Akahada-yaki

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Akahada-yaki is a pottery ware fired in the area stretching from western Nara City to Yamatokoriyama City, known for its soft, milky-white-tinged glaze and for 'Nara-e,' a decorative style depicting figures reminiscent of Gosho dolls. Tradition holds that during the Momoyama period, Toyotomi Hidenaga—lord of Yamatokoriyama Castle and younger brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi—invited potters from Tokoname in Owari Province to open a kiln on Mt. Gojo (also called Mt. Akahada), though no reliable historical records or artifacts confirm this account. In the late Edo period, it became an official kiln under the patronage of the Yanagisawa family, lords of Koriyama Domain, and came to be counted among the 'Enshu Nanagama' (Seven Kilns favored by tea master Kobori Enshu). In the closing years of the Edo period, the master potter Okuda Mokuhaku revived Akahada-yaki through his exceptional skill, producing a wide range of works including Nara-e pieces, and is honored as the craft's great restorer. Today, several kilns spanning Yamatokoriyama City and Nara City each carry on the tradition with their own interpretations of glaze and decoration.