11. Rendaiji Kiln (1847 - 1865)

It is said that when Kikusaburo Matsuya was 13 years old, he studied pottery making under Gen'emon Aoya, and was greatly influenced by his training. After that, Kikusaburo returned to his hometown after gaining training and experience in various places, and took over the kiln in Rendaiji Village, Nomi District (now Rendaiji Town, Komatsu City), where Gen'emon had produced porcelain and pottery. We rebuilt it as the Rendaiji kiln and worked on recreating the Aote Ko Kutani, which had disappeared since the Yoshidaya kiln closed.
At that time, the various kilns in the revived Kutani kiln were either red painted, which was less likely to fail, or colored painted, such as the Yoshidaya kiln, where the overlay glaze adhered well and there was no worry about the glaze coming off after firing. It is said that the reason why Aote Ko Kutani was not reproduced was because it was difficult to paint with five colors on white porcelain. Through many years of research and experience, Kikusaburo solved this difficult problem with painting, and in this kiln succeeded in producing the first piece of white porcelain decorated with five colors since Kokutani.
However, although the Rendaiji kiln succeeded in perfecting the Gosai-style porcelain, it was unable to compete with the red-glazed Sano kiln and Shoza-style products in Nomi County, and it did not succeed as a business. Although the kiln was closed, it can be said that he made a great contribution in leading the revitalization of Aote Kokutani in Nomi District.

The lineage of Aote Ko Kutani in the revival of Kutani was passed on from Gen'emon to Kikusaburo, from Rendaiji kiln to Matsuyama kiln, and then in 1868, Matsumoto Kikusaburo (who changed his name from Matsuya) inherited the Yawata kiln. He passed it on to his son, Sahei Matsumoto, and retired, but the flow of ``Ao Kutani'' was inherited by Sahei, and was further linked to Sahei's brother-in-law, the first Yasokichi Tokuda, who created the *glazed porcelain of Yasokichi Tokuda, the third generation. It was decided to develop.

*Colored glaze porcelain is distinguished from colored porcelain, which is usually fired with colored glaze at low heat (800 degrees) in a painted kiln, and colored porcelain is fired with colored glaze on the base material at 1200 degrees in a main firing kiln. It refers to things. There is a natural difference in the finished product, with colored glazed porcelain having greater clarity and depth.

The third generation, Yasokichi Tokuda, who invented this colored glazed porcelain, has been designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure).