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CHAPTER II 39 CHAPTER III Wares of Satsuma (Kagoshima Prefecture) . . 131 Wares of Ky5to CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V Wares of Kaga (Ishikawa) Prefecture .... 236 CHAPTER VI Wares of Owari, or Bishiu, and Mino .... 261 CHAPTER VII Miscellaneous Wares 307 CHAPTER VIII Modern Developments of Japanese Keramics . . 41 1 Appendix Index . . 427 431 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Satsuma Faience Frontispiece Specimens of Pottery Taken from Dolmens .... i6 Shapes of Dolmen Pottery 28 Sake Bottle 32 Korean Faience 48 Nabeshima Porcelain 64 Imari 80 Faience Cha-Tsubo 96 Hirado Ware . . . 1 1 2 Hirado Porcelain 128 Tea Jar . . . Water Vessel . . . Takaton Ware . . 144 Tea-Pot of Blue and White Porcelain 192 Shuntai-Yaki Vase . . . E-Hagi Faience . . . E-Garatsu 208 Awaji Faience 240 Bowl of Faience (Kenzan) 272 Faience (Hozen) . . . Kutani Porcelain 304 Polychromatic Banko Faience 320 Bizen Ware 336 Maiko Ware . . . Akahada Ware 368 Fukakusa Ware . . . Faience (Koemon) . . . Arita Porcelain 384 IgaWare . . . Soma Ware . . . Tachibana-Hada Ware 400 VIII JAPAN ITS HISTORY ARTS AND LITERATURE Chapter I EARLT WARES IN Japan, as in most other countries, the manu- facture of pottery has been carried on for many centuries, but the earliest history of the art is very obscure. Japanese archaeologists have been accustomed to speak of Kameoka ware as the oldest produced in their country, and unquestionably the quality of the ware indicates an altogether rudimen- tary stage of manufacture, the specimens to which the name is given being vessels of rough pottery, irregu- lar in shape, unglazed, and entirely without orna- mentation. The term “ Kameoka ” is assigned to them because they have been exhumed in exceptional profusion in the Kameoka region of northern Japan, but they may be more intelligibly described as the pottery of the aborigines whom the invading Japanese immigrants displaced. Hence they do not properly find a place in the history of Japanese keramics, since they were the work of a different race, and since their manufacture never passed to a higher stage of development. VOL. VIII, I I JAPAN Civilisation was brought to Japan by a Mongoloid invasion or immigration at a date which historians have hitherto failed to fix with any accuracy, but which was certainly several centuries — probably six or seven — before the Christian era. The new-comers did not represent an advanced stage of material prog- ress. They knew nothing of iron, and used only bronze implements, and their keramic successes were confined to the production of rude, hand-made pot- tery, scarcely superior to that of the aborigines men- tioned above. What is known of these earliest Mongoloid invaders has been gathered from the con- tents of the mounds in which they buried their dead. Following them at an interval of probably five cen- turies— it is still necessary to avoid explicitness — came another tide of Mongoloid invaders, who brought with them a knowledge of iron-smelting and of the potter's wheel, and whose ideas of form and decoration indicated a much higher grade of civ- ilisation than that of their predecessors. The story of these second comers does not exist in the pages of history. It is told only by the ‘‘ dolmens " which they constructed for purposes of interment, and as to the contents of those dolmens mention need not be made here of anything but pottery. The Dolmen pottery is divided into three groups by Mr. W. Gowland, — who has made a specialty of the study of these interesting tombs and their con- tents,— namely, ‘Tightly burned terra-cotta," “hard- burned earthenware," and “ coarse terra-cotta." It indicates, in short, that although its makers under- stood the use of the wheel and had some conception of decorative effect, they knew nothing of translucid porcelain, and were not even able to apply glaze to 2 EARLY WARES their wares. It is possible to make these statements with confidence, because the dolmens yield an abun- dance of pottery, some of which was doubtless used at burial services, and some in subsequent ceremonies. The surface decoration, even in the best examples, is rude, being confined to elementary diapers of straight lines or curves “ scratched in the clay when soft with a single-pointed tool, or with combs having a varying number of teeth.” (Gowland.) Often the surface of larger vessels shows an impressed pattern, evidently produced by contact with straw matting, and on the interior are found concentric circles overlapping, without any apparent attempt at orderly arrangement. Japanese archaeologists regard these circles as an ornamental diaper introduced from Korea, and con- sequently give to them the name Chosen-guruma (Korean wheel-pattern), or Chosen-nami (Korean wave- pattern) ; but it has not been proved that any such decoration was applied by the Koreans in ancient times. A more credible explanation is that the marking was the result of a manufacturing pro- cess. While slowly turning the wheel, the potter pressed against the inside of the vessel a wooden stamp, having concentric circles cut on its head, and at the same time beat the outside with a wooden paddle wrapped in straw matting. Thus the circular marking on the interior, and the pattern of meshes and lines on the exterior, were the outcome of a process for annealing the clay. The student naturally turns to the shapes of this pottery, hoping to discover from them indications of affinity between the dolmen-builders and some histor- ically known race of Europe or Asia. There is, indeed, something to reward such a scrutiny. In the 3 JAPAN first place, two kinds of tazza are found, one with a cover, the other without, which have their coun- terparts in Chinese porcelains of mediaeval times. Further, the well-known ‘‘pilgrim bottle*’ of Chinese keramists and of Cypriote relics is present, having either complete loops for the passage of the suspensory cord, or partial loops for its retention. Mr. Gowland also notes a small, barrel-shaped vessel, occasionally found in dolmens, which resembles a Cypriote form, and which has no representative among Chinese vessels. Much more suggestive, however, than these resemblances is the method of ornamentation in high relief seen on important specimens of ornamental pottery taken from dolmens. The student is here confronted with a decorative fashion never followed in either China or Korea, namely, the modelling of figure subjects and other objects on the shoulders of vases. It is a fashion constantly adopted by the pot- ters of Greece and of Cyprus in ancient times, and its frequent presence in Apulian and Cypriote relics, com- bined with its absence from the works of Chinese and Korean potters, suggests an interesting range of spec- ulation. But on the other hand has to be set the fact that this kind of decoration did not survive the dol- men period in Japan itself. It disappeared as com- pletely as though it had never existed. Thus, if from the above facts the student infers a racial distinction between the dolmen-building Japanese and the inhab- itants of the Asiatic continent’s neighbouring regions, he will be logically compelled to infer a similar distinction between the dolmen-builders and the Japanese of later times. However, racial affinities need not be discussed here. It is enough to note the not unremarkable similarity of decorative concep- 4 EARLY WARES tion shown in the works of the Japanese immigrants and those of southern Europe. Another point worthy of attention is that the potters of the dolmen era seem to have had no acquaintance with the decorative motives which are inseparably associated with Chi- nese applied art, dragons, phoenixes, tigers, the key- pattern, and elaborate diapers. In the mediaeval days, when Japan went to the Chinese for keramic instruction, she found all these designs, and adopted them permanently. But the dolmen-builders were ignorant of them. It has plausibly been conjectured that the figures of men and animals modelled in high relief on the shoulders of dolmen-vases were sometimes intended to depict the pursuits or pastimes specially affected by the deceased during life, as hunting, wrestling, and so on. Were that the case, a natural expectation would be that battle-scenes would occasionally appear on the sepulchral vases of men who are believed to have been constantly engaged in war with the aborigines. But there is nothing of the kind. The coarse terra-cotta objects of Mr. Gowland’s classification are not the least interesting among dolmen relics. They consist of figures of men, women, and horses which were erected on dolmens in lieu of the human sacrifices made at funeral rites in earlier ages. From a technical or artistic point of view these objects deserve little notice, whatever value they may have for the historian and the archeologist. They were mere rudimentary effigies, made of half-burned coarse pottery, and such of them as have survived owe their preservation to the accident of having been overturned and covered with earth which protected them against climatic influences. Keramists who manufactured the 5 JAPAN ornamental vases described above, evidently did not ex- haust their skill upon these clumsy productions. The figures were called hani-wa^ which literally means ‘‘ circle of clay,’’ an appellation derived from the order in which they were arranged, namely, as a circular fence about the grave. A book [Wamyd-sho) published in the tenth century, defines hani-wa as ‘‘ human figures made of clay, placed upright in cart-wheel order round the edge of a sepulchral mound.” The need of such objects for burial purposes led to the establishment of a keramic factory under the auspices of the Court, the potters employed there, one hundred in number, being summoned from the provinces of Izumo. It appears, therefore, that Izumo was a centre of ke- ramic production at the date when clay effigies were substituted for human sacrifices, and' there would consequently be some interest in determining that date. The Nihongi, which is the oldest Japanese compilation having any claims to be called histori- cal, assigns the incident to a time corresponding with the commencement of the Christian era, but hani-wa have been found in dolmens believed to belong to an earlier epoch. At all events it seems safe to allege that, nineteen centuries ago, the keramic in- dustry had an officially recognised status in Japan, and that it flourished chiefly in Izumo.^ From the time of the establishment of the Yamato factory the making of hani-wa became such an important feature of the keramic industry that potters received the appellation of hanhhi (abbreviated afterwards in hajt)^ or makers of hani-wa, Japanese annals allege that just about the time when the above events were occurring, a Korean * See Appendix, note i . 6 EARLY WARES potter named Ama-no-Hibako arrived in Japan and settled there for the purpose of practising his art ; that he established a kiln in the province of Omi, and that during several years he manufactured pottery known as Shiragi-yaki, ‘‘ Shiragi ’’ being the Japan- ese method of pronouncing the name of the region in Korea whence this keramist had emigrated. No authenticated specimens of the ware survive, nor can implicit reliance be placed in the story, which, for the rest, has little importance, since Korea was not in a position to impart any technical knowledge to the Japanese in the dolmen-building era. The next event connected with the development of the industry is an alleged invasion of Korea in the third century of the Christian era by a Japanese Eknpress, Jingo. Modern research by Occi- dental students has thrown much doubt upon this incident, but Japanese antiquarians have been accus- tomed to believe it. They further assert that one result of the expedition was the regular yearly despatch of eighty ship-loads of Korean produce to Japan, by way of tribute, and that among articles thus sent there were specimens of pottery which Japanese keramists took as models. Of all this there is no practical proof. Its historical value is prob- ably limited to the indication it gives of intercourse between Korea and Japan at an early epoch, but its importance as bearing on keramic development is insignificant. After the days of the warlike Empress, neither tradition nor history supplies any information bearing upon keramics until the middle of the fifth century, when the Emperor Yuriaku ascended the throne (457 A. d). In the seventh year of his reign he ad- 7 JAPAN dressed an edict to the potters {Haji) of the Imperial kilns, directing that thenceforth the utensils for his table should be not doki^ but seiki. The term doki signifies a vessel of earth, — a piece of pottery, in short. But the meaning of seiki is more obscure. Literally, the translation is ‘‘ pure utensil,” — a rendering which helps very little. Certain Japanese antiquarians are disposed to distinguish seiki as ‘‘ porcelain,” and ‘‘ doki'' as pottery, but such a hypothesis is untenable. What seems most probable is that some improved shapes, or methods of technique, were introduced at that time, and that to these the Emperor applied the term seiki^ merely to signify his approval. It has been surmised that glazed pottery then first came into vogue, for, though the balance of testimony goes to prove that this important branch of their art was not practised by Japanese potters with Japanese ma- terials until a much later period, there is just a pos- sibility that the clay necessary for glazing purposes was procured from China or Korea long before its discovery in Japan. According to certain authorities, Yuriaku summoned from Korea a potter called Kohi. and caused him to settle in the province of Kawachi, The same accounts say that kilns were built during his reign, at Kusasu in Settsu, Fushimi in Yamashiro, Fujikata in Ise, as well as at other places in the provinces of Tamba, Tajima, and Inaba. But the whole question is wrapped in obscurity. The next epoch in the history of the manufacture brings the student to the middle of the eighth century, when there came from Korea a man regarded by posterity as one of the great benefactors of the Jap- anese people. This was Gyogi, a Buddhist priest, reputed to be a scion of the family then ruling 8 EARLY WARES in Hyakusai (a division of Korea). Among the three states of Korea this Hyakusai is remarkable as deriving its name from the fact that a hundred ( hyaku ) noble Chinese families made it their place of refuge at a very early date. Thus Gyogi was of Chi- nese origin. Famed equally for philanthropy and mechanical ability, he devoted his time to travelling from place to place in Japan, instructing the people wherever he went in the arts of carpentry, carving, engineering, writing, and pottery. Many relics of his skill are preserved in the temples throughout the country, and he is credited with inventing and intro- ducing into Japan the potter’s wheel. But the con- tents of the dolmens show that the use of the wheel was familiar to Japanese keramists centuries before Gyogi’s era. Indeed, there is difficulty in determin- ing what new process he really did teach. Specimens of ware confidently attributed to him are unsightly vessels of coarse, dark clay, with no trace of glaze other than that produced by the fusing of silicates accidentally present in the clay, and without any technical merit beyond a certain regularity of form, due to the employment of the wheel in their con- struction. Probably Gyogi’s fame as a keramist — for famous he certainly is among the Japanese — is to be ascribed to the kindly efforts he made to dissemi- nate knowledge of an industry that added much to the comfort of every-day life. At all events, his figure assumed such historical prominence that every- thing antecedent passed out of view, and to this day, whenever from any long-unexplored place there is exhumed a specimen of unsightly and time-stained pottery, virtuosi unhesitatingly christen it “ Gyogi- yakir 9 JAPAN Gyogi’s celebrity is the more inexplicable inas- much as some years before his advent the keramic art had been taken under the patronage of the Emperor Mommu. This monarch appointed officials to super- vise the kilns (a. d. 701), and altogether gave the industry a status which it had not enjoyed before. It is also recorded that he invited workmen from China and Korea, and there is an unsupported belief among Japanese antiquarians that, under the instruc- tion of these experts, glazed pottery was produced at the factories of Yamato. Ancient annals speak of celadon vessels, which were used in the service of the gods, but that these utensils were really of Japanese manufacture seems most unlikely. It is true that they are ascribed by the annals to workshops in Owari, a statement which the late Mr. Ninagawa accepts as evidence that the keramic industry had extended to that province. But, as shown above, neither in the most ancient collections, not yet among the products of excavations, has there ever been found any speci- men of artificially glazed Japanese pottery which could reasonably be referred to so remote a date as the eighth century. If pieces were produced with imported materials, they must have been too few to leave any permanent trace, and it is certain that their manufacture was limited to a brief period. The dolmens furnish conclusive evidence as to the nature of the pottery produced by one section, at any rate, of the Japanese immigrants. Equally*' trust- worthy testimony with reference to the state of the keramic industry in the eighth century is obtained from a collection of relics preserved at Nara, in Yamato province. Between 709 and 784 Nara was the Imperial capital, and during that era the chief EARLY WARES temple there, Todai-ji, became the repository of various articles used at the Court under the sway of three Emperors and as many Empresses. Among these articles are several keramic specimens. They are all of foreign manufacture, and they do not include any translucid porcelain, the best of them being grass-green faience. There is no difficulty in identifying these as products of Chinese kilns. Japanese connoisseurs attribute some of them to Cochin China, but that appears to be a misconcep- tion, due to the fact that the ware came to Japan via Cochin China. The Nara collection thus indicates not only that Japan herself had not yet learned, in the eighth century, how to manufacture glazed pot- ' tery, still less translucid porcelain, but also that in no part of the Far East had the potter’s art reached a I high stage of development; for, since history shows that between China and Japan there existed in these early centuries intercourses fitful indeed, but never wholly interrupted, and since the refinements of life in Japan would certainly have led her to appreciate and acquire the best products of her neighbours’ skill, the absence of fine specimens of Chinese ware from her Imperial collection suggests that they had as yet no existence in the Middle Kingdom. In his valuable work, Kwanko Zatetsu, the late Mr. Ninagawa hazards the opinion that materials for glazing pottery ceased to be imported from China after the year 959. This conjecture is not only unsupported by evidence but also based upon the false assumption that relations with China were broken off at that period, whereas, in point of fact, official intercourse, previously interrupted, was then renewed. In any case it is difficult to believe that JAPAN such material would have been carried across the sea during these early centuries except, perhaps, to gratify the caprice of some amateur. To bring Chinese glazing material from China for the purpose of apply- ing it to inferior Japanese pottery in Japan must always have appeared a less rational proceeding than to bring Chinese glazed pottery to Japan. Summarising the above records, the conclusion is that up to the twelfth century utensils of glazed earthenware were scarcely if at all produced in Japan, and that the use of those which found their way thither from China was confined to the ruling classes. It has even been suggested by some author- ities that outside the Imperial Court oak-leaf cups, such as that which the wife of the ill-fated Odate presented to the jealous Empress Iwa, sufficed for ordinary purposes, and that food was served and eaten in vessels of plain or lacquered wood. Such a theory is not tenable. Annals of the tenth century detail no less than fifteen provinces ^ where pottery was manufactured, though there is no reason to think that the ware itself exhibited any features of tech- nical excellence. The art lacked the essential pat- ronage of public appreciation. Except, perhaps, a few simple vessels used at religious celebrations, nothing was required of the potters beyond the pro- duction of jars for storing and steeping rice-seed or utensils for common domestic uses. Early in the thirteenth century a new influence began to be felt. This was the introduction of tea from China, together with a minute appreciation of its qualities and uses. The tea-ceremonial, which subsequently occupied an important place in Japanese ^ See Appendix, note 2. 12 EARLY WARES aesthetics, was not elaborated until the fifteenth cen- tury, but simultaneously with the import of the leaf some of the vessels employed in infusing and serving it were brought to Japan, and from these it became apparent that the Chinese potter under the Sung dynasty had completely distanced both Korea and Japan in technical processes, while, at the same time, a new need was felt by the Japanese for utensils of improved quality. Accordingly, Kato Shirozsmon, a potter who had already acquired some reputation, determined to make a voyage to China, and in the year 1223 accomplished his object in company with a priest, Doen. After an absence of six years Shirozasmon returned and settled at Seto, in the province of Owari, where he commenced the manufacture of a ware which to this day is regarded with the utmost esteem by his countrymen. It was manipulated with considerable care and no longer stoved in an inverted position, as had previously been the case, so that the upper parts of the vessels were free from the irregularities and imperfections of their predecessors. The paste was reddish brown clay, with a considerable mixture of siliceous particles, and the glaze, applied with great skill, was most commonly dark-brown or chocolate- colour, having occasionally streaks or patches of a different tint. The chief productions were tea-jars of various sizes and shapes, which, having been from the very first treasured up with greatest care by their fortunate possessors, still exist in considerable numbers, and are still highly valued by amateurs of the Cha-no- Tu (Tea Ceremonial). So great a reputation did this Toshiro-yaki^ as it was commonly called, enjoy, and such prestige did its appearance give to the potters of 13 JAPAN Owari, that everything which preceded it was for- gotten, and the name Seto-mono (i, e, ware of Seto) thenceforth became the generic term for all keramic manufactures in Japan, just as “ China ” is in Europe. In his later years Shirozaemon took the name of Shunkei. As showing the appreciation in which he is held by his countrymen, the inscription on a por- celain tablet erected to his memory is interesting. It runs as follows : — The Father of pottery was a scion of the noble family of Fujiwara. His name was Kagemasa, but he was popularly known as Kato Shirozaemon. His artist name was Shunkei, which may be written in two different fashions. The epithet “ Father of Pottery ’’ was given to him after his death. He was grandson of Tachibana Tomosada, who lived at the village of MIchikage, in the district of Morowa, province of Yamato, and his father’s name was Motoyasu. His mother was the daughter of Michikage, an inhabitant of Fukakusa, in Yamashiro, and a member of the Taira family. From his childhood Shirozaemon developed a taste for working in clay and fashioning vessels of pottery. He never ceased to regret that he lacked the skill of the Chinese potters, and for years harboured the resolve of going to study beyond the sea. When grown up, he took service under the Dainagon Koga Michichika, and was nominated to the post of Shodaibuy and raised to the Fifth Official Rank. At last, in the year 1223, he was enabled to visit China in the company of the priest, Doen. There he studied assiduously for six years. On his return he landed at Kawajiri, in the province of Higo. On the voyage home he had manufactured three tea-jars with clay brought from China. These he presented to his friend Doen, and to the Regent Hojo Tokiyori. The jars were afterwards preserved as heirlooms. Shirozaemon was twenty-six years of age at the period of his return, and he lost no time in visiting his father, who had been exiled to Matsuto In Bizen. There he sojourned for a season and practised his art. Subsequently he went to see his mother 14 EARLY WARES at Fukakusa, but as she died shortly afterwards, he travelled to Kyoto and the neighbouring districts, making everywhere experiments in pottery. This he did also in the districts Chita and Aichi of his native province, Owari, but nowhere did the results satisfy him. At last he came to the village of Seto, in the district Yamada of the same province. Here, to his surprise, he discovered the clay called Sobokai^ and seeing that the aspect of the place was southerly, that the hills were high, the water pure, and the clay similar to that which he had brought from China, he opened a factory there, and to the end of his life never moved elsewhere. There is a tradition that the name Sobokai^ which signifies grandam’s bosom,” was given to the earth because Shirozaemon's grand- mother, having found it at Amaike in Seto, carried some of it home in the bosom of her garment. Another tradition is that the whereabouts of the Sobokai was revealed to the Father of Pottery in a dream by the guardian divinity of Seto to whom he had prayed. This village of Seto was for- merly included in the Yamada district, but now belongs to the district of Kasugai. In ancient times, also, it was doubtless a good place for the potter’s industry, since various annals record that at a remote period the utensils for the Imperial Court were always procured from there. The knowledge of what had been done in this line before his time contributed to the success of the Father of Pottery. The site where his dwelling stood is called Nakajima. It lies among the rice plains eastward of the temple of Fukagawa in the village of Seto, and southward of Encho-in. It' is marked by a cryptomeria tree. In his later years the Father of Pottery handed over the factory to his son, and built, on the above site, a house for himself and his wife to end their days. The date of his death is not recorded. His tomb is known as the ‘‘Tumulusa of the Fifth Rank.” To the left of the village of Seto there is a kiln formerly used by him. It is called Mashiro, but nothing known to have been made by his hand remains in Seto, except a lion, one of a pair used as weights for the curtains at the village temple. Inhabitants of the village whose name begins with the syllable To are his descendants. A temple has been erected to his memory, and he is there worshipped under the titles of the “ Prince of 15 JAPAN Potters ” or the “ God of Kilns.” Twice a year, on the nineteenth day of the third and eighth months, festivals are held in his honour, with horse-racing and dancing of the Kagura. A man to whose memory such honour is paid ought to have accomplished something worthy to be famous. And indeed, in comparison with his imme- diate predecessors, Toshiro was a giant of skill. The credit will always belong to him of having opened a new page of Japanese keramic art. As the first to transplant Chinese keramic processes into Japanese workshops he deserves to be remembered, and con- sidering that he lived more than eight hundred and fifty years ago, his achievements were remarkable. They will be further spoken of when the wares of Owari are discussed in detail. Toshiro’s sons and their sons succeeded one another at the factory in Seto. His grandson, whose kiln was called Kinkazan, developed much skill in the manipulation of pastes and the application of glazes. Some of his vases, rich, lustrous, and brilliant in colour, will almost bear comparison with the masterpieces of Chinese art. But, like his predecessors and im- mediate successor, he confined himself to the produc- tion of utensils for the tea-clubs ; that is to say, tiny jars, cups, and water-vessels. If he attempted anything more ambitious, it has unfortunately not survived the lapse of ages. It must be admitted, also, that the general influence of his example was not commensurate with the improvements which he him- self effected. Patrons were wanting, the land was wasted by civil war, and scarcely in the seclusion of cloisters did men find respite from the fever of battle. The people had no heart to be aesthetic. Lacquered i6 EARLY WARES vessels still continued to constitute a chief part of the household equipage among the better classes, while farmers and artisans were constrained to be con- tent with the comparatively clumsy achievements of Settsu, Karatsu, and a few even more insignificant potteries. This state of things continued with little improve- ment until the era of Yoshimasa (1436-1480), eighth Regent of the Ashikaga dynasty, whose luxurious pro- clivities made him a keen patron of art industry. The lacquers produced in his time are among the very finest specimens ever executed in Japan, and- such objects as received the approval of himself and his contemporary connoisseurs occupy the first places in the collections of his countrymen to-day. Under his patronage the ‘‘Tea Ceremonial'' became a philo- sophic as well as an aesthetic cult, and its disciples, among whom were soon numbered many of the lead- ing men of the time, conceived a new standard of excellence in the dominion of applied art. The in- fluence of this cult was not completely wholesome. It educated an almost grotesque affectation of simpli- city and an unreasoning reverence for the antique. But it certainly invested art with wide-spread interest which prepared the way for future progress. Thus, just as the introduction of tea in the thirteenth century had led Japanese keramists to turn to China for tech- nical instructions and for models, so the establishment of the tea-clubs in the closing years of the fifteenth century induced her again to seek aid from the same source. The result of her second recourse to the great centre of keramics was that she acquired the art of manufacturing porcelain proper. A word may be said here about the claim of VOL. VIII. 2 ly JAPAN originality asserted on behalf of the early Japanese potters by certain European critics. There appears to be some reluctance to admit that the unsympathetic, gain-getting Chinaman could ever have supplied any of the inspirations which America and Europe have of late learned to admire so much. Led away by this loving enthusiasm, Jacquemart attributes to Japan a translucid porcelain older than that of China ; that is to say, in his opinion, older than the Christian era. Later writers, Messrs. Audsley and Bowes, place the date of the earliest Japanese porcelain manufacture in the sixth century, and do not hesitate to declare that the communication between the two countries [China and Japan] evidently failed to affect their respective arts,” and that the Japanese found little in the Chinese from which they could gain practical or artistic instruction, since their own arts and manu- factures were equal, and in most cases superior, to those of the latter.” Even M. Louis Gonse, who shows generally a sympathetic appreciation of his subject, excludes the Middle Kingdom from any share in the moulding of Japanese genius. He believes that a wave of Aryan culture, flowing east- ward, was divided by the unimpressionable rock of Chinese conservatism into northern and southern streams, of which one found its way to Japan with waters as pure as when they left their source. But facts cannot be gainsaid. Whenever Japan needed help in her progress along the path of art, she turned to China. If she often translated the aid thus obtained into language of her own, full of beauty and rhythm, the alphabet nevertheless remained always Chinese. It is of interest therefore to inquire what China had to teach Japan at the beginning of the sixteenth cen- i8 EARLY WARES tury, when the potters of the island empire once more turned their eyes towards the Middle Kingdom. From the eleventh to the thirteenth century the choicest wares produced in China owed their beauties to technical processes which a specialist only could hope to employ. Celadon was the prince of these wares, and of all keramic productions it may be said that celadon pre-eminently derives its charm from del- icacy of colour and lustrous softness of surface, which at once remove it to an infinite distance beyond the range of the ordinary potter’s skill. The tea-clubs were thoroughly familiar with the excellence of this peculiarly aesthetic ware. A choice vase of seiji green ware”) constituted their beau-ideal as an alcove orna- ment, and in the rich lacquer boxes that contained elaborate apparatus for cutting and burning incense, no censer better became its wrapper of antique brocade than a little cylindrical vessel of the indescribable bluish-green stone-ware known in China as Lung- chuan-yao. Shuko, art instructor of the ex-Regent Yoshimasa, indicated a variety of celadon the peculiar tint of which reached, according to him, the very acme of restfulness and sobriety. The Talk'd pos- sessed a celadon censer which was credited with miraculous properties, and even the practical leyasu thought that a choice vase of this ware represented fair security for a loan of several thousand dollars. Early Japanese potters knew of no materials that could be used to manufacture such masterpieces. The very attempt to reproduce them would probably have been deemed preposterous in the then condition of Japanese keramic ability. So too of the Ting-yao, the Chun-yaOy the Chlen-yao. The curious glazes, reddish purple, creamy-white, clalr de lune^ and silver-streaked 19 JAPAN black, of these varieties were absolutely inimitable. They remain to this day inimitable. To the Japanese keramist of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the aspect of such masterpieces must have been deterrent. Kato Shirozaemon does not appear to have dreamed of imitating, still less of emulating, them. His glazes were admirable in their way, but they did not approach the beauty of the Chinese wares. More- over, when Kato visited China (1223), power of the great Sung dynasty had already waned and was soon to be altogether eclipsed ; keramic industry, which owed so much to Court patronage, was compar- atively paralysed, and the Chinese who acted as Kato’s instructors were probably themselves incompetent to grapple with difficulties which to him seemed insuper- able. Thenceforward, throughout the Tuan dynasty of Mongols (1260-1367), it must have been manifest to the Japanese that the potters of the Middle King- dom had lost much of their old cunning. The clatr de lune^ with blood-red splashes or clouds, of the Yuan- su-yao was the only keramic chef-d' auvre that crossed the sea, and, beautiful as it was, it cannot but have appeared even less imitable than any of its predecessors, except, perhaps, the Chien-yao, Then followed the expulsion of the Mongols from their usurped place in China, and the accession of the native dynasty of the Ming ( I 368-1 644). At first the keramic art did not feel the change much; but from the Yung-lo (1403—1425) and Hsuan-te era (1426—1436) throughout the periods of Cheng-hua (1465—1488), Hung-chih (1488-1505), and Cheng-te (1506-1521), Japan received from the Middle Kingdom specimens which showed that the industry had entered a new phase. The egg-shell porcelain of Yung-lo ; the exquisitely clear, pure blues of Hsuan- 20 EARLY WARES tdy and the richer but less choice tints of Chia-chingy the delicate yellows of Hung-chih, and the brilliant, jewel-like, enamelled porcelain of Chenghua — all these, accompanied as they were by fine examples of already famous monochromes, should have inspired Japanese keramists with a strong desire to learn some- thing of the processes that gave such varied and ad- mirable results, even though the art spirit in Japan had not been roused to unprecedented activity by the influence of Yoshimasa and the tea-clubs. The potter who now (1510) visited China in search of information, as Shirozayemon had done nearly three hundred years before, was Gorodayu Go- shonzui. He was a native of the province of Ise, but of the incidents of his career prior to this journey no authentic record is preserved. He made his way, first to Foochow, and afterwards to Ching-te-chen, where a course of five years’ instruction and practice rendered him familiar with the methods of the Chi- nese potters. The history of Chinese keramics shows that, had the workshops of Ching-te-chen been thrown open to him, he might have acquired the processes of manufacturing not only monochromes and decoration ^.ous couvertCy but also enamelled decoration over the glaze. He confined himself, however, to studying the art of painting in blue under the glaze. It is not difficult to guess how this occurred. Each mono- chromatic glaze was in itself a specialty, and its suc- cessful production depended on conditions which a casual student could scarcely hope to master. As for enamelled decoration, it had certainly been carried to a remarkable point of excellence some twenty or thirty years before Shonzui’s arrival at Ching-te-chen. But it was practised to a very limited extent, and the 21 JAPAN processes are said to have been kept as strictly secret in China as they were subsequently at Arita in Japan. So rare were the specimens which Japanese collectors obtained of enamelled porcelain manufactured prior to the Wan-li era (1573-1620), a period exception- ally prolific of ware thus decorated, that the use of vitrifiable enamels was not supposed by them to have been largely and successfully practised in the Middle Kingdom until the second half of the sixteenth cen- tury. Shonzui, then, learned nothing of this branch of his art. On his return to Japan, he made no attempt to manufacture anything but porcelain dec- orated with blue under the glaze. Neither was this, strictly speaking, a Japanese ware. Shonzui had brought clay, glaze, and colouring material from China. None of these were then known to exist in Japan, nor were they discovered for a considerable period afterwards. When, therefore, the imported supply failed, the manufacture naturally came to an end. Shonzui is supposed to have settled at Arita, in Hizen. Why he selected that place there is nothing to show. The factories there were in a most unde- veloped condition, nor did people yet entertain the remotest conception that Hizen was destined to be- come the centre of Japan’s porcelain industry. The most reasonable explanation is that he desired to re- main at some point as near as possible to China, whence he probably purposed to procure a new sup- ply of porcelain materials, and whither he may have intended to proceed again. But, if he entertained either of these designs, they were never realised. He died at Arita, and although the clay he had brought from China cannot have lasted many years, he does not appear to have had any opportunity of replenish- 22 EARLY WARES ing it. While it did last, however, he turned out very beautiful specimens. They were not distin- guished by delicacy. Solidity was chiefly required in pieces suited to the demand of the time, — tea-jars, water-vessels, censers, and cups for the ceremony of the mat-cha. The great beauties of his ware were in the glaze and the colour. The former was of ex- trerne softness and lustre, while the latter was a blue of the finest tone and brilliancy. Many specimens of his porcelain now extant exhibit a variety of the well- known Hawthorn pattern design, and it may be said that his decorations show the first unmistakable traces of the ‘‘Natural Style’’ as applied to Japanese ke- ramics. Hardly, indeed, could he have escaped the influence of the impulse his country’s pictorial art had just received at the hands of Sesshiu, Shubun, and Kano Motonobu, whose professed masters were “ mountains, rivers, flowers, and trees.” Shonzui probably fell in with the mood of the times, which preferred medallions with birds and flowers to cun- ning diapers, and plum-blossoms or pine branches to formal scrolls. He did not always avoid Chinese designs. Conventional children, entangled among endless arabesques, figure not infrequently on his pro- ductions. But the distinguishing characteristic of his decoration is floral, and though there are no sufficient grounds for accrediting him with more than a modi- fication of the fashions he saw at the potteries on the Po-yang Lake, it must at least be admitted that his modification was an improvement. There can be no doubt that Shonzui obtained and brought back from China some of the celebrated Mohammedan blue which was so greatly prized and so jealously guarded in the Middle Kingdom. It is 23 '■ '■ JAPAN curious, though perhaps significant, that at the very time — ^the Cheng-hwa era (1506-1521) — when the Japanese keramist visited China, the workmen of the Imperial Factory at Ching-te-chen are said to have secretly sold the precious mineral to outsiders, the consequence of which fraud was that specially severe rules were enacted by the governor of the district during the next reign. In subsequent times the potters of Hizen imported all their choice cobalt from China ; but, in the first place, it was not the same mineral which lent such exceptional beauty to the porcelains of the Ming dynasty ; and in the second, the Japanese, of deliberate choice, used it so as to produce a delicate, rather than a deep, full colour. On Shonzui’s best pieces there is found a blue of great brilliancy and fulness, rivalling the best efforts of his Chinese predecessors or contemporaries. This alone is almost sufficient to distinguish his pro- ductions from Japanese ware of a later period. And the point is worth noting, for counterfeits were numerous. In comparatively modern times — (1825- 1840) — a kiln was specially erected at a place called Shishi-dani-yama, in the province of Yamato, to imitate the celebrated potter’s pieces ; but neither in quality of glaze nor purity of colour were these reproductions capable of deceiving the connoisseur. They were not the only attempts of such a nature. Like the tea-jars of Toshiro of Seto, Shonzui’s cups, water-holders, plates, and so forth ultimately derived an extravagant value from the fact that they repre- sented Japan’s first porcelain, and their successful im- itation became a pecuniary object to many experts. Even the workmen at Ching-te-chen are said to have employed all the resources of their art, during the 24 EARLY WARES eighteenth century, to counterfeit Shonzui’s pieces for purposes of export. It is therefore, only too likely that many an unwary collector has been de- ceived. Let it be said, then, at once, that in no case did a Japanese potter of later days produce either the deep, full blue of the beautiful Mohammedan mineral, or the rich, lustrous glaze which Shonzui’s imported materials — doubtless the very best of their kind — ' enabled him to achieve ; a glaze which has been aptly likened by his countrymen to the surface of flowing water. These are criteria which the amateur should unhesitatingly apply. The nature of the pate will not guide him much, for fineness of clay, a slight admixture of dark particles, and that peculiar oily aspect which nearly all Chinese porcelain presents, are characteristics not easily appreciated even by the educated eye. In point of fact, genuine specimens of Shonzui’s porcelain are almost as rare and as well known as the paintings of some great master. Whether many have left Japan is very doubtful, the value attached to them in the country of their manu- facture being almost incomprehensible to outsiders. Although this manufacture of porcelain soon came to an end, owing to lack of materials, the decorative processes which Shonzui had learned in China were not forgotten. The potters of Arita, profiting by his instruction, began to produce a faience, or stone- ware, of tolerable quality, with designs in blue under the glaze. Very few specimens of this ware have survived. It was scarcely worthy of preservation, except as the first Japanese pottery with coloured decoration. That the blue was palpably inferior to the deep brilliant colour whicjj Shonzui succeeded in producing, will readily be conceived. It was proba- 25 JAPAN bly obtained from a mineral of Japanese origin ; but this is uncertain. The Japanese potters of Seto cer- tainly used cobalt in the manufacture of their black glazes, and it is asserted that Shonzui himself ulti- mately eked out the pigment which he had brought from China by mixing it with the mineral of his own country. On the other hand, the commercial relations between Japan and China were of such a nature during the sixteenth century that it should have been a simple matter for the keramists of the former country to obtain supplies of Chikiang cobalt, however unprocurable the precious Mohammedan mineral may have been. The point is not of special importance. Indeed, the interest attaching to the ware manufactured by Shonzui’s immediate successors centres solely in the fact that it represents the out- come of a period when the methods of porcelain manufacture were known while the materials were wanting. With regard to the identification of the ware, its pate varies from dense faience to stone- ware, and is generally tinged distinctly with red ; its glaze is sometimes grey, or slate colour, but usually an impure white ; there are no marks of date or factory, and the blue decoration is somewhat rudely executed. Reference to the general question of Hizen pottery will be made in a future chapter. Although the porcelain manufactured by Shonzui seems to have attracted considerable attention Jn his time, he was not sufficiently fortunate to obtain the patronage of any powerful noble. Indeed, after the death of the Regent Yoshimasa (1491), the Tea Cere- monials which he had inaugurated, if they did not wholly pass out of fashion, failed to increase in popu- larity. All the great feudal chieftains, engaged either 26 EARLY WARES directly or indirectly in the civil wars which disturbed Japan during the sixteenth century, had neither time nor resources to cultivate such dilettanteism as the Cha-no-Tu, The philosophy of the cult aimed essentially at educating a spirit of tranquillity and refinement, whereas the all-engrossing business of the era was war. Shonzui’s journey to China may be regarded as a result of the only interval of peace which the Empire had enjoyed during nearly two centuries. For when the Ming dynasty assumed the reins of power in the Middle Kingdom, the Korean and Chinese coasts were ravaged by Japanese corsairs, who had become such a terror to the people that their names were used by mothers as a bogey to alarm bad children. These pirates came from the island of Kiushu, where, owing to the complete disorganisa- tion of the executive, men were temporarily freed from all legal restraint. At the end of the fourteenth century, however, Yoshimitsu, the greatest of the Ashikaga Shoguns^ succeeded in reconciling the two rival Japanese dynasties, and in the brief period of peace that ensued, the complaints of China and Korea were favourably considered by the Japanese Govern- ment. Vigorous steps were taken to suppress the pirates, and numerous captives whom they had carried off were restored to their native countries. China’s gratitude for this neighbourly act was very marked. It is recorded that there grew up between the two Empires a friendly intercourse, and that the polity, the arts, and the sciences of the Ming rulers came to be regarded with sincere admiration by the Japanese. Yoshimitsu died in 1409, and not long afterwards the Empire was again torn by disputes about the succes- sion to the Imperial Throne and the Shogunate, as 27 JAPAN well as by fierce contests of ambition among the great feudal chieftains. These troubles lasted throughout the century. That Shonzui’s enterprise should have been undertaken in such times must be attributed to the impulse given to art industry by the patronage of Yoshimasa, and to the relations established with China under the circumstances mentioned above. Certainly it was an inopportune enterprise. Had Shonzui dis- covered the porcelain earth that existed in practically inexhaustible quantities within easy reach of his fac- tory, his efforts might have been attended with better results. But he died without even suspecting its pres- ence. A few hundred pieces of porcelain, made with materials brought over sea, and scarcely differing from ware produced in China, were the only outcome of his journey ; and his contemporaries not unnaturally failed to regard these as any earnest of a new keramic era. So little impression did his enterprise make on the men of his time that even the locality of his kiln is not accurately known. The general supposition is that he settled at Arita, in the province of Hizen. But it is only a supposition. He was buried in Ise, and there is nothing definite to prove that he did not pursue his industry in that neighbourhood also. At first sight, one is disposed to wonder that his example did not find imitators immediately, that is to say, during the sixteenth century, Japan being on such friendly terms with China, and receiving, from time to time, specimens of the admirable wares manufac- tured at Ching-te-chen by the Ming potters, then at the zenith of their fame. The explanation is simple. The sixteenth century was, perhaps, the blackest period of Japanese history. The suffering and devas- tation entailed by civil wars, raging with ever-renewed 28 W^'l y^ • -^si ■ .--V '.■..•-*a?x^ • 'S »i«isa^.;>: V.P--- ■; ::,«^- : y ■ .. j.-'4£?j*;- - i ' ■ ■s-* ■sLt ^V'V-'* ■•/ V- ' "'‘TV-. V .'