KARATSU WARE, OKUGORAI TYPE, MOMOYAMA PERIOD (EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

Karatsu is the name of a port in Hizen province (present-day Saga prefecture) in Kyushu, the most southerly and westerly of Japan's four main islands. It is sometimes used as a collective term describing the many stonewares that were made in Hizen during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including not only this type but also many other Kyushu wares. More strictly applied, however, Karatsu, along with other terms such as Ko-Karatsu, or Old Karatsu, and E-Garatsu, or Painted Karatsu, describes the products of a particular group of kilns in the northwestern part of Hizen that were probably founded by Korean immigrants towards the end of the sixteenth century. These kilns were of the noborigama, or "climbing kiln," type, built into the sides of hills, an arrangement that produced the strong draft necessary to reach the high temperatures required for the firing of sophisticated glazed stonewares. The pots themselves were thrown on a foot-operated kick-wheel that left the hands free to shape and model each piece.