Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln

What the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln Is

The Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln (赤膚山元窯大型窯, Akahadayama Motogama Ōgata-gama) is a brick multi-chamber climbing kiln at Akahadayama Motogama, an Akahada ware pottery in Akahadacho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture; it was built in the late Edo period (1830 to 1867) and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on July 31, 2007. Nara City lecture materials also call it the "large climbing kiln."

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln as built into the slope on the north side of the property, running north to south. At the bottom are two linked fireboxes (domagi-ma), above them 8 firing chambers climb the hill, and a flue sits at the very top. It measures 18 meters deep, 5.4 meters wide, and 6 meters high, built of brick and finished with a coat of clay plaster.

The slope is 3 sun, meaning the kiln rises 3 units for every 10 it runs, and it eases off toward the top. The national description calls it a large climbing kiln whose origins reach back to the early modern period.

Registration and What the Repair of the Large Kiln Revealed

The Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln is registration number 29-0116, listed as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country, and it was registered on the same day as the medium kiln and the exhibition room and former workshop.

Dismantling, repair, and excavation began in September 2015, and they showed how often the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln had been worked on since it was first built. A Nara City lecture handout reports repeated relaying of bricks, alterations, and replacement of parts, and notes that the kiln combines features of both the Seto type and the Kyoto type. In the fourth of its 8 chambers, the rear wall uses older material than the front.

The repair report by Maruta Tsutomu, a former professor at Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts who led the restoration, goes further. Chambers 5 and 6 are the oldest parts of the kiln, and heavy firing has left both rooms warped. Chamber 7 was probably the original top chamber, and chamber 8, built with red brick, may be a later addition. Digging into the floor showed that the kiln had been completely rebuilt at least twice, and he suggests that the present kiln is the third version.

Which stage of this rebuilding the national date of late Edo refers to cannot be determined from the published material.

Highlights of the Large Kiln: Mixed Bricks and Open Chamber Doors

Look closely at the walls of the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln and you will see bricks of different ages side by side. The city handout shows chamber 6 as a room built from many kinds of brick. Bricks removed from chambers 1 and 2 during the repair have been stored for reuse; each is about 17 centimeters by 24 centimeters by 14 centimeters and weighs about 12 kilograms.

According to the repair report, chamber 3 was built with good-quality bricks and, because it was fired so often, given a thick protective coating. In chamber 6 the arch over the chamber door had slipped badly, so the room was taken apart and rebuilt. Both chamber 3 and chamber 6 were to be left with their doors open so that visitors could look inside.

The restoration also included 3D measurement and fresh coats of clay plaster to return the kiln to its earlier form. Its stated aims were to keep the kiln open to the public as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property and to keep using it for firing, so the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln was repaired as a working kiln rather than a ruin on display.

Seeing the Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln

The Akahadayama Motogama Large Kiln stands on the slope north of the exhibition room and former workshop. The 2015 visitor guide from the Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry includes the climbing kilns among the things visitors can see. If the repair plan has been followed, you can look into the kiln through the open doors of chambers 3 and 6.

The same guide bans photography only inside the exhibition room and workshop and says nothing about the kilns, so ask at reception before photographing the large kiln. Firing dates are not published; if you hope to see the kiln lit, ask the pottery in advance. Opening hours and directions are on the Akahadayama Motogama page.