What is Kutani Yaki（ Japanese Tea Cup）?
If you are a person who likes heavy brushwork and color, and takes a luxurious and gorgeous route, then the Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware (くたにやき) that I will introduce today will definitely be very appetizing to you.
The characteristics of Kutani Yaki
The reason why it is specially written at the front is very simple, because the characteristic of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware is "color"-of course, the meaning here is not the meaning of the jade body lying horizontally, but the colorful colors.
Yes, Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-yaki with full and bright colors is usually unforgettable at first sight, and the vibrant color of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-yaki is the kind that will be deeply imprinted on your retina. Those who like it will enjoy such a rich and rich visual feast; those who don't like it may feel a little over.
Unlike other famous Japanese ceramic origins, most of them will advertise themselves with scary years (such as the six-year-old kiln that lasted for a thousand years), or special clay materials (Mashiko, Bizen, etc.). Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki does not engage in these things, but devotes all its energy to the skill of "painting" and dresses up beautifully. From the beginning to the end, it only relies on painting to conquer the world. This makes Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki one of the few "Israel servants" in Japan. People" representative porcelain, so that there is a saying in the Japanese teacup world:
This sentence can be said to hit the nail on the head, indeed in the world of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware, "face value" is justice.
Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki story
Modern Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware mainly refers to the porcelain produced in a series of long and narrow regions consisting of Kanazawa City, Komatsu City, Kaga City and Nomi City in the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
The name "Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup" is because this place, formerly known as Kaga, first discovered porcelain clay in Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Village, which opened the history of local porcelain making. If you have read my previous introduction article, you should remember that the birthplace of the earliest production of porcelain in Japan was Arita Ware (ありたやき) in Saga County, Kyushu. Everyone should be able to understand that raw materials are only the basis of manufacturing. If there is no production technology, it is useless to have more raw materials. For example, even if there are gold and silver mountains in some places, if there is no mining technology and no knowledge of how to smelt and extract them, then the gold and silver mountains are just a background image and have no meaning.
Why do you specifically mention Jinshan Yinshan as an example?
The area where Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup is located has been rich in gold mines since ancient times ("Kanazawa City", the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, is not called a fake. By the way, let me know: the gold leaf produced in Kanazawa accounts for more than 98% of the country in Japan; silver Foil is a 100% exclusive market), so China clay mines were actually discovered by accident while prospecting for gold mountains-gold mining is the main business, ceramics is a side business. However, since the porcelain clay mines have been dug out, it would be a pity not to make good use of them for development. Anyway, the porcelain industry at that time was regarded as "cutting-edge technology" in Japan. Don't forget, before the Japanese spent a lot of effort and desperately fought a fierce battle with China and South Korea (the Wanli Korean War) before they dug (ㄐ一ㄝˊ) horns (ㄔ) from the Korean peninsula. ˊ) Mastered porcelain craftsmen and acquired key porcelain manufacturing technology. At that time, only Arita Yaki in Kyushu was firing porcelain in Japan.
There are so few competitors (almost none), and porcelain making seems to be a new thing with good profits (porcelain is a commodity that is popular both at home and abroad, look at the China next door that sells porcelain and sells it over the past), so that the local Dashengsi vassal Maeda Toshiharu (まえだとしはる), the first feudal lord of the vassal, was quite moved. If it develops successfully... yo~, it will be a small contribution to the income of the vassal state! In 1655 (the early Edo period), Saijiro Goto, who was originally in Jinshan Lianjin, was dispatched to go to Arita, Kyushu for further study. After returning, he officially lit the first kiln of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki. A firewood started the first year of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki and established an everlasting foundation. Burn~burn~ Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-yaki's fire will never go out...
Ahhh, next thing, the fire goes out.
I don't know why, but around the beginning of the 18th century, Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware was closed for unknown reasons. There are various speculations about the reasons for the closure of the kiln. For example, it is because the financial situation of the feudal kingdom itself is too bad to provide financial support to Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware; With a new idea, there is a sudden policy turnaround and the promotion of the porcelain industry is abandoned. In short, it is an inconclusive mystery.
