WARES OF OWARI AND MINO
pâte of the Ko-seto is not found in the Tōshiro-yaki. Otherwise the two faiences are scarcely distinguishable. To the second Tōshiro, however, is attributed the manufacture of an impure yellow and slightly crackled glaze which is much prized by Japanese amateurs under the name of Ki-Seto, or yellow Seto ware. Tōshiro did not invent this glaze; his father had used it constantly, but not conspicuously. The son made it his principal glaze, and succeeded in producing a better shade of yellow. It has to be observed, however, that the Ki-Seto-yaki of this early period differs entirely from a later faience of the same name. The glaze of the former was lustrous, thick, and only slightly translucid; that of the latter, thin, transparent, and covered with a network of fine but clearly marked crackle. The exact date of the second Tōshiro's death is not recorded, but it probably took place about 1290.
In the hands of Tōshiro the third, grandson of Shirozaemon, the Seto ware attained a high degree of excellence. His pieces are known as Chu Kobutsu (medium antiquities) or Kinka-zan, so called from the name of his factory (Kinkazan-yama): the latter term is, however, referred by some authorities to the golden (kin) lustre of his ware. Soft yellow glazes, others of rich golden brown, others black and chocolate or of flambé description, were among his specialties, and he developed such a mastery of all the technical processes of his art that beyond doubt he would have bequeathed to subsequent generations some specimens of rare merit had not his market been limited by the austere tastes of the tea-clubs. His flambé glazes received the name of Namako-de, in allusion to a resemblance which their surface bore to
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