Agano Ware Photo：Fukuoka City

Agano Ware Agano Yaki

Agano Ware is known for its thin, lightweight forms and refined appearance, reflecting its development as pottery for the tea ceremony. A wide variety of glazes, including copper-green, iron, and rice-straw ash glazes, create distinctive colors and textures through kiln firing. It was designated a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government in 1983.

Description
History
Production Process
Facility Information
Related Artists

Description

What is Agano Ware ?

Agano Ware is a traditional pottery produced mainly in the Ueno area of Fukuchi Town, Fukuoka Prefecture. Having developed as tea ware for the Japanese tea ceremony, it is known for its relatively thin, lightweight forms and refined appearance. In 1983, Agano Ware was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government.

One of its most distinctive qualities is the wide variety of colors and surface expressions created through glazing. Potters use many types of glazes, including copper-based green glazes, iron glazes, rice-straw ash glazes, ash glazes, and transparent glazes. Variations in glaze flow, firing conditions, sheen, texture, and kiln effects give each piece a unique appearance.

Decoration through painting is comparatively uncommon. Instead, Agano Ware often emphasizes the natural color, texture, and movement of the glaze itself. Copper-based glazes that produce blue-green tones are among its characteristic finishes, while iron, mushikui, and three-color glazes create a broad range of other surfaces.

Originally developed primarily as tea ware, Agano Ware today includes tea bowls, water jars, sake vessels, flower vases, plates, bowls, and many other forms. Local kilns continue to preserve traditional techniques while creating works that reflect the individual approach of each potter.

History

Agano Ware is said to have begun in 1602, when Hosokawa Tadaoki, lord of the Kokura domain in Buzen Province, invited the Korean-born potter Sonkai to establish a kiln in Ueno, now part of Fukuchi Town in Fukuoka Prefecture. Sonkai later took the Japanese name Agano Kizo Takakuni and produced ceramics primarily for use in the tea ceremony.

Hosokawa Tadaoki was himself closely associated with tea culture, and under his patronage Agano Ware developed as tea ware for the domain. In 1632, when the Hosokawa family was transferred to the Kumamoto domain, Sonkai accompanied them. Some members of his family and other potters, however, remained in Ueno and continued production under the protection of the Ogasawara family, who subsequently ruled the Kokura domain.

Throughout the Edo period, Agano Ware continued to develop as an official kiln tradition of the domain, with tea utensils forming an important part of its production. It also came to be counted among the kilns associated with tea master Kobori Enshu, helping establish its reputation as distinguished tea ware.

Following the Meiji Restoration and the abolition of the feudal domains, Agano Ware lost its former system of patronage and entered a period of decline. In 1884, the principal line of traditional production came to an end. From around 1899, however, local supporters including Kumagai Kuhachiro and Takatsuru Mankichi began efforts to revive the craft, receiving assistance from Tagawa District and gradually restoring ceramic production in the area.

The tradition continued to be passed down and developed through subsequent generations. On April 27, 1983, Agano Ware was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government. Today, a number of kilns remain active in the Ueno area of Fukuchi Town, creating ceramics that build on the long tradition of tea ware while making use of a wide range of glazes and individual techniques.

Production Process

Agano Ware - Production Process Photo：Fukuoka City

1. Base clay excavation Good quality clay is collected from the mountains near Fukuchi, Fukuoka. Then the clay is dried.
2. Turning the clay into powder The collected clay is finely ground by machine. Next, the ground clay is sieved and the best quality clay is selected. Clay with large particles remaining in the sieve is thrown away.
3. Filtering clay in water Sieved good quality clay is placed inside a water tank and mixed with water. A technique known as elutriation, where the water is filtered and fine-grain clay is sorted, is done to further select good quality clay. The moisture contained in the clay is reduced by scrubbing with a cloth and leaving out to air dry.
4. Mechanical kneading Clay that has hardened is kneaded by machine and molded into a cylindrical form.
5. Hand kneading Clay that has been kneaded by machine is now slowly kneaded by hand. Time must be spent kneading in order to ensure that air bubbles contained in the clay are extracted.
6. Producing a form with a lathe Once the clay has been sufficiently kneaded, it is cast with a lathe.
7. Half-drying, finishing, and drying Cast clay is placed in a shelf shaped location, and left until it is partially dry. Then, the base is smoothed and handles are attached to finish. The finished articles are then flatly aligned and further dried in the sunlight for two to three weeks.
8. Bisque firing The dried pottery is fired inside the kiln. This bisque firing process, the first firing before any glaze is applied, makes it easier to apply enamel and produce color deformation by firing in the kiln. Pieces are loaded inside the kiln without any gaps between them, and are baked for around five to six hours at a temperature of about 800 to 850℃ (about 1472 to 1562℉). Only items deemed to be acceptable by the artisan proceed to the processes of glazing and glaze firing.
9. Glazing Articles that have successfully passed the bisque firing stage are coated with enamel, or glaze. A glassy texture with beautiful color and luster is produced from glazing and firing. The standard enamel is blue-green, which contains copper. This enamel has an appealing vivid blue-green color change that occurs during firing. A wide range of other enamels is also used, including iron enamel, white-brown enamel, ash glaze, tri-colored enamel, transparent glaze, and irabo (golden brown) glaze.
10. Glaze firing Wood-fired kilns and gas kilns are used for glaze firing. In the case of gas kilns, pots are fired for around ten hours.
Baked Agano Ware uses an abundance of enamel for its color and texture so a variety of hues and textures can be produced. Some of the diverse colors and textures include yuzu skin, which has the feel of yuzu citrus fruit peel; bug eaten enamel, which has a granular skin that appears to have been eaten by insects; wood grain, which produces a wood grain pattern using clay with two colors; and tri-colored, where three kinds of enamel can be enjoyed in a single item.