Kutani ware 九谷焼

What is Kutani ware?

Kutani ware is colour-glazed porcelain from what was once Kutani village, now part of Kaga in Ishikawa Prefecture. Its own association traces the start to 1655, when the Daishoji clan's first lord, Maeda Toshiharu, ordered a kiln built on porcelain stone found in the area; by the following year the kiln was firing coloured overglaze ware. One retelling of the founding names Goto Saijiro, a retainer of the Maeda clan, as having travelled to Arita first to learn porcelain technique before the Kutani kiln opened, tying two of Japan's great porcelain traditions together at the start. Mino ware is the other big porcelain and stoneware region on our shelves, further east in Gifu, and unlike Kutani it names a place rather than a single style. The hallmark is gosai, five strong overglaze colours painted straight onto white porcelain: green, yellow, red, purple and deep blue, applied with a freedom the association's own history page calls the wellspring of Kutani beauty.

Why did the kilns close, and how did they come back?

The original Kutani kiln, now called Ko-Kutani, old Kutani, stopped firing after roughly half a century, for reasons its own association says remain unknown. About a hundred years later, under the patronage of the Kaga clan, production restarted: the Kasugayama kiln opened in 1807 under the potter Aoki Mokubei, and Honda Sadakichi found porcelain stone at Hanasaka village, now part of Komatsu, starting the Wakasugi kiln in 1811. The Yoshidaya kiln followed in 1824, and various styles competed and merged from there into the overglaze techniques still practised today. Kutani ware went on to the Vienna World Exposition in 1873, and Japan's then Ministry of International Trade and Industry designated it a traditional craft in 1975.

What Kutani ware do we carry?

Our Kutani range runs across several small kilns and workshops rather than one house style. The Seikou kiln appears twice in our current range, a Chidori round plate and a floral and bird plate set of five, both hand-painted with the strong overglaze colour the ware is known for. Kokuzougama, a workshop that opened at the foot of Mount Kokuzo and our own listing names as one of the studios representing modern Kutani ware, supplies a lucky-charm bowl pair. A red-painted rabbit serving bowl and a small black vase round out the everyday tableware and display pieces. One pair crosses craft lines entirely: Kutani colour work on Wakasa lacquer chopsticks, made by the Seikogama kiln onto lacquered chopsticks from Obama City, Fukui, the same lacquer tradition behind other pieces on our shelves.

How do you look after it?

Our own listings recommend hand washing to keep the painted overglaze bright, even on pieces the maker also lists as microwave safe, since the enamel colour sits on top of the glaze rather than under it. Treat a Kutani piece the way you would any hand-painted porcelain: gentle washing rather than a scrub, and no metal scourers near the painted surface.