Takashi Nakazato
Birth Date: 1937

Artist Gallery
The Nakazato family was supported, as distinguished potters, by the feudal lords of Karatsu, and therefore the custom of inheriting both the family and given name was observed. At present, the eldest brother of Takashi Nakazato is the thirteenth to bear the given name Taroemon. From the time of the first Taroemon, the Nakazato family now boasts an unbroken lineage of master potters extending over a period of over three hundred years. The birth of Takashi Nakazato in one of Japan's leading pottery producing districts and, moreover, into an eminent ceramist family of the district was one of the major factors determining his career. Takashi Nakazato was born as the fifth son in 1937 in Karatsu, Saga Territory. At twenty, Nakazato studied pottery making technique in the workshop of his father;  at twenty-four he was awarded the grand prize in a major ceramics art competition. After this Nakazato spent time in the United States as a university lecturer, and later travelled in various parts of the world, striving to discover the type work he could dedicate himself to.  He is an artist who has staked his destiny upon the pursuit of his own ceramic creations which naturally emerged from this way of life.  So ancient is the fame of Karatsu as a ceramics producing district that the word "karatsumono" now means "pottery" in those regions.  The pottery in Karatsu flourished during the latter part of the sixteenth century.  The golden age of Karatsu pottery, which began during the seventeenth century, was marked by the production of a broad spectrum of ceramics, ranging from expensive pottery used in the tea ceremonies to everyday eating utensils. The creative activities of the Nakazato also began during the seventeenth century. The part "kara" in the name "Karatsu" originally referred T'ang Dynasty China, but subsequently came to mean foreign countries generally, including China and Korea as well as the various lands to the south of Japan. The word "tsu" means harbor. The name "Karatsu" originally meant a port frequented by foreign ships. The Koreans had a great influence upon pottery making and many Korean potters are said to have immigrated into the district in Karatsu. This accounts for the marked Korean stylistic flavor of traditional Karatsu pottery. Takashi Nakazato work indicates that he has not abandoned his inherited tradition, but has created a unique and original world of ceramic craftsmanship known as "Karatsu Nanban".   In the realm of Japanese ceramics, the word "Nanban" refers to the unglazed pottery which is considered as having been introduced into Japan from the southern Asian countries of Indochina, Siam, and the Philippines as well as the southern parts of China and even areas as distant as India. The oldest known Nanban pottery in Japan arrived from abroad during the latter half of the sixteenth century.  In 1971, Nakazato relocated in Tanegashima, a small island to the south of Kyushu, and began to work in the indigenous pottery form known as Tanegashima ware (or Yokino ware). He spent three years in Tanegashima, developing his skill in the creative manufacture of Tanegashima ware.  The Karatsu Nanban which Nakazato began to produce after his return to Karatsu in 1974 is composed of the same unglazed pottery which he created in Tanegashima.  The Karatsu Nanban of Takashi Nakazato is, perhaps, the emodiment of the fine artistic attributes of the Yokino ware which constituted the focus of his three-year experience in Tanegashima.  Incidentally, Tanegashima is known in Japanese history as the island where firearms were first introduced into the land of the rising sun. Even when producing daily dining utensils, Nakazato is not bound by the restrictions of traditional designs, and introduces free, original forms. Indeed, Nakazato's attitudes toward life reflect his serious efforts toward the goal of self-liberation. He has constructed a home and workshop of his own design in a secluded mountain locality, where he lives and creates pottery along with his family and apprentices. He himself also enjoys cooking, is a devotee of baroque music, and even holds miniature concerts in his workshop.