Kiyomizu Rokubei

Kiyomizu Rokubei (清水六兵衛) is the name assigned to the head of the Kyoto-based Kiyomizu family of ceramists. With over 240 years of history, the studio is now into its eighth generation. It is currently headed by contemporary ceramist and sculptor Rokubei VIII. The family were influential in the development and survival of Kyō ware.

Born Kotō Kuritarō in Settsu, Osaka around 1735, Rokubei was the son of a farmer named Kotō Rokuzaemon (古藤六左衛門). Sometime between 1748 and 1751, he moved to Kyoto and began to study pottery under Ebiya Seibei (海老屋清兵衛), acknowledged as the "first recorded potter of Kyomizu [sic] faience." In 1771, he opened his own studio in the Gojōzaka district of Kyoto, near Kiyomizu Temple, and took the name Rokubei. The three characters making up this name are a combination of those in his father's and teacher's names.

According to some accounts, the name Rokubei was given to him by the abbot-prince of Myōhō Temple (妙法院), who was very favourably impressed with a set of black Raku ware cups the potter made him. It is known that the abbot-prince gave him a seal to use as his mark: the character 清 (pronounced sei or kyo) bounded by a hexagon. The seal's character was written by a priest from Tenryū-ji Temple, and is the first character in 'Kiyomizu.' This mark, the rokumoku seal (六目印), has continued to be used through the Kiyomizu generations, although the second family head added a double line to the hexagon to distinguish the works of the first Rokubei.

Rokubei was active in Kyoto art circles and counted among his friends the painters Maruyama Ōkyo, Matsumura Goshun, and Tanomura Chikuden. He was known to have enlisted these friends from the Shijō school of painting to decorate his pieces. He specialized in finely decorated faience, and remains particularly admired for his three-colour overglaze (iro-e) technique.

Born in 1790 in Kyoto, he was the son of Rokubei I. He studied under his father until the latter’s death in 1799. At just nine years of age, he was too young to take over the family kiln. He continued his studies until 1811, when he became atelier head as Rokubei II. As such, he continued the traditions begun by his father, particularly the development of coloured, semi-transparent glazes. He produced pieces inspired by various types of pottery, including Seto ware and Shigaraki ware. In later life, he worked in blue and white porcelain, although it has been suggested this was not his strength.

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