Nonomura Ninsei

Vase with a floral motif, MOA art museum

Flower vase, Tokyo National Museum

Nonomura Ninsei ( Japanese 野 々 村 仁 清 , nickname: Seiemon ( 清 右衛門 ); early 17th century) was an important potter at the beginning of the Edo period .

Live and act

Ninsei was born in the place Nonomura in the province of Tamba , in what is now Kyōto prefecture . It is said that he composed his name Ninsei from the character is from his first name and the character nin , which the abbot of Ninna-ji monastery in the Omuro district ( 御 室 ) gave him.

Ninsei learned his art from the potters in Seto and was initially famous for his ability to use the pottery wheel. That is probably the reason for the invitation to the kilns in the district of Omuro of Kyoto . The first evidence of a potter Ninsei is in 1649. After that he is called "Yakimono-shi Seiemon" ( 焼 物 師 清 右衛門 ), as "Tambayaki Seiemon" ( 丹波 焼 清 右衛門 ) or also as "Tsuboya Seiemon" ( 壺 屋 清 右衛門 ) mentioned.

An excavation of the Omuro ovens also found a piece with the inscription “Made in the 2nd year of Meireki (1656), Nonomura Harima” and in the Fujita Art Museum in Osaka there is a censer with the inscription “3. Year Meireki (1657) in the month of the rabbit, Harima Nyūdō Ninsei ”. In 1656 Ninsei was given the name "Harima" which means that he was now a mature potter. From the following year he called himself Ninsei. It can be assumed that he was perfecting his type of glaze, Iro-e ( 色 絵 ), at the time .

Omuro products began appearing in 1648, but the relationship between building the furnaces there and Ninei's involvement is not clear. He himself stamped his name "Ninsei" in various forms as a trademark in all of his products. That was the beginning of a new time, a time in which the potter stepped out of his anonymity.

His works that still exist show that he was not only a gifted user of the potter's wheel, but that he also knew how to decorate his works very skillfully. Most of his works have a relation to the tea ceremony , so are tea containers, water containers, tea bowls, incense containers, incense burners. Their design went well with the developing taste of "beautiful simplicity" ( 綺麗 寂 , Kirei sabi ), as represented by Kobori Enshū and the tea master Kanamori Sōwa ( 金森 宗 和 ; 1584–1656).

It is not known when Ninsei II succeeded Ninsei. So there are different theories on this question. However, it is certain that the second Ninsei succeeded him around 1665. He passed his father's notes on to the great potter Ogata Kenzan in 1699.

Remarks

1. ^ That was the 4th month of the year after the series of the Far Eastern zodiac signs .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ National Treasure . The second national treasure is in the Ishikawa Prefecture Museum.
2. ↑ One of over 20 important cultural assets .

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Ninsei . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

Web links

Commons : Nonomura Ninsei  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nonomura is the family name, Ninsei the first name.