Inside Kouyou Kiln: Three Generations of Arita Ware in Japan

I’ve visited Kouyou Kiln several times, and I always enjoy returning. Tucked away along the river near Arita Station, the small workshop feels more like a family home than a pottery factory. I've always felt welcome there.

That small scale is an important part of Kouyou Kiln’s story. The family has made Arita ware (有田焼, Arita-yaki) for three generations, dating back to 1946. Over the years, each generation has adapted its products to changing lifestyles and dining habits. When I asked how they had continued for so long, the current owner said, "I think it's that we never got very big. Basically we run it at a scale a family can handle."

Although it runs as a small family business, Kouyou Kiln is part of a much larger network of painters, clay body makers, suppliers, and wholesalers that has supported Arita ware for generations.

Each generation of the Kouyou family has taken the kiln in a slightly different direction.

• First generation: The current owner's grandfather specialized in sake flasks and cups supplied to hotels and ryokans (Japanese inns). Demand was seasonal, so the family made extra inventory during the slower summer months.
• Second generation: His father moved away from sake vessels and began making household tableware. The pieces were much thicker than those produced today.
• Third generation: The current owner introduced lighter shapes better suited to modern dining, along with new patterns and designs.

As we talked, he brought out pieces from different periods, almost like a timeline of Kouyou Kiln's history and Japan's changing tableware styles.

In many traditional Japanese family businesses, the eldest son is expected to take over, even when no one says it directly. That was also the case at Kouyou Kiln. Although no one explicitly asked him to take over, he grew up with that expectation. He left Arita for Tokyo first, attended vocational school, and later worked in delivery.

When I asked what brought him back, he answered simply. "Just from the atmosphere. Up through the generation just above mine, coming back was simply what you did."

He admitted ceramics hadn't always been his ambition. "I didn't want to do it. But once I started, it turned out to be genuinely interesting. Making things." I appreciated his honesty. I heard something similar at Yozan Kiln, where taking over the family business wasn't driven by a lifelong passion for ceramics either. In both cases, that connection to the craft grew through doing the work itself.

That doesn’t mean every day is exciting. Even after around two decades at Kouyou Kiln, the repetition can sometimes wear on him. “You do wonder if you’ve had enough. You do get tired of it. Glaze it, load the kiln, repeat every day.” Then he laughed and admitted that even on his days off, he wants to go do some work.

One of the designs we carry at JOC Goods is Kouyou Kiln’s Floral Leaves series, and it has become a staple of my Japanese tableware collection. I love the delicate leaf pattern and the subtle detail around the rim. It's simple enough for everyday meals, but still adds something special to the table.

So I was surprised to learn how recently it was created. Kouyou Kiln regularly develops samples for trade shows, and about ten years ago, the current owner asked one of the artisans to create “something with a leaf motif.”

The design didn't take off right away, though it gradually found an audience as Kouyou Kiln kept refining it. One key change was adding sabi (錆, an iron-oxide detail) around the rim. “We thought wrapping sabi around the rim might give it some character, and it changed gradually from there.”

They ended up with an incredibly versatile design. “It suits almost any shape. It’s an all-rounder. With some patterns only one shape works, but this one works on tall pieces and on plates alike.” And that’s one of the things I love about this Floral Leaves series. I reach for these pieces often, whether I'm serving Japanese croquettes (korokke) or omurice, a Japanese-style omelette rice dish. 

During our visit, the owner shared a concern I had also heard at other Arita kilns: fewer craftspeople are making the undecorated porcelain forms that potteries depend on.

“The bottleneck, number one, is the clay body makers,” he told me.

Many of these workshops are small family businesses, sometimes run by just one or two people. As the craftspeople grow older and retire, finding replacements has become increasingly difficult.

Kouyou Kiln works with several body makers, and waiting two or three months for an order has become common. Each maker has different skills, so finding a replacement isn't always easy.

“Body makers keep going out of business lately. When this body maker closes, we have to go find another one that's good at this particular thing.”

The owner sometimes collects the porcelain bodies himself, using the opportunity to speak directly with the people making them.

I was surprised to learn how much a kiln depends on these smaller workshops. We often admire the finished porcelain, but rarely think about all the people who help make it possible.