Profile:  Kotoura-gama

A Return to Fire

Tozan Wada

In the old quarter of Amagasaki, just across the street from picturesque Terramachi Street, you'll find Kotoura Kiln.  With a history stretching back more than a century and strong links to the world of tea ceremony, the kiln has a longstanding reputation as a maker of exquisite pottery and porcelain tea ceremony utensils.

Kotoura-gama (the kiln's present-day name) was officially established in 1910 (Meiji Era) by Masae Wada, who fired his work in a massive five-chambered noborigama climbing kiln.  This was a grand time in the kiln's history when the fires brought to life Raku, tenmoku, celadon and, most importantly, Shigaraki style pottery.  Unfortunately, due to new environmental regulations and its close proximity to the ancient temples which line Terramachi Street, the wood burning kiln was closed in 1947.

The present owner of Kotoura Kiln, Masaaki Wada, is the third generation of Wada family ceramists.   Mr. Wada, who goes by the artist name Tozan, specializes in Kyoyaki enamel overglaze porcelain and Raku style pottery.  An accomplished ceramist with 31 years of experience in the art, Mr. Wada holds annual exhibitions of his ocha-dogu (tea ceremony utensils) at prestigious department store galleries across Japan.  His tea ceremony bowls have become so highly regarded among tea ceremony circles that Urasenke Tea Master Iemoto Hounsai has given names to certain bowls which embody the spirit of tea.

Today, the Wada family and a small staff of ceramists fire pottery and porcelain in gas, electric, and oil kilns on the same site where the noborigama once stood.  The majority of the kiln's output - tea bowls, fresh water jars, flower vases, and incense burners - goes to serve the needs of tea ceremony teachers and practitioners in Kyoto and the surrounding area.

Although the noborigama was dismantled decades ago, artifacts from that era in the kiln's history can be found all around Kotoura-gama. In a dark, dusty corner of the kiln, shelves of unfired tea cups, formed by Tozan Wada's grandfather, are left respectfully where they were last placed - never to be touched by the flames that would bring them to life.

Ironically, though, the flames would return to Kotoura-gama another day.
 

Kyoyaki Tea Ceremony Bowl

by Tozan Wada


 

Unfired works at Kotoura-gama

by Masae Wada

Hiroaki Wada

Hiroaki Wada is the newest generation of Wada family potters.  Having gown up at Kotoura-gama all his life, it was only natural that he fall into the trade himself.  He has spent the last several years learning the ins and outs of the business, though his formal training as an apprentice under his father didn't start until 1994.

Young, talented, and raised in a fortuitous environment (he has trained under Living National Treasure Manji Inoue), it seemed that this member of the Wada family was destined to establish himself, much like his father, as a maker of porcelain.

That was until a year ago.

Oizumi Kiln

For years, Tozan Wada had been mulling over the idea of building a wood-fired kiln on a piece of family property in Yamanashi prefecture - central Japan.  Located in the countryside where wood burning kilns are still permitted to operate and blessed with abundant akamatsu (red pine), the land seemed an ideal location for firing what Kotoura-gama had been famous for decades ago - Shigaraki style pottery.

In August of 2002, the idea became a reality.  A two-chambered climbing kiln was built on the property and christened Oizumi-gama after the village where it is located.  And as if destiny had come full circle, the Wada family would return to the warm fires of a noborigama.
 
For years, Hiroaki Wada had been captivated by the unpredictable nature of wood-fired pottery.   Now, at Oizumi-gama, he seems to have found a new calling:

"Porcelain, in a way, is predictable. You know what the outcome will be before you fire it. Shigaraki-yaki is different. You can put all of your skill and energy into it but, in the end, it's the kiln that decides what you'll get back. It's the fire that ultimately decides success or failure. This is what challenges me."

One of the most difficult effects to achieve in high-fired stoneware pottery is called haikaburi - often referred to as a "high-risk, high-reward" firing technique.  Pots that manage to survive with this natural glaze (shizen-yuu) intact are sold at three or four times the value of pieces from other, safer areas in the kiln.

Haikaburi forms on pots placed inside and around the stoking area of the kiln.  During firing, this area becomes filled with ash, piling around or even over the pot.  At 1,250°C (2,300°F), the ash fuses with the clay and vitrifies into a myriad of exquisite colors: gray, dark blue, pink, purple, and emerald green.

The failure rate for this technique is nearly 70 percent.  Pots are often cracked by the splits of wood thrown into the stoking area.  Many fall against and fuse with the fireclay brick walls of the kiln itself or with other pots.  Additionally, too much ash can flow down the sides of the pot and accumulate under the footring, thus making the body imbalanced.

Difficult as it is, though, the rewards are well worth the risks.  Owners of haikaburi pots often discover new colors and fine details when holding their prized possessions under different lighting or at different angles.  This is what makes the haikaburi effect so alluring for both potter and collector.

Haikaburi Tsubo

by Hiroaki Wada

 

Haikaburi Tea Ceremony Bowl

by Hiroaki Wada