Karatsu ware - Karatsuyaki

This is a representative early modern pottery that was fired in kilns widely spread from western Saga Prefecture in Kyushu to Nagasaki Prefecture. There are various theories about its origins, but the conventional theory that kilns were opened in response to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Bunroku-Keicho Invasions is currently being revised, and the fact that kilns were built before that is evidenced by a four-eared jar with the inscription Tensho 20 (1592) that is kept at Iki Seibo Shrine. However, the old theory that pottery techniques were introduced from the Korean Peninsula following the Bunroku-Keicho War is correct, and the Handogameshimo kiln in the Kitahata district of Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, which is believed to be the earliest surviving kiln, is a so-called split-bamboo multi-chambered climbing kiln, which differs from previous Japanese kiln styles and is probably a new style brought from the Korean Peninsula. This type of kiln was capable of mass production, and the pottery industry flourished and was a huge success overnight, with kilns being built over a wide area, from Higashi Matsuura County, Karatsu City, Imari City, Takeo City, Taku City, Kashima City, Ureshino City, Fujitsu County, Kishima County, and Nishi Matsuura County, to Sasebo City, Isahaya City, Matsuura City, Higashisonogi County, and Hirado City in Nagasaki Prefecture. In addition, the "Hizen Pottery Kiln Site," a site related to Karatsu ware production that remains in Karatsu City, Takeo City, and Taku City, has been designated as a national historic site. Glazing techniques were based on the opaque white glaze made from straw ash, the transparent glaze mainly made from feldspar, and the black-brown glaze made with iron as a coloring agent, and were decorated with iron painting, inlay, copper green paint, white makeup, etc., to produce mottled Karatsu, black Karatsu, Korean Karatsu, Oku-Koryo, Mishima Karatsu, Seto Karatsu, copper-painted Karatsu (two-colored Karatsu), etc. In the mid-Edo period, blue and white porcelain was also produced, but after porcelain began to be produced in Arita, it was overshadowed and gradually declined.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

"Japanese Ceramics 5: Karatsu" edited by Hayashiya Seizo (1974, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Complete Collection of Japanese Ceramics 17: Karatsu" edited by Sato Masahiko (1976, Chuokoron-Shinsha) ▽ "Study of Karatsu Ware by Nakazato Hoan (2004, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

九州の佐賀県西部から長崎県にかけて広く広がる窯(かま)で焼かれた近世の代表的な焼物。その始原には諸説があるが、従来の主説をなしていた豊臣(とよとみ)秀吉の文禄(ぶんろく)・慶長(けいちょう)の役を契機にして開窯したとする説は改訂されつつあり、それ以前に築かれていたことは壱岐(いき)聖母神社蔵の天正(てんしょう)20年（1592）銘四耳壺(しじこ)が証明している。しかし、開始にあたっては、文禄・慶長の役を機に朝鮮半島から陶技が伝播(でんぱ)したとする考えは旧説どおりであり、現存する最初期の窯と推定されている佐賀県唐津市北波多(きたはた)地区の飯胴甕(はんどうがめ)下窯はいわゆる割竹式の連房式登窯(のぼりがま)につくってあり、それまでの日本の窯式とは異なった、おそらく朝鮮半島からもたらされた新形式と考えられる。この形式の窯は大量生産が可能であり、一挙に窯業として大成功して隆盛し、窯は、東松浦郡、唐津市、伊万里(いまり)市、武雄(たけお)市、多久(たく)市、鹿島(かしま)市、嬉野(うれしの)市、藤津(ふじつ)郡、杵島(きしま)郡、西松浦郡から、長崎県の佐世保(させぼ)市、諫早(いさはや)市、松浦市、東彼杵(ひがしそのぎ)郡、平戸(ひらど)市と、まことに広範囲に築かれた。なお、唐津市、武雄市、多久市に残る唐津焼生産にかかわる遺跡として「肥前陶器窯跡(ひぜんとうきかまあと)」が国指定史跡となっている。釉技は藁灰(わらばい)を使った白濁釉、長石を主体とする透明釉、鉄を呈色剤に使った黒褐釉を基本にして、鉄絵、象眼(ぞうがん)、銅緑彩、白化粧などを加飾して斑(まだら)唐津、黒唐津、朝鮮唐津、奥高麗(こうらい)、三島(みしま)唐津、瀬戸唐津、銅彩唐津（二彩唐津）などを焼造した。江戸中期になると染付も行っているが、有田で磁器が始まってからは、これに押されてしだいに衰微した。

［矢部良明］

『林屋晴三編『日本の陶磁5　唐津』（1974・中央公論社）』▽『佐藤雅彦編『日本陶磁全集17　唐津』（1976・中央公論社）』▽『中里逢庵著『唐津焼の研究』（2004・河出書房新社）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例