Japan: Its History, Arts, and Literature/Volume 8/Chapter 7

by Captain F. Brinkley

Chapter VII

MISCELLANEOUS WARES

KARATSU-YAKI

Reference has been made more than once in the preceding pages to the ware of Karatsu. A port on the northwest coast of Hizen, Karatsu, or Nagoya, may be said to have been the harbour of entry and exit for the greater part of the traffic between Japan, China, and Korea. It was here that the Taikō, in 1572, assembled his forces for the Korean expedition. More than a thousand years ago the little town possessed kilns, and was recognised as a place of some importance for the sake of its potteries. But there is no evidence that in those early days the outcome of its factories was in any respect above the generally low level of the potter's industry throughout Japan. The best specimens produced at the foot of Mount Karatsu in the ninth and tenth centuries were of coarse clay, dark and heavy, showing only an occasional trace of natural glaze. Their one feature of interest is that they were made on the wheel. Early in the eleventh century, however, some Korean potters are said to have found their way to Karatsu and settled there. The date of this event is somewhat apocryphal. If it be accepted, the student is obliged to admit that Katō Shirozaemon was not the "father of Japanese potters," and that, some two hundred years before his visit to China, the glazing processes which he went to learn were practised successfully at Karatsu. For it is certain that the pieces attributed to the Korean settlers of the eleventh century were glazed, and that their general manufacture showed a higher degree of skill than that attained by Shirozaemon himself before his trip to China. Evidence bearing upon this point is meagre and inconclusive. The probability is that the age of these early specimens of Karatsu-yaki has been exaggerated. They were called Oku-gōrai, a term which may mean Korean (Korai) ware manufactured either in a distant (oku) country or at a remote period. If the latter explanation be taken—and the balance of expert opinion is in favour of it—Oku-gōrai-yaki may be translated "Ancient Ware in the Korean Style." It is scarcely necessary to dwell upon this point, or indeed upon any point connected with the Oku-gōrai. The pottery has neither technical nor artistic merit, if judged by modern standards. It chiefly deserves to be remembered as disputing with the Tōshiro-yaki the distinction of representing the first artificially-glazed faience of Japan. The Korean settlers appear to have used imported material originally. Among the specimens identified as Oku-gōrai are some which bear a strong resemblance to vessels of undoubted Korean manufacture dating from the ninth and tenth centuries. Their pâte is coarse, but of tolerably light colour; their glaze semi-diaphanous, roughly crackled, somewhat granular and of a patchy brown colour, often disfigured by blisters. It was soon found that the necessary clay existed at Karatsu, and the Japanese artisans, profiting by Korean instruction, would probably have developed considerable skill but for lack of incentive. Among the middle classes there was little if any demand for utensils of faience, and it is recorded that the choicest productions of the Karatsu potters during the twelfth century were bowls for measuring rice, called Yoné-hakari. These, as well as the Oku-gōrai, were stoved in an inverted position. They bear, inside, three marks, traces of their supports while in the kiln, and the glaze runs towards the upper rim, which it generally fails to cover. It is thick glaze, of a reddish grey tint, in tolerably good keeping with the pâte, which is dark slate-colour. Early in the thirteenth century the factory at Karatsu, like those in Owari, felt the influence of the newly developed taste for tea, and began to adopt the improvements introduced by Katō Shirozaemon. Among these the most noteworthy was that the pieces were no longer baked in an inverted position: their inner surface ceased to be disfigured by marks of supports, and their upper portions by the rough edges of the glaze. These easily detected differences distinguish the original outcome of the Karatsu kilns—namely, the Oku-gōrai and Kome-hakari or Yoné-hakari—from the pieces produced during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—namely, the Ko-garatsu (Old Karatsu) and Seto-garatsu. With regard to this last term, it is evidently derived from the fact that after the faience manufactured at Seto by Katō Shirozaemon began to grow famous, his methods were adopted by the potters of Karatsu. The truth is that the potters of Karatsu were chiefly imitators. Their best efforts being intended for the tea-clubs, they took as models the rusty wares of Korea, Annam, Luzon, etc., or the choicer but still sombre products of the Seto kilns.

Things remained thus at Karatsu until the close of the sixteenth century, when the Japanese expeditionary force landed there (1598) on its return from Korea. The Taikō had died four years previously, but his orders had been obeyed. The Japanese generals brought back with them a large number of Korean keramists. Of these, some settled at Karastu, where their skill soon made itself felt at the potteries. The pieces produced under their instruction were called Chōsen-garatsu, or "Korean Karatsu," Chōsen being the name by which Korea was then known. The pâte of these specimens is better manipulated than that of any previous Karatsu-yaki, but, though hard, is coarse and very dark in colour. Two glazes are almost invariably used,—the one mahogany, the other dark cream-colour. These glazes show considerable lustre. The former generally constitutes the body-glaze, while the latter is used to cover small portions of the surface. The effect of the combination is pleasing. Another, though very rare, variety has iron-red metallic spots, and is partially covered with a curious creamy glaze, tinged with red. Good specimens of Chōsen-garatsu have always been prized by Japanese amateurs.

From about the middle of the seventeenth century the Karatsu ware begins to assume a more decorative character. The Korean potters appear to have followed the example of their Chōsa contemporaries (vide Satsuma-yaki). They began to produce flambé glaze,—chiefly mahogany or dark brown with splashes of bluish white or clouds of blue and green. These are not uninteresting. Certainly they are far superior to the thick, grey granular glazes, coarsely crackled and often blistered, of the earlier Karatsu-yaki. But they do not show either the lustre or the solidity of the Chōsa flambé faience, and they are almost invariably disfigured by technical defects.

Another variety of faience manufactured at Karatsu, from the close of the sixteenth century, was directly copied from a Korean stone- ware called E-Gorai, or "painted Korean." Pottery of this class was known as E-garatsu. It may be described as grey or brownish ware, sometimes having a tinge of green, with archaic designs boldly executed in reddish brown or black under the glaze.

The Karatsu potters never marked their pieces, and have left no personal records. At the beginning of the eighteenth century they were taken under the patronage of their feudal chief, who, like the other nobles of Japan, began to adopt the practice of sending to the Court of the Shōgun in Yedo, or to his brother peers, specimens of the best products of his fief. Pieces manufactured for this special purpose were called Kenjo-garatsu, or "Presentation Karatsu." Among them are cups, tea-jars, etc., covered with thin glaze, generally of dusky green hue, and having under the glaze simple designs formed by incising the pâte and filling the incisions with white clay. These are tolerably tasteful. They bear a close resemblance to the faience manufactured at Yatsushiro in the same province. But the best variety of the Kenjo-garatsu is a stone-ware the white or grey glaze of which is so manipulated that it assumes the form of little globules, remarkably distinct and regular. Specimens of this are rare. The idea is said to have been derived from a species of Chinese porcelain, made early in the Ming period, the surface of which was granulated like the skin of an orange. But in the Chinese ware the glaze is continuous, while in the Japanese each globule appears to be, and in some cases actually is, distinct from its neighbour. This result was produced by using for the pâte and the glaze clays with different indices of expansion. Careful manipulation of materials and management of temperature were necessary to achieve success, but the difficulties were not very great. The commonest species of Karatsu-yaki may be described as faience made of dark, tolerably fine clay, over which is run thick buff-coloured glaze, coarsely crackled, and generally showing irregular patches of white towards the edges. It may be worth mentioning that the only authenticated specimens of Karatsu ware dating farther back than the seventeenth century are bowls and cups. The first tea-jars were made by a potter called Gombei, who lived about the year 1630. With the exception of this man, the only experts of Karatsu whose names have descended to posterity are Yojibei, Taroemon, and the latter's son, Kiheiji. These flourished during the first half of the eighteenth century.

Among the miscellaneous, or minor, wares of Japan, the first place is here given to the Karatsu-yaki, not on account of its excellence, but because the factories at that place rank first in point of antiquity. So long, indeed, had Karatsu been associated with the keramic industry that in old times the inhabitants of Hizen were wont to speak of pottery generically as Karatsu-mono, just as the people of Japan apply to it to-day the name Seto-mono. At present the term Hizen-yaki conveys, to ninety-nine persons out of every hundred, a signification entirely unconnected with the productions of any factory in the province other than those in Arita and its environs.

A modern Karatsu expert called Nakazato Keizo is distinguished for his skill in modelling figures of men and animals. He ceased to work, some five or six years ago, owing to partial loss of sight.

 

WARES OF CHIKUZEN

Takatori-yaki

The reader will not have failed to perceive how largely the keramic industry of Japan was influenced by the advent of the Korean potters who came over in the train of the Taikō's generals. Of these imported experts not the least successful, from a technical point of view, were those who settled at Takatori, in Chikuzen, a province lying on the north of Hizen, and forming, in the early days of the seventeenth century, the fief of a nobleman, Kuroda Nagamasa, whose relations with the Court at Kyōtō, and subsequently with that at Yedo, were particularly close. Of the exact number of Koreans who were located at Takatori there is no record, but the names of two, Shinkuro and Hachizo, have been preserved as masters of the art. The latter is said to have been among the prisoners taken by the chief of Chikuzen, and the former to have been specially selected by Kato Kiyomasa, general-in-chief of the expedition, as a potter already renowned in Korea. The names Shinkuro and Hachizo were, of course, given to them in Japan. What they were originally called tradition does not say, but it is on record that both were natives of a Korean village known by the Japanese as Ido. There is no question that the potter's industry had been practised in Chikuzen long before the coming of these men. Ancient annals mention ware produced there as early as the ninth century, but it was probably unglazed pottery, without any claim to public favour. That the resources of the place were meagre has been inferred from the fact that Shinkuro and Hachizo, during the early years of their residence at Takatori, used imported materials only. But it seems to have been a part of the Taikō's order to his generals that not workmen alone but also matter to work with should be brought from Korea. Chikuzen certainly did not want for fine clays, as was proved by the pieces subsequently manufactured there. The first productions of Shinkuro and Hachizo at Takatori were in the pure Korean style, the shapes and ornamentation being archaic in character, the pâte coarse, the glaze thin and diaphanous. Shinkuro did not long remain a captive. He died almost immediately after the lord of the province, Kuroda Nagamasa The latter's son, Tadayuki, showed himself a liberal patron of art. It happened at this time that the celebrated dilettante Kobori Masakazu, feudal chief of Enshiu, interested himself in the work of the Korean captives, and to him, at Fushimi, near Kyōtō, Tada-yuki sent Hachizo and the latter's son, Hachiroemon, for instruction. Even this temporary association with the great amateur would probably have been sufficient to establish the prestige of the Takatori ware. But, in addition, Hachizo and his son were shortly afterwards assisted by a workman of greater skill and finer artistic instincts than themselves. This was Igarashi Jizaemon, a native of Hizen, who had devoted several years to acquiring and practising the processes of the Seto potters of Owari. He appears to have been a man of independent means, wandering from place to place in his capacity of amateur artist. Happening to visit Chikuzen, he was speedily taken under Tada-yuki's protection, and appointed, conjointly with Hachizo, to superintend the factory at Takatori. Previously to this event the Takatori-yaki potters, under the direction of Hachizo and Shinkuro, had applied only one coat of glaze to their pieces. They made no attempt to copy the multiple glazes of the Seto artists. But with Igarashi's advent a new era commenced, and the Takatori-yaki very soon rose to conspicuous eminence among Japanese ware for the lustre, variety, and general beauty of its glazes. The renowned Yao-pien-yao, or "transmutation ware," of China is said to have been at first taken as a model, but it is plain that the Japanese experts depended on their own methods of mixing colouring materials rather than on partially accidental effects of oxidisation. In point of colour a characteristic difference between the two wares is that, while some shade of blue enters largely into the composition of the common varieties of Chinese variegated glazes, the dominant tinge of the Japanese resembles dark amber. Very rich transparent brown, almost verging upon claret-colour, is also found, and occasionally the "iron-dust" glaze (Tungshu-hwa) of China was copied successfully. The pâte of all these better sorts was fine pipe-clay, sometimes not unlikely to be confounded with the clay of the Middle Kingdom. The potters confined themselves to working for the teaclubs, and achieved such renown in this branch of their art that the great Kobori Masakazu (1645) himself selected some of their best productions, and gave them names indicative of their peculiar merits; as, for example, "dyed river" (Some-gawa); "cross-fence" (Ogaku); "autumn evening" (Aki-no-yo), and so forth. It is scarcely possible to overestimate the value attaching to pieces distinguished by the approval of such an amateur. Their weight in gold proved often but a fraction of their worth in the eyes of subsequent generations, for they became the representatives, not merely of names great in the history of keramics, but also of a creed reverenced by every student of art in succeeding centuries. The Takatori-yaki is one of the few Japanese wares that may be mistaken for a Chinese production. The lustre and softness of its glaze bear comparison with the chefs-d'œuvre of the Middle Kingdom. Unfortunately the choicest specimens are tiny, insignificant tea-jars.

Hachizo and his descendants are regarded as the chief potters of Takatori. The genealogy of the family is as follows:―

1. Hachizo, founder of the family.
2. Hachiroemon, son of Hachizo; died 1665.
3. Hachiroemon, son of the above; died 1712.
4. Tōhachi, son of Hachiroemon (the second); died 1752.
5. Tōkichi, son of Tōhachi; died 1785.
6. Tsunekichi, son of Tōkichi; died 1815.
7. Kokichi, son of Tsunekichi; died 1854.
8. Kōichi, son of Kokichi; now living.

The history of the Takatori potters shows that they frequently changed the site of their factory, doubtless in search of good clay. Thus in 1614, they were at Iso; in 1630, at Shirahata-yama; in 1662, at Tsutsumi-mura ; a little later, at Tajima-mura and Shimo- keigo-mura. Finally, in 1708, they moved to Shikahara-mura (Stag-plain village)—always, of course, keeping within the province of Chikuzen—and there, establishing a factory on the slope of Ueno-yama, manufactured censers, teacups, watervessels, incense-boxes, etc., so skilfully and in such quantities that the place ultimately received the name of Higashi-sara-yama, or Eastern Plate-Hill. A few years later (1716), another factory was established in the neighbourhood, under the name of Nishi-sara-yama (Western Plate-Hill). The productions of the latter were coarser and destined for commoner use than those of the former. These various changes of locality may be traced, with more or less accuracy, in the pâte of the ware. Thus, the amateur may accept it as a rule that the clay of the early period (1600-1660) Takatori-yaki is of a light grey colour (called by the Japanese nezumi-iro, or mouse-colour); that of the middle period (1660-1700), nearly white; that of the third period (1700-1800), reddish, and sometimes purplish. It will not, however, be safe to conclude that every specimen having a nearly white pâte dates from a period prior to 1700. All that can be confidently asserted is that such a pâte does not belong to an era earlier than 1660. Three varieties of clay were used by the Takatori potters. They are all found in Chikuzen, and are named after the places where they exist. No attempt has yet been made to analyse them, nor is there any record of the propor- tions in which they were mixed. Considering the qualities of the Takatori-yaki, the notice it has hitherto received at the hands of Western commentators is singularly meagre. Among specimens produced during the third period of manufacture are to be found cleverly modelled figures of mythological beings and animals, covered with lustrous variegated glazes, the general colours being grey or buff, with tints of green, chocolate brown, and sometimes blue. These have always been favourites with buyers of bric-à-brac, and many of them are doubtless to be found in Western collections. The first manufacturer of such pieces is said to have been a priest who (circa 1615) modelled statuettes of Buddhistic deities. It may be mentioned that a popular distinction is made in Japan between the earliest specimens of Takatori ware and those manufactured subsequent to the instruction received from Kobori Masakazu (born 1576, died 1645): the former are called Ko-Takatori (old Takatori); the latter Enshiu-Takatori.

There are at present three kilns at which the manufacture of Takatori-yaki is carried on. The first is at Koishibara. It is under the direction of Yanase Jimbei, Nakagawa Buhei, and Hayakawa Kabei. Of these potters the two first are the descendants of Kambei and Kahei respectively, who flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century. The productions of the Koishibara factory are chiefly imitations of the old Kutani-yaki, to which, however, they are much inferior. The second factory is at the same place. It is managed by Takatori Shigeki—whose ancestor of the same name commenced the potter's business in 1791—and Yanase Shunzo, whose family has been at the business since 1752. These experts copy the style of the old Takatori ware, but produce also white glazes, thick and lustrous. The third factory is at Momo-mura. It was opened by Sasaki Yozo, a Kyōtō artist, who came to Kaga by official invitation in 1856, and remained there until 1880. He was succeeded by Sawada Shunzan, who now produces inferior faience for daily use.

 

Sōhichi-yaki

Kuroda Nagamasa, feudal chief of Chikuzen, appears to have been a dilettante of unusual earnestness. The story of a tea-jar, known among Japanese amateurs as Funrin Cha-tsubo, illustrates his love of objects of art. There lived in Ōsaka a wealthy brewer of saké, named Sōtan, a native of Chikuzen. He was in the habit of sending a clerk to China, from time to time, to transact business. This clerk fell in love with a Chinese courtesan—in what part of China there is no record—and having squandered a large sum of money belonging to his master, found himself barely able to make his way home. At parting, the woman presented to him a tea-jar reputed to be of great value. The clerk, in turn, presented the tea-jar to Sōtan, who was so delighted with the specimen that he forgave his employé's misdeeds and restored him to his former office. By-and-by Kuroda Nagamasa saw the tea-jar, and would fain have become its possessor; but the brewer refused to part with it. Subsequently the Taikō also tried to obtain it. Sōtan, however, remained obstinate. In the spring of the following year the brewer gave a tea réunion, at which the Taikō and Kuroda were both present. During the entertainment Hideyoshi, beckoning to his host, left the room, followed by Kuroda. Sōtan seems to have known what was coming, for when the Taikō accosted him, saying, "Of all your treasures, Sōtan, there is one only that I covet," he at once drew the tea-jar from his bosom, and replied: "Here is the object of your thoughts, my lord. Since it has attracted such honourable attention, I will present it to my chief Kuroda." It is related that Kuroda had a triple case made for the tea-jar, and that he appointed fifteen officials, all of whom were held responsible for its safety. That the keramic industry of Chikuzen should have flourished under the patronage of such an enthusiast, is not wonderful. A few years after this event, Kuroda, hearing that a tilemaker of remarkable skill lived in the adjoining province of Bungo, invited him to Chikuzen. This man's name was Buroku. His grandson, Sōhichi, developed great plastic ability, and gave his name to a ware little known in modern times, but well deserving of notice. It was buff stone-ware, the pâte as fine as pipe-clay and exceedingly hard, and the glaze very thin and diaphanous with a greenish tinge. Many specimens are not glazed at all, their surface being merely polished, after the style of the old Fukakusa-yaki. In this Sōhichi-yaki excellent examples of plastic work are to be found, as masks, censers, alcove ornaments, and so forth. At a later period of the manufacture—probably from the beginning of the eighteenth century—pigments were used for decorative purposes, especially in the manufacture of figures with drapery elaborately painted in various colours. The pâte of the ware is not uniform, and sometimes it is comparatively soft and chalky. From the time of Sōhichi until that of his seventh descendant (about 1830), the family had the honour of sending a special parcel of ware every year to the Imperial Court in Kyōtō. Tradition says that while this ware was in process of manufacture, a mauve curtain, embroidered with the Imperial coat of arms, was drawn round the factory, which was in the town of Fukuoka, and no one below the rank of Councillor of State was permitted to pass on horseback. It was also permanently forbidden that any one residing within two cho (240 yards) of the factory should use the ideograph so (initial character of Sōhichi) to form his name.

There is now a porcelain factory at Tsukushi, in the same province of Chikuzen. Blue-and-white ware of fair quality is produced, but it scarcely rises to the level of an art manufacture.

 

WARES OF HIGO (KUMAMOTO PREFECTURE)

The principal province of Kiushiu is Higo, which lies to the south of Hizen. The feudal chief of this province at the end of the sixteenth century was the renowned warrior Katō Kiyomasa, who led the expedition of 1592 to Korea. Returning in 1598, he brought with him two Korean potters, and directed them to open a factory at the foot of a hill called Koshiro, near Minamiseki. The ware produced (Koshiro-yaki) was faience, or stone-ware, having flambé glazes resembling but inferior to those of the Chosa-yaki (vide Satsuma-yaki), and evidently copied from Chinese models. The factory was patronised by the feudal chiefs of the province. In 1670 an order was issued that specimens of the Koshiro-yaki should be regularly furnished to the house of Hosokawa. Subsequently, at an unrecorded date, the potters moved to the Hori-ike park in Minamiseki. The productions were thenceforth known as Shōfū-yaki. The present owner of the factory is Noda Matashichi, who carries on a considerable trade in coarse articles of daily use.

Another factory was established (1765) at Honto-baba by Okabe Tokuzō. Faience was manufactured there, having reddish brown pâte and mahogany glaze.

But the ware on which the keramic reputation of the province chiefly depends is the Yatsushiro-yaki. Among the Koreans brought to Japan by Katō Kyomasa was Sonkai, said to be a son of the governor of Fusan, in that country. Sonkai resided for a short time at Karatsu. Then, either of his own wish inspired by what he saw at the Karatsu factories, or in obedience to Katō Kiyomasa's commands, he revisited Korea and fully studied the potter's art. Returning to Japan in 1602, he was invited to Agano, in the province of Buzen, by Hosokawa Tadaoki. Establishing a factory there, he changed his name to Agano Kizō. In 1631 the province of Higo became the fief of the Hosokawa family, and Tadatoshi, the then representative of the family, moved his residence to Yatsushiro in that province. Thither he was followed by Kizō and two of his sons. They settled at Toyobara, and opened a factory where two varieties of ware were produced. The first was faience resembling the Koshiro-yaki mentioned above; its pâte being reddish brown, and its glaze mahogany with splashes, or clouds, of blue, black, and buff. The second, to which the name Yatsushiro-yaki has ever since been confined, had similar pâte, but more carefully manipulated and of finer texture, and diaphanous pearl-grey or warm brown glaze, uniform, lustrous, and finely crackled. The decoration, which consisted generally of storks flying among clouds, or of simple combinations of lines and diapers, was incised in the pâte, the incisions being filled with white slip and the glazing material run over the whole. This, one of the most delicate and æsthetic of all Japanese faiences, was a copy of the Korean ware known in Japan as Unkaku-de (clouds and storks pattern), to which, however, it is decidedly superior in delicacy and beauty of finish. But, on the other hand, neither the Yatsushiro-yaki nor its Korean progenitor compares favourably with the Chinese faience which is the original of both. Another variety of this ware imitates the Korean Hakime, or "streaked" pottery, in which the white engraved design is intended to represent the marks (me) of a coarse brush (haki), the idea being to convey an idea of boldness and rapidity of finish. A third variety, copied from the Mishima faience of Korea, has a pattern of vertical cord-marks, which, from the resemblance they bear to the lines of closely written characters in the old almanack of Mishima (a large town on the Tokaido), suggested the name of the ware. The decoration of the Yatsushiro-yaki is practically confined to white, incised designs. Rarely, and then only in very choice pieces, is there any addition of blue under the glaze.

Sonkai, or Agano Kizō, having been enrolled among the vassals of the chief of Higo, his family received a perpetual annuity. He died in 1646. One of his sons had remained at Agano, in Busen; another, Chūbei, succeeded to the charge of the Toyobara factory, and a third, Tokubei, called also Toshiro, established a branch factory. About the year 1715 a grandson of Kizō, by name Tarosuke, founded another branch of the family with a separate kiln. For the sake of clearness it will be well to note briefly the various artists of the three factories:—

FAMILY OF AGANO KIZŌ

1. Kizō; died 1646.
2. Chūbei, art name Hōsan; died (about) 1680.
3. Chūbei, art name Ippō; died (about) 1730.
4. Chūbei; died (about) 1770.
5. Chuzō; died (about) 1810.
6. Chubei; died (about) 1850.
7. Saibei, afterwards called Shūzō, art name Hōsan; still living, but not working.
8. Teizō, the present representative.

FAMILY OF AGANO TOKUBEI, OR TŌSHIRO

1. Tokubei, or Tōshiro; died (about) 1690.

The representative of each generation of this family seems to have taken the name Toshiro, until the sixth (about 1840), an expert of considerable reputation called Yahachiro. His son, Tōshiro, was the father of the present representative, Jirokichi.

 

FAMILY OF AGANO TOROSUKE

1. Torosuke; died (about) 1760. It is said that this artist travelled to Yedo, and learned the method of manufacturing Raku faience.

There is no record of the history of this family, except that the representative of the fifth generation, named Gentaro, was counted an expert of great skill and flourished in the Tempo era (1830-1843). The present representative is Agano Yaichiro.

 

In recent years the manufacture of Yatsushiro faience, after a period of comparative cessation, has been actively revived. The best specimens now produced are carefully and artistically made, but fall short of the old ware in lustre and delicacy. Six varieties of clay are used to form the pâte and glaze. They are all found within the boundaries of Higo, and are named after the localities where they exist.

As is the case with nearly all Japanese wares, good specimens of early Yatsushiro-yaki are generally small and insignificant. Vases are rarely, if ever, found: they belong to a comparatively late period of manufacture. Censers, cups, bowls, and small dishes make up the total of procurable examples. Decoration over the glaze was never employed: such an addition indicates a piece destined for the foreign market. Within the past twenty years many modern specimens have been obtained by Western collectors and are regarded with admiration. But the fault of these modern pieces is want of lustre and softness. The body colour is cold grey, not offering sufficient contrast to the white encaustic design. In other respects the ware is carefully manipulated and decidedly attractive. Its pâte shows a distinctly redder tinge and is softer than the pâte of former times. A variety frequently seen now has its encaustic decoration disposed in white vertical stripes running from the top to the bottom of the specimen. This is a reproduction of the "corduroy" type often affected by Satsuma potters. Indeed, the amateur may easily mistake occasional specimens of so-called "Mishima" Satsuma for Yatsushiro ware, more especially as the Higo potters sometimes employed clay obtained in Satsuma. Old examples of Yatsushiro-yaki are usually without marks.

There is a porcelain factory also in the province of Higo. It was established at Oda, in the Udo district, by order of the Hosokawa chief, in 1791, and under his patronage the industry attained some importance. Porcelain stone was found at Shirato, in the neighbourhood, but an examination of the ware shows that the celebrated Amakusa stone was also employed; as might indeed be expected, seeing that the Udo district lies on the coast opposite the island of Amakusa. Specimens of Higo porcelain are rarely met with, and unless they bear the mark of the factory, they can scarcely be distinguished from Arita ware. Vitrifiable enamels do not seem to have been used, the decoration being confined to blue sous couverte. Some pieces are white, with reticulated or moulded designs. The industry still exists on a small scale in the hands of the potters Tanaka Sakai, Matsumura Jisaburo, Nagao Teigoro, and others.

 

FUKAKUSA-YAKI

In the suburbs of Kyōtō, distant about five (English) miles from the city, lies the village of Fushimi, celebrated as the site of the Palace of Pleasure (Jūraku), built by the order of the Taiko, and by his order also levelled with the ground after the intrigues of its first inmate, Hidetsugu. Near this village, at a place called Fukakusa, there was a fine pipe-clay that gave peculiarly close, hard pâte. For the sake of this clay the village was occasionally chosen by potters as a place of residence. It has been shown that the "father of potters," Katō Shirozaemon, attempted to manufacture porcelain there in the thirteenth century, and that Sōshiro, who flourished in the time of the Taikō (1590), produced with Fukakusa clay unglazed pottery of considerable beauty which he decorated with black and gold lacquer, receiving from the Taikō the title of merit Tenka Ichi. The records tell nothing of Sōshiro's family. If any of his descendants inherited his art, their names have not survived. Contemporary with him was an expert called Hirata Heiemon, who opened a factory in Kawara-machi, Fushimi, in the year 1593. By this man and his posterity the manufacture of the Fukakusa-yaki was virtually monopolised. The factory was moved to Sukikai-bashi, in the same village, in 1642, and there it still remains, its present owner, Heiemon, being ninth in descent from the founder. At the outset the productions were confined to unglazed pottery, which owed its merit entirely to quality of pâte and accuracy of finish. Articles such as fire-boxes, tea-urns, ash-holders, etc. were chiefly manufactured. By Heiemon's son, Kōemon, however, a new departure was made. This artist possessed rare skill as a modeller. His statuettes attracted so much attention at the time that he received the soubriquet of "Ningyo-ya Kōemon" (Kōemon the puppet-maker), and subsequent generations came to regard him as the real originator of this style of work in Japan. Very few genuine specimens of Kōemon's manufacture survive, but these suffice to show that he possessed rare ability as a modeller. His pieces are not glazed, nor did he use vitrifiable enamels. The decoration of his statuettes was effected by painting in distemper—green, slate blue, and red being the principal colours employed—with the addition of gold. Since his time the modelling of mythical figures—men, birds, and animals—has always been a specialty with the Fukakusa potters. After Kōemon's death, however, they abandoned his distemper colours—except in rare instances and used a thin, diaphanous glaze. Whether by design or by accident, their pieces thus assumed the appearance of wood-carvings, the brownish pâte bearing a close resemblance to wood slightly discoloured by age. During the latter half of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries, two of the Sukikai-bashi artists, Rokuro and Sozaburo, established a reputation that still survives. Of their successors none were specially distinguished, though specimens of their handicraft often show great mastery of the plastic art.

 

SHIKASE-YAMA-YAKI

Before leaving the province of Yamashiro, mention may be made of the Shikase-yama-yaki, a faience produced at a place of the same name in the Sagara district of Yamashiro. The manufacture was commenced in 1827 by Morimoto Suke-emon, in consequence of the discovery of potter's clay in the neighbourhood of his house. He invited an expert from Kyōtō, and produced faience to supply local demand. The ware resembled that of Awata, but was coarser and not so highly decorated. Twenty years later (1847), Ichigo, feudal chief of the district, obtained the services of a keramist called Ogawa Riuzaemon. In the hands of this potter and his son, Ogawa Kyuemon, the Shikase-yama-yaki acquired considerable reputation. It deserves no special description, being scarcely distinguishable from the ordinary faience of Kyōtō. Ogawa Kyuemon's skill in connection with the construction of kilns has already been spoken of (vide last paragraph of Chapter VIII).

 

BIZEN-YAKI

Bizen is a province on the coast of the Inland Sea. Tradition assigns a very early date to the origin of keramic manufacture in the province, and says that it was one of the places where clay substitutes for human sacrifices were produced in the opening centuries of the Christian era. Authentic records, however, do not go back farther than the Oei era (1394-1427) when three kilns, called respectively the southern kiln, the northern kiln, and the western kiln, were constructed at the foot of the hills Kayabara-yama, Fure-zan, and Ikuo-zan, all in the Imbe district. The ware manufactured was very hard, coarse, red stone-ware, unglazed, or having only a natural glaze, and designed for rough use in farmhouses. The materials were found in the neighbourhood. Owing to the great capacity of the kilns and the refractory nature of the clay, a very high temperature had to be applied: the furnaces were kept alight from twenty-three to thirty days. Towards the close of the sixteenth century the manufacture underwent considerable improvement, probably owing to the encouragement of the Taikō, who visited the factories in 1583, when on a campaign in the central provinces. There were then six master-keramists at work,—Terami, Kaneshige, Tongū, Oba, and two representatives of the Mori family. Under them were employed forty-six potters. The ware was known as Imbe-yaki or Ko-Bizen (old Bizen). Previously to the time of the Taikō, large vases for religious festivals, jars for keeping and germinating agricultural seeds, and other common utensils were chiefly made. But from the end of the sixteenth century ware for the use of the tea-clubs—as tea-jars, censers, ewers, and teapots—began to be manufactured. To this term the Bizen-yaki properly applies. At first it differed from its predecessor only in more careful technique. The pâte was finer and better manipulated, and the general workmanship superior. By-and-by, however, the patches of accidental glazing that appeared occasionally on specimens of the Kō-Bizen-yaki were replaced by a regular coating of thin, diaphanous glaze. There can be little doubt that the motive of the potters was to imitate the red Boccaro pottery of China, but their success in this respect was only partial. About the middle of the seventeenth century the character of the choicest Bizen-yaki underwent another change. It became slate-coloured, or bluish brown faience, with pâte fine as pipe-clay but very hard. In this Ao-Bizen (blue Bizen), as it is called, figures of mythical beings and animals, as well as birds, fishes, and so forth, were modelled with a degree of plastic ability that can scarcely be spoken of in too high terms. Representative specimens are truly admirable, every line true, every contour faithful: they will bear comparison with similar works produced in any country at any age. There is nothing to show exactly at what time or under what circumstances this most remarkable plastic skill was developed, but its first exercise does not appear to date farther back than the second half of the seventeenth century, and the best examples were probably produced at a still later epoch. Cocks in the attitude of challenging or crowing, sparrows, quails, mythical animals, the Shichi-fuku-jin, the Shishi, and so forth, were favourite subjects for the modeller; he generally managed to represent them instinct with life and of unerringly correct form. In rare cases specimens of this character were intended to serve as alcove ornaments (oki-mono), but the great majority of them were censers. It is said that the bluish grey, or slate colour, of the pâte was obtained in the furnace by skilful management of temperature. Whether such was the fact, or whether the colour resulted from using special materials, must remain for the present undecided, since the Ao-Bizen ware is no longer produced. The records of the factories say that, for choice ware, earth found in the Imbe district was mixed, after careful preparation, with fine particles of mud from a pond in Hatada-mura, and that the latter, with a proportion of lixiviated ash of the Goma (Sesamum orientalis), served for glazing material. The baking, even of these smaller articles, occupied thirteen days, and much depended on proper management of temperature. It is not to be understood that the best productions of the Bizen factories are confined to the Ao-Bizen type. Many beautiful specimens have the red pâte generally but erroneously supposed to be characteristic of all Bizen-yaki. Sometimes the glaze applied to this latter variety bears such a close resemblance in colour and metallic sheen to the finest golden-tinted bronze that the two may readily be confounded. As a general rule this charming glaze, unique in Oriental keramics, belongs to the productions of the eighteenth century.

The terms Ko-Bizen-yaki and Imbe-yaki are properly interchangeable, but by some connoisseurs the former is applied to unglazed, the latter to glazed, specimens. The most valued pieces of old Bizen ware are those stamped with the shape of a new moon (Mikka-zuki), a waning moon (Kae-zuki), or the ideographs Koku-bei (vide Marks and Seals), while another less esteemed variety bears the delineation of a cherry blossom. The last mark is found also on comparatively modern pieces. During the period of art renaissance, towards the close of the sixteenth century, Kyōtō amateurs appear to have visited Bizen and manufactured tea-utensils there. In the collections of modern virtuosi pieces are preserved bearing marks attributed to Sōhaku, Shimbei, Shōgen, and Moemon, who flourished between 1573 and 1614.

Another variety of Bizen-yaki, found in ware of various epochs from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, is distinguished by the term Hi-dasuki. Tasuki is the name of a cord used to confine the long sleeves of the Japanese dress when the wearer wishes to employ his arms freely. It passes round the shoulders and is crossed behind them. Hi-dasuki thus signifies a kiln (hi) mark resembling the tasuki. Such marking was obtained originally by tying a straw rope round the piece before placing it in the oven. When the rope was consumed there remained on the surface of the pottery an appearance of mottling or irregular lines of red. This crude method and its rude results suggest a fair idea of the old Bizen-yaki's qualifications. A connoisseur's taste must have been specially educated when he consents to pay ten or twenty guineas for a water-holder that might easily be mistaken for a section of a drain-pipe, partially blackened by fire and ornamented with patches or streaks of brick-colour. Later specimens of the Hi-dasuki variety have close grey pâte covered with exceedingly thin, diaphanous glaze. In these the red mottling, from which they derive their name, is evidently produced by some method different from that described above.

A rare variety of Bizen ware has greyish or almost white pâte with diaphanous glaze of the same colour. This ware is known as Kankoku-yaki or Shira-Bizen (white Bizen), having been manufactured at a place called Kankoku. Sometimes its decorative effect is heightened by the addition of red and gold. Numerous specimens of it have been produced within the past ten years and sold as old pieces to amateurs who esteem Shira-Bizen for the sake of its rarity rather than its artistic merits.

Information as to the Bizen potters is quite incommensurate with their merits, for without doubt choice specimens of their work during the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century are among the very highest achievements of Japanese plastic art. At present the chief potter at Imbe is Mori Riuzō. It has been seen that when the Taikō visited Bizen (1583), two representatives of the Mori family were among the master-potters. More than a century later, the head of the family was Mori Yosoemon (died about 1775). His son, Mori Goroemon (died about 1810), and his grandsons, Mori Moemon (died about 1860), and Mori Kakuji (died 1853), were distinguished experts. Kakuji was succeeded by his son, Mori Kotarō (died 1882), and the latter's son, Mori Riuzō, now carries on the trade. During the Temmei era (1781-1788), an expert called Kimura Shōhachi distinguished himself by manufacturing saké bottles decorated with designs in coloured slip (blue, red, and white). Kimura Hei-ichiro and Kimura Mitsutaro, descendants of this artist, share with Mori Riuzō the reputation of producing the best modern Bizen ware. Another scion of the Mori family, Mori Hikoichiro, has a factory in the neighbouring district of Mushiakeo. This artist was for some time associated with Makuzu, of Ota (near Yokohama). He stamps his pieces "Mushiake." None of these potters produce anything comparable with the wares of their predecessors. The admirable plastic skill of the latter and their technical methods seem to be beyond the range of the modern Bizen keramist.

 

SHIDORO-YAKI

A ware of which some specimens bear a close resemblance to the old faience of Seto, while others may easily be mistaken for Bizen-yaki (described above), is the Shidoro-yaki, manufactured in the province of Tōtomi (Enshiu), which now forms part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The first pottery produced in this province is attributed to Gyōgi Bosatsu (eighth century), but there is no authentic record of the existence of any kilns before the Dai-ei era (1521-1527). A factory was then established at Shidoro-mura, and subsequently (about 1720) removed to Yoko-oka-mura. The productions were of coarse, rough character—red stone-ware covered with thin, uneven glaze of light brown-ochre colour—until the close of the sixteenth century, when some experts from Seto (in Owari) came to the province. Specimens attributed to this period (1590-1670) show plainly that the Seto style was taken as a model. Lustrous black and golden-brown glazes, laid on in two or three coats, replaced the thin brown-ochre glaze previously employed, and tea-utensils of the most approved shapes made their appearance. A little later on (1680), the influence of Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu, produced its effects. The brown-ochre glaze re-appeared, now, however, variegated by patches of yellow; and very dark green was added to the colours already existing. The clay was coarse and of dull red tinge, differing but little from that found in the inferior varieties of Imbe (Bizen) ware. In 1720, as has been said, the factory was moved from the district of Shidoro to that of Yoko-oka, and from that time the pieces were for the most part stamped with the characters (Shidoro-yaki). The manufacture, no longer confined to the old grooves, was gradually modified, till in late years claret coloured and green glazes, after the so-called Cochin-China fashion, were produced, and finally even the Kyōtō school was represented by small pieces with white pâte and decoration in gold and coloured enamels. Another variety, called Karafu, was obtained by mixing charcoal ashes or powdered pebbles with the glazing material, the result being a dull mottled surface more curious than beautiful. Probably, however, the only specimens of Shidoro-yaki likely to interest Western collectors are the figure-subjects, some of which exhibit considerable plastic skill and quaintness of fancy. The amateur is likely to find a certain difficulty in distinguishing these from similarly modelled specimens of middle-period Bizen ware. The most easily identified differences are that the pâte of the Shidoro-yaki is whiter than that of the Bizen-yaki, and that the glaze of the former is generally lustreless dun-colour, resembling the skin of a ripe pear, whereas the glaze of the Bizen ware is diaphanous and nearly colourless. The surface of Shidoro stone-ware is usually mottled or roughly speckled with black. The manufacture is now carried on in Shidoro-mura by Suzuki Kanehiro. No record of former potters has been preserved.

 

WARES OF IZUMO (SHIMANE PREFECTURE)

Few Japanese wares are more deservedly appreciated by Western buyers than the modern Izumo-yaki, manufactured in the province of Izumo. It is faience, having light grey, close pâte, and yellow or straw-coloured glaze, generally without crackle. The decoration is in gold and green enamel. The designs are usually formal, and do not show remarkable skill of execution, doubtless owing to the difficulty of painting elaborately or delicately on a tender, waxlike yellow glaze such as that of the Izumo-yaki.

The manufacture of glazed pottery in Izumo commenced during the Keian era (1648–1651), but no success was attained until, some twenty-five years later (about 1676), the feudal chief of the province, procured the services of a potter named Gombei Shigiyoshi a native of Nagato (Chōshū), where he had studied the art under a Korean, Korai-zaemon. This man set up a kiln at Rakuzan, in the Nishika-watsu district, and using materials partly imported from Nagato and partly found in the neighbourhood manufactured a faience which received the name of Rakuzan-yaki. Intended for the use of the tea-clubs, and faithful, for the most part, to Korean models, this Rakuzan-yaki had few features of interest. Occasionally, however, a specimen is found that recalls the work of Seto experts. Gombei's reputation, from an artistic point of view, is founded on a rich brown, or chocolate, glaze powdered with golden speckles, which he is said to have introduced. This is an imitation of the beautiful nasbiji (pear-skin-ground) seen in aventurine lacquer. It was esteemed one of the chefs-d'œuvre of the Rakuzan factory, and justly so, for chocolate glaze clouded with amber and flecked with glittering dust was undoubtedly a beautiful conception. If Gombei introduced this glaze, he cannot be said to have invented it. Its prototype is to be found among the productions of the Chinese keramists during the Ming period. Further, there is even reason to doubt whether he introduced it, some virtuosi holding that it was first introduced nearly a century later at the Fujina factory (vide infra). Gombei died in 1694, and was succeeded by his pupil Kada Hanroku, who had come with him from Nagato. On Kata's death (about 1720), the Rakuzan factory ceased to work.

A factory of later date but greater repute was established at Fujina (in the same province) by Funaki Yajibei, in 1764. According to local records, the Funaki family settled at Fujina in 1624, and had already been engaged in the pottery manufacture for several generations. If the same source of information be followed, the production of pottery in Izumo dates from an era as remote as the beginning of the twelfth century. But nothing is known of the wares of those early days, and no interest attaches to the story of the Fujina kiln prior to 1764, when, as has been said, Funaki Yajibei worked there. Yajibei himself does not seem to have possessed any special aptitude. The reputation acquired by his factory is due, rather, to the patronage of Narusato, feudal chief of the province. This nobleman, who after his retirement from active life took the name by which he is best known,—Fumai,—was one of Japan's most celebrated virtuosi. He added to the fashions of the tea-clubs a style elaborated by himself, and hence called Unshiu-riu (Unshiu is another name for Izumo), and his patronage of the fine arts was invariably liberal and intelligent. During the Hōreki era (1751-1763) Fumai engaged a potter of repute, Tsuchiya Zenshiro, and appointed him keramic instructor in Izumo. In 1772 this man came to Fujina, and there, with the assistance of Funaki Yajibei, began to manufacture faience that soon acquired a considerable reputation. There were four varieties. The first had chocolate-brown or mahogany glaze resembling that of Seto, but thinner and without any amber tints; the second was distinguished by the aventurine glaze, mentioned above in connection with the Rakuzan factory; the third had soft, wax-like yellow glaze with decoration in gold, red, and green, now the characteristic ware of the province—and the fourth was greyish (sometimes reddish white) faience with exceedingly delicate and elaborate decoration in coloured enamels. The pâte of all these varieties was close in texture and of greyish-white colour easily mistaken for the pâte of Awata-yaki (vide Kyōtō),—and their glazes showed thorough mastery of technical processes. From Fumai's time the Fujina-yaki—or, speaking more broadly, the Izumo-yaki—was placed among the choice faiences of Japan. The manufacture was carried on with success until 1860, when it began to languish, and came almost to an end about five years later (1865). The principal potters were of the lineage of Tsuchiya Zenshiro, Funaki Yajibei, and Sawa Tasuke.

THE TSUCHIYA FAMILY

1. Tsuchiya Zenshiro; died 1806.
2. Tsuchiya Zenshiro; died 1829.
3. Tsuchiya Zenshiro; died 1854.
4. Tsuchiya Zenshiro; died 1876.

THE FUNAKI FAMILY

1. Funaki Yajibei; died 1773.
2. Funaki Shinzo; died 1803.
3. Funaki Kakusaburo; died 1825.
4. Funaki Kenemon; died 1856.
5. Funaki Kenemon; still alive.

A SECOND BRANCH OF THE FUNAKI FAMILY

1. Funaki Kinzo, son of Funaki Shinzo; opened a factory in 1811.
2. Funaki Fusuki; succeeded to the business in 1849.
3. Funaki Ryoemon; succeeded to the business in 1865.

A THIRD BRANCH OF THE FUNAKI FAMILY

1. Funaki Heibei, son of Funaki Kenemon; opened a factory in 1866.
2. Funaki Asataro; succeeded to the business in 1878.

THE SAWA FAMILY

1. Sawa Kasuki; commenced work in 1790.
2. Sawa Ichiemon; succeeded in 1804.
3. Sawa Kasuki; succeeded in 1843.
4. Sawa Taichiro; succeeded in 1873.

Another Branch of the Sawa Family

1. Sawa Toemon, son of Sawa Kasuki; opened a separate factory in 1800.
2. Sawa Toemon; succeeded in 1830.
3. Sawa Toemon; succeeded in 1863.
4. Sawa Toronosuke; succeeded in 1876.

Another family of experts is descended from Nagahara Yozo, who opened a factory in 1802. He was succeeded by his son of the same name 1839, and the latter by his son Eisuke in 1864.

 

Like other noble patrons of the keramic art in Japan, Fumai, lord of Unshu, had a private factory. It was called Kairaku-zan, and the principal expert employed at it originally was Nagaoka Sumiemon. In 1816 this same potter constructed a kiln within the park of his patron's mansion in Yedo. Returning to Izumo, he was succeeded by his son Kōsai; the latter by his son Sumiemon, and the last by his son Shonosuki. The wares of these artists did not differ from the Fujina-yaki described above, except when the faience of Korea was taken as a model for special manufactures.

It will be seen from what has been written that the ware of Izumo owed its reputation almost entirely to the patronage of Fumai, and that its period of greatest prosperity was during his lifetime. Shortly before the abolition of feudalism (1868), the factories at Fujina were closed. They remained so until 1875, when Mr. Wakai, a well-known connoisseur, at that time attached to the Kōshō-gaisha, a trading company partly supported by the Government, visited Izumo and induced the potters to resume their industry. In honour of his initiative and assistance, the name of the re-established factory was changed from "Rakuzan to "Jakuzan" (Jaku is the alternative sound of the ideograph Wakai). Two faiences were and are still manufactured; the one in considerable quantities, the other rarely and with less success. The former is the well-known variety mentioned at the beginning of this section—yellow glaze with decorations in gold, red, and green—the latter the beautiful aventurine glaze. Both are inferior to their prototypes of Fumai's time, their technique being less careful and their glazes wanting in richness and solidity. On the other hand, these modern specimens are of a much more imposing and decorative character than anything formerly produced.

Since 1873 porcelain has been included among the manufactures of Izumo. Its production was originated by Hadano Soemon, a merchant of Shimmachi, in the Nogi district of Izumo. This man procured the services of an expert called Madasuke, from the province of Tajima, and constructed a kiln for him at Shiotani. Two varieties of stone and a clay, all found in the neighbourhood, were employed. The ware requires no special description. It is blue-and-white porcelain of mediocre quality.

 

IWAMI WARES

It is convenient to speak here of the porcelain manufactured in Iwami, a neighbouring province of Izumo. It had its origin in 1860, when two brothers, Noda Shota and Noda Genzo, discovered porcelain stone at Shirakami and opened a factory there. They enjoyed the patronage of the feudal chief of the district, and their industry gradually increased until it gave occupation to over thirty potters working at about twenty factories. The ware is a coarse variety of blue-and-white porcelain, similar to the Izumo porcelain mentioned above, and the manufacture is limited to ordinary household utensils.

At Nagahama, in the same province, there is also produced a species of Raku ware resembling, but more brittle than, the Kyōtō Raku-yaki. It was originated at the beginning of the eighteenth century by a potter called Nagami Fusazo, and the industry was continued without interruption by his descendants of the same name. Like other wares intended for the use of the tea-clubs, it enjoyed, from time to time, the special patronage of local magnates, but it merits no detailed description, being simply an imitation of the well-known Raku faience of Kyōtō.

 

WARES OF SANUKI (EHIME PREFECTURE)

The first pottery of the province of Sanuki was of the Raku type. Its originator was Akamatsu Kihei. He opened a factory (1573) at Daikucho, in the Kagawa district, and used clay obtained from the celebrated old battle-field of Yashima. This Raku-yaki had nothing to recommend it, and attracted no attention, Some seventy years later (1647), Prince Matsudaira Yorishige, on the occasion of moving to Takamatsu (the chief town of Sanuki), invited thither a potter of Awata (Kyōtō), called Sakubei Shigetoshi. Sakubei was an expert of considerable skill. He is said by some to have been a pupil of the renowned Nomura Ninsei, and to have settled at Awata for the purpose of receiving the great potter's instruction. His father, Morishima Hambei Shigeyoshi, a native of Ōsaka, adopted keramics as his profession at the instance of a Chinese potter, whose name has not been transmitted. From the time of Sakubei's arrival in Sanuki, the ware of the province—generally known as Takamatsu-yaki—underwent a marked change. It became faience after the Awata type; both the decorative subjects and the manner of their execution, in green, blue, and red enamels picked out with gold, being scarcely distinguishable from the work of the Kyōtō keramists. The pâte of the Takamatsu-yaki is, however, easily recognised, owing to its sandy character and dark colour. The glaze also is greyer and duller than that of Kyōtō faience. In 1649 Prince Yorishige conferred on Sakubei the name of Kita, by which his family was thenceforth known. The ninth representative, Kita Rihei, who flourished in the second half of the eighteenth century, enjoyed a very high reputation. He was not a scion of the Kita family, but was adopted by Iwanojo, the eighth in descent from Sakubei. Rihei spent six years in Kyōtō, where he studied under the first Dōhachi. He did not remain in the family of his adoption, and it appears to have become extinct after the death of Iwanojo. Takamatsu faience is no longer produced.

Another factory in the same province is at Nishi-katamoto. It was opened in 1803 by order of the feudal chief of the district, and was placed under the direction of Mitani Rinzo. The family of this potter had been working at Shidaura, in the same district, since 1766. Their faience, locally known as Shido-yaki, or Yashima-yaki (from the name of the old battle-field whence the clay was procured), had no merits from an artistic point of view, and aimed at nothing higher than a resemblance to the homely ware of Korea. Some specimens, however, are of the same type as the ware of the Kita family described above, and may easily be confounded with enamelled faience of Kyōtō.

 

WARES OF IYO (EHIME PREFECTURE)

In the province of Iyo, which adjoins Sanuki and is included in the same prefecture (Ehime), the keramic industry is of comparatively modern origin. It was inaugurated in 1796, at Gohonmatsu, by Mukai Genji, whose grandson, Mukai Wahei, still carries it on. Three other factories may be mentioned in connection with this branch of keramics, namely, the factory at Iwaya-guchi, opened in 1820 by Morimoto Chusuke, whose son, Morimoto Yujiro, now has charge of the work; the factory at Nanaori, opened in 1842 by Sagawa Tomosuke, who was succeeded, in 1856, by Sakamoto Gembei; this factory remained practically inactive from 1861 till 1870, when it was reopened by Sakamoto Gengo; and finally the factory at Ichiba, which was opened by Kanaoka Otoemon in 1810, and is now under the direction of his grandson, Kanaoka Sadazo. Good porcelain stone is found at more than one place in the province, but the ambition of the manufacturers has not hitherto extended beyond the supply of local wants. Their ware is blue-and-white porcelain of mediocre quality.

 

HAGI-YAKI

This ware is manufactured in the province of Nagato, formerly the fief of Chōshiu, but now included in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. It takes its name from Hagi, the chief town of the province. There is some uncertainty about the date of its origin, but most accounts agree that the first kiln was not opened before the beginning of the sixteenth century. Not till the close of that century, however, did the Hagi-yaki attract attention. During the expedition to Korea, Mōri Terumoto, lord of Chōshiu, employed as guide a Korean named Rikei, by whom he was accompanied on the return of the troops to Japan. Learning that Rikei was by profession a potter, and being anxious to encourage the keramic industry in his fief, Mōri desired the immigrant to search for suitable clay and select a place for a factory. After a lengthy examination, Rikei reported that good materials were procurable at Matsumoto, in the Abu district. There, accordingly, he was instructed to settle. The hill where potter's earth found, being completely handed over to him, thenceforth received the name of Kanjin-yama (Korean-man's mount), while Rikei himself took the Japanese appellation of Sukehachi, subsequently, however, changing it to Kōraizaemon (Zaiemon of Korea). A Korean faience, known in Japan as Ido-yaki, seems to have served him as a model, for the chief characteristic of his productions was greyish craquelé glaze with clouds of salmon tint. In addition to the earth found at Kanjin-yama, materials were procured from Daito-mura, Mishima-moto-mura, and Ukino-mura. Small utensils for the use of the tea-clubs were principally manufactured. The best specimens were reserved for the lord of the district, whose officers attended at the time of opening a fournée. Kōraizaemon was raised to the rank of shizoku. As will be seen from the genealogy given below, his descendants have continued the keramic manufacture without interruption down to the present time. They did not, however, retain the monopoly at Matsumoto. During the Kambun era (1661–1672), an expert from the province of Yamato entered the service of the Mōri house, and was assigned for his support a tract of land in Higashiwake-mura, Abu district, receiving, at the same time, the name of Kiusetsu. This man also opened a factory at Matsumoto, and employing materials procured at Higashiwake, Mishimamoto, and Ukino-yama, manufactured faience not only after the fashion of Kōrai-zaemon's Hagi-yaki, but also in the style of the well-known Raku ware of Kyōtō. From his time, in addition to the pearl grey and salmon glazes of Kōraizaemon, there were produced pale green and light lavender glazes, sometimes applied as monochromes, sometimes used to variegate greyish or cream-white grounds. Another variety, known as E-hagi, or painted Hagi, also made its appearance. It had boldly executed designs in black, slate colour, or reddish brown, after the fashion of Korean painted ware (E-gōrai). The Hagi-yaki occupies a place of little artistic importance among Japanese keramic productions, though it is much valued by the tea-clubs. The artist whose name is best remembered for technical shill is Kiusetsu of the fourth generation, who flourished from 1740 to 1776.

GENEALOGY OF THE BAN FAMILY, FOUNDED BY RIKEI, OR KŌRAIZAEMON

1. Kōraizaemon; died 1643.
2. Sukehachi; died 1668.
3. Shimbei; died 1729.
4. Shimbei; died 1748.
5. Sukehachi; died 1769.
6. Shimbei; died 1803.
7. Sukehachi; died 1824.
8. Shimbei, afterwards called Kōraizaemon; died 1878.
9. Dōsuke, the present representative.

Another centre of keramic industry in the same province is at San-no-se. Factories were opened there in 1683 by the ancestor of the present potter Shinjo Orie; in 1692 by the ancestor of the present Kurazaki Otojuro; in 1760 by the ancestor of the present Nami Hanzaemon; in 1775 by the Itakura family, and during the Temmei era (1781-1788) by Sakata Densaku, Tahara Kenji, and Yamashita Magoroku. All these artists were under the patronage of the noble family of Mori, Prince of Chōshu.

Since 1846 porcelain has been manufactured in the province of Nagato. A potter called Furuse is said to have originated its production, using materials found at Kawamagari and Ohama, in the province of Iyo, and working at Takibe. Ware of the same nature was also produced at Tagayasu by a potter named Wada, from the year 1854. It was not till 1880, however, that porcelain stone was discovered in Nagato itself, at Obata. An association called the Shōshōsha was formed in consequence of the discovery, and considerable quantities of coarse blue-and-white utensils were produced. Occasionally among the wares of this province ivory-white porcelain of some merit is found. It does not form a staple production, but is to be regarded rather as an experimental manufacture. Its pâte consists principally of stone from Amakusa.

Hagi, or Chōshiu, porcelain, manufactured with the stone of Obata, has been analysed. Its composition is as follows:—

CHŌSHIU PORCELAIN

Silica.	Alumina.	Iron Oxide.	Lime, Magnesia, etc.	Water.
73.45	20.71	0.52	4.48	1.15

The modern faience manufactured at Matsumoto is of the Raku type; that is to say, a thick, soft-looking pottery with little lustre of surface and a wooden timbre. The fracture shows a yellowish tinge. The only pieces worthy of note from an artistic point of view have decoration in the Yatsushiro style; designs engraved in the paste are filled with white clay which retains its colour after baking.

 

WARES OF SUO

Suo is the neighbouring province of Nagato, on the east, and is also included in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. Its keramic productions have never acquired any reputation, and are of modern date, the first kiln of which anything is known having been opened by Matsuō Tobei, at Hachido, in 1850. His faience, and indeed all the faience manufactured in the province, may be described as an inferior variety of Hagi-yaki. Of late years a potter called Yoshika Tosaku, of Nishi-no-ura, has begun to add red and green enamelled decoration to soft craquelé faience, made from materials found at Daido-mura. There are many kilns in the province, but their productions are to be classed as coarse porcelain and faience, of the same type as the wares of Nagato.

 

WARES OF KŌCHI

Kōchi is the capital of the province of Tosa. The oldest and best known ware manufactured in this province is the Odo-yaki, produced at a town called Otsu, about five miles to the east of Kōchi. The factory was established at the close of the sixteenth century by a Korean potter called Shōhaku, who came to Japan in the train of Motochika, feudal chief of Tosa. Shōhaku is said to have originally used materials imported from Korea, which produced light-red, hard pâte, covered with diaphanous glaze. These pieces were not painted or enamelled, their only decoration being a coat of white glaze run over the ground-glaze so as to suggest the idea, sometimes of a wrapper, sometimes of streaks of snow. Another and choicer variety had somewhat coarse pâte, nearly white, over which was run lustrous grey glaze; the decoration consisting of scrolls and conventional designs incised in the pâte and filled in with white clay, after the fashion of the Yatsushiro faience and the Gohon ware of Korea. Of this early faience very few authentic specimens exist. Soon the potters began to use clay found at Nōchazan, in the neighbourhood of Kochi, the result being soft, reddish grey pâte covered with diaphanous glaze. In 1653 the character of the ware underwent a change. Yamanouchi Tadayoshi, lord of the province, invited from Ōsaka a skilled potter called Hisano Seihaku, who had been a pupil of the celebrated Kyoto artist Nomura Ninsei. Seihaku soon returned to Ōsaka, but not before he had introduced in Tosa the Kyoto style of Shibu-e decoration—that is to say, decoration in black or reddish brown under the glaze. Seihaku's place in Tosa was taken by his pupil Yamazaki Heinai, one of whose sons, Morita Mitsuhisa, subsequently went to Ōsaka and studied for several years under Seihaku.

In 1679 this same Morita visited all the principal factories at Kyōtō, and in Owari, Mino, Tōtōmi, and elsewhere. Returning to Kōchi, he set himself to produce faience after Korean or Kyōtō models. He did not, however, use enamelled decoration, but preferred the severe style of the Shibu-e and confined himself to the manufacture of tea utensils. Among his pieces the most valued were cups with paintings of Sho-chiku-bai—pine-sprays, bamboos, and plum-blossoms—in black or dark brown sous couverte. Of his successors during the eighteenth century the best known were Mitsunaga, Mitsuyoshi, Mitsutsugu, and Mitsutane. Probably about the year 1760 bright green glazes, monochromatic or in combination with yellow, began to be applied. Associated with these is generally found plastic decoration—engraved or in relief. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Odo factory was moved to the neighbourhood of Nōchazan. Its productions thenceforth began to be called Nōchazan-yaki. Mention may be made here of a local tradition which says that, even before the time of Shōhaku, pottery was manufactured in Tosa from the clay of Nochazan, and that it was decorated with designs, engraved or in relief, copied from studies by the celebrated painter Kano Motonobu. Of this there is no trustworthy evidence. Owing to some reason which experts fail to explain, the potters of Imado, Tōkyō, also produced a faience to which the name of Odo-yaki, or Odo-yoki, was given. This is easily distinguished from the true Odo-yaki, having very soft pâte and a milk-white, waxy glaze—in quality resembling that of Kyōtō Raku ware—to which are applied somewhat archaic designs in dull blue. The commonest variety of the modern Kochi-yaki of Tosa is faience covered with bright metallic green glaze, slightly crackled.

 

AWAJI-YAKI

A ware of which considerable quantities have found their way westward of late years is Awaji-yaki, so called from an island of the same name, where it is manufactured at the village of Iga. It was first produced between the years 1830 and 1840 by one Kajū Mimpei, called also Toyonosuke, who had acquired his technical knowledge in Kyōtō. Mimpei was a man of extraordinary enterprise and resolution. When he succeeded to the family estate he found himself the possessor of about forty-five acres of rice land and a prosperous manufactory of shōyu (fish sauce). His tastes were at once literary and artistic. He was a writer of some talent, and a Chajin of acknowledged authority. Moved, however, by the very straitened circumstances of the numerous population of Awaji, he cast about for some means of supplementing their resources. To develop the fishing industry seemed most feasible. He applied himself to the task with energy, engaging some three hundred fishermen and employing an immense seine made at Sakai, in Izumi. To procure this seine he travelled to Sakai, and en route made the acquaintance of the distinguished Kyōto keramist, Ogata Shūhei. His homeward journey led him by Ikenouchi-mura—now called Shiroto-mura—and finding there a clay that appeared suitable for pottery manufacture, he carried some of it to his native place, Inada-mura, and succeeded in producing good faience of the Raku type. It is said that even at this early stage his ambition was to imitate the beautiful Imperial Yellow of China, but that he failed completely. Meanwhile, his fishing venture proving more and more unsatisfactory, he finally abandoned it, and shortly afterwards (1829), closed his shōyu manufactory also. Thenceforth the keramic industry occupied his sole attention. From 1830 to 1834 his experiments were unceasingly directed toward the production of the deep green and imperial yellow glazes of China, and success at last crowned his efforts. In 1834 he visited Kyōtō, and induced Ogata Shūhei to return with him to Awaji, where the two men worked together for two years. Specimens are occasionally found bearing their double stamp. Mimpei was now able to manufacture excellent stone-ware, covered with lustrous yellow and deep green glazes. But his resources were nearly exhausted. He had disposed of his father's estate and was in actual want. A relative, Yuzaemon, came to his assistance, presenting him first with forty acres of land, and afterwards with a considerable sum in cash. His younger brother, Tsunezaemon, then the head-man of the village, also converted all his available property into money, and handing this over to Mimpei, joined the latter's keramic industry. Thenceforth Mempei superintended the factory, and Tsunezaemon took charge of the kiln.

In 1838 Mimpei added greyish white glaze to his manufactures, and in the following year supplemented it by mirror black. He was now in the full tide of technical success. So thoroughly had he mastered the management of glazes that he could combine yellow, green, white, and claret-colour in regular patches, to imitate the curious "tortoise-shell" glaze Bekko-de) of Satsuma and Kyōtō (vide Zengoro) Hozen). His green and yellow glazes were lustrous and brilliant, though neither could rival the exquisitely delicate canary-yellow and apple-green of China. He was able to manufacture ware having a rich uniform yellow glaze with reserved designs in green, or green and white. He used gold and silver for decorative purposes with the greatest skill. His modelling was spirited and exact. His designs were chaste and well executed. He had, indeed, built up an industry destined to raise Awaji to a high place among the keramic centres of Japan. In 1842 his kiln was honoured by a visit from Hachisuka, whose fief included the island of Awaji, and an official factory was opened and placed under Mimpei's superintendence. But in 1856 Tsunezaemon died, and six years later (1862) Mimpei himself contracted a disease that obliged him to abandon the industry. He survived until 1870, but took no active part in the work, abandoning it entirely to his nephew Sampei, son of Tsunezaemon, his pupil Keyakida Zenjiro, and his son Rikitaro. The last, however, being a confirmed invalid, was soon compelled to retire. An additional factory was opened at Sumoto, in 1883, by Tamura Kyuhei. Awaji-yaki, or Mimpe-yaki as it is sometimes called, commands a fair market. The rich yellow and green glazes, relieved by incised designs, are well suited for plates, dishes, cake-boxes, and other table utensils. The works of the present potters are palpably inferior to those of Mimpei himself.

Speaking generally, the Awaji-yaki may be classed under two heads. The first sort has strongly baked biscuit, varying from stone-ware to porcelain, which is glazed with an easily fusible mixture of sand and oxide of lead. The addition of oxide of copper, or of naturally coloured clays, imparts to the glaze a

AWAJI FAIENCE.

Awaji Faience.

(See page 353.)

green, yellow, or reddish brown colour. In this species of Awaji-yaki there is little or no crackle. The second sort closely resembles Awata faience. It has delicate yellowish or cream-white glaze, covered with a network of fine or bold crackle. The glazing material of this species is of similar composition to that of Satsuma or Kyōtō. On both of the above varieties designs are painted in strong black outlines, or in enamels more or less transparent.

An analysis of the Awaji-ware mass by Mr. Korschelt showed the following composition:—

AWAJI-WARE MASS

	Silica.	Alumina.	Iron Oxide.	Lime, Potash, etc.	Water.
Specimen from Ineda-mura . . .	63.67	3.04	0.38	2.91	3.52

This mass was found to be a mixture of eight parts of clay and two parts of stone, both obtained from a place called Ike-no-uchi, in the island of Awaji. Specimens of the ware manufactured from the mixture were very white and hard. They appeared to have been exposed to the full heat of the Japanese oven. The fracture was smooth and lustrous, slightly transparent at the edges, and resembling the fracture of European porcelain. In fact, the pâte of the best Awaji ware may be classed as a porcelain, although green or yellow lead-glaze gives it the appearance of faience.

Mimpei himself did not much affect the use of enamel decoration, though he used it occasionally with great success, as might be anticipated from his intimate association with Shūhei, of Kyōtō. The present artists of Awaji resort more freely to this style. Some of their pieces, covered with cream-white crackle glaze and having decoration in enamel colours, are at once rich and solid. The Awaji glazes are peculiarly wax-like and smooth to the touch. They are generally made of an easily fusible mixture of sand and oxide of lead, with the addition of naturally coloured clays or copper oxide. Some are finely crackled; others have only accidental crackle, or are entirely free from this feature.

 

MINATO-YAKI

This is a ware produced at Minato, in the province of Izumi. The factory is of considerable antiquity. In the days of Sen no Rikiu (1580) it was celebrated for ash-holders—used at Tea Ceremonials—of unglazed pottery, brittle, and yellowish in colour. By some authorities pottery is said to have been manu- factured at Minato from the time of the priest Gyōgi (eighth century). Towards the close of the seventeenth century (1673-1690) an expert called Ueda Kichizaemon acquired a wide reputation. By him the use of thin, mottled glazes—yellow ochre and claret colour—was introduced, and great plastic skill was developed. During the Bunsei era (1828-1829) Kichizaemon, fifth in descent from Ueda, began successfully to copy the faience of Raku and so-called "Cochin-China." Thenceforth are found green, yellow, claret, amber-brown, and salmon glazes. Some specimens of this nature may readily be mistaken for Awaji-yaki. The pâte of the Minato-yaki is, in good examples, very fine, tolerably hard, and of light grey colour. In pieces of comparatively modern manufacture and inferior technique, the clay is coarser and darker, covered generally with impure grass-green glaze. Examples of the old Minato-faience are exceedingly rare. They generally show remarkable plastic skill: not such skill as that displayed in the delicate lines and softly rounded contours of Ao-Bizen ware; but rather the skill of firm, sharply cut outlines, and bold modelling. The Minato-yaki is much prized by the Japanese, who consider that its makers were second to none in the ability with which they used their graving and moulding tools. The family of Ueda has become extinct, and the Minato factory is now in the hands of Tsushiro Kichibei. Its productions no longer merit attention.

 

WARES OF YAMASHIRO

Asabi-Yaki

It has already been mentioned that in the fifth century the Emperor Yuriaku ordered the potters of Yamashiro to manufacture, for the use of the Court, a species of ware called Seiki, or pure utensils. Antiquarians differ as to the meaning of this term, but agree in designating the village of Uji in Yamato as the site of the factory where the Emperor's orders were executed. On the east of this village lies a hill called Asahi-yama. Thence the materials for the ware, as well as its appellation, were derived. There is no record that prior to the seventeenth century the workmen at Asahi-yama produced anything but common utensils of unglazed pottery, except the Imperial Seiki, which, however, for aught that is known to the contrary, may have been an equally primitive affair. To the celebrated dilettante Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu, is due the influence that excited the potters of Asahi to attempt the manufacture of faience. It cannot be said that their efforts were very successful. The clay of the district produced soft coarse pâte of dull red or grey colour. The glaze employed was muddy grey, showing coarse crackle, and the decoration was confined to patches of red, varying in tone, after the fashion of the Korean Go-hon ware, or to a partial coat of some other glaze—generally impure white—running down into irregular edges like stalactites. Occasionally imitations are found of the so-called Cochin-Chinese faience, but they are rare and defective. The potter by whom the factory was opened (1644-1647), under the patronage of Kobori Masakazu, was named Okamura Jōsaku. He produced cups, bowls, and other small utensils which are still valued by the tea-clubs. The manufacture was discontinued at the death (about 1730) of Jōsaku's son. It owes its revival in recent times to an expert called Chōbei, but the modern ware finds no favour with connoisseurs. The reason assigned for their indifference is that the materials now used—which are obtained at Warada—show marked inferiority to those employed by the Okamura family. To ordinary critics there is little to choose between the two, both being equally unattractive.

 

Tawara-Yaki

This is faience identical with that of Asahi, and produced in the same distriet of Yamashiro, at a place called Tawara, near Uji, from about the middle to the close of the seventeenth century.

 

WARES OF YAMATO

Akahada-Yaki

This ware derives its name from a barren hill called Akahada, which overlooks the little town of Gojō in Yamato. The district is one of peculiar keramic interest, for it includes the village of Haji, where clay substitutes for human sacrifices were first made, nineteen hundred years ago, at the suggestion of Nomi no Sukune, the prince of wrestlers. The kiln at Akahada is said to be of considerable antiquity, but, however this may be, it was only under Nomura Ninsei's direction that its productions began to exhibit any merit. The pâte of the early pieces (1644-1700) shows greater admixture of sand than that of the contemporary Kyōtō faience—for which in other respects it might easily be mistaken—while the glaze is opaque and bears a considerable resemblance to that of the Hagi-yaki of Nagato, being thick, creamy, and crackled. The manufacture was practically confined to tea utensils, which, in decorative style, show marked affinity with the fashions of the Kyōtō school, but are generally severe and even archaic. Few specimens survive of the ware of this first epoch—during which the potters conformed strictly to the tastes of the tea-clubs—and the old Akahada-yaki is correspondingly little known outside the circle of Japanese chajin. Its production was discontinued, according to some authorities, as early as 1670; according to others, about 1700. In 1761 it was revived, under the patronage of Yanagi-sawa, lord of Koriyama, a chajin of note, who is said to have himself painted some of the pieces. The most characteristic production of this second period is faience having buff-coloured lustreless glaze, to which is applied minutely executed decoration in vitreous enamels, red being largely pre-dominant. There are also variegated or monochromatic glazes—green, olive, brown, grey, and white—and a variety of the Raku type of which the surface is covered with dull gold forming a ground for decoration that consists generally of floral designs or diapers, traced sometimes with white slip, but more usually with a paste formed of glue and white-lead powder. No personal record of the Akahada potters is preserved. The only remembered artist is Bokuhaku. He flourished down to about 1860.

 

BANKO-YAKI

At the village of Kuwana, in the province of Ise, between the years 1736 and 1795, there lived a rich merchant, by name Numanami Gozaemon, who in the days of his prosperity turned his thoughts to garden-making, that refined extravagance which has always been among the first fancies of a wealthy Japanese. Until that time Gozaemon had given himself little concern about the Chajin and their tenets, but his horticultural predilections necessarily drove him to seek the aid of those masters of æsthetics. To this end he visited Kyōtō, and there became the pupil of a renowned virtuoso, from whom he acquired not the principles of garden-making alone, but also that taste for keramics which forms an integral part of the Tea Ceremonials. The renown of the great potter Kenzan was then fresh, and the Kyomizu factories had attained the zenith of their excellence. The merchant of Kuwana, now an ardent disciple of the Cha-no-Yu ethics, never wearied of wandering from workshop to workshop and watching the clay assume, under the touch of skilled manipulators, shapes the beauties of which he had newly learned to appreciate. His interest gradually developed into a desire to imitate. The Kyōtō potters were easily persuaded to explain their processes, and whether their pupil possessed some innate ability, or whether, as a wealthy amateur, he was able to command the best materials and devote ample time to the manufacture of single pieces, it is certain that by the circle of friends who were so fortunate as to receive the products of his kiln he was pronounced one of the best artists of his day. Yet, like the majority of Japanese keramists, he was an imitator, not an originator. The thick unadorned Raku ware and ill-favoured Korean faiences supplied him with models that seemed not less worthy of reproduction than the delicate conceptions of Ninsei or the bold designs of Kenzan. In both directions, however, Gozaemon was successful; so successful that his fame reached the Court at Yedo, and a special order was sent to him from the Shōgun Iyenari (1786). No doubt such a commission incited the amateur to more than common exertions, for the proficiency he displayed induced the Shōgun to summon him to Yedo. He accordingly moved to Komme, in the northeast suburb of the Eastern Capital, where he already possessed a residence, and there pursued his keramic pastime under the patronage of the Court nobles, Iyenari himself sometimes condescending to visit Komme and watch the elaboration of results which he so much admired. The effect of all this upon Gozaemon's reputation can be easily conceived. His ware became the rage everywhere,—not, perhaps, for the sake of its merits alone, but also because of the difficulty men experienced in procuring it; for fame had made the artist capricious, and, since he did not work for gain, none but the favoured few might obtain specimens of his handicraft. He now no longer restricted himself to imitations of ancient models, but, giving the reins to his fancy, turned out pieces combining the graces of the Japanese school with the brilliancy of Chinese polychromatic porcelain. Just then, however, the factories of the Celestial Kingdom, under the munificent patronage of the Emperor Chien-lung, were producing wares not unworthy of their ancient fame; and side by side with these the inferiority of the Japanese keramist's enamels became easily apparent. The Shōgun, therefore, commissioned the Governor of Nagasaki to procure from Ching-tê-chên the recipes used at the Imperial factory, together with a supply of the best materials. It is not easy to conceive by what means these instructions were carried out, but the Governor seems to have experienced no difficulty, for within a year he forwarded to Yedo all that was required. With this aid Gozaemon's success was more marked than ever. The best connoisseurs could scarcely distinguish his pieces from Chinese porcelain decorated with red and green enamels of the Wan-li period (1573-1620), though indeed it must be confessed that the models he copied did not exhibit any very remarkable degree of keramic skill. His imitations of Delft faience, too, were certainly quite as good as the very inferior specimens of that ware which found their way to Japan; but his achievements in this line need not occupy attention. He was at his best when, departing from his models, he combined brilliantly glazed surfaces with chaste floral decoration in the pure Japanese style. He imitated everything, from the rude faiences of Korea and the soft colours of so-called "Cochin-China" ware to the severest styles of Ninsei and Kenzan. He generally marked his pieces Banko (ever-lasting or enduring), sometimes, however, adding Fuyeki (changeless). His productions are now known as Ko-Banko-yaki (old Banko ware). He died about the year 1795, at Kuwana, whither he had been recalled by Matsu-daira, lord of Etchiu, one of the most celebrated of modern virtuosi. Whatever special skill he possessed died with him, for, since he cultivated keramics entirely as a pastime, he neither took pupils nor imparted his art to his children.

Like all noted amateurs, Gozaemon would probably have found imitators in later times. Yet had it not been for an accident, his name would certainly be little remembered outside the circle of connoisseurs of whose somewhat archaic creed he was so obedient a disciple, and in whose hands his comparatively scanty productions remained. That accident was the discovery—about the year 1830—of a recipe which he had employed in the manufacture of his enamels. The document containing the precious formula had found its way into the possession of a dealer in bric-à-brac who lived at Kuwana, and whose son, Mori Yusetsu, had already gained some distinction as an imitator of Raku faience. Fully appreciating the value of the knowledge thus strangely acquired, Yusetsu immediately set himself to profit by it, and in order to give his counterfeit ware a greater semblance of authenticity, he persuaded Gozaemon's grandson, Gorobei, to sell him the Banko stamp. Thus the works of the Ise amateur were again brought into public notice, and that rather by a freak of fortune than by any public knowledge of their merits. Yusetsu, however, was saved from performing the ignoble rôle of a mere imitator by his quickness of observation; for, detecting that the Chinese artists—whose works, like Gozaemon, he took as his models—used moulds applied internally for their more elaborate pieces, he immediately adopted that method in his own workshop, and so caused the name of Banko—for he still continued to employ Gozaemon's stamp—to be associated with the introduction of a valuable novelty in Japanese keramics. It has already been noticed that the Kyōtō artist, Mokubei, was the first to follow the Chinese example in the matter of moulds, but whereas he fashioned his clay in the mould, Yusetsu reversed the process by putting the mould inside the vase and pressing the clay with the hand into the matrix. The consequence is that his pieces carry their design on the inner as well as the outer surface, and are moreover thumb-marked. Of course a mould thus employed was necessarily constructed on principles different from those which governed the Kyōtō process. The mould of Yusetsu, instead of being simply divided into two parts, was built up of six, eight, or sometimes twelve longitudinal sections, which were withdrawn one by one after they had accomplished their purpose. The results displayed such clever modelling that they subsequently came to be regarded as representative pieces of Banko-yaki. In fact, it is through the works of Yusetsu, or rather through the methods he devised, that the Ise ware has attained the wide-spread popularity it now enjoys: nor that undeservedly, either, for some of the designs of his school exhibit a remarkable combination of artistic and technical excellence. Particularly worthy of mention are pieces ornamented with storks, dragons, and so forth, in relief, and others with clever arabesques in coloured slip on green or rich brown ground. All the Yusetsu Banko ware is faience, and the specimens are sometimes stamped "Yusetsu." Among his productions a variety which often passes, or is made to pass, for "Ko-Banko" is finely crackled faience of dark cream or light grey tint, decorated with blue under the glaze, and above it with a preponderance of red and green floral designs, or red diapers among which are reserved medallions containing landscapes or mythical subjects. Pieces in this style bear a considerable resemblance to the modern Akahada-yaki, but even in the absence of marks the two may be readily distinguished, not only by the omission of the blue in the latter, but also by its denser pâte and the yellowish tinge of the body-glaze. The amateur will generally be safe in attributing specimens of this nature to Yusetsu. Yuyeki, originally called Yohei, a younger brother of Yusetsu, was also an able artist—better, indeed, than Yusetsu himself according to some authorities. The reader will perceive that in the hands of Yusetsu the Banko-ware underwent a complete change of character. This alteration was carried still farther by his son. Abandoning coloured glazes and brilliant decoration, the younger Yusetsu made beauty of form and plastic skill his chief aims. In his hands the Banko-yaki became hard, light, thin pottery,—sometimes without glaze, sometimes having a slight coat of colourless diaphanous glaze,—exquisitely modelled, the pâte grey, white, dove-coloured, chocolate, or black, its surface slightly roughened, and relieved by delicately executed designs in white slip.

His ware became immediately popular: it suited Japanese taste excellently. Factories were opened in 1845 by Yamaka Chiuzaemon and Takekawa Chikusai; in 1861 by Hori Tomonao; in 1876 by Kuwamura Matasuke; in 1879 by Ito Shōhachi and Matsumura Seikichi, etc. The industry spread also to Yokkaichi, a seaport village near Kuwana, where some potters who had formerly gained a livelihood by imitating the faiences of Seto and Awata under the patronage of the Court of Yedo, seeing themselves suddenly deprived of employment on the fall of the Tokugawa Regency in 1868, had recourse to the manufacture of Banko ware as the speediest means of finding a new market. Thenceforth this village became the principal seat of the manufacture. A not very creditable story is told of the device by which the Yokkaichi potters made themselves masters of the methods and models of Yusetsu, but at any rate they profited so well by their acquirement that there is scarcely a house at present in Tōkyō where a teapot or some other utensil of their manufacture is not in daily use. Quaint and very characteristic teapots they are, too, presenting all the peculiarities of form—and many others besides—that are to be found in Chinese boccaro, to which, moreover, the pâte bears some resemblance in its changes of colour. It would be impossible to enumerate all the varieties of Banko ware now produced—grey, chocolate, or dove-coloured grounds with delicate diapers in gold and engobe; brown or black faience with white, yellow, and pink designs incised or in relief; pottery curiously and skilfully marbled by combinations of various coloured clays, and so forth; all presenting one common feature, namely, skilful finger moulding and slight roughening of the surface as though it had received the impression of coarse linen or crape before baking. In short, the Banko-yaki of to-day bears no resemblance to the work of its nominal progenitor, Gozaemon. His chief aim was the production of solid glazes or brilliant enamels in the Chinese style, whereas the tendency of the Ise artists is now preeminently plastic, disposing them to construct cigarholders after the fashion of the calyx of a lotus, or ewers in the shape of egg-fruits, rather than to study the composition of glazes and enamels. The change is decidedly commendable. Grace and quaintness of conception are natural elements of Japanese genius; and when to these an infinite power of painstaking is added, the total represents a combination especially fitted for the production of such works as those found in the modern Banko ware.

 

WARES OF OMI PROVINCE

Zeze-yaki

The province of Omi adjoins that of Yamashiro and contains the largest lake in Japan, Biwa no Kosui. Its vicinity to Kyōtō and its exquisite scenery render it one of the best known parts of Japan. Moreover, it has always supplied the greater portion of the materials used in the manufacture of faience. Its own keramic productions are not, however, very remarkable. Chief among them is Zeze-yaki, called after the district of its manufacture, which lies near the head of Lake Biwa. The Zeze-yaki is associated with the name of Kobori Masakazu, for at his instigation the first furnace is said to have been erected by order of Tadafusa, feudal chief of Zeze (A. D. 1640). This, however, was by no means the earliest manufacture of pottery in the district, for at the village of Nangano there exist the remains of a rude furnace which is believed to have been in use as far back as the time of Giyogi Bosatsu, and, according to some antiquaries, unglazed pottery was produced at a place called Kagami-yama, in Omi, nineteen hundred years ago. At Oe, too, in the same vicinity, tradition says that a kiln was set up in the middle of the fifteenth century on the occasion of the visit of a Chinese keramist who called there en route for Owari. But all this is of small moment, since it is quite certain that no pieces of Zeze-yaki possessing any merit were produced before the middle of the seventeenth century. Of the ware turned out then and subsequently there are five varieties, viz., Oe, Seta, Kokubu, Barin, and Susume-ga-tani. The first three are known as Furu-Zeze, or Old Zeze, and the two last as Shin-Zeze, or New Zeze. That of Oe is the oldest of all. It consisted almost entirely of tea-utensils, resembling the old Seto pottery, and of such excellent finish that their reputation is scarcely second to that of Takatori masterpieces. Golden brown, russet, and purplish glazes, of remarkable lustre and richness, cover carefully manipulated dark grey and very fine pâte, and it seems not unlikely that the cessation of the manufacture alone prevented it from attaining a very high place among the keramic efforts of Japan. During Tadafusa's lifetime specimens of this Ōe-yaki were sent as presents to many nobles and virtuosi, so that the ware attained considerable reputation. But in the early part of the eighteenth century the factory was closed, for some unascertained reason, and its site is now a vegetable-garden.

The Seta-yaki dates from a period somewhat subsequent to that of Oe, which, for the rest, it resembles in almost every particular except that the workmanship is slightly inferior. The village of Seta, where it was manufactured, lies within a short distance of Oe. The production ceased about A. D. 1700, but was revived in 1801 by an amateur, Ikeda Mompei, who departed somewhat from the fashions of his predecessors. His specialty lay in polychrome glazes, among which his most noteworthy manufacture was red glaze passing into green and buff and overlaid by a blush of blue. The pâte of this second-period Setayaki is coarser and more sandy than that of the old ware: its colour is light buff. Mompei was succeeded by his son, who obtained the assistance of some experts from Kyōtō, and added to the Seta productions a ware resembling that of Awata but of inferior quality.

The Kokubu-yaki was first manufactured at a village of the same name, about 1660, and, as might be expected, Ninsei's influence, which was just then beginning to effect a thorough metamorphosis in the character of Japanese faience, did not fail to make itself felt in the province of Omi also. The finely crackled Awata pottery was taken as a model by the workmen of Kokubu, so that the only immediately apparent difference between their ware and that of Kyōtō is absence of coloured enamels in the former, its decoration generally consisting of some simple floral subject painted in black. The manufacture came to an end in 1725.

In the beginning of the present century the manufacture of faience called Barin-yaki was commenced in the village of Minami-bata, in the same province of Omi. This was altogether different from its predecessors, being an imitation of the so-called Cochin-Chinese style; that is to say, faience covered with green, yellow, and purplish glazes. The coloured glazes were, however, invariably toned down almost to dulness, and this peculiarity, as well as very fine crackle and reddish brown pâte, soft and close in grain, constitute the characteristic features of the ware. The manufacture was only carried on for a very short time, so that specimens are now exceedingly rare.

Considerably more modern is the Susume-ga-tani-yaki which made its first appearance in 1867. It is called after a valley of the same name in the neighbourhood of the village of Awazu. It is a clumsy imitation of Koyōmidzu faience, some of the pieces being decorated with coloured enamels and some with polychrome glazes, but none presenting either originality or artistic merit. In 1867 the factory came into the hands of a merchant called Inoue Ikuemon, and there are now several kilns at which coarse utensils are produced.

In connection with the Zeze-yaki, mention must be made of faience manufactured by a workman of Kyōtō, called Torakichi, who, about the year 1840, set up a kiln in the neighbourhood of Hachidai-riuō, in Omi. Little is known of his productions, but they are said to have been shapely, well finished, and decorated with simple designs in black or brown. The manufacture was only continued for a very short time. Torakichi's pieces are called Zeze-Tora-yaki, to distinguish them from Zeze-yaki proper.

 

Shigaraki-yaki

Within a few miles of the group of Zeze kilns, and in the same province of Omi, is a place called Shigaraki, in the Nagano district, where a factory for the manufacture of pottery existed as long ago as the fourteenth century. The pâte of the ware produced there was coarse and very hard, with a considerable admixture of sand: it belongs to the category of stone-ware rather than of pottery. In the early days of the factory's existence its outcome consisted entirely of rude household utensils. But about the year 1520 it attracted the attention of Shōō, a well-known chajin. At his instigation the potters set themselves to court the patronage of the tea-clubs by imitating the Seto methods. Their most characteristic manufacture was hard, close faience, having a body glaze of amber red, over which was run semi-diaphanous green or brown glaze. They produced also thin brown glazes, plain, streaked with black or spotted with white; and occasionally they resorted to the curious device of imbedding little fragments of quartz in the glaze; a fashion said to have been suggested by the Chinese habit of jewelling choice bronzes. Shigaraki ware of this period received the name of Shōō-Shigaraki, in reference to its patron, Shōō. Towards the close of the same century—sixteenth—the factory attracted the special attention of the great chajin Sen no Rikiu, and its productions of that era were distinguished as Rikiu-Shigaraki. They resemble the greyish craquelé faience of Korea. A little later (about 1630) appeared the Sotōn-shigaraki, a faience having white pâte and craquelé buff glaze, which derived its name from the chajin Sōtan. The Enshiu-shigaraki, called after Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu (1650) is another variety, offering no distinctive features, but valued by the tea-clubs for the sake of its orthodox shapes and sober glazes. Many specimens of old Shigaraki ware show the mark known as geta-okoshi, produced by two wooden supports resembling those of a clog (geta), on which the piece was placed before firing. Tea-jars of Shigaraki-yaki, always valued on account of the conservative qualities of the clay, were brought into special fashion at the beginning of the present century, owing to their use at the Shōgun's Court in Yedo. At present there are several factories in the Nagano district, but their productions are limited to coarse household utensils.

Shigaraki is interesting for another reason. Its clay was largely employed by the potters of Kyōtō, especially those of Kyōmizu. This clay has been analysed by Mr. R. W. Atkinson, and found to consist of the following ingredients:

SHIGARAKI CLAY

Moisture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.16

Combined water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7.00

Silica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56.87

Alumina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28.56

Ferric oxide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.98

Lime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.69

Magnesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.47

Potash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.08

Soda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.06

 

Nagarasan-yaki

Near the town of Otsu, in the province of Omi, is a well-known hill called Miidera-yama. There, about the year 1830, a kiln was established for the manufacture of faience, but little is known with regard to the origin of the enterprise. Probably very few pieces were produced, for specimens are now scarcely obtainable. The potters seem to have made polychrome glazes a specialty. It is said that Zengoro Hozen, the great Kyōtō artist, worked for some time at Nagarasan after the destruction of his own house by fire, and that shortly after his departure for Yedo the Miidera factory was abandoned. At all events, the ware is unimportant and deserves only passing mention.

 

Kotō-yaki

This ware also is among the manufactures of the province of Omi. The factory was established within the territory of the chief of Hikone, near the eastern shore of Lake Biwa—the name Kotō signifies "east of the lake"—about the year 1830. Its chief outcome from the first was porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze. Considerable quantities were produced, for the ware found a ready sale in the form of plates, bowls, and other vessels of daily use. The biscuit is sometimes hard, ringing nearly as .sharply and clearly as that of Hizen; sometimes it is grey stone-ware; the blue is deep and full, and the glaze has a peculiarly soft, lustrous, oily appearance that constitutes an easily recognised feature. The faults of Kotō porcelain of this class are want of contrast between the white ground and the blue decoration, and too much solidity of biscuit. Otherwise the ware has considerable merit. Specimens are found bearing the cachet of the great Kyōtō artist, Zengoro Hozen, or Eiraku, who worked for some years at Kyōtō after the destruction of his Kyōtō residence by fire. The designs are generally formal,—floral scrolls, arabesques, and diapers. The Koto potters excelled, also, in the use of enamelled decoration. They prepared their green, yellow, red, purple, and blue enamels with the greatest care, and applied them with admirable skill, sometimes copying the decorative methods of the Ching-hwa and Wan-li Chinese artists, and sometimes borrowing designs from the Kano school of pictorial art. In the latter variety the pigments used are, for the most part, confined to red and gold, and the decoration is of profuse and elaborate character,—landscapes, floral subjects, mythical figures, and so forth, being the general motives. The factory was closed immediately after the assassination of the celebrated Ii Kamon-no Kami, feudal chief of Hikone, in 1860, and has not since been re-opened.

 

WARES OF HARIMA (BANSHU)

The province of Harima lies on the Inland Sea, to a large portion of which it gives its name (Harima Nada). It has never been remarkable for its potteries. The best ware manufactured there is the

 

Himeji-yaki, or Tozan-yaki

This is porcelain of two varieties, blue-and-white and céladon. The factory was established at Himeji, one of the principal towns in the province, during the Kan-ei era (1624-1643) under the patronage of the lord of the fief—Sakai Uta no Kami—for whose family and retainers the ware was principally destined. Materials were obtained from a hill, called Tōzan, in the vicinity of the town; hence the term Tozan-yaki. The biscuit was not of first-class quality, but the blue decoration was often spirited in execution and of pure, brilliant tint. The céladon was tolerably good, but distinctly inferior to that of Nabeshima (Hizen). The productions of the kiln consisted, for the most part, of small pieces, such as wine-bottles, cups, bowls, teapots, ewers, and so forth. The manufacture ceased to be profitable after the abolition of feudalism (1868), and is now limited to coarse ware for domestic use.

 

Maiko-yaki

This is faience or stone-ware, produced at Maiko, in the Akashi district of Harima. The manufacture was inaugurated in 1820 by Mikuni Kyūhachi, whose grandson, Mosaburo, still carries it on. The Maiko-yaki never aspired to be called a decorative product. It was grey stone-ware, or faience, covered with diaphanous glaze, the only ornamentation being brown mottling or speckles. Sometimes, however, as is generally the case with the ruder wares of Japan, ingenious and artistic specimens of modelling are to be found among the works of the Maiko potters.

 

Akashi-yaki

Akashi is the first town which a traveller by the Tōkaido, or great trunk road of Japan, reaches after entering the province of Harima. Tradition says that a factory was established in the Akashi district by the great Kyōtō artist (Nomura Ninsei), about 1650, at the request of the feudal chief of the province, and that faience after the Kyōtō style, but of very inferior quality, was produced. But the reputation of the ware never succeeded in extending beyond the district of its manufacture.

Another variety of Akashi ware is popularly known as Annam-yaki. It is rude, brown pottery, thinly glazed, and depending entirely upon conceits of shape. Its name is derived from its resemblance to faience supposed to have been imported from Annam. This manufacture was inaugurated by Yakichi, son of Mikuni Kyūhachi, the originator of the Maiko-yaki. It is now carried on not only at the Maiko factory, but also by Tsuji Seizaemon, at Matsukage, in the same district.

Yet another variety of Akashi ware is the Shudei-yaki, manufactured by Fuji Tsunezō, of Kanegasaki, with clay obtained from Matsukage, in the same district. "Shudei" literally signifies "red clay." It is a name given by the Japanese to Chinese boccaro, the celebrated pottery of Yi-hsiang. Chinese boccaro was imitated with some success by Kyōtō artists, but Japan never furnished materials for this class of ware comparable with those of Yi-hsiang. The Shudei-yaki of Akashi is inferior to that of Kyōtō, and is used principally in the manufacture of common utensils.

Within the past few years a ware called Asagiri-yaki has been produced at Matsukage, in the Akashi district, by Teraoka Genjiro, and a ware called Uozumi-yaki, at Nakano, in the same district, by Nishino-umi Otōsuke. The term Uozumi is derived from the ancient name of the district.

 

WARES OF KISHIU (WAKAYAMA PREFECTURE)

Oniwa-yaki, or Kairaku-en-yaki

A little more than half a mile westward of the town of Wakayama, in the province of Kishiu stood formerly the country residence of the family whose representatives governed the district. Within the park of this mansion (called Nishihama), at the beginning of the present century, Tokugawa Harunori, then head of the family, caused a private kiln to be built for the manufacture of porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze. It has been shown that the porcelain industry, as distinguished from that of pottery and faience, received a notable impulse in the opening years of the nineteenth century. The Nishihama factory is an example of this development. Very little is known of its first productions. They were completely lost sight of when, in 1827, Harunori, after one of his periodical visits to Kyōtō, brought back with him the already renowned keramist, Zengoro Hozen. The character of the Kishiu-yaki immediately underwent a complete change. Zengoro had made his name by imitating the brilliant glazes of the so-called Cochin-Chinese faience, and to this species of work he applied himself at Harunori's factory. The outcome of the kiln was thenceforth known as Oniwa-yaki (ware of the honourable park) or Kairaku-en-yaki (ware of the park of ease and fellowship). The pâte, sometimes white, sometimes reddish grey, was very fine, varying from porcelain to faience, but being for the most part hard stone-ware. The glazes were remarkably rich and beautiful: purple, green, turquoise, yellow, and white. They were employed in various ways. Perhaps the most common was a purple ground covered with scroll-work in relief, portions of the scroll being filled with turquoise blue. In other and even more excellent pieces there is found rich green ground marbled with purple, or decorated with medallions in yellow, purple, white, and blue. Glazes showing greater richness, lustre, and purity of colour were never produced by any Japanese potter. Harunori loaded Zengoro with favours, and bestowed on him three seals; two of silver, bearing the inscriptions Kairaku-en and Eiraku, and one of gold, inscribed Kahin Shiriu. Japanese antiquaries say that the term Kahin Shiriu (branch of Kahin) has reference to the earliest pottery of China, which, according to them, was manufactured by an artist called Chun at the kiln of Kahin (Chinese Hopin), about 3000 years ago. This point is involved in obscurity. Eiraku, as already explained (vide Kyōtō wares), is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese period Yung-lo (1403-1425), during which was first produced the celebrated "rouge vif" with decoration in gold. Zengoro never allowed any specimen to leave his hands bearing the stamp Kahin Shiriu unless he was thoroughly satisfied with the success of his work. Sometimes he added the mark Eiraku, and in many cases his imitations of the Chinese turquoise-blues and purples are stamped simply "Kairaku-ken. He generally worked to order, and it is said to have been his habit to manufacture from five to ten specimens of any piece which he had undertaken to produce. Of these the best was chosen, and the remainder were destroyed in the presence of the person who had given the order. He appears to have remained some eight or nine years in Kishiu, and after his return to Kyōtō the Nishihama factory was placed under the direction of another workman from the Western capital, by name Yoshihei. It would appear, however, that Zengoro's glazes were not to be compassed by any other expert. The Kairabu ware gradually lost its high character, and on Harunori's death, in 1844, the manufacture came to an end.

 

Otoko-yama-yaki

The Kairakuen-yaki was one of the first to attract the attention of Western collectors after the opening of Japan to foreign intercourse, and a considerable numer of pieces found their way to Europe. Good specimens are now almost unprocurable. Those usually offered for sale are the productions of one of three factories; namely, Otokoyama, Ota, or Etchūjima. Otokoyama is in the neighbourhood of Nishihama, in the same province of Kishiu. A kiln was set up there about the year 1847, and until 1866 wares were produced, some after the fashion of the original Kaira-kuen-yaki, some decorated with bleu sous couverte, and some having céladon glazes. They were by no means of first-class quality. The céladons and blue-and-whites were marked Nanki Otoko-yama, but the imitations of the Oniwa-yaki generally bore no cachet. Ota is a village lying some three miles to the east of Nishihama. Up to the year 1874 the keramic industry had not been carried on there. But at that date a workman called Miyai Saguro, inspired by the favour which the original Kairakuen-yaki found with foreign collectors, opened a factory at Ota, and attempted to reproduce Hozen's inimitable glazes. He failed signally, but there is no doubt that many of his pieces were sold to unwary amateurs. The same prospect of gain led simultaneously to the opening of another factory at Etchujima, in Tōkyō, so that the market was flooded for a time with gaudily glazed vases of most faulty technique, some of which were exported, while others gravitated to their proper level in the windows of barbers' shops or on the shelves of lumber-stores in the purlieus of the metropolis.

It may be added here, with regard to the Ota-yaki mentioned above, that after Miyai's attempt to reproduce the Oniwa-yaki had failed, two of his fellow-workmen, Shosaburo and Sensuke, turned their attention to the production of flambé glazes after Chinese models. These were often tolerably successful, but the number of failures was always so great that the price of the successful pieces became well-nigh prohibitive, and the manufacture is consequently no longer carried on.

 

Meppo-yaki

Another factory of some importance in Kishiu is that of Meppō, which was established at the end of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its productions were almost entirely confined to céladons. They are known either as Meppo-yaki or Zuishi-yaki. Good specimens are generally stamped "Zuishi" (vide Plates), that designation being employed because the green colour of the porcelain was supposed to resemble that of a grass called Zuishi which grew in profusion near the site of the manufacture. The ware is, for the most part ornamented with designs in relief under the glaze, and these are often executed with considerable skill. Rokuro, a pupil of the celebrated Kyōtō artist Rokubei, was the first workman of note employed at the factory. During his time the Meppo-yakin enjoyed considerable reputation, but it gradually fell into disfavour, and, in spite of some fitful support from Tanzan of Kyōto and others, the manufacture was finally abandoned a few years ago.

 

WARES OF SETTSU (HYOGO PREFECTURE)

Kōbe-yaki

It will be convenient here to pass from the province of Kishiu to that of Settsu, in order to speak of the present representative of the beautiful Oniwa-yaki (vide wares of Kishiu). This is faience the manufacture of which was commenced by Hotta Sozaburo, in 1877, in Kōbe. At first the venture proved a commercial failure. The refractory nature of the local clays constituted an almost insuperable difficulty, and it became necessary to import materials, of which those obtained from Hizen gave the most satisfactory results. With any other pâte—and even with this, though in a less degree—the production of uniform glaze appeared to be little better than a matter of accident, so that sometimes among a hundred pieces stoved not one emerged without some serious defect. Such conditions were, of course, prohibitory, and before long Akamatsu Eiji, the only workman whose achievements were of much promise, was obliged to abandon the undertaking. Subsequently, however, the manufacture was revived on a larger scale and with a purely commercial aim. It was found that blue and purple glazes could be turned out in great quantities at a very trifling cost, and that America offered a ready market for such specimens. A tolerably flourishing trade accordingly sprang up, and from Kōbe were exported some thousands of pieces yearly, a great many of which were not free from gross blemishes—as, for example, serious faults in the pâte or solutions of continuity in the glaze—while the majority were crude, ill-fired, and unsatisfactory, only redeemed from hopeless mediocrity by their brilliant effect as decorative pieces and by the accidental skill sometimes displayed in the combinations of their colours. The latter, though rich and often lustrous, lacked uniformity, especially at the edges and other salient points, and could not bear comparison with the aubergine and turquoise-blues of Zengoro. The pâte had a chalky appearance, and the glaze was usually traversed by accidental crackle. Within the past few years, however, very great improvements have been made in the manufacture of this ware. No mean degree of technical skill has been developed. Pure, delicate colours—especially turquoise-blue and purple—are obtained; the crackle is fine and uniform, and the glazes are seldom disfigured by faults such as used formerly to be constantly apparent.

 

Sanda-yaki

Tradition says that a factory for the manufacture of porcelain was established in the Arima district of Settsu, in 1690, by order of Kuki, feudal chief of the province. Its productions, rude faience after Korean models, attracted no attention until the end of the eighteenth century, when Kanda Sõbei, a merchant of Sanda, caused twelve kilns to be constructed at Inugahara, in the same district, and engaged experts from Kyōtō and Hizen to manufacture blue-and-white porcelain. In 1801 this same Kanda, or, according to some authorities, two potters, Uchigami and Ippei, discovered materials suitable for making céladon at Koishidani, in the neighbourhood of the factory. Thenceforth céladon became a staple article of production at Inugahara. From Kyōtō were obtained the services of Shūhei, Kumakichi, and Kamesuke, all artists of note, and with their aid the Sanda-Seiji, as the new céladon was called, justly attained great popularity. It was ware of much merit, but its bright green colour could not compare with the beautiful glazes of the old Chinese celadons, and was even inferior to the delicate tinge of the Nabeshima-Seiji, manufactured at Okawachi, in Hizen. The pâte varied from dense but close-grained stone-ware to porcelain. The invention of this Sanda-Seiji gave a great impetus to keramic industry in the Arima district. The number of kilns increased considerably. Porcelains decorated with blue under the glaze and with enamels over it, applied in the archaic style of early Chinese wares, were also produced, but they present no specially noteworthy feature. On Sōbei's death, in 1828, the factories were about to be closed, when Mukai Kidayu purchased them and continued the industry on a smaller scale. He abandoned it in 1850, but four years afterwards the kilns were re-opened by Tanaka Riemon. Their outcome, however, was palpably inferior to the productions of Kanda Sōbei's time.

 

Kosobe-yaki

Though Settsu is known to foreign collectors principally through the celadon of Sanda, two other wares, esteemed by the Japanese tea-clubs, belong to the same province. They are the Kosobe-yaki and the Sakurai-yaki, both being faiences. The former was first produced, in 1799, at the village of Kosobe, by Igarashi Shimpei, a potter who had studied keramic processes at Kyōtō, and whose works were consequently little more than imitations of Ninsei and Raku. His successor, Shinzo, on the other hand, took his models from Takatori, Karatsu, and Korea; while Shingoro, the third and present representative of the family, sent to Kyōtō for workmen, and by their aid produced some very good pieces after the style of Rokubei. Among the most valued examples of Kosobe-yaki, however, are those by an amateur, Tasuke Dainen, who flourished between 1840 and 1870. Originally a dealer in bric-à-brac, the choice specimens which passed through his hands supplied models of unusual merit, and the designs he employed in the decoration of his pieces were thoroughly artistic both in choice and execution. The pâte of the Kosobe-yaki is hard and fine, but somewhat sandy; it varies in colour from dark-grey to reddish white. The glaze is sometimes pearl-grey, sometimes reddish buff, and sometimes white. The decoration is for the most part confined to slight sketches in black or brown. Dainen's works may generally be known by the predominance of a peculiar russet-brown enamel.

 

Sakurai-yaki

The manufacture of this ware was commenced at Sakurai, in the Shimokami district of Settsu, by Kyōmizu Kanzō, in 1782, who is said to have been a pupil of the Kyōtō expert Ogata Shūhei. Both Shūhei and Mokubei are reported to have themselves visited the factory and helped to inaugurate the industry, but there is little authority for this statement. At all events, the Kyōtō style was adopted. Materials were obtained sometimes from the province of Yamashiro and sometimes from Shigaraki (in Omi), as well as from the island of Amakusa. The pâte was very light buff, generally close in texture. The glaze was white, occasionally with a greenish tinge or flecked with red. The designs generally consisted of pine-trees, floral subjects, and verses of poetry, executed in black, brown, violet, and blue. Kyōmizu Kanzō was succeeded by Tazaemon, and the latter by Tajurō, the present artist. The outcome of the factory is now insignificant.

 

Kikko-yaki

This is a faience little known outside Japan. The manufacture was commenced about fifty years ago in Ōsaka, at a place called Jūso-mura, by a workman named Kikko. It was an exact imitation of the Raku ware of Kyōtō, except that coloured glazes were used with greater freedom. Some of the specimens were well modelled and quaint. The ware need not be further described, since it may be classed with the Raku faience of Kyōtō.

 

Takahara-yaki

This is faience of archaic type. It owed whatever measure of public favour it received to the patronage of Doi, feudal chief of Osumi, who flourished in the middle of the seventeenth century. Using clay found at Kurodani in Yamashiro, the potters of Takahara took Korean wares as their type, copying especially a variety known in Japan as Gohon, or "honourable model." This was crackled faience, having grey or buff glaze, with designs in white under the glaze. Sometimes the decoration is in reddish brown (Shibu-e).

 

Naniwa-yaki

In olden times Ōsaka was known as Naniwa. In a suburb of the city there was established, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a workshop at which faience of some merit was produced. Its pâte was coarse and grey in colour. The glazes used were green and black, and sometimes designs in light-blue were painted under a colourless glaze. Flower-vases of quaint shapes, as for example peonies, vine-leaves, bamboos, and so forth, were produced. The ware is little known, and never occupied a place of any importance in Japan's keramic productions.

 

WARES OF YEDO, OR TŌKYŌ

Strange to say, Yedo (now Tōkyō), the eastern capital, and during three centuries the seat of the chief executive power of Japan, did not possess any potteries worthy of note in former times. The first factory established there (1630), under the auspices of Iyemitsu, third Shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty, proved a complete failure. It was in the quarter of the city called Asakusa, near the gate of the now celebrated temple of Monzeki, and the workmen employed were specially summoned from Settsu, where, as has been already mentioned, the manufacture of faience in Korean style had been carried on since the beginning of the seventeenth century. The ware potted at Asakusa was of a similar nature, but the materials, being those found in the neighbourhood, were of most inferior quality. The result was so discouraging that the undertaking was very soon. abandoned.

 

Imado-yaki

In the same district, at a place called Imado, is another factory which, whatever the merit of its productions, struggled on through ill report and good report until a road to comparative prosperity was at last opened to it. To what period the establishment of the kiln may be attributed is not very accurately known, but its founder is said to have been a vassal of the noble house of Chiba, who, after the confiscation of his lord's estates in 1600, resorted to the

MAIKO WARE.

Maiko Ware.

Nineteenth century. (See page 373.)

AKAHADA WARE.

Akahada Ware.

Eighteenth century. (See page 357.)

potter's art as a means of gaining a livelihood. If this be true, the factory must take precedence of all others, so far as Yedo is concerned, but it is here placed second, because its productions failed to attract any attention for nearly a century after the reported date of their first appearance. The furnace was then (1680) in the hands of one Shirai Hanshichi, and its outcome was confined to tea-ware and fire-holders of unglazed pottery. But in the next generation (1720) faience after the fashion of the Raku-yaki gained for the factory considerable local popularity. Small figures, especially of women, and the larger class of utensils used by the tea-clubs, were the staple articles of manufacture. A business of some importance was also done in fire-boxes of coloured clays, after the style carried to such perfection by Zengoro Hozen of Kyōtō. Green, black, red, and white clays were employed; sometimes mixed so as to produce a marbled effect; sometimes used separately. The glaze was very thin and glossy and the pâte carefully manipulated. This manufacture is now carried on with great success. The fire-boxes are deservedly very popular in Tōkyō, being not only finely finished but also remarkably cheap. They resemble highly polished marble.

 

Tōkyō Raku Ware

The reader will probably have observed that amateur Japanese keramists generally chose Raku-yaki for their first essays. This is of course due in great part to the fact that the Korean master's faience, owing to the peculiarly simple methods of its manufacture, is well adapted to domestic manufacture. Another reason is to be found in the low temperature at which the ware is baked and the inexpensive nature of the furnace employed. The Raku potter's oven—a little earthen erection, measuring less than two feet in any direction—resembles an article of cottage furniture rather than a kiln, and the few simple appliances that constituted his plant were within easy reach of the humblest means. This facility of manipulation has procured for Raku faience the title of "Uchi yaki," or "home made pottery," and the names of quite a considerable number of amateurs are associated with its domestic manufacture. As shown above, the Imado potters included it among their productions. It has also been made, from time to time during the present century, by various residents of the Honjo district of Tōkyō. A curious and interesting manner of employing this Raku faience was suggested by the Chinese device of ornamenting woodwork with inlaid plaques of porcelain. Ogawa Ritsuo, or Haritsu, a Kyōtō artist who flourished during the first half of the eighteenth century, appears to have been the originator of this style in Japan. He used it in a variety of ways, as, for example, in the ornamentation of screens, medicine-boxes (inro), and hashira-kake (long, narrow pictorial boards for hanging against the square pillars in a Japanese room). The Japanese expert, however, altogether eschewed the formal fashions of his Chinese models. His plan was to produce mosaics in faience on a ground of plain or lacquered wood. The skill shown by Haritsu in work of this nature is really admirable. Not only is his technique remarkable, but his artistic effects are often charming. As a potter he deserves high rank, for certainly the manufacture of every variety of Raku faience—black, red, yellow, cream-white, and green glazes, as well as ware painted or enamelled over the glaze—was never carried to a point of greater excellence by any Japanese expert. His greatest triumphs, perhaps, were in modelling flowers and insects. Doubtless the fashion introduced by Haritsu found imitators in later times, but no distinction was gained in this line until the Tempo era (1830-1843), when the work of Miura Kenya, of Kyōtō, began to attract attention. Kenya came to Tōkyō (then Yedo), about 1840 and settled at Asakusa, where he continued the manufacture of faience mosaics until a recent period. He never reached the standard of Haritsu, but nevertheless left many specimens of great beauty and excellence. He was succeeded by Kozawa Benshi, who, in addition to inlaying with faience, manufactures figures of terra cotta elaborately painted in body colours.

 

Yedo Banko yaki

This is the name given to ware manufactured by Numanami Gozaemon, the originator of the Banko-yaki, during his residence at the village of Komme, in the suburbs of Tōkyō (vide Banko yaki). It can scarcely be classed among the keramic productions of the capital, and of course it is not distinguishable from work produced by the Banko expert at his native village (Kuwana). In the same category of exotic manufactures may be placed ware made at the private kiln of the Prince of Mita, within the grounds of his Yedo mansion (at Toyama), up to the beginning of the present century. To this ware, as well as to the faience manufactured at the Prince's private factory in Owari, the name Oniwa-yaki (honourable garden ware) was given, and it was usually marked Go-raku-en ("later Raku-en"). The nature of the ware has already been described in the chapter upon Owari keramic products.

 

Tōkyō Porcelain

Porcelain was first produced in Tōkyō by Fukushima Masabei, who erected a kiln within the enclosure of the Prince of Kameyama's mansion in the Minowa suburb, 1863. The industry was abandoned the following year, and Tōkyō remained without a porcelain factory until 1875, when Inouye Ryōsai, a potter of Seto (Owari), went into partnership with a pottery-dealer called Shimada Sōbei, and set up a kiln at Hashiba, in the Asakusa district. Materials were procured from Owari, and the manufacture was vigorously pushed. The porcelain is identical with that of Seto (Owari), but the decoration is after the fashion of the Tōkyō school—to be presently spoken of—that is to say, elaborate painting over the glaze, with scarcely any use of vitrifiable enamels.

 

Tōkyō Decorators (E-Tsuke)

Although not remarkable as a centre of keramic production, Tōkyō possesses a school of artist-artisans second to none in Japan. Every year large quantities of porcelain and faience are sent from the provinces to the capital to receive surface decoration, and in wealth of design as well as excellence of execution the results are everything that can be desired. But of the pigments and enamels employed nothing very laudatory could be said until very recent times. They were generally crude, of impure tone, and without depth or brilliancy. Now, however, they have lost these defects and entered a period of considerable excellence. As for the nature of the designs, it may fairly be said that figure-subjects constitute their chief feature. A majority of the artists are content to copy old pictures of Buddha's Sixteen Disciples, the seven Gods of Happiness, and other similar assemblages of mythical or historical personages, not only because such work offers large opportunity for the use of striking colours and the production of meretricious effects, dear to the eye of the average Western householder and globe-trotter, but also because a complicated design, as compared with a simple one, has the advantage of hiding the technical imperfections of the ware. Of late there have happily appeared some decorators who prefer to choose their subjects from the natural field in which their great predecessors of former times excelled, and there is reason to hope that this more congenial and pleasing style will supplant its modern usurper. The best known factory in Tōkyō for decorative purposes is the Hyōchi-en. It was established in the Fukagawa suburb in 1876, with the immediate object of preparing specimens for the first Tōkyō Exhibition held at that time. Its founders obtained a measure of official aid, and were able to secure the services of some good artists, among whom may be mentioned Obanawa and Shimauchi. The porcelains of Owari and Arita naturally received most attention at the hands of the Hyochi-en decorators, but there was scarcely one of the principal wares of Japan upon which they did not try their skill, and if a piece of monochromatic Minton or Sèvres came in their way, they undertook to improve it by the addition of designs copied from old masters or suggested by modern taste. To all such pieces the cachet of the Fukagawa atelier was indiscriminately applied, and has probably proved a source of considerable confusion to collectors. Many other factories for decoration were established from time to time in Tōkyō. Of these some still exist; others, ceasing to be profitable, have been abandoned. On the whole, the industry may now be said to have assumed a domestic character. In a house, presenting no distinctive features whatsoever, the decorator is found with a cupboard full of bowls and vases in glazed biscuit which he adorns, piece by piece, using the simplest conceivable apparatus and a meagre supply of pigments. Sometimes he fixes the decoration himself, employing for that purpose a small kiln which stands in his back-garden; sometimes he entrusts this part of the work to a factory where greater facilities are provided. As in the case of everything Japanese, there is no pretence, no useless expenditure about the process. This school of Tōkyō decorators, though often choosing their subjects badly, have contributed much to the progress of the keramic art during the past ten years. Little by little, there has been developed a degree of skill which compares not unfavourably with the work of the old masters. Table services of Owari porcelain—the ware itself excellently manipulated and of almost egg-shell fineness—are now decorated with floral scrolls, landscapes, insects, birds, figure subjects, and all sorts of designs, chaste, elaborate, or quaint; and these services, representing so much artistic labour and originality, are sold for prices that bear no ratio whatsoever to the skill required in their manufacture. There is only one reservation to be made in speaking of this modern decorative industry of Japan under its better aspects. It is a reservation applying equally to the work done in Tōkyō, Kyōtō, Yokohama, and Kōbe. The artists use chiefly pigments, seldom venturing to employ vitrifiable enamels. That the results achieved with these different materials are not comparable, is a fact which every connoisseur must admit. The glossy surface of porcelain glaze is ill fitted for rendering artistic effects with ordinary colours. The proper field for the application of these is the biscuit, in which position the covering glaze serves at once to soften and to preserve the pigment. It can scarcely be doubted that the true instincts of the keramist will ultimately counsel him to confine his decoration over the glaze to vitrifiable enamels, with which the Chinese and Japanese potters of former times obtained such brilliant results. But to employ enamels successfully is an achievement demanding special training and materials not easy to procure or to prepare. The Tōkyō decorators are not likely, therefore, to change their present methods immediately. Meanwhile a wholesome impetus has been given to keramic decoration by the efforts of a new school, which owes its origin to the late Dr. G. Wagener, an eminent German expert formerly in the service of the Japanese Government. Dr. Wagener conceived the idea of developing the art of decoration under the glaze, as applied to faience. Faience thus decorated has always been exceptional in Japan. Rare specimens were produced in Satsuma and Kyōtō, the colour employed being chiefly blue, though brown and black were used in very exceptional instances. The difficulty of producing clear, rich tints was nearly prohibitive, and though success, when achieved, seemed to justify the effort, this class of ware never received much attention in Japan. By careful selection and preparation of pâte, glaze, and pigments, Dr. Wagener proved not only that the manufacture is reasonably feasible, but also that decoration thus applied to pottery possesses unique delicacy and softness. Ware manufactured under his direction at the Tōkyō School of Technique (Shokko Gakko), under the name of Asahi Yaki attracted considerable attention at one time, but the glazing material being prepared in accordance with European formulæ, presented a vitreous aspect offensive to Japanese taste, and, indeed, not likely to appeal to any connoisseur. Nevertheless Dr. Wagener's innovation bore fruit in the ateliers of Kyōtō artists, as will be seen when the modern developments of Japanese keramics come to be discussed.

The decorative industry in Tōkyō owes much to the Kōshō Kaisha, an institution started by Messrs. Matsuo Gisuke and Wakai Kanesaburo (a connoisseur of note), in 1873. Owing to the intelligent patronage of this company and the impetus given to the keramic trade by its enterprise, the style of the Tōkyō etsuke was largely improved and the field of their industry extended. It must be acknowledged, however, that Tōkyō artists often devote their skill to purposes of forgery, and that their imitations, especially of old Satsuma-yaki (vide Satsuma Wares), are sometimes franked by dealers whose standing should forbid such frauds.

 

TAKATA WARE

In Toyokawa-machi of the Takata suburb, there is a factory established by Takemoto Hayata in 1867. This expert had come from Seto some years previously, with Inouye Ryōsai, at the invitation of Matsudaira, lord of Settsu, for the purpose of opening a kiln in the grounds of that nobleman's mansion, in Arakimachi, Koishikawa, Tōkyō. On the abolition of feudalism (1867), the two potters moved to Takata. Eight years later, Inouye Ryōsai, as has been stated above, constructed a porcelain kiln on his own account at Hashiba. The Takata factory was at first employed in producing imitation Satsuma faience, but this occupation proving unprofitable, Takemoto turned his attention to the manufacture of special glazes, which will be spoken of in the section relating to modern developments of keramics.

 

MUKOJIMA WARE

Koren-yaki

At present Tōkyō boasts a lady keramist whose works deservedly attract attention. Hattori Tsuna, or Kōren as she is commonly called, is the wife of an official of some rank, so that her pursuit of the potter's art is chiefly a labour of love. She does not use glaze or coloured decoration of any kind, but depends entirely on plastic skill. At first sight her statuettes and other quaintly modelled pieces might easily be mistaken for wood-carvings, and indeed there is little doubt that they are designed with this intention, for the unglazed clay of which they are made is stained to a dark-brown tint, and the surface is often pitted or grained. The ware itself does not possess any great merit, but that is perhaps ascribable to the faulty nature of the materials furnished by Tōkyō rather than to any want of skill on the part of the manipulator. Most of Kōren's productions find their way to America, being exported by a large trading company by which everything she can turn out is bespoken. In her own country, therefore, her name is not yet widely known.

 

The Koishikawa Factory

Within the past four years there has been established at Koishikawa, in the northwesterly suburb of Tōkyō, a factory where considerable quantities of good porcelain are produced. The proprietor is Kato Tomataro. He employs materials brought from Arita, Seto, and Amakusa. The staple product of the kiln is blue-and-white ware, of which the best examples are delicate and well finished. Kato has shown some capacity for manufacturing glazes of the beautiful red known in China as Fén-hung, but his work of this nature is still tentative and uncertain.

 

Aizu-yaki or Wakamatsu-yaki

One of the most important keramic centres in the north of Japan is at Hongo, in the province of Iwashiro (Fukushima Prefecture). The industry was started by an expert of Mino, called Mizuna Genzaemon, who came to Wakamatsu (the chief town of the province) in 1845, and was engaged as a potter by Matsudaira Masayuki, lord of Aizu. His family carried on the industry for ten generations, producing coarse faience of the Seto type for local use. The tenth representative, Mizuno Tamon, visited Owari, in 1865, and having acquired the processes of porcelain manufacture, introduced them at Hongo. At first the ware was somewhat coarse. The composition of two specimens, examined six years ago, was found to be as follows:—

AIZU PORCELAIN

Silica.

Alumina.

Iron
Oxide.

Lime,
Potash, etc.

Water.

First Specimen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

72.98

020.07

0.28

03.54

3.50

Second Specimen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

78.80

017.61

0.23

02.49

0.64

Neither of these specimens can properly be called true porcelain. As for the former, were it not baked in a porcelain oven and did it not possess a thoroughly fused porcelain glaze, its grey fracture and lack of transparency would relegate it to the rank of fine stone-ware. It is manufactured entirely from clay found near a village called Nagami. The latter specimen is composed of equal parts of three clays (Okubo-tsuchi, Shira-shari-tsuchi, and Kabuto-tsuchi), all found near the village of Hongo. It represents the better kind of Wakamatsu-yaki, having a pure white fracture, but little transparency even at the edges. The Aizu potters, in fact, experienced difficulty in obtaining a temperature sufficiently high to produce transparent ware. Their raw material, pronounced by experts to be an imperfectly hardened porcelain stone and placed in the same category with the Arita mineral, proved somewhat refractory. But of late they have completely overcome these difficulties. They now succeed in producing translucid porcelain of fine quality and almost egg-shell thinness. The decoration, confined to blue under the glaze, is brilliant in colour, and carefully executed. The industry gives occupation to about a thousand persons. The name of an expert Kishi Denzo, is associated with the progress of recent improvements.

 

Sōma-yaki

According to tradition, pottery was produced in the province of Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture) as early as the eleventh century, but nothing is known of the ware until 1648, when Tōshiro, a retainer of Sōma, feudal chief of the province, is said to have visited Kyōtō in his master's train and studied the keramic art under Nomura Ninsei for a period of seven years. Returning to Iwaki in 1655, he established a factory at Nakamura, in the Udo district. There is no resemblance between the Sōma-yaki of that time and the faience of Kyōtō, though some similarity is suggested by the story of Tōshiro's education. The Sōma-yaki was rather coarse, grey stoneware, having thin translucent glaze with brown speckles. In some specimens glaze was not used at all. It is said that the artist Kano Naonobu visited the province of Iwaki, and being desired by the Sōma chief to furnish a design for keramic decoration, limned a horse galloping. This event must have occurred before the visit of Tōshiro to Kyōtō, for Naonobu died in 1650. At all events, a galloping horse, which is the signification of the word Sōma, became, from the middle of the seventeenth century, the only decorative subject employed by the potters of Nakamura. It was traced occasionally in gold, but generally in black; and sometimes it is found engraved or in relief. To this design the ware owes its name, Sōma-yaki. By a strange anomaly the same term is applied to the earlier undecorated pieces: they are called Muji-sōma (plain Sōma). An interesting variety of Sōma-yaki, dating from the close of the last century, has its glaze granulated in distinct globules after the fashion of a species of Karatsu pottery already described. In almost every case a horse, whether painted, incised, or in relief, appears upon the piece.

Specimens of old Sōma-yaki are difficult to find, and have few artistic merits to repay the search. The collector will generally meet with cups and bowls in the best examples of which the potter has evidently taken Kwang-yao and the Yuan ware of China as his model. He never, indeed, produced, or thought, apparently, of producing, the clair-de-lune body colour of the Yuan keramists. But their large, blood-red splashes he imitated with tolerable fidelity, and the effect of these upon his peculiar mottled-grey glazes is not unpleasing,—praise that may be extended to his combinations of blue and brown also. Pieces thus decorated belong to the middle period of manufacture (1750 to 1820). Those of earlier date must be classed among the essentially severe wares of Japan,—wares destined to suit the exaggerated simplicity of the Cha-no-Yu canons. Some amateurs find considerable merit in the vigorous delineation of the horse which constitutes the cachet of the Sōma potters. It is the conventional horse of the Kano school, a sufficiently fiery animal, but stereotyped. Its original designer showed himself at least capable of independent conception, since in limning a galloping horse (Sō-ma), he did not hesitate to represent it as tethered to a stake. Specimens of Sōma-yaki are often distinguished by a circular device of nine balls, the badge of the Sōma family.

The province of Iwaki has several factories where rude pottery and stone-ware for local use are manufactured. It is unnecessary to speak of these in detail.

 

Nishi Raku-yaki

At Ikao, a well-known watering-place in the provvince of Joshiu (Kotsuke), faience of the Raku type has been manufactured since 1780 by the Kishi family, who, as has been the case with many makers of Raku ware, carry on the business not by way of regular profession but as an occasional household industry. Materials, not being procurable in the district, are imported from Owari, but despite the heavy expense thus entailed, the little factory appears to prosper. It supplies local wants to some extent, and derives another and more considerable means of support from the patronage of visitors to the hot springs. Almost every Japanese is something of an artist, and ever since pottery and porcelain became essentials of the tea-clubs, it has been a favourite amusement with dilettanti to use their own brushes for the decoration of specimens manufactured to order. Day by day during the "season" three or four gentlemen may be seen seated in Kishi Ahō's picturesque cottage among the woods and cascades of Ikao, leisurely transferring their fancies to cups, bowls, and vases of Raku biscuit, which are presently glazed, and re-fired in a little kiln that stands in an adjoining building. The decoration is in black and brown sous couverte, the ware is of the ordinary Raku character, soft and brittle faience. The usual black Raku glaze is not, however, employed; salmon-colour with white clouding or frosting, yellowish white with green patches, and light brown being the staple glazes.

 

TAMBA WARES

Tachikui-yaki

In the province of Tamba, which lies to the west of Yamashiro and is included in the urban district of Kyōtō, pottery is said to have been manufactured as early as the sixth century. Not, however, until the time when the Taikō's influence imparted so much activity to the art-industries of Japan did the ware assume any features worthy of note. Pieces after the fashion of the rude faience of Korea then made their appearance. The workshop—which was at a place called Onohara—was brought into some notice by peculiar faience having reddish pâte and blisters on its surface, supposed to resemble an imported ware attributed to Siam. In general, however, the Tamba potters of those days took the Seto-yaki as their model. Among their tea-jars, cups, and water-vessels, specimens with very hard, reddish brown pâte, and chocolate, black, or mahogany-coloured glazes occasionally showing yellow mottling, are most frequently met with. An inferior sage-green glaze was also produced. About the middle of the seventeenth century the factory was moved to a place called Tachikui, and from that time its productions were known as Tachikui-yaki. They have but little interest for Western collectors, though occasionally the splashed glazes are not without attractions. The first workman of Tamba who distinguished himself by the production of good faience is said to have been a man named Kichizo.

 

Sasayama-yaki

Early in the present century, under the auspices of Kutsuki, feudal chief of the district, a factory established at Sasayama, also in the province of Tamba, began to turn out pieces of greatly improved description. The pâte, light grey in colour, was carefully manipulated, and the decoration—sometimes applied in the form of pâte-sur-pâte to an unglazed surface, and sometimes enamelled in the ordinary method—was generally of a very artistic nature, the subjects being copied direct from the works of the celebrated painter Okyo. The best specimens of this period are stamped with the name of Nosaka, the only one of the Tamba workmen who seems to have marked his productions.

 

Iga yaki

The province of Iga adjoins that of Omi, whence the Kyōtō potters have always procured so much of their materials. It is surrounded by mountains, among those on its north being the Nagano district, where Shigaraki clay is found (vide Shigaraki-yaki). The province is regarded with interest by Japanese virtuosi on account of the antiquity of its keramic productions. As long ago as the Tempyō-hōji era (759-764), a factory existed at Marubashira, in the Ahai district. Tradition says that the manufacture was interrupted from the middle of the ninth to the beginning of the sixteenth century, but it is certain that Miki-dokuri—bottles for sacrificial wine—of unglazed pottery were produced at Marubashira during the Enki era (901-922), for use at the bi-annual festival of Daijingu. There is also preserved in the collection of a well known Japanese dilettante a firebox of Iga pottery marked Shōtai ni-nen Ishiyamadera, that is to say, "the temple of Ishiyama, second year of the Shōtai era (899). Recent researches have further shown that the ware known as Ko-Iga-yaki (old Iga ware) was probably manufactured as long ago as the Kemmu era (1334-1336); and during the Kyōroku era (1528-1531), two experts, Jirodayu and Tarodayu, are said to have revived the extinct manufacture. But it must be confessed that the whole history of the Iga-yaki, prior to the early years of the seventeenth century, is wrapped in some obscurity. The Ko-Iga-yaki, of the fourteenth century, bore a close resemblance to the faience of Seto known as Hafugama, and indeed it may be said generally that from the time when the Iga potters began to apply glaze to their ware—probably about 1300—they took the faience of Seto as their model. In 1635 Todo Takatora, feudal chief of the province, summoned from Kyōtō two potters, Mogibei and Denzo, and set them to manufacture tea-utensils at Marubashira. About the same time the celebrated Chajin Kobori Masakazu interested himself in the factory and furnished models to the potters. Specimens produced under the direction of Tōdō Takatora were subsequently distinguished as Tōdō Iga-yaki, and those manufactured at Kobori's instance as Enshiu Igayaki. Both varieties are highly esteemed by the tea-clubs. They may easily be mistaken for Seto ware. There is found in the Iga-yaki mahogany glaze, merging into black and buff, familiar in old Seto tea-jars and the same richness and lustre of surface that the latter possess. The pâte of the Iga manufacture is, however, greyer and more stone-like than that of the Seto-yaki. The names of two experts who directed the Marubashira factory in the days of Takatora and Masakazu have been preserved: they are Okamoto Sadahachi and Okamoto Sadagoro. They received from Takatora two copper seals (vide Marks and Seals) with which they stamped their productions. In addition to rich mahogany black, and amber glazes, they manufactured also greenish glaze mottled with brown, or brown streaked with green. In modern times the keramic products of Iga are confined to coarse vessels for every-day use. They are, for the most part, hard faience or stone-ware, having pâte identical with that of the Shigaraki-yaki and an impure yellowish glaze.

 

WARES OF BUZEN (FUKUOKA PREFECTURE)

Agano-yaki

This ware derives its name from the place of its manufacture, Agano, in the Tagawa district of the province of Buzen. On the return of the expedition sent by the Taikō to Korea (1598), a potter named Sonkai was brought from Fusan by order of Katō Kiyomasa. This man and his sons erected a kiln at Agano (1602), and, as was naturally the case with the Korean workmen who came to Japan at that time, began to manufacture faience after the fashions of his country. No authentic specimens of his early work have been preserved. His name was subsequently changed to Juji Kizō, and he is generally spoken of by Japanese connoisseurs as Agano Kizō. He remained at Agano until 1631, when the feudal chief of the district, Hosokawa Tadayoshi, receiving the province of Higo as his fief, moved to Yatsushiro, and was followed thither by Kizō, his eldest son, Chōbei, and his third son, Tōshiro. The second son, Magozaemon Sonkiu, remained at Agano and carried on the manufacture. The expenses of the factory were entirely defrayed by the local government, Magozaemon and his descendants receiving a yearly pension in lieu of wages. The articles produced were not sold, being reserved solely for official use. A very few, dating from the seventeenth century, are now extant. The pâte, which was fine and oily, resembling in these respects the pâte of Chinese pottery, was manufactured with materials found at Ichitsu and Natsuyoshi, in the same district. The glaze was thin and cleverly applied; its colour, lustrous brown with dark claret speckles or patches. In 1757 Magozaemon Sonko, seventh in descent from Kizō, obtained official permission to sell his wares, and the dimensions of the industry increased considerably. About this time, or shortly before, a curious variety of faience was produced. It had coarse, reddish gray pâte, and light claret-coloured glaze, granulated so as to resemble the skin of a lime. It is vulgarly known as Tachibanahada-yaki, because of its likeness to the skin of the orange tribe (tachibana). In 1804 the Agano-yaki assumed the character of Raku ware, the methods of the Kyōtō faience having been acquired by Magozaemon Sonsho, the then representative of the Kizō family, in obedience to the command of the chief of the district. Sonsho's success procured for him the privilege of riding on horseback and going about with an attendant. In 1834 the local government issued an edict forbidding the employment of any potter belonging to another fief, and this prohibition was not removed until 1872. The chief experts at present are Juji Kihachiro and Yoshida Hikoroku; both very inferior in skill to their predecessors of the feudal era. Among comparatively modern varieties of Agano-yaki there are (besides the Tachibana-hada-yaki), the Mokume-yaki, which has muddy yellow or claret glaze marked like the grain of wood (mokume), and the Shiro-te, which has greyish white pâte and glaze and is entirely without decoration. Of late very inferior specimens of yellow stone-ware, after Chinese models, have been produced at Agano.

 

Ueno-yaki

The manufacture of this little-known faience was commenced early in the seventeenth century at Ueno, in the province of Buzen. The potters confined themselves to imitating an imported ware called Sunkoroku, which came from Aden. It was somewhat coarse red stone-ware or pottery, covered with semi-transparent, bluish white glaze, and decorated with archaic designs in black. The well-known dilettante, Ogori Sotan, extended his patronage to the workmen of Ueno, and in his time their cups, tea-jars, and water-vessels were in some demand, but the ware has little interest for Western collectors.

 

Ota-yaki

Ota is near Yokohama. A factory was established there in 1879 by Suzuki Yasubei, a merchant of Yokohama. He invited thither Miyagawa Kūzan, son of the Kyōtō potter Chōbei, who worked at Gion, producing a faience known as Makuzu-yaki. The idea of a factory near Yokohama is said to have been suggested by Umeda Yukihiro, a vassal of the Prince of Satsuma. At all events, its early productions were imitations of the celebrated Satsuma-yaki. Materials were procured from both Satsuma and Kyōtō, and no little pains were lavished on the manufacture. But though a good deal of this highly decorated ware was at first disposed of as genuine Satsuma-yaki, the enterprise had to be abandoned in the end. Subsequently Miyazawa struck out a line of his own, in which he attained considerable reputation. His conception was to supplement by plastic additions the ordinary style of faience decoration in coloured pigments and enamels. This new variety of ware was known as Makuzu-yaki. It was rather bizarre than beautiful. Almost every object in nature, the nude human figure alone excepted, might be found moulded in high relief on vases, pots, and jars—sages, storks, sparrows, bamboos, reptiles, fishes, and flowers. Not a few specimens were marvels of patient skill, and in consequence attracted a fair share of public patronage. But, in truth, that can scarcely be counted art which chooses a material so fragile for the elaboration of details so easily marred by accident. The chefs-d'œuvre of the Ota factory were monstrosities never tolerated by Japanese connoisseurs and soon rejected by foreign buyers. Two clays were used in their manufacture, one obtained in the province of Izu, the other from the banks of the Tamagawa, in the province of Musashi—in which Yokohama is situated. The former is a well-known clay—consisting of disintegrated porphyry—which is largely used in Tōkyō for the manufacture of fire-proof bricks. The constituents of the Makuzu faience mass are as follows:—

Silica.	Alumina.	Iron Oxide.	Lime, Magnesia, etc.	Water.
63.42	32.20	0.18	1.66	2.07

It will be observed that this faience has a distinctive composition; it contains more clay-earth and less alkali and iron oxide than any other Japanese faience. Its mass is pronounced by M. Korschelt to be the whitest and best in Japan. But if this be true of the mass, it certainly is not true of the ware itself, which has a crude, brittle, and chalky appearance, exceedingly ill suited to the elaborate plastic conceits with which the surface is loaded.

Porcelain is manufactured at Ota as well as faience, and, in addition to a quantity of specimens of both natures decorated after the fashion of the Tōkyō school, Miyagawa has turned out a good many porcelain vases in which surface-tints of skilfully graduated intensity produce effects at once rich and delicate. He and his son now stand almost at the head of Japanese keramists, and their works will be spoken of in the section on modern developments.

The composition of the Ota porcelain is that of the Kyōtō ware. It consists of six parts of Amakusa stone with four parts of Shigaraki clay, to which is added a small quantity of ashes obtained from Satsuma and Tosa—the same ashes being used for glazing purposes. The addition of ashes to the glazing mass is a custom prevailing in Kyōtō and other places, also, though the practice appears to be resorted to in the case of special manufactures only.

 

WARE OF HITACHI

Mito-yaki

This is a species of Raku faience, interesting entirely for the sake of its first and only manufacturer, Nariaki, commonly called Rekkō, feudal chief of Mito in the province of Hitachi. A descendant of the renowned Iyeyasu, and one of the greatest nobles in Japan, Rekkō did not hesitate to manufacture with his own hands pieces of pottery which he bestowed upon his vassals. Near his castle in Mito was a Chazashiki (tea-house) called Kōbun-tei, standing in the garden of the Kōraku-en. Here the faience was potted, and hence it derived its name Koraku-en-yaki. It was simply a copy of the Raku faience of Kyōtō, being red in colour and covered with waxy, diaphanous glaze. Another type had black glaze with archaic designs in white slip in high relief.

 

All the wares hitherto spoken of in this volume, present some feature of interest, whether from a historic or an artistic point of view. They do not, however, exhaust the list of Japanese keramic productions. There is scarcely a province in the Empire where pottery, faience, stone-ware, or porcelain is not produced. But wares other than those here noticed are without exception of a more or less coarse, rude nature, and are destined only for common local consumption. They are therefore omitted from these pages.

For the sake of convenience, a table is added showing the various kinds of Japanese porcelain with reference to their constituents:

CONSTITUENTS OF JAPANESE PORCELAINS

Place of Manufacture.

Felspar.

Clay Substance.

Quartz.

Owari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42.06

28.45

27.31

Kyōtō . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33.07

29.89

35.56

Arita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20.32

30.84

46.62

Tajima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15.90

39.58

42.50

Chōshiu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23.09

35.70

39.38

Harima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21.04

39.91

36.61

Iyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21.87

31.80

44.96

Tōkyō . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25.31

41.31

31.03

Yokohama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33.04

32.12

33.63

Koshiu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26.99

47.53

21.72

Kaga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31.91

35.29

31.56

Aizu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18.15

28.36

46.38

The first six wares of this table have already been distinguished as different classes of Japanese porcelain. Among the remaining six, it will be seen that the ware of Iyo closely resembles that of Arita. The porcelain of Tōkyō, on the other hand, though manufactured with materials procured in Gwari, shows a composition very different from that of the Seto ware. This difference can be due only to a variation in the method of preparing the raw materials. Mr. Korschelt, by whom these analyses were made, suggests that the dealers from whom the materials are procured in Owari mix quantities of the clay called Kaeru-me with the stone Ishiko, in order to evade the expense of pulverising the latter. However this may be, since Owari, and Owari alone, furnishes the constituents of the Tōkyō porcelain mass, there is no reason to regard the latter as a separate variety. The Yokohama porcelain, again, both in the manner of its manufacture and in the quantities of its constituents, corresponds almost exactly with the ware of Kyōtō. Finally, the porcelain of Kōshiu, although, as analysed above, it certainly constitutes a special class—corresponding pretty closely with the porcelain of Limoges—has not yet been examined with sufficient care to justify a final opinion, and is, moreover, manufactured in such small quantities and for such inferior purposes that it has not secured admission to the rank of Japan's characteristic wares. The Aizu porcelain closely resembles that of Arita, and the porcelain of Satsuma has been omitted altogether, being practically identical with the latter.

The following table, compiled by Mr. Korschelt, as the result of a very large number of analyses, shows the composition of the principal porcelains and faiences of Japan in their anhydrous condition—i. e. after baking—the differences in their chemical composition becoming clearer when the varying quantities of water contained in the unstoved masses are eliminated:—

COMPOSITION OF JAPANESE PORCELAINS AND FAIENCES
(ANHYDROUS)

Porcelain.	Silica.	Alumina.	Iron Oxide.	Lime.	Magnesia.	Potash.	Soda.
Owari	70.57	20.97	0.75	0.67	0.26	4.34	1.94
Kyōtō	73.66	20.04	0.67	0.62	0.12	2.97	1.84
Satsuma	77.10	17.59	0.94	0.28	0.10	3.11	0.10
Iyo	76.38	18.75	0.86	0.38	0.37	3.47	0.03
Tōkyō	69.91	23.81	1.07	1.03	0.46	3.11	0.82
Yokohama	73.59	21.29	0.15	0.82	0.16	3.18	0.73
Chōshiu	74.31	20.95	0.52	0.86	0.26	0.61	2.30
Kōshiu	66.51	26.27	1.16	2.43	0.40	0.86	2.60
Tajima	74.43	21.28	0.36	0.93	0.52	1.40	0.90
Harima	71.71	22.29	0.69	0.69	0.33	3.56	—
Kaga	70.39	23.63	0.62	0.30	0.53	3.90	0.56
Aizu	78.90	16.49	0.86	0.35	0.06	2.28	0.56
Arita	77.08	18.29	0.68	0.48	0.30	2.57	0.65
Faience.
Awata	64.03	30.56	0.81	0.51	0.29	2.02	1.10
Satsuma	65.99	31.13	0.40	0.44	0.29	1.83	0.47
Awaji	67.47	27.37	1.05	0.55	0.13	2.55	0.56
Bizen	62.68	28.37	0.92	0.86	0.41	3.00	2.91
Chōshiu	63.41	32.88	1.91	0.35	0.25	1.59	0.06
Yokohama	64.76	32.88	0.18	0.43	0.11	1.15	—
Aizu	63.66	28.83	2.35	0.67	0.59	3.65	—
Banko (white)	72.10	25.16	1.63[1]	0.25	—	0.03	0.33
Banko (brown)	60.17	23.28	5.08[1]	1.20	—	—	—

1. This occurs as $Fe_{2}O_{3}$.

Readers who have travelled through this long and often tedious story of Japanese porcelain and pottery, will probably have observed that the products of the keramic art of Japan group themselves into two divisions, the one conventional and archaic, the other original and natural. Throughout the whole of Japanese Art this line of demarcation is plainly visible. It is probably due, in great part, to the religious cult which prescribed ancestral worship. People who, year after year, pray and burn incense before the mortuary tablets of their forefathers, cannot choose but become imbued with reverence for the works of the illustrious dead. The greatest painters in Japan were never permitted to be wholly original; it was essential that at some time or other they should walk in the footprints of their predecessors. An unwritten but practically recognised canon required that, in order to qualify for orthodox recognition, whatever they might accomplish in their own genre, they should show themselves familiar with and even competent to reproduce the methods and conceptions of the old masters. The tea-clubs were the great patrons and preservers of this conservative orthodoxy. They carried their severe idealism to a point entirely beyond the range of ordinary intelligence. Their æsthetic affectation became a mystery unfathomable even by themselves. Yet their influence survives even now, and has left its mark upon every branch of art, especially the keramic. The rude homely potteries of Bizen, of Karatsu, of Shinto, of Iga, and many another kiln, when placed side by side with the exquisite porcelains of Hirado and Nabeshima, or the beautiful faiences of Satsuma and Kyōtō, show how often Japan did violence to her own natural genius in deference to the dictates of an artificial and perverse dilettanteism. If foreign influence threatened at first to vitiate her taste, it will probably atone for this crime by finally discrediting the cramping canons of the Chano-ru cult.

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