Iro-Nabeshima: Porcelain Fired Only as Tribute to the Shogun

Iro-Nabeshima is the porcelain fired at the Saga domain's own kiln during the Edo period, painted mainly in red, yellow and green over a blue underglaze outline.

What sets it apart from other porcelain most is how it came about. Iro-Nabeshima was not made to be sold. It was tribute to the shogunal house, a gift to senior shogunate officials, feudal lords and court nobles, and tableware used within the domain. Who would receive each piece was decided from the start.

It was not pottery chosen by a buyer. It was pottery through which the giver displayed the standing of the domain. That single fact decides everything about Iro-Nabeshima: its form, its size, its patterns.

Okawachiyama, the Village of Secret Kilns

Nabeshima was fired at Okawachiyama, in the southern part of today's Imari City in Saga Prefecture. It is a valley closed in on three sides by steep mountains, with only a few ways in and out.

The Saga domain moved its kiln here and controlled it strictly so that the techniques could not leak out. The movement of craftsmen was restricted, and the methods were never allowed beyond the valley. It is this system that later earned the place its name, the Village of Secret Kilns.

Within the same Hizen region, Arita ware grew as a production area making wares to sell at home and abroad, while Nabeshima was perfected cut off from the market. It was never exposed to competition, but neither was failure permitted. That is the kind of place it was.

Three Kinds of Nabeshima

Nabeshima ware falls into three broad lines.

The all-blue treatment is covered in sometsuke, and the blue-green glaze in celadon. Of the three, Iro-Nabeshima takes the most steps.

Red, Yellow, Green and a Blue Outline

Iro-Nabeshima does not use many colors.

First, beneath the glaze, the outlines of the pattern are drawn with gosu. This is underglaze painting. Glaze is applied over it and the piece is fired, and then red, yellow and green enamels are laid onto the fired surface and fired once more at a low temperature. This is overglaze painting.

The red enamel itself is covered in akae.

The fact that Iro-Nabeshima almost never uses gold says a great deal about the character of the style. It does not press its case with opulence; it earns its standing by placing a limited palette exactly. Within the same Arita lineage, kinrande, which layers gold to raise the density, moves in the opposite direction.

The Form Is Fixed

What sets Iro-Nabeshima decisively apart from other porcelain is that the shape and the size of each piece are standardized. Plate diameters settle into roughly these four sizes.

As for the form, the well of the plate is deep, giving it the look of a wooden sake cup. This is called mokuhai-gata, the wooden-cup shape. Because the rim rises, food stays inside it, and the pattern resolves into a single picture at the bottom of the plate.

The other thing to look at is the underside. The foot of an Iro-Nabeshima plate is tall, and it carries a pattern. Stripes resembling the teeth of a comb, the kushiba pattern, are the most common. The work reaches even the place your fingers touch when you lift the plate from beneath. As the article on the foot ring explains, this is why a trained eye turns a piece over first.

Sumihajiki: Leaving White by Not Painting It

A technique handed down at Nabeshima is sumihajiki.

It works like this. The pattern that is to stay white is drawn first in sumi ink. Blue gosu is then painted over it, and the pigment is repelled only where the ink lies. In the kiln the ink burns away, and only the white pattern rises out of the blue ground.

The white lines are not drawn in white pigment. The place that was left unpainted becomes the pattern itself. The idea is close to resist dyeing in textiles: a technique that takes great effort in order not to paint.

How It Differs from Kakiemon and Somenishiki

Hizen produced many kinds of enameled porcelain, and at first they are hard to tell apart. Looking at them in this order helps.

The fastest check is to turn the piece over. A tall foot with comb-tooth stripes running around it means the Nabeshima line. Milk-white with generous empty space is Kakiemon; color laid densely over blue is somenishiki.

After the Domain Kiln Closed

In 1870, the domain kiln was abolished. Once the domain that placed the orders was gone, the reason to make tribute pieces went with it. Iro-Nabeshima stopped along with the system that had produced it.

The family that carried the technique forward as a modern craft was the Imaizumi Imaemon house. Around thirty kilns still work in Okawachiyama today, firing pottery that inherits the Nabeshima tradition.

Living with Pottery in the Nabeshima Line

Pottery in the Iro-Nabeshima line has a clear way of being used.

The well is deep and the rim stands up, so anything with liquid stays where you put it. Simmered dishes, vinegared dishes, dressed vegetables. Place a small amount in the center and the pattern around it works like a frame.

And it is pottery meant to be used in matching sets. It is designed to look its best when the same plate is set out for everyone at the table. For guests, for the New Year's tray. It runs in the opposite direction from the pleasure of combining pieces that are each different.

Being porcelain, it needs no medome. But because the enamel sits on top of the glaze, avoid metal scourers and abrasive cleaners. Everyday handling is covered in caring for japanese ceramics.

Related Articles and Terms

Painting in Hizen

• Kakiemon: Milk-White Porcelain and the Art of Empty Space
• What Is Somenishiki | Enamel Color Over Blue Underglaze, from Arita
• Kinrande: Gold Fired Over Red Overglaze Enamel
• Akae: The Red Overglaze Enamel of Kutani and Arita

Blue and White

• Sometsuke: Blue and White Porcelain, Explained
• Gosu: The Cobalt Blue Behind Japanese Sometsuke
• Shita-etsuke: Underglaze Painting and Why It Never Fades
• Japanese Porcelain: Made from Stone, Not Clay

Regions and History

• Arita Ware: Japan's First Porcelain, 400 Years On
• Kutani Ware: Japan's Boldest Ceramic Painting
• Ko-Kutani: The Lost 17th-Century Kutani Porcelain
• A Short History of Japanese Ceramics, Jomon to Now