Nishimatsuura

Western Matsuura is a hilly district of Hizen famed for the porcelain kilns of Arita. Korean potters brought skills to the region after the invasions of Korea, and porcelain production took root in the early seventeenth century. From the 1650s, the Dutch East India Company exported Arita wares to Europe, where they were sought by princes and collectors. Disruption to Chinese porcelain exports helped open this distant market to the kilns of Hizen.