Jin Kiln and Yuji Obata: Kakiemon-Style Porcelain in Cherry Blossom
Among the many kilns of Arita, few have drawn as much attention in recent years as Jin Kiln. Its head, the potter Yuji Obata, works in the Kakiemon style — overglaze enamels painted with great delicacy on a soft, milky-white porcelain, with generous empty space left around them. His work has been presented to the Imperial family of Japan.
This guide explains what the Kakiemon style is, what makes Obata’s work different, and how to choose a piece.
Yuji Obata and Jin Kiln
Yuji Obata builds on traditional forms while making work that feels at home today. Jin Kiln has received the honor of presenting works to Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan (now the Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita), and Obata has held solo exhibitions in the United States and Europe.
His materials matter to him: Jin Kiln uses the finest Amakusa porcelain stone, from Kyushu, for a smooth white body that lets the color glow.
What the Kakiemon style is
Arita, in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, is where Japanese porcelain began in the early 17th century. There, the potter Sakaida Kakiemon became known for bright overglaze enamels — red above all — and the style that bears his name is closely tied to a body called nigoshide, “milky white.” Ordinary porcelain of the time had a faintly bluish tint; nigoshide was soft and warm, and it showed red at its best.
From the mid-17th century these pieces were shipped to Europe, where they were prized by royal and noble collectors. In the early 18th century, the Meissen factory in Germany made pieces modeled on the Kakiemon style. Today the name refers not only to the Kakiemon family’s own work but to the whole style.
Its classic subjects are flowers and birds: a bird on a rock beside a plum tree, a deer under autumn maples, a tiger in bamboo, quails among millet. The rim is often edged with a brown iron glaze called kuchisabi. Above all, the painting never fills the surface. The empty white around it is part of the design.
One maker, every stage
Cherry blossoms in pink, painted on milky-white porcelain.
Many people imagine that a Kakiemon-style piece is made from start to finish by one master. In fact, since the beginning, the work has been divided: throwing on the wheel, firing and painting are each handled by a different skilled craftsman.
Yuji Obata does it all himself. He throws each piece on the wheel, fires it and paints it — every stage that would normally pass through several hands. That is the single greatest difference between his work and that of other makers.
Cherry blossoms, in pink
Classic Kakiemon painting is built around red. Obata colors his work instead with shoenji, a pink enamel, and at the center of his painting is not a traditional pattern but the cherry blossom.
What sets his painting apart is the control of shading, from deep to pale, and the extreme fineness of the line. On the translucent, milky-white body he paints cherry blossoms, autumn leaves and many traditional auspicious patterns, along with playful rabbits, fish and birds. The pictures look true to life, yet now and then a color is not quite the color of nature — a small, deliberate touch that marks a piece as his.
Pick one up and the difference is easy to feel: the brushwork and the clarity of the color are a level above. It is the work of one person who carries a piece through from the first turn of the wheel to the last stroke of paint.
Choosing a piece
For a couple, the paired yunomi, mugs and rice bowls are made to be given together, and cherry blossom is the motif most associated with Obata. For everyday use, a single coffee mug or yunomi is the easiest way to live with his painting. To display, the decorative plates and vases show his brush at its most ambitious.
