(b Kyoto, 1783; d ?Fushimi, Kyoto Prefect., 1855). Japanese ceramicist. He was the second-generation head of the Dohachi family. His father, Dohachi, son of a retainer of the Kameyama fief in the province of Ise, established a kiln at Awataguchi in Kyoto in the Horeki era (1751-64), thereby forming his own school, and later assumed the name Takahashi Dohachi. Along with AOKI MOKUBEI, and EIRAKU HOZEN, the younger Takahashi Dohachi was one of the most famous makers kyoyaki ('Kyoto ceramics'), especially polychrome (overglaze) enamels, in the later Edo period (1600-1868). As a youth he followed his father into the ceramics trade, and then became a disciple of OKUDA EISEN. From 1806 he was permitted to conduct official business with the prince-abbot (monzeki) of the temple Shoren'in, which secured his reputation as the leading potter of Awataguchi. In 1814 he moved to the Gojozaka district, where he built a kiln and perfected the craft of making blue-and-white ceramics. He produced some superbly elegant pieces of kyoyaki (extant) in the styles of Ogata Kenzan (see OGATA, (2)) and NONOMURA NINSEI, and copies of Hon'ami Koetsu's (see HON'AMI, (1)) famous Raku teabowl called Kamiya. The techniques he used to make copies of Chinese ceramics (karamono; 'Chinese things') or of Korean works from the Koryo period (AD 918-1392) were second to none. Unlike Mokubei, however, who emphasized Chinese elements, Dohachi preferred Japanese coloration. He also produced highly accomplished sculpted objects such as incense containers and hand-warmers in the form of Jurojin and Hotei (two of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune), cats, badgers and dogs. Cherry-blossom and maple-tree designs on enamel adorn some of his finest works, many of them completed after his retirement to Fushimi. In the 1990s the family was headed by the eighth-generation Dohachi.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
