1816-1883
male
kutani porcelain
Born the son of a farmer in Terai, Nomi-gun, Kaga domain, he was involved in the ceramics industry as a painter from the age of 11 onward, going independent after opening his own workshop in Terai at the age of 26. Through shifting the painting materials he used from Japanese-made pigments to Western-made pigments, which were just beginning to be imported into Japan at the time, he achieved at neutral-color glaze that had been difficult to achieve up until that point but which soon became the basis of modern Kutani-ware. In the Meiji period, Shoza’s work was exported overseas and his gorgeous range of art grew to be appreciated far and wide.
