Hōraku ware (豊楽焼) is a type of Japanese pottery historically from

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were ...

, central Japan. The first character 豊, which means "abundant", can be compounded and pronounced as "Hō" or "Toyo", therefore it is also known as ''Toyoraku'' ware.

History

Production started in the later

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

when it was founded by Rikei Katō (1708–1796), a ceramist who lived in the Owari domain. His successor, Toyohachi (?-1801), continued the style under that name. Some source state he worked in the central Ōsu area of Nagoya, south of the temple Banshō-ji, however that conflicts with the family memoir which states that he lived in Fujimigahara, and that the third generation moved in 1753 from Fujimigahara to central Nagoya, which is also confirmed by a reference in the ''sen-cha'' text called "''Sencha Soshinan''", published in 1779. Toyoraku's third generation Daiki Toyosuke (大喜豊助 1779~1864) took up the family name Daiki, which was to remain. He served as a master of his craft in the Owari domain. In addition to Unge ware, Oribe, ''aka-e'', ''shimitsu'' and ''fukai'', etc. he also used natural

mottling Mottle is a pattern of irregular marks, spots, streaks, blotches or patches of different shades or colours. It is commonly used to describe the surface of plants or the skin of animals. In plants, mottling usually consists of yellowish spots o ...

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

to produce a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

ized effect. The 1801 tea handbook ''Sencha Hayashinan'' mentions Toyosuke as an expert of teaware, with the following words of praise: "Except for ''kibisho'' (''kyūsu'') teapots, it is unnecessary to go seek for masters in the capital." The seals were "Toyaka" (豊禾) and "Toyosuke" (豊助). The fourth generation Toyosuke (四代豊助 1813~1858) moved back to Nagoya and worked in Kamimaezu (上前津) in today's Naka-ku. He also produced ceramic ware in the Owari domain. He specialised in making elaborate ceramic pieces by applying ''makie-e'', that made them look as if they are complete

lacquerware Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Befor ...

or made out of wood. Some of his works were done in the

Raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of ''chawan'' tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low ...

style, from which it received its name. The fifth generation Toyosuke died in 1885. The sixth generation Toyosuke lived from 1848-1917. He apparently made tea wares and sculptural pieces made to the order of

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

in 1876, and also exhibited domestically and abroad, winning a prize at the

Exposition Universelle (1878) The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. Construction The buildings and the fairgroun ...

in Paris. From 1896 he began actively exporting wares to the United States. In his late years, he turned his attention to the workshop specialty of Raku-type ware. His son became the seventh head of the workshop but died prematurely from illness. Therefore his second son became the eighth and last generation head of the workshop in Taishō 3 (1915).Toki Daijiten vol. 4, p. 262)

References

External links

* https://asia.si.edu/object/F1901.182a-b/ {{Japanese ceramics Culture in Nagoya History of Nagoya Japanese pottery

History

See also

References

External links