■ ^. EARLY WARES fury, were augmented by natural calamities, — famines, earthquakes, and virulent epidemics. All industries were virtually paralysed, except those that were essen- tial to the conduct of campaigns. Even the great Buddhistic monasteries, divested of their sacred char- acter, were converted into fortresses where bonzes and abbots devoted themselves to political intriguing and left religion to take care of itself. It was impossible that any art, other than that of the swordsmith or the armourer, could flourish amid such surroundings. But from the moment that Hideyoshi, the TaikOy succeeded in crushing or conciliating the principal disturbers of the peace, the nation’s innate love of aesthetics reasserted itself. From his campaigns in Mino and Echizen, Hideyoshi returned to Kyoto in 1583. He set himself at once to promote the occu- pations of peace. His energy was alike untiring and well directed. At one time he rewarded excellence with money, at another with titles of honour, and he even renewed the expedient of substituting presents of pottery and porcelain for revenues or land as a rec- ompense of military merit. The consequence was an unquestionable revival of keramic industry, but a revival the immediate fruits of which were of neces- sity small. The art of decoration with vitrifiable enamels and the processes of manufacturing true porce- lain were unknown. A few amateurs, whose methods there will be occasion to allude to in more detail hereafter, amused themselves by producing at private kilns in Kyoto insignificant specimens, of more or less archaic character, for the use of the tea-clubs. Perhaps the only ware worthy of mention for the sake of its decorative qualities was a pottery manu- factured by Soshiro at Fushimi, a town in the environs 29 JAPAN of Kyoto, where the Taiko castle stood. The clay employed was of a rich white or buff colour, very hard and of exceedingly fine texture. No glaze was used, but the biscuit was polished till its surface shone like ivory, and designs in lacquer, black, gold, or sometimes red, were then applied. A very few speci- mens — incense-burners and tea-jars — are all that now remain of the Soshiro-yaki^ but they suffice to show that the ware had considerable artistic merit, and that the lacquer decoration employed in those days was almost imperishable. The Taiko signified his high approval of Soshiro’s productions by bestow- ing upon him the title of Tenka-ichi^ “ first in the Empire,” a distinction accorded only to artists of pre- eminent excellence. Soshiro may have deserved this honour in comparison with his fellow-potters, but the fact that his very mediocre achievements obtained such distinction is in itself a sufficient proof of the generally inferior condition of the keramic art at the time. Hideyoshi himself appears to have been disap- pointed with the results achieved. He had built, on the heights overlooking the lovely valley of the Ujigawa, a ‘‘ Palace of Pleasure ” [yuraku~yd^, con- taining a collection of choice objects of virtu ^ includ- ing heirlooms of Yoshimasa and Nobunaga. The yuraku-Jo did not long remain a record of its founder’s esthetic tastes. The Taiko assigned it as a residence to his adopted son, Hideyoshi, and when the latter proved a traitor, the palace which his presence had contaminated was razed to the ground by the command of the stern old Chancellor. Mean- while there had gradually grown up a far more wonderful monument of Japanese greatness, the Castle 30 EARLY WARES of Osaka, with its stupendous battlements built of blocks of granite which still excite the astonishment of foreign travellers. Here also Hideyoshi had his tea-pavilion and his art treasures, and here he was visited by Chinese merchants, who brought him the choicest keramic productions of their country. Many a noble pair of celadon vases thus came into the Chan- cellor’s possession, and were presented by him to temples throughout the country, where several of them are still carefully preserved. Yet Hideyoshi was not satisfied. His object was not to collect gems from abroad or to surround himself with luxuries, but to develop the industries of his own country ; and in this he experienced only disappointment. The • standard of excellence attained by Toshiro’s successors at Seto, in the fourteenth century, had not been main- tained. Shonzui’s porcelain manufacture had proved an ephemeral affair, and the faience decorated in accordance with his processes was deservedly neglected. Japan, in short, was plainly outstripped by her neigh- bours, and to a practical ruler like Hideyoshi it seemed that the best way to remedy this was to import some foreign talent. It happened just then that he f was about to despatch an expedition to Korea. Among the instructions issued to the leaders of this force is said to have been one directing them to bring back from the peninsula as many skilled potters as they could find. To this order may be traced the origin of many of the wares which have earned for Japan her keramic celebrity abroad. All that she needed was instruction in elementary processes. Her own adaptive and eclectic genius supplied the rest. Very soon, at the factories opened by the Korean potters, there were 31 JAPAN produced wares which in all their artistic features surpassed anything that Korea herself had ever turned out. Before, however, considering these wares in detail, it will be convenient, in the chronological sequence of this history, to notice a faience more widely known than it deserves to be. About the year 1525 a Korean potter came and settled in Kyoto. He was popularly known as Ameya, probably because he at first followed the trade of a vendor of ame (wheat-flour jelly). Before he had long resided in Japan, he adopted the name of Masakichi, and married a Japanese woman called Teirin. Masa- kichi had hoped to find in Japan a profitable field for the exercise of his calling. But the times, and also — a candid critic would be disposed to say — his own homely methods, were against him. He set up a kiln in Kyoto, and began to turn out a sort of archaic faience, which went by the appellation of So-kei-yah\ Sokei being the industrial name taken by Masakichi. The ware did not attract much attention until after Masakichi’s death, when his wife, who seems to have been a woman of considerable taste, took the kiln into her own hands. Sen no Rikiu was then begin- ning to rank as a master of the Cha-no-Yu, He dis- covered in this Ama-yaki — as Teirin’s ware was called — something that pleased his aesthetic instincts, and to signify his approval he bestowed upon the son of its manufacturers his own surname, Tanaka, which he had just exchanged for that of Rikiu. After his mother’s decease, this son, Chojiro, continued to pro- duce the same faience in a street called Kamichoja- machi, Kyot5. Even Sen no Rikiu s patronage did not at first bring the ware into favour. But in the year 1578 Oda Nobunaga, at Rikiu’s inspiration, 32 EARLY WARES gave Chojiro a large order for cups and other tea utensils, with the immediate result of making the Ama-yaki fashionable. Ten years afterwards, Hide- yoshi summoned Chojiro to his palace of Juraku, and was so pleased with his productions that he presented to him a gold seal bearing the ideograph Raku^ which from that time became at once the name and mark of a ware exceedingly popular with the Japanese tea- clubs. The Raku-yaki of those times was hand-made pot- tery, with little technical excellence, and only one artistic recommendation, namely, quaintness of shape and glaze. But the day used in its manufacture pos- sessed non-conductive properties, which rendered it peculiarly suitable for tea-drinking purposes. At first, the only glaze produced appears to have been black. But from Chojiro’s time there is found a light red or salmon-coloured glaze, which, being obtained by the action of heat on a clay originally yellow, presents a somewhat patchy or clouded appearance. The Raku experts showed much dexterity, not only in adapting the shapes of their pieces to the tastes of the chajiny but sometimes also in moulding them with spirit and fidelity. This is especially true of Doniu, Chojiro’s grandson. He is popularly known as Nonko, and has been placed at the head of his school by common consent. From his time a straw-yellow craquele glaze of considerable merit made its appearance, as did also a remarkable black glaze pitted with red. To pro- duce either of these must have demanded no little skill. About the middle of the eighteenth century green and cream-white glazes began to be manufac- tured. The innovation is attributed to Choniu, eighth 1 in descent from the Korean Masakichi. He is also 1 33 VOL. VIII. 3 JAPAN credited with the use of gold for decorative purposes and with the manufacture of splashed or variegated glazes. Among specimens of Raku ware manufac- tured by him and his successors, many are interesting for the sake of the soft colours and plastic skill they display. But, on the whole, the ware’s attractiveness consists mainly in its freedom from all technical sug- gestions. It is impressionist faience. The Raku-yaki is essentially a domestic production. The apparatus required for its manufacture can be obtained easily and used anywhere. After the piece is shaped and glazed, it is placed on a support inside a fire-clay pot, which stands in a species of hearth. The pot is completely surrounded with charcoal, kept at a red heat by constantly passing over it an ample supply of air from a bellows. After a few hours the glazing material assumes an appearance of melting, whereupon the vessel is removed from the pot with a pair of tongs, and either placed in another pot to cool or dipped in water. Marks of the tongs are often seen on Raku cups. Pieces thus disfigured not infre- quently excite the special admiration of ignorant people, who call them Hasami-yaki (tongs- ware). The pate of the Kyot5 Raku is made with clay found at Okazaki near the city, or at Shigaraki in Omi. The glazing material is composed, in the case of the well-known black glaze, of powdered glass, oxide of lead, and two species of stone, one of which is obtained from the bed of the river Kamo. In the case of the red, or salmon-coloured glaze, sulphate of iron is sub- stituted for the latter stone. A white glaze is also very common. It is crackled, more or less coarsely, and looks rather soft than lustrous. All the Raku glazes — black, red, green, yellow, and white — may ■34 EARLY WARES easily be recognised by their peculiarly opaque, waxy appearance. There is some uncertainty with regard to the date of Chojiro’s death, but the best authorities place it about the year 1610. The sale of his pieces was not permitted without special sanction, everything that he made being reserved for use in the Court, or by a few of the Court nobles, his patrons. In the time of his son, Tokei, this prohibition was removed. The family had hitherto lived in the immediate vicinity of the Juraku Palace — or of the grounds in which it stood — but Tokei moved into the city (Kyoto) and supported himself entirely by the sale of his pottery. Contemporary with Tokei was an expert in swords, by name Honami Koetsu, who learned the Raku pro- cess, and manufactured pieces scarcely to be distin- guished from those of Tokei. The latter used as a mark the single ideograph RakUy whereas the former employed five ideographs, hyo-dan-sen raku-yaku But this distinction does not always exist. Koetsu had a son, Kuchu, who was equally skilled as a potter. Their wares are called Koetsu Raku-yaki, and Kuchu Raku-yakiy the pottery of Ch5jiro and his descendants being designated simply Raku-yaki, The gold seal presented by Hideyoshi to Chojiro does not appear to have been used after the destruction of the Juraku Palace. It was replaced by a wooden seal for purposes of manufacture. Each representative of the family had a wooden seal of his own, and this, at his death, was broken into two pieces and buried with him. All the seals were stamped with the same ideograph — raku — but all presented some recognisable differ- ence of calligraphy. The names of the successive potters of family are as follows : — 35 JAPAN 1. Ameya, a Korean, afterwards called Sokei, or Masakichi. He came to Japan about 1520, and died about 1560. Teirin, his wife, who after her husband’s death became a nun {Amo), Her ware was called Ama-yaki (the Nun’s pottery). She died about 1570. 2. Chdjiro, son of Sokei, whose industrial name was Choyu. He received his family name of Tanaka from Sen no Rikiu. In his time the term Raku-yaki was first used. He died about 1610. 3. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Tokei : a son of Chojiro. He died in 1635. Somi, younger brother of Tokei. He produced Raku ware, but not for sale. 4. Tanaka Kichibei, whose artist name was Doniu, and who is also known as Nonko: a son of Jokei. He is the most celebrated of all the Raku potters. He died in _i656. Doraku, a younger brother of Doniu, manufactured Raku ware. He used a seal bearing the characters Sa-mon-ji. 5. Tanaka Kichizaemon, or Sahei, whose artist name was Itsniu : son of Doniu. He died in 1696. Myoniu, wife of Itsniu. After her husband’s death she manufactured Raku pottery which is known as Myoniu- yaki, Sahei, second son of Itsniu, founded a junior branch of the family, the genealogy of which is as follows : — (1) Sahei, whose artist name was Itsgen : second son of Itsniu. Died (about) 1730. (2) Yahei, whose artist name was Nintosai : "son of Itsgen. Died (about) 1765. (3) Yahei, whose artist name was Kansai, or Gyoku- sai : son of Nintosai. Died (about) 1 800. (4) Jimbei, whose artist name was Rako : son of Gyokusai. Died (about) 1835. 6. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Soniu : son of Itsniu. He died in 1730. 7. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Saniu : son of Soniu. He died in 1739. Myoshu, wife of Saniu, manufactured pottery after her 36 EARLY WARES husband's death, and died in 1747. Her ware is known as Myoshu-yaki, 8. Tanaka Sokichi, or Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Choniu : son of Saniu. He died in 1770. Myogi, wife of Choniu, manufactured pottery after her husband's death. 9. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Sahyo or Tokuniu : son of Choniu. He died in 1774. 10. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Ryoniu : son of Tokuniu. He died in 1830. Myoei, wife of Ryoniu, manufactured pottery after her husband's death, and died in 1834. 11. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Tanniu : son of Ryoniu. He died in 1854. 12. Tanaka Kichizaemon, whose artist name was Keiniu': son of Tanniu. He died in 1875. 13. Tanaka Kichizaemon, the present representative of the family, succeeded to the business in 1873. N.B. The term ‘‘artist name," used above, signifies the name taken by a potter after he shaves his head and retires from business in favour of his son. It is perhaps necessary to warn the student of Jap- anese keramics against an inference which may pos- sibly be suggested by the fulness of this table as compared with the meagreness of available informa- tion in respect of the names and eras of potters at other factories. Two circumstances helped to secure for the Raku-yaki a degree of favour and notice to which it was not at all entitled by its merits. The first was the fact that it had received the approval of the great art critic, Sen no Rikiu ; the second, that it was stamped with a seal bestowed by the most famous of all Japanese chieftains, the Taikb, It is true that the ware does not by any means rank among Japan's best keramic achievements, from a Western point of view. But the very features that detract from its 37 JAPAN decorative aspect were those that recommended it to Rikiu as a type of the rustic simplicity which he desired to impose in the observances of his cult. The student’s interest in the Raku-yaki is not solely derived from the place it occupies on the threshold of Japan’s keramic industry. That, indeed, gives it historic im- portance. Kato Shirozaemon and his immediate successors produced ware of much greater technical beauty. Gorodayu Go-shonzui stands far above Ch5- jiro as a technical expert. But the pottery of Toshiro and the porcelain of Shonzui represent comparatively isolated efforts ; whereas the Raku-yaki marks the opening of an industrial era which continued through- out three centuries and gave to the world nearly all the exquisite works of art that have made Japan so famous. Moreover, the ware became a common pro- duct of domestic industry, and the Kyoto Raku-yaki was but a fraction of that produced throughout the Empire. The Taiko did not live to witness many signs of the progress that he had sought so vigorously to encourage. He died in 1598. In the matter of keramics, Kyoto may be said to have disappointed his fostering efforts, and in order to trace the results of the command he issued to the leaders of the Korean expedition, it is necessary to turn to the south, the island of the Nine Provinces, where the fiefs of the most powerful among those chieftains lay. 38 Chapter II WARES OF HIZEN OF the four principal islands forming the Jap- anese Empire, the most southerly is called Kiushiu, or the ‘‘ Nine Provinces.’’ It was here that the first European adventurers landed in Japan, and inaugurated a trade which flour- ished, in varying degree, until the final opening of the country four hundred years later. Many erroneous inferences bearing upon the sub- ject of keramics have been drawn from the circum- stances under which this trade was conducted by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English. Connois- seurs have even ventured to fix the age of the first Japanese porcelain carried to Europe by reference to the date of the earliest commercial intercourse with the Portuguese. The existence of porcelain in Japan being assumed, there is little difficulty in the further assumption that such a novel and beautiful object must have attracted the attention of the shrewd foreign merchants. When hypothesis is substituted for his- tory, the limits of a writer’s statements depend mainly on his personal equation. Messrs. Audsley and Bowes, while admitting that no particulars are given by Kaempfer, the most trustworthy annalist of those early days, with regard to the nature of the commodities ex- ported from the Portuguese factories in Hirado and Nagasaki, nevertheless assert that from what Kaempfer 39 JAPAN does state, ‘‘ one may readily surmise that rare speci- mens of porcelain were among their exports.” What Kaempfer wrote is as follows : — Here I shall leave for a while the affairs of religion, to say a few words concerning the commerce and trade of the Portu- guese. The merchants in their trade, and the priests in the propagating of the gospel, prospered equally well. The merchants married the daughters of the richest inhabitants, and disposed of their goods to the best advantage. The gold of the country was exchanged against European and Indian curiosities, medicines, stuffs, and other things of the like nature. Upwards of three hundred tons of this precious metal were exported every year, for at that time they had full liberty to import and to export what goods and in what quantity they pleased. At the time of their rising greatness they imported their goods in large ships, but upon the de- cline of their trade they came thither with only their galliots^ as they call them, or smaller vessels. They first put into the harbours of Bungo and Hirado. Then they came only to Nagasaki. The gain upon the goods imported was at least cent, per cent., and they got not a little gain upon what they exported. It is believed that had the Portuguese enjoyed the trade to Japan but twenty years longer, upon the same foot as they did for some time, such riches would have been transported out of this Ophir to Macao, and there would have been such a plenty and flow of gold and silver in that town, as sacred writs mention there was at Jerusalem in the times of Solomon. It is needless here to enter into all the particulars of their trade, and I think it sufficient to men- tion, that even in the last years of their going to Japan, when their trade was in its greatest decline, I mean in 16363^ chests of silver, or 2,350,000 thails^ were carried on board four ships from Nagasaki to Macao. In 1637 they imported goods, and exported money, to the value of 2,142,565 thails^ on board six ships; and in 1638, to the value of 1,259,023 t hails ^ only with two galliots. And I found it mentioned that, some years before, they sent away, on board a small ship of theirs, upwards of one hundred tons of gold. 40 WARES OF HIZEN There is nothing in this account to suggest ‘‘ rare specimens of porcelain/" The fact is that, while the Portuguese were trading at the ports of Kiushiu, the manufacture of porcelain, such as they would have been likely to purchase, was not carried on either there or anywhere else in Japan. Gorodayu Go-shonzui, returning from China early in the sixteenth century, manufactured a few hundred pieces of blue-and- white porcelain with the materials which he had brought from the Po-yang Lake, and died before the first “black ship"" sighted Tanegashima. It is most im- probable that any of his pieces came into the hands of . the Portuguese. Produced in quantities too small and at too great cost to become an article of ordinary com- merce, the specimens cannot have possessed any at- traction for traders whose headquarters were in the country from which Shonzui had derived his knowl- edge and his materials. After Shonzui"s death his immediate successors were unable to manufacture any- thing but stone-ware, which certainly was not of such a nature as to invite the attention of European traders ; and the same may be said of the first Japanese porce- lain, properly so called, the production of which com- menced more than half a century after the arrival of the Portuguese in Kiushiu. Hizen is one of the fairest provinces in Japan. Its eastern and northern districts are occupied by hills of gentle contour, fertile valleys, and picturesque streams. Its western portion consists of a multitude of lovely islets, the principal of which is Hirado. It has six mineral springs and thirteen famous cascades, and its soil is exceptionally fertile. In olden times it was included, with the neighbouring province of Higo, in the district known as Hi-no-kuniy or the 41 JAPAN “ country of fire ; ” a name derived from a miracu- lous meteor which is said to have guided the cele- brated warrior Take Ogumi (b. c. 97) in his campaign against the rebellious aborigines. Arita is a mountainous district in Hizen. It has been stated in the preceding chapter that Shonzui settled there on his return from China. But the fact is not accurately established. Some authorities main- tain that he built his kiln at a place called Midare- bashi, two or three miles beyond the limits of the Arita region. Be this as it may, his immediate suc- cessors certainly worked at Midare-bashi, their factory being known as Nangawara. Their productions were stone-ware decorated with blue sous couverte. The province of Hizen already possessed potteries of some reputation ; notably that of Karatsu, to which more detailed allusion will be made hereafter, and one in the Matsuo district. Work had been carried on at the latter since the end of the fourteenth century, but nothing was manufactured that deserved to be classed with objects of art. Indeed, if the wares of Karatsu be excepted, it may be said that Hizen was practically unknown, from a keramic point of view, prior to Shonzui’s time. And after his death the Hizen work- shops would doubtless have relapsed into their pre- vious state of insignificance but for an event which gave a marked impetus to keramic industry at all the great centres in Japan. That event was the return (1592—1598) of the Japanese troops from Korea, bringing with them a number of Korean potters, as Hideyoshi the Taiko had directed. These foreign workmen were dis- tributed chiefly throughout the nine provinces of Kiushu. Hizen received a good many, and their 42 WARES OF HIZEN presence speedily made itself felt, less, perhaps, for the sake of what they were able to accomplish than because of the interest which the feudal barons thus acquired in the progress of the potter’s art. The ter- ritorial magnates, having openly associated themselves with such an enterprise and taken the trouble to import experts from beyond the sea, were not likely to let the industry languish for lack of patronage. Hideyoshi doubtless anticipated this, and the event justified his forecast. It becomes here a point of importance to know what Korea could teach Japan about keramic manufactures at the time when these Korean potters were brought over by the ’Taiko s generals ; that is to say, at the close of the sixteenth century. The subject is complicated by the existence in Japan of a large number of specimens which, though attrib- uted by the Japanese to Korean factories, and supposed to represent the best efforts of Korean workshops, are erro- neously classified in both respects. The most important of these is ivory-white, translucid porcelain of fine quality, not to be distinguished by any intelligible test from the well- known hlanc de chine of Western collectors. For at least four centuries Japanese virtuosi have not hesitated to pro- nounce this beautiful ware a Korean product. The theory used to be stoutly maintained by the late Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, who asserted that the difference between the so- called Korean porcelain and that of China was discernible by any experienced eye. But Mr. Ninagawa himself could never explain wherein this difference consisted, nor has any other Japanese expert been more successful. Certainly the colour and texture of the glaze in both wares are identical, as are also the shapes and decorative designs — when any such exist — whether incised or in relief. As evidence in favour of the Korean origin of the ware, reference has been made to a passage in the Tao-lu (History of Ching-te-chen Keramics), where it is stated that among the wares of Korea some esteem was enjoyed by porcelain ornamented with 43 JAPAN flowers, incised or in relief, resembling the white Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty. But though this statement is beyond question, it contradicts rather than corroborates the Japanese contention. For the Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty was not comparable with the so-called Korean white.’' It would be difficult, indeed, to adduce two wares which, while slightly resembling each other in colour, are more essentially different in quality of paste and glaze. The Ting-yao is thin, having soh patOy a fragile rather than a solid appearance, and a dis- tinct creaminess, or buff-like tinge. The Haku-gorai (white of Korai, /. e, Korea), as the Japanese called the supposed Korean porcelain, has, on the contrary, tolerably thick biscuit, and owes its charm entirely to the peculiarly delicate pinkish or ivory-like tone of its soft, lustrous glaze. There is, in short, no valid reason to doubt that the so-called Haku-g'drai was simply the now well-known “ Ivory White” of China — the Ming Chien-yao — which, reaching the Japa- nese originally via Korea, was erroneously attributed by them to that kingdom, just as they credited Cochin China with the manufacture of faience for which it had only served as a place of export. Several specimens of this Haku-gorai are catalogued by Western amateurs among Korean products, but the belief, though still commonly current in Japan, will not survive the test of investigation. It may be concluded without hesitation that the Haku-g'drai was never made in Korea, and that it belongs absolutely to the Ming Chien-yaOy or Ivory White of China. Another ware erroneously as- cribed to Korea by Japanese collectors is stone- ware having designs painted in chocolate-brown, or almost black, pigment. It is called E-gdrai (painted ware of Korai) in Japan, where considerable quantities of it are preserved among the treas- ures of the tea-clubs. It has dense, dark pate^ over which is run very thin glaze, generally showing a marked tinge of buff. To the glaze are applied coarsely executed tracings of figures, animals, or elementary floral designs, the colour, muddy chocolate or brownish black, being obtained from the juice of the Diospyros Kaki [Kaki no shibi^. The best speci- mens cannot be called either beautiful or artistic : their homely and unpretentious character alone introduced them 44 WARES OF HIZEN to the notice and favour of the Japanese tea-clubs. They - were not manufactured in Korea at all, being in fact a Chinese ware made at Tsu-chou in the province of Honan, where large quantities of similar though greatly inferior ware are still manufactured. Of course it cannot be absolutely denied that imitations were produced in Korea, but there is no evidence of such imitation, and under any circumstances the ware should not find a place in the list of purely Korean efforts. Whether the misconception as to the origin was caused by its coming to Japan in junks that touched at a Korean port, or whether it had actually been used by the people of the little kingdom before it came into Japanese hands, there is not much occasion, even if there were any means, to determine. Eliminating these two wares, then, there still remain in Japanese collections numerous specimens indisputably of Korean origin which are supposed to represent the best efforts of that country's experts. Re- cent researches in Korea itself have shown, however, that the supposition is erroneous. The wares familiar to Jap- anese connoisseurs and highly valued by them as Korea’s choicest manufactures must be generally classed in quite an inferior category. The great majority of them probably came to Japan at the time of the invasion of the peninsula by t\\Q .Talk'd' s army (1592) or subsequently; but even if their import be antedated by a century, and even if it be assumed that they belong to the period of the inauguration of the tea-clubs by the ex- Regent Yoshimasa, they would still be nearly a hundred years subsequent to the commence- ment of the final decadence of keramic art in the peninsula. That art practically came to an end at the close of the four- teenth century. It had flourished at one place only. Song- do (or Kai-song), the capital of the kingdom under the dynasty that preceded the present, and when, on the fall of the dynasty, the capital was moved to Han-chung (com- monly called Soul), the potters gradually abandoned the industry. Nothing is known exactly of the reasons that led to this abandonment, but it may perhaps be referred to loss of royal patronage and court custom. At all events, as the potteries at Song-do were closed, no others sprang up else- 45 JAPAN where of equal excellence. The potter's trade rapidly fell into neglect ; the knowledge of the art disappeared in great part, and nothing continued to be produced except coarser classes of utensils. This misfortune has been sometimes associated with the miserable condition into which the country was thrown by the Japanese invasion of 1592, but the truth is that fully two centuries earlier (1390) the closing of the best factories at Song-do had brought the period of good keramic work to an end. Roughly speaking, therefore, an age of five centuries at least may be ascribed to any choice Korean specimens, and of these few found their way to Japan. These were three principal varieties, but in speak- ing of them it must be premised that the subject of Korean keramics still awaits accurate investigation, and that the in- formation now possessed may have to be modified hereafter. The three varieties are briefly but confusedly alluded to in the "Tao-lu (History of King-te-chen), where they are classed as Kao-li-yao, or ware of Kao-li (Japanese Korai), which was the name given to the peninsula under the pre- vious dynasty. When the present dynasty came to the throne at the end of the fourteenth century, the name was changed to Chaosen or Chosen. Thus, in the appellation of the ware, we have an indirect indication of the era of its manufacture; a point upon which Japanese connoisseurs insist, invariably applying the term Korai-yaki (ware of Korai or Kaoli) to specimens dating farther back than the transfer of the capital from Song-do to Han-chung, and the term Chosen-yaki (ware of Chosen or Chaosen) to ware manu- factured under the present dynasty. The three varieties in question are white stone-ware, or semi-porcelain, celadon^ and faience with inlaid decoration. The first is compared by the T’ao-lu to the white Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty {vide History of Chinese Keramics). The only authentic speci- mens of it known to foreign collectors are cups and bowls exhumed, chiefly, from tombs of men of rank. They show a high standard of technical skill. Like the Sung Ting-yao to which they have been compared, the quality of thtw pate almost entitles them to be classed with translucid hard por- celain. Some of them, indeed, are translucid, but the non- 46 WARES OF HIZEN crystalline character of their fracture indicates a smaller proportion of silica in the mass than is generally present in porcelain proper. The glaze is thin, lustrous, and soft; not perfectly pure in colour, but showing a greyish or cream-like tinge. The ornamentation appears to consist invariably of simple diapers, rudimentary floral designs, or convention- alised phoenixes. They are fairly finished below, but ad- hering to the under surface are generally found spur- marks,” three in number, showing that the piece was supported in the kiln on little felspathic pillars — a method supposed by some writers to be peculiar to Japan, though in reality it was borrowed from Korea. The Chinese potters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when baking such objects as bowls or cups, usually rested them on their upper rims in the oven, the result being, of course, that the lips were rough and unglazed. If such a habit prevailed at any time in Korea, there is no evidence of the fact. It is possible that future explorations in Korea may furnish strik- ing examples of this variety of white semi-porcelain, but at present it is exceedingly scarce, and the rare specimens procurable are of insignificant character. A point to be noted here is that the Koreans, like the Japanese, appreciated the productions of foreign kilns. They imported and valued Chinese wares, and the amateur must be careful not to assume that everything found in a Korean tomb is neces- sarily of Korean manufacture. Some of the white semi- porcelain of Persia, obtained in Han-chung (Soul), has been mistaken for a local product. The second and more familiar variety of ancient Korean ware is celadon. In the ‘‘ History of Ching-te-chen Keramics” it is spoken of as having a pale green colour and resembling the well-known Lung-chuan-yao, the staple celadon of the Middle Kingdom. There is, however, an easily recognised difference between the celadon of Korea — namely, the ware manufactured before the close of the fourteenth century — and that of China : the pate of the former is not so dense or dark in colour as the pate of the latter. The Korean glaze also is much thinner than the Chinese, and lacks the pecu- liarly solid yet soft appearance of the latter. Nevertheless 47 JAPAN the Song-do cUadon presents attractive features. Bowls, cups, ewers, and occasionally vases, their biscuit thin, their glaze smooth, their colour a delicate green, their incised decoration graceful and chaste, and their general technique good, indi- cate that the potters of the peninsula were not altogether dis- tanced by their Chinese contemporaries of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Mr. W. R. Carles, sometime British Consul in Han-chung, says, in his “Life in Korea”: “ Song-do was formerly the place of manufacture of the best Korean pottery, but on the removal of the capital the trade fell, and the workmen, refusing to follow the Court, gradually abandoned their industry, the knowledge of which has now been forgotten. In the winter after my return to Soul I succeeded in purchasing a few pieces, part of a set of thirty-six, which were said to have been taken out of some large grave near Song-do. These are, for the most part, celadon ware, glazed, with a pattern running underneath the glaze. As described by a gentleman who examined them carefully, the main patterns appear to be engraved on the clay as fine grooves or scratches, and the subsequently applied glaze is put on so thickly as to obliterate the grooves and produce an even surface. They are made of an opaque clay of a light reddish colour, and appear, as usual with Oriental fictile ware, to have been supported in the kiln on three supports, and the supports used, in several instances at least, have been small fragments of opaque quartz, portions of which still adhere to some of them. In one of the smaller pieces is a radiate ornament in the centre, which appears to be made up of a series of irregular white fragments of quartz or porcelain, which must have been embedded in the clay before the bak- ing, and some of which project above the surface, though thickly covered with the glaze.” The illustrations of these specimens convey a good idea of the shapes and decorative styles in vogue at the Song-do workshops. In some cases the designs incised in the fate were filled with white clay be- fore applying the c'eladon glaze. A delicate and attractive effect was thus obtained. In this type a favourite design appears to have been cranes flying amid conventional clouds, hence called by the Japanese Un-kaku-de^ or cloud-and-crane 48 WARES OF HIZEN variety. Celadon continued to be produced at Song-do, or in its neighbourhood, throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but it is easy to identify these later specimens by the crude, garish aspect of their glaze, their coarse crackle, — the best early specimens are without crackle, — and their gen- erally inferior technique. The third principal variety of Korai-yaki (or Kao-li-yao) is faience. It has fine pate^ tolerably close, and varying in colour from light red to brownish grey. In the biscuit deco- rative designs are incised, and the incisions are filled with white clay, over which is run glaze of greater or less thick- ness and lustre. The glaze is seldom of exactly similar col- our in two pieces. It varies from rich, full-toned brown to' light grey, something of the tone being due to the colour of the pate^ which is partially discernible through its diapha- nous covering. In occasional specimens the red biscuit is here and there sufficiently visible to impart an appearance of rosy flecks or clouds, a feature which, though apparently a technical defect, commands the admiration of Japanese con- noisseurs. The decoration is elaborated, in very rare in- stances, by the use of a dark brown pigment — the juice of the Diospyros Kaki — under the glaze, but it is a curious fact that never, so far as is known, did Korean potters employ blue sous couverte. No fully satisfactory reason is assigned for this failure to adopt a style so much practised and so justly esteemed in the neighbouring empire of China. The gen- erally received hypothesis is that supplies of cobalt did not exist in Korea. Faience of the class described here ranked lowest among the keramic products of Korea. It is the ware alluded to in that passage of the Tao-lu which Julien somewhat perplexingly renders : “ Si les vases sont ornees de branches de fleurs blanches, elles n’ont dans ce royaume (Coree) qu’une valeur mediocre.'' In China all surface ornamentation applied to porcelain or pottery is spoken of as “ flowers," and what the author of the Tao-lu really intended to say was that speci- mens having decoration in white were counted of mediocre quality in Korea. Yet among such specimens there are many possessing great attractions for Western connoisseurs. Their VOL. VIII. — 4 aq JAPAN white incised patterns looking out from beneath vitreous brown or grey glaze, represent a style at once effective and delicate. It will be seen, by and by, that this ware furnished the model for a beautiful Japanese faience known as Tatsu- shiro-yaki. Being not only the most characteristic but almost the commonest ware of the peninsula, it came to Japan in considerable quantities, whereas of the fine celodon and white semi-porcelain of Song-do very few good specimens seem to have crossed the sea. Even of the variety now under dis- cussion it is doubtful whether really first-class examples came into the possession of Japanese collectors. Comparatively crude, homely features appealed to the severe taste of the tea-clubs, by whom the Kbrai-yaki was from the first taken into favour, and under their inspiration rustic and rough ele- ments came to be regarded as preferable to the technical ex- cellence of which Korean keramists were certainly capable five hundred years ago. Reverentially preserved in Jap- anese collections are cups, bowls, censers, bottles, and vases that fall ludicrously below any common-sense standard. They received from their sentimental possessors titles often, though unintentionally, suggestive of their inartistic character. Ex- amples are the Mishima-gorai^so called because its incised deco- ration of white zigzags, arranged in regular lines, resembled the ideographic text of almanacks compiled at Mishima ; and the Hake-me-mishima^ or brush-mark Mishima,*' a name suggested by the fact that the white glazing material employed to fill up the incised design is smeared over parts of the surface as though rudely daubed on with a brush. The Hana-mishima, or “ Flower Mishima,” is another type, distinguished only by the presence of petals or detached blossoms among the incised decoration. It should be noted that the white glaze with which the incised decoration is filled in all these varieties, has a creamy, lustrous appearance, and a fine network of crackle, and that sometimes it covers the in- terior of bowls and cups having their outer surfaces decorated as described above, — namely, with white incised designs in a brown or grey field. A fourth variety was called Go-hon-de^ or ‘‘model” ware, because it was supposed to have originally served as a model for Japanese keramists in Kyoto. Be- 50 WARES OF HIZEN longing essentially to the type discussed above, it is never- theless distinguished by two features, the light grey colour of the translucid surface glaze, which is craquele^ and the presence of reddish clouds or spots, owing to the pate peep- ing out through the glaze. It is generally in this Go-hon-de that dark brown pigment occurs in combination with white incised designs sous couverte. Yet another variety is called Komo-gai or Kuma-gaiy a name of uncertain origin, but sup- posed to be connected with a river named the Kuma-gawa,'’ in the province of Higo, where some of the Korean potters brought over by the ^aik'o s generals settled. Of this class the most interesting is faience having dense, coarse over which is run creamy, buff-coloured glaze, finely crackled. There is no attempt at decoration. This is the unquestion- able prototype of the first craquele Satsuma-yaki, In the same class is included a faience of wholly different appearance. It has close, light grey pate^ and opaque, milk-white glaze, ap- plied in a very thin coat. This glaze stands alone in Korea, Japan, or China. Its colour is so pure and its opaqueness so complete that it acts like a coating of paint, converting a bowl of grey pottery into white, but of course non-translucid, porcelain. Passing from these varieties, good specimens of which present features at least interesting if not pretty, wares are reached that could never have been tolerated outside the at- mosphere of the tea-clubs. Of these the general character is repellent homeliness. One and all suggest the idea of pottery primitive in the extreme. They admirably illustrate the morbid aestheticism and perverted tastes of the tea-clubs. Among the most highly appreciated by Japanese connois- seurs and perhaps the least objectionable to Western eyes is a variety called Ido, It is distinguished by waxy white glaze, showing little lustre, covered with a network of coarse or fine crackle. The amateur may easily mistake this faience for the Japanese ware called Hagi-yakiy of which it was cer- tainly the prototype. The Korean faience, however, is dis- tinguishable by its greater weight and darker pate. Mention may also be made here of a common characteristic of Korean ware, namely, that the lower rim is partially glazed ; a pecu- 51 JAPAN liarity very rarely found in Japan. Classed with Ido ware is a kind called Ao-Ido^ or green Ido^ because its rough, coarse glaze is pervaded by a tinge of dirty green. This change of colour is obtained at the cost of even greater technical inex- pertness than the Ido faience proper shows. Yet more valued in Japan is the Kata-de, or “ hard variety.” It has very heavy reddish paste, and thick, greenish blue glaze passing into white, delicate in colour and soft in texture, but associated with marks of such crude technique as to be quite unworthy of admiration. Belonging to the same species is the Ama- mori-Kata-de^ or rain-spotted Kata-de^' so called because the numerous blemishes it possesses in common with all these primitive productions, are supplemented by irregular blotches, as though drops of dirty rain had fallen on and permanently corroded its surface. Sometimes this unsightly faience has the ideographs Kin-kat, or “ golden sea,” engraved in its pate. It then becomes almost priceless. Similarly distinguished by engraved ideographs is a variety of the already described Mishima class, known as Tsuka-hori Mishima, A still more inscrutable faience is the Kaki-no-heta^ so called because of the resemblance its rough, lustreless, rusty-iron-coloured glaze bears to the calyx of the persimmon (kaki). Worthy to stand side by side with it are the Ko-fuki^ or “ powdered ” variety, in which a very heavy brown pate is covered with dull, dark ochrey glaze running into grey; and the Toto-ya^ or “ fish-monger's ” variety, with similar paste and equally lustreless but thicker and softer glaze, showing a distinctly yellow tinge. But enough has been said to convey a general idea of the exceedingly homely kinds of Korean faience most affected by Japanese virtuosi. The amateur who desires to pursue the subject may be interested to know that, in addi- tion to the varieties mentioned above, he can make himself acquainted with the Ido-waki^ the Hori- Mishima^ the Ma- kuma-gawa^ the Oni-kuma-gawa, the Han-sUy the Go-sho-maru^ the SobakasUy the Ko-iraho^ the Ki-iraho, the Hari-bori^ and the Koma-gorai, He will find each of these more astonish- ing, if possible, than the other in lack of attractive features and in abundance of blemishes. Yet by the Japanese chajin they are treasured with infinite reverence and affection. 52 WARES OF HIZEN Their richly lacquered receptacles, their brocade wrappers, and the enormous prices they command — two or three hun- dred dollars for a patched old cup looking as though it had been cut out of rusty iron — enhance the incongruity and marvel of the whole affair. Here, in short, is another and a very striking example of the conventional side of Japanese aesthetics ; the tendency to attach greater weight to tradition and association than to beauty and excellence. The Japanese, as already noted, have always fully under- stood that Korean keramic art entered upon a period of ap- parently permanent decadence after the removal of the capital from Song-do and the accession of the present dynasty at the close of the fourteenth century. When they speak of Chosen-Hakeme or Chosen-Unkaku — i,e, wares of the Hakeme and Unkaku types manufactured after the Kingdom received the name of ‘‘Chosen” — they signify faience infe- rior, in their opinion, to Ko-Hakeme (old Hakeme) and Ko- Unkaku, The difference is easily detected by the distinctly vitreous character of the glaze and comparatively light, porous nature of the pate in the younger specimens. After what has been written above, it need scarcely be added that the descriptions given by Jacquemart, and follow- ing him by Miss J. Young, about Korean porcelains are myths. The statements contained in the third chapter of M. Jacquemart’s “ Histoire de la Ceramique” must be re- garded as a singular assemblage of misconceptions. The Koreans never produced anything bearing the faintest resem- blance to the pieces he confidently ascribes to them. Siebold, whose experience was acquired after Japanese keramics had reached a stage of high development, wrote more truly when he said that the products of Korea were coarse and that they exhibited the infancy of the art. Even this verdict, how- ever, though comparatively just, erred, in so far as it was founded on the Japanese chajiris favourite specimens of Korean faience and stone-ware. Looking, indeed, at the squalid, impoverished, and inartistic Korea of to-day, the student is puzzled to imagine that it could ever have given valuable aid to refined and aesthetic Japan. But if he turns to China and contrasts the present outcome of her workshops 53 JAPAN with their former masterpieces, it becomes easy to imagine that the artisans of Korea also may have lapsed into a slough of incompetence equally deep as compared with their original elevation. At the time of the Japanese expedition, how- ever, the little kingdom was in a comparatively flourishing condition, and practical justification existed for the Gaikos idea of procuring keramic experts there. The Korean experts that came to Japan at the close of the sixteenth century were distributed through- out the factories in several fiefs, but for the present the student is invited to consider those only that reached the province of Hizen. The methods taught by Shonzui were then practised at the Nangawara factory, near Arita, but the results achieved were of little merit owing to the inferior nature of the mate- rial employed. Tradition asserts that the Nangawara factory was closed after Shonzui’s death, and reopened by one Gosu Gombei towards the end of the sixteenth century. The story seems to be a popular record of the fact that, after Shonzui’s death, his imported materials having failed and the production of porce- lain being no longer possible, the work of his suc- cessors fell for a time into disrepute, but subsequently recovered a certain measure of public favour by the manufacture of stone-ware decorated with Chinese blue, which mineral has always been called Gosu by the Japanese. But, in truth, the history of the whole period from Shonzufs death (about 1550) to the close of the sixteenth century is wrapped in obscurity. Nothing can be affirmed except that at the latter date, the highest achievement of the Hizen potters was a stone-ware decorated, somewhat rudely, with impure blue under the glaze. Naoshige was then represen- tative of the noble house of Nabeshima, whose fief 54 WARES OF HIZEN the province formed. A number of the Korean im- migrants had been placed at his disposal, and he caused four of them to build a factory called Hyakken- gama, in the neighbourhood of the Arita district. During the next few years the influence of these potters is distinctly traceable. Specimens of Hizen ware dating from the time of their advent show the peculiar white-slip decoration sous couverte which Korean keramists so much affected. But the quality of the ware had not undergone any improvement. The workmen were still unable to produce anything comparable with the excellent porcelain that had made Shonzui’s reputation. Ignorant that in a hill within sight of their hamlet inexhaustible quantities' of the much desired porcelain-stone were waiting to be used, they continued to employ the inferior clay of their old quarries. The circumstances under which the true clay was discovered, though they mark an epoch of the greatest interest, are involved in some uncertainty. About the year 1 620, a native of Toyotani, by name Takahara Goroshichi, arrived in Hizen. Of this man’s early history nothing is known. Like Kato Shirozaemon and Shonzui Gorodayu, he seems to have conceived the idea of travelling, perhaps to China, in search of information, and, the fame of Shonzui’s productions having reached him, he desired to make himself acquainted in the first place with the methods practised in Hizen. In that age intercourse between the vassals of different fiefs was difficult. Goroshichi was enabled to accomplish his purpose by the assistance of the priests at a temple called Shoten-ji in the province of Chikuzen. The potter to whom by their good offices he obtained an introduction was Sakaida 55 JAPAN Kakiemon, then, apparently, the principal Japanese workman at Arita, and destined, with his descendants, to occupy a prominent place in the annals of his country's keramics. Goroshichi thenceforth worked at Kakiemon's kiln. Of his technical ability nothing is recorded, but tradition says that he chanced one day to find by the roadside a fragment of stone which seemed to possess exceptional qualities for keramic purposes. Following up this clew, he and Kakiemon discovered a hill called Izumi-yama, composed almost entirely of excellent porcelain-stone. If this tradition be accepted, the manufacture of true Japanese porce- lain dates from about the year 1625. But other, and apparently more trustworthy, authorities declare the whole account apocryphal. According to them, the honour of the discovery belongs to Kanagai Risampei, one of the four Korean potters who worked at Hyakken-gama. It is, at any rate, certain that from the grave of Risampei, opened a few years ago, there were taken specimens of true porcelain, manufactured with Izumi-yama clay and decorated with blue under the glaze. Further and stronger testimony is afforded by researches conducted on the site of the Hyakken- gama factory. It is known that this factory was closed and that the workmen were transferred to Arita at least fifteen years before the arrival of Goroshichi in Hizen. Yet among the ruins of the Hyakken kiln there have been found fragments of true porcelain of Japanese origin. It may be taken, then, as sufficiently proved that the Korean, Kanagai Risampei, was the discoverer of Izumi-yama, with its immense stores of porcelain stone, and that the date of the discovery was about 1605. Risampei's three comrades were Iwao, Momota, 56 WARES OF HIZEN and Fuka-umi Obasen. Shortly after the discovery of Izumi-yama, their kiln at Hyakken was closed by order and they were transferred to the Arita district. Doubtless the immediate purpose of this change was to bring the workmen within easy reach of their ma- terials. But subsequently the secluded position of Arita-gbri conferred an additional advantage. Em- bedded among the spurs of Kuro-kamiyama, or “ black-hair mountain/’ it could easily be guaranteed against all ingress, and when the unique nature of its mineral resources as well as the excellence of its experts’ processes came to be appreciated, the feudal chief of the province placed guard-houses at the passes, caused every person and thing passing in or out to be strictly examined, and severely penalised the sale of the wares. Some fifteen years after the transfer of the factory to Arita, the names of Kakiemon and Goroshichi began to be prominently associated with the manu- facture of the new porcelain. The former is said to have been a man of remarkable enterprise and origi- nality, and these faculties, as well as his artistic instincts, raised him to the head of the potters. One can readily conceive that whatever technical skill the Koreans possessed, their artistic inferiority must have placed them at a disadvantage compared with the Japanese. But as yet there was not much opportunity to display artistic inspiration. For some forty years after the discovery of the Izumi-yama stone it is prob- able that the Arita potters decorated their wares chiefly with blue under the glaze. Until quite recently it was believed that they were unacquainted with the processes of applying vitrifiable enamels over the glaze. But excavations undertaken two years ago 57 JAPAN by order of the authorities at the site of the Hyakken factory resulted in the finding of numerous fragments of porcelain decorated with vitrifiable enamels. None of these pieces show any traces of gold and silver : the colours used are red, green, and blue only. They suffice, however, to dispel all doubts as to the ability of the Hizen keramists to manufacture ware of this nature as early as 1620. On the other hand, the art of such decoration was evidently in its infancy. Blue sous couverte was preferred as a decorative agent. Some fine specimens of this class were probably man- ufactured, but in quality of glaze and purity of colour they were not yet comparable with the master- pieces of Shonzui, or the porcelains imported from the Middle Kingdom. Besides, in those early days, the difficulties of using the Izumi-yama stone must have been even greater than they were afterwards found. In manufacturing porcelain elsewhere, whether in China or Japan, pate was formed by mixing at least two materials, the one infusible, the other fusible. These are the Kaolin and the Petuntse of the Chinese ; the ‘‘bone’' and the “flesh” of the ware. But the Izumi-yama stone was employed from the first with- out any admixture of foreign matter. That nature should have provided in Japan only, and at only one place in Japan, material fit to be used in all its sim- plicity by the porcelain-makers, has always been regarded by the potters of Hizen as a sort of special dispensation. On the other hand, it has been shown of late years, that the Arita stone by no means corre- sponds with European ideas of an orthodox porcelain earth. Ordinary porcelain stone consists of 46.33 per cent of silica, 39.77 per cent of alumina, and 13.9 per cent of other matters. But among eight 58 WARES OF HIZEN specimens of Arita clay analysed by Professor H. Wurtz, one only gave results nearly corresponding with this formula : seven were found to contain from 7.45 to 82.3 per cent of silica; from 12 to 19 per cent of alumina, and from i to 3.7 per cent of other matters. The eighth specimen (from Kudaru-yama) contained 49.9 per cent of silica; 38.7 per cent of alumina, and 7.6 per cent of other matters, thus ap- proaching very nearly to the formula mentioned above for porcelain earth proper. From these figures Wurtz concluded that the porcelain of Hizen is made without Kaolin^ and that its body consists entirely of Petuntse^ or petro-siliceous minerals. This verdict of Wurtz is confirmed by the researches of an independent analyst, Gumbel, who examined six specimens of Arita porce- lain, and found that only one (that made with material from Kudaru-yama) was earthy. It will be seen, therefore, that Kakiemon, Goroshichi, and Risampei had to work with a somewhat difficult material. Indeed, it may be said generally of the Arita porcelain that its pate is not naturally of fine quality. The utmost care was necessary in manipulating it, and so exhausting was the labour entailed that men were wont to speak of human bones as constituting one of the ingredients of the ware. