Edo period (17th century)
Donated by Satō Kiyoharu
Takatori-yaki pottery was fired in the kilns of the Kuroda family, the lords of Fukuoka Domain, first being made at the foot of Mount Takatori by the Korean master potter Hachizan (also known by the Japanese name Hachizō Shigesada), who had been brought back to Japan by the Kuroda family during the era of the samurai invasions of the Korean peninsula. Most Takatori-yaki were vessels for everyday usage, but this changed as Japan entered the Edo period. In 1630, the kilns at Kōbukuro-machi began to produce elaborate tea containers with a yellow-brownish coloring called “Takatori Enamel”. The second lord of the domain, Tadayuki, had a deep relationship with the famed tea master Kobori Enshū, and began to produce tea utensils made in the style that Enshū preferred. The Kuroda kiln soon became one of Enshū’s well-known “Seven Kilns.”