JAPAN
or mythical animals,—some of which were modelled with boldness and skill. The glaze was semi-transparent, its colour varying from peculiar brownish amber (called by the Japanese ame-gusuri, or bean-jelly glaze), to dull black. The clays principally used for its manufacture were found at Kasuga-yama and Hōkōji-mura, in Kaga, and to these was added a white earth procured from the province of Etchū. Haji Chōzaemon changed his family name to "Ohi." The manufacture inaugurated by him was carried on by his descendants through six generations until the present time. The genealogy of the family runs thus:—
- 1. Hagi Chōzaemon; came from Kyōtō in 1666, and settling in Ohi-machi, changed his family name to "Ohi."
- 2. Ohi Chōzaemon; enjoyed the patronage of two successive chiefs of Kaga, Yoshitoshi and Munetatsu.
- 3. Ohi Kambei; died 1802.
- 4. Ohi Kambei; had the honour of making pottery in the presence of the Kaga chief, 1785, who conferred on him a pension of two rations of rice in perpetuity. In 1822 he was further rewarded with 500 me (416 lbs.) of silver. The following year he manufactured a Shishi (mythical lion) six feet high, and presented it to the chief, who ordered him to receive five gold Oban (about $150), and gave to each of the twenty-three coolies who carried the lion two hundred pieces of copper. Kambei died, 1839.
- 5. Ohi Kambei; received, in 1828, a grant of sixty tsubo (1 tsubo=36 square feet) of land for the purposes of his factory. He received a special commission to manufacture pottery for use at the city mansion of the Kaga family (Hongo, Yedo) on the occasion of the reception of the Tokugawa Shōgun, Ienari, and was handsomely rewarded.
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