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that Kakiemon and his fellow-potters succeeded in producing anything very striking in those early days. Not many specimens of their work have survived, but they suffice to show that it was a somewhat rough porcelain, decorated with blue under the glaze, and copied, with more or less fidelity, from Chinese models. The designs of the Middle Kingdom were modified in accordance with Japanese taste, but the popular conception of choice porcelain having been 59 JAPAN already educated by specimens which the Ming ke- ramists had been sending over during nearly two centuries and a half, there is no difficulty in under- standing that the Arita productions did not excite much enthusiasm. That they found their way to Europe is incredible. For though the Portuguese, and later the Dutch, traded with Japan during the years when this first true Japanese porcelain was manufactured, not only was commerce in the Arita wares interdicted, but also it seems most unlikely that these merchants would have encumbered their ships with wares interesting only as specimens of a country’s earliest efforts to imitate the already high achievements of a neighbouring empire. Had the Portuguese or the Dutch foreseen to what enthusiastic admiration the Western world would be stirred, some three centuries later, by its introduction to Japanese art, they would doubtless have been shrewd enough to carry away a few historical pieces of Arita blue-and- white. But these pious traders were neither prophets nor aesthetes. The factory of Arita is within eight miles of Imari, a port situated at the head of a deep, well-sheltered bay on the northwest coast of Hizen. Imari, though itself an insignificant village, was the market town of the district, and the place to which all the porcelain was carried for distribution by water. It was thus that, when the Arita ware began to attract public attention, people fell into the habit of calling it by the name of the port of shipment rather than by that of the factory. Tradition says that the first wares manufactured by Risampei and his three Korean com- rades were designated Kinko-yakty Kinko being the name — according to Japanese pronunciation — of 6o WARES OF HIZEN Risampei’s native place. But this appellation very soon ceased to be employed. Thus far the chief species of decoration employed was blue under the glaze, and the art of applying vitrifiable enamels had not advanced beyond a rudi- mentary stage. The credit of carrying it to a point of real excellence belongs to Sakaida Kakiemon and his fellow-worker Higashijima Tokuemon. These two men went to Nagasaki in 1646 — the date has been preserved with exceptional accuracy — for the purpose of procuring information from a Chinese official who happened to be there at the ti-me. Na- gasaki was then a flourishing town of some 27,000 inhabitants. The Portuguese had been expelled thence nine years previously, but the Dutch had been settled in Deshima since 1641, and from seven to ten of their ships entered the harbour of Nagasaki annually. One account says that the original intention of Kakie- mon and Tokuemon was to visit China and study there, as Shonzui and Kato had done in former years ; but that, falling in with the master of a Chinese junk, they acquired from him information sufficient for their immediate purpose. The latter story is evidently less credible than the former. Both, however, agree in stating that the knowledge obtained on this visit to Nagasaki was only partial. The Chinese official ex- plained the method of preparing and applying red and green enamels, — a method already familiar to Kakie- mon, — but was either unable or unwilling to tell any- thing about the employment of gold, silver, or other colours. The Arita artists, though greatly chagrined, were not disheartened by this reticence. They worked with redoubled zest, and soon succeeded, by their own genius, in compensating for their want of instruction. 61 JAPAN Up to this point Japan had sat at the feet of China and Korea in matters relating to the keramic industry. Alike in faience and in porcelain she owed practically the whole of her technical knowledge to her two neighbours. Naturally, therefore, one expects to find that when she first began to manufacture enamelled ware, she followed with more or less fidelity the decorative methods of China, her preceptor and only available model in this line. The Ming dynasty was drawing to its close in the days of Kakiemon, and the imperial factories at Ching-te-chen were comparatively idle. But numerous specimens of their enamelled porcelains had already reached Japan. These speci- mens may be divided into two varieties, namely, those of the Cheng-hwa (1465—1425) and earlier Ming eras, and those of Lung-ching (1567—1572) and Wang- li (1573--1619) eras. In the former the enamels may be said to have played a subordinate role. They were used to assist the modelling of a piece ; as when a vase takes the shape of a melon with a stalk in brown enamel and leaves and tendrils in green ; or they were employed, sparsely and delicately, to enhance the beauty of a cup which owed not less of its effect to the excellence of its pate and glaze. In the latter — the Lung-ching and Wang-li productions — the enamelled decoration is everything : the quality of the ware itself becomes a secondary consideration. Brilliant colours, in which green and red predom- inate, and elaborate designs, seldom relieved by any trace of artistic instinct, cover the surface of porcelain that has little to recommend it apart from this pro- fusion of ornament. It was with the latter class of wares that Japan was chiefly familiar in the days of Kakiemon and Tokuemon. Examples of the former 62 WARES OF HIZEN had, of course, come across the sea, but so rarely that they never obtained popular recognition. Even to this day, ninety-nine out of every hundred Japanese experts believe that the representative enamelled por- celain of the Middle Kingdom is the Banreki Aka-e^ or red (aka) pictured (e) ware of Ban-re ki (Wan-li). There can scarcely be any question that the models which Kakiemon and his comrades had before them were of the Ban-reki Aka-ye class. But they did not imitate them. The art instinct of Japan asserted itself from the outset, and led to the manufacture of a less profusely decorated porcelain. Instead of loading their pieces with diapers and archaic designs in red and green enamels, the Arita artists made enamelled brilliancy a subordinate feature, and sought, by careful painting and refined motives, to compensate for what was lost in richness of effect. The conception and execution of the ware were ex- cellent. The pate was fine and pure, having a clear bell-like timbre. The milk-white glaze, soft, yet not lacking in lustre, formed a ground harmonising well with the ornamentation, which was simple some- times to severity. The enamels were clear and rich in tone, but of few colours : lustreless red, frequently showing an orange tint, grass-green, and lilac-blue (over the glaze) constituted nearly the whole palette. Of the decorative subjects, floral medallions were, perhaps, most common, but the dragon, the phoenix, the bamboo, the plum, the pine, birds fluttering about a sheaf of corn, other naturalistic subjects together with various kinds of diapers, were constantly de- picted. The characteristics of this ware are not only the sparseness, but also the distribution of the decoration : instead of being spread over the surface, 63 • JAPAN the designs are confined to a few places, the object apparently being to surround each little picture with as ample a margin as possible. This description applies to Arita porcelain after the processes of enamelled decoration and other technical details had been- fully mastered, a condition which was probably attained about the year i66o. The chaste style then inaugurated continued thenceforth to ‘be associated with the name of Kakiemon, and lost nothing in the hands. of his descendants, who will be referred to in detail by and. by. , • In manufacturing pieces such as these, a point of primary importance was the preparation of the^^/^. Any failure in that direction would have been fatal to the beauty of vases which, by the paucity of their decoration, seemed to chal- lenge inspection of their unenamelled surface. Local tradi- tion says that Kakiemon's chaste fashions were suggested by the success he had already achieved in the manipulation of the izumi-yama stone that he curtailed the decorator’s func- tions for the sake of increasing the scope of the’ potter’s. At any rate, it seems pretty certain that, even so early as the year 1650, the workmen of Arita had acquired great skill in the management of the materials, that formed the porcelain mass. The processes which they employed remain in vogue to- day. Before describing these .processes, it is necessary to consider briefly the various kinds of porcelain stone found in Hizen. ' Information upon this point is obtained from • the researches of Dr. G. Wagener, to .whom the modern art industries of Japan owe a heavy debt of gratitude, and of Professor Wurtz.- By these experts eight varieties of Hizen materials have been analysed, with the following results : — ■ ' ' • 64 I: 4 WARES OF HIZEN COMPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPAL PORCELAIN STONES OF HIZEN Name of Material. Silica. Alumina. Lime, Magnesia, etc. Water. Tsuji-tsuchi . . 78.18 15.69 2-39 2. 52 Shiro-tsuchi . . 77.66 15.19 2.23 3-33 Sakaime-tsuchi . . 78.07 13-99 3-13 3-32 Uwa-gusuri-tsuchi . 78.21 14.41 1.62 3-71 Indo-tsuchi . 82.23 I 1.98 3.91 1. 15 Kudaru-yama-tsuchi • 49-93 38-73 2.09 7.60 Seiji-tsuchi . • 77-84 i3-5« 3-30 1.29 Shirakawa-tsuchi • 79->3 16.44 1.65 0.91 The "Tsuji-tsuchi is a dull, white, coarse-grained, and cohe- • rent mass, not unlike chalk, but harder and much tougher. It is slightly adhesive ; is composed of small granules which have a distinct but dull lustre, and, though apparently homogeneous, is not really so. In its pulverized form it fuses easily, but in the mass resists a very high temperature. The Shiro-tsuchi is finer, tougher, and harder than the Tsuji-tsuchiy which in other respects it closely resembles. It contains some small, dark-coloured spots which under the microscope are found to be remnants of pyrite crystals. It appears dull to the naked eye, but under the lens the granulae composing it are found to have a distinct lustre, almost equal to that seen on the surface of a porcelain fracture. It is much more fusible than the Tsuji-tsuchi, The Sakaime-tsuchi is scarcely distinguishable from the Shiro-tsuchiy except that it is somewhat softer and coarser. The Uwa-gusuri-tsuchi (which, as its name indicates, is used for glazing purposes) resembles the preceding varieties, but is much softer, more adhesive, and has many dark spots caused by the presence of pyrites. The Indo-tsuchi is coarse-grained, and of uneven colour ; some parts being white, while others are darkened by the presence of limonite. It is composed of soft and hard particles, the latter resembling undecomposed felspar. When heated its granulae change to black and then to white, while the vapour given off shows acid reaction, probably due to the presence of sulphuric acid. VOL. VIII. 5 5c JAPAN The Kudaru-tsuchi is a pure white substance, similar to chalk. It is friable and greasy to the touch, but less so than a true clay. In water it immediately disintegrates to powder, giving off air bubbles, but in the mass it has very little plasticity. It remains white after heating. The Seiji-tsuchi has a much coarser grain than any of the preceding minerals, and a distinctly laminated struc- ture. Although generally white, it is stained in places by limonite. The Shirakawa-tsuchi has a finer grain than the Seiji-tsuchiy but coarser than any of the other varieties. It is white, with brownish stripes and spots ; porous, rough to. the touch, and friable only to a small degree. It has been already stated that Izumi-yama furnishes a stone which, from the time of its discovery, served for the manufacture of the porcelain mass without any addition of foreign matter. But the reader will see from the above table that the Arita mineral presents varieties which, though differing very slightly in composition — excepting, of course, the Kudaru-yama-tsuchi which belongs to another category — are nevertheless sufficiently unlike to suggest that something might be gained by intermixing them. The Hizen potters early appreciated this possibility. They certainly combined these various stones, using the ^suji-tsuchi and the Shiro-tsuchi as the principal materials of the porcelain mass. The former, the purest and whitest of all, being somewhat intract- able in the kiln, is mixed with Shiro-tsuchiy in the proportion of 7 to 3, for the manufacture of egg-shell ware. The Shiro-tsuchi and Sakaime-tsuchi are accounted of equal quality, and are mixed in varying proportions, equal parts being taken to form the mass of common thick Arita porce- lain. The Shirakawa-tsuchi is combined with Shiro-tsuchi or Sakaime-tsuchi to produce crackled porcelain. The Uwagusuri-tsuchi is used for glazing purposes, and the Seiji- tsuchi is similarly used in the manufacture of celadon {Seiji), The first five minerals enumerated in the above table are found within a comparatively small district in the neighbour- hood of Izumi-yama. They do not occur in strata, but are embedded here and there, and covered by felspathic rock. 66 WARES OF HIZEN The Kudaru-yama-tsuchi is found in various places between layers of hard rock. The first process to which the stone is subjected after quarrying is that of pulverisation. The implement employed for this purpose is of the simplest construction. It consists of a horizontal beam, to one end of which a vertical stamp is fixed, to the other a water-box. This contrivance is placed by the side of a stream, whence water is conducted into the box. The latter, filling and emptying itself, lifts and drops the stamp, which is shod with iron and works in a stone mortar containing the material to be pulverised. No other machinery is employed for the purpose, and the consequence is that such parts of the mineral as cannot be sufficiently reduced by this rude method, have to be thrown away. These, rejected portions amount to as much as 40 or 50 per cent of the mass. Much of the loss is doubtless due to imper- fect mechanical contrivances, but Mr. Korschelt, formerly Chemical Analyst to the Geological Survey of Japan, sug- gests that the minerals themselves are not homogeneous, but consist of harder and softer parts. The same expert draws attention to the important fact that, in pulverising the Arita porcelain stone, a separation of its materials is effected. Thus, though European machinery would work much more economically and efficiently than the Japanese stamper, it could not be introduced without some modification, since it would transform the whole stone into a homogeneous powder, and a porcelain of a different composition, contain- ing more quartz, would be obtained. The pulverised mineral is then placed in a reservoir of water, where it is allowed to settle. The most subtile par- ticles, which naturally constitute the uppermost layer of the deposit, are used for the pate of fine porcelain ; the middle layer is reserved for the manufacture of coarser vessels, and the bottom layer is thrown away. The powder obtained by this method of decanting is carefully mixed, and afterwards transferred to pans where the moisture it contains is partly drained off and partly absorbed by a layer of sand covered with straw mats. The clay is finally made more consistent by putting it for a time on the warm ovens. It is then JAPAN ready for the modellers. These are provided with the so- called potter's wheel. At Arita it consists of a driving and a working wheel, fixed about twelve to fifteen inches apart on a hollow wooden prism. On the lower side of the driving- wheel is a porcelain cup that rests on a vertical wooden pivot projecting from a round block of wood over which the system is placed. The pivot is planted in a hole of such depth that the rim of the driving-wheel is slightly raised above the surface of the ground. Beside this hole the modeller sits, and while turning the system with his foot, moulds a mass of material placed on the working-wheel. His only tools are a piece of wet cloth to smooth and moisten the vessel ; a small knife to shape sharp edges ; a few pieces of stick to take measurements, and a fine cord to sever the finished vase from its base of superfluous matter. The pieces, having passed from the modeller's hands, are air-dried, after which they are again placed upon the wheel and their shapes perfected with iron tools. They are then coated with the white clay called Kudaru-yama-tsuchiy for the double purpose of imparting to the finished vase a pure, soft aspect, and providing a ground suited to the blue, intense or delicate, which is used in the decoration. The piece is now placed in the preparatory kiln, called Suyaki-yama (kiln for unglazed ware). The management of temperature in this kiln is a business demanding great care, the object being, not to bake the porcelain thoroughly, but merely to prepare it for the reception of the decoration and the glaze. After cooling, the pieces are carefully washed and passed to the decorator, who paints upon them various designs, using for pigment, nowadays, common smalt, whereas formerly he used cobaltiferous manganese imported from China. It would be difficult to exaggerate the difference, from an artistic point of view, between the colours produced by the two materials. That obtained from smalt is thin, garish, and superficial ; that obtained from the Chinese mineral is deep, intense, and so intimately associated with the pate as to ap- pear inlaid. Chemists claim that to provide the pigment of former times is easily within their resources. Nevertheless, great interest attaches to its composition, and independent 68 WARES OF HIZEN analyses made by Dr. Eykman, lately Professor of Chemis- try in the Tokyo Medical College, Dr. Matsui, of the Tokyo University, and M. Salvetat, give the following results : — COMPOSITION OF CHINESE COBALT BLUE FORMERLY USED IN JAPAN Eykman. Eykman. Matsui. Salvetat. Silica .... . 14.90 5-63 4-97 37.46 Alumina .... . 29.64 19.90 1 28.70 4-75 Iron Oxide . 4.24 3.28 J 1.65 Nickel Oxide . . 2.40 5-97 — Cobalt Oxide . • 9-75 1 2.90 19.05 5.50 Copper Oxide . . 1.25 1.68 — 0.44 Manganeous Oxide . • 34-91 48.1 1 45.24 27.50 Lime . 0.66 0.22 — 0.60 Magnesia . Trace Trace — Trace Potash . •. . . . 0. 1 1 — — — Soda .... . 1.02 1.23 — — Water .... . 0.55 0.95 1.58 20.00 Chromium . . Trace Trace Trace Trace With regard to the differences between the results of Salvetafs analysis and those obtained by Eykman and Mat- sui, Professor Korschelt observes that pieces of Gosu — as this cobalt blue is called by the Japanese — which were sent to Japan, would already have been subjected to refining processes, and that Salvetat probably examined not only a somewhat different but also an unrefined form of the min- eral. It is of course possible that the gosu of old times may again come into general use, and that the grand colours of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may once more be pro- duced. But against this much-to-be-desired consummation has to be set the refractory nature of the pigment. Specially educated skill is needed to obtain good results with it, and even in the most expert hands failures are numerous. Eu- ropean cobalt labours under no such disadvantage, and for this reason will probably continue to be preferred in these exceedingly practical times. When applied to the surface of the porcelaine degourdie^ smalt and Chinese cobalt alike give a muddy black col- 69 JAPAN our. Their blue tints are developed under the action of the furnace. The decoration in blue having been completed, the next process is to apply the glazing material. This consists of the Uwa-gusuri-tsuchi^ reduced to an impalpable powder, with which, to increase its fusibility, lixiviated vegetable ashes (obtained from the bark of the Distylicum racemosum) are mixed in proportions varying according to the recipes of different potters. In former days no pains were spared in the preparation of this glazing matter. Weeks were some- times spent in treating it, and in special cases such particles of the pulverised mineral as had passed through a three-ply strainer of fine cotton-cloth were alone employed.^ The porcelain is now ready for the final stoving. The ovens where this operation is performed are generally placed on the slope of a hill, in rows of from four to twenty. They are built in a very simple and economical manner. The sill is first prepared, and around it side-walls are raised to a height of about three feet. An arched roof of rude timber is then superposed, and on it is laid a mixture of fire-proof clay, cement, and tiles, worked into a plastic condition. This mixture is pressed and pounded with heavy mallets, until it acquires sufficient consistency to stand without the roof-frame. The interior is afterwards beaten with small mallets to harden and smooth it. The oven is then com- plete. Should repairs be required, they are effected by breaking out the damaged part, applying a frame inside, and filling the space with fire-proof tiles. As these repairs are repeated, the oven gradually comes to consist entirely of fire-proof tiles. It lasts about fifteen years, and even when of the largest dimensions costs only about fifty dollars. It will be understood that the oven used for the final firing is here described. That used for the unglazed porcelain is of similar construction but much smaller. Each manufacturer has his own Su-yaki-gama, but the ovens for the last baking belong to the community and are hired to the various fac- tories as required. It is worthy of note that, despite the somewhat primitive ^ See Appendix, note 3. 70 WARES OF HIZEN manufacturing processes of the Japanese and the imperfec- tion of their business methods, they can sell their modern keramic products in Europe at prices considerably below those of the corresponding European articles. Even China can scarcely compete with Japan in this respect, although ^he conditions of production are approximately the same in both countries. Total neglect of all complicated appur- tenances, wonderful simplicity of implements, and the unique possession of a class of artist-artisans who, working for wages little higher than those of a common labourer, exercise a degree of skill that would command large remuneration elsewhere — these doubtless are the circumstances which give Japan a marked advantage in competition with other countries. As yet she has failed to avail herself of her opportunities. She clings to her old custom of divided effort. Her potters, instead of combining for the wholesale production of house- hold utensils, are content to work at miniature kilns, and to contribute each his tiny quota of separate labour to a need- lessly expensive total. As a gifted singer will sometimes forget the measure of the music to dwell upon a note of special beauty, so it may be said of the Japanese keramist that the exceptional nature of his productions and his in- herited dexterity prevent him from appreciating the deficien- cies of his manufacturing methods. He has yet to be led out of the limited sphere of his own experiences into the wide field of keramics, and to be taught that in these busy times art-genius must consent to walk hand in hand with manu- facturing progress. Nowhere, perhaps, is there more room for improvement than in the matter of ovens, for however good in principle and cheap in construction the Japanese oven may be, it gives most uncertain results in practice. The question of fuel, too, is beginning to force itself upon the manufacturer’s attention. The hills in the neighbourhood of Seto, in Owari, are completely denuded of timber, and the cost of transporting firewood becomes yearly more serious. The recently invented gas-ovens of Europe are doubtless fitted to solve this dilemma, and it is probable that intelligent enterprise to utilise these or other reforms will not long be wanting among Japanese keramists. 71 JAPAN It may be remarked here that a great difference existed be- tween the methods of the Chinese and the Japanese potters of past times. The former did not stove their porcelain until after they had applied both the decoration in blue and the glaze. Thus, as the ‘‘History of Chinese Keramics ** shows, the utmost care was necessary in handling a piece before put- ting it into the oven : any undue pressure spoiled its shape. Moreover, the Chinese plan not only required specially educated skill on the part of the workman, but also deprived him of the assistance which he might have derived from the natural absorbent properties of a porcelain 'pate rendered porous by firing. The analyses which have hitherto been published furnish data for a tolerably accurate comparison of the porcelains of Japan, China, and Europe. Ebelman and Salvetat, in their well-known treatise on chemistry and physics, arrive at the conclusion that no material technological difference exists be- tween the porcelains of China and those of Europe. Later writers regard this verdict as somewhat premature. The most recent researches upon this subject are embodied in the following table : — Japanese Force- Chinese European LAIN — Arita. Porcelain. Porcelain. Silica 75-0'^ 75*93 72.02 Alumina 18.31 15.86 18.84 Lime, Magnesia, etc. ... 3.78 5.91 6.00 The figures for Japanese Arita porcelain are the average of thirteen analyses of porcelain masses recently made by M. Korschelt. The composition given for Chinese porcelain is that determined by M. Pabot. It agrees very closely with the researches of MM. Salvetat and Ebelman, as inter- preted by Liebig and Kopp. Among European porcelains, ware of Germany, analysed by M. Muller, is taken. The well-known geologist, M. Giimbel, has recorded his opinion that Izumi-yama and the surrounding district of Arita are of volcanic character, and that the porcelain stone found there closely resembles the trachytic clay stones of Hungary ; while M. Pabot concludes that the Chinese porcelain stones of Ching-te-chen belong to the archaic formation, and most 72 WARES OF HIZEN nearly approach the minerals called halleflint, eurite, and petrosilex. With regard to the constituents of Arita porce- lain, the mean of fifteen analyses made by Korschelt, Matsui, and Wurtz is as follows : — Felspar. Clay Substance. Quartz. 20.64 31*23 46.66 No porcelain of similar composition is to be found among European wares. The closest approximation is shown by German porcelains, the composition of one class of which is felspar 20.3, clay substance 46.8, and quartz 31.8. Mr. Korschelt has analysed the ashes obtained from the bark of the Distylicum racemosum^ which, as has been said, are mixed with the glazing material of Arita porcelain. The result is as follows ; Lime 38.27 Sulphuric acid . 1.27 Magnesia .... 3.10 Chlorine 0.45 Manganese protoxide . 0.66 Carbonic acid . . 26.85 Iron oxide .... 0.24 Sand .... . 2. 16 Potash 8.23 Charcoal 1*43 Silica 10.65 Water .... 2.61 Phosphoric acid 3.61 100.33 The ashes, therefore,” writes M. Korschelt, ‘‘ consist 61 per cent calcium carbonate, and also considerable quanti- ties of calcium, potassium, magnesium, silicate, and phosphate. The faint greenish colour of the glaze obtained from these ashes is remarkable when we consider that they contain a small quantity of manganese.’* The quantity of fuel consumed and the degree of heat developed in the ovens at Arita are points still demanding investigation. The practical experience of the workman is his guide, and he can only say that the process of baking occupies from four to five days, and that from first to last each article of porcelain passes through seventy-two hands. The reader will perceive that the decoration described above is that known as blue under the glaze. Blue thus applied enters into the decoration of all the enamelled porcelain produced in Hizen, with the exception of certain wares of Kakiyemon and his imitators. As a distinguishing 73 JAPAN feature the amateur will find this point worthy of note. The decoration with vitrifiable enamels was a process subse- quent to the stoving of the glazed piece, and was, in fact, added to a vase which, without it, would have been a fin- ished specimen of blue-and-white. To vitrify and fix the enamels another stoving was required. At Kakiyemon’s factory the bleu sous couverte was frequently omitted, but the other processes were identical with those described above. The colouring oxides of the Imari potters were not nu- merous. They consisted of copper, manganese, antimony, red oxide of iron, impure oxide of cobalt (for black), and finally gold, which, with a small admixture of white lead or borax, served for gilding, and, added to powdered glass, was used for carmine. The enamels did not undergo any pre- paratory melting, but were mixed and applied directly by the painter, so that their colours appeared only after firing. The manner of painting differs much from that of European ke- ramists. First, the whole pattern is drawn in black outlines, and the shadows, if any, are merely indicated by black lines. The coloured enamels, if opaque, as red, yellow, and black, are laid on in thin layers, but are applied more thickly if, after melting, they are intended to produce the effect of a coloured glass through which the black lines of the pattern are to be visible. Sometimes designs in relief are produced by first applying white opaque enamel which contains no oxide of tin, but is only a mixture of glass, white lead, and pulverised stone, and then painting the pattern upon this. Mr. Atkinson has analysed ten substances used in preparing colours for the decoration of Japanese porcelain. From these analyses Mr. Korschelt concludes that the substances are quartz {Hino-oka-seki) ; oxide of iron (Beni-gard) ; car- bonate of lead (To-no-tsuchi)\ {Shiratama) ; lead- glass coloured dark-blue with copper {Koise) ; lead-glass coloured light-blue with copper (Usu-se)\ smalt {Kongo); lead-glass coloured violet with manganese {Murasaki); ul- tramarine {‘To-kongo); and metallic antimony {T^oshirome), According to the traditions of the Arita potters, seggars were not used in the early years of the factory’s existence. 74 WARES OF HIZEN The pieces were piled up in the ordinary manner within the kiln, being thus exposed to the direct action of the fire. The advisability of enclosin^choice ware in a sheath of some sort is said to have been discovered by accident. Some small vessels having fallen, after the kiln was closed, into a pot near which they had been placed, were inadvertently stoved in that position. On emerging from the oven these pieces were found to have profited so much by the protection they had obtained that the idea of using seggars was at once con- ceived. This event is referred to the closing years of the eighteenth century. The seggars served only once; they were broken to remove the pieces they contained. Only the choicest wares were protected by seggars, and consequently received the distinguishing title of Goku-hin-yaki (superlative ware). Sakaida Kakiemon’s success gained for him no little reputation. It is said that he had the rare honour of a personal interview with one of the great feudal chiefs of the time, Maeda Toshiharu, Lord of Kaga. This would apparently indicate that Kakiemon visited Kaga, — a circumstance of obvious interest in connec- tion with the development of the Kutani (or Kaga) potteries. In the annals of Nagasaki it is recorded that a bazaar for the sale of Hizen porcelain was opened in that town in 1662. This may probably be taken as the date of the first export of Japanese porcelain, though local tradition refers the event to the time of Sakaida Kakiemon’s son and successor, a few years later. Both the Chinese and the Dutch traders are said to have been ready purchasers of the new ware. There is no record of the prices paid, but they were probably very small. A story told at Arita to-day illustrates the simple manners of the potters of the seventeenth century. A hawker of quack medicines, 75 JAPAN passing through the Arita district, saw a quantity of newly baked porcelains stacked outside a house. Not supposing that articles of any great value would be thus carelessly treated, he proposed to the master of the house an exchange of a modicum of medicine against one or two pieces of porcelain. The master assented, but to the hawker’s surprise bade him take as much of the ware as he could carry. The people of Arita supplement this tale by a regretful contrast between the generous artist of those times and the haggling trader of the present degenerate age. The specimens of Arita ware that found their way to the factory of the Dutch in Deshima did not fail to attract attention. These shrewd traders were very ready to add another item to their list of exports, but they had their own ideas as to the sort of wares cal- culated to attract European fancy. Kakiemon’s pieces did not satisfy them. Something more likely to appeal to vulgar taste was required. One need only consider the state of keramics in Holland at that epoch to comprehend how improbable it was that the traders of Deshima would appreciate the chaste style of Kakiemon or the motives of his refined art. Dur- ing the first fifty years (1610-1660) of the industry in Holland, the potters of Delft imposed no restraint upon the intemperance of their imagination. Their ideal of a choice vase was one loaded with ornamen- tation, crowded with figures, and distinguished chiefly by evidences of minute effort. It was during this period that Tomes Janz produced his "Jugement dernier ^ a plaque encumbered with four hundred personages ; Adriaan Van de Venne his Pecheurs d antes ^ where one sees a mob of thousands of tiny beings swarming beside a river ; and Herman Pietersz his Choc de cavaleriey in 76 WARES OF HIZEN which a mHee of two squadrons takes place within the limits of a dish. People educated in a school of such unnatural art would not be at all likely to pay profit- able prices for porcelain decorated after the fashions of Kakiemon. But, on the other hand, the Dutch merchants at Deshima foresaw rich possibilities in the porcelain trade if ware suited to European markets could be manufactured. It happened that the factory in Deshima was then under the charge of a Dutch- man who possessed a fertile fancy and some know- ledge of designing. Jacquemart, quoting from Les Ambassades Memorables, thus describes the influence exercised by this man upon the porcelain of Japan: “ Pendant que le sieur Wagenaar se disposait a retourner a Batavia, il re9ut 21,567 pieces de porce- laine blanche, et un mois auparavant il en etait venu a Deshima une tres-grande quantite, mais dont le debit ne fut pas grand, n’ayant pas assez de fleurs. Depuis quelques annees les Japonais se sont appliques a ces sortes d’ouvrages avec beaucoup d’assiduite. Ils y deviennent si habiles que non seulement les Hol- landais, mais les Chinois memes en achetent. . . . Le sieur Wagenaar, grand connaisseur et fort habile dans ces sortes d’ouvrages, inventa une fleur sur un fond bleu qui fut trouvee si belle que de deux cents pieces ou il la fit peindre, il n'en resta pas une seule qui ne fut aussitot vendue, de sorte qu’il n’y avait point de boutique qui n’en fut garnie.” Especially interesting as one of the very few trust- worthy allusions to Japanese porcelain to be found in European records, this extract is noteworthy, in the first place, because it confirms the dates obtained by independent research into Japanese annals. For the Ambassades Memorables here speak of the porcelain 77 JAPAN industry as having been practised for some years only before the middle of the seventeenth century. It had, in fact, been practised for not more than fifty years, while the enamelled ware which became a staple of the Dutch export trade had first been produced at Arita some fourteen or fifteen years before “ le sieur Wagenaar” conceived the idea of meddling with its decoration. A theory recently advanced by English writers is not only that the celebrated “ Hawthorn pattern ’’ was invented in Japan, but that many fine specimens of ware thus decorated were exported by the Dutch during the seventeenth century. Messrs. Audsley and Bowes suggest that the ‘‘ fleur sur un fond bleu,’’ attributed to Wagenaar, was no other than the “ Haw- thorn.” It has already been stated that this pattern is found on pieces manufactured by Gorodayu Go- shonzui, nearly a century and a half before Wagenaar’s time, and it may now be added that the ‘‘ Hawthorn” — known in Japan as Korimme — was seldom if ever employed by Japanese decorators as a principal subject. They used it, not infrequently, as a subordinate design ; and with the conception of a white pattern on a blue ground they have been familiar for more than three hundred and fifty years. But the “ Hawthorns ” of American and European collections are essentially Chinese. Nothing that could be mistaken for them was formerly manufactured in Japan. As for Wagenaar’s ‘‘ fleur sur un fond bleu,” it may reasonably be interpreted by the light of what Japan- ese tradition tells about the early fashions of decoration at Arita. Kakiemon’s pieces were of milk-white porcelain, generally with scanty designs in vitrifiable enamels only. Wagenaar’s order to the potters was 78 WARES OF HIZEN that they should add enamel decoration over the glaze to pieces already decorated with blue under the glaze. There thus came into existence the familiar Imari- yaki; the ‘‘Old Japan” of Western amateurs; the ISlishiki-de or “Brocade Pattern” of the Japanese themselves. It was a brilliant ware, depending chiefly upon wealth of decoration and richness of colouring. The pate was good, but the glaze seemed to lose something of its softness and purity by the second firing which it had to undergo for the sake of the enamels. Frequently the bleu sous couverte also suf- fered by the same process. Assuming the quality of the pigment to be good, blue under the glaze depends for intensity and purity of tone principally upon the temperature of the furnace. Now nothing is rarer in enamelled Imari porcelain than a good blue, and nothing is commoner than a specimen in which the decoration over the glaze gives evidence of great care and skill, while the blue designs under the glaze are blurred or of impure tone. But the enamels were not applied until after a piece was finished so far as concerned the glaze and the designs under it, and it seems therefore a reasonable conclusion that, in spec- imens with elaborate enamel decoration, any imper- fections shown by the blue under the glaze were the result of processes subsequent to the application of the enamels. The conscientious, labour-loving potter of old times would not have been likely to continue the decoration of a vase which had already ceased to be a , complete success. In China, where, owing to the peculiar process of applying glazes, the difficulty of preserving a piece from accidents until it emerged from the furnace was considerably increased, risks of injuring the colour by a second firing were as far as 79 JAPAN possible ayoided. On the surface of his blacks, soujPe blues and reds, the Chinaman often preferred to su- perpose a partially fixed tracery of gold, which could not hope to escape speedy obliteration by use, rather than to subject the vase to new perils by re-stoving. And as in Japan, so also in the Middle Kingdom, when enamel decoration is added to bleu sous couverte^ the tone of the latter can seldom compare in purity and brilliancy with the blue of pieces which have not passed twice through the furnace. It is almost certain that the ‘‘ flower ” spoken of in the 'Ambassades Memorables as Wagenaar's invention, may be interpreted in the sense of floral decoration. Probably the Dutch agent suggested redistributions or modifications of Japanese designs, but it may be doubted whether he originated anything worthy of preservation. Among the really good specimens of ‘‘ Old Japan ” preserved in the great collections of Europe, there are few examples of styles which may not be found upon Japanese lacquers or brocades dating from a period long antecedent to the establish- ment of the factory in Deshima. By the Japanese themselves it is universally believed that the most favourite design of the Arita potters, during the first fifty or sixty years of the ‘‘Ornate Period’' (1655- 1710), was the Hana-kago-de y or Flower-basket Pat- tern. This, as the term suggests, is a basket or jar supporting a profusion of tastefully grouped flowers, generally peonies, but sometimes alao chrysanthe- mums, and sometimes a mixture of both. The Hana- kago-de was capable of almost infinite modification, and could be so arranged as to occupy a space of almost any shape. On the bottoms of plates and bowls, in the panels of vases, and medallions, and, in 80 WARES OF HIZEN short, everywhere, it is employed with charming effect. But it is not a Japanese conception. There is a paint- ing by a Chinese artist of the early Ming period {circa 1400), in which a girl is represented carrying in her hand a basket of peonies which might have been the original of at least half of the Japanese Hana-uago designs. In truth, so soon as the potters of Arita set themselves to produce highly decorated porcelains, they found a wealth of designs already elaborated and classified by the weavers, lacquer-makers, embroiderers, and metal-workers of their country. It is doubtful whether the artists of any nation ever carried the dec- orative art farther than the Japanese have carried it. In diapers alone they have devised some four hundred, each bearing a name by which it is immediately known among native experts. The Dutch, in 1660, had only to say that they wished for pieces highly orna- mented. There was no need to supply designs. The potters simply took as a model the brilliant and in- numerable combinations of diapers, scrolls, floral sub- jects, and mythical conceits painted on the lacquers or woven in the brocades of their country. The new ware naturally received the name Nishiki-de (brocade pattern). Figure subjects were very rarely chosen. The Japanese artist has never appreciated the contours of the human figure ; and that for a very simple reason. From the oldest times, to expose any part of the person, except the face and hands, has always been deemed in Japan a gross breach of etiquette. The aristocrat loved to cover his body with deftly folded garments of rich stuffs, and to move amid the graceful sweep of flowing drapery. Studies from the nude would have shocked the sense, not of decency, but of refinement. When the Japanese artist sets VOL. VIII. 6 3 I JAPAN himself to depict figure subjects, he pursues one of three aims : a delineation of cleverly disposed drapery ; a suggestion of the music of motion, as seen in the “ woven paces and waving hands’’ of the Kagura and No dances: or a portrait of features convulsed by pas- sion or sentiment. With such pigments as vitrifiable enamels these effects could scarcely be produced. Therefore they were seldom attempted. Sometimes copies were made of the stiff, puppet-like Mandarins, warriors, and ladies in which the Chinese keramist delighted. But these, too, are happily rare. In a word, if to floral subjects, scrolls, and diapers are added the mythical phoenix [Dragon), unicorn [Kirin), and lion [Shis hi), landscapes in medallions or panels, and figures of women in sweeping robes or of warriors in brightly pointed armour, a complete catalogue is obtained of subjects from which the Arita potter made his choice. The dominant colours of his pieces in those early days were blue and red ; the former under the glaze, the latter over it. The quality of the red in all specimens of good Imari ware deserves careful attention. The rich, soft colour of the ancient keramists is no longer present, except in special cases : the common red of modern potters can be compared to nothing but sealing-wax. Gold was used in some profusion during the early period, and, indeed, has always been used. Gold scrolls on a blue ground, phoenixes with gilded feathers, flowers with gilt petals, and leaves^ with gilt veins are commonly found. The result of all these modifications was eminently satisfactory to the Dutch. They exported large quan- tities of the brilliant ware. In 1664 no less than “44,943 pieces of very rare Japanese porcelain ” arrived in Holland, and in December of the same 82 WARES OF HIZEN year there were shipped from Batavia 16,580 speci- mens of porcelain of various kinds collected by the Netherlands Company. But that all these specimens were made in Japan is most improbable. At only one factory in Hizen was enamelled porcelain pro- duced in the early years. The supply was, therefore, limited, and even if the workmen had occupied them- selves in executing Dutch commissions alone they could not have turned out such large quantities. It must be remembered that a Japanese porcelain-factory does not signify a large establishment employing many scores of workmen, but rather a sort of household in- dustry, of which the most skilled processes are carried on by the members of the family. Especially is this true of the Arita factory where Tokuemon and Ka- kiemon worked. Not in their own interests alone, but also in obedience to the imperative commands of their feudal chief, they were careful to throw a thick veil of secrecy over the methods of enamel decoration which they had discovered, and it is certain that the practice of those methods was confined to the smallest possible number of persons. Among the wares ex- ported by the Dutch, those of Chinese manufacture doubtless predominated, and to this commixture is probably attributable much of the subsequent perplex- ity of European amateurs. Further, of the pieces actually procured by the Dutch in Japan, some bear strong witness to mischievous foreign interference. Then, as now, Japanese artisans were quite willing to humour the vitiated suggestions of European taste. In the Royal Keramic Collection at Dresden there*^ is a large triple-gourd-shaped vase, figured in Messrs. Aud- tley and Bowes’ ‘‘ Keramic Art in Japan.” Judged by the canons of Japanese art proper, this piece is exe- 83 JAPAN crable. A triple gourd is in itself a monstrosity. A Japanese modeller, of his own motion, would be about as likely to choose such a shape as a European painter to put the conventional triple-hat of a Jew upon the head of a Grecian hero. The decoration of the vase is even more offensive. On the lowest globe peonies and sweet flags (Kaki-tusbata) grow vertically upward with mathematical precision and at regular intervals, while from the stems and roots of the peonies spring leaves of the sweet flag. On the second globe chrysanthe- mums and sweet flags grow spirally from the same stem. On the third and uppermost globe a branch of red plum grows vertically downward. In the same collection are several large covered jars, which, though their decoration does not offend and their general effect is very striking, were nevertheless designed alto- gether for the European market. In Japan such jars are only used to ornament drug and oil stores. To put them in the alcove of a Japanese gentleman’s private dwelling would be equivalent to taking the blue glass bottles from an apothecary’s window and placing them on a drawing-room table in America or Europe. There is, of course, no reason why an Occidental should not adorn his parlour with the utensils of an Oriental shop. But the point is that in the Dresden collection these jars are decorated en suite with flower- vases, a combination which would never have been made for Japanese use. The lesson to be deduced from these facts is that even from specimens of Japan- ese porcelain carried to Europe by the Dutch traders of Deshima in the seventeenth century very false notions of Japanese keramic art may be acquired. Most curious were the interactions of the keramic arts of Holland and Japan. In the middle of the 84 WARES OF HIZEN seventeenth century, when Arita enamelled porcelains began to be exported from Deshima, the genius of Aelbregt de Keizer was inaugurating a new era at the Delft factories. He no sooner saw the imported wares than he appreciated their beauties and set him- self to imitate them. Here is what Henry Havard writes on this subject: ‘‘Aelbregt de Keizer, dans un temps ou la porcelaine du Japon constituait une nou- veaute des plus couteuses, eut Tidee de la contrefaire. II s’y appliqua et y parvint au point que ‘ ceux-la memes,’ nous dit Gerrit Paape, ‘qui pouvaient a bon droit se vanter d’avoir les premiers introduit la porce- laine des Indes orientals dans leurs provinces, s’eton- naient de la beaute de Timitation, et, quoique en possession des plus magnifiques pieces originales, n'hesitaient pas tant il les estimaient, a acquerir des copies.’ Cette contrefafon est en effet de tout point admirable. Cherchez, dans les grandes collections, ces fines assiettes, ces tasses delicates et legeres, de- corees en camiaeu bleu, ou encore ces delicieuses sou- coupes a fond ‘ persille.’ Meme la piece en main, rillusion est complete ; il faute une felure, un eclat, quelque menue accident, ou bien encore la marque, pour qu’on soit certain den’avoir point sous les yeux une oeuvre japonaise. Cette marque, sera contrefaite . . . Mais ce qu’on ne pourra contrefaire, c’est la legerete de ces pieces charmantes, leur delicatesse, leur finesse, et surtout Tadmirable elegance de leur ornementation.” It is necessary to make large allow- ance for the enthusiasm of this writer. That the faience of Delft could be mistaken for Japanese por- celain, whatever the nature of the decoration, is incred- ible. Certain it is, however, that the greatest Delft keramist of the seventeenth century took Japanese 85 JAPAN porcelain for his model, and that he was followed by Adriaen Pynacker and other artists, of whose copies of the Blue-red-and-gold “Old Japan” it is related that “their lightness was astonishing, their eclat sur- prising, and that in fidelity of imitation they were even better calculated to deceive the amateur than the works of Aelbregt de Keizer.” Meanwhile Wagenaar, the head of the Dutch factory at Deshima, and his successors were impressing their own ideas of European taste upon the potters of Arita; and these latter, obedient to the whims of their largest customer, were manufacturing for export pieces which Japanese connoisseurs would have rejected with dis- dain. Then, as years went by, the shrewd traders of Deshima, beginning to understand the chaste taste of the Japanese generally and the archaic fancies of the tea-clubs in particular, imported specimens of Delft faience worthy to vie with the most rustic, homely ware of the Seto and Karatsu factories. Whether these specimens were specially manufactured for the Japanese market, or whether they were merely chosen from among the coarsest productions of the Delft workshops, their novelty and unpretending character endeared them at once to the devotees of the Cha-no~ Tu, and a new but limited field of profit was opened to the Dutchmen in Deshima. Finally, nearly a hundred years later, the potters of Kyoto, as will be shown by and by, undertook to imitate the faience of Delft, and delighted to copy pieces as far as possible removed from the fashions of their own art. It may be added here, that of the porcelain trade between the Dutch and the Japanese subsequent to the seventeenth century few records are known to exist. Kaempfer says that during the latter half of that century 86 WARES OF HIZEN the annual exports from Deshima comprised about one hundred bales of such ware, and it is known that the Dresden collection was put together by August II. between the years 1698 and 1724. On the whole, it may be concluded that small and probably di- minishing quantities of Japan’s keramic productions continued to be shipped to Europe until the middle of the eighteenth century, by which time the manu- factures of the European potteries had become so cheap, so plentiful, and so excellent that the pre- eminence of specimens from the Far East was rudely challenged. With regard to the possibility of Japan’s porcelain having found its way to Eastern countries in the early years of its manufacture, it appears from the evidence of a terrestrial globe constructed in 1670 and preserved in the Tokyo Museum, that Japan had commercial relations with the Philippines, Cambodia, Tonquin, Annam, Siam, and various parts of China, in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Among her exports to Cochin China and Tonquin keramic wares are mentioned, and it is on record that her ships trading with China carried back considerable quantities of Chinese porcelain and faience. By the middle of the eighteenth century the num- ber of factories had increased to twenty, all situated within a radius of a few miles. A book (the Sankai- meisan-dzuye) published in 1799 tells that even at that date the processes of enamel decoration were practised at one only (Akaye-machi) of these fac- tories. Meanwhile the art had made much progress. Greater skill had been developed in the preparation of the pdt6y but, above all, in the use of vitrifiable enamels. During the first half-century of the manu- facture the decorator’s palette was limited, with per- 87 JAPAN haps some very rare exceptions, to blue, red, green, and gold, the blue being applied chiefly under the glaze. By and by, however, he added to his enamels lilac-blue (over the glaze), russet-brown, purple, black, and lemon-yellow, the last three being reserved for his choicest pieces. The eighteenth century may, indeed, be regarded as the most flourishing period of the Hizen factories. The country had then enjoyed a long spell of peace. The castles built by Hideyoshi in Fushimi and Osaka and by lyeyasu in Yedo (Tokyo), with their huge moats and towering para- pets, were the forerunners of a number of similar edifices, in which elaborate gate-defences, mighty keeps, turret-crowned curtain walls, moats of extraor- dinary size, and drawbridges were substituted for the low wooden buildings, enclosed by small trenches and wattled fences, which had served as fortresses be- fore the advent of the Portuguese and the Dutch. In these huge structures, upon which gold and labour were lavished without stint, it was natural that the character of the apartments reserved for the noble owner should partake of the general magnificence of the whole. The artist found an extended field of employment in the painting of panels, screens, and sliding doors ; the lacquerer, in the decoration of framework and ceilings. Never before had art pat- ronage been so universal or so munificent. Not only to each other, but also to the Court of the Toku- gawa Sffoguns in Yedo, the feudal chiefs sent fre- quent presents of the art manufactures of their fiefs, and so far was the enthusiasm carried that it became the fashion for every young lady of rank or wealth to have among her trousseau a painting by one of the old Chinese masters. The keramic industry bene- 88 WARES OF HIZEN fited, of course, by all this. Exquisite specimens of enamelled ware were produced at the Arita factories, but the workmen generally adhered to a custom handed down from the days of Tokuemon and Kakie- mon, — instead of marking their vases with their own names or those of the year periods, they either copied Chinese seals and dates, or used a conven- tional ideograph or group of ideographs, quite use- less for purposes of identification. The amateur is, therefore, without any easy guide to determine the age or maker of a piece. He must look only to the quality of the pate, the brilliancy of the enamels, and the purity and intensity of the blue under the glaze. Any appearance of chalkiness in the clay indicates youth, and, as a general rule, the clearer and more metallic the ring of the biscuit, the greater the age of the piece. The colour of the /?/eu sous couverte is also a help. The tone is richest and most pleasing in specimens manufactured during the eighteenth cen- tury ; in vases of earlier date it is often impure and blurred. To very choice, elaborate, and carefully finished examples of enamelling it will generally be unsafe to assign a greater age than one hundred and fifty years, and, from what has been stated above, the amateur will see that the colours of the enamels afford some slight assistance: the red should be deep and even, with a dull, rather than a glossy, surface ; while lemon-yellow, purple, and black in combination are evidences at once of choice ware and of middle- period (1700-1830) manufacture. Another easily detected point is the colour of the biscuit. In the wares of Kakiemon, or rather in those of his school, there is found a cream-white surface, sometimes almost equal to the ivory-white of Korea and China. But 89 JAPAN specimens of this sort belong to the Nabeshima-yakiy which will be described presently, rather than to genu- ine Imari-yakiy or “Old Japan/' The biscuit of the latter, also, ought to be white — the whiter the better — -but a perfectly pure white is seldom, if ever, found. This, however, may be stated : that a surface showing a marked tinge of blue is not of fine quality, and that the more pronounced the tinge the less valu- able the specimen. With regard to the glaze, too, there is another point which merits close attention. Examined attentively, the glaze of Imari-yaki pre- sents the appearance of very fine muslin. It is pitted all over with microscopic points, which become more and more distinct as a later and less careful period of manufacture is approached. It should be mentioned here that no reason whatsoever exists for the often alleged difficulty of distinguishing between the enam- elled porcelain of Arita and that of China. To those who cannot identify the comparatively coarse pate of the Japanese ware, an easy aid is afforded by the superior lustre and closer texture of the Chinese glaze. It may also be asserted that with the exception of the well-known famille rose porcelain of Ching-te-chen, no Chinese ware shows decoration as delicate and faithful as that found on almost all specimens of Japanese manufacture. A rough rule, useful in the case of plates and other flat objects, is that on the bottom of Japanese pieces are frequently found “spur marks," three or five in number, being the remains of little clay pillars upon which the specimen was supported in the furnace. These are never seen on Chinese porcelain. Among the wares of the Arita factories in former times, specimens of pierced or reticulated porcelain 90 WARES OF HIZEN are often found, especially in plates and censers. Work of this sort is seldom very delicate in poly- chrome Imari-yaku It must rather be regarded as a specialty of the Mikawachi, or Hirado, potters. Nevertheless, medallions filled with reticulated diapers were often employed, with excellent effect, to give lightness and variety to a profusely decorated surface. Another device was to model portions of the design in relief. This method was employed most fre- quently in the case of scrolls or bunches of chrysan- themums, the raised petals of the flowers producing a highly artistic effect. Much less common, but even more pleasing in its results, was a method of deeply pitting parts of the surface, especially the shoulders of a vase or bottle. The play of light and shade upon the rounded edges of the pits combined with the brilliant colours of the enamels to produce a softness and richness which must be seen to be appreciated. In connection with this part of the subject, it may be well to caution the amateur against Jacquemart’s phantasies with regard to Japanese porcelain. His ‘‘ Porcelaine a Mandarins and “ Porcelaine des Indes a Fleur ” are examples of the remarkable mis- apprehensions into which the most conscientious and painstaking connoisseur may be betrayed by building broad theories upon slender hypotheses suggested by his own imagination. These wares never came out of Japanese factories. In short, of Jacquemart’s four representative examples of Japanese porcelain, de- picted with great care in his plates, two only, the first and the last, are what they profess to be : the others are Chinese. It has been shown that the use of lacquer for deco- rating faience dates from the latter part of the 91 JAPAN fifteenth century, when Soshiro of Fushimi applied this material to the surface of his pieces. The manu- facture of lacquer is, perhaps, the oldest of Japan’s art industries. As early as the seventh century lac- quered articles were received by the Government by way of taxes, and in the days of Yoshimasa the lacquer-workers of Kyoto were numerous and wonder- fully skilled. It was probably owing entirely to Yoshimasa’s passion for lacquered wares, and to their consequent popularity that Soshiro conceived the idea of decorating faience by this process. The fashion was rarely adopted by the renowned potters of Kyot5 in later times. Lacquer only became a recognised substitute for vitrifiable enamels at Arita in the third, or degraded, period of the Hizen industry ; namely, from the second advent of Westerns in 1858. Al- most immediately after the revival of foreign trade at Nagasaki, by the Americans, Dutch, English, and French in 1858-1860, the potters at Arita began to pander to the vulgar demands of foreign taste. Size and showiness were regarded as the main objects to be attained in the manufacture of a vase ; and lacquer, being not only much cheaper but also more easily used than vitrifiable enamels, became the staple of decorative material. According to the records of the Arita potters themselves, the idea of employing lac- quer in this way was due, originally, to an accident. Some pieces of size having emerged from the kiln in a blemished condition, their defects were concealed by a coating of lacquer, and in that condition they were exposed for sale. They immediately attracted the attention of foreign buyers, and the manufac- turers obtained a suggestion from this unanticipated result. 92 WARES OF HIZEN It is impossible to condemn too strongly the wretched products of this mercenary impulse. Every- body knows and abhors them nowadays. Their representative is a vase, from three to six feet in height, in shape resembling a truncated soda-water bottle, with its neck spread out into the semblance of a scalloped trumpet. Over the surface of this is scrawled an elaborate decoration in thin, washy red paint ; and in reserved panels are rudely drawn figures of women or warriors with lacquered drapery and armour. Frequently the space between the panels is covered with black lacquer which serves as a ground for scrolls in gold or red. The whole thing is vulgar and meretricious in the extreme. Never- theless, great quantities of this ‘‘Nagasaki Ware” were exported, and many an American or European amateur flatters himself that in the big, obtrusive vases which disfigure his vestibule he has genuine specimens of Japanese art, whereas he has, in truth, nothing more than a Japanese estimate of his own bad taste. Some manufactures of this degraded period have their surfaces completely covered with lacquer, upon which are designs in gold and colours. In such pieces the porcelain base might equally well be wood. In others the outer surface is coated with lacquer, while the inner has decoration in enamels or blue under the glaze. In others, again, there are reserved, in the lacquer, medallions or panels which are filled with decoration. And finally figures, scrolls, and diapers, in raised or flat gold lacquer, are applied to the surface of old pieces which were originally manufactured without any ornament. Of this last variety great quantities have been shipped to Europe and America, where they pass among ignorant per- 93 JAPAN sons as genuine representatives of early Japanese ke- ramic art. There remains to be noticed a method of decora- tion very rarely employed by the potters of Arita. A paste formed of chalk and glutinous rice was used to mould flowers — chiefly chrysanthemums and peonies — in relief. This decoration was not fired, but only sun-dried. It had therefore little durability, and pieces thus adorned possessed no value for the Japanese connoisseur. They appear, however, to have been occasionally exported. Happily for the permanent reputation of Japanese keramics, the vitiated styles of the Nagasaki ware described above began to be replaced, some ten years ago, by fashions more consistent with the true canons of the country’s art. Allusion will be subsequently made to this part of the subject. Okawachi-yama — which is written ‘‘ 0-kawa-uchi- yama^" or ‘‘ the hill within the great river ” — lies in the district of Nishimatsu-ura, about eight miles from Arita. The keramic industry was commenced in this district at a factory called Hirose. The first potters were Koreans, who settled there, about the year 1 600, by order of Nabeshima Naoshige, feudal chief of the province. Their productions were faience, rudely decorated with white slip under the glaze and having pate sufficiently dense to be called stone-ware. A few years later, when the methods of porcelain manufac- ture came to be understood at Arita, some of the Hirose workmen turned their attention to the new ware. A special kiln was opened for its production, and about the same time, or a little later, certain of the Arita potters moved to Ichinose, in the same district, and there began to manufacture porcelain 94 WARES OF HIZEN with materials procured from Izumi-yama. It does not appear that the wares of either of these two fac- tories showed any remarkable excellence. At the middle of the century (1660), however, the feudal chief of the province, desiring to establish a factory for the production of choice porcelains, selected the district of Nishimatsu-ura, and caused the best work- men of Hirose and Ichinose to open a kiln at Oka- wachi (generally pronounced Okochi). Up to this time wares for official use had been manufactured at Iwaya-gawa, but the latter factory was now closed and its experts were employed at Okawachi. The feudal chief of Hizen, by whose orders this change was made, was a liberal patron of art industries. He appropriated considerable sums for the support of the Okawachi factory, and he further adopted the very exceptional course of raising to shizoku rank any potters of conspicuous skill. Materials were procured from Arita, and the most stringent measures were adopted to prevent the sale of the pieces manufac- tured. It will readily be understood that ware pro- duced under such auspices attained a very high standard of excellence. The Nabeshima-yaki, as the Okawachi manufactures were subsequently called, stands first among Japanese porcelains decorated with vitrifiable enamels. The factory received the name of 0-dogu-yama (the hill of the honourable ware). A retainer of the feudal chief, by name Soeda Kizaemon, who had studied keramic processes and who enjoyed the repu- tation of being a man of refined taste, was appointed superintendent of the factory, an office which was filled by his descendants for many generations. Other officials were associated with him, their instructions 95 JAPAN being to prevent the sale of any of the porcelains produced, to restrain the potters from taking employ- ment at other kilns, and to exclude all travellers or workmen from other districts. The factory thus es- caped the influence of the Dutch traders, and its decorative methods were governed virtually by the canons of Japanese taste. The • ornamentation of the pieces is consequently less profuse than that of the Imari-yaki^ and the ware altogether is characterised by chasteness and delicacy. The pdte is finer and whiter, with less admixture of foreign particles than that of the Old Japan,” though in some very ex- cellent specimens it has a marked tinge of red. The glaze also is distinguished by purity and lustre : ex- amined carefully, it shows minute pitting similar to that seen in the porcelain of Imari, but of the two the granulation of the former will be found less marked. ^ The most strikingly distinctive feature of the Nabeshima porcelain is that decoration in blue under the glaze is relegated to a subordinate place. In many specimens, indeed, the style of Kakiemon is strictly followed : bleu sous couverte is not employed, at all, the designs being executed entirely in vitrifiable enamels. As a general’ rule, however, cobaltiferous manganese is sparingly used, biit it is evidently a mineral prepared differently from that of the Arita potters. The tone is lighter .and more delicate, so that, even in pieces where a blue scroll constitutes the chief part of the decoration, nothing is seen of the rich, massed effect of the Imari colours. Gold is applied in moderation, and the deep, dark red of the Old Japan” is replaced by a pigment of lighter tone, often justifying the appellation ‘‘ orange.” Pieces decorated entirely with blue under the glaze 96 WARES OF HIZEN are not uncommon, but can scarcely be accorded a high place among wares of this description, the tone of the blue being neither sufficiently intense and bril- liant to compete with Chinese colours of the Ming and Kang-shi periods, nor yet so soft and refined as to rank with the outcome of the Hirado factories, presently to be described. It is difficult to convey, in writing, any definite rules by which the wares of Nabeshima and Imari may be distinguished, though in practice the amateur is in little danger of confound- ing them. The Nabeshima-yaki is altogether the less gaudy ware of the two. It seldom suggests that deco- rative effect was the potter’s object, neither on any specimen are there seen those masses of dark blue and deep, dull red which constitute the staple of the Imari decoration. As for the designs, they are con- fined almost exclusively to floral subjects, scrolls, and diapers. Occasionally figures and landscapes are copied directly from the Chinese, but the commonest types are cherry branches and blossoms, chrysanthe- mums, hydrangeas, peonies — not flowers alone, but also leaves and sprays — floral scrolls in blue with additions such as conventional butterflies, birds, blos- soms, and so forth, in orange-red and gold. Com- binations of carefully executed diapers surrounding medallions of flowers and fruits are sometimes seen. In many pieces, especially plates or dishes with raised bases, the bottom, instead of being sunken within its rim, as is usual in such vessels, will be found to have no rim, but only a hole in the centre. The object of this troublesome method of construction is doubtless to make the dish stand more firmly on the soft mats which cover a Japanese room. Round the base of small plates, bowls, etc., the potter constantly traced, VOL. VIII. — 7 qn JAPAN in blue under the glaze, a pattern serrated like the teeth of a comb. By some connoisseurs this has been deemed a mark of high quality, but such an inference is erroneous. The comb pattern ” was chosen thus frequently because it was easily traced, and because its appearance of regularity and strength rendered it specially suitable to occupy the lower rim, or base, of a piece. The Nabeshima potters, as a rule, did not use marks, or copy Chinese marks, except on pieces which were obvious reproductions of Chinese originals. The obvious reason of this was that the productions of the Okawachi factories were destined solely for the house of Nabeshima. Okawachi, in fact, was a private kiln. The ‘‘ comb pattern,” though doubtless intended originally as an ornament, soon came to be regarded as a factory mark ; but being found sometimes on old Kutani ware, its presence cannot be taken as a con- clusive sign of Nabeshima porcelain. At Okawachi, as at other factories that enjoyed the patronage of local magnates, pieces were frequently manufactured for presentation to the Court at Yedo or to some of the feudal barons. In such cases the crest of the prince or noble for whom the specimen was destined, was occasionally worked into the decoration ; but as the Nabeshima style did not readily lend itself to these additions, they are comparatively uncommon on Okawachi ware. Special note must be taken of the celadon^ or Seijiy manufactured at Okawachi. It has already been men- tioned that among the wares of the Middle Kingdom none enjoyed such a high reputation in Japan as the celadons of the Sung^ TuaUy and Ming dynasties. To imitate these successfully would naturally have been 98 ' WARES OF HIZEN the first ambition of a Japanese expert. The Oka- wachi workmen were eminently happy in this direc- tion. At no other kiln in Japan were celadons of equal quality produced. The colour of the glaze in some of the best specimens is indescribably beautiful. Only a practised eye can perceive that, in point of delicacy and lustre, the advantage is with the Chinese ware. It has been stated above that the materials used at Okawachi were procured from Izumi-yama, in the Arita district. But within the Nishimatsu-ura dis- trict there was found a clay of fine quality, well suited for the manufacture of stone-ware. This clay appears to have been mixed with the Arita stone in the prepa- ration of celadon pate y the object of the workmen being to obtain a semi-porcelain mass showing the reddish tint seen in old Chinese celadons. Such a method was not, however, invariable. A close-grained, white pate — the Arita clay prepared with special care — is often found in good specimens of old Nabeshima-yaki^ whether cdadon or enamelled porcelain. From a later period — about the close of the eighteenth century — when the Okawachi potters, no longer enjoying so large a share of official patronage, were obliged to economise the cost of transporting materials, the clay of the district began to be more freely used, and the pate suffered in respect of both texture and purity. Since the abolition of feudalism in Japan (1868) the Okawachi potters have been obliged to materially alter the character of their work. They seldom manufacture fine specimens of richly but delicately enamelled porcelain. Their staple production is thick stone-ware, covered with brown or celadon glaze, coarsely crackled and decorated with gold and red. Though far inferior to the beautiful porcelains of other 99 JAPAN days, this Naheshima-hihi-yaki (Nabeshima craquele) is not without merits. Another renowned factory is that of Mikawachi- yama — written Mikawa-uchi’-yama^ or ‘‘ the hill be- tween the three rivers,” and generally pronounced Mikochi-yam, Here was produced Hirado-yaki^ perhaps the finest porcelain manufactured in Japan. The story of this beautiful ware is connected, indirectly, with the Korean immigrants who came to Japan in the train of Hideyoshi's generals (1579). Matsura Hoin, feudal chief of Hirado, a large island lying off the coast of Hizen, caused some of these Koreans to settle at a place called Nakano, in the district of Kita-Matsura. Among them the most skilled — in fact, the only one whose name has been transmitted — was Koseki Ton- roku, sometimes called Kyokan, who was subsequently placed on the roll of the Hirado vassals under the name of Imamura. This potter was afterwards trans- ferred to the factory of Karatsu, but some twenty years later (1630) he moved again to a place called Yoshi- no-moto, and worked there with his sons. Very little is known of the ware manufactured by these Koreans. Tradition says that it was a coarse faience, rudely decorated with designs in blue, but no specimens appear to have been thought worthy of preserving. Tonroku, or Imamura, died about 1640. He left two sons, Ton-ichi and Ton-ji. In 1650 these potters moved to Mikawachi. They are said to have taken this step at the instance of a brother artist called Nakazato Moemon, but it seems more probable that their purpose was to avail themselves of a superior variety of clay which had been discovered by Joen, son of Imamura Ton-ichi (or San-no-jo, as his name is written by some), at the hill of Mitsu-ga-take. The 100 WARES OF HIZEN new material — ajiro-tsuchiy or plait-grained clay — gave a greatly improved pate; by no means a true porcelain, however, but heavy reddish stone-ware, over which the glaze assumed bluish grey colour. The decoration was confined to simple scroll patterns or conventional designs in impure blue sous couverte. The factory of Mikawachi was not then under official patronage. It was a private enterprise, as is proved by the fact that Higuchi Joen (Joen’s father had changed his family name of Imamura to Higuchi) and Ishimaru Yaichiemon, a grandson of the well-known Risampei, together with other potters of the district, petitioned their feudal chief to sanction the digging of the Ajiro-tsuchi. Their petition was granted, but the result was so unsuccessful that the factory must have ceased working had it not been supported by Oyamado Sahei, a wealthy enthusiast, and had not its prospects been completely changed by an event that occurred in the year 1712. This was the dis- covery of a very fine porcelain stohe at Fukae, in the island of Amakusa. The discovery is attributed by some to Yajibei, a descendant of Higuchi Toen; by others to Yokoishi Toshichibei, also a man of Korean origin. The former tradition would seem to be cor- rect, inasmuch as Yajibei was afterwards worshipped at Mikawachi under the deified title of ‘‘Joen Daim- yojin.” The Amakusa stone was not used alone. It was mixed with the ajiro-tsuchi of Mitsu-ga-take, and a porcelain pate of exceptional fineness and purity was thus produced. During the next thirty or forty years the potter’s industry existed, but did not thrive, at Mikawachi. The method of using vitrifiable enamels was not known, or, if known, was not practised, and the expense X of transporting materials from Amakusa, lOI JAPAN as well as the difficulty of procuring choice blue for decorative purposes, nearly led to the closing of the factory. But in 1751 Matsura, feudal chief of Hirado, took the kiln under his patronage, and guar- anteed the potters against vicissitudes of trade by grant- ing them ample rations. This nobleman was a most munificent connoisseur. He bestowed scarcely less attention on the potteries of his fief than Louis XV. did on those of Sevres. The pieces produced at Mi- kawachi were reserved entirely for his own use or for presentation to other noblemen, as well as to the Court of the Tokugawa Regents in Yedo. Regulations were enacted peremptorily forbidding the sale of any of the manufactures, and guards were appointed to see that this injunction was not violated. Porcelains produced under these special conditions were distinguished as Kenjo-mono, or ‘‘ presentation pieces.’’ Matsura is said to have particularly patronised the families of Naka- zato and Imamura (Higuchi) in recognition of the fact that their ancestors had opened the first potteries in his fief. To the ware potted at Mikawachi from 1750 until the era of Tempo (1830—1843) may be assigned the first place among the porcelains of Japan. The pdte of this Hirado-yaki was finer, purer, and whiter than that of either the Nabeshima-yaki or the Imari-yaku Much was doubtless due to the excellence of the ma- terials employed, but much also to the care bestowed upon their selection and manipulation. Of the stone brought from Amakusa not more than five or six parts in every hundred were used, and this serviceable por- tion was obtained by the most laborious processes of pulverising and straining. With the Amakusa stone was mixed a proportion of the ajiro-tsuchi of Mitsuga- 102 WARES OF HIZEN take, but in the choicest wares the latter material was replaced by Satsuma ash (vide Satsuma-yaki), The cost of transporting one thousand pounds of stone from Amakusa was about £ i , and of that quantity not more than fifty or sixty pounds were used in the manufac- ture. The Satsuma ash must have been still more expensive, and after this heavy outlay had been in- curred on account of raw materials, no limit was set to the labour of purification and preparation. Remark- able results were obtained. The pate of good Hirado- yaki is milk white, and as fine as pipe-clay. Examined attentively, it is found to be virtually free from the dark, gritty particles so common in Imari ware. The glaze is pure in tone, its surface velvet-like, lustrous and almost entirely without the minute granulations usually observable in “ Old Japan.” It is not, however, till the decoration is considered that the incomparable beauties of this Hirado-yaki be- come fully apparent. With rare exceptions, blue is the only colour employed. It is not the intense, fathomless colour of the old Chinese keramists, nor yet is it the light, comparatively bodiless blue of the Nabeshima ware. It is a tint between the two, ex- quisitely soft and clear, but remarkable for delicacy rather than brilliancy. Connoisseurs whose standard of excellence as to bleu sous couverte is fixed by the rich, solid body-colour of first-class Chinese Haw- thorns,” have been disposed to place the Hirado blue in a lower category, and to assume that the Chinese colour could not be irnitiated at Mikawachi. That is a misconception. The Japanese potter preferred the more delicate colour, and spared neither trouble nor expense to produce it. In the eighteenth century supplies of the cobaltiferous mineral employed at 103 JAPAN Ching-te-chen were freely imported into Japan, and sold to the factories at the rate of fifty shillings a pound (avoirdupois). The Hirado potter, instead of using this mineral — gosu he called it — without fur- ther preparation, subjected it to various processes of refinement, until at last not more than one-sixth of its original bulk remained available. That he could have produced a colour fully equal in depth and bril- liancy to that of the Chinese keramist, there is no reasonable doubt. But he preferred a delicate tint, and counted its production a genuine tour de force. Of the execution of the designs it is impossible to speak too highly. One is puzzled to conceive, in the first place, how etching so wonderfully fine and out- lines of such detailed accuracy can have been trans- ferred to a surface of baked clay, and, in the second, how every process of glazing and stoving can have been effected with sufficient skill to preserve these delicate pictures. There are few subjects which the artists of Mikawachi did not depict upon their pieces, and fewer still in which they fell short of marked success. It will be understood that, for the general reasons already detailed, they seldom introduced human figures into their designs. Yet even here an exception must be made in favour of children, Rishi, B5dhisattva, and so forth. Little boys at play — a design known in Japan as Kara-ko-asobi) are con- stantly found upon cups, wine-bottles, water-holders, and plates of Hirado-yaki. These figures are generally associated in good specimens with a variety of cord- and-tassel pattern, known as yo-raku-de. The number of the children was seven, five, or three, indicating, respectively, first, second, and third class ware. In the decoration of larger pieces the artist went farther 104 WARES OF HIZEN afield in search of a subject, selecting flowers, trees, landscapes, or mythical incidents. He also set himself technical tasks like those in which his Chinese con- frere revelled. He would enclose a tiny censer in a basket of porcelain, or spread under the surface of a milk-white glaze designs in relief, executed with me- chanical and artistic fidelity superior even to the work of the Chinese. He delighted, too, in modelling little figures of his favourite Karako, rampant dragons, mythical Shishi, wrinkled old men, fishes, and so forth. In this sort of work he excelled all other porcelain manufacturers in the Orient. Vitrifiable enamels he did not use, but the drapery of his Karako, and the details of other modelling, were often picked out with three coloured glazes, rich blue, russet-brown, and black. The potters of Mikawachi were also renowned for their egg-shell porcelain, but their reputation in this kind of ware was not acquired till a late period, and in producing it they seem to have confined them- selves to the manufacture of cups, rice-bowls, and plates. Strange to say, neither they nor any other Japanese keramists attempted to imitate the lace-pat- tern (commonly called “ grains-of-rice pattern por- celain of China. To cut designs in the biscuit and fill them with glaze was a feat apparently beyond Jap- anese skill in former times, though it has been accom- plished by the potters of to-day. It should be noted that the Hizen potters seldom manufactured pieces in biscuit (/. e. unglazed porce- lain). Specimens of such ware are exceptional. When of Imari clay, they are generally censers or wine-bottles with designs in high relief — as ara- besques, floral scrolls, mythical animals, and so forth. At the Mikawachi factory glaze was nearly always ap- 105 JAPAN plied ; but in very rare instances designs in low relief, executed with the utmost delicacy, were left uncov- ered. Excellence in modelling was, indeed, charac- teristic of the Mikawachi keramist. It is difficult to conceive anything more perfect in this line than some of his tiny figures of children or old men ; and the mythical Shishi and Kirin became, in his hands, ani- mals instinct with life and motion. At Arita, also, modelling was practised with fair success. A favourite subject, which afforded scope for the art both of the modeller and the decorator, was the figure of a girl, dressed in flowing robes of rich silk and brocade. Considerable numbers of these were produced, and many have found their way into Western collections. But it must be admitted that in the vast majority of cases they are by no means chef s-d' oeuvre. The folds and fall of the drapery generally show skilful manage- ment, but the faces do not command admiration : the delicacy of their outlines is marred by the glazing material. Warriors in armour, seated on Shogi (a kind of stool), and forming censers, were more hap- pily treated. Their features, generally unglazed, were often excellently modelled, and the details of their armour were produced with the utmost fidelity in coloured enamels. With rare exceptions Hirado porcelain is not marked. The habit — so common elsewhere — of copying Chinese marks was not contracted at Mika- wachi, and on pieces manufactured by command of the feudal chief of Hirado the potters seldom put their names. When, however, they worked for the ordinary market, they sometimes stamped the name of both kiln and maker on the bottom of a specimen. This is especially true of wares destined for export to China io6 WARES OF HIZEN through the medium of Chinese dealers in Nagasaki. Specimens thus distinguished were not of the finest quality, and probably for this reason they do not ap- pear to have been carefully preserved. Throughout the Tempo era (1830—1843) the practice of marking — in blue under the glaze — seems to have become commoner, but the outcome of the factory was so small that very few specimens of that period survive. The names of the Mikawachi potters and their order of descent are as follows : — THE IMAMURA FAMILY, FOUNDED BY 1. Imamura Tanroku (1598-1640), a Korean who came to Japan in the train of Hideyoshi’s generals. 2. Imamura Tonichi. 3. Imamura Joen (called also San-no-jo). He discovered (1650) the Ajiro-tsuchi^ or plait-clay, of Mitsu-ga- take. 4. Imamura Yajibei. He discovered the Amakusa porce- lain stone in 1712, and was the first manufacturer of Hirado porcelain. 5. Imamura Masafusa. 6. Imamura Masayoshi. 7. Imamura Masafusa. 8. Imamura Masayoshi. 9. Imamura Sohachi. 10. Imamura Tsutsutaro. 11. Imamura Yajibei. 12. Imamura Junsaburo — still living, but not engaged in keramic industry. THE HIGUCHI FAMILY, FOUNDED BY 1. Higuchi Yajiro, a son of Imamura Joen, third descend- ant of Imamura Tanroku {vide Imamura family), 2. Higuchi Uemon. 107 JAPAN 3. Higuchi Riemon — famous for decoration in relief. Died 1861, aged 90. 4. Higuchi Uemon. 5. Higuchi Keikichi, Higuchi Yorasaku, > still living. Higuchi Jiujiro, ) N.B. Other representatives of this family worked at the Odashi factory (which see below). THE YAMA-NO-UCHI FAMILY, FOUNDED BY 1. Yama-no-uchi Chobei, a contemporary of Imamura Joen (1650). He is said to have been a most enthu- siastic keramist and to have travelled all over Japan in the interests of his art. 2. Yama-no-uchi Yohei. His original name was Tanaka Yobei, but being adopted into the Yama-no-uchi family he became Yama-no-uchi Yohei. He pos- sessed considerable ability as a pictorial artist, in which capacity he is known as Chokku-en, his teach- er’s name being Chokku-kei. 3. Yama-no-uchi Yohei. 4. Yama-no-uchi Yohei. 5. Yama-no-uchi Yohei. 6. Yama-no-uchi Tei-no jo. 7. Yama-no-uchi Matakichi. Celebrated for the excellence of his designs. He flourished about 1780. 8. Yama-no-uchi Kidayu. Celebrated for the beauty of his painting in blue sous couverte. 9. Yama-no-uchi Yasuji. 10. Yama-no-uchi Kyosaku, who is now engaged in the keramic industry. In addition to the above, another group of potters worked at the factory of Hikiba in the neighbouring district. This factory was established in 1662 by Moto-ishi Hachirobei, Fukuda Gen-no-jo, Fukuda Sukehei, and others. Its early productions were a 108 WARES OF HIZEN somewhat rude stone-ware manufactured with clay found at an adjacent hill called Nagao. A century later, however, considerable improvements were intro- duced, and in 1784 four potters, Moto-ishi Heishichi, Fukuda Juemon, Fukuda Chuzaemon, and Fukuda Seimon, developed so much skill in the production of coarsely crackled glazes that teacups of their manufacture attracted the attention of their feudal chief and were thenceforth regularly presented by him, through the Governor of Nagasaki, to the Court at Yedo. The usual decoration on these cups was a branch of peach, with fruit and leaves, in blue sous cou-- *verte. Porcelain does not appear to have been manu- factured at Hikiba until i860, when the Amakusa stone began to be used in conjunction with materials from the Goto islands and Tsushima. Representa- tives of the Moto-ishi and Fukuda families still work there ; namely, Moto-ishi Heishichi, Fukuda Yazae- mon, Fukuda Katsuzaemon, and Fukuda lemon. Mention is here made only of potters whose families have included artists of distinction. The number of families actually engaged in the industry at Mika- wachi in the days of the factory’s prosperity was thirty-six. The kilns were all under the nominal superintendence of officials appointed by the Baron of Omura (/. e, the Hirado Chief), a special directorate for the purpose having been appointed as far back as 1666, though it was not until the middle of the fol- lowing century that official interference assumed a helpful form. From the Tempo era (1830) the Hirado porcelain began to show marked signs of inferior technique, and with the abolition of feudalism (1868) the pro- duction of fine pieces ceased altogether for a time. 109 JAPAN About 1878 an attempt was made to popularise the ware by decorating it with colours in the well-known Kutani style. This effort was very short-lived. It was followed, shortly afterwards, by a more whole- some impulse, the result of which is that the porce- lain of Hirado has recovered much of its ancient reputation. This subject is more fully discussed in a subsequent chapter on modern keramic developments. By foreign collectors few Japanese wares are better known than the Arita egg-shell porcelain. Very erroneous ideas prevail with respect to its antiquity, an age as great as two centuries being attributed to some pieces. The date of its first production cannot be fixed with absolute accuracy, but there are very strong grounds for believing that it was not manufac- tured befDre the latter part of the eighteenth century. There are two varieties, the one decorated with blue sous couverte ; the other with red, gold, and sometimes light blue above the glaze. The latter is essentially modern. It was made originally for export, and con- siderable quantities of it have been shipped from Nagasaki during the past twenty years. Figure sub- jects— warriors in armour or courtesans in elaborate drapery — constitute the general decoration, which is seldom executed with any conspicuous skill. A pretty conception was to protect wine-cups of this fragile ware by envelopes of wonderfully finely plaited bas- ket-work {ajiro-gumi). The envelopes were manu- factured at Nagasaki, whither the cups were sent for sale, — usually in nests of three, five, or seven. The blue-and-white egg-shell porcelain of Hizen, though commonly attributed to the Arita factories, was produced almost entirely at Mikawachi. Doubt- less some pieces were originally manufactured at the 1 10 WARES OF HIZEN former place, but the stone of Izumi-yama was ill- adapted to the purpose. It is recorded that about the year 1820 a fire, occurring at one of the Arita factories, destroyed nearly the whole hamlet. The potters were reduced to great straits, and had almost despaired of carrying on their industry, when one of their leaders, Hisatani Yojibei, assembled his comrades and suggested the expedient of manufacturing porce- lain expressly for foreign markets. It is not to be inferred that the productions of Arita had hitherto been confined to Japanese use. They were unques- tionably exported by the Dutch. But the pieces sent to Nagasaki with this object were the surplus rather than the staple of the manufacture. Hisatani’s idea was that an effort should be made to develop foreign sales, as no other prospect offered of recouping the losses caused by the fire. The potters adopted his counsel. A quantity of porcelain was soon ready for sale, but the question was how to sell it. The con- sent of Nabeshima, chief of Hizen, had to be first obtained; after which Hisatani himself proceeded to Nagasaki to manage the business. There, however, he found that the number of merchants permitted to engage in foreign trade was strictly limited to ten. These monopolists refused peremptorily to imperil the porcelain market by throwing on it a sudden pro- fusion of Arita wares. Hisatani did not succumb to such adverse circumstances. He set himself down in Nagasaki, and after ten years of perseverance, varied only by differences in the degree of hardship endured, he succeeded in purchasing the privilege of one of the monopolists. During this interval of waiting he had time to study the tastes of European customers, as interpreted by the Dutch. He learned that the 1 1 1 JAPAN thinner the pate the more highly was porcelain valued in the West. Then visiting Mikawachi, he urged the Hirado potters no longer to limit their manufac- ture of egg-shell ware to wine-cups and other dimin- utive utensils for Japanese use. The result of his advice was the blue-and-white egg-shell familiar to foreigners. Very little of it now remains in Japan, but at one time bowls, plates, and cups might be found without great difficulty. The ware was as thin as paper, and the decoration — blue , sous couverte — was not only well executed but of pure, brilliant colour. This porcelain was almost invariably marked Zo-shun-tei Mi-ho-sei (made at the factory of Zoshun by Miho), a mark which began to be applied at Mika- wachi, about 1825, to ware manufactured at the factory that owed its establishment to Hisatani’s sug- gestion. The name of this enterprising potter, Hisa- tani Yojibei, is revered in Hizen to the present day. ‘‘Miho” was his artist name. His grandson, Hisa- tani Genichi, is now working. Brief reference may be made to artists other than the above, whose names are best known in- connection with the porcelain manufacture of Hizen. The Sakaida family, founded by Sakaida Kakiemon (1615-1653), who in conjunction with Higashijima Tokue- mon manufactured the first enamelled porcelain in Japan, is still extant, its present representative being Sakaida Shibuno- suke, twelfth in descent from Kakiemon. Throughout the eleven generations between the first Kakiemon and Shibuno- suku, each representative of the family bore the same name — Sakaida Kakiemon. These potters, whenever they marked their wares, employed the ideographs Saka-kaki. The Fukagawa family, founded by a potter whose second name is not known (about 1650). The present representa- tive is Fukagawa Ezaiemon, who succeeded to the hereditary 112 WARES OF HIZEN business in 1856. The factory occupied itself in the manu- facture of wares for home use entirely until 1868, when, owing to the downfall of the feudal system and the with- drawal of baronial patronage, Japanese keramists were everywhere obliged to turn their attention to foreign markets. Ezaiemon opened a warehouse for the sale of Arita porce- lain at Deshima, in Nagasaki. In 1876 he took the lead in establishing a keramic society called the Koran-sha. This name, which literally signifies the company of the fragrant orchid,” was that of a factory at which the Tsuji family had for many years been engaged in the manufacture of porcelain for official use. A spray of orchid flowers and leaves had long been a favourite mark on Arita ware (vide Marks and Seals). Tsuji Katsuzo, then head of the factory, joined the new asso- ciation, and by the enterprise of these artists the manufacture of Arita porcelain began to recover much of its old excellence. They did not indeed succeed in preparing a fine fate and a lustrous, uniform glaze, equal to the work of the old potters ; but their management of vitrifiable enamels and their fertility in decorative designs left little to be desired. In 1880 Tsuji seceded from the Koran-sha, in company with several other experts, and established a separate association, to which they gave the name of Seiji-sha (pure ware company). The original purpose of the Seiji-sha was to produce porcelain for export only, but it soon began to supply the home market also. The principal artists are Tsuji Katsuo, Tetsuka Kame-no- suke, Fukami Takeji, and Kawara Chujiro. Their work, already admirable, gives earnest of steady improvement. At a recent exhibition in Tokyo, vases in fine white biscuit with delicately executed designs in relief, and large pieces richly decorated with enamels of great brilliancy, established the Seiji-sha's title to be regarded as the leading factory in Arita. They are now working with machinery procured from France, and it is safe to predict that unless they revert to the degraded fashions of the years immediately succeeding the fall of feudalism, when Japanese artists generally fell into the error of pandering to the lowest form of Western taste, the Arita porcelain of the future will be equal in brilliancy and superior in decoration to the Imari-yaki of the past. VOL. VIII. — 8 IIJ JAPAN The family of Fukami, founded by Fukami Obasen, one of the Koreans who came to Japan in the train of Hide- yoshi’s generals. — Obasen’s descendants have been engaged as potters at Arita ever since the close of the sixteenth century, but they employed no marks by which their pro- ductions can be identified until the time of Fukami Sumi- no-suke, one of the founders of the Seiji-sha. Sumi-no-suke developed great skill in the manufacture of porcelain deco- rated with blue sous couverte. Excellent pieces made by him are to be found. They bear the mark “ Made by Toshi- kian Kiso ” {vide Marks and Seals). He died in i886, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Fukami Takeji. The Iwayo family, founded by one of the Koreans who worked with Risampei. — The artists of this name appear to have engaged chiefly in the manufacture of middle-class porcelain. The present representative is Iwao Kanetaro. The Tashiro family, founded by an expert of that name, about 1780. — Its fame depends chiefly on the present rep- resentative, Tashiro Sukesaku, a man of great enterprise. He established a porcelain warehouse at Nagasaki in the Ansei era (1854-1859) ; and in i860 he obtained from the local authorities a monopoly of the sale of Arita wares to foreign dealers. In 1867 Sukesaku opened a store in Shanghai, and another in Yokohama in 1871. A branch of the same family, represented by Tashiro Yasukichi, is also engaged in the production of porcelain. The Iwamatsu family, founded by Iwamatsu Samuro (about 1750). — Samuro acquired such a high repute that purchasers came to acquire complete confidence in his wares, and it is related that porcelain dealers did not think it necessary to open bales stamped with his trademark, the ideograph Iwa within a square. His factory was specially commissioned to manufacture porcelain for the use of the Court in Yedo. The present representative is Iwamatsu Heizo, an expert of such skill that his pieces may easily be mistaken for old Imari-yaki, On choice specimens he gen- erally writes the ideograph Hei in gold. The Setoguchi family, founded by an artist of that name, about 1680. — This family has long been noted for the 114 WARES OF HIZEN decorative skill of its members. The present representative is Setoguchi Tamiemon. The Imaizumi family, founded by an artist of that name, about 1780. — Its members have always confined themselves to the decorative industry. Imaizumi Imaemon, who died in 1871, acquired great reputation in this line. The present representative is Imaizumi Toda. The Kajiwara family, founded by an artist of that name, about 1680. — Of late years the Kajiwara experts have been famous for the production of monster plaques. Kajiwara Kikujiro manufactured a plate four feet in diameter in 1866. His son, the present representative, is scarcely less skilled. The Fukushima family, founded by an expert of that name, about 1835. — This Fukushima is said to have manu- factured a plate three feet in diameter in 1848. His son Fukushima Kojiro, the present