Mushiake ware is pottery made in Mushiake, Oku Town, Setouchi City, Okayama Prefecture. It is said that it was first made in the Edo period in an oniwa kiln near the entrance of Mifune by the Igi Family, who lived there and served as the head of chief retainers of the Okayama Domain.
This kiln had also been producing Bizen ware imitations since the Bunsei era in the late Edo period, which led a pottery in Inbe to sue them. Those in charge of the Mushiake kiln received a penalty, and the kiln was shut down in 1842.
After that, in 1847, the 14th-generation head of the Igi family, Igi Tadazumi (1818–1886, he was later known by his pseudonym, Sanensai), who is also well-known as a tea ceremony master, established an oniwa kiln. To establish the kiln, he invited the founder, Seifu Yohei (1803–1861), and mainly had him make traditional blue-and-white pottery, Richo imitation tea bowls, and pots with red painting.
In the Bunkyu era, during the period of upheaval at the end of the Edo period, the official kiln was handed down to Mori Kakutaro, a country samurai in Mushiake, and operated again as a private kiln. A potter from Harima was invited to this kiln. When Miyagawa Kozan arrived at the kiln, he learned pottery techniques with his son, Hikoichiro. Mori Hikoichiro took the character “Ko” from “Kozan” and created his pseudonym, Koshu. After that, they had to temporarily shut down due to financial difficulties. However, Mori Koshu made a plan for restoring the place. In 1880, he visited Miyagawa Kozan, who made pottery in Yokohama, and learned new pottery techniques from him. When he returned, he put all his effort into restoring the kiln. Koshu was indeed an excellent potter, but financially, he did not fare well.
With the start of the Showa era, Okamoto Eizan was requested to restore the abandoned Mushiake kiln. He restored the kiln once again in 1932, and was dedicated to Mushiake ware until his death in 1962. Koshu’s apprentice, the second-generation head, Yokoyama Koho, established a kiln in 1930 in Semizo, Mushiake, and produced elegant pieces just like Seifu and Kazan.
