Tozan Shrine
Tozan Shrine
In the second half of 1600s, the Arita Sarayama daikan (local governor) ordered the construction of this shrine. Established as "Arita Sarayama Sobyo Hachimangū," the shrine venerates the legendary Emperor Ojin 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 1917, a memorial to the Korean potter known as Kanagae Sanbei (d. 1655) was erected at the shrine. Sanbei is remembered in Arita for his legendary discovery of porcelain stone at Izumiyama in the early 1600s. Sanbei's legacy is celebrated every year on May 4 in conjunction with the weeklong Arita Ceramics Fair. People gather at the memorial's base to show appreciation for the "Father of Japanese Porcelain."
Tozan Shrine's other major yearly festival is Arita Okunchi, held on October 16. A portable shrine, or mikoshi, is paraded through each of the eight surrounding neighborhoods. Part of the festival is the Sara-odori, or "dish dance," in which dancers clap together two small porcelain dishes in each hand, much like castanets.
Several porcelain structures are found inside the shrine grounds, including the large torii gate built in 1888 and the guardian dogs made by the Imaemon kiln and donated by the Akae-machi neighborhood in 1887.