AN INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE AWAJI POTTERY
(Excerpt)
Circa 1880–1939
Thomas Kelway Libby ©2010
WHAT IS AWAJI POTTERY?
Awaji
pottery was made on the Japanese island of the same name between 1830
and 1939. Most of the pieces that we see here in the West were made
sometime between the mid 1870's when Awaji began exporting pottery, and
1939 when the kilns closed. Awaji pottery comes in an abundant variety
of shapes, colors, and decorative techniques. The glazes are often
brilliant in tone and most are translucent and finely crackled. The
ware is sometimes mistaken by the uninitiated for European majolica or
American art pottery. Unlike majolica and the vast majority of Western
art pottery, most Awaji pottery is robustly hand-thrown, though some
small and complex forms are molded. Some of the earlier ware is
delicately potted, but the majority of Awaji-ware is more stoutly
constructed and pleasantly balanced. The Awaji potters were masters of
their craft who had an innate feel for the possibilities of the clay
form. The result of their efforts is a pottery of exceptionally lively
forms that have an informal and genuine feel, devoid of fussiness and
pretension.
The ceramic body (or paste) is made of high-fired, white or cream
colored clay that borders on stoneware. The formula apparently changed
over time and varied from pink or buff, to white to grey. The glazes
are lead based which gives the colors brilliance and makes the
translucent enamels glassy and often iridescent. The most common Awaji
glaze colors are a grass green, yellow that can range from pale lemon
to deep amber, cobalt blue, and aubergine. Other glazes are a light
green, dusty blue, light and dark turquoise, mirror-black, and
burgundy. The Awaji potters were adept at creating unadorned
monochromes, two-tone glazes, three-color glazes (sancai), incised decoration (most commonly featuring irises), and applied relief decoration.
AWAJI ISLAND
Awaji is an island in Japan’s inland sea between Honshu, the largest of
Japan’s four main islands, and Shikoku, which is the smallest. The
island is known for its beautiful scenery and quaint fishing villages
which have attracted artists seeking retreat and inspiration for
centuries. There is a renowned puppet theatre, ningyō jōruri, which
performs traditional dramas on the island which has traveled
internationally. The narrow channel between Awaji and Shikoku is the
site of the dramatic Naruto whirlpools featured in Japanese legend,
which are caused by the tidal flow in and out of the inland sea. Awaji
is now connected to Honshu by the Kobe-Awaji Bridge, which is the
longest suspension bridge in the world.
THE HISTORY OF AWAJI KILNS
The
first kiln on Awaji was started in 1831 by a doctor named Minpei in the
village of Iga. Minpei was an energetic man of some means with wide
ranging interests. He is known to have been a doctor, a talented
writer, a renowned chajin (tea ceremony master), a soy sauce factory
owner, and run a large fishing cooperative before devoting all of his
energies to ceramic manufacture. In 1834, Ogata Shuhei, a highly
esteemed Kyoto potter, came to work with Minpei for two years. A wide
variety of fine wares were made in the fifty years which followed. The
kiln was known for fine Satsuma-type pieces in the Kyoto or Awata style
with elaborately glazed geometric designs and aptly executed foliage
and wildlife. Minpei also mastered underglaze-blue decoration, carved
celadons, ceramics that cleverly imitated bronze vessels, and bright
yellow and green monochromes with incised designs. In 1842, the
provincial Daimyo, or Governor, came to visit the operation and granted
Minpei an official kiln status. Minpei retired in 1862, leaving the
kiln to his son Rikita and nephew Sanpei.
By the 1870's, Rikita and Sanpei were each running kilns of their own
and exhibiting in the International Exhibitions, where their wares were
well received. In the late 1870's, Christopher Dresser, the
influential British designer, visited the two kilns and ordered
examples of each to be shipped back to England for study. In 1883,
Rikita sold his works to a group that called the kiln Danto—which means
“Group” in Japanese. Though Sanpei did not begin production at his own
kiln until about 1870, his operation quickly became the larger of the
two. A third kiln was set up in Awaji's capital, Sumoto, in 1883 by
Tamura Kyuhei.
Through the 1880's and 90's, the Danto and Sanpei kilns, evidently
influenced by their clients in the West, began to shift their styles.
As the export market developed Awaji pottery evolved from a distinctive
regional style intended for domestic consumption to a pottery
influenced by international tastes and markets. Despite this influence
from outside pressures, the Awaji pottery retained its unique regional
flavor. The forms became simpler and more organic; the decoration
parsed to a spare and bold, but still spontaneously confident manner.
Bright green, yellow, and blue glaze grounds were used both as
monochromes to show off the forms, or as grounds under carved, incised
and applied decorations highlighted with other blending and contrasting
colors.
The Awaji potters were obviously aware of the International art
movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In response to
the Art Nouveau style they used sensuous, organic, forms with sweeping
curves and handles. These forms were accented by two tone glazes which
melted into one another with hypnotic effect. These forms gave way to
the boldly geometric style of the Art Deco movement. These are
characterized by architecturally squared buttress handles and feet,
along with rocket and other space-age forms. The Deco then gave way to
the Modern Movement. The pieces made during this last long movement
are some of the most interesting of the Awaji output.
During this final period (1922 - 1939), Sanpei's kiln produced an
impressive array of extremely creative art pottery. A number of new
glazes were developed, many of which are now used in striking flambé
mixes. The two kilns closed in 1939 as the export market dropped off
preceding World War II.
DATING
Dating particular specimens of Awaji pottery, especially the earlier
ware, can be challenging. The vast majority of pieces here in the West
were probably intended for export beginning about 1875. Some pieces,
based on style, could be earlier, but it is difficult to be certain.
It is also unclear when the Danto chidori and the Sanpei flag mark were
first put into use. The chidori is seen on pieces that may predate the
kiln's change in ownership in 1883. It is possible that the flag mark
was being used sporadically by the 1880's.
Export marks provide some guidance with dating. U.S. tariff law
required that the country of origin be written on exported goods
starting in 1890. The pieces stamped “JAPAN” were produced sometime
between 1890 and 1922 when the law was rewritten, and requiring “made
in” to be added to the mark. The impressed “MADE IN JAPAN” mark on
Awaji pottery was used between 1922 and the kilns’ closings in 1939.
The Danto Company did reopen after the war as a commercial ceramic tile
manufacturer, but never made art pottery again.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andsley, George and Bowes, James. Keramic Art of Japan. London:
Henry Sotheran and Co., 1881
Ayers, John. The Bauer Collection of Japanese Ceramics. Boston:
Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., 1982
Brinkley, Frank. Japan, It’s History, Art and Literature. Boston and
Tokyo: J.B. Millet and Co., 1902
Dresser, Christopher. Traditional Arts and Crafts of Japan. London
: Longmans, Green and Co., 1882
Franks, Augustus. Japanese Pottery. London: Wyman and Sons, 1906
Gorham, Hazel. Japanese and Oriental Ceramics. Rutland, VT and
Tokyo; Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1971
Jenyus, Soame. Japanese Pottery. London: Haber and Faber, 1971
Morse, Edward. Catalogue of the Morse Collection of Japanese Pottery.
Rutland, VT and Tokyo; Charles
E. Tuttle Co., 1979 Cambridge;
Riverside Press. 1901
Noguchi, Sanai. Minpeiyaki. Sumoto; Awajishima Museum, 1989
Stiff, Irene. Japanese Ceramics of the Last 100 Years. New York; Crown
Publishers, Inc., 1971
