Sakaida Kakiemon

Sakaida Kakiemon , or Sakaida Kizaemon (1596 — 1666) was a Japanese potter who invented the style known after him as Kakiemon. He worked in association with Higashijima Tokue, and created the first enamelled porcelain in Japan.

Biography Sakaida Kakiemon started his porcelain business following the fall of the Ming dynasty in China and the succeeding disruption of traditional Chinese porcelain exports to Europe. Sakaida Kakiemon is said to have learned the enamel porcelain technique from a Chinese artisan in Nagasaki in 1643. He was the first in Japan to practice overglaze enameling (applying enamel on top of the glazing), a technique developed in China during the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty. In the Arita dialect, nigoshi describes the water used to wash rice, thereby referring to the translucent white of nigoshide. In comparison with other Arita ware, which tends to have a bluish tinge, nigoshide has virtually no bluish cast.

The first pieces were produced in 1643, with Chinese pigments.