Tradition at "Shin-gama"
The Shingama kiln was founded in 1830: “Shin” meaning new and “gama” a contraction of noborigama. With the patronage of the local feudal lord, they soon became a prominent producer.
The surviving noborigama at the Shingama kiln
Porcelain was discovered near Amakusa island in the south-west of Japan around 1616. At the same time, new kiln designs were introduced. The noborigama was a “climbing” kiln positioned on a hill so that the heat from a lower chamber would pre-heat the one above and the kiln became much more thermodynamically efficient and large scale production could begin.
Here you can see the ducts in the brickwork of the old noborigama that allowed the heat to pass up the kiln