Thursday, January 11, 2018

ONTA YAKI-(小鹿田焼) Ceramics of Oita Prefecture

Nestled in the mountains near Hita city is a little pottery hamlet called Onta Sarayama. This is where Onta Yaki is made. Onta potters learned the skills from Koishiwara potters on the other side of the mountain from what is now Fukuoka Prefecture. It began as a single kiln in the middle of the Edo period.  It was relatively unknown until the 1920's when Yanagi Soetsu visited at the beginning of the Mingei movement. It is now one of the great places to see Japanese folk pottery. 
There are ten families that work the kilns there. The main family names in Onta are Sakamoto, Kuroki and Yanase.  All the work is done without modern machinery. Each father hands down his skills to his son. Each kiln is allowed only two wheels. This enables future generations to have enough clay to continue on making Onta pottery. I enjoyed my visit to Onta Sarayama, enjoying the simple, natural ways that still remain. 
Onta potters mark their work with 小鹿田 (Onta).  


Map of the Onta Kilns




I believe this was made by Kuroki Tomio, the style and Onta mark match


Sakamoto Yoshitaka Gama 
 

Here is another that looks like it may be from one of the Sakamoto kilns.



I think this was made by Sakamoto Shigeki
I think this was probably made by Sakamoto Shigeki



This is a large plate! No marks. The Yubi gaki/finger wipe and uchihakeme/brush techniques were used here.

     No maker marks

Possibly the work of Sakamoto Shigeki

After some research I believe this is probably the work of Sakamoto Shigeki. The hiragana mark, design and foot are very reminiscent to his works. If indeed this is his work, he was the Onta potter who hosted the visit of Bernard Leach and Yanagi Soetsu which rocketed Onta into the exciting world of Mingei! 


Several examples from kilns/shops we visited





 The style of decoration includes tobiganna/chatter marks, and kushigaki/ comb patterns

                                                    This is the uchihakeme technique


Photo from a visit to the Fukuoka Art Museum



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