Kutani Yaki

Five colours on porcelain

Kutani Yaki is all about overglaze painting. Bold, free brush outlines are filled with five heavy, glowing colours: green, yellow, red, purple and deep navy blue. The slightly bluish white body makes the colours stand out even more. It is made in Kanazawa, Komatsu, Kaga and Nomi in Ishikawa.

Colour that appears in the fire

Clay is made from local porcelain stone and shaped on the wheel or by slip casting. Painters first draw strong black-and-white lines like an ink painting, then lay on the overglaze enamels, which look dull before firing. In the kiln the enamels turn to coloured glass and the white porcelain comes alive.

A kiln that vanished, then returned

In the mid-17th century, porcelain stone was found at the Kutani mine, and a Kaga artisan learned porcelain making in Arita. Ko-Kutani (old Kutani) was born, bold and splendid like the Kaga domain itself, then suddenly stopped at the end of the 17th century. In the 19th century, kilns such as Kasugayama, Yoshidaya, Miyamoto and Eiraku revived it, each with its own painting style.