Kōchi-shi
— — a castle the centuries forgot to take down.
Not only on a wall.
“Capital of Kōchi Prefecture, on the south side of Shikoku where the Kagami and Enokuchi rivers reach Tosa Bay. The castle has stood since 1611 and still carries its original keep, one of only twelve left in Japan. On Sunday mornings the Otesuji market runs a kilometer down the avenue toward the gate, as it has since the Genroku years. — from the studio
Kōchi-shi, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Kōchi sits on the south coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands, facing the Pacific across Tosa Bay. The city's population is around 320,000, making it the prefectural capital. The castle town was laid out in 1601 by Yamauchi Kazutoyo after Tokugawa Ieyasu granted him the Tosa fief following Sekigahara. The 88-temple Shikoku pilgrimage route runs through the city as it crosses the old province of Tosa.
Kōchi Castle was completed in 1611 and rebuilt after a 1727 fire that took most of the original buildings. It is one of only twelve Japanese castles that retain their original donjon, and the only one whose entire honmaru ensemble survives intact, with the keep, the palace, and the Otemon gate all standing. The three-tiered tenshu rises 18.5 meters above the inner bailey and is registered as an Important Cultural Property.
The Sunday Market on Otesuji has run continuously for over three hundred years, since the Genroku era around 1690. It stretches roughly 1.3 km from the castle's Otemon gate, with about 300 stalls selling yuzu, ginger, Tosa knives, and the local awa-odori cucumber. The city is also remembered as the birthplace of Sakamoto Ryōma, the Bakumatsu-era reformer born here in 1836, whose bronze statue stands at Katsurahama beach.