JAPAN
black, amber brown, chocolate, and yellowish grey. They were not monochromatic, but showed differences of tint, and sometimes marked varieties of colour, as when chocolate brown passed into amber, or black was relieved by streaks and clouds of grey and dead-leaf red.
Very soon this Tōshiro-yaki became the rage. The feudal barons, who had adopted the fashion set by Yoritomo of rewarding the minor services of their vassals with presents of powdered tea, then a rare luxury, chose Tōshiro's jars to contain these gifts, so that the reputation of the Seto potter was quickly established. Connoisseurs decided, and the decision has never been revoked, that his best pieces were those with a purplish pâte; his second-best those with a light-red pâte; his third-best those with a grey pâte, and that the pâte of the least valued was dark red. Another point of merit, scarcely appreciable to foreign eyes, is the ito-giri, or trace of the thread used to cut off the superfluous clay at the bottom of the piece before removing the latter from the wheel. The spiral thus formed is supposed to afford some subtle indication of the potter's skill.
Tōshiro's factory was known as Heishi-gama, apparently because the experimental pieces first potted there were heishi (a species of wine-jar). Extravagantly refined but confused distinctions are set up by dilettanti with regard to his various productions. It has been shown above that the term Ko-Seto is erroneously applied to Seto ware supposed to have been potted by him before he visited China. Other connoisseurs use the same term to designate ware manufactured by him with Japanese clay after his return from China. Then, again, some experts give the name "Karamono"
266
