[VILLAGE Report vol.25] 15 Items, Including Two of the Six Ancient Kilns | Aichi Prefecture

We now enter the Chubu region. First is Aichi Prefecture.

Its nationally designated traditional crafts are 15 items. This is the next highest number after Tokyo’s 23, Kyoto and Niigata’s 17, and Okinawa’s 16.

But Aichi’s defining feature is not the number.

Two of the Six Ancient Kilns

Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns are Echizen, Seto, Tokoname, Shigaraki, Tamba, and Bizen. Aichi Prefecture is the only place that has two of them: Seto and Tokoname.

In this series, we have looked at Bizen in Okayama, Shigaraki in Shiga, and Tamba in Hyogo. In Aichi, two more are added at once.

Tokoname ware is known for its vermilion teapots. It is made from iron-rich clay and fired without glaze. It is also said that the iron in the clay reacts with components in the tea, making the flavor smoother.

And in the modern era, Tokoname became a production center for clay pipes and tiles. This is an example of pottery techniques becoming urban infrastructure as they were.

Seto ware by contrast, is a production area for glazed ware. The word setomono became a synonym for pottery in general probably because it circulated so widely.

As nationally designated crafts, Akazu ware and Seto Sometsuke ware these two are registered.

Tying the thread

Arimatsu-Narumi Shibori is a technique in which cloth is tied with thread, dyed, and then untied to reveal patterns.

There are said to be more than 100 types of tying methods. Even with the same cloth, a different way of tying creates a different pattern.

It is a production area alongside Kyoto’s Kyo Kanoko Shibori, but Arimatsu spread as a souvenir for travelers because it was a post town on the Tokaido road. Its customers were on the highway. This origin is different from Kyoto, and also different from production areas that shipped their goods far away.

Brushes and cloisonne

Toyohashi brushes are produced as calligraphy brushes. Hiroshima’s Kumano brushes (vol.10) are the top makeup brushes in Japan, Nara brushes (vol.19) represent the origin, and Toyohashi is for calligraphy brushes. Each brush-producing region has its own role.

Owari cloisonne is a technique of placing glaze on a metal base and firing it. Silver wires form the outlines, and colors are added inside them.

What it means to be broad

Ceramics, dyeing, brushes, cloisonne, Buddhist altars, Buddhist fittings, paulownia chests, stonework, onigawara roof tiles, and festival dolls.

Aichi’s 15 items are so widely scattered that they hardly form a single group.

This is thought to be because it had both Nagoya, a major consumer market, and the Tokaido, a route people passed through. Kyoto was a production area where “orders became increasingly detailed.” Aichi was a production area where “many people passed through.”

Next issue, we go to Gifu. It will be a story about tableware.

References: Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya City, Tokoname City, Seto City, Arimatsu in Nagoya City, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: Asturio Cantabrio / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)