Agano ware refers to pottery fired in Tagawagun kawara-machi, Fukuchi-machi, and Oto-machi in Fukuoka Prefecture. At the beginning of the Edo period, when Hosokawa Tadaoki, himself a well-known practitioner of tea ceremony, was appointed lord of the Komura province, he summoned a Korean potter Sokai (Agano Kizou), traveled up to Agano in the Toyosaki province and constructed a workshop – thus began Agano ware. So well-loved by tea ceremony artisans that it was counted as one of the Enshu Nanagama during the Edo period. Agano ware specializes in its variety of enamels used, as well as the natural patterns produced by the glaze melting in the furnace – hardly any decoration is used.
Hosokawa Tadaoki
A daimyo of the Sengoku period and early Edo period. By becoming the lord of Miyazu castle in Tango, he became the first daimyo of Buzen Province / Kokura Domain, and the founder of the Higo / Hosokawa clan. He was born under the Hosokawa name, a branch of the Ashikaga family. His wife was Tamako, the daughter of Mitsuhide Akechi (Christian name: Hosokawa Gracia). After the Muromachi shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki was banished, he took the name Nagaoka, and also went by Haneshiba after that, but after the battle of Osaka he returned to the Hosokawa name.
79th Prime minister Hosokawa Morihiro is descended from Hosokawa clan.
The mark of the agano ware
Old works are unmarked, or the author’s name only, or the name with the date etc. on it.
From the end of the Edo period onwards, we can see the Tomoe mark (spiral).
Until the early 17th century, right-handedness and left-handedness coexisted and were not constant, although a study reported that the left-handedness was constant for works in the upper part of the pottery between 1804 and 1830. Later, after the Meiji era, the style was changed to kiln marking.