But one thing is certain is that the firewood burned by Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup stopped abruptly and silently withdrew from the stage of history after burning for less than 100 years. From then on, the Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware produced during this period of about 40 years was called "Ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup (こくたに)". Because of this fleeting appearance and fall like a meteor, Gu Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup has also become a kind of "phantom の famous utensil" in the collection market.
Hey, in the future! ? So Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Ware has a follow-up! ?
Yes, 100 years after the ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup was harvested, the embers of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup burning were dramatically rekindled in the early 19th century, which is the so-called "Zenxing Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup".
This time, it will be dominated by the local lord Kaga Fan (Dashoji Fan is a sub-fan separated from Kaga Fan, and they all belong to the Maeda family line). Kanazawa, Komatsu, and Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup and Yamashiro in Daishoji Domain, the birthplace of Kuko Ware, restarted the Omaeda family-made porcelain industry in the form of blooming everywhere, hoping to prevent the outflow of gold and silver from the domain. In order to smoothly promote the establishment of the Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware industry, the Kaga Domain even spared no expense in hiring Kiyomi Aoki (あおきもくべい), one of the three Kyoto ware workers, to provide technical guidance, which deeply influenced the Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware "" Color painting"--this is why sometimes Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware and Kyoto ware feel a little familiar. In addition to the fact that both are good at painted decoration, there is also a factor of technical inheritance behind it.
On the other hand, unlike before, the feudal lords did it alone. This time, private capital also jumped in, that is, the "Yoshida House Kiln" established by the wealthy businessman Toyoda Denemon (とよだでんえもん). Different from the official kiln (the kiln invested and established by the feudal lord Maeda's family) which is imbued with the color of Kyoto ware, Mr. Toyada has a sense of mission to revive the ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup. "Yoshidaya Kiln" specializes in firing various styles of ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup, especially The ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup style painted with the "Aioshou" technique. It is a pity that although the artistry and quality of the works of the Yoshida House Kiln have received good evaluations in contemporary times, but also because of the pursuit of perfection regardless of cost, the Yoshida House Kiln has always been in dismal business. In 1831, it ushered in the end of the kiln closure .
However, at this time, the ecosystem of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware has gradually formed, and the fallen trees will become nutrients for other animals and plants. Although the old form is gone, the transformed energy will still return to this ecosystem. After taking over the Yoshidaya kiln, the Miyamotoya kiln, Iidaya kiln established later, and Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup kilns in various places at the same time, all continued to develop Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware painting techniques. And such a hidden and invisible accumulation of technological energy will spark a dazzling brilliance in the following major changes at the end of the Bakumatsu...
In 1841 (the 12th year of Tianbao), the man who brought about a major industrial change for Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware——Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Shozo (くたにしょうざ), after practicing in various kilns of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware, officially opened in his hometown Terai Village (modern Terai-machi, Nomi City) opened its own "workshop". Why is there a special emphasis on the workshop here? Let me put it off first, and I will answer it later.
Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-san's contribution to Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware is that he skillfully combined the specialized techniques of various kilns, and actively embraced the Western painting tools and pigments that had just been introduced to Japan. On the basis of "Purple, Cyan Blue, Red), a richer color system has been expanded, and intermediate colors have been used delicately to make the paintings of flowers, birds, wind and moon on porcelain more delicate and vivid. Established Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware's new technique of "Colored Gold Hands".
More importantly, after the establishment of the Meiji central government in Japan, it gradually implemented policies such as the return of registration and the abolition of feudal vassals and the establishment of counties, which eliminated the feudal vassal states in various places in the past. There is an urgent pressure to survive, how to effectively improve production efficiency and expand channels and markets has become a major issue for Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware.
