One of the most striking features of Okinawa’s traditional architecture must surely be their tiled roofs. Art critic and philosopher Yanagi Sōetsu certainly thought so: In an essay from his posthumous collection The Unknown Craftsman, he wrote admiringly of their “varied and lovely” reds set off by white pointing made from “ample supplies of crushed coral,” the sight of them against dark green leaves assuring them that they had entered “a world of dreams.”
Okinawa’s red earthenware roof tiles are indeed distinct from their Japanese counterparts, having evolved from the initial adoption of Korean manufacturing technology to incorporating glazing and firing techniques from the Japanese mainland, but made wholly Okinawan with their design, their bright vermilion colouring— a result of using kucha, a local iron-rich muddy soil—and suitability for the island’s heat and humidity. The roof tiles encapsulate the spirit in which Okinawan pottery (yachimun) developed over the centuries: a fusion of styles and techniques into a practice and product that is distinctly their own.
The origins and early development of Okinawan pottery
Before it was annexed in 1879 and renamed Okinawa, or “Floating Rope,” for the knotted-rope shape of its island chain, Japan’s southernmost prefecture was once an independent maritime trading state—the Ryukyu Kingdom. For most of its history, the Kingdom maintained active trade relationships with China, Korea, and various states in Southeast Asia, and for a time prospered as a trade hub thanks to its favourable geographic location on trade routes and its status as a vassal state of China. It was a useful intermediary between China and Southeast Asia, too: Shipments of celadon ware and other ceramics arrived from China before being re-exported to Southeast Asia and Japan, reaching their height in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Early Ryukyu ceramics were utilitarian, consisting of simple, unglazed stoneware known as arayaki (or arayachi). A notable development in ceramics took place in the 15th century, when the Ryukyu Islands began importing lao-lon, a distilled millet liquor from Sawankhalok[1] made with glutinous rice yeast. The liquor arrived in jars made at the Sawankhalok kilns, and the Okinawans would not only learn to brew their own version of the alcoholic beverage[2], they would also model their own liquor jars after the Thai vessels. These were first produced in the Kina area of Yomitan Village, which is still a major centre for yachimun today.
The influence and impact of invasion
The next great leap forward in Okinawa’s ceramics industry took place at the turn of the 17th century. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had recently invaded the Korean Peninsula — twice! — and forcibly brought entire villages of potters back to Japan to produce ceramics. These abducted Korean potters were then relocated throughout Japan, where they would go on to develop a number of widely beloved ceramic traditions, such as Hagi ware (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture) and Arita ware (Saga Prefecture). However, it was the potters who settled in Satsuma Province (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture) who would end up changing the course of Okinawan ceramic history.
The Shimazu clan invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1609. Although the Ryukyus remained “nominally independent,” it was essentially a vassal state under Satsuma Province for the subsequent two and a half centuries, alongside its existing tributary relationship with China, and Satsuma exercised significant control over its foreign trade relations.
In 1617, three Korean potters travelled to the Ryukyus from their community in Satsuma; most sources suggest that the king invited them to train local potters in their techniques and improve the ceramics industry. Until their arrival, pottery here consisted of unglazed earthenware. Two of them eventually returned to Satsuma, but the third, Chō Kenkō (Jang Heon-gong, or as he was called in Japanese, Nakachi Reishin), was given a residence in Wakuta village[3] where he went on to found the Wakuta kiln. He was supposedly the first to produce high-fired stoneware in the Ryukyus.
Tsuboya ware and the golden age of yachimun
Until 1682, major kilns had operated out of various scattered locations throughout the main island. The royal government consolidated three of these—Chibana, Takaraguchi, and Wakuta—into a single centre at Tsuboya, which became the heart of the ceramics industry. Pottery produced here became the dominant ceramics style, replacing smaller regional kilns.
The timing dovetailed with repair works carried out on Shuri Castle’s main palace building in 1682. Shuri Castle had burned to the ground in 1660, with Tsuboya identified as a suitable location for the pottery industry not only due to its proximity to the castle as a port for shipments of raw materials and goods, but also because it sat on suitable clay deposits and was hilly enough to build climbing kilns.
