Kikko ware is pottery inspired by raku ware made in Osaka Prefecture. It is made without using a potter’s wheel or a mold. After the hand-kneading process, where they knead the clay with their fingers, they bake it in a barrel kiln at a low temperature. Then, they fire each black raku tea bowl using bellows on charcoal.
The founder of Kikko ware is Toda Jihei from Iyo Ozu. He learned pottery in Kyoto. At the beginning of the Kyowa era, he established a kiln in Juso Village, Osaka. He admired the old pine tree in the garden and the moon that rises above Mt. Ikoma. So, he gave himself the pseudonym “Jusoken Shogetsu” and devoted himself to pottery.
In the Edo period, during one of the Shogunate family’s celebrations, he presented them with jikiro boxes with cranes and tortoises on them. They were greatly fond of the tortoise jikiro box, so they granted him the kiln mark of “Kikko”. “Kikko” is a play on words, as it can mean a “tortoise shell” or “heading toward good fortune.”
The fourth-generation head, Shogetsu, protected the kiln from the end of the Edo period until the Meiji period. He had two children; his elder son, Manzaburo, succeeded Kikko Shogetsu for the fifth generation, and his younger son, Jitsuzo, succeeded Kikko Jusoken for the fifth generation. The Kikko kiln was divided into two kilns thereafter.
It has been more than 200 years since the founder of Shogetsu established the kiln in Naniwa. Each generation has incorporated various techniques to the tradition, uniquely developing Kikko ware.
The Kikko Shogetsu kiln was moved to Katano through Takatsu (currently Chuo ward, Osaka City) and Hirakata in 1980. The ninth-generation Kikko Shogetsu (Kozo), succeeded the kiln.
The eighth-generation Kikko Jusoken, is also protecting the fire of his kiln in the east of Osaka city.
