By Ines Keane
A kyusu looks odd to anyone raised on a round pot with a loop handle. The handle sticks out sideways. The spout is angled. And the whole thing, in Tokoname, is often the colour of a flowerpot.
What a kyusu is
Wikipedia defines a kyusu as a traditional Japanese teapot used mainly for green tea. The word simply means teapot, though in everyday use it usually means one with a side handle. It names three types: yokode, with a side handle and the most common; ushirode, with a rear handle, like teapots elsewhere in the world; and uwade, with a top handle. On Tokoname, the same page says the town is known for its kyusu, and that smaller lids are sometimes shaped so they do not fall off through water adhesion, while spouts are angled so drips do not run back while pouring. It also notes a sieve inside the pot.
Where Tokoname is
Wikipedia places Tokoname in Aichi Prefecture, on the western coast of the Chita Peninsula, facing Ise Bay. It had 57,872 people in 24,872 households on 1 October 2019, across 55.90 square kilometres, and became a city on 1 April 1954 through a merger of the old town with Onizaki, Nishiura and Ono towns and Miwa village. Chubu Centrair International Airport, on an artificial island off the coast, opened on 17 February 2005.
One of the Six Ancient Kilns
Wikipedia lists Tokoname among the Six Ancient Kilns, the category of Japan’s most important traditional ceramic kilns. The others it names are Bizen in Okayama, Echizen in Fukui, Seto in Aichi, Shigaraki in Shiga, and Tamba, also called Tachikui, in Hyogo. It says the category was coined by Koyama Fujio (1900 to 1975) and that all six kiln traditions are still producing today.
Iron in the ground
The craft-promotion site Kogei Japan says Tokoname ware dates to the latter part of the Heian period, 794 to 1185. It says the clay comes from the Chita Peninsula and is rich in iron, and that the iron turns the clay red after firing. The unglazed reddish-brown ware is called shudei. Small teapots are the best known product, and the page adds that the iron is said to soften the bitterness and astringency of tea.
Dates in order
Here the sources give different openings. Wikipedia’s page on Tokoname ware says pottery was made by the 12th century and was already part of daily life in the Heian period. Wikipedia’s page on the city says production goes back to at least the Heian period and that over 3,000 kilns were active by the Kamakura period. Kogei Japan says Tokoname had approximately 3,000 anagama kilns, dug into hillsides, during the Heian period. The pages place the 3,000-kiln figure in different periods, Heian in one and Kamakura in another, and we do not resolve them.
- 14th century: the Takasaka kiln is built, according to Wikipedia.
- Edo period (1603 to 1868): small teapots first produced, according to Kogei Japan.
- Late Edo to early Meiji: shudei tea utensils produced, according to Kogei Japan.
- Late 19th century: Koie Hokyu completes a chambered climbing kiln, and his son Koie Hoju is credited with building the town’s reputation and introducing the redware it became known for, according to Wikipedia.
- 1887: the Toei Kiln is built, used until 1974.
- 1976: Tokoname ware is designated a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government, according to Kogei Japan.
- 1982: the Toei Kiln becomes an Important Tangible Cultural Property, according to Wikipedia.
The big kiln
Wikipedia says the Toei Kiln, built in 1887 and used until 1974, is the largest climbing kiln in Japan. It has eight firing chambers, a 17 degree incline and ten chimneys. About 60 climbing kilns formerly operated in the town. Our reading: that single kiln shows how a teapot town became a pipe-and-tile town as well.
Beyond the teapot
Wikipedia says the Meiji era brought demand for clay pipes in railway waterway construction, and the Meitetsu Tokoname Line, built in the Meiji era, supported tile production in the Taisho era. Kogei Japan agrees on pipes in Meiji and says building tiles became widespread in the Taisho period (1912 to 1926). Wikipedia’s list of products runs from wind chimes and teapots to roof tiles and water pipelines.
How the teapot is made
Kogei Japan lists the techniques: hand-twisted casting, used since the Heian period; yoriko tsukuri for large items; pressing for bonsai pots; and electric potter’s wheel moulding. For small teapots, it says firing takes about 12 to 18 hours at roughly 1,100 degrees Celsius, and pieces shrink to about 80 per cent of their pre-firing size.
Questions a buyer would ask
Is the teapot glazed? The sources describe shudei as unglazed. Is the red from paint? No, according to Kogei Japan, the iron in the clay turns red in the firing. Does the name guarantee origin? Wikipedia says Tokoname was protected as a local brand in January 2007, but it does not describe what that protection requires, and we have not read a source that does.
What kind of sources these are
Four Wikipedia pages (Tokoname ware, Tokoname Aichi, Kyusu, Six Ancient Kilns) and the craft-promotion site Kogei Japan. We found no museum or kiln-association page we could read.
What we left out
Names of potters, living or dead, beyond the two Koie, fares, and the clay-handling and brewing advice that our sources did not state. We also left out the foreign comparison in the Six Ancient Kilns page.
Quick answers
Is Tokoname ware glazed? The reddish-brown shudei ware is unglazed, according to the craft-promotion site Kogei Japan. The colour comes from iron in the clay, which turns red when fired.
What is a kyusu? According to Wikipedia, a kyusu is a traditional Japanese teapot used mainly for green tea. In common use the word means one with a side handle.
When was Tokoname ware designated a Traditional Craft? In 1976, according to Kogei Japan, which names the Japanese government as the body that designated it.
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Roam first. Shop later.