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[[File:Sue-wares.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Two Sue ware pots on display at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum]]

[[File:Sue-wares.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Two Sue ware pots on display at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum]]

*''Other Names'': カムイ焼 ''(Kamui yaki)''

*''Other Names'': 須恵焼 ''(Sue yaki)''

*''Japanese'': 須恵焼 ''(Sue yaki)''

*''Japanese'': カムイ焼 ''(Kamui yaki)''

Sue wares, also known as Kamuiyaki, are a style of ceramics produced on [[Tokunoshima]] in the [[Amami Islands]].

Kamuiyaki,<ref>''Kamui'' being the local word for "urns" or "pots" (瓶, J: ''kame''), and ''yaki'' 焼 meaning "fired," as in firing pottery.</ref> also known as Sue wares, are a style of ceramics chiefly produced on [[Tokunoshima]] in the [[Amami Islands]], but found throughout the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]], even as far south as the [[Yaeyama Islands]], as well as in Kyushu and elsewhere. The peak of their production was perhaps in the 11th-12th centuries.

Such wares spread widely as early as the 11th to 12th centuries, and have been found throughout the [[Ryukyu Islands]], even as far south as the [[Yaeyama Islands]].

Found in archaeological excavations in sites throughout the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] and coastal parts of [[Kyushu]], the origins of Sue wares were unclear until 1983, when a major production site - seemingly, the primary production site in the entire region - was discovered near the southern tip of Tokunoshima. ''Kamuiyaki'' wares are now understood to have been produced primarily on Tokunoshima, and traded via the nearby island of [[Kikaigashima]], though some kilns have been found elsewhere. Tokunoshima's forests, which provided ample firewood for the kilns, and arable land which produced food to support the potters and others, made for a good environment for such large-scale pottery production; some scholars have suggested that ''kamuiyaki'' production played a key role in the deforestation of the island in the premodern period.<ref name=smits21>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 21-22.</ref>

 

A strong trade in turbo (turban) shells (used for [[mother-of-pearl]] inlay) helped finance the establishment and maintenance of the kilns. But Korean knowledge and technology was essential as well, and it is believed that potters on Tokunoshima likely had strong contacts with Korean potters, whether directly (i.e. with Korean potters coming to Tokunoshima) or indirectly via contacts with [[Iki Island]], [[Tsushima]], or mainland Kyushu. ''Kamuiyaki'' kilns on mainland Kyushu date to around the 11th-12th centuries, and Korean ceramics (as trade goods) have been found on Kikai and Tokunoshima as well.<ref name=smits21/>

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==References==

==References==

*Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/29775640393/sizes/l]

*Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/29775640393/sizes/l]

[[Category:Art and Architecture]]

[[Category:Art and Architecture]]

[[Category:Ryukyu]]

[[Category:Ryukyu]]