Satsuma Masters 

Some prominent artists from Edo, Meiji and Taisho period

Satsuma Exportware was made by thousands of skilled and unskilled potters and decorators working for  hundreds of smaller and bigger kilns, studios and workshops all over Japan. Most of them are anonymous and will remain anonymous for ever. Of those who have signed their worked at least we have a name, but often that is the only thing we know about the maker. Only of very few artists there are biographical data available and even about the life and work of some of the very best artists is not so much known. In  this section  we’ve tried to collect the data of some prominent or otherwise remarkable makers of Satsumaware. Although the true joy of Satsuma is in the  beauty of the item itself, it is for a collector always interesting to know a litlle bit more about the maker. Biographical data can also be useful to relate an item to the period in which it was created.Knowing that Taizan Yohei  died in 1922 means that there is nothing made by him after 1922. Knowing that Taizan closed his kiln in 1894, means that all items with an impressed Taizan potterymark was made not later as 1894. It also means that items with only a painted signature without impressed pottersmark or marked by another pottery, probably was made between 1894 and 1922. Combining data can therefore be useful in evaluating the age of an item. As said beforee there were thousands of artists working in the Satsuma industry, we suffice here with this small selection of ceramic artists working in the Edo, Meiji or Taisho periods who were important to Satsuma and Satsuma style ceramics because of the high quality of their work or were otherwise significant in the history of Japanese ceramics.

You will find here some information about:  

THIS LIST OF PROMINENT & REMARKABLE MAKERS OF SATSUMA WARE WILL BE UPDATED REGULARLY.

For approximately 400 years, Chin Jukans family have passed on the mastery through generations. After the collapse of the shogunate system  the official kilns became privatized and Satsuma nishikide that was once restricted only for official production and use could be made and owned by anyone. During this era of privatization Chin Jukan XII ho took lead in the production of Satsuma nishikide, by establishing a pottery factory at Mt. Gyokō in 1875, taking in potters who had lost protection from the feudal clan. He used the artistic name of Gyokuzan from that time till 1897. The artistry of Chin Jukan XII was immediately recognized after the first successful exhibition in Vienna in 1873 and opened up trade paths for Satsuma Ware to Austria, Russia, America, and other countries and made Satsuma Ware the pronoun of the Japanese ceramics.

A high-quality vase by Shugetsu, with attached label of Hodota 

 According to Augustus Franks -Japanese Pottery 1880 - Kanzan Denshichi ‘invented a manner of representing in porcelain, iron inlaid with gold’. In 1873  the Imperial Household Ministry purchased Kanzan’s works, including some tableware for use in the Enriokan and other items in the style of the underglaze blue decorated Edo-period imperial porcelains known as kinri goyōtōki. Participating widely in national and international exhibitions, and receiving a large number of awards, Kanzan became one of the best known and most successful manufacturers of ceramics in Kyoto. At its peak, Kanzan’s workshop had up to 100 craftsmen, but mismanagement led to the dissolution of the workshop and he sold the Kanzan Toki Kaisha in 1889. He died a year later in 1890. The technique of colorful iro-é brushwork and intricate overglaze patterns that had preserved the "Kanzan porcelain" appellation for over a century however still exists. Kanzan Shigeta, born in Kyoto 1973 is the eighth generation of Kanzan ceramic artists and had his formal apprenticeship under his father, Kanzan Denshichi VII.

Some examples of the beautiful work of Kanzan Denshichi. Pieces by Kanzan may be found in the collections

of the Sannomaru Shōzōkan (Museum of the Imperial Collections) and Imperial Banqueting Department of

Japan’s Imperial Household Agency, Tokyo National Museum and Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives.

Despite his fame in his time, his work is not well known these days. But there is no doubt that his work is of the best quality and has all the characteristics that can be expected from real Satsuma: a beautiful ivory cream color and very fine crackle and decoration that only contribute to the beauty of the body itself as seen on this beautiful vase and koro. However, the Keida kiln is still in operation today, and certainly not all of the work offered as "Masataro Keida"  on the internet can be attributed to him., and dates from much later. 