The significance of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Shosan to Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware is that he keenly felt the changing situation, resolutely opened the Kaga region first, abandoned the traditional one-stop production method, and opened the professional division of porcelain making and painted processing. . Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-san's "Workshop" does not fire porcelain at all, only buys white plain porcelain without decoration, and then "dresses up" these bisque porcelains by its professional painted craftsmen (as many as 200 to 300 people in its heyday) . Simply put, it is only responsible for processing, not for production. The advantage of this professional diversion is obvious: it can flexibly respond to the rapidly changing aesthetic tastes in the market under the cultural impact of the new era, especially in the European market where Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware is still relatively unfamiliar...
You can easily imagine the next story. Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Shozo's "Colored Golden Hand" that combines the strengths of Japanese and Western techniques, gorgeous tones and exquisite oriental image composition, has harvested the eyes of many Europeans in a short period of time, and the professional division of labor ensures There is no fault in the production of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware, so that Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware can continuously enter the European market and make its first pot of gold. "Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup (くたに, the Japanese Roman alphabet of Kutani Yaki )" suddenly became one of the few representative porcelain handicrafts in Japan that was world-renowned. The painting style of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-san Kobo, which led almost the entire Meiji era Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup-yaki painting style, is even more elegantly known as "Sho Sanfeng".
Since then, relying on a large number of export orders, Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware has gained a firm foothold in the turbulent tide of the 19th century, instead of suddenly disappearing as before, and established a path for the continuous development and deepening of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware in the future.
Three Traditional Paintings of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Ware
Green hand
The classic style handed down from the ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup is the "green hand".
Qingshou's technique has two important features. First of all, it will never use the "red color" in "Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Five Colors (Green·Yellow·Purple·Cyan Blue·Red)"; secondly, its color painting completely fills the entire container without leaving any blank space, also known as Make "paint buried hand (ぬりうめで)".
To a certain extent, the thick-colored Aude style is a bit like oil painting, and it is also the most iconic painting technique of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware.
Color Painting (colorful hands)
As the name suggests, it uses all the "Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Five Colors" that have been established since ancient Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup. Of course, with the return of Zaixing Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup and the development of the color gamut and color system by Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Shozo and others, the color painting of modern Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ware has not been limited to the initial 5 colors.
Red painting (Jin Lan hand)
After painting a high fine composition on the vessel with a red brush, apply other colors. At first glance, it is very not Japanese and wind painting, but very much like the Chinese painting style. Don't doubt your intuition, red painting is indeed the deepest influenced by China coloured drawing or pattern techniques, basically transplanted the Chinese aesthetic of the Ming dynasty, red is very happy magnificent, later developed more grandiose luxury Jin Lan hand, compared to native in China a small amount of gold and silver decoration, Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki Japanese Tea Cup burning on gold and silver materials, is blue, not stingy big use of gold foil, fully embodies the hometown of gold and silver colorful grace.
Modern Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki Japanese Tea Cup
Color painting
In the modern Kutani, color painting is still the main color painting techniques (no way, color painting is the life of Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup ah...). Therefore, Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup naturally with animation cartoon, mascots and other visual related things, the tone is very well in tune, especially suitable for the production of co-branded goods together.
Do not look down upon these Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup Yaki Japanese Tea Cup burning co-branded goods oh, you think, in this era printed with Doraemon, Hello Kitty goods will be less? Technically speaking, it is not difficult to make this co-branded product, the key is whether to combine these cartoon characters, combined with your original characteristics, to create 1 + 1> 2, the impressive thing is the eyebrow corner.
On the other hand, conforming to the aesthetic of modern and simple style, Kutani Yaki Japanese Tea Cup color painting also has been not as gorgeous and colorful colors as in the past:
Or try new composition and color, explore the possibility of burning new valley:
Green grain
On the background color of the vessel, the small green dot called "green grain" creates a thick and luxurious feeling. The skill of the craftsman can be seen from the size, color and spacing of the green grain.
Glaze wrapped in gold
The pattern on the vessel is pasted with gold foil or gold powder, and then fired with transparent glaze medicine, to show the expensive gas of the land of gold and silver.
Silver color in glaze
About the same way, but the gold foil gold powder, replaced with silver foil silver powder. Compared to the gold color. The heating temperature contains the aesthetic feeling of light.