In 1670, the Shuri government dispatched a craftsperson named Hirata Tentsu to Qing China to study glazing techniques. He returned in 1682 with knowledge of Chinese-style aka-e (polychrome overglaze enamel painting), among other styles, which would lead directly to the development of Okinawa’s red glazed stoneware. That same year, he created a large dragon-head made from glazed jōyachi pottery and metalwork elements was installed above the palace building’s main entrance. Hirata passed his knowledge on to apprentices; one of them, Nakasone Kigen, began producing ordinary wares with these techniques for commoners. Vibrantly enamelled works of this ilk came to be known as joyachi or joyaki.
From the story thus far, we can see the roots of the two main types of Tsuboya ware, which are unglazed (arayachi) and glazed (joyachi) pottery. Besides conventional kitchenware, the kilns turned out products which were (and are) specific to Okinawa and its cultural practices. There is the dachibin, an elegant half-moon flask with a loop on each end for a leather shoulder strap. It was originally made for farmers working in the rice fields, and shaped to conform to the curve of one’s hip. Virtually synonymous with Okinawa even today are statues of shiisaa, mythical lion-dogs thought to ward off evil spirits. Most unusual and beautiful are zushigame, elaborately decorated caskets for bones of the deceased; these resemble urns or small traditional buildings.
The decline and revival of Okinawan pottery
In 1872, the newly-formed Tokyo government made Ryukyu an official domain of Japan, changing King Shō Tai’s title to that of domain head. The fiction of the kingdom’s independence was partially maintained until 1879, when the king was forced to abdicate and move to Tokyo. The Ryukyu Kingdom was officially annexed, and Okinawa Prefecture established.
After 1879, exports of awamori to the mainland rose sharply, which allowed Tsuboya a measure of prosperity—so much so that 30 new kilns were constructed around 1900, each of them capable of firing 1,000 large awamori jars at a time. But this good fortune was short-lived. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 brought an economic boom, and an influx of cheap, mass-produced pottery into Okinawa from mainland Japan (mostly Arita ware) caused Tsuboya ware, along with other traditional handcrafted industries across the country, to suffer a decline in popularity.
The 20th century Mingei movement, along with the concurrent rise in nationalism, helped renew public recognition and appreciation of Japan’s folkcraft traditions. One of the founders of this movement, the Mashiko-based potter Hamada Shōji, was an ardent admirer of Tsuboya ware, and credited Okinawa as one of the defining influences on his craft: “My work in ceramics was discovered in Kyoto, started in England, learned in Okinawa, and bred in Mashiko.” He and Yanagi Sōetsu visited Okinawa often over the course of their lives; Hamada often made works using their local clay. To them, Okinawan pottery encapsulated folk art at its very best.
Okinawan pottery during the post-war years
The Battle of Okinawa of 1944 decimated much of the main island. However, the Tsuboya district escaped significant damage, with many of its climbing kilns, materials, and tools left relatively unscathed. Residents from Tsuboya were the first allowed to return to their home, and around 100 potters did so in November 1945. They quickly set to work, making bowls and tableware for those still confined in camps. Later, they produced water jars, funeral urns, and roof tiles, as residents returned to their homes and reconstruction works started.
As Tsuboya became an increasingly residential district, concerns and complaints grew around the volume of smoke from the kilns. New government regulations in the early 1970s placed restrictions on urban pottery production, and the wood-fired climbing kilns in the district were abandoned for gas, paraffin, or electric kilns. Many of Tsuboya’s potters who wished to continue traditional wood-firing, including the first Okinawan Living National Treasure Kinjō Jirō, relocated to Yomitan in the middle of the main island.
At this time, authorities had already been drawing up plans for a cultural facility on land in Yomitan, which had been formerly occupied by the US military. In 1980, four potters—Omine Jissei, Shinman Yamada, Tamamoto Terumasa, and Kinjō Meiko—built the nine-chambered Yuntanza climbing kiln in Yomitan. More potters moved to the area, and a thriving group of studios and workshops coalesced around the kiln, which is still in use today in addition to a second and larger 13-chambered kiln. The concentration of pottery artisans here gave rise to the village’s name—Yachimun no Sato.
Modern yachimun: where innovation meets tradition
Okinawan pottery continues to evolve. With the incorporation of new techniques, however, comes a risk of losing what came before—one example being the loss of the historic method for Okinawan red-glazed stoneware, before it was re-discovered by Kobashigawa Eisho during the 20th century. To this end, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and local pottery collective Kitagama undertook a collaborative project to document traditional Okinawan pottery practices. This research has illuminated much of the science behind traditional yachimun techniques, ensuring that they will be preserved for future generations.
Objects in traditional styles are still produced, but there is a far greater diversity of styles among contemporary potters. These reflect the tastes of modern consumers as well as individual expression, while still retaining an Okinawan identity. To point out one obvious example: Stars, birds, and bubbles have joined the vocabulary of motifs used in ceramics decoration alongside more traditional fish and bougainvillea flowers.
Another example is the work of Omine Jissei, who works out of Omine Kobo at the farthest end of Yachimun no Sato, is known for his Persian blue and white pieces made entirely with local clays and materials. They are not “typically” or “traditionally” Okinawan at first glance, but the deep, pure blue echoes the sea and skies around the island, a result of manganese gathered from rocks on the Ryukyu archipelago. The white glaze, made from Ryukyu limestone, recalls 18th century Tsuboya ware, beloved for the beauty of its “Okinawan white.”
The enduring allure of Okinawan ceramics
Yachimun is now something of a tourist attraction. The Mingei movement has fuelled a steady global demand for fine handmade Japanese ceramics, and for better or for worse, Okinawa’s ceramic production centres draw curious craft-lovers from around the world.
Visitors shop for souvenirs along the narrow, winding streets of Tsuboya near Kokusai Street, one of Naha City’s most popular tourist destinations, and learn about its history at the Naha Municipal Tsuboya Pottery Museum. Many drive to Yachimun no Sato to see the 19 studios in the area, and perhaps watch the artisans at work. Thousands flock to pottery festivals held throughout the year, such as the Yomitan Pottery Market held in February, or the Tsuboya Pottery Festival in late November.
Anyone with the slightest interest in yachimun would do well to schedule their visit to Okinawa with one of these festivals, or at the very least, visit Yachimun no Sato to see the intricacies of the craft up close. Each object, each vessel, is a marvellous reminder of all that took place during the preceding centuries; and how, despite the vicissitudes of history, Okinawan ceramics have endured through the ages.
[1] A center of ceramics manufacturing in Thailand during the 14th to 16th centuries.
[2] Okinawa’s version is called awamori. Early variants used rice, foxtail millet, and barley; later, this was simplified to using long grain rice only, along with the addition of black malt yeast via Japan.
[3] Present-day Izumizaki district, Naha City.
Written by Florentyna Leow
Sources and further reading
Crueger, Anneliese., Crueger, Wulf., Ito, Saeko. Modern Japanese Ceramics: Pathways of Innovation & Tradition. New York: Lark Books, 2007.
Durston, Diane. Japan Crafts Sourcebook: A Guide to Today’s Traditional Handmade Objects. New York: Japan Craft Forum, 1996.
Kerr, George. Okinawa, the history of an island people. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2000.
Moes, Robert. Mingei: Japanese Folk Art from the Brooklyn Museum Collection. United Kingdom: Universe Books, 1985.
Shuzen, Hokama. “Okinawa in the Matrix of Pacific Ocean Culture,” trans. Nakasone, Ronald Y. From: Nakasone, Ronald Y.. Nakasone: Okinawan Diaspora Paper. N.p.: University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
Yanagi, Muneyoshi. “Crafts of Okinawa.” From: Yanagi, Muneyoshi., Leach, Bernard. The unknown craftsman : a Japanese insight into beauty. Japan: Kodansha International, 1989.
Southeast Asian Ceramics: New Light on Old Pottery. Singapore: Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, 2009.