Kinkozan Sobei VI and his son Kinkozan Sobei VII were responsible for the most productive years during Meiji and Taisho period from 1872 until 1927 when the factory was closed. The most important production of the Kinkozan factory started in 1875, when Kinkozan VI started to export his ware, especially to America. After his fathers death in 1884 his son Kinkozan VII, who was only 16 years old at that time, took over the family business.  It was under management of Kinkōzan VII that the Kinkozan factory became one of the largest producers and exporters of Satsuma ware and some of it was of the highest quality possible. However, it also produced large quantities of low or average quality wares as well. Kinkozan was not only a good businessman, but also an ambitious and openminded craftsman who tried to improve his ware by experimenting with all kind af new styles and techniques and eager to learn by inviting westerners as the German chemist Gottfried Wagener tot cooperate with him. In 1896 he established with Shofu Kajo (1870-1928), the Kyoto City Ceramic Research Center  to research and innovate new production techniques and set up a trainingschool where many students later became famous for their ceramic works.

Some of his early export works used exaggerated, high-relief decoration (known as taka-ukibori or sculptural relief) and these became very popular with the Western market in the 1870s. It seemes that Kozan stopped this kind of work in the early eighties, and handed over the studio to his son Hanzan, while  he focussed more and more on the development and application of monochrome glazes, and later on the most beautiful cristalline glazes and new colours  what he became famous for. Kōzan continued to show innovative design and experiment with wonderful glazes until his death.  He exhibited at the Centennial Exposition of 1876, in Philadelphia including high relief vessels presaging later work. Kōzan also showed much development of lines quite independent of the Satsuma ware at First National Industrial Exposition of 1877 in Tokyo and was still successful at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chigago, where other Japanese ceramics was not received well. In 1896 he was made an  Imperial Household Artist (Teishitsu Gigei-in). 

In 1945 the Makuzu Kiln suffered catastrophic damage in an air raid on Yokohama, which forced the Kiln to give up making ceramic ware. Despite efforts of the fourth generation Miyagawa Kozan (Miyagawa Tomonosuke, 1884–1959) to rebuild the Kiln, its history was brought to an end. Mikazu ware is now described as “Pottery Lost in History”.

A few examples of the wonderful work of the Makuza workshop by Miyagawa Kozan and (bottom right) Hanzan.

Yabu Meizan always put a lot of energy into major international exhibitions, and his work gained recognition at many exhibitions in Japan and abroad, especially in Paris (1900), St Louis (1904), and London (1910), he visited each venue and played an important organisational role. Yabu Meizan is therefore considered, especially in the West, one of Japan's greatest Sastuma artists. He created a new form of intricate artwork and his early artworks were so detailed that one needed the help of a magnifying glass to appreciate the fine miniature painting. But also after 1910, when he returned to more simplified designs, he always retained the highest attention to detail.

 The above information is from Nancy Schiffers “Japanese export ceramics” and  Kiernans “The Best book on Satsuma”, but it is hard to get any confirmation from documents or books from that time like “Japan, its history, arts, and literature” by  Frank Brinkley, published in 1901.  Based on what is written above (he was trained by Nishimura Zengora , who died in 1841 or 1851) it is assumable to say that Ryozan was born ca.1820-1830, making him an old man of 70-80 around 1900. That should date most, if not all of his work from the late Edo or Meiji period before 1900. Since the Yasuda (Kyoto Tojiki Goshi Kaisha) company was only founded in 1896, this would mean that he must have been very prolific in creating masterpieces even at a very old age. That is very unlikely, but in theory not impossible.

Note that there was another Ryozan working in Meiji period, who  also decorated high quality Satsuma ware. This Ryozan was working for Meizan Company and signed with 良山.

According to Gisela Jahn (Meiji CeramisTakahashi Yohei was a younger brother of  Kiyomizu Rokubei IV,  who was adopted in the Taizan family of potters after the death of Taizan Yohei VII in 1875, and changing his name in Taizan in 1878.  He transformed the family pottery in Kyoto to a large factory making Satsuma wares, exporting their products together with Kinkozan VI, in particular to America where his products were much sought after.