Tōzan Shrine

In detail

In the second half of the 1600s, the Arita Sarayama daikan (local governor) ordered the construction of this shrine. Established as “Arita Sarayama Sōbyō Hachimangū,” the shrine venerates the legendary Emperor Ōjin and Nabeshima Naoshige (1538–1618). Naoshige was head of the Nabeshima family and took control of Saga domain in 1607, four years after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. He was among the samurai leaders who brought Korean potters to Saga in the 1590s. In 1871, the shrine was renamed Sueyama-Jinja, literally “Ceramic Mountain Shrine.” Its contemporary nickname, “Tozan Shrine,” is based on an alternate reading of the kanji characters for “Sueyama.”

In 1887, local residents proposed a memorial at the shrine to the Korean potter known as Kanagae Sambe’e (d. 1655). Sambe’e is celebrated for his discovery of pottery stone at Izumiyama in the early 1600s. The memorial, erected in 1917, commemorates the 300th anniversary of Arita ware.

Sambe’e is celebrated every year on May 4 in conjunction with the weeklong Arita Ceramics Fair. People gather at the statue’s base to show appreciation for the “Father of Japanese Porcelain.” Tozan Shrine’s other major festival is Arita Okunchi, held annually on October 16. A portable shrine, or mikoshi, is paraded through each of the eight surrounding neighborhoods. During the Sara-odori, or “Dish Dance,” two small porcelain dishes are clapped together in each hand, like castanets.

Several porcelain structures are found inside the shrine grounds, including the large torii gate built in 1888 and a pair of guardian dogs made by the Imaemon kiln and donated by the Akae-machi neighborhood in 1887.