WARES OF KYŌTŌ
renowned keramist). In 1840 he opened a new kiln in Narikata-machi, near Omuro, in Kyōtō, finding there clay well suited to the manufacture of faience after the style of the celebrated Nomura Ninsei. He did not close the factory near Nara, but handed it over to his son Sōzaburo. The faience produced by Hōzen at Omuro was called Omuro-yaki. It had a hard pâte, and its glaze differed from the ordinary wares of Kyōtō in being of a somewhat viscous, granular character. The decoration was at once chaste and rich; gold, red, white, black, and silver being the colours principally employed. This manufacture did not continue long. In 1850 Hōzen's house was destroyed by a conflagration. He moved to Otsu, and constructing another kiln on the shores of Lake Biwa, devoted himself to the production of porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze, or in the Akaji-kinga style described above. Here he was known by the name of Butsuyu. The exact date of his death is not recorded: it probably occurred about 1855. He left two sons, Sōzaburo, already mentioned, and Zengoro, whose art name was Wazen. Of these, the latter was the more skilful, but both were palpably inferior to their father. In 1858 the brothers, together with a fellow keramist, Ohashi Rakuzen, were invited by the Lord of Kaga to assist the revival of the pottery industry in his province. Sōzaburo returned to Kyōtō after a year's absence, but Wazen remained six years in Kaga, where he materially assisted in developing the Akaji-kinga style of decoration—gold designs on a red ground—now regarded as characteristic of Kaga porcelain. Specimens of this ware manufactured by him or under his direction are to be found without great difficulty.
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