WARES OF SATSUMA
ware) section. In 1855 Prince Tomoyoshi caused a kiln to be erected within the grounds of his residence at Shimizu-machi, Kagoshima, and Seikuan was summoned thither as chief decorator. Faience of great beauty and most delicately executed decoration was produced at this factory. Seikuan was handsomely rewarded, and on his return to Nawashiro-gawa the manufacture of "brocade" ware at that place received a new impulse.
Mention should be made here of a variety of faience the production of which dates from the time (1795) of the visit paid by Hōkō and Chiubei to Kyōtō (see supra). Both the pâte and the glaze of this ware are brown or grey. Its peculiar feature is that the glaze, instead of being simply crackled, takes the form of a multitude of tiny segments, not globular but flat. This faience is called Same-yaki from the resemblance which its granulated surface bears to the skin of a shark. The condition of the glaze results from contraction in the process of firing.
It will be seen, from what has been stated above, that various kinds of clay were mixed to obtain the pâte of the Satsumi-yaki. An analysis of some of these clays, as well as of the lixiviated wood-ash employed in manufacturing the glaze, has been made by Professor R. W. Atkinson, with results shown in the table on the following page.
It is evident that with these materials a ware very closely resembling genuine porcelain could have been manufactured, and, indeed, among the products of the Nawashiro-gawa and Tadeno kilns, specimens are found which possess hardness and translucency nearly entitling them to rank with fine porcelain. It would seem, however, that these were the result of accident
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