Koda ware is pottery made in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture, with over 400 years of history. Their elegant pottery became popular for their style of using white and colorful clay inlays.
In the Bunroku era, following the orders of Kato Kiyomasa, Sonkai came to Japan from Haicheng, Busan, Korea. He trained in Karatsu, then he was invited into the Hosokawa clan, and established a kiln in Agano, Buzen (Southeastern end of Fukuoka Prefecture). After that, in 1632, when Hosokawa Tadatoshi was transferred, he took the Agano Kizo family of Agano ware with him, and established a kiln in Koda village, Yatsushiro (Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture). Somewhere between 1711–16, they came up with a unique glaze and inlay, and completely changed their pottery-making techniques. Their techniques remain until today.
Even though Koda ware has 100 years of tradition and history, they had many ups and downs. They went through a temporary decline in the period of upheaval in the modern period, from the end of the Edo period to the mid-Meiji era. Despite that, Koda ware was passed down with the efforts of the apprentice, Yoshiwara Nibuzo.
In 1876, Lord Hosokawa Morihisa granted Nibuzo the title of “Eighth-generation head of Koda ware, Yoshiwara Nibuzo” and initiated him. Nibuzo won many awards, such as excellence awards at the Tokyo Fair and the World Fair, and was acclaimed as a renowned potter. As of this point, Koda ware was divided into two schools, the lineal Agano pottery and the Yatsushiro pottery.
In 1888, Yoshiwara Yasutaro became the ninth-generation head of Koda ware, but he died young. So, Nibuzo initiated Yamashita Tadahiko (Masame’s father) in 1932, and Tadahiko took over as the tenth generation of Koda ware.
In 1965, Yamashita Tadahiko’s elder daughter, Sakai Masame, was initiated as Koda ware’s 11th-generation head. As a woman potter, she developed a new style which was elegant, bright, and modern, and was not hindered by the traditional style.
Since the first family was divided into 2 schools since the 8th generation (the second and third families closed the potteries in the Meiji period), their current potteries are Agano kiln, which belongs to the lineal 11th-generation head, Agano Saisuke, and Yatsushiro kiln, which belongs to the 11th-generation head, Sakai Masame.
