No other kind of ceramics express Taiwanese culture quite like koji. Historic warriors, emperors, and animals in folklore have been brought to life in the form of koji figures adorning numerous temples in Taiwan.
A branch of Tang tri-color, the earliest colored ceramics in Chinese history, koji is best known for its spectrum of brilliant colors. Its rainbow-colored palette and bonbon-like texture come from the influx of Shanxi glass, Western enamel and the glazing technology in Jiangxi's Jinteh pottery. Despite some confusion over the origin of its name, most scholars agree that it refers to the ancient name of the area made up of today's Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, where the craft originated.
A koji work can consist of more than a hundred colors, of which green takes on the shade of jade, blue looks like sapphire and purple is the shade of amethyst, giving it the nickname "gem glaze." In its home region, koji pieces were usually seen decorating temple walls.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIWAN KOJI POTTERY ART CULTURE AND EDUCATION
This is because of the fact that koji's high plasticity and its wide spectrum of glaze colors makes it suitable for depicting detailed scenes from history or folklore in a realistic manner. The stories koji interpreted were often those carrying moral messages, like The 24 Examples of Filial Piety (
When immigrants from Guangdong Province brought the technology with them to central and southern Taiwan more than two centuries ago, they enlarged the repertoire to include scenes from Nankuan (
In addition to more materials for koji creation, the quality was being improved in Taiwan oweing to the practice of dou chiang (
As the base of famous masters like Yei Wang (業王) -- whose works in the mid-19th century can still be seen in Hsueichia township's Tsi Chi Temple (學甲慈濟宮) and Chiayi City's Chen Huang Temple (城隍廟) -- Chiayi emerged as the foremost koji region.
Its fame was so great that during Japanese rule, the occupying administration renamed koji "Chiayi yaki," (嘉義燒) meaning Chiayi-made ceramics. At this golden era of "Chiayi yaki," it once represented Taiwan in the French World Fair, according to scholar Chang Lee Te-he's (張李德和) account in the 1976 edition of History of Chiayi County.
Hong Kun-fu (
These works were already different from their perdecessors in southern China. "Guangdong's koji style was really simple. That changed dramatically when it came to Taiwan. It's said that the Taiwanse, living on an island, are daring and adventurous," Huang Hsiou-chen (
"This shows in the change they made to the style of koji. In addition to creating more glaze colors, the eyes of the figures are more focused and their poses more lively even when they depict the same folk legend," she said.
"Moreover, koji has become an almost exclusively Taiwanese craft. Athough koji originated from Guangdong, the cultural revolution has destroyed most of the works in China. Although some people have tried to revive the craft, they confine themselves to making pretty trinkets. Its original function as temple decoration can only be seen in Taiwan," Huang said.
Despite the rich treasure of ancient koji in temples around Taiwan, new temple works can hardly match their excellence. According to Huang, the problem lies in the change in commission.
"Koji craftsmen used to be `artists in residence.' The craftsman was commissioned to live in the temple he was going to work on. He then built a brick furnace in the yard and made the designs exclusively for this one temple so that each temple had a distinctive style. These days craftspeople usually buy ready-made works from two major mass manufacturers and then incorporate them into the temple roofs and columns," Huang said.
However, this does not spell the demise of koji.
Since the Ministry of Education held the first National Craftmaster Award (
When the the ministry held the second award ceremony in 1998, Lin Tzai-hsing (林再興), who learned his craft from an apprentice of Hong Kun-fu's, was deemed the national koji craftmaster. After that, the 73-year-old former Chiayi resident has worked as koji instructor in the newly established Taiwan Koji Pottery Art Culture and Education Foundation in Taipei. He's been holding classes on using koji techniques to make household accessories for elementary school pupils, high school teachers and the Yang Ming Home for the Disabled (陽明教養院), whose students last year made the biggest koji wall in Taiwan.
Apart from Lin's more high-profile efforts to bring the traditional temple decoration into people's living rooms, koji craftsmen in Chiayi have long tried to give the craft a makeover.
Unlike Lin's contemporaries, 52-year-old Kao Chi-ming (
In Chiayi's Pu Ji Temple (普濟殿), he met the then renowned koji craftsman Lin Tian-mu (林添木), who had by then given up temple decoration to launch a Taiwanese cake factory. The good-humored old man offered to teach Kao koji techniques to help him fix the koji antiques he dealt in.
What he learned from Lin not just helped him prepare his wares. He wanted to try out koji skills by making some small statues. Inspired by the antiques he knew well, Kao created better than amateur works, which his fellow dealers offered to buy. After that, Kao began to make "by demand" koji works for acquaintances. For fun at first, Kao became serious in his koji career after considering Lin's story.
"It was a bit sad to find a reputable craftsman giving up his craft. But Lin told me why he changed his trade. koji craftsmen used to work in a very passive way and their work was limited to temple decoration.
As there were already very few new temples being built or renovated in the 1970s, koji craftsmen could not make a decent living. The trade depended too much on temple projects," Kao told Taipei Times in an interview.
Then Kao applied his business acumen. "It occurred to me that we should become active. Instead of waiting for temples to commission us, we can just create the works and then try to sell the public. Koji does not have to be inside a temple," he said.
After that, Kao began to make koji statues of auspicious animals and patterned decorative items as well as historical figures targeting households. His works have been on display at Taipei International Ceramics Fair (
Admitting that koji was at its best when depicting figures and tableaus, Kao said that, "For koji to transform from part of a temple's decor to artifacts that anyone can put in their home, it had to become more versatile, depicting any subject you could think of."
The younger generation would certainly agree with him. In Kao's koji classes at the Chiayi City Cultural Bureau, which include students as young as 5 years old, "they make statues of cartoon characters like Pokemon without confining themselves to the conventional subjects. These are what the adults cannot imagine. They use the medium the way they want to," Kao said.
Soon koji instructors like Kao and Lin can see what kind of change foreigners will do to the craft. Starting Sept. 1, Lin and Taiwan koji Pottery Art Culture and Education Foundation will begin a koji course in English designed exclusively for foreign residents in Taiwan. "Understand the Beauty of Taiwan" (
For your information
Koji Pottery Museum: 275, Chungssiao Rd., Chiayi City.
Tel: (05) 278-8225
Taiwan koji Pottery Art Culture and Education Foundation: 4F, No. 501-21, Chungcheng Rd., Hsintian City, Taipei County. Tel: (02) 2218-9087
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