representative, is reputed to be able to produce plates four feet in diameter and bowls over twenty feet in circumference. The families of Okushi, Takeshita, Maeda, Iwasaki, have worked at the Okawachi factories since the latter half of the last century. They are now represented by Okushi Tatsuji, Okushi Moemon, Takeshita Shoshichi, Maeda Tetsuzo, and Iwasaki Kimbei, who produce thick wares covered with cela- don glazes, coarsely crackled. The Hayashi family, founded by Hayashi Jin-no-suke, a pupil of Takahara Goroshichi (1620). — Eleven generations have succeeded each other since then. In the beginning of the eighteenth century the family name was changed to Fuji, and the present representative is Fuji Shinsuke. The Soejima family, founded by a Korean potter named Soejima Unkaku, who, with seventeen other keramists, was ordered to settle at Sarayama, in the district of Yoshida- mura, about 1600. Moemon, son of Unkaku, discovered porcelain stone at Nashi-noki-da, in the neighbourhood of the factory, and Prince Nabeshima, by whom the settlement of potters had been formed, directed that the newly found porcelain stone only should be used at the factory, and that the number of potters should be strictly limited to eighteen. Moemon, the discoverer, was appointed keramist to the JAPAN Prince’s house. The wares produced at this period were not, however, of first-rate quality. It was not till the Gembun era (1736-1741) that Soejima Jirobei, grandson of Unkaku, by mixing local materials with porcelain stone from Amakusa, succeeded in manufacturing choice specimens. In 1840 the representative of the family was Soejima Kaneyuki. He acquired considerable reputation by introducing improved methods of kiln building. The present representative is Soejima Risaburo. In 1878 he found, at Daikokugen in the vicinity of the pottery, a porcelain stone similar to that of Amakusa, and the workmen were thus saved the expense of procuring their materials from so great a distance. Two years later Risaburo formed an association called the Seisei- sha. Hitherto, for some unexplained reason, the manufac- ture of large pieces had been forbidden to the potters of Yoshida-mura, but, this restriction being now removed, plaques three feet in diameter and other important speci- mens began to be produced. Two other descendants of Soejima Unkaku are also engaged in the potter’s trade. The first is Soejima Rinzo, whose ancestor, a son of Un- kaku, opened a pottery in the Kuan-ei era (1624-1643) ; the second is Soejima Jisaku, whose father, Moemon, flourished from 1830 to 1843. Moemon acquired a name for his skill in manufacturing blue-and-white porcelain after the Chinese style. He used to sell much of this ware to Chinese mer- chants in Nagasaki. His work obtained such popularity that his feudal chief gave him the artist name of Un- getsu, with which he thenceforth marked his best pieces. Considering the circumstances of the development of the porcelain industry in Hizen, the student expects to find that representatives of the same family of potters worked at different factories. The story of the Odashi potteries illus- trates this. In 1598 Nabeshima Naoshige, feudal chief of Hizen, caused a number of Koreans to settle in the Odashi district. They opened kilns at Shirakiwara and Kamezo, the traces of which are still to be seen. Other Koreans, who had settled in the neighbouring district of Hakama-no, co- operated in the work. The wares then produced were pot- tery or stone-ware, and the potters appear to have led a very 1 16 WARES OF HIZEN struggling existence. I n the Kyoho era ( 1 7 1 6— 1 73 5), however, at the neighbouring factory of Yumi-no-yama porcelain was manufactured. It was distinguished by the term Nankin-yakiy as opposed to Nami-yaki (common ware), the name applied to pottery. The Yumino factory was then under the superintendence of Fuji Magoemon of the Hayashi family {vide supra, “ Hayashi family who also directed the Odashi works. Magoemon, in conjunction with Mizoguchi, Ichibei, and Takada Tobei, attempted to introduce the manufacture of porcelain at the Odashi kilns. It is recorded that he did not succeed, but the failure was only temporary, since in the year 1804 the Odashi potters were ofEcially directed to produce both por- celain and pottery for the use of the Nabeshima house. Owing to some unascertained reason, the factory subsequently experienced such vicissitudes that it had almost ceased to be a centre of production when, in 1827, Higuchi Chikaharu {vide “ Higuchi family '’) of the Mikawachi factory, Fuji Tsunekata, and others opened a new kiln, the present one, and restored the business to considerable prosperity. Chi- kaharu, a distinguished expert, was officially appointed potter to the house of Nabeshima. About 1835 retired from business in favour of his younger brother Harutaka, whose reputation was not inferior to that of Chikaharu. Another member of the same family, Higuchi Shinkichi, is also mentioned in conjunction with Harutaka and Tsunetaka as an enterprising and skilled potter. These men rebuilt one of the ruined kilns of the district, and gave it the name of Furu-nobori. In 1873 one of the Odashi potters, Matsuo Kisaburo, became known as a decorative expert. This Kisaburo had been for nineteen years a pupil of Higuchi Harutaka. Subsequently he abandoned the keramic indus- try and became a merchant. ' Resuming his original profession in 1869, he found that the wares of Odashi had fallen into great disrepute, owing to the fact that the clay used in the construction of the kilns was incapable of resisting a high temperature. After many experiments he discovered clay suitable for kiln building in the district of Shitayado. He also effected a great economy by mixing with this clay the 117 JAPAN stone of Uchino, instead of that imported from Amakusa, and by devising a mechanical method of tracing decorative designs. The design was cut in paper, and the latter being laid on the surface of the porcelain, a few strokes of the brush sufficed to transfer the picture. Fortunately for Japanese keramic art this degrading device is confined to the manufacture of common utensils. A distinguished pupil of Fuji Tsunetaka was another member of the Higuchi family, Higuchi Chuzaemon. After twenty years of apprenticeship he was entrusted (circa 1840) by Tsunetaka with the manufacture of wares for official use. In 1840 the feudal prince of Hizen caused a private kiln to be built within the precincts of his castle, and placed it under the control of Chuzaemon. Many excellent pieces were manufactured at this factory. In 1886 Chuzaemon succeeded Fuji Tsunetaka in the control of the Odashi workshops, and was himself succeeded by his son Higuchi Heibei, who now carries on the industry. Heibei and his associates built, some years ago, a new and improved kiln at Higashi-yama. Other experts whose names deserve to be recorded are as follows : Urakawa Yoemon, who lived in the Tempo era (1830-1843). He restored to some degree of prosperity the factory of Nishiyama. His wares were widely sold under the name of Toemon-yaki^ but their quality was not sufficiently fine to entitle them to a high place among Hizen wares. Nakashima Nobunari, a man of gentle birth, who in 1869 discovered porcelain stone at Fujiwara and established a factory there. Tanaka, Eiichi, a potter of Sarayama, in the Shirakabe district. Dissatisfied with the materials used at the factory, Tanaka, after much search, succeeded in finding good porce- lain stone at Taohi-ishi,- and subsequently formed an associa- tion called the Kydryoku-'KaishOy in 1884. Special mention must be made of a factory in the neighbourhood of Nagasaki called Kame-yama. There are various traditions with respect to the origin of this factory. Some say that it was due to official inception ; others that it was purely a private enter- 118 WARES OF HIZEN prise. All accounts agree, however, in fixing the date of its opening at about 1803. The idea of undertaking the manufacture of porcelain in this place was doubtless suggested by the vicinity of the island of Amakusa — whence porcelain stone of ex- cellent quality was obtainable — and by the accessi- bility of the Nagasaki market. The first potter was Okami Jingoro, a citizen of Nagasaki. The style inaugurated by him and followed by his successors was that of the Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. The ware speedily attained popularity, owing to the skill of the artists engaged in decorating it. Painters of reputation were easily procurable in Nagasaki. Okami availed himself of their services, with the re- sult that many of the Kame-yama porcelains show admirable artistic decoration. Okami Jingoro was succeeded by Okami Buhei, who died in 1839, his successor being Okami Jingoro (the second). The last-named potter did not work long at Kame-yama, He abandoned the enterprise in 1846 and moved to Nawashiro-gawa, in Satsuma, where he died in 1878. An attempt to revive the industry was made in 1872 by Kamei Sahei, a potter of Arita. He built an ex- ceptionally fine kiln, and baked two or three batches of porcelain, but, the ware proving of inferior quality, he sustained heavy loss and gave up the attempt. The Jingoro family marked their pieces. They used Amakusa stone in the manufacture of their pdte^ mixing with it ash procured from Satsuma. Glazing material was obtained at Daishd-mura and Haryo in Hizen. In addition to porcelain, a curious kind of pottery was also made at Kame-yama. It was manu- factured from the covers of earthenware wine jars, numbers of which, filled with liquor, came to Naga- 119 JAPAN saki from the province of Szechuen, in China. Such pieces were marked Made at Kame-yama with clay from Soshu in China.” It is on the enamelled porcelains of Imari and Nabeshima that Japan’s keramic reputation rests with the majority of Western collectors. These wares alone were exported in the days when the for- eign trade of the country was in the hands of the Dutch. Much of the Imari porcelain owed its manu- facture entirely to European demand, and its decora- tive motives were modified to suit European taste. Its most characteristic features being brilliancy and decorative effect, large, imposing pieces were chiefly sought after, and it is for this reason that nearly all the specimens preserved in European collections under the name of ‘‘ Old Japan,” are either jars with covers, tall vases with spreading necks — the so-called ‘‘ trumpet-shaped vases ” — beakers, gourd- shaped vases, or plaques. Probably the finest examples are to be seen in the Dresden collection and the Palace in Madrid. Solidity, a useful quality for pur- poses of export, and profuse ornamentation accom- plished at a minimum of cost, being prescribed by the Dutch merchants, this “ Old Japan ” did not convey a just idea of either the Japanese keramist’s technical skill or the Japanese connoisseur’s natural taste. M. du Sartel, in his work “ La Porcelaine de Chine,” judging by the majority of examples pre- served in great collections, says that its shapes were generally heavy and inelegant ; that its paste was thick, with little transparency and of doubtful white- ness ; that its glaze was greyish, or slightly tinged with greenish blue ; that the decoration consisted, for the most part, of designs in impure, dark blue sous cou- 120 WARES OF HIZEN verte^ and polychromatic painting over the glaze, the principal colours of the latter being red and gold, with very exceptional additions of black, and still rarer touches of dull yellow and enamel green; and that the subjects were seldom more varied than the colours, being limited to bamboos, pines, large peony and chrysanthemum flowers growing stiffly from rocks, symbolical animals, birds, butterflies, and per- sonages apparently suspended in the air, with the addition of rough reliefs and rudimentary reticula- tion. Messrs. Audsley and Bowes, also, speaking of the Dresden collection, say with true instinct : ‘‘ One is somewhat at a loss while examining these works to account for their markedly peculiar artistic treatment, — a treatment that the student of Japanese art would scarcely be prepared to pronounce strictly natural. They are ancient, certainly, and of neces- sity present art thoughts of schools long passed away ; but making full allowance for this, one cannot help asking if there could have been an external influence at work which modified their artists’ national taste. Jacquemart mentions that the Dutch exercised a con- siderable influence over the porcelain manufacture of Japan. ... If such was the case, the difficulties of the student disappear. This theory certainly has probability on its side ; and the lavish richness of much of the ware, in many cases absolutely over- crowded with ornamentation, tends to prove its truth.” These writers unfortunately mar the sound- ness of the above judgment by depicting in their plates and describing as ‘‘a type in which Japanese treatment is most marked,” a triple-gourd-shaped vase which is in every sense an offensive monstrosity and in no sense true to Japanese canons. The plain fact is I2I JAPAN that it fared alike with the Japanese in ancient and in modern times : by attempting to adapt themselves to the requirements of foreign markets, they outraged their instincts and injured their reputation. Imari porcelain manufactured for use in Japan was of very different quality and style. It consisted nearly en- tirely of plates, bowls, cups with or without covers, dishes, ewers, bottles, and so forth, flower-vases and ornamental pieces being the exception. Many of these utensils, as may well be supposed, were com- paratively coarse and crudely decorated. But many were excellent in every respect, — fineness of pate^ lustre, tone, and uniformity of glaze, brilliancy and purity of enamels, tasteful conception and delicate execution of decorative designs. They had thicker biscuit and a character generally more solid than choice Chinese porcelains, but on the whole they could claim superiority to the latter in beauty of deco- rative conception, while they certainly were little if at all inferior in skill and care of execution. Setting aside any question as to whether the Arita decorator borrowed his subjects from other branches of his country’s art industry or conceived them himself, the connoisseur cannot hesitate to admit that his range and wealth of fancy were remarkable. From this point of view he excelled his Chinese rival. For whereas the latter’s field of subjects was so narrow that he rang the changes on them with tiresome iteration, the former scarcely repeated himself at all. One may collect — or rather might once have col- lected— thousands of old Imari specimens — usually sets of five, ten, or twenty pieces — no two of which are exactly alike, and though they necessarily vary in degrees of technical and artistic excellence, every one 122 WARES OF HIZEN of them shows some charming feature. It need scarcely be said that the choicest are always painted with extreme care, their enamels pure and brilliant, their blue sous couverte rich and clear, their red soft, uniform, and solid. The history of the world tells of no people whose utensils for eating purposes were so refined and ornamental as the Imari services of the Japanese. By these, not by the ‘‘Old Japan’’ of eighteenth-century Europe, the ware should be judged. Since the opening of the country in 1857 much finer examples have been sent westward than those exported by the Dutch, but the reputation of the latter still survives and prevents Imari-yaki from occupying its proper place in Western esteem. Although the Dutch factory at Deshima confined its purchases of Hizen porcelain chiefly to profusely ornamented and comparatively rough pieces, specially designed for sale abroad, specimens of the much chaster and more delicate Nabeshima ware were also shipped to Europe in small numbers. In two striking respects this Nabeshima-yaki differed from the ware of Imari, the so-called “ Old Japan.” In the first place, its glaze, instead of being pervaded by a more or less marked tinge of bluish green, was of the purest milk- white, soft and restful in tone. This feature consti- tuted one of the chief and most easily detected points of superiority in Nabeshima porcelain, and the im- portance of the distinction should be carefully noted. It is more marked in porcelain decorated entirely with enamels over the glaze than in the variety where blue sous couverte also occurs, but in both classes milky whiteness of surface is a test at once of origin and of quality. In the second place, blue under the glaze, which always enters largely into the decoration of 123 JAPAN Imari ware, is either relegated to a secondary rank in Nabeshima porcelain or does not appear at all. The specimens sent to Europe by the Dutch traders in the early days seem to have been principally, if not alto- gether, of the latter class ; that is to say, their deco- ration consisted entirely of enamels over the glaze. Differing essentially from the familiar ‘‘ Old Japan,” this porcelain greatly perplexed European amateurs of later times. M. du Sartefs description of the ware, as known to Western collectors, and of the confused ideas prevailing about it, is interesting. “ These por- celains,” he writes, ‘‘ remarkable for their fine ivory- white pdtCy always soberly decorated with paintings executed in colours, the ensemble of which, blue under the glaze being absolutely excepted, is identical with what one finds on choice products of the Hizen fac- tories, have been variously judged by the keramists whose attention they have attracted. If we may credit some connoisseurs, they are almost as ancient as the first porcelains that made their appearance in China, and while certain persons still attribute them to Japan, others think that they are due to Korean keramics, although no other ware of similar nature is recognised as belonging to Korea. It would neces- sarily result from the latter view that the Korean potters limited themselves to this solitary and unique variety, made no one can tell where, at an epoch not determined, and exported by unknown hands in an unascertained manner. . . . This variety, the cause of so much controversy, is tolerably rare to-day. It is usually found only in incomplete specimens of little importance, often garnished with ancient mountings, of which some, in silver gilt, bear wit- ness to the value set on the ware of the last century. 124 WARES OF HIZEN This was the porcelain that our faience-makers first imitated, and after them the potters of France, Eng- land, and specially of Saxony, where reproductions so perfect are made that one must be a clever connoisseur to avoid occasional deception. These porcelains, so- called Korean, were the first brought from Japan by the Dutch, but the arrivals seem to have ceased at the end of the seventeenth century, so that specimens were formerly much sought after by connoisseurs, in whose collections they occupied an important place under the designation of ancienne premiere qualite color ie du yapon. Here is what Juillot said of them in his de- scriptive catalogue of Oriental porcelains, forming part of the collection of M. Randon de Boisset, which was sold in 1777: ‘The late M. Randon de Boisset, gifted with delicate and severe taste, collected capital pieces of different varieties, above all of ancient Japa- nese porcelain called premiere qualite colorie, for which, as a true connoisseur, he had a great predilection. This porcelain, the composition of which is entirely lost, has always attracted the attention of amateurs by the fine texture of its beautiful white pate, the seduc- tive softness of its rouge mat, the velvet-like character of its soft yet brilliant green and deep blue colours. Such is the veritable and recognised merit of this porcelain, so that all choice collections have been and are com- posed of it, which alone is a sufficient eulogy/ ” It need scarcely be said that M. Juillot is entirely mis- taken in supposing that the art of manufacturing the pate of the Nabeshima porcelain had been lost before the time (1777) of his dictum. Neither is there any sufficient reason to credit M. du Sartefs conclusion that the import of such ware ceased at the end of the seventeenth century. The history of its manufacture 125 JAPAN shows that it was always produced in limited quanti- ties, and that it was not offered for sale in the open market. The Dutch doubtless exported it when- ever they could obtain specimens, but their instinct as active traders induced them to turn rather to the Arita factories, the more plentiful outcome of which offered a larger field, while the amenability of the potters to foreign suggestions made them convenient to deal with. It should be observed also that the superiority ascribed by European connoisseurs to the Nabeshima enamels has no foundation in fact. In brilliancy, purity, variety, and accuracy of application, the enamels of choice Imari specimens have never been surpassed. ‘‘ Old Japan,’' with its masses of blurred, impure blue sous couverte^ and its dominant red and gold above the glaze, must not be taken as a type of the decorative or technical skill developed at Arita. First-class examples of Imari-yaki stand on a wholly different plane. For the clearer guidance of amateurs, the enamels generally found on the finest pieces may be recapitulated here. First among them is purple, a peculiar amethyst-like tinge, verging upon lilac. Then comes opaque, yet lustrous green, the colour of young onion-sprouts, — a beautiful enamel, much prized by the Japanese, who called it tampan (sulphate of copper). Then follows turquoise blue, and finally black, the last, however, being exceptional. Add to these, red, grass-green, gold and blue {sous cou- verte)y and the palette alike of the Arita and the Nabe- shima keramists is exhausted. Neither factory can claim to have excelled the other in the preparation and application of enamels. The one difference is that the Arita potter, with true artistic instinct, employed stronger masses of colour and more profuse 126 WARES OF HIZEN decoration to relieve the impure white of his por- celain field, whereas the Nabeshima keramist made his milk-white glaze a distinctive feature and subordi- nated the decoration to this special excellence. Argu- ing from the fact that the progress of the keramic art at Arita and Okawachi was on the whole uniform, the amateur will be prepared to learn that the earliest Nabeshima porcelains exhibited the same paucity of enamels as their Imari contemporaries ; red, gold, green, and light blue (over the glaze) were the colours chiefly employed. Purple, yellow, and the other enamels enumerated above, seem to have come into use from the close of the seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth century. Seeing that blue under the glaze played such a large role at the Arita factories, the student is led to an- ticipate that porcelain showing decoration of this class only would be common among specimens of ancient Imari-yaku But in truth very few large examples of Old Japanese blue-and-white are to be found. In plates, bowls, sake bottles, and other household utensils, pieces of great beauty are sometimes found, the blue of which is scarcely inferior to the richest colour ob- tained by the potters of the Middle Kingdom. This is especially true of the Goku-hin-yaki, With the ex- ception of such classes, however, blue sous couverte is almost invariably associated with enamel decoration. Ewers for placing outside or on a verandah, flower- pots, and dishes make up the total of large blue-and- white specimens, and it will be understood that keramists seldom put their best work into such pieces. Big pots with covers — called in Japan Jlnuo (dust vessels) — so many of which do duty as the highest types of ‘‘Old Japan’' in European collec- 127 JAPAN tions, sometimes have designs in blue sous couverte only ; but the inferior quality of their pate and glaze, and the muddy tone of their blue are fatal blemishes. It is to the products of the Hirado workshops that the connoisseur must go for the best and most valu- able examples of Old Japanese blue-and- white. He will there find close fine biscuit, pure white glaze, and blue which, if not so deep or strong as the most esteemed Chinese colour, is of unsurpassed delicacy and aesthetic beauty. During the comparatively short period of its existence the Kame-yama factory, near Nagasaki, turned out many fairly good pieces of blue- and- white, essentially of the plate-and-bowl type. But the connoisseur should not experience any difficulty in distinguishing these, for, as compared with Imari ware, their pate, though free from grit, is more chalky, their glaze even less pure in tone, and their blue colour emphatically wanting in richness and body. It is further to be observed that the decorative designs on Imari blue-and-white porcelain were nearly always of the formal type, as diapers, scrolls, and so forth, whereas the subjects taken by the Hirado potters were chiefly pictorial, — landscapes, trees, figures, and flowers. Neither at Arita nor at Okawachi was the art of producing crackle successfully practised by the porce- lain manufacturers. Yet in old pieces of Imari ware, both enamelled and blue-and-white, craquele is some- times found. The pate of such specimens is always much softer than ordinary porcelain biscuit : it was evidently a special mixture of clays. But there is no evidence to show whether the object of thus mixing different varieties of material was to produce crackle, or whether the composition, and therefore also the 128 WARES OF HIZEN crackle, resulted from accident. At all events, the shape and size of the crackle were not under control as in China. It usually appears as a series of fissures, following no regular order, which can scarcely have been regarded as an addition to the beauty of the porcelain by its original manufacturers, though some modern connoisseurs are pleased to view it in that light. The craquele celadon^ of which quantities now appear in the market under the name of Hizen-yakiy is a recent manufacture. Great as is the progress made of late by the Arita potters, their method of preparing and applying vitri- fiable enamels is still separated by a considerable in- terval from the skill of their predecessors of feudal times. It is to this point before all others that the instructed connoisseur will look. Daubing the surface of porcelain with perishable pigments and jewelling it with enamels that retain their fulness and lustre after decades of wear and tear, are two wholly dif- ferent grades of technique. The former is the brum- magem of keramics, inspired by purely mercantile instincts. Those whose eyes have become accus- tomed to the beautiful porcelains of the Orient with their imperishable pictures in brilliant yet soft en- amels or blue under the glaze, can never again look without disgust at the productions of that hybrid branch of Western art which smears upon the surface of porcelain dull, lustreless paints, adapted only to canvas or paper, and incapable of resisting any of the cleansing processes to which vessels in every-day use must of necessity be subjected. In the scramble for food that, thirty years ago, replaced the quiet, com- fortable life of patronised competence hitherto led by Japanese artist artisans, a tendency to resort to what- voL. VIII. — 9 129 JAPAN ever devices gave cheap, speedy, and temporarily striking results was developed with unfortunate fa- cility. Against this the genius of the country soon revolted, though the conditions that led to such a de- parture from true canons remained almost unaltered. About the year 1880 a renaissance slowly set in, and judging by the ground which the Japanese keramist has already recovered, it is evident that he needs only an intelligent and liberal public to climb once more to the heights of excellence on which he once stood. In no respect is this return to wholesome fashions more marked than in the use of vitrifiable enamels. These have not only replaced pigments in great part, but begin also to show much of their ancient bril- liancy and purity. Some of the Arita potters devote themselves to tours de force sufficiently remarkable. They manufacture enormous plaques, huge vases, and pedestal lamps, nine or ten feet high, for placing in Japanese gardens. These are, perhaps, legitimate ex- ercises of skill where the materials employed are not sufficiently fine for the production of small choice specimens. 130 Chapter III WARES OF SAT SUM A [KAGOSHIMA PREFECTURE) During two centuries Japan’s keramic reputation in Europe rested chiefly on the enamelled porcelains of Arita, the ‘‘Old Japan ” of European collectors. Had the beautiful blue-and-white ware of Hirado, or the chastely decorated masterpieces of the Kakiemon school^ found their way westward in any quantity, they might have compelled admiration after a time. Y et when it is remembered that the striking brilliancy of the grand Chinese blues failed, until quite recently, to excite the enthusiasm of Occidental connoisseurs, it becomes easy to understand how the less eflFective and more aesthetic porcelains of Hirado remain even to this day without due recognition. In early times the Dutch traders stood between Europe and Japan. They were the medium through which a reflection of Jap- anese art had to be transmitted. But the Dutch, being practical merchants, thought less of educating new tastes than of catering for those that already existed. They did not export Hirado blue-and-white, because, in the first place, it was scarcely procurable, and, in the second, they understood nothing of its beauties. They did not largely export porcelains of the Kakie- mon genre, because a style so simple was incapable of 131 ' See Appendix, note 4. JAPAN appealing to vulgar fancy. They were not even con- tent to export the more richly enamelled porcelain of the Chinese school, until the profusion of its deco- ration had been still further increased at their bidding. Thus, in the end, the Japanese ware that came into the hands of European collectors was neither purely Japanese nor purely Chinese, but a compound of both, with a considerable admixture of foreign conceits. The decorative fashions of this ‘‘ Old Japan ’’ were as inconsistent with the art instincts of the country of its origin as the shapes in which it was manufactured for export — five or three pieces, beakers and jars, en suite — were unserviceable in Japanese houses. Nothing was known for a long time of Japan's workers in pottery and faience, though it was unquestionably in these branches of their art that her keramists gave most untrammelled play to their native genius, pro- ducing pieces of the greatest beauty and quaintness. Europe did not really discover its ignorance until the Paris Exposition of 1867. The discovery might have been made sooner. Several years previously Sir Ru- therford Alcock, British Representative at the Court of Japan, had sent to the London Exhibition a collection that ought to have opened the eyes of connoisseurs. But from some inexplicable cause these admirable speci- mens, selected with judgment and under exceptionally favourable circumstances by the English connoisseur, only served as a feeble prelude to the effect produced by the Paris exhibits. In 1867, at last, people became aware that the Porcelaine des Indes a jleurs^^ the richly decorated ^^famille Chrysanthemo-Tceonienney^ on which alone Japan's keramic reputation had hitherto depended, was in truth but one among a multitude of charming productions, and that the pottery and fai- 132 WARES OF SATSUMA ence of this land of artists merited even more attention than its porcelains. In the field thus newly opened to Western col- lectors, the first place has by common consent been assigned to the faience of Satsuma. In decorative excellence other wares of Japan equal and even excel this beautiful faience, but in combined softness and richness it has no peer. So fully have its merits been recognised that no American or European collection of Oriental objects of virtu is deemed complete unless it contains a specimen of Satsuma-yaki. It must, however, be added that few Western collections con- tain a really representative specimen. That faience of a brilliantly decorative, and at the same time artistic, nature has been exported in considerable quantities to Europe and America during the past thirty years, under the name of Satsuma-yaki, is unquestionable. Unques- tionable, also, is the fact that from 1880 Japanese decorators, inspired by the demands of the American market, succeeded in imitating ‘‘Old Satsuma” with much fidelity. But in one essential particular this modern ware differs from the beautiful faience so rare and so highly prized in Japan. If it be admitted that first-class specimens of ancient Chinese cHadon bear some comparison with the jade which they were de- signed to imitate, there will be no risk of hyperbole in asserting that the Satsuma ware of bygone times can scarcely, at first sight, be distinguished from ivory. In vain does one search among modern pieces for the exquisitely smooth surface, rich, mellow tone, and almost imperceptible crackle of the old faience. What one generally finds is crude, chalky pdte^ covered with glaze that is fissured rather than crackled. Or if the crackle is close and the pate tol- 133 JAPAN erably fine, the soft, ivory tint of the old faience is replaced by artificial discoloration intended to simu- late what it never can really resemble, the effects of age. Yet on the decoration of this indifferent manu- facture are lavished all the resources of ingenuity and patience. Elaborate combinations of diapers, bou- quets of brilliant flowers, armies of gorgeously ap- parelled saints, peacocks with spreading tails, and dragons environed by golden clouds — all subjects, in fact, that can help to achieve gaud and glitter — are employed by painters who have prostituted their in- herited instincts to the supposed tastes of their foreign customers. That the results achieved are not without merit, and that in many cases they attain a very high standard of decorative craft, are facts needing no demonstration. What they represent, however, is neither the spirit nor the fashion of true Japanese art, but simply the adaptive genius of Japanese artists. Just as, during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies, the potters of Arita obeyed the demand of the Dutch factory at Deshima, and not only modified their decorative motives, but even manufactured pieces en suite that could never have been used in Japan; so, from 1870 onwards, Satsuma faience-painters thought chiefly of producing something that would either deceive by its resemblance to the ware of old times, or attract vulgar admiration by its gorgeousness and brilliancy. It does not follow that these artists had ceased to respect the principles which their florid style violates. They merely suited their fashions to foreign customers. The best possible comment on the estimate which Japanese connoisseurs form of such styles is supplied by the fact that pieces decorated after the fashion of the ‘‘ commercial school,’’ as it 134 ' WARES OF SATSUMA may justly be termed, find absolutely no purchasers in the country of their origin : not alone does their garish ornamentation exceed the extreme limits pre- scribed by the aesthetic chastity of the tea-clubs, but their generally faulty workmanship lends an unpleas- ant air of sham to the pains taken in pranking them out. The earliest manufacture of pottery in Sasshiu, the most southerly among the nine provinces of Kiushiu, is referred to the latter half of the fifteenth century, but, like the other productions of that period, it was represented by tea utensils of the scantiest merit. A hundred years later (1596), the celebrated Shimazu Yoshihiro, Chief of Satsuma, returning from the in- vasion of Korea, brought with him a large number of workmen — some fivescore, it is said — of whom seventeen were skilled potters. The names of these seventeen are still retained by their descendants. Ac- cording to Japanese pronunciation, the Korean names are as follows: Shin, Ri, Boku, Hen, Ky5, Tei, Jin, Rin, Haku, Sai, Chin, Ro, Kin, Ga, Tei, Sha, and Sai. They were settled at first in three villages, Kushikino, Ichiku, and Sanno-gawa. It does not appear that they immediately received orders to open keramic factories. The tradition is that one of their number, whose Japanese name was Hochiu, urged his comrades to repay the benefits which they had received at the hands of their conquerors by introduc- ing the keramic methods of their native country. A year previously (1595) Prince Yoshihiro had con- structed a castle at Chosa, in the neighbouring prov- ince of Hiuga. Thither he directed Hochiu and some others of the Korean experts to move, for the purpose of carrying on their industry. The Koreans 135 JAPAN were thus divided into two sections, — a fact which it is essential to note in order to arrive at a clear idea of the early history of the Satsuma ware. The section that repaired to Hiuga was headed by Hochiu ; the section that remained in Sasshiu was under the direc- tion of Boku Heii. It will be convenient to speak of the former first. The date of the transfer of Hochiu and his comrades to Chosa is placed in 1598. They established a fac- tory in a district called Nabekura, under the immediate patronage of Yoshihiro. The wares which they man- ufactured at first were pottery and faience after Ko- rean methods ; that is to say, ware having brownish or reddish brown phte, translucid, colourless glaze, and archaic ornamentation consisting of incised designs filled with white slip under the glaze. These pieces are purely traditional. None survive that can be iden- tified with certainty as the early work of the Chosa potters. Within a very short time of their settlement at Chosa, they began to manufacture faience without any parallel among Korean productions. It is diffi- cult to account for the ability they developed, unless, indeed, an explanation is furnished by the fact that until their arrival in Japan they had enjoyed no opportunity of examining the works of Chinese keramists. Prince Yoshihiro was a collector on a magnificent scale. Among his treasures numerous masterpieces of the Middle Kingdom were included, and it was his pleasure to offer these as models for the potters at the new factory. So much interest did he take in the work that whenever a specimen of excep- tional excellence was turned out, he made a practice of stamping it with his own seal, — an honour not easily appreciated without some knowledge of the 136 WARES OF SATSUMA position occupied by a feudal chief in Japan three centuries ago. Pieces thus distinguished received the title of “ Go-hondeJ' or “ honourable standards.” It is recorded that Yoshihiro’s resolve to rival the repu- tation of Chinese keramists induced him to import clay from the Yellow River in China, and glazing material from Korea. Specimens potted under these circumstances were termed Hi-bakari,'' or ‘‘fire only,” inasmuch as Japan’s sole contribution to their manu- facture was the kiln in which they were baked. It must not be supposed, however, that there is here any question of ware resembling that known to mod- ern collectors as Satsuma-yaki, The productions of Hochiu and his comrades were of an entirely differ- ent class. Eighteen varieties are said to have been manufactured, but no record is preserved of the exact points in which they differed. Several of them were purely of the Korean genre ; others were copied from the Chinese. Of the latter, eight kinds are well known. The first of them is called Jakatsu- gusuri by Japanese connoisseurs, from the fact that its dark grey glaze is run in large, distinct globules, sup- posed to resemble the scales on a dragon’s back. The second is the Namako-gusuri^ a term derived from the likeness which the Jiambe glaze bears to the green- ish blue, mottled tints of the bhhe-de-mer [namakd). This faience, or stone-ware, is nothing more than an imitation of the Chinese Kwan-yao^ or ware of Canton. The pate is dense, well nianipulated, and of a greyish red colour ; the effect of the jiambe glaze is rich and pleasing. The third variety is the Tessha-gusuri, so called from the iron [tetsu) dust (sha) that appears to float in the glaze. This is a copy of the Tei-shu-hwa of China. The fourth is a black glaze [Kuro-gusuri')^ 137 JAPAN softer and richer than the noir mat of the Chinese potters, but less brilliant than their noir eclatant. The fifth is black glaze speckled with gold dust ; a beauti- ful and rare variety. The sixth is tea-green glaze, usually overlapping one or two coats of russet-brown or pear-skin glazes. The seventh is polychromatic glaze, the principal colours being tea-green, greyish white, and rich brown. The eighth is tortoise-shell glaze [Bekko-gusuri)y of great richness and exceedingly dextrous technique. Specimens of all these are still procurable, but they are generally small pieces designed for the use of the tea-clubs. They show, however, that the skill of the Chbsa potters, so long ago as the beginning of the seventeenth century, was very remark- able. It is believed by some Japanese amateurs that among the so-called Korean potters who settled in Satsuma, and elsewhere in Kiushu, after the return of the Japanese expedition from Korea, not a few Chi- nese keramic experts were included. If this theory be accepted, it accounts for much that would otherwise be scarcely explicable. For it is certain that among authenticated productions of Korean kilns there is nothing that compares with the wares described above, whereas precisely similar glazes were produced at the Chinese factories of Ching-te-chen and elsewhere. In the year i6io Prince Yoshihiro changed his residence to Kojiki, in the neighbouring province of Osumi. Hochiu and his comrades followed their patron, establishing themselves at Hiki-yama in the same district. A few years later Hochiu’s eldest son, Kisaburo, showed such proficiency that Prince Yoshi- hiro bestowed on him the name of Kawara, because of the fact that the Hiki-yama factory stood near the bank of the river Kurokawa. Kisaburo, sometimes 138 WARES OF SATSUMA called Saburohei or Kihei, thus became the founder of the Kawara family, which long remained conspic- uous among the Satsuma experts. Prince Yoshihiro died in the era of Genna (1615—1623), but the pot- teries established by him continued to flourish under the direction of Hochiu, who survived until 1636. Prince Yoshihiro’s successor directed Koemon, a son of Kawara Kihei, to open a separate factory at a place called Yamamoto, authorising him, at the same time, to adopt the family name of Yamamoto. Thus Hdchiu’s descendants were divided into two branches, the Kawara family, founded by his son Kisaburo, and the Yamamoto family, founded by his grandson Koemon. Kawara Kisaburo's second son, Tobei, succeeded him in the direction of the Hiki-yama factory, but about the year 1650 the two families re- united and established themselves at Tatsumonji, in the Oyamada district in Osumi. The reason of this change of place was the discovery, in the Oyamada region, of a white stone from which it was found pos- sible to manufacture pate of much finer quality and purer colour than anything previously produced. The potters were no longer under the munificent patronage of Prince Yoshihiro. They still enjoyed a large measure of support from the house of Shimazu, but it would scarcely have been within their competence to move their kilns to Tatsumonji had they not received assistance from a wealthy farmer, by name Yoshiernon, who, out of pure love of the keramic art, contributed one-half of the money required to make the change. From this time they were able to add another variety to their manufactures, namely, faience covered with greyish white glaze finely crackled. 139 JAPAN At this point it becomes convenient to revert to the story of the remaining Korean potters who had accompanied Prince Yoshihiro. At first they settled in the district of Hioki, in Sasshu, establishing a factory at Shitana, and manufacturing wares of much the same character as those produced by Hochiu and his comrades at Chosa. But in the year 1603, for some reason not recorded, they removed to the Nawashiro district in the same province, closing the factory of Hioki, or Moto-tsubo-ya, as the place is now called. Among the Korean wares most highly esteemed in Japan there was a variety to which Japanese virtuosi had given the name of Koma-gai — written Kumagawa, This was faience having some- what coarse, brown pate^ with lustrous, cream-coloured or buff glaze, very finely crackled and of consider- able merit. Resembling in some respects the Chinese white Ting-yao of the Sung dynasty, — a ware eagerly sought after by the tea-clubs — the Koma-gai faience offered a model which Prince Yoshihiro was naturally anxious to see copied at his factories. His wish could not be complied with at first, owing to lack of suitable materials. Various essays were made by Boku Heii, the most skilled of the Korean experts, but so little success was achieved that in the year 1614 Prince Yoshihiro found it necessary to have a careful search made throughout his fief for suitable materials. The task was entrusted to Boku Heii. After an examination conducted with the utmost patience, Heii reported that the following materials were suited for manufacturing a faience of the de- sired nature : A species of white sand found at Kaseda ; a stone for manufacturing glaze, found at Kionomine, in the same district ; three varieties of 140 WARES OF SATSUMA white earth found, respectively, at Uchiyama, in the Ibusuki district, at Narukawa, and at Nibura in the same district ; and the ash obtained from the bark of the Nara tree grown in the Kagago district. The results of this investigation were satisfactory. Thence- forth there was produced at the Nawashiro, or Nawa- shiro-gawa factory, a faience superior in pate and equal in glaze to the celebrated Komagai ware. This was the origin of the Satsuma-yaki destined afterwards to become so famous. It is recorded that Prince Yoshi- hiro, much pleased with Heifs diligence and skill, appointed him superintendent of the factory, and furnished him with models to copy ; the Prince stamp- ing with his own seal — as he did at the Chosa workshops — specimens that showed exceptional merit. Another plan devised by this noble with the object of promoting excellence was to grant handsome annuities to potters who distinguished themselves, and to with- draw these rewards from those that showed want of skill. The custom was observed by Yoshihiro’s suc- cessors until the abolition of feudalism (i 868). Its effects must have been very marked. Boku Heii died in the year 1621. The line of his descendants is still uninterrupted, each representative of the family bearing the name of Heii, as was or- dained by Prince Yoshihiro. A contemporary of Boku was Chin Tokichi, who also attained consider- able reputation, and was appointed foreman of the Nawashiro factory. He was succeeded by his son Toju, and the latter by his son, Tokichi. The feudal chief of Sasshiu honored Tokichi (of the third genera- tion) by conferring on him the name of “ Toichi ” {icbi signifies ‘‘first,” or most excellent). This event occurred about the year 1675, by which time the 141 JAPAN manufacture had been carried to a point of high ex- cellence at Nawashiro. It has been shown that the Korean potters at Tatsumonji had commenced to pro- duce similar ware in 1650. This is the Hibiki-de, or white craquele faience of Satsuma. But as yet nothing is heard of decorated faience ; of the Saishiki-de^ or enamelled ware, and of the Nishikt-de^ or brocade ware (/. e. decorated with gold as well as coloured enamels), which are practically the only varieties of Satsuma-yaki familiar to Western collectors. Strange to say, some confusion exists with regard to the origin of these beautiful products. So respectable an author- ity as Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, author of the ‘‘ Kanko Zusetsu,” refers the first use of vitrifiable enamels by the Sasshiu potters to a period no earlier than the be- ginning of the nineteenth century, founding his state- ment upon the fact that two experts of the Tatsumonji factory visited Kyoto at the close of the eighteenth century, and there acquired the art of decorating with vitrifiable enamels. That such a visit was made is undoubtedly true. It will be referred to by-and-by. But that the first employment of vitrifiable enamels in the Satsuma fief dates from the visit, is a theory defy- ing credence. It involves the supposition that the keramists of Satsuma, enjoying the patronage of one of the greatest nobles in Japan, and producing a ware of exceptionally fine quality, remained during more than a century and a half ignorant of processes which were practised at all the best factories in the Empire, and which had won renown for a near and rival prov- ince, Hizen. Careful enquiry proves that credulity need not be so heavily taxed. The perplexity of Mr. Ninagawa and others was caused by failing to observe that the factory where enamelled Satsuma ware was 142 WARES OF SATSUMA first produced is distinct from the factory where its manufacture was revived at the close of the eighteenth century. It may be confidently asserted that enamelled wares were made by the potters of Tatsumonji as early as 1675. Mitsuhisa was then the feudal chief of Sat- suma, and it is recorded that he bestowed nearly as much patronage upon the potters of his fief as his an- cestor Yoshihiro had done. lyemitsu, third Regent of the Tokugawa dynasty, had encouraged the already growing taste for highly decorated ware, and his influ- ence was felt at all the centres of keramic industry in Japan. The Prince of Sasshiu was not likely to be behind the times. He summoned to his fief the painter Tangen, a pupil of the renowned Tanyu (died 1674), and employed him to paint faience himself or to fur- nish the keramists with designs. Ware produced under these circumstances received the name Satsuma ’Tan- gen ^ and now constitutes one of the treasures of Jap- anese dilettanti. The number of pieces manufactured was small. They were destined entirely for private use or for presents. The decoration was not brilliant, the object being to show the painter’s skill rather than the enameller’s. Judging by the very rare specimens still extant, it appears that the rich combinations of jewelled diapers and delicately painted medallions of middle-period Satsuma were not affected by the pot- ters of Tangen’s time. The style of the latter may be more appropriately called sketchy — slight floral de- signs, impressionist landscapes, birds on branches, and such simple subjects constituted the favourite motives. Sometimes the only colour employed by the deco- rator was the reddish brown obtained from Kaki- no-shibu (the juice of the Diospyros Kaki). Such pictures were called Shibu-e. H3 JAPAN Some investigators claim that the production of this early-period enamelled faience was confined to the workshops at Tatsumonji; others that it extended also to the factory of Tadeno. The point is unimportant. It is sufficient to note that from 1 675 to the latter part of the eighteenth century ware of this descrip- tion was manufactured in very small quantities for special purposes. The factory of Tadeno, mentioned here, was estab- lished during the Kuan-ei era (1625—1643), in the Kagoshima district of Sasshiu, by special order of the chief of the fief. Its productions were always of a very high order, and one of its artists, Kono Senemon, who flourished from the Meiwa era (1764-1772), ac- quired great renown. Senemon’s skill lay chiefly in the manufacture of the wares known as Chosa-yaki ; that is to say, the jiambe, tea-coloured, black and brown glazes of Hochiu and his comrades. It has been explained that the Yamamoto and Kawara families united to establish the Tatsumonji factory about 1650. The latter family was then rep- resented by Kawara Tobei, who left three sons, of whom the eldest was Gensuke and the youngest Juzae- mon. This Juzaemon founded an independent branch of the family, and was succeeded by a son, also called Juzaemon, who took the artist name Hoko. Hoko was a man of great enterprise and ambition. At the age of twenty-three he obtained his father’s permis- sion to repair to the Tadeno factory, where Kono Senemon was then at the zenith of his fame. After studying for twelve years under Kono’s direction, Hoko returned to Tatsumonji, and succeeded in re- producing the eighteen varieties of faience for which his ancestor Hochiu had been famous. Not content 144 WARES OF SATSUMA with this achievement, he now conceived the idea of visiting the workshops of Hizen. For this purpose the indispensable permission and aid of the Prince of Satsuma were obtained. Hoko, accompanied by Kawara Yagoro, the representative of the elder branch of his family, repaired to Arita and informed himself of the methods practised there. Finally, in 1793, he resolved to visit all the principal factories throughout Japan. Shimazu Tomonobu, then chief of the fief, an ardent lover and patron of the fine arts, not only ap- proved Hoko's design, but furnished him with money for his journey, and directed Hoshiyama Chiubei, a potter of Tadeno, to accompany him. The two experts, having spent some time at the principal keramic centres of Kiushu — namely, Hizen, Higo, Chikuzen, and Chikugo — passed over to the main- land, and proceeded to Kyoto, via the celebrated workshops of Bizen. . At Kyoto they placed them- selves in communication with Aoki Sobei, a potter of great repute. Sobei recommended them to go on to Owari, promising that on their return he would have something to teach them. They accordingly pro- ceeded to Seto ; learned there the method of manu- facturing the faience called Mifukai-yaki (vide Seto), and then returned to Kyoto by Ise. Sobei kept his word. He showed the travellers all the processes for producing the enamelled faience of Awata (vide Kyoto), as well as the Raku ware, dear to the tea- clubs. Thus, by the time they reached home, they had acquired a knowledge of all the chief keramic productions of the Empire. From this epoch (1795) may be dated a large increase in the manufacture of enamelled Satsuma faience. The prince of the fief, Shimazu Tomonobu, afterwards called Ei5, gave VOL. VIII. 10 JAPAN special orders in 1 796 for the production of enamelled faience — Nishiki-de — at the Tadeno factory, and it is to this fact, taken in conjunction with the impulse imparted to the decorative art of Satsuma generally by the acquirements and enterprise of H5ko and Chiubei, that may be ascribed the popular misconcep- tion, spoken of above, with regard to the period when vitrifiable enamels were first used by the potters of Sasshiu and Osumi. The distinguishing features of the enamelled Sat- suma-yaki produced in the time of Eio, as well as in the early days of the manufacture, were fineness of pate and lustre of glaze. The former was as close- grained as pipe-clay, and almost as hard as porcelain biscuit. The amateur can have no safer guide. He will find that, however chaste and careful may be the decoration of a modern piece, the chalky, porous nature of the pate at once proclaims its youth. As for the glaze, it was indescribably smooth, lustrous, and mellow. Quality of glaze, however, is not an in- fallible criterion of age. Old and in other respects excellent pieces are to be found which show a some- what coarsely crackled, crude surface. But the ama- teur may accept this as a rule, — that choice pieces of old Sat suma-yaki should have an ivory-like, lustrous glaze, of creamy or even yellowish tone, and that their crackle should be almost microscopic. The enamels used were red, green, Prussian blue, purple, gold, black, and yellow. All these may be seen on modern imitations also, but the purity and brilliancy of the old enamels are now seldom rivalled. As for decorative subjects, it may be emphatically laid down that pieces upon which human figures and peacocks are depicted belong, with very rare exceptions, to the spurious 146 WARES OF SATSUMA period. Groups of saints — as, for example, the Six- teen Bodhisattvas — or congregations of other reli- gious persons — as the five hundred Arhats — are favourite subjects with the modern painter of Satsuma ware. To a Japanese of former times such subjects would have seemed as much out of place on the sur- face of a flower-vase as a crucifix on a beer-flagon would appear to Europeans. Of course the fitness of things would not have been equally violated by rep- resentations of peacocks or warriors. About these nothing need be said except that they were never in fashion at Nawashiro or Tatsumonji. The Satsuma potter confined himself strictly to diapers, floral sub- jects, landscapes, and a few conventionalities, such as the Phoenix, the Shishi (mythical lion), the Dragon, and the Kirin (unicorn). The choice pieces potted at the Safsuma-yaki fac- tory prior to the mediatisation of the fiefs (1868) were invariably small, or at most of medium size. Tripod incense-burners six or seven inches high, with pierced lids, were perhaps the most important ex- amples. Smaller specimens take the form of cups, wine-bottles (^Sake-dokurt) with slender necks, ewers [suiteki), censers [Koro), incense-boxes {Kogo), vases for placing on the lower shelf of a stand [Shoku-sh' to), and so forth. The large imposing examples included in so many Western collections are invariably of modern manufacture. It may be worth noticing that in a beautifully illus- trated work called “ The Keramic Arts of Japan ” by Messrs. Audsley and Bowes, pains are taken to divide a series of Satsuma specimens — representing for the most part a period of about twenty years — into three sections, which are distinguished as OA/, Middle^ and 147 JAPAN Modern, but which in reality represent nothing more than different degrees of medication. In truth, those “ evidences of age ” which the amateur is so much disposed to trust, are of all things most deceptive. The first impression their presence produces should be one of suspicion. Steeping in strong infusions of tea, boiling in decoctions of yasha and sulphuric acid, or exposure to the. fumes of damp incense, are methods thoroughly appreciated and constantly practised by the Japanese dealer, but so little understood by collectors that places of honour are often accorded to specimens still besmeared with the sediment of the drug used to discolour them. Until the bric-a-brac buyer has ac- quired ability to distinguish between the results of doctoring and the traces of time, he will do well to re- member that, as a rule, the best things are the most carefully preserved, especially in Japan, where objects of virtu not only pass a great part of their existence swathed in silk or crepe wrappers and hidden away in the recesses of a storehouse, but are also cleansed repeatedly from every stain of use. What is the charm which has justly placed the old Satsuma-yaki at the head of all Japanese faience? The question is well answered by Messrs. Audsley and Bowes when they say that “in the entire range of keramic art there has been no surface produced more refined in treatment or more perfectly adapted to receive and enhance the value of coloured decora- tions, than that presented by the best specimens of old Satsuma faience.’’ One might almost suppose that the idea of this ware had been inspired by the exquis- itely harmonious effect of gold decoration upon ivory mellowed by age. The Satsuma surface, however, is even superior to ivory, for its network of minute 148 WARES OF SATSUMA crackle produces a play of light that greatly enhances its charms. It is for this surface that the collector should look. If he seeks wealth of decoration only, he can suit himself best among the imposing and often beautiful manufactures of the present day. In older pieces it will always be found that the artist, recog- nising the beauty of the ground upon which he worked, took care that it should not be unnecessarily hidden. In modern specimens, on the contrary, the decoration too frequently serves to conceal the imper- fections of the surface to which it is applied ; and the surface, where it is allowed to appear, is usually treated ” to impart stains which do duty for the mellow tint of former times. Some critics claim that nothing substantial has been lost by abandoning the chaste canons of early years, since the more elaborate style now in vogue affords the artist wider scope. But even if the advantages of increased glitter and extended range of subject be conceded to the modern school, the merit of superior technique remains to the old. Small pieces of early-period Satsuma, such as cups, incense-holders, tea-jars, etc., etc., often exhibit embellishment which, while in richness of effect it will bear comparison with the most ornate of the later designs, shows greater accuracy of execution and much more skilled use of enamels. The connoisseur will generally find, in examining a vase painted for the foreign market, that however much labour has been bestowed on the body of the piece, the less promi- nent portions are somewhere’ defective, and that whereas lustreless pigments predominate on modern examples, the decoration of the old consisted chiefly of pure, jewel-like enamels. The original style was certainly more calculated to encourage mechanical 149 JAPAN precision ; for when an artist’s choice of design is lim- ited to flowers, foliage, diapers, frets, and occasionally a Howo, Kirin^ or Shishi, he is constrained to pay atten- tion to details which in a more ambitious subject become points of secondary importance. The whole matter, indeed, resolves itself into this : the methods of past days were entirely decorative, while those of the present frequently aim at pictorial effect. There can be little doubt which is the more truly artistic, having regard to the object in view. Enough has probably been said on the subject of quality of p^te and glaze, fineness of crackle, and the use of enamels, to enable the amateur to distinguish with tolerable certainty between new and old Satsuma wares. As to colours it may be added that the modern decorator generally employs a lighter and more washy red than the opaque Indian red of his predecessors. This red was the only pigment in the palette of former times, all the other colours, gold and silver of course excepted, being enamels. They were green, blue, purple, black, and yellow. The last three are seldom employed now, and if used at all, are more likely to appear as pigments than as enamels. The green enamel of the present day is not inferior to that of the early potters, but the blue is distinctly impure, — a dull, muddy tone. Modern decorators have also added a half-colour, pink, the presence of which indicates a period not older than the Tempo era {1830-1843), and may usually be taken as showing a much more modern date. But while noting these distinctions, it has to be again observed that when the modern decorator finds sufficient in- ducement to put forth his full strength — as, for example, when his object is to produce a faithful 150 WARES OF SATSUMA imitation of an old specimen — his work does not fall far short of the best standards. Therefore the only certain criterion is quality of pate and glaze. In the case of the polychromatic or monochromatic wares of Chosa, not alone the peculiar glazes, but also the fine, iron-red pate is easily recognised after a little experience. Another guide in identifying a Satsuma, or Chosa, tea-jar (chatsuho) is the ito-giri ; a mark left on the bottom by the thread which the potter used to sever the piece from the clay out of which it was modelled. This mark is generally found upon Japanese tea-jars, but since the Korean workmen who settled in Satsuma turned the throwing-wheel with the left foot, while potters at other factories turned it with the right, it will be readily understood that the spiral of the Satsuma thread-mark is from left to right, and that of other factories from right to left. Pure white faience, sometimes cleverly moulded or reticulated, was a favourite production of the ancient Satsuma potters, and has proved a fertile source of deception in modern times. For these unadorned pieces, though they possess little value in the eyes of uneducated Western collectors, need only to be tricked out in gold and coloured enamels and steeped in some soiling decoction. Thus they are transformed into specimens of ‘‘ old Satsuma,” concerning which the wily dealer can always direct a customer’s attention to the plainly old pate^ and by that inimitable feature silence criticism of everything else. One scarcely cares to calculate how many ‘‘ gems ” of Satsuma-yaki which now occupy places of honour in European and American collections, belong really to this hybrid category. Further, to satisfy the demands of foreign taste, there has sprung up of late years in Japan a class JAPAN of keramic decorators who reside at the Open Ports, and there, receiving from the provinces consignments of plain white faience and porcelain, embellish them with paintings of all kinds, the main object in every case being profusion of ornament and brilliancy of effect. These artists not infrequently put their seal or name upon a vase which has passed through their hands. So far, in speaking of the Satsuma craquele faience, mention has been made only of pure white and of enamelled wares. But these were by no means the limit of the potter’s productions. His range was large. Among the most beautiful but least known of his pieces were yellow and apple-green mono- chromes. Sometimes a specimen is splashed with red showing metallic lustre, and sometimes a cup might easily be mistaken for Delft ware. Again, though more rarely, the collector is surprised by pieces of Satsuma faience decorated with blue sous couverte. The reader will have observed that the special order given by the Prince of Satsuma for the manu- facture of enamelled faience at the close of the eigh- teenth century, was addressed to the potters of Tadeno. It does not appear that faience of this description was produced at the Nawashiro-gawa factory until about 1 840. At that time one of the most distinguished workmen was Boku Seiki. His son, Seikuan, had long been ambitious to develop the decorative methods of the factory. The matter having been brought to the notice of the superintending officials, a special section was created for the purpose, and two experts were procured from Tadeno. hinder their instruction Seikuan acquired such skill that, in 1844, he was appointed superintendent of the Nishiki-de (brocade 152 WARES OF SATSUMA ware) section. In 1855 Prince Tomoyoshi caused a kiln to be erected within the grounds of his resi- dence 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 hand- somely 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 H5ko and Chiubei to Kyoto (see supra). Both the pate 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 con- traction 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 pate of the Satsuma-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 Pro- fessor 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 153 JAPAN rather than of deliberate effort. The potters of Na- washiro and Tadeno never set themselves the task of manufacturing porcelain. The first person to under- take such work in the Satsuma fief was Ono Genriu- in, or Genriu-bo, a priest, who resided at Nishi-yoda in the Chosa district of Osumi province. Ono was an ardent virtuoso. Perceiving that although the Satsuma fief possessed potters of ability, local consump- tion was chiefly supplied by wares imported from NAME OF CLAY Nara- Ash. Matsu- KUBO. Kirishima. Kasbda. Neba. Bara. Moisture . 2.82 1.67 .70 .46 1.93 1.51 Combined water . •51 11-97 10. 85 1. 1 8 11.74 7.09 Silica .... 8.405 60.72 59.42 77-15 51-79 60. 30 Alumina . 4.785 22.68 27.90 13-50 30.91 27.62 Ferric oxide . 3.300 — — •94 1.13 — Lime .... 42.765 .48 • 13 .83 •49 1.02 Magnesia . 2.415 .65 .26 .62 1.17 .46 Potash .... •74 1.02 .61 3-34 .65 .70 Soda .... .215 .82 1. 01 1.85 •34 I. 18 Carbonic acid . 34-145 — — — — — Hizen, he conceived the idea of establishing a kiln for the manufacture of porcelain. A capitalist was easily induced to embark in the enterprise, as also was an amateur keramist of some skill, Noda Kichiemon. Information as to the methods of porcelain manufac- ture was supplied by a potter called Kitamura Denzae- mon, who had once been employed at the Sarayama factory in Hizen and was now working in a mine. After some preliminary essays on a small scale, official permission was obtained to establish a kiln, and a con- siderable grant of money was made by the prince of the house of Shimazu. These things happened in 154 WARES OF SATSUMA 1 66 1. Two years later, Noda and the capitalist withdrew from the enterprise, concluding that it could never become remunerative. The factory was not closed, however. Its subsequent history will be referred to by and by. Here it will be sufficient to note that in 1663 this first attempt to manufacture porcelain in the Satsuma fief came to an end, the reason assigned for the failure being the expense of procuring materials from the distant island of Ama- kusa, which possessed the nearest beds of porcelain stone. More than a century elapsed before another attempt was made, this time by Kawara Juzaemon, a potter of Tatsumonji. In 1779 he commenced the manufacture of porcelain after the Arita style, but although his technical and artistic success was good, he was unable to find any market for his wares. About the same period another potter, Imai Giemon, residing at Shirawa-machi, Hirasa, in the Satsuma dis- trict, set up a porcelain factory at Wakimoto, in the same province, but failing in his enterprise owing to want of means, he returned to Shiramachi and told his story to Ichiji Danemon, head man of the district. The project was now taken up officially, and a factory was established under Giemon’s superintendence at Sarayama, in the Tenshin district of Satsuma. Ex- perts were obtained from Hizen, and by using the celebrated stone of Amakusa in combination with local materials, a porcelain of considerable merit was produced. It is not likely that many fine speci- mens of this ware exist. Such rare examples as are met with show that the pate closely resembles that of the Hirado-yaki ; that the glaze is softer and whiter than that of Imari, and that the enamelled decoration is rather bold and artistic than brilliant 155 JAPAN and elaborate. After the abolition of feudalism (1868) the factory passed into the hands of Watanabe Shichiroemon ; the use of vitrifiable enamels was dis- continued, and only blue-and-white porcelain of a coarse kind was produced. Three specimens of Satsuma porcelain masses have been analysed with the following results : — SATSUMA PORCELAIN MASSES Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Limb, Pot- ash, etc. Water. Specimen l . 79.13 15-73 0.32 3.82 0.91 Specimen 2 . 76.11 17.49 1. 41 5.20 0.51 Specimen 3 • 74-54 19.08 1.08 4-95 1.07 These three masses are made of first, second, and third quality Amakusa stone, respectively. The por- celains obtained from the second and third specimens were of impure colour and coarse grain ; that ob- tained from the first specimen was of a beautiful white colour, very transparent, and of granular fracture. From analyses made by M. Korschelt it appears that the constituents of Satsuma porcelain are felspar 19.3 1, clay substance 30.37, and quartz 48.28. The composition of the Satsuma clays has been given above. An analysis of the faience mass, by Mr. Korschelt, shows the following results : — SATSUMA FAIENCE MASS Specimen from Nawashiro-gawa Silica. Alumina. 63.67 30.04 Iron Oxide. Lime, Pot- ash, BTC. Water. 0.38 a.91 3.52 This mass was found to consist of two volume-parts of Kaseda white sand ; one volume-part of Kirishima white clay ; one of Yamakawa clay, and one of Mat- suga-kubo clay. The faience produced was nearly white in fracture, its yellowish tinge only becom- 156 WARES OF SATSUMA ing noticeable on comparison with the fracture of porcelain. It is necessary to return for a moment to the story of Ono Genriu-in. In 1663 his attempt to inaugu- rate the manufacture of Satsuma porcelain failed. He then applied his attention to faience, devoting all the money he possessed or could obtain to the mainte- nance of the Nishi-yoda kiln. In 1665 he was able to present twelve varieties of pottery to his feudal lord, and in consequence of this success he was nominated a Director of Keramic Industry. By-and-by the local authorities established a warehouse in Kagoshima, under Genriu’s control, for the sale of his potteries ; and in 1684 he had the honour of being directed to supply ware twice a year to the house of Shimazu. Genriu died in 1690, but before his death he had the satisfaction of seeing his wares widely patronised, and over thirty families of potters engaged in their manu- facture. He did not, however, make any noteworthy addition to keramic processes. The only ware dis- tinguished as Gen7'iu-y aki was faience having hard, reddish pate and dark brown glaze run in globules, after the fashion of the well-known Chosa ware of Hochiu. For the rest, the description already given of Hochiu’s faience applies in the main to that of Genriu, except that the latter was technically inferior. At the end of the eighteenth century the Nishi-yoda factory was closed, and the workmen moved to Tat- sumonji, where Ono Saiemon, sixth in descent from Genriu, now prosecutes his trade. It may be men- tioned here that the potters of Tatsumonji employ the following materials in the manufacture of their faience, viz. : For the faience mass, live parts by weight of the clay found at Kurogaki, in the vicinity ; 157 JAPAN three parts of a yellowish clay found at limori, in the Nishibippu district ; one part of the black earth of Hiroda, also in the Nishibippu district; and one part of the red earth of Moto-gokuraku, in the Takeko district. For the glaze, the sand of Sakimori and the clays of Bippu-mura and Oyamada-mura are employed. The family of the celebrated Hochiu, originator of the Chosa faience, is now in its ninth generation, the present representative being Kawara Gensuke, who carries on the ancestral occupation at Tatsumonji. The factories at this place suffered greatly by the abo- lition of feudal government in 1868. Deprived of the patronage which they had so long enjoyed, not more than sixteen out of forty families of potters could continue their trade. That this period of difficulty did not end in the complete prostration of the indus- try appears to have been chiefly due to Gensuke’s ex- ertions. Persistently encouraging his fellow workmen, he succeeded at last (1882) in opening a trade with Tokyo, Yokohama, and Kobe, the result being that the potters of Tatsumonji are now in a comparatively flourishing condition. But they no longer exhibit the skill of former times in the production of coloured glazes. The demand for choice specimens of such faience has practically ceased, and their staple manu- factures, whether decorated with vitrifiable enamels or in the style of the old Hochiu faience, are destined chiefly for common use. The family of Hoko, who did so much for the re- naissance and development of the Tatsumonjt-yakt in the latter part of the eighteenth century, is now rep- resented by Kawara Juzaemon ; while Kawara Tobei’s line is represented by Kawara Kintaro and Kawara Yahei. 158 WARES OF SATSUMA As to Nawashiro-gawa, the principal potter at present is Chin Jukan, twelfth descendant of Chin Tokichi, the Korean who has already been mentioned as a contemporary of Boku Heii. In 1858 Jukan was appointed head of the Government factory at Nawashiro-gawa. At that time hundreds of work- men were employed under him, and the manufacture was conducted on a large scale. But in 1868, when feudalism was abolished, the factory had to be closed. Subsequently it was opened under the auspices of a company ; Jukan’s services being still retained as superintendent. In 1874 this company failed, and the potters employed by it were reduced to a state of destitution. Jukan then set up on his own account, assuming the art name of Giokozan. He took several of the indigent potters into his employ, and succeeded in reviving the manufacture of the celebrated Ni- shiki-de Satsuma faience. Two years later, a number of the old potteries at Nawashiro-gawa were re-opened under the auspices of a new company, the Tamano- yama Kaisha. Of the present state of the industry and the methods of the potters, an excellent account is given in a paper read before the Asiatic Society of Japan, by Sir Ernest Satow, K.C.M.G., His Bri- tannic Majesty’s Minister, in Peking, the ablest of Japanese Sinologues. Mr. Satow writes thus: — In February of last year (1877) ^ opportunity of visiting the Korean village of Tsuboya, where I was most hospitably lodged and entertained by one of the inhabitants, to whose care I had been specially commended by a Japanese friend. There is nothing distinctive in the appearance of the people or in the architecture of their houses to attract the notice of a passing traveller; they all speak Japanese as their native tongue, and wear Japanese dress ; Tsuboya is in 159 JAPAN fact just like any other village. The principal potteries belonging to the Koreans are situated on the side of a hill to the south of the high road, together with the kilns belonging to the Tamanoyama Kaisha, a company recently started by some Kagoshima Samurai, The Tsuboya crackle is pro- duced at this establishment and at another on the opposite side of the road owned by a Korean named Chin Jukan, but most of the villagers devoted themselves to the manufacture of common brown earthenware. The principle of the division of labour seems to be thoroughly well understood and applied by these workmen. One will confine himself, for instance, to the bodies of teapots, of which he can produce about a hundred and fifty in a day ; another makes the lids, a third the spouts, a fourth the “ ears or project- ing pieces into which the handle Is inserted, and to a fifth Is assigned the joining of these parts together. Generally the members of a family work in concert, and form a sort of co-operative society, which is joint owner of a kiln with other such societies. The clay used for the coarse ware is found at Isakuda and Kannogawa, near Ichiku, and at Terawaki, Kukino, and Noda, near Iju-in, all in the neigh- bourhood of Tsuboya. Chocolate-coloured, red, and green glazes are obtained from Tomura, Kammuri-take, and Sasa- no-dan, while Ishiki furnishes the glaze for water-jars and other large articles of the coarse kind of ware. Three sizes of wheels are in use, the smallest of which is formed of two wooden disks about three inches thick, the upper one being fifteen inches, the lower eighteen inches in diameter, con- nected by four perpendicular bars somewhat over seven inches long. It is poised on the top of a spindle planted in a hole of sufficient depth, which passes through a hole in the lower disk and enters a socket in the under side of the upper disk, and the potter, sitting on the edge of the hole, turns the wheel round with his left foot. The largest wheel Is about twice the size every way of the smallest. The kilns are built up the face of a hill in parallel rows. Each is divided into a number of chambers with openings in the intervening partitions to allow of the passage of flame and hot air from the lower end of the kiln right up to the i6o WARES OF S A T S U M A head, and there are apertures in the side of every compart- ment, a larger one for the ware to be passed in and out by, which is of course closed during the firing, and a smaller one through which the workmen in charge can watch the prog- ress of the baking. The fuel is placed in the lowest chamber, which is about six feet square, and consists of split pine logs about two feet in length and a couple of inches in diameter. Two hundred and fifty or sixty bundles of wood are required for a single firing, which usually lasts about thirty-six hours. No stands are used for the brown earthen- ware while it is being baked, but the articles are piled on each other, every second one being upside down ; they con- sequently adhere together slightly when brought out of the kiln, but a slight tap with a piece of wood is sufficient to separate them. Between the heavier pieces, such as the large jars used for packing tea, small bits of dry clay are inserted to keep them apart. The glaze is put on by immersion, the article, as for instance a teapot, is dipped into the liquid upside down, in such a manner that very little gets inside, and then being quickly reversed, is set on its base, so that the glaze flows down pretty equally all round. When dry the glaze is of a yellowish-gray opaque colour, and it is put on before the article is subjected to any process of firing. The material used for the finer kind of earthenware, that is, saishiki-de or painted ware, and nishiki-de^ into the decoration of which gold enters as well as colours, consists of white clay from three localities, namely. Mount Kirishima, Ibusuki, and the gold mine at Yamagano, of white stone from Kaseda and Kushiki, and of white sand from Kominato. Ibusuki supplies in addition a second kind of clay, called bara^ which is said to be very brittle, and no doubt is the ingredient which gives somewhat of the character of porcelain to certain pieces of the ware. The Kaseda stone is used also for glazing when powdered and mixed with the ashes of nara wood (Quercus glandulifera), or some other sort of hard timber. The clay and stone are well pounded, soaked in water, and passed several times through a fine sieve placed over a VOL. VIII, II i5i JAPAN receiver. The minute particles which settle at the bottom are then taken up and dried on boards. To this process is given the name of midzu-boshiy or water-drying, and it is common to all branches of the manufacture. For the fine white earthenware four kinds of clay, together with bara and white Kaseda sand, which have been previously subjected to midzu-boshiy are mixed in certain proportions known to the experienced workman. Lumps of this stuff are placed upon wooden blocks, and pounded with hammers to the extent of about three thousand blows, by which it is brought into the state of raw material ; but, previously to being actually converted into clay for the potter’s use, it requires about three thousand blows more. It is considered to improve in quality the longer it is kept. The kilns in which nishiki-de and saishiki-de are baked are one-celled, and built of clay upon a foundation of brick, with walls about six Japanese inches thick. Fire is kindled in the mouth of a passage which projects from the front of the kiln, and the hot air passes up this to the chamber, where it can circulate freely round the muffle, in which the biscuit is deposited. The largest of these kilns have the following dimensions : — EXTERNALLY Height 5. 5 feet (Japanese measure) . Diameter 4.5 feet. Height of hot-air passage . 5.0 feet. Width . . . INTERNALLY Height 4.5 feet. Diameter 3.5 feet. Height of hot-air passage . 1.2 feet. . . 0.9 feet. A space of four inches in width is left between the muffle and the inner wall of the kiln. For nishikide three firings are necessary ; first, the su-yaki, after which the glaze is put on ; secondly, the honyaki, after which the piece is painted and gilded ; and thirdly, slow and gradual firing, which develops the colours ; the durations being twenty-four, forty-eight, and ten hours respectively. During the last firing the temperature is observed from time to time through an aperture near the top, the test employed being a piece of pottery marked with various pigments, which gradually assume the desired tints as the heat increases. 162 WARES OF SATSUMA A memorandum drawn up by an official of the Kagoshima prefecture, for presentation to the Commission which pre- sided over the Industrial Exhibition held last autumn in Yedo, gives the composition of the pigments used for producing the various colours of the fine Satsuma wares. Dr. Edward Divers, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry at the Imperial College of Engineering, has kindly examined specimens of these materials in Yedo, and has furnished me with their English names. The mixtures for the various colours are as follows : — Red — Ground white glass, soft or lead variety (shiratama no ko^ ; white lead {to no tsuchi) ; colcothar or red oxide of iron {beni-gard)} and a silicious earth called hinoka tsuchi. Green — Ground white glass; white lead; copper oxy- chloride {roku-shyd) and silicious earth. Yellow — Ground white glass; red lead {komeitan) ; silicious earth and metallic antimony {toshirome). White — Ground white glass, silicious earth, and white lead. Blue — Ground glass and smalt (a ground blue glass, the colour of which is due to a cobalt compound; the Japanese name is bana konjyo). Purple — Ground white glass, white lead, and manganese. Black — Ground white glass, white lead, an earthy man- ganese ore containing a little cobalt {wensei) and a very silicious carbonate of copper, apparently ground and elutriated malachite {shionuki-roku shyo). At the pottery belonging to Chin Jukan I saw a group being modelled in the white clay, which after baking and glazing assumes a light cream colour and becomes what is known as Satsuma crackle. These articles were intended to be decorated later on with gilding and colours. The potters here possessed only two old pieces of plain ware, a chbji-buro and a figure of a child playing with a diminutive puppy. The chbji-buro is a utensil formerly of two pieces, namely, a brazier and a boiler on the top of it, and is intended for distilling oil of cloves, though in practice it ^ Dr. Divers informs me that benigara is a corruption of Bengal, whence this substance was formerly obtained. 163 JAPAN is used merely as an ornament. The artists were employed in modelling figures of Kwan-on and Dharma in white clay, with the conventional face and robes given to Buddhist personages, and toes all of the same length. A third was engaged upon a tiger, sitting up in a cat-like posture, in- tended to be two and a-half Japanese feet in height when finished. Most of their figures are modelled from drawings in Indian ink, but the coloured designs are laid on from memory. Until fourteen years ago a ware called Bekko-yaki was made at this village, the colours of which were intended to imitate tortoise-shell. It was a common ware, and used to be exported to Nagasaki in large quantities. A piece of this, said to be old, which was exhibited to me, had green blotches, as well as the two usual colours, yellow and brown. At the Tamanoyama Company’s establishment all sorts of ware are produced, common brown pottery, inferior blue- and-white, and highly gaudy crackle. Here I found a workman engaged in modelling a statuette of Christ after a sentimental woodcut in a religious periodical called the ‘‘ Christian Observer ; ” he had copied the face and beard with considerable accuracy, but had draped the body and limbs in the robes of a Buddhist priest. Some stoves of brown earthenware, imitated from American iron stoves, were already ready for the kiln ; their price was to be seven dollars delivered in Yedo. I saw also some huge white vases of monstrous shape, composed of hexagons, circles, squares, piled up as it were pell-mell, the result of an at- tempt at originality, unhampered by traditional notions of form. The account given of themselves by the Korai jin (as they are called) is that all the inhabitants of the village, peasants as well as potters, are descended from Koreans brought over during the period Keiho (1596-1615) by a Satsuma samurai named Ijuin. Until about three years ago they wore their hair tied up in a knot at the top of the head, but most of them now wear the Japanese queue, or cut their hair in the style which has been introduced from abroad. They informed me that in former days they dressed them- selves in their own costume on special occasions, as for 164 WARES OF SATSUMA instance when they went forth to salute the prince of Satsuma as he passed through their village on his way up to Yedo. One of the potters was good enough to put on this dress in order to give me an idea of the appearance which they presented. He began by drawing on a pair of wide trousers of dark blue silk, of a very delicate material, differing from the ordinary Japanese hakama in having a division between the legs, but tied on in the same way, that is, the front part was tied on by strings which passed round the waist, and then the back piece was fastened by strings in a double bow-knot in front. Next he threw over his shoulders a wide-sleeved mantle or haori of like colour and texture, the sleeves of which were not sewn up in pockets, as those of the clothes worn by adult Japanese usually are, and fastened it with strings on the right side of the waist. Finally, he crowned himself with a long conical black cap, edged with white. He also produced a broad-brimmed black hat, apparently woven of the stem of a kind of creeper. The knowledge of the Korean language is still kept up by some among them, whose duty it is to interpret between cast-away Korean junkmen and the Japanese officials. Before the destruction of the monasteries, the inhabitants of the village belonged to the Buddhist sect Tendaishu, which was no doubt that of their ancestors in their native country. At present they are under the protection of a Japanese deity, whose shrine, called Gyoku-san-Gu, stands on a hill south- west of the village. In front of the shrine stand a couple of lanterns of white ware with a blue design, presented by the potters belonging to sixteen out of the seventeen families, as may be seen by the names inscribed on the pedestals. The tombs in the. cemetery, which lies at the side of the path to this temple, do not differ in any marked manner from Japanese tombs, which is what we should expect to find, as the style of sepulchral monuments in Japan is essentially Indian-Buddhist, and most likely derived through Korea. It appears that these people marry freely amongst themselves, identity of surname not being con- sidered an obstacle as it is in China, but seldom intermarry with Japanese, except they be members of the samurai class. 165 JAPAN I gathered, in fact, from the conversation of the villagers, that they considered themselves much superior to the aboriginal natives of the country to which their ancestors had been transplanted. Something has been said above to warn the collector that among specimens of so-called ‘‘ old Satsuma ” offered for sale he must expect to find an immense majority of spurious pieces. As this part of the sub- ject has very practical interest, it may be well to briefly describe the various kinds of deception now commonly practised. First and most difficult to detect is faience of which the pate is old and the decoration new. Numerous pieces of this have been sold at large prices during the past fifteen years ; for the production of undecorated ivory-white ware at Nawashiro-gawa factories was very considerable before the Restoration (i868). When a specimen of white Satsuma-yaki comes into the hands of a dealer, his common practice is to send it to the atelier of a Tokyo decorator. A number of these artists live in the cap- ital. Their skill is admirable. In respect of delicate work and elaboration of detail, they suffer nothing by comparison with the best of their predecessors. Where they fail is in the preparation of enamels. Want of ability in this important branch of the dec- orator’s art, or perhaps the necessity of economy, induces them to substitute pigments, the consequence being a loss of richness and brilliancy. When they do employ enamels freely, these seldom show the lustre, purity, and fine colour of the early potters’ productions. Before receiving its decoration the faience has generally to be re-stoved, in order to remove all impurities. After decoration it must, of i66 WARES OF SATSUMA course, be stoved once more. The result of such treatment is that not only does the piece lose any mellowness due to age, but the regularity of its crackle is impaired, and much, if not the whole, of the ivory-like surface that constitutes the chief beauty of old Satsuma, disappears. The final process is to steep the specimen in tea or acid. It emerges stained, and covered in parts, sometimes entirely, with a network of black or dark brown crackle. A very little experience should enable amateurs to dis- tinguish between the dingy look of this medicated ware and the soft mellow glow of the genuine Sat- suma-yaki. Such experience, however, seems slow to come, for to this day numerous specimens of false Satsuma find ready purchasers in America and France. In the second class of dealer’s ‘‘ treasures ” pate and decoration are both new. Much of this ware has genuine merits of its own, and is honestly sold on its merits. Ninety-nine pieces out of every hundred are decorated in Tokyo or Kobe. The designs are elab- orate. Figures are among the most favourite subjects : their flesh and drapery offer an easy field for employ- ing the crude pigments of the modern decorator. There is usually a profusion of diapers, one object being to conceal, rather than to expose, the surface of the faience. Sometimes, especially in the case of pieces decorated in Kobe, the faience is not allowed to appear at all, being entirely covered with gold pig- ments and a little enamel. The best of these specimens are distinguished by miniature painting wonderfully fine and elaborate. When it is desired to simulate age, medication, roughness of decoration, and trituration with dirt are resorted to. Those who 167 JAPAN are capable of being deceived by such devices must buy their experience. It may help them, however, to know that the presence of a dull black or brown pigment in the decoration is an infallible sign of modern work. The third class of wares often sold as ‘‘ old Satsuma ” are not Satsuma faience at all. They are manufactured in Kyoto, Owari, or at Ota, near Yokohama. These will be noticed in their proper places. It will be enough to say here that the trade in them has virtu- ally ceased. The average number of specimens of genuine old Satsuma enamelled faience that have been offered annually for sale in Japan during the past fifteen years is probably from five to ten, and not more than one- half of these have left the country. These facts ought to teach collectors in Europe and America what to expect. Readers who have followed the above history with care need scarcely be reminded that ivory-like craquele * faience, with decoration in gold and coloured enamels, is by no means the only Satsuma-yaki worthy of note, though Western collectors have hitherto concentrated their attention on it to the exclusion of other varieties. Even though the connoisseur confine himself to faience manufactured with the well-known white pdte of the Nawashiro workshops, he finds, in addition to enamelled surfaces, the four rare monochromes men- tioned above ; namely, apple-green, straw-yellow, pure black, and gold-dust black. Every one of these is beautiful and attractive. The charm of the green and yellow glazes is greatly enhanced by their minute crackle, and the soft lustre of the black will bear comparison with its Chinese rival. Owing to their i68 WARES OF SATSUMA exceeding scarcity, the first two kinds are almost be- yond the reach of ordinary collectors, but examples of black glazes may be met with occasionally. In producing them, Saburo-hei, son of the celebrated Hochiu, is said to have exhibited unique skill, but it should be noted that, in nine cases out of every ten, the pate over which these black glazes are run is reddish brown in colour, and, though not less fine, is heavier than the pdte of the enamelled variety, while the glazes themselves are without crackle. To the white-/>^/^’ class belongs also the remarkable tortoise- shell glaze, so little known outside Japan. Though, perhaps, less charming than curious, it exhibits wonderful technical skill, and is deservedly held in high esteem. Passing, then, to the characteristic reddish brown pate of the Chosa, Tatsumonji, and Tadeno factories, there are quite a number of glazes all showing delicate or rich effects of colour and all admirably manufactured and applied. Of these the rarest is the yakatsu-gusuri, or glaze run in large globules, the earliest Chosa-yaku Descended from it is the Same-gusun\ or shark’s-skin glaze, with a finely shagreened surface, light brown and somewhat dull. This last cannot be classed among the choice products of the Satsuma kilns. Very much commoner and more attractive is the Namako-gusuri^ or flambe glaze, sometimes called Seto-gusuri, though it bears little real resemblance to the Owari faience. In this a rich brown, occasionally verging upon chocolate, is flecked or overrun with transparent blue or green. Then there is the tea-green variety, in which are included many shades of colour, olive, greenish brown, dead- leaf brown, and green fading into grey. In these the overglaze — for all the Satsuma-yaki now in question 169 JAPAN has two and even three superposed glazes — usually assumes the form of white flecking or splashing, but not infrequently the body-glaze is light brown and the upper glaze tea-green without any flecking. The glazes, though thin, are soft and solid, and nothing can exceed the skill with which they are applied. In a majority of cases they are run so as to leave uncov- ered a portion of the pate at the lower part of the specimen, a tour de force most characteristic of the tea- green class. There is further the iron-dust glaze, brownish red with minute black spotting, often relieved by blue flecks or splashes similar to those of the Namako variety. This Tessha-gusuri is, on the whole, the most easily procurable. Its manufacture was carried down to the middle of the present cen- tury. Late specimens may be detected by their comparatively coarse, porous pate and the crude ap- pearance of their glaze. By recent connoisseurs the Namako variety has been distinguished as Satsuma Izumi, from the name of a factory in the north of the province where similar faience is even now produced. But the outcome of this kiln is coarse and altogether inferior to the faiences of Tatsumonji, Nawashiro, and Tadeno. In fact, the Izumi faience is among the cheapest and rudest wares of every-day use in Japan, whereas the varieties described above belong to a high range of keramic skill. Unfortunately, as is too often the case with respect to choice Japanese glazes, speci- mens of these fine wares are nearly always small and insignificant, as tea-jars, cups, sake-hott\ts, ewers, and censers. Enough has already been said about Satsuma porce- lain— generally known in Japan as Hirasa-yaki — and of faience having blue decoration sous couverte. 170 WARES OF SATSUMA These two varieties complete the list of fine Satsuma wares. There remain to be noted two descriptions, which, in addition to the scantness of their merits from an artistic or technical point of view, possess no claim to originality. They are Mishima Satsuma and Sunkoroku Satsuma. The former is copied directly from the Korean ware described in the preceding chapter, which derived its name from the fact that its decoration resembled the vertically disposed lines of ideographs in the Mishima almanack. It is hard, reddish brown stone-ware, the decoration effected by inlaying white slip in the pate, and the glaze is light grey. Large jars of this faience are common objects in Japanese confectioners’ shops ; they present the aspect of pieces covered with corduroy. In some specimens the ugliness is relieved by horizontal lines, bands of stars, fringes of scallops, or decoration a gerbe. The ware belongs to the same type as the celebrated Yatsushiro-yaki, to be spoken of by and by, but having been manufactured solely for the most ordinary uses, little care was expended upon it. Occasionally the formal designs of the Mishima Satsuma are traced in black. The second variety, or Sunkoroku Satsuma, is copied from a faience of archaic character manufactured near Aden, and valued by the Japanese for the sake of its curiosity and foreign origin. The pate is stone-grey, tolerably hard, but designedly less fine, than that of choice Satsuma wares. The glaze is translucid, and the decoration consists of zigzags, scrolls, diapers, and tessellations in dark brown obtained from the juice of the Kaki. The Indian affinities of this type are unmistakable. It is not without interest, but a somewhat coarse grey faience with purely con- 171 JAPAN ventional designs in dark brown certainly cannot boast many attractions. The original ware of Aden is, in some cases, redeemed from utter homeliness by a curious purplish tinge which the glaze assumes in places. 172 Chapter IV WARES OF KTOro KAEMPFER, writing of Kyoto — or Miako (capital), as he calls it — in 1690, says: ‘‘ Miako is the great magazine of all Jap- anese manufactures and commodities, and the chief mercantile town in the Empire. There is scarce a house in this large capital where there is not something made or sold. Here they refine copper, coin money, print books, weave the richest stuffs with gold and silver flowers. The best and scarcest dyes, the most artful carvings, all sorts of musical in- struments, pictures, japanned cabinets, all sorts of things wrought in gold and other metals, particularly in steel, as the best tempered blades and other arms, are made here in the utmost perfection, as are also the richest dresses and after the best fashion, all sorts of toys, puppets moving their heads of themselves, and numberless other things too many to be here mentioned. In short, there is nothing can be thought of but what may be found at Miako, and nothing, though never so neatly wrought, can be imported from abroad but what some artist or other in this capital will undertake to imitate it. Con- sidering this, it is no wonder that the manufactures of Miako are become so famous throughout the Em- pire as to be easily preferred to all others, though perhaps inferior in some particulars, only because they 173 JAPAN have the name of being made there. There are but few houses in all the chief streets where there is not something to be sold, and for my part I could not help wondering whence they can have customers enough for such an immense quantity of goods. ’T is true, indeed, there is scarce anybody passes through Miako but what buys something or other of ' the manufactures of this city, either for his own use, or for presents to be made to his friends and relatives.” During the first seven centuries of its existence Kyoto was scarcely ever in a condition adapted to the development of art industry. In 794, when the Em- peror Kwammu moved the Imperial residence thither, the place was little more than an insignificant village. At first its growth was rapid, for, as is shown by the relics preserved at Nara, the previous seat of Govern- ment, even in those early days Japanese Court life was highly refined. But on the whole the habits of the nation were simple. Class distinctions did not yet exist. Every man capable of bearing arms was a soldier. When his services were required, he took the field, and when peace was restored, he returned to the bread-earning occupation which he had before pursued. The gradual advent of a social state in which one section of the people ministered to the luxurious proclivities of the other, was accompanied by the rise of three great families, the Minamoto, the Taira, and the Fujiwara, whose feuds devastated the country for five centuries. Students of Japanese his- tory are familiar with the terrible succession of civil wars of that era, the effects of which culminated in the middle of the sixteenth century when Kyoto was practically a mass of ruins, and the court nobility were 174 WARES OF KYOTO compelled to seek shelter and sustenance in the castles of the feudal lords throughout the provinces. The Emperors were for the most part poor even to em- barrassment, — so poor that on the death of one of them (1500) the corpse remained without burial for forty days because means were wanting to perform the funeral rites prescribed by etiquette. Under such circumstances the keramic art, in Japan always more or less dependent on patronage, was not likely to flourish in Kyoto. Passing, however, to the times of Yoshimasa (1480) and the Taiko (1580), it may be supposed that the potter's trade would have grown and prospered under the protection of these munifi- cent art patrons. Some impetus it certainly did receive, but nothing that could have presaged its ultimate fame. The Taiko ordered experts to be brought from Korea, and the reader knows already how large a debt Japanese keramics owed to this step. But the great general and statesman died before he could direct the employment of these potters. Had he lived a few years longer, there can be no doubt that he would have established several of the Koreans in Kyoto, and that the story of the Imperial city's in- dustry would now have to be told differently. On his decease things were ordered in a fashion at vari- ance with his original purpose. The Koreans were distributed throughout the provincial factories, and there was not found in Kyoto any nobleman disposed or competent to pursue the art programme traced by the Taiko, The city, it should be observed, was chiefly the residence of the Kuge, or Court Nobles, — men who, though superior to the provincial magnates in rank, were far inferior in wealth and authority. After the Taiko' s death, too, there occurred between his US JAPAN son Hideyori and the renowned lyeyasu, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of Regents, a feud which ended in the partial destruction of the splendid castle at Osaka, and temporarily checked the prosperity which had begun to smile upon Kyoto after such a long in- terval of suffering and disturbance. It may be said that the condition of keramics in this city first began to deserve attention in the early part of the seventeenth century. Previous to that time the potter's art had been regarded as a species of genteel pastime, and had been practised by dilettanti who proposed to them- selves no very high ideal and were good-naturedly appreciative of one another's achievements. The first Kyoto potter of whom there is any record was a scion of the Imperial family. This was Prince Unrin-in Yasuhito, seventh son of the Emperor Nim- myo. In the year 851 he is said to have settled at Kami-yama, in the Shigaraki district of the province of Omi, and there to have commenced the manufac- ture of pottery. His instructor in the art was Imbe Kyonushi, by some called the father of Japanese ke- ramists. It is recorded that in the year 888, on the occasion of a festival, Yasuhito manufactured a vase with Kami-yama clay, and presented it to the Emperor Uda, who as a reward raised him to the fifth official rank and authorised him to take the family name of Genji. Yasuhito was thenceforth known as Mina- moto no Yasuchika [Gen is an alternative pronuncia- tion of Minamoto) . As to the nature of his productions tradition is silent, but there can be no doubt that they were unglazed pottery. Some antiquarians have been disposed to believe that the art of glazing pottery was known to the experts of the Imperial city at the time when Yasuchika flourished. They found this idea on 176 WARES OF KYOTO the fact that the tiles used for the Palace of Peace [Heianjo)y built by the Emperor at Kyoto in 794, were covered with dark green glaze. It is, however, almost beyond question that these tiles were imported from China, — the great majority of evidence says from Cochin China. If it be admitted that such man- ufactures were possible to the Japanese of the eighth century, then there will be no reason to deny that the ‘‘pure vessels’" [Seiki) potted at Fushimi (about five miles from Kyoto) during the reign of the Emperor Yuriaku (457-479), were also glazed. No such theory will bear scrutiny. Both the Seiki of Yuriaku’s time and the pieces manufactured by Minamoto no Yasu- chika were undoubtedly a species of fine red unglazed pottery, such as is used to this day in ceremonial uten- sils. When the Taiko received the Korean ambas- sadors in audience at Kyoto, wine was handed round in earthenware cups, as it would still be on a similar occasion were Japanese usages observed. At the close of the fifteenth century Prince Yoshimasa’s enthusi- asm for the Cha-no-Tu ought to have given a marked impulse to the keramic art. Such was not the case, however. It is true that Yoshimasa caused a small kiln to be erected at his palace of Higashi-yama, and that his example was followed by many private per- sons. But the results of these amateur efforts are de- scribed by Japanese writers as soft, imperfectly fired, and generally defective faience. In fact, the nature of this early Kyoto ware depended entirely on the ac- cidental skill of people who practised the art as much for amusement as for profit. After Yoshimasa’s decease the most renowned pa- tron of the Cha-no-Tu was Takeda Shinshiro, feudal chief of Inaba (born 1505, died 1558), whose artist- voL. VIII. — 12 lyy JAPAN name was Jo-o. Among his associates and immediate successors were three men, Sohku, Shoi, and Kohei, whose reputation as potters is still preserved by devo- tees of the Tea Ceremonials. Like all the Kyoto keramists of those days, they made the manufacture of tea utensils not a profession but a pastime, and, from the specimens of their work now extant, they may be said to have followed the methods of the Seto potters at a considerable distance. p&te of the tiny pieces ascribed to them is light brown, verging upon buff, fine and tolerably hard. The glaze is opaque and of a dark mahogany colour. It has little lustre, and its method of application argues but scanty skill. In the same century and the beginning of the next, seven names are recorded : Genjuro, Shimbei, Kosan, Moe- mon, Kichibei, Domi, and Manemon. These amateurs were contemporaries and successors of Sen no Rikiu ; they probably flourished between 1560 and 1630. In this book, Kanko Zusetsu^ Mr. Ninagawa Noritane discusses at some length the probable professions of the six, and, for the purpose of comparing their merits, quotes passages from unfamiliar annals. It would be fruitless to follow the learned antiquarian into such dissertations. What has been said above of Sohaku and his contemporaries applies equally to Gen- juro, Manemon, and the rest. They are interesting for the sake of the time in which they lived, not at all for any addition they made to its keramic resources. A tea-jar manufactured by Moemon and depicted in the Kanko Zusetsu shows that he, at least, studied rug- gedness and rusticity rather than beauty or technical excellence. The reader will remember that during the second half of the sixteenth century the Raku faience, inau- 178 WARES OF KYOTO gurated by the Korean Ameya, had become a favourite ware with the Kyoto tea-clubs. The history of this Raku-yaki has already been given. It is referred to here only for the sake of summarising the keramic productions of Kyoto at the beginning of the seven- teenth century. They were: (i)red, unglazed pot- tery manufactured by Yasuchika and others ; (2) the Raku-yaki^ a coarse faience covered with black, yellow, white, or salmon-coloured glaze; (3) faience with fine pate and glaze of dark chestnut colour or yellow- ish brown ; (4) unglazed pottery having buff-coloured pate of great fineness, and decorated with black and gold lacquer (manufactured at Fushimi and already described as Soshiro-yaki) ; and (5) faience having greyish pate, a craquele glaze, showing a slightly yel- lowish tinge, and decoration of sketchy character in blue or brown sous couverte. This last variety marks the transition from the comparatively rude to the re- fined and artistic stage of Kyoto keramics. The blue decoration was called ai-e [ai signifies blue ; a pic- ture), and the brown was known as shiku-e (from shikuy the juice of the Diospyros kakt). As to the artists by whom the process of decorating faience with colours under the glaze was inaugurated in Kyoto, tradition says little. It is tolerably well established that as early as the year 1510, factories existed at places called Shiru-dani and Komatsu-dani, near the temple Seikan-ji. The names of three potters, Otoroku, Oto- waya, and Kiushichi, are associated with the faience produced there during the sixteenth century. Their pieces are described as possessing close pate and toler- ably fine crackle ; and it is recorded that towards the close of the century designs in dark, impure blue, in black, and in brown began to be employed for deco- 179 JAPAN rative purposes. To such wares the terms Seikan-ji- yaki, Otowa-yaki, or, more generally, Ko-kyomizu-yaki (old Ky5mizu ware) are indifferently applied. But it must be confessed that this part of the subject is wrapped in considerable obscurity. Nor can the student wonder that it should be so, having regard to the trifling success achieved by the manufacture of such wares. The decorative designs, though slight and insignificant, were not without artistic merit, but the colours and the technique generally were of an inferior order. It is with Nomura Seisuke (called also Seiyemon and Seibei) that the history of Kyoto art-faience really commences. There is no name more renowned in the catalogue of Japanese keramists. He was a scion of the noble house of Fujiwara, and in his early youth, a pupil of Sohaku, a master of Tea Ceremo- nials, from whom he acquired the keramic proclivities destined to be afterwards so largely developed. Some doubt exists as to the date of his birth, but this is a matter of small moment, since collateral events deter- mine with sufficient precision the period when his career became really interesting. His native place was a village near the temple of Ninwaji (pronounced Ninnaji) in the environs of Ky5to, and by combining the initial syllable of this word with that of his name (Seisuke) there was obtained the term ‘‘ Ninsei,” by which the man and his works alike are known to posterity. Ninsei’s first productions were simple pieces with shiku-e decoration. By-and-by, however, he made an important addition to his methods. The reader will remember that decoration with vitrifiable enamels was practised at the Hyakken factory in Hizen as early as i8o WARES OF KYOTO 1620, and that it was carried to great perfection by the first Kakiemon and his contemporaries about thirty years later. Naturally, a considerable quantity of the new ware found its way to the capital, where it excited at once the admiration and the envy of the leading ke- ramists. But for a time the possibility of imitating it does not seem to have been conceived, since the secret was guarded at the Hizen factories by a series of the most rigorous enactments. It happened, however, that between the years 1650 and 1655 a certain Aoyama Koemon, acting as agent for the sale of the new porcelain, associated himself with one Kurobei, a fai- ence vendor of Kyoto, and was persuaded by the latter to disclose the methods which had won for Arita so valuable a monopoly. The unfortunate Koemon’s indiscretion is said to have cost him his life, but the precious recipe remained in Kurobei’s possession, and subsequently passed into the hands of Nomura Ninsei. There is, therefore, very little risk of inaccuracy in ascribing the first manufacture of enamelled faience in Japan to the year 1655. These facts, elicited by independent research, re- cently received remarkable confirmation from a scroll written and signed by a Kyoto potter, Tsuboya Roku- bei, in the year 1759. The scroll reads as follows: ‘‘During the Meirei era (1655—1657), there came from Saruyama in the province of Hizen a man named Aoyama Koemon. From him our ancestor, Kurobei, learned the secret mode of manufacturing vitrifiable enamels, having bound himself by a solemn oath not to reveal it. The circumstance is one to be treasured in the memories of keramic decorators.’’ Not having made keramics his profession, Ninsei had no fixed workshop. His first productions were 181 JAPAN potted in the neighbourhood of the temple of Seikan, and at the kiln called Otowa, both of which are in the district of Omuro. Hence the origin of the term Omuro-yakiy by which these pieces are generally known. Subsequently he worked at factories called Awata, Iwakura, and Mizoro, not only practising but impart- ing the secrets he had acquired. All these places are in or near Kyoto. Otowa-yama is the name of a hill which lies within three-quarters of a mile from the Imperial Palace, to the east. On a slope of this hill is the celebrated Kyomizu-zaka, a street which, shortly after Ninsei s time, became, and has ever since remained, the centre of the keramic industry of Kyoto. Awata is about a thousand yards due north of Kyomizu-zaka. Mizoro lies four miles to the northwest of Awata. The temple of Ninwaji is a mile and a quarter to the west of the Palace, and Iwakura is two and a half miles to the north of Mizoro, being thus more than five miles from Kvoto. Nomura Ninsei made no attempt to hide the secret of his processes, but, a true lover of his art, delighted to visit the workshops of his confreresy and to impart to them the results of his own experience or receive those of theirs. No doubt the remarkably rapid development of the Kyoto faience during the latter half of the seventeenth cen- tury is due in no small degree to this liberality. If Ninsei’s title to fame rested solely upon the fact that he was the originator of enamelled faience, he would deserve to be remembered. For, though he did not invent this process, his manner of employing it marked an epoch in the history of his country’s keramics. Under his inspiration the wares of Kyoto assumed a new character. He was the first to shake himself entirely free from alien influences, whether 182 WARES OF KYOTO Chinese or Korean, and to adopt the ‘‘ natural style ** now universally regarded as representative of Japan. To whatever factory the student turns, some traces of the inspiration of Ninsei’s genius are discei;nible, and it is scarcely too much to assert that almost every decorative fashion which by its grace and artistic fidelity has excited the admiration of Western critics, owes a large debt to Nomura Ninsei and those whom he educated. Nor is this all that can be said of him. In the eyes of his own countrymen he distinguished himself by the improved technical processes he intro- duced much more than by his use of vitrifiable enamels. Up to his time the only respectable pieces of Kyoto faience were virtually accidental productions. Genjiro, Sohaku, Shimbei, and their peers never mas- tered the details of manipulation and stoving so thor- oughly as to have any confidence in their work or to establish any claim to be called experts. They appear to have formed little conception of the capabilities of crackle, content if only they produced pate and glaze which might bear comparison with their Seto models. But in Ninsei’s hands the faience of Kyoto became an object of rare beauty. Not only was the pate of his pieces close and hard, but the crackle of the grey or cream-coloured glaze was almost as regular as the meshes of a spider's web. Only the most painstaking manipulation of materials and management of tempera- ture in stoving could have accomplished such results. In later and less conscientious times, the nature of the crackle changed so perceptibly that this one point affords a trustworthy criterion of old and fine ware. Ninsei's crackle was nearly circular. The surface of choice specimens of his handiwork conveys the im- pression of being covered with very fine netting, 183 JAPAN rather than with a tracery of intersecting lines. Its appearance is aptly described by the Chinese term ‘‘fish-roe crackle.’’ Working, as he did, at different places, varieties are found in the pate of his pieces. The most common is hard, close-grained clay, verg- ing upon brick-red in colour, and perfectly free from foreign particles. Sometimes the colour changes to yellowish grey, and the texture becomes nearly as fine as that of pipe-clay. His monochrome glazes are scarcely less remarkable than his crackle. First among them must be placed metallic black, run over grass-green in such a way that the latter shows just sufficiently to correct any sombreness of effect. On the surface of this glaze, or else in reserved medallions of cream-like crackle, are painted diapers, and chaste floral designs in gold, silver, red, and coloured enamels. Another glaze invented by him, and imitated success- fully by the chief experts among his successors, is pearl-white, through which a pink blush seems to spread. In golden brown, chocolate, and buff he also produced charming tints, and his skill as a modeller was scarcely less than his mastery of mechanical de- tails. As a rule he marked his pieces with the two ideographs Nin-sei [vide Marks and Seals). Japanese connoisseurs profess ability to distinguish the true from the false by this cachet alone. But although Ninsei seems to have habitually subjected his graving-tool to greater pressure when commencing than when finish- ing a stroke, thus offering a slight guide to the iden- tification of his mark, this subtle distinction is scarcely appreciable to foreign eyes. The amateur’s wisest plan is to place no reliance on the mark Nin-sei, for it has been more extensively counterfeited than the cachet of any other Japanese artist. Hundreds, nay, 184 WARES OF KYOTO thousands, of comparatively modern specimens of Kyoto ware thus marked are offered by curio-dealers to inexperienced strangers as genuine specimens of Ninsei-yaki, Perhaps it need scarcely be^ said that genuine specimens are very scarce. They do exist, and find their way into the market from time to time, but their high value in Japan — as much as two or three hundred dollars is readily paid for a small bowl of the best description — keeps them out of Western collections. If it be required to indicate tests of easy ap- plication for determining the claims of a piece attrib- uted to Ninsei, they are, first, the pate^ which ought to be very hard and of brick-red or yellowish grey colour ; secondly, the crackle, which should be uniform and of circular shape ; and thirdly, the enamels, which in pieces by Ninsei and his contemporaries or immediate successors are remarkable for combined richness and softness. The second of these characteristics, if present in a marked degree, will generally justify the amateur in assigning a specimen of Kyot5 faience, if not to Ninsei, at any rate to the century in which Ninsei lived. The most renowned pictorial artist of Ninsei’s era was Tanyu. This painter and the great keramist appear to have been fast friends. It is related that they took an equal interest in each other’s art, and that many of the pieces manufactured by Ninsei bore designs from the brush of Tanyu or his pupil Eishin. These designs were largely imitated at the Kyoto fac- tories, and the popularity of pieces thus decorated was shared by specimens copied from Chinese ware orna- mented with fishes from the brush of a Chinese artist, Bokkei, and hence called Bokkei-hachi, In fact, public taste turned completely from the sober and severe style of the Seto potters. Decorated faience became the 185 JAPAN rage, and in some quarters of Kyoto every second house had its little workshop and kiln. The methods of decoration practised by Ninsei were three. They are known among Japanese connois- seurs as shibu-ye^ ai-ye^ and kin-ye, or pictures in black and brown, in blue, and in enamels and gold. The shibu-ye and ai-ye are found upon pieces manufactured by Ninsei years before he began to employ enamels. It is certain that when Aoyama Koemon’s recipes became known in Kyoto, Ninsei was already re- nowned for his skill in the chaster fashions, which the best keramists of Kyoto copied in later times. His pictorial designs were always remarkably bold and simple, but the shapes which he devised for incense-boxes show much variety ; such things as battledores, helmets, official hats (yeboshi), bivalves, mythical animals, ducks, sparrows, cranes, and so forth, being copied with fidelity. Referring to the universality of his genius, it is generally said of him that the only things he could not make were celadon and porcelain. None of his descendants practised the potter's art. When Japanese speak, as they some- times do, of the second Ninsei " or the third Ninsei," they are in error. There was but one Nin- sei. Another misconception is to suppose that a con- temporary potter, by name Wanjin, of Korean descent, anticipated Ninsei in the use of vitrifiable enamels. Wanjin only trod in Ninsei's footsteps, having him- self no title to be mentioned in the same breath with the great amateur. Near Seikanji, where Ninsei manufactured his first pieces, there exist the ruins of a factory where Gyogi Bosatsu is said to have worked. In the same locality, before Ninsei's era, two factories had already been i86 WARES OF KYOTO opened at Shiru-dani and Komatsu-dani, as mentioned above. The reader knows that the names of three potters, Otoroku, Otowaya, and Kiushichi, who worked at the close of the sixteenth and the begin- ning of the seventeenth century, were associated with these factories. Their pieces are the original faience of Kyoto ; that is to say, ware having close pate^ tolerably regular crackle, and greyish or yellowish glaze. They also employed ai-e and shibu-e for dec- orative purposes. Doubtless because these early Seikanji productions are the prototypes of the true Kyoto faience, they are sometimes called ko-Kyomizu- yakiy or old ware of Kyomizu. The term is not strictly correct, inasmuch as the Kyomizu district had not yet become the keramic centre of Kyot5. It attained that distinction subsequently. The names Seikanji-yaki and Otowa-yaki are more properly applied to this old faience of the Seikanji locality. Ninsei worked chiefly at the factories of Mizoro, Awata, and Iwakura. These places, being of great importance in respect of Kyoto wares, merit detailed notice. The Mizoro and Awata factories were both founded by descendants of the first Kyoto potter, Minamoto no Yasuchika, who has been already men- tioned. From the ninth century until the sixteenth there is no record of the history of his family. De- scendants of Minamoto no Yasuchika (who lived dur- ing the second half of the ninth century) were : — 1. Unren-in Yasunari; lived at Kamo, in the northern port of Kyoto, and subsequently established a kiln at Mizoro, or Gobosatsu, where he manufactured on-miki-dokuri^ or wine-bottles for religious rites. Died 1530. 2. Yasubei; worked at Gobosatsu (Mizoro). Died 1568. 187 JAPAN 3. Kumanosuke, also called Tosen-koji; worked at Gobosatsu. Died 1585. 4. Yasubei ; retired early from business and settled in the Kyomizu district, where he manufactured tea- cups for religious rites. The date of his death is uncertain. 5. Yasubei; worked at Gobosatsu. Died 1608. 6. Kumanosuke; worked at Gobosatsu. Died 1635. 7. Bunzo; was working at Gobosatsu in the time of Nomura Ninsei. In 1645 he moved to Awata- guchi, and there took part in the manufacture of the faience which, after the improvements intro- duced by Ninsei, ultimately became so famous. Died 1660. 8. Kuzaemon ; worked at Awata. Died 1683. 9. Yasubei ; worked at Awata ; received the art name of Hozan from Tankai Hozan Risshi, guardian of Hachidai Tennosha on Awata-yama. He sub- sequently stamped this name on his best pieces. Died (about) 1720. 10. Yasubei ; worked at Awata and was chiefly known in connection with his pupil Kihyo, called also Kagiya, who was specially appointed to manufacture teacups for the Tokugawa Shoguns. Yasubei died 1752. 11. Bunzo; worked at Awata and assisted Kagiya Shintaro (son of the first Kagiya) to manufacture faience for the Court in Yedo. Died 1807. 12. Kumanosuke; worked at Awata and assisted Kagiya Kichibei to manufacture faience for the Court in Yedo. Died 1812. 13. Yasuemon ; worked at Awata. Died 1817. 14. Kumanosuke; worked at Awata. Died 1819. 15. Heibei ; worked at Awata. Died 1824. 16. Kumanosuke; worked at Awata, and manufactured porcelain in concert with Diraku Zengoro. Among his pupils was Kihei, afterwards called Sobei, who manufactured ware for the Court in Yedo. Died 1841. 17. Bunzo; now works at Awata. 188 WARES OF KYOTO It will be seen that the above chronology attributes the founding of the Awata factory to Bunzo in 1645. Other accounts say that the first Awata potter was Kuemon, who flourished from 1619 to 1663. In support of the latter tradition there used to be shown at Awata a little shrine dedicated to Kuemon^ on the hill where he procured materials. Whichever account be correct, it is certain that the faience of Awata did not assume a decorative character until the time of Nomura Ninsei. Thenceforth it became the prin- cipal ware of Kyoto. The representative Awata-yaki may be described as a faience having pate of medium closeness and of brownish tint ; semi-translucid glaze of somewhat cold, greyish colour ; and a profusion of enamelled decoration, in which clear brilliant green and opaque blue, often verging on lilac, are the domi- nant colours, the whole being enriched with gold and, more rarely, silver. Nomura Ninsei was fond of using silver for decorative purposes, but as a rule this material was employed by the best artists only. The other colours applied at Awata were red, — full- bodied and opaque, — purple, and yellow, the two last being rare. Good specimens of the ware present features very easily recognised. Hardness and close- ness of patCy softness and sheen of glaze, regularity of crackle, and brilliancy of enamels, — these are points of which any amateur can judge. Diapers were the decorative staple. Sometimes they were used alone, dis- persed over the surface of a piece with all the bizarre symmetry that the Japanese artist loved. Sometimes they were broken by medallions enclosing floral de- signs, birds, mythical animals, or, more rarely, figures of supernatural personages. From the middle of the eighteenth century the colour of the glaze passed 189 JAPAN from cold grey to light buff ; an excellent change, since the soft, creamy richness of the latter furnished a charming ground for the brilliant enamels applied to it. After Ninsei the greatest name connected with the Awata factory is that of Ogata Sansei, whose artist name was Kenzan. Ogata was born at Narutaki- mura, in the suburbs of Kyoto, in the year 1660 ; that is to say, just at the time when the methods intro- duced by Ninsei had fairly won their way to public favour. He was the second son of Ogata Soken, and his younger brother was the celebrated painter Korin. Sansei, who appears to have been called also Shinsei and Shinsaburo, was himself a painter of considerable promise, but his proclivities fortunately lay in the direction of keramics. After he had studied litera- ture and poesy under the well-remembered Hirosawa Nagayoshi, and the mysteries of the Cha-no-Tu under Zuiru Sosa, — whom the men of the next generation elevated into a semi-divinity under the title of Nichiren Sosa, — he- spent a short time in the prac- tice of his father’s favourite art, and his pictures are said to have given earnest of great talent. That he preferred to devote his brush to the ornamentation of faience was partly, perhaps, because the designs fur- nished for that purpose by Tanyu and Eishin had attracted so much attention, and partly because his brother Korin, in whom he must have recognised a greater artist than himself, had already a taste for lacquer decoration. At first he appears to have ap- plied himself diligently to the study of technical processes, taking for his instructors the potters of Raku, Seto, and Zeze. Very soon, however, he de- veloped an original style, of which the chief charac- 190 WARES OF KYOTO teristics are great boldness, combined with a very- skilful disposition of tints both in the execution of designs and in surface decoration. Kenzan is, in fact, a perfect representative of the genuine J^apanese school, which requires that results, however elaborate, shall convey no idea of detailed effort, and enforces strict obedience to the natural principle of limited impressions. A branch of plum blossoms, a tuft of feathery reeds and bending grasses, a family of spar- rows clustering amid the foliage of a bamboo, or the blue crest of a mountain peeping through a haze of golden clouds, — such things as these can be compre- hended at a single glance, and are therefore legiti- mate subjects for representation in the circumscribed field which the artist has at his disposal. Kenzan thoroughly understood this. His designs are often exceedingly artistic for all their simplicity, and the landscapes depicted on some of his smaller pieces embody most graceful conceptions. He preferred shihu-ye and ai-ye — designs in black, russet-brown, and blue — to kin-ye — designs in coloured enamels and gold. But in all three varieties of decoration he showed himself equally a master. His best pieces were potted at Awata, and neither their pate nor their glaze is distinguishable from that of the ordinary Awata-yaki. The style, however, cannot possibly be mistaken. It is bold almost to roughness. Even when little landscapes are depicted — a rare subject with Kenzan — there is no attempt at delicacy or fineness : a vigorous sketch entirely satisfies the artist. His most frequent method was to dash in a floral scroll, a flight of geese or herons in outline, or a suggestion of flowers and trees. The colour used in these more archaic specimens was usually the dark 191 JAPAN brown obtained from shihu. The clay was that of Shigaraki, which gave coarse, gritty pate^ inferior as a potter’s material, but well adapted to rough outline sketches such as those that Kenzan applied to these wares. He marked his pieces with his name, Ken- zan.” Even in his manner of making the mark he was true to his style, using no stamp, but scrawling the ideographs Ken-zan in a large, bold hand. At a late period of his career he worked at Iriya, in Yedo (now Tokyo), but the materials procurable in the neighbourhood of the eastern capital were of such in- ferior quality that even Kenzan could produce nothing satisfactory with them. Urged rather by love for his craft than desire of gain, he never attempted to manufacture large quantities of faience, so that genu- ine specimens of his work are exceedingly rare and proportionately valued. His example did not affect the decorative methods of Awata, his style being too essentially individual to be imitated. His son and grandson, however, continued to manufacture pieces of the same character, though inferior in verve and originality. Kenzan died in 1743; his son, Kenzan the second [ni-dai-me Kenzan) about 177 grandson, Kenzan the third {san-dai-me Kenzan) about 1820. The cachet was used by all three, and it is often difficult to distinguish their pieces. A predecessor, and for a short time contemporary, of Kenzan (Ogata Sansei) was Seibei, whose artist name was Ebisei. This potter did not work at Awata. He belongs to the Kyo-mizu section, where he will be further noticed. He is mentioned here because his principal pupil, Eisen, was the instructor of two men, Mokubei and Dohachi, whose names stand high in the Awata annals. 192 . WARES OF KYOTO The first Dohachi, a retainer of the Kame-yama fief in Ise, was born in 1740. His family name was Takahashi. He established himself at Awata in the Horeki era (1751-1763), and having studied the keramic art under Eisen of Kyo-mizu, began the manufacture of pottery. He was an expert bamboo- carver, as well as a potter, and he assumed the artist name of Shofutei Kuchu. He died in 1804, and was succeeded by his son, the second Dohachi, to whose skill the name chiefly owes its eminence. This artist did not long remain at Awata. He changed his resi- dence to Gojo-zaka, another part of Kyoto, in 1811, and there carried on the potter’s trade with great success. He was not less renowned for his porcelain than for his faience, but the latter only need be no- ticed here. Dohachi enjoyed the patronage of many aristocrats in the Imperial city ; notably of Prince Ninnaji, who conferred on him (1826) the artist names of Hokyo and Nin-a. The latter is the origin of the appellation ‘‘ Ninami ” which Dohachi thence- forth adopted, and with which many of his pieces are marked. In 1842 the third Dohachi moved to Momoyama, at Fushimi, a suburb of Kyoto, and manufactured faience distinguished as Momoyama-yaku He was invited to Arita by the Prince of Hizen in 1869, and spent some time there, giving instruction in the decorative art. It seems strange that Arita should have needed such assistance, but the Prince’s object was doubtless to introduce the spirit of the Kyoto art rather than its technical methods. Doha- chi of the fourth generation now represents the family. He is president of the Kyoto Pottery Association, and his productions have been honoured by nine medals and certificates at various exhibitions at home and abroad. VOL. VIII. 13 1^3 JAPAN The decorative style introduced by the first Doha- chi and carried to perfection by his son was faithful to the canons of his time. At the close of the eighteenth century Maruyama Okyo, one of the greatest painters of Japan, had broken the fetters of old-fashioned conventionalism and by his unaided genius accomplished a revolution in the laws of painting in Kyoto. Of the Shijo school, founded by him, the chief characteristics, as enumerated by the late Dr. W. Anderson in ‘‘Japanese Pictorial Art,” are “ an easy but graceful outline, free from the arbi- trary mannerisms and unmeaning elegance of some of the works of the older schools ; comparative truth of interpretation of form, especially in the delineation of birds, associated with an extraordinary rendering of vitality and action ; and, lastly, a light harmonious colouring, suggestive of the prevalent tones of the objects depicted, and avoiding the purely decorative use of gold and pigment. The motives,” Dr. Ander- son goes on to say, “ most in favour with the clas- sical academics were necessarily excluded by the principle of the Shijo school ; but Chinese landscapes, Chinese sages, and animals which the painter never saw in life, were profitably replaced by transcripts of the scenery and natural history of Japan. The sub- jects peculiar to the Popular school, the life of the streets and theatres, were, however, as carefully avoided by the naturalist as by the classical artist ; but where the two schools chanced to coincide in motive, as in the drawing of Japanese heroes, the advantage of re- finement always lay on the side of the pupils of Okyo.” All this applies accurately to the methods of the Dohachi family. They chose their decorative motives from nature, and applied them with great refinement 194 WARES OF KYOTO and delicacy. Their command of technical processes was thorough, yet they never allowed themselves to be betrayed into exuberance of brnament. Birds, landscapes, floral subjects, and other familiar objects were faithfully represented, excellent judgtnent being shown in adapting the motive to its purpose. Their pate was always carefully manipulated ; their glazes were lustrous and uniform. A characteristic and favourite glaze of the second Dohachi was pearl white, tinged or clouded with pink. The idea of this glaze was derived from Korean faience, but the development it received in Dbhachi’s hands amounted to a new departure. Kiya Sahei, or Mokubei as he is called in art, was born in 1767, and received instruction from Eisen. But as he owes his reputation chiefly to his skill in manufacturing porcelain, it will be more convenient to speak of him when that part of the subject is considered. In the account given above of the family of Yasu- chika incidental mention is made of a potter called Kihyo, or Kagiya, who was especially appointed to manufacture utensils for the palace of the Shogun in Yedo. The record of the Kagiya family commences with Kagiya Tokuemon, who began work at Awata in 1693. Both this man and his son are said'to have been clever keramists, but as to the particular direction in which their skill lay the student is left to conjec- ture. It was not till the time of Kagiya Mohei, the third generation, that the family acquired a wide rep- utation. This artist succeeded to his father’s busi- ness in the era (1744-1747), and in 1756 he had so distinguished himself as to be appointed potter to the Tokugawa Court in Yedo. In connection JAPAN with this honour he received the name of Kinko-zan, which he thenceforth stamped upon his best pieces, and which was similarly used by his successors. The present representative of the family is Kagiya Sobei. His manufactures have earned numerous medals and certificates at exhibitions at home and abroad. The Kagiya family carried the enamelled decoration of Kyoto faience to its highest point of richness and brilliancy. Prior to their time the Awata glaze had been of a somewhat cold, hard character, but in their hands its colour changed from greyish white to light buff, and it assumed an aspect of great delicacy and softness. To this warm, creamy ground a wealth of gold, red, green, and blue enamels was applied, generally in the form of floral scrolls, the result being indescribably rich and mellow. The Kinko-zan style is essentially decorative and conventional, as distin- guished from the naturalistic school affected by the Dohachi family, and indeed by the majority of noted Kyoto artists. Flower-vases were more largely pro- duced by Kagiya Mohei and his successors, than by other Kyoto potters. In the rare examples of these now to be found the decorative effect is usually assisted by reticulation and by conceits of shape. As a gen- eral rule, however, the productions of the Awata pot- ters took the form of cups, vegetable bowls {muko-zuke)^ censers, clove-boilers [choji-buro^y water- vessels [mizu- sashi), and figures. The great majority of the famous Kyoto keramists were clever modellers. Their fa- vourite motives were the Seven Gods of Good Fortune (Shichifukujiii), In moulding these they often left the faces, hands, and feet unglazed, and exhausted all the resources of their decorative methods on the dra- pery. Here they evidently reflected the methods of 196 WARES OF KYOTO the Popular school [Ukyo-e of painting, which, ^ founded by the celebrated Iwasa Matahei just as the keramics of Kyoto were receiving new inspiration from the genius of Nomura Ninsei, reactyed the ze- nith of its fame during the eighteenth century. The exquisite colouring and rich elaboration displayed by the Ukyo-e artists in depicting drapery could scarcely fail to influence the decorative motives of a contem- poraneous school of keramists. Scarcely less familiar than the Kinkbzan stamp in connection with Awata faience is the mark Hdzan. This, as has been noted in the genealogical table of the Minamoto no Yasuchika family, was an art name given to Yasubei by Tankai Hozan Risshi, guardian of Hachidai Tennosha, at the beginning of the eigh- teenth century. The specialty of this potter appears to have been the use of blue sous couverte in decorating faience ; a method not much practised owing to the difficulty of obtaining the necessary degree of heat in stoving. Landscapes, boldly executed, and floral scrolls were the usual motives. The effect of blue thus employed under a glaze glossy as oil and softened by a network of minute crackle, is highly artistic. About this time imitations of Delft faience began to be manufactured at Awata in small quantities. They do not merit special notice until the time of Bunzo, grandson of Yasubei Hozan, who flourished during the latter part of the eighteenth century. This artist was a master in the use of engobe. One of his favour- ite methods was to cover the surface of a piece with rich blue wax-like glaze, forming a ground for floral designs or scrolls in white, and in many cases relieved by medallions with designs in engobe, copied from the Dutch. He was also the originator of a very beau- 197 JAPAN tiful style of decoration, not previously employed, or, if employed, not noticed until his developments brought it into vogue. This, in its commonest form, was an arabesque of leaves and tendrils dis- posed, in high or low relief, about a central blossom. The flowers were white, and the enamel scroll was in blue or green engobe, with sometimes an admixture of yellow. The design of course varied, but the method was always the same, — pate sur pdte^ — the execution showing great technical ability. Attractive as this style of decoration was, it does not seem to have been admitted to a permanently high place by Japanese connoisseurs. It is generally confined to such utensils as flower-pots, wine-bottles, clove-boilers, and so forth, and is rarely found on flower-vases or censers. Perhaps for this reason, but more probably because its processes demanded exceptional care and skill, Bunzo’s pate sur pate was not largely imitated by his successors. At present little attempt to repro- duce it is made in Kyoto. As a pdte-sur-pdte deco- rator, Tanzan [vide infrai) is fully equal to any of his predecessors. He works, however, entirely in low relief. The high-relief Warabi-de (fern-scroll style), as the method of Bunzo was called, is now attempted by Taizan [vide infra) only, and, according to his statement, the difficulty of temperature is nearly in- superable, unless, indeed, a special kiln is constructed. The Warabi-de faience found much favour in Kyoto during the years that immediately succeeded its in- vention. It was to some extent supplanted by the Tsui-shu-dey or carved red lacquer style. In this a design was traced on the faience in the usual maoi-ner, and the remainder of the surface was then covered with red lacquer, portions of which were incised in 198 WARES OF KYOTO diapers. Sometimes the lacquer was partially used in tracing the design. This fashion was a violation of true art canons. It soon went out of vogue. Another well-known cachet of Awata is ^aizan. During the Empo era (1673—1680) Tokuro, a retainer of the noble family of Sasaki, came from Omi to Kyoto and began to manufacture pottery. He ap- pears to have confined himself at first to producing Raku ware. In 1711 he obtained permission to establish a kiln at Awata, and there began to practise the decorative methods for which the place was famous. His son, Yohei, succeeded to the industry in the Kybho era (1716—1735), and assumed the busi- ness name of Obiya, thenceforth marking his pottery “ Taizan” i^Taiis, another pronunciation of the ideo- graph obi). According to a tradition of Ydhei’s de- scendants, he was particularly successful in his manner of using sulphate of iron to produce a rich red pig- ment. On the whole, however, it can only be said of the Taizan family that they carried the methods of the Awata factories to considerable excellence, and that they were remarkable for technical skill rather than for originative genius. The head of each suc- ceeding generation was called Yohei. The represen- tatives of the third and fourth generations, who flourished during the second half of the eighteenth century, were eminently successful in producing rich Mazarine blue enamel which they sometimes used as body glaze, applying to it decorative designs in gold. The dates of the successive generations of the Taizan family, and some facts concerning them, are given in the following table : — I. Tokuro; began to manufacture Raku faience about 1675, ^ Awata in 17 ii. 199 JAPAN 2. Taizan Yohei ; assumed the business name of Obiya and the mark ’Taizan'' in the era 1716—1735. 3. Taizan Yohei; distinguished himself by his Maza- rine blue enamel, circ. 1755. 4. Taizan Yohei; manufactured tea and wine utensils; flourished down to 1800. 5. Taizan Yohei ; manufactured not only pottery but also porcelain — especially celadon — between 1801 and 1820 — and was appointed potter to the Im- perial court. 6. Taizan Yohei ; produced highly decorated articles of pottery and porcelain for Imperial use in the era 1830-1843. 7. Taizan Yohei; flourished down to 1853. 8. Taizan Yohei ; flourished down to 1870, and exported considerable quantities of faience. 9. Taizan Yohei ; the present representative of the family ; a potter of merit, who does not, however, preserve the canons of his art, but manufactures largely with a special view to foreign markets. Much of his faience has found its way to Europe and America, where it is highly appreciated. The fate is excellently manipulated, the glaze soft and lustrous, the crackle fine, and the decoration, though it frequently errs on the side of gaudiness, is often redeemed by beauty of design and delicacy of execution. Taizan uses enamels on choice pieces only, preferring gold and pigments — especially red — which are more easily prepared and applied. He has revived the pdte-sur-pdte style {Warahi-de) generally attributed to Hdzen, but his success is not signal. The difficulty of temperature in the kiln appears to be nearly insu- perable. It is necessary that faience thus decorated should be exposed to the direct action of the fur- nace, while at the same time the slightest excess of heat has the effect of causing the enamel to “ boil,” the result being that it emerges from the kiln honeycombed and lustreless. 200 WARES OF KYOTO Among the largest manufacturers of modern Awata faience is Tanzan Yoshitaro. Originally educated for the medical profession, he came to Kyoto in 1854, and settling at Awata, devoted himself entirely to the potter’s art. He is still alive, but the factory is now under the direction of his son, Tanzan Rokuro. These artists must unquestionably be classed among the most skilled of Japanese keramists. The pate of their faience is fine, and the glaze has a peculiarly soft, creamy appearance that consorts prettily with chaste, delicately executed design of floral subjects, foliage, birds, monkeys, and so forth. They prefer neutral tints to brilliant colours,' and instead of the jewel-like enamels of the old Awata school, they generally use russet or dark brown pigment. It is probable, how- ever, that the name of Tanzan will be remembered chiefly in connection with pate-sur-pate decoration. The Tanzan faience of this class differs essentially from the well-known W arahi-de ware of Hozan. In the latter the characteristic feature is bold arabesques and floral scrolls in high relief ; in the former lace pat- terns, diapers, and archaic designs, in low relief, exe- cuted with extraordinary skill and minuteness. Some of Tanzan’s best pieces of this class are as delicate and elaborate as mediaeval illuminations. Their general aspect, however, is subdued, owing to the prevalence of a dead-leaf enamel particularly affected at the Tan- zan pottery. Another specialty of the factory is its mottled glazes, resembling moss-agate or tortoise-shell. These generally play a subsidiary part. Where com- bined with pdte-sur-pdte decoration they produce a rich and pleasing effect. In Japan it is said of the Tanzans that they have more or less prostituted their art to for- eign taste, a criticism that cannot be completely re- 201 JAPAN butted. But their pieces still retain many of the best characteristics of the Japanese school and are undoubt- edly works of high excellence. For several years an art association — the Kiriu Kosho Kaisha of Tokyo — monopolised the whole of Tanzan’s pate-sur-pate manufactures and exported them to the United States, where they are probably at least as well known as in Japan, their costliness being a serious objection to Japanese householders. Since 1884 special ex- port has ceased, and Tanzan Rokuro now exhibits his works in a large warehouse at Awata. Few places in the old Japanese city will better repay a visit. An Awata potter who attained considerable reputa- tion for his skill in delineating figure subjects was Hasegawa Kumenosuke, whose artist name was Gekka, or Bizan. He began life as a painter, having studied under Okamoto Toyohiko. In 1820 he joined Tai- zan Yohei, the sixth representative of the Taizan family, and worked at Awata until his death in 1838. Few of his productions survive, and it may be said that his methods were popularised by his adopted son and successor, Yozaemon, known in art as the Second Bizan. This expert made a special study of official costumes and of the rich dresses worn by the nobles in the posture-plays called No. He decorated his wares with figures thus apparelled. In technical exe- cution few potters of Awata excelled him. The pate of his faience was fine and hard, the glaze remarkably lustrous, the crackle uniform, and the enamels used in the decoration were of the purest quality. His mas- tery of technical processes did not, however, betray him into any excesses : his pieces generally show sparse decoration. He died in 1862, and was suc- ceeded by his son, the third Bizan, who extended the 202 WARES OF KYOTO scope of the factory and manufactured chiefly for for- eign markets. The family is now represented by Bizan of the fourth generation, who assun^ed the di- rection of the factory on his father’s death in the spring of 1887. Of other workers at Awata it will suffice to mention, the names of Mimura Genjiro and Namura Kyujiro. The former is the son of Mimura Gembei, who was a pupil of Hozan Bunzo about the year 1817. The latter’s father, Mimura Umekichi, was also a pupil of Bunzo. Both are skilled potters, but their work pre- sents no original features.' The following analysis of the clays used in the man- ufacture of Awata faience was made by Professor R. W. Atkinson, formerly of the Tokyo University, and published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan : — Kyoto Clay Omi Clay No. I Omi Clay No. z Glazing Clay FROM Matsumoto Moisture 1.58 4.13 9. 18 10.28 Combined water 5.02 7-55 9.18 — Silica 71.40 52.13 56.03 50-5+ Alumina 19.42 27.98 30. 82 15.14 Ferric oxide .38 1.85 .82 .86 Lime .38 .90 .84 10. 1 8 Magnesia .20 .42 .40 .78 Potash I. 00 — .64 — Soda 91 3-09 1-55 — Carbonic acid .... — — — 5.61 An analysis of Awata faience masses was subsequently made by M. Korschelt, with the following results : — AWATA FAIENCE MASSES Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Lime, Pot- ash, ETC. Water. Specimen i . . 61.89 30-36 0. 22 5.27 I.5I Specimen 2 . . 61.23 29-37 1.30 4.68 3-05 203 JAPAN Of these two specimens the first was prepared by a potter called Matso, by mixing, in the proportion of lo to 3, clay called Shiroye-tsuchi and sand, both obtained from Takayama, in Yamashiro province. The mixture when pulverised and washed formed the faience-mass. Tht pate of the ware made from these materials was hard and of a yellowish colour. The second specimen was prepared by the well-known potter Tanzan, by mixing, in unascertained proportions, clays ob- tained from Yamashima and Hareyama in the environs of Kyoto. The faience thus produced did not differ appre- ciably from that manufactured from the former mass. It has been usual to distinguish between the pro- ductions of the Iwakura and the Awata factories, as though they invariably presented differences easily recognised. Such is not the case, however, for speci- mens of the one are sometimes absolutely indis- tinguishable from specimens of the other. Iwakura is a suburb of Kyoto. Nothing is known of the pottery produced there prior to the time of Nomura Ninsei. His works first brought the place into notice. Specimens of faience said to have been manufactured by him at Iwakura are still preserved, and it is cer- tain that from his time the Iwakura-yaki began to be one of the choicest wares of Kyoto. In those early days it could be distinguished from its rival, the Awa- ta-yaki^ without much difficulty. The pate of the former was finer in grain and lighter in colour than the pate of the latter ; the crackle was closer, and the body-colour mellower. These features became' even more marked at a later period. Placing a specimen of Iwakura faience manufactured at the beginning of the seventeenth century side by side with a specimen of contemporaneous Awata ware, the glaze of the former would appear to be a light buff colour as compared with the greyish white of the latter ; the 204 WARES OF KYOTO crackle of the one would seem scarcely perceptible in comparison with the crackle of the other, and the decoration of the Iwakura ware would be found ap- preciably chaster and less brilliant than that of the Awata. But from about the middle of the same century the Awata potters changed their materials or modified their methods to such an extent that these differences ceased to be constant and became occa- sional. Many pieces bearing the cachet of Kinkozan, and undoubtedly potted at Awata, present all the features usually regarded as characteristic of the Iwa- kura-yaki. At present the 'Awata potters seem to have entirely abandoned whatever technical methods were formerly peculiar to their factory, and to have adopted the Iwakura fashions with strict fidelity. The ama- teur will easily understand, therefore, that in the absence of marks it may often be unsafe, as in such cases it is always unnecessary, to insist upon either of the terms Awata-yaki or Iwakura-yaki, There appears to be no hope of obtaining any accurate information with respect to the Iwakura factory. It owed its origin to the fact that several potters who had carried on their trade in a district of Kyoto called Oshikoji, were induced to remove to a less populous region owing to the remonstrances of their fellow citizens. Pottery kilns had often been the cause of conflagrations in Japan, and it is easily conceivable that when the keramic art began to be largely pursued in Kyoto, a feeling of insecurity was engendered among persons living in the vicinity of the factories. Of the names of the artisans who under these circumstances migrated to the Iwakura suburb, no record is preserved. It is known only that they chose the place because of the accessibility of 205 JAPAN Dainichi-yama, where earth of good quality was pro- curable. This event is referred approximately to the year 1660. Very soon afterwards the faience pro- duced at the new factories became popular, and the cachet “ Iwakura ’’ [vide Marks and Seals) attained a considerable reputation. As for the ware, however, its only points of difference from the Awata-yaki were that the glaze was softer, more lustrous, and of warmer tone, the crackle finer, and the decoration generally chaster and less brilliant. At a later period — about 1 760 — a new source of confusion was created by the use of the Iwakura mark at Awata. This prac- tice was commenced by Kichibei, son of a bric-a-brac dealer called Jogi-ya. Having been sent by his father to study the potter’s art at Awata, Kichibei desired to employ some cachet that would bring his produc- tions into speedy note. He accordingly adopted the Iwakura mark, with the addition of the ideograph yama or san (mountain). Thus it is known that speci- mens marked ‘‘ Iwakura-zan ” were really produced at Awata, and that they cannot be older than 1760. Kichibei’s descendants continued working at Awata and using the same cachet until 1882, when the family became extinct. As for the Iwakura factories, they had long been closed, and their owners had re- turned to the city, settling either at Kyo-mizu, at Awata, or at Gojo. There are not wanting connoisseurs who with some show of reason place the faience of Iwakura and the finer specimens of the Awata-yaki in the same rank with the ware of Satsuma. But even while ad- mitting that the technical character of the former is not inferior to that of the latter, the conviction is inevitable that the Kyoto pottery, as a rule, lacks solid- 206 WARES OF KYOTO ity. Its best representatives, for all their fine pate, their extraordinary regular crackle, and the warm rich- ness of their buff-coloured body, inevitably present, in greater or less degree, a comparatively fragile aspect. They vie with the Satsuma ware in delicacy of tone and richness of decoration, but stand to it, after all, in much the same relation as that in which faience stands to ivory. Large quantities of Iwakura-yaki and Awata-yaki have been fraudulently placed upon Western markets as genuine Satsuma-yaki. A little experience should obviate any danger of confounding the two. The ware of Kyoto, being much less dense than that of Satsuma, is appreciably lighter, and its glaze has a more marked tinge of yellow. Specimens of Satsuma faience which, from the yellowish colour of their glaze, might be mistaken for Kyoto productions, will be found to possess the characteristics of stone-ware rather than of pottery. Yet in spite of these well- marked differences, it is probable that much of the so-called “ Satsuma ware’’ of Western collections was in reality manufactured in Kyoto. Another factory that attained some prominence after Ninsei’s time is that of Gobosatsu, or Mizoro. Con- sulting the record of the family of Minamoto no Ya- suchika, given above, it will be seen that from the early part of the sixteenth century, that is to say, from a period antecedent to Ninsei’s time by more than a hundred years, potteries existed at Mizoro. Their products, however, were limited to unglazed utensils such as wine-bottles, cups, plates, and bowls for use in religious rites. There was always a demand for un- glazed pottery in Kyoto. In the Imperial Palace vessels of this kind were used in great numbers, cus- 207 JAPAN tom requiring that they should be broken or given away after having once served their purpose. So, too, in the mansions of noblemen or gentlemen it was the habit, on all occasions of ceremony, to drink wine out of cups of either lacquer or unglazed pottery. For the household worship of ancestors, again, and on oc- casions of a sacred character, vessels of a similar nature were needed. The Mizoro potters, therefore, were not without liberal patronage. The materials procur- able near the site of their workshops were credited with excellent qualities, and Ninsei’s recourse to the place shows that in his day it enjoyed a certain repu- tation. Nevertheless the Mizoro-yaki does not com- pare favourably with the wares of Awata and Iwakura. Its pate is coarser, its crackle larger and less uniform, and the glaze not only is more uneven, but also in its thicker parts sometimes assumes a milky, viscous ap- pearance which, though appreciated by many connois- seurs, suggests the idea of crude technique. The word ‘‘ Mizoro ” signifies ‘‘ turbid lake,’’ and the same name is said to have been applied to the ware because the materials for its manufacture were taken from the bed of the Mizoro pond. When, under Ninsei’s direction, the faience assumed a decorative character, simple fashions were at first preferred. The designs, which generally consisted of miniature pines or tufts of broad-bladed grass, were executed in black, choco- late brown, or dark blue. Subsequently, however, pieces were ornamented in the reserve style, mon- ochrome enamel (always grass-green) being applied to the whole surface with exception of the parts that carry the pictorial designs. Specimens also exist which cannot be distinguished from Awata-yaki except by their mark. Speaking generally, delicacy of execu- 208 4 WARES OF KYOTO tion does not appear to have been at any time a prin- cipal object with the Mizoro potters. They preferred bold, strong effects, and these were unquestionably bet- ter suited to the nature of the materials which they employed. There are no records to show what pot- ters worked at Mizoro after Ninsei’s time, and tradi- tion is silent on the subject. All trace of the factories has disappeared, and the inhabitants of the locality retain no memory of the days when the keramic in- dustry was practised there. Doubtless, as in the case of Iwakura, the artisans ultimately moved into Kyoto, finding that the accessibility of a part of their materials did not compensate for the inaccessibility of their market. The Mizoro clay is not used at all now. Wares of Kyoto other than those produced at Awata, Iwakura, or Mizoro, are included in the general term Kyomizu-yaki, They are manufactured in those dis- tricts of the Western capital known as Kyomizu-zaka and Gojd-zaka. The history of this part of the sub- ject is a record of individuals. In former times there was nothing that could properly be called a factory in the streets above mentioned. They were simply the sites of a number of potters’ dwellings where domestic industries were conducted chiefly on a small scale. The first recorded potter of Kyomizu faience is Seibei Yahyo, who established himself at Gojo-zaka during the Genroku era (1688—1703). According to some authorities, this man was a grandson of Nomura Ninsei, but the evidence in support of such a theory cannot be accepted. Seibei certainly copied Ninsei’s methods, but his connection with the great artist ends there. In the T emmet era (1781-1788) the factory was moved to the neighbouring district of Kyomizu^ VOL. VIII. 14 209 JAPAN where it still exists under the direction of Seibei’s de- scendant, Nakamura Masagoro. When Seibei settled at Gojo-zaka, he called his factory ‘‘ Ebiya,'’ and by combining this with his own name there results ‘‘ Ebisei,’’ the appellation by which he is generally known. Ebisei was the first to manufacture utensils for the Cha-no-Tu at Gojo-zaka. He is also said to have carried to a point of considerable excellence a style of decoration inaugurated by Ninsei and subse- quently employed at times by the Kyomizu potters, namely, the application of vitrifiable enamels to the surface of unglazed pottery. Among Ebisei’s pupils were two potters of consider- able renown, Eisen and Rokubei. Eisen was not a keramist by profession. He appears to have taken up the art as a pastime. He is especially remarkable as the first manufacturer of porcelain in Kyoto. The circumstances under which this branch of keramics began to be pursued in the Imperial city are not re- corded. Tradition says that Eisen’s immediate pur- pose in travelling beyond the groove followed by his predecessors was the production of celadoriy a ware which was yearly becoming more and more valuable in proportion as each fresh importation from the Middle Kingdom showed that the hands of the Chinese themselves had lost much of their old cunning. Eisen was not particularly successful in his celadons^ but by degrees he developed great skill in producing enamelled porcelain after the style of the later Ming potters ; that is to say, white heavy ware with somewhat rudely executed designs in green, red, and gold. Imitation was his forte. He evidently thought that the summit of success was to copy Chinese pieces with unerring fidelity ; a not unnatural conception, seeing that Chi- 210 WARES OF KYOTO nese porcelain was the highest keramic achievement in the eye of Japanese connoisseurs of Eisen's time. The exact date of Eisen's first porcelain manufacture cannot be fixed, but there can be little error in plac- ing it about the year 1760. Eisen stamped his name on some of his pieces, and wrote it on others with red enamel. Ebisei used the Kyomizu mark only. Rokubei, another distinguished pupil of Ebisei, was the son of a farmer. Koto Rokuzaemon, of the prov- ince of Setsu. He was called Kuritaro in his youth, and subsequently Gusai. In the Kan-en era (1748— 1750) he became Ebisei’s pupil, and in 1764 he began to manufacture in his own account at Gojo- zaka. He received his art name, ‘‘ Rokubei,” from Prince Myohoin, who, having invited Gusai to his mansion and caused him to manufacture some cups of black Raku faience, conferred on him the stamp Rokumei-in, A priest, Keishu, of the celebrated mon- astery of Tenriu-ji, wrote for Rokubei the ideograph Sei” within a hexagon, and this also he used as a seal [Sei is the alternative pronunciation of Kyo, and is thus an abbreviation of ‘‘Kyomizu”). Rokubei further employed the full cachet “ Kyomizu^'* which he obtained from his teacher Ebisei. He died in 1799 at the age of sixty-two. His forte lay in the direction of finely decorated faience. He excelled not only in the preparation and application of vitrifiable enamels, but also and principally in the refined character of his designs. Maruyama Okyo, the greatest master of the Realistic school of pictorial art, was then (1778) at the zenith of his fame. All the young painters of Kyoto flocked to his atelier at Shijo, and his pictures were a theme of every-day talk in art circles. Roku- bei was among Okyo’s friends and admirers. He was JAPAN on equally good terms with the younger and scarcely less remarkable painter Gekkei (or Goshun), and he not only copied the motives of these masters, but some- times persuaded them to decorate his faience with their own hands. It will be seen, therefore, that the artistic character of his ware brings him into the same class as his great successor of Awata, the second Dohachi. Among the productions of both potters, especially Rokubei, there are occasionally found speci- mens of faience decorated with charmingly conceived and skilfully executed landscapes in blue sous couverte. These beautiful examples of keramic art, with their glossy, closely crackled glaze and highly artistic designs, may be ascribed to the influence of the Shijo school of painting. Rokubei’s son, Seisai, succeeded him, but being very young at the time of his father’s death, he did not open a factory until the year i8i i. Throughout the greater part of his life he pursued the methods of his father, confining himself to the manufacture of faience. From the first the potters of Gojo and Kyo- mizu had devoted much attention to the preparation of coloured, semi-translucid glazes; as green, golden brown, black, purple, and iron red. These were sometimes used as monochromes to cover the whole surface of a piece ; sometimes they enclosed medal- lions with floral designs, and sometimes they formed the ground for reserved designs in gold and other colours. In such fashions of decoration both Roku- bei Gusai and Rokubei Seisai showed great proficiency. The latter, in his old age, turned his attention to the manufacture of blue-and-white porcelain, and pro- duced many specimens of merit. It has to be noted, however, that makers of this class of ware in Kyoto 212 WARES OF KYOTO never showed originality consistent with their achieve- ments in faience. Their designs were copied, for the most part, from Chinese models ; their blue was of inferior quality, and they confined themselves chiefly to the production of insignificant pieces for domestic use. Rokubei of the second generation used the same stamp as his father, with the addition, however, of a second perimeter to the hexagon. He died in i860, at the age of seventy-one, having retired from busi- ness in favour of his son, Shoun, twenty-two years previously (1838). Shoun, generally spoken of as Rokubei of the third generation, was a skilful potter. A well-known piece of his is a large pillar-lamp (^toro) of blue-and-white porcelain, which was placed in the grounds of the Imperial Palace in 1853, stands there still. Lamps of this kind, but on a smaller scale, had often been made in Hizen. After Shoun’s time several of them were produced in KyotS. Shoun used the same mark as his grandfather, Seisai, but generally substituted the cursive style of writing for the square. He died in 1883, and was succeeded by his son Shorin, the present representative of the family, who manu- factures both pottery and porcelain, decorating the latter with blue under the glaze as well as with vitri- fiable enamels. Shorin’s marks are shown in the list of Marks and Seals. The ideographs of his stamp were written by the Abbot Aoguso, as were those of his father's by the Abbot Taigo, both of the monas- tery of Daitoku. It has already been mentioned that Eisen was the first manufacturer of porcelain proper in Kyoto, and that he began to pursue this branch of keramics about the year 1765. Among his pupils the most distin- guished were Dohachi and Mokubei, to both of 213 JAPAN whom allusion has been made in the section devoted to Awata pottery. The story of Mokubei is referred to here because of his important connection with the records of Kyoto porcelain. His skill appears to have been early recognised. While he was still young, the people of Mita, in the province of Setsu, sent to Kyoto delegates seeking the assistance of an expert to super- intend the establishment of a factory. Mokubei de- sired to go, but Eisen refused to allow him, asserting that the assistance of such an artist would place the Mita ware above that of Kyoto. Another of Eisen’s pupils, by name Kamesuke, was therefore sent. Tradition says that Mokubei set himself originally to copy the ivory-white porcelain of China [Ming Chien-yad), In this line he was not successful. His fame was origi- nally established by his imitations of an imported fai- ence known as Kochi-yakiy or ware of Cochin China. There had been tolerably intimate intercourse between Japan and Cochin China for several centuries. When the soldier of fortune, Yamada Nagamasa, made his way to Siam, two hundred years before Mokubei’s era, he found so many of his countrymen already settled there that he was able to raise a Japanese corps which afterwards became a terror to Siam’s enemies. In the exchange of productions that took place between Japan and these distant regions, a ware falsely attributed to the factories of Cochin China had come into the hands of the Japanese dilettanti, im- mediately attracting their admiration by its rarity and the beauty of its colours. It was hard faience, inferior in the preparation of its pate to the pottery of Satsuma or Kyoto, but covered with glazes, purple, yellow, green, and metallic bronze-red, of remarkable lustre and brilliancy. Small pieces only of this Kochi-yaki 214 WARES OF KYOTO (Kochi is the Japanese name for Cochin China) were procurable. They were chiefly in the form of little quaintly-shaped boxes, and these had become the orthodox incense-holders of the Chajin, It was by his dexterous imitations of this much esteemed faience that Mokubei first attracted public attention. From his time it became possible to be perplexed in choosing between an original specimen of so-called Kochi-yaki and a copy by some Ky5to artist. He produced also excellent pieces of celadon^ and in Japanese collections there are preserved a few specimens of his enamelled porcelain which show elaborate and minute processes. As an imitator he was no less successful. He could reproduce, with perfect fidelity, early specimens of Chinese enamelled and blue-and-white porcelains, copying every blemish and imperfection as accurately as each admirable feature. There is no doubt that had he depended m.ore on his original genius and less on his technical skill, he would have left many re- markable examples of the Kyoto keramic art. His imitative ability sufficed, however, to procure him among his own countrymen the title of the most expert potter of modern times. His name is also as- sociated with the first employment of moulds in the manufacture of porcelain. The idea of this process was derived from a study of Chinese wares. The moulds were in two pieces. They were applied ex- ternally, and after the vase had received the desired form by pressure from within, its inner surface was finished off upon the wheel. Porcelain and pottery with designs in relief thenceforth occupied an impor- tant place among the productions of the Kyoto work- shops. At present specimens of this nature are often disfigured by evidences of the haste and negligence 215 JAPAN common to the modern school, but some well-exe- cuted examples may be found. Mokubei generally marked such of his pieces as were not intended to be exact imitations of foreign models. His cachet will be found in the Plates of Marks. Mokubei was born in 1767 and died in 1833, leave any male progeny, but his daughter, Rai, attained con- siderable celebrity as a manufacturer of archaic pottery, at the beginning of the present century. It may be added that collectors are often imposed upon by elabo- rately decorated specimens — generally bowls — which curio-dealers confidently ascribe to Mokubei, but which are, in truth, clever examples of modern manufacture. A celebrated potter of Gojo-zaka was Ogata Kichi- saburo, whose artist name was Shuhei. He flourished during the latter part of the eighteenth century, and was therefore a contemporary of Mokubei. It has been asserted that to Shuhei belongs the credit of first applying to Kyoto porcelain a species of decora- tion the origin of which is otherwise attributed to the Chinese potters of the Tung-lo era (1403-1424). There is no evidence of this except the fact that Shuhei affected this style of decoration more than any other. The outer surface of the piece was completely covered with red glaze, and to this, as a ground, designs in gold, or, more rarely, coloured enamels, were applied. Shuhei’s red was of somewhat dark, impure character, not by any means comparable with the beautiful coral colour produced by his immediate successor, Eiraku Zengoro, who will be presently spoken of But in the employment of coloured enamels he yields the palm to no keramist of Kyoto. In this branch of the art he stands upon the highest 2i6 WARES OF KYOTO plane of excellence. He was fond of figure subjects — the Shichi-fuku-jin, the Ju-go Doji, the sixteen ’Arbats, the Rishis, the Karako (Chinese children at play), and so forth — and he executed his designs with the skill and precision of delicate miniatures. These are essentially the “jewelled” wares of Japan. Nothing more brilliant is to be found among the pro- ductions of the country. Shuhef s pieces are porce- lain, for the most part, but he manufactured some fine specimens of faience also. He was succeeded by his son, of the same name, a good artist, but decidedly inferior to his father. There is no\epresentative of the family at present living, but the mark “ Shuhei ” is sometimes used by a brother of Dohachi, the well- known potter of Gojo-zaka. There flourished contemporaneously with Shuhei an excellent keramist, Otowaya Sozaemon, generally known as Kentei but sometimes called Tosen, He lived at Gojo-zaka, near the bank of the river Otawa, and his name became known to the public in the Kansei era (1782-1 809). Kentei did not manufacture porcelain. His specialty was unglazed pottery with cream-coloured or light grey pate of very fine pipe- clay. To this were applied delicately traced pictorial designs — sometimes in gold alone, sometimes in coloured enamels — supplemented usually by stanzas of poetry or classical quotations. A peculiarity of this charming ware is the rapidity with which it changes colour ; so much so that, after a few months of constant use, the white surface of a teapot becomes dark brown, or even black, and at the same time acquires glaze from manipulation. Kentei and Shuhei are regarded as most eminent masters in the manufacture of the little Japanese Kiusu (teapot). 217 JAPAN Innumerable conceits of shape and varieties of deco- ration are to be found in these tiny utensils, of which more than one large collection has been made' by Western virtuosi. Kentei of the second generation is commonly called Sotaro. He followed the methods of his father, but preferred floral designs to figure subjects, and was also a manufacturer of por- celain. He died in 1869 at the age of fifty-six. The family name has now been changed to Inui. The present representative is Katsu-no-suke, a ke- ramist who has not yet shown any ability. A potter of the nineteenth century who rivalled Kentei in the production of unglazed ware with decoration in coloured enamels, was Kantei. Mention may be made here of the Takayama and Irie families. The first representative of the former who adopted keramics as a profession was Takayama Aitaro, sometimes called Genjiro. He resided at Gojo, and became a well-known potter of cups, plates, bowls, and so forth during the Meiwa era (1764-1771). He was succeeded by his son Gembei, who did not depart from his father’s methods. The representative of the third generation was Ai-no-suke. From his time (1854) the family manufactured porcelain, but ceased to produce art objects and confined itself to laboratory and hospital utensils. These are now made in considerable quan- tities by the fourth representative, Aitaro. The story of the Irie family is similar. Its first potter, Irie Kuhei, came to Kyoto and opened a factory at Mi-ike in 1789, producing chiefly cups, bowls, etc., in decorated faience. In 1842 his son, of the same name, moved to Gojo, and showed so much skill that he was ordered to make fire-pots for use in the 218 WARES OF KYOTO Imperial Palace at the Harvest Festival (1853). then changed his name to Irie Sakon. His son, Dosen, abandoned art manufactures, and now pro- duces porcelain utensils for use in laboratories, hos- pitals, and so forth. Entering the present century, the student finds one of the greatest names in Japan’s keramic annals. Nishimura Zengoro was the eleventh descendant of a potter who worked at Nara, in the province of Yamato, about the year 1501. The family then occupied itself chiefly with the manufacture of earthenware idols, but towards the f close of the century it became famous for the excellence of its fire-boxes (Jiiroy These were an important article of Cha-no-Tu equipment, and their manufacture often occupied the attention of the most skilled keramists. Patronised by the renowned dilettanti Shuko and Jo-o, the Nishimura family’s furo came into fashion, and the production was continued successfully down to the time of the tenth generation, whose representative was Nishimuro Zengoro, known in art circles as Ryozen. It is of this man’s son that special note must be taken. His name was the same as that of his father, — Zen- goro,— but by keramists he was called Hozen. At first he was apparently content to follow the example of his ancestors, and to manufacture only fire-boxes. Even in this work his remarkable dexterity in com- bining pates of different colours gave earnest of greater achievements in other branches. In the Kyowa era (1801 — 1803) he studied diligently at the Awata factory, and practised the manufacture of decorated porcelain and faience. Before long his celadons and blue-and-white porcelain attracted wide attention, and to these, like his great rival Mokubei, he added ad- 219 JAPAN mirable Imitations of the so-called old Kochi-yakt (Cochin-Chinese faience). The conditions of the time were especially favourable to the development of his art. Long-continued peace had filled the coffers of the nobles, and induced those luxurious habits of life among which art products find their best market. The Court at Yedo, presided over by lyenari, eleventh prince of the Tokugawa dynasty, set an example of brilliant extravagance to which the feudal princes were nothing loath to conform, while the now well- established custom of sending to the Shogun yearly presents of pottery and porcelain from the various dis- tricts, had engendered a wholesome rivalry among the provincial factories. Before long Zengoro’s fame attracted the attention of Harunori, feudal chief of^ Kishu. He invited the potter (a.d. 1827) to his prov- ince, and there set up for him, within the precincts of the Castle Park, a kiln at which was produced the cele- brated Oniwa-yakt (honourable park) ware, or Kaira- ku-en ware, as it is also called from the stamp it bears. It was an imitation of the Cochin-Chinese faience de- scribed above, but in richness and purity of colour it surpassed its original. Like Luca della Robbia, Zen- goro made the composition and application of glazes an especial study. The works of his successors and predecessors may be searched in vain for examples of parallel perfection in this branch of keramics. His aubergine porcelain, and the rich combinations of tur- quoise blue, purple, and yellow shown in the glazes of his faience, amply justify the immense popularity at- tained by the Kairaku-en ware. A prominent place among his achievements belongs to his ^^Kinrande'' or ^‘Akaji-kinga,'' which bears the stamp ‘‘ EtrakuA The idea of this porcelain was derived from the much- 220 WARES OF KYOTO valued Chinese “rouge vif” of the Yung4o period (1403—1425), and the Japanese potter succeeded in producing a colour little, if at all, inferior to the best examples of the original. In fact, his coral red glaze, lustrous and at the same time exquisitely soft, with its wealth of golden decoration and reserved medallions containing pictures in brilliant blue sous couverte^ must be classed among the keramic masterpieces, not of Japan alone, but of the whole world. These terms, Kinrande (scarlet-and-gold-brocade style), and Akaji- kinga (golden designs on a red ground), are descriptive. The term Eiraku was suggested by thevjapanese pro- nunciation of the Chinese period-name Tung-lo, The Chief of Kiushu also bestowed upon Zengoro another seal inscribed with the ideographs Kahin Sht-riu {vide Plates of Marks). This the potter appears to have used to mark his choicest pieces only ; a distinction which accords with the material of which the two seals were made, that bearing the characters Eiraku being of silver, and that bearing the characters Kahin Shi-riu of gold. He has left a brief account, written by himself, of his visit to the Prince of Kishu. It runs thus : “ In October of the tenth year of Bunsei (1827), Kinkosai Sosa being charged with the man- agement of affairs relating to the Kii Court, had the honour of an audience with the Prince in the grand salon of Nishihama Palace. On that occasion I, Nishimura Hozen, was permitted to be present, at the Prince’s command, and had lodgings assigned to me in the Riuin-tei. During my sojourn in the capital (Wakayama) I was treated with the most gracious consideration. A kiln was built for my use in the Park, and workmen placed at my disposal. In addition to many marks of signal favour, a gold seal. JAPAN bearing the characters ‘ Ka-hin Shi-riu ’ was given to me, with injunction not to affix it indiscriminately. I also received a silver seal, with the characters ‘Ei-raku,’ for marking my private manufactures. What an occasion was it for me to be loaded with such high honours ! What happiness to be admitted into the august presence of the Prince ! Such good fortune is not met with twice in a thousand years. It redounds to the perpetual fame of our family.” From the time of this visit the fame of Hozen, or Eiraku as he was thenceforth commonly called, rapidly in- creased. He established himself at Kaseyama, in the neighbourhood of Nara, and manufactured all sorts of choice wares. In 1 840 he was invited to Setsu by the Lord of Koriyama, and he there in- structed the potters in various processes of their art, returning after a few months to Kaseyama. It had been for some time the fashion with the magnates of the Western capital to test the great potter’s skill by asking him to copy chef s-d' oeuvre of Chinese, Korean, and even Dutch origin, which had been handed down in their families for generations. Zengoro’s success in these trials of skill is said to have been remarkable. It is recorded that a fire-box, secretly borrowed by the Chief Minister Takatsukasa from the custodians of the Kono-e heirlooms, was so perfectly imitated at the Eiraku workshop that the original and the imitation were not distinguishable. This feat procured for Zen- goro another seal bearing the inscription Tokin-ken (the weighty potter) ; a mark which he used only on wares of the very highest character, and which is consequently very seldom met with. From Prince Arisugawa he also received a docu- ment conferring the title of Ito-seimai (the world- 222 WARES OF KYOTO renowned keramist). In 1840 he opened a new kiln in Narikata-machi, near Omuro, in Kyoto, finding there clay well suited to the manufacture of fai- ence after the style of the celebrated Nomura Nin- sei. He did not close the factory near Nara, but handed it over to his son Sozaburo. The faience produced by Hozen at Omuro was called Omuro-yakL It had a hard pate, and its glaze differed from the ordinary wares of Kyot5 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 Hozen’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 Akajl-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, Sozaburo, already men- tioned, 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. Sozaburo returned to Kyoto 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. Speci- mens of this ware manufactured by him or under his direction are to be found without great difficulty. 223 JAPAN They are generally marked with the place of their production [vide Marks and Seals), and can thus be easily distinguished. It may be well to refer here to an erroneous notion widely entertained that Zengoro Hozen visited Kaga, and that some of the specimens manufactured there are his work. Such is not the case. He had been dead some three years before his sons received the Prince of Kaga’s invitation. When Zengoro Wazen revisited Kyoto, the national troubles induced by the opening of foreign intercourse were tending to an acute stage, and all art industries had suffered from the depression incidental to such a revolution. He found his brother working in part- nership with Ohashi Rakusen under circumstances of great difficulty. Wazen changed the family name from Nishimura to Eiraku, and for a time attempted to find a market for his ware in the disturbed city. Unsuccessful, he migrated to Okazaki, in the province of Mikawa, in company with Ohashi Rakusen, and there opened a factory. His brother, meantime, established himself in Osaka and died there in 1873. Wazen ultimately returned to Kyoto and settled at Abura-koji, where his son Eiraku Tokuzen now carries on the business partnership with Ohashi Rakusen. Tokuzen’s pieces are not without merit, but they do not approach the productions of his grandfather. It may be safely stated, indeed, that Zengoro Hozen was the greatest and most versatile among the ke- ramists of Kyoto. His incomparable aubergine, tur- quoise, and yellow glazes ; his coral grounds with gold designs ; his enamelled and blue-and-white porcelains; his white ware with designs in relief; his artistic faience, and his pottery of variously col- oured clays — all these are masterpieces. It may be 224 WARES OF KYOTO mentioned, as a point of interest, that, according to one record, Zengoro Hozen was not a lineal descendant of the Nara Furo-shi (maker of urns), Nishimura Zengoro, but was in reality of gentle origin. Ori- ginally destined for the priesthood, he spent — ac- cording to this account — his early years at the temple of Daitoku, in Yamato. There it chanced that his teacher, Kobairiu, a devotee of the Cha-no-Yu, discovered the youth’s aptitude for the potter’s trade, and foreseeing his success, caused him to be adopted into the family of Nishimura. There is nothing conclusive to confirm or contradict this account. The remaining keramists of Kyoto whose achieve- ments have made them conspicuous are as follows : Zoroku was a potter of Gojo-zaka, and his family: name was Mashimizu Jutar5. His father, Shimizu Genemon, was a head-man of Kugamura in the province of Yamashiro. Jutaro studied the art under his uncle Wake Kitei [vide Kitei). Having estab- lished himself at Gojo in 1849, adopted the art name of Zoroku, and, by order of Prince Myoho-in, changed his family name to Mashimizu. He did not originate any new style of decoration. His fai- ence is, however, not only of excellent technique, but also true to the best traditions of the chaste old Kyoto school. He further distinguished himself as a manu- facturer of cHadon porcelain. In 1 864, when the well- known master of Tea Ceremonials, Sen-no Soshitsu, had the honour of organising a Cha-no-Tu entertain- ment in the Imperial Palace, Zoroku, by special com- mand, manufactured a tea-jar and teacups for the occasion. In recognition of this service he received the name of Sogaku. He died in 1878, and was VOL. VIII. 15 22c JAPAN succeeded by his son, Jutaro, who continues the busi- ness on the same lines. Kitei was a potter of Gojo-zaka, and his family name was Wake Heikichi. He commenced the man- ufacture of faience in the Kan-en era (1748-1750), adopting methods which did not differ appreciably from those of Dohachi. His son, of the same name, was equally skilled. Kitei of the third generation, who commenced work during the Bunsei era (1818- 1829), acquired considerable reputation as a maker of blue-and-white porcelain. Kitei of the fourth generation now carries on the industry. Seifu Yohei was a potter of Gojo-zaka, whose art name was Baihin. The son of a bookseller, Yasuda Yahei, who lived in Kanazawa, he came to Kyoto dur- ing the Bunsei era (1818—1829), and having studied keramics under the second Dohachi, opened a factory on his own account in 1844. He manufactured both pottery and porcelain, taking his models for the latter chiefly from Chinese sources. He also acquired rep- utation for his Raku ware decorated with gold and enamels, and for his blue-and-white porcelain, made in imitation of antique Chinese pieces. * In 1857 he was specially employed by the Abbot of the great temple Honganji, to manufacture porcelain vessels with red and gold decoration for use in the monastery, and his success greatly added to his fame. An inti- mate friend of Tsuruna Shoo and Ota Kaisen, he obtained designs from these artists, and often induced them to decorate his wares themselves. He was suc- ceeded by his son, the second Seifu Yohei (art name Gokei) in 1861, who studied painting under Maida Chodo. This keramist confined himself almost en- tirely to the manufacture of porcelain. He acquired 226 WARES OF KYOTO reputation for skill in preparing and applying coloured enamels, and for the delicacy of his designs in relief. The family is now represented by the third Seifu Yohei, whose art name is Baikei. He is a brother of Gokei, and succeeded to the business in 1878, Gokei's son being then only eight years of age. Seifu Yohei is a potter of great ability. He has stud- ied painting under Tanomura Shoko, and has a wide circle of artist friends of whose designs he makes fre- quent use. His porcelain is admirable, both in tech- nique and artistic qualities, and in many respects he ranks as one of his country’s greatest potters. Further reference will be made to him in speaking of modern keramic developments. Yosobei, called also Iseya, a potter of Gojo-zaka, began to work in the Kyowa era (1801—1803). He manufactured faience only, and his reputation rested on the severity and chastity of his decorative designs. He was succeeded by his son, whose art name was Chowaken. The latter formed a partnership with Wake Kitei and his (Kitei’s) nephew Kumakichi (called also Furoken Kamefu), and the three manu- factured blue-and-white and enamelled porcelain of excellent quality. Chowaken died in 1845. with his productions alone that the name of Yosobei, or Yoso, is generally connected, his father’s manu- factures being scarcely known. Kanzan Denshichi, a potter of Kyomizu, is a native of Seto in Owari, where he studied the keramic art at an early age. Subsequently he travelled from one to another of the most noteworthy potteries through- out Japan, and having mastered their various processes, settled, in 1861, at Kyomizu-zaka in Kyoto. His earliest productions did not attract much attention, 227 JAPAN and after the abolition of feudalism he saw nothing better than to adapt his designs solely to the taste of foreign markets. The result was a faience loaded with decoration in gold and pigments. Among modern Kyoto wares this is, perhaps, the besf known outside Japan. Though too often a gaudy, meretri- cious production, unworthy to be classed with the choice efforts of Japanese keramists, some specimens are very beautiful. In truth, when Kanzan really puts forth his strength, he manufactures faience which, alike in phe, glaze, crackle, and decoration, supports comparison with anything of the kind ever made in Japan. Shofu Katei, a potter of Kyomizu, came thither, in 1850, from Owari, of which province he was a native. His original name was Kito Kajuro, but when settling in Kyoto he called himself Katei, and assumed the art name of Shofu-tei. He did not distinguish himself for originality. The only point to be noted with refer- ence to his faience is that, being an ardent devotee and student of Buddhism, his decorative motives were often of a religious character, as, for example, the Shichi-fuku-jin, the Jugo Doji, the Juroku Rakan, the Rishi, and so forth. The first Sh5fu-tei was succeeded by his son, of the same name, in 1 864, who still carries on the industry with considerable success. Okumura Yasutaro, a potter of Kadowakicho (a branch street of Gojo-zaka), commenced the manu- facture of faience in 1864. His art name is Shozan. This keramisfs skill in imitating the works of the old masters, especially Ninsei and Kenzan, is very remarkable. A cup made by him used to be exhib- ited in a museum of antiquities in Tokyo as a genuine production of Nomura Ninsei, and there is no doubt 228 WARES OF KYOTO that many of his productions are similarly misjudged in Western collections. Shozan is a true representa- tive of Japanese household industry. Apart from the mechanical operations of grinding and mixing clays, every process of the manufacture is performed by the artist himself within the precincts of his cottage. Among his wares one only can lay claim to any origi- nality. It is faience of which the surface is partially coated with green sand resembling an incipient growth of moss. Such conceits are not common in Japan. They are confined, for the most part, to the inartistic works of Makuzu [vide Yukansai). Sawamura Tosa, a potter of Gojo-zaka, was a pupil of the third Rokubei. He opened a factory in 1876, and employs himself chiefly in producing wine and tea vessels. There is nothing remarkable about his work. Asami Gorosuke, a potter of Gojo-zaka, was a pupil of the second Rokubei and also of the third. He opened a factory in 1852 and devoted himself principally to manufacturing blue-and-white porcelain. He adopted the art name of Shonzui Gorosuke, but there is little danger that his pieces will ever be mis- taken for those of the father of Japanese porcelain manufacture, Shonzui Gorodayu. Yamamoto Tatsunosuke, a potter of Gojo-zaka, studied the art under Nakamura Masagoro [vide Ebisei) and opened a factory in 1864. His art name is Riu- zan. He manufactures both faience and porcelain, but chiefly the latter. Aki Zenkichi, a potter of Kyomizu, opened a factory in 1876 and copied the methods of Kenzan. Ito Koemon, better known by his art name of Tozan, opened a factory at Gojo-zaka in 1862, and obtained some distinction as a manufacturer of faience 229 JAPAN for foreign use. He adopts the Awata style, using for the most part floral decoration. His productions, shown at competitive exhibitions in Japan, have ob- tained various certificates and awards of merit, and will be referred to again in connection with modern keramic developments. Morimoto Sukezaemon, a native of Kaseyama, in the province of Yamashiro, discovered porcelain stone in the vicinity of his house in 1827, and engaged an expert of Gojo-zaka, Kyoto, to assist in opening a factory. The ware produced was porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze after Chinese models. Small pieces only, chiefly teapots, obtained any measure of public favour. This Kaseyama-yaki, as it is called, does not strictly belong to the present sec- tion, but is generally classed with Kyoto wares. As late as 1847 ^he factory flourished under the patronage of Prince Ichijo, but with the fall of feudalism (1868) its activity ceased. Among the potters of Kyoto a woman, originally called Nobu, but known in art as Otagaki Rengetsu, has left a well-remembered name. Her father was a nobleman of Ise, but on her mother’s second marriage with a vassal of the Kameoka chief, in Tamba, she was adopted into the family of Otagaki Banzaemon, a gentleman in the service of the great temple Chion-in, in Kyoto. As was often the case in those times with girls of gentle birth, she served until her eighteenth year as a lady-in-waiting in the household of the Kameoka chief. She then returned to Kyoto and married, but after the deaths of her husband and her only child, she shaved her head and retired from secular life, assuming the name of Ren- getsu. This happened in 1823. Rengetsu was then 230 WARES OF KYOTO thirty-two years of age. She lived to be eighty-five, and during the whole period of her widowhood she appears to have made the manufacture of pottery and the writing of poetry her chief pastimes. In both she showed much proficiency. Until a recent date strips of illuminated paper with verses in her own handwriting used to be sold in Kyoto. Many of these compositions are full of grace and feeling. It is related that within an hour of her decease she composed the lines : — Tsuyu hodo mo kokoro ni kakaru kumo mo nashi kyo wo kagiri no yugure no sora (Without the shadow of a cloud to darken my soul The sun of my life sets in a clear evening sky.) Her ware, known generally as Rengetsu-yakiy is un- glazed and without enamel decoration. The pate is thin and hard — manufactured with clay from Shiga- raki, in Omi, and Higashi-yama, in Kyoto — and the decoration is plastic, a characteristic design being a lotus flower and leaves, modelled with admirable fidelity. It has been said that she derived her artist name from her skill in modelling this flower {ren)^ but the truth is that she chose her subject for the sake of her name. On most of her pieces she wrote verses composed by herself. Rengetsu did not bake her own ware. This part of the work she entrusted to Taizan, of Gojo-zaka, Rokubei of Kyomizu, or Ku- ado of Shimogawara. The last-named potter imitated her methods, and specimens of Kuroda Rengetsu-yaki are scarcely to be distinguished from the genuine pottery of Otagaki Rengetsu. 231 JAPAN Yukansai, generally known as Roku no Yukansai, opened a factory in Ishibashi-machi, close to the great temple Chion-in, in the year 1705. He devoted himself to the production of faience after the Raku style. His successors followed the same line, but added to their business the preparation and sale of glazing materials. They were named either Chohei or Chozo. The representative of the third genera- tion, Chozo, whose pseudonym was Kosai, removed to Makuzu-ga-hara, in the Gion district of the city, and there commenced to produce faience with designs in high relief and porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze. He attained considerable distinc- tion. Prince Kujo bestowed on him the name of Roku-roku-rin, and Prince Kacho that of Kozan. He also received a seal from Kobori Sochiu, a well- known dilettante, and the title of “ Makuzu ’’ from Prince Yasui. Thenceforth his wares were known as Makuzu-yakL He was succeeded by his son Chohei, and the latter by his son Hase, who in i860 changed his name to Miyagawa Kozan. In 1861 Kozan went to Bizen at the invitation of the Lord of that province, but in the following year he returned to Kyoto, and at the instigation of a gentleman of Sasshiu, called Komatsu Tatewaki, devoted himself to producing imitations of Satsuma faience. In 1869 he moved to Ota, in the neighbourhood of Yokohama, and has remained there ever since, manufacturing wares which will be spoken of by-and-by. In the analysis given above of clays used at Awata, mention is made of only two principal varieties, the Omi clay, obtained at Shigaraki, and the Kyoto clay, obtained in the neighbourhood of Awata. The latter is not used by the potters of Gojo-zaka or Kyomizu-zaka. All alike employ WARES OF KYOTO the Shigaraki material, but at Gojo and Kyomizu it is mixed with clays found in those vicinities, and also with clays obtained from Dainichi-yama, in the Otagi district of Yamashiro province, and from Kokagori, in Goshu. With the glazing material two varieties of lixiviated wood-ash are mixed,' — the ash of the Isu-no-ki^ a hard black wood that grows in the province of Sasshu, and that of the evergreen oak [Nara-no-ki), It is impossible to determine the pro- portions in which these various materials are mixed. Different potters employ different processes and are naturally reticent as to their methods. The faience of Kyoto offers a large variety of pates, from the hard, open-grained, reddish grey found in some of Ninsei’s and Kenzan’s pieces, to the close, white, and comparatively soft pate of Kinkozan and Iwakura. The same may be said of the glaze, though in a lesser degree. Not only does its crackle vary in size and distinctness, but its colour passes from the cold grey of the representative old Awata-yaki, through the soft, glossy cream-white of Taizan, and the warm, yellowish ivory tint of Iwakura, to the peculiar pinkish grey of Ninsei and the Kyomizu school. The porcelain manufacture of Kyoto is now an important industry, but some really choice specimens are produced. The export trade, however, is supplied by wholesale processes. Hundreds of vases and jars, rudely and gaudily decorated with impure blue under the glaze and crude pigments above it, are sent west- ward, to the great injury of the country’s art reputation. The materials used in making this porcelain are the clay of Shigaraki, in Omi province, and the stone of Ama- kusa, an island off the west coast of Kiushu. These are mixed in the proportion of three to seven, or four to six, parts by volume. The Amakusa stone comes as ballast in junks, and the Shigaraki clay has to be trans- ported by land. Thus the expense of manufacture is very considerable and the supply of materials uncertain. 233 JAPAN Four specimens of Kyoto porcelain masses have been analysed by Mr. Korschelt. The results of his examination, in the case of the specimens which differed most, are as follows : — KYOTO PORCELAIN MASSES Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Lime, Pot- ash, ETC. Specimen i . . 69.52 20.53 0.13 5.46 Specimen 2 • • 74-54 17-73 0.64 5-47 To the above mixture of materials from Hizen and Omi, there is added one-half of a volume-part of washed charcoal- powder. Mr. Korschelt suggests that this addition of char- coal may be intended to make the ware more porous, and that it is probably resorted to only in the case of articles which are especially likely to undergo change of form in the kiln. According to the same authority, the porcelain of Kyoto has a closer resemblance than that of Owari to the European article, but is nevertheless a special kind of ware so far as the raw materials are concerned, its average compo- sition being felspar 33.07, clay substance 29.89, and quartz 35.56. The Kyoto product is whiter and finer than that of Owari, but yields to the latter in point of transparency. It will be convenient to note here that among Japanese porcelains six different kinds may be distinguished. Their names and average constituents are as follows : — CONSTITUENTS OF SIX VARIETIES OF JAPANESE PORCELAIN Name. Felspar. Clay Substance. Quartz. Owari Ware . . . 42.06 28.45 27.31 Kyoto Ware . • • 33-07 29.89 35-56 Arita Ware . . . 20.32 30.84 46.62 Tajima Ware . . . 15.90 39-58 42.50 Choshu Ware . . 23.09 35-70 39.38 Harima Ware . . 21.04 39.91 36.61 Each of the principal manufacturing districts in Kyot5 — as Awata, Gojo, and Kyomizu — has a large kiln where the first baking of the pieces is performed. This kiln consists of a series of arched ovens, arranged one above the other on an inclined plane. The furnace is at the bottom of the tier, and the caloric passes from vault to vault by square, lateral 234 WARES OF KYOTO openings. The same general form of kiln is used in Hizen and Owari, with one important difference, that the heat circulates through the vaults by holes cut in the bottom of each. According to the Kyoto keramists, experience shows that caloric impinging laterally is better suited for the baking of porcelain and pottery than caloric ascending vertically. The fuel used is pine faggots, and the furnace is kept burning for about three days. On the latter point it is not possible to speak with precision. There is no fixed rule. Through a little window in each vault the workmen watch the progress of the baking, or with an iron tongs draw out and examine experimental specimens. At the Awata kiln, however, the condition of the ware is judged by the colour of the flame. Pieces placed in the lower tiers, and there- fore exposed to the highest temperature, are enclosed in seggars, and in every case a powdered stone (called Hinoka- sekt) obtained from Otagi, in Yamashiro, is employed to prevent adhesion to the floor of the oven or the base of the seggars. This stoving is final, in the case of specimens decorated only with blue under the glaze. Where enamels or glazes a demi feu are employed, they are subsequently fixed at a lower temperature in little household kilns (called Kin-gama). Associated with the construction of kilns is the name of an expert, Ogawa Kyuemon, a native of Wakasugi, in the province of Kaga, who became known for his skill in this matter during the Bunsei era (1818-1829). There is no information with respect to the improvements introduced by him, but in i_839 he was employed to construct a kiln at Hinokuchi, in Osaka; and in 1847 he was summoned, for the same purpose, to Shikaseyama, in Yamashiro, by Prince Ichijo. The latter was so pleased with Ogawa’s work that he bestowed on him a pension in perpetuity. In the same year Ogawa directed the building of a kiln at Otokoyama, in Kiushu, and so late as 1877 he performed a similar office in Ishikawa Prefecture. His son, Tetsu-no-suke, and his grandson U-no-suke (pseudonym Ojuen Bunsai), now manufacture faience at Goj5 in Kyoto. 235 Chapter V WARES OF KAGA {ISHIKAWA) PREFECTURE After the wares of Hizen, Satsuma, and Kyoto there is no keramic production of Japan better known than the Kutani-yaki. The origin of this ware is attributed to Maeda Toshiharu, feudal lord of Daishdji, who is said to have discovered a bed of excellent porcelain stone at the foot of a hill called Dainichi, near the village of Kutani. This event occurred during the Keian era (1648-1651). Some authorities maintain that no keramic industry existed in Kaga previous to that time, and derive confirmation of their view from the isolated position of the province, lying as it does on the extreme west of Japan, and being separated by a lofty range of mountains from Kyoto, the centre of luxury and art patronage. More accurate investiga- tions show, however, that a pottery kiln had existed at Suizaka (now called Kurose), in the vicinity of Daishdji, for fully half a century before the time of Maeda Toshiharu. The wares produced there — Suizaka-yaki — were faience of the Seto type ; that is to say, pottery of dark, coarse pate^ covered with mahogany coloured or reddish brown glaze. The change that Maeda Toshiharu sought to inaugurate was the manufacture of porcelain, an industry for which Hizen had already acquired an enviable repu- 236 WARES OF KAGA tation. The two best potters of Suizaka at that epoch