Cochin ware or Kochi ware or Jiaozhi ware () is a type of Chinese pottery from

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Province, southern China.

History

Koji pottery was brought to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in the 19th century. The English term "Cochin" derives from the Taiwanese Pronouciation '' Jiāozhǐ'' (), which was used to describe various parts of the south, including

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

( Vietnamese: ''Giao-chỉ''). The region of

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...

is an example of the term. At that time, Cochin ware consisted mainly of decorations for the walls and roof ridges of temples, including human figures, animals, birds, and flowers in bright, glossy colors. Today, there are only a handful of craftspeople who still possess the traditional Cochin skills, most of whom are in the central-island city of Chiayi.

Japan

In Japan it is known as Kōchi ware (''Kōchi-yaki''). In the old capital city

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

the masters of the tea ceremony esteem Kōchi ware as small figures of animals, fish, flowers, dragons, the phoenix etc. Initially imported as '' shimamono'', it became a part of Japanese pottery. The Koshun kiln () is also a production centre in Kyoto.

References

External links

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Pottery and Porcelain

Chiayi City Koji Pottery Museum

A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Chinese pottery Japanese pottery Arts in Taiwan Cantonese folk art Traditional Chinese architecture