the Satsuma domain in southern Kyūshū abducted skilled Korean potters after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Japanese Invasions of Korea to establish a local pottery industry.

Satsuma pottery dates back to the 16th century and is still produced today. This region in southern Japan is around the Kagoshima region. The distinguishing features of Satsuma ceramics are they have an ivory, creamy or off-white and sometime beige appearance. The pottery is then hand painted with brightly colored enamels, gold and silver, in fine, intricate designs with careful attention to detail. They typically feature scenes from Japanese life, animals, flowers or landscapes. Gods, Goddesses and dragons are also well represented. The design is then covered with a thin translucent glaze which deliberately ends up with a crackled finish.

The designs also feature a form of decoration called moriage, which is a term used to describe the use of raised enamel on the surface of Japanese Satsuma pottery which lends an added effect to the pieces.

Although the glaze crackling ( called Kannyu ) make the ceramics look more antique in appearance, the effect was used more to give richness and depth to the colours.
The glaze was applied in thin layers and when heated sufficiently and cooled quickly, resulted in small hairline fractures that covered the entire surface.
The style and techniques of the Satsuma potters were highly admired and copied the world over. During the time that these original pieces were made, it was also popular for the potters to make small figurines of Japanese people. These were often caricatures of important people or of the Immortals, who also featured heavily in the decoration of the Satsuma pottery pieces. These figurines are highly sought after items due to the fact that they are rarely seen in the Japanese antiques markets. There are many other Japanese statues and figures on sale all over the world, but only a handful of them are truly from the region that made the Satsuma name famous and valuable across the world.“Satsuma Gosu Blue” were also produced in very limited quantity in Kyoto in the mid-19th century, and is now the most sought after of the Satsuma wares.

In 1793, Hoshiyama Chubei and Kawahara Houkou who worked at the Nagata Kiln at Katano in Satsuma went to Kyoto to learn techniques of Awata Ware from Kinkozan Sobei III.
From the end of the eighteenth century, ceramics with highly detailed painted decoration in thickly applied gold and colors were being fired at the Naeshirogawa kiln . Typically floral, stylized and geometric patterns were employed. Shishi, dragons and phoenix designs were also frequently depicted. Landscapes and human figures did not appear until the middle of the nineteenth century. The ability to create shades of color was also developed during this period.

Originally Satsuma wares were made for the Japanese household and not for export before mid-nineteenth century. They tended to be small and included tea bowls (Chawan), water jars (Mizuzashi), incense burners (Koros), incense boxes (Kogos), and vessels for flower arrangement (Ikebana).

In 1867 the Shimazu family exhibited their wares at the Paris International Exposition. The wares were well accepted, and a substantial export market to the West became established through this exposition.

Interest in the humble art of the village potter was revived in a folk movement of the 1920s by such master potters as Shoji Hamada and Kawai Kajiro. These artists studied traditional glazing techniques to preserve native wares that were in danger of disappearing. Later the Satsuma style was also duplicated by the potters in Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and Kanazawa. Stoneware and pure white porcelain were the favored mediums for Satsuma .