Zuishi ware is pottery made in Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture. It was named Zuishi because the feudal lord, Harutomi described it as “a celadon porcelain that is reminiscent to the green color of the lawn.”
The 10th feudal lord of the Kishu Domain from the Tokugawa Gosanke, Harutomi, put effort in promoting cultures and traditions. In his era, from 1789–1824, there were three official kilns; Kairakuen ware, Nanki Otokoyama ware, and Zuishi ware. (They were all closed in the early Meiji period.)
In 1796, the Zuishi ware kiln was established at the riverbank of Mokuzugawa, Shindo Town, (formerly Suzumaru Town), Hatayashiki, Wakayama City by Sakagami Jujiro (28 years old at the time) from Okazakiya. It was called Suzumaru ware at first, and in 1801, the kiln was moved to Meppotani, so it was named Meppotani after it.
It is said that in 1801, a famous potter from Kyoto, Aoki Mokube, was ordered by Tokugawa Harutomi, the 10th feudal lord of the Kishu Tokugawa family, to make celadon porcelain that represented the green color of the lawn, which he did successfully.
However, due to the Meiji Restoration, support for the kiln ceased, leading to the decline of their business. In 1874, the kiln was shut down in the era of Sakagami Jujiro, the third-generation head.
100 years later, in 1973, Sakagami Zuiun (Setsusuke, died in 1996), the fifth-generation head after the founder, trained for two weeks at the Umedaira kiln that produced Mino ware. He then established a kiln at Zenmyoji Temple in Wakayama, and succeeded in restoring Zuishi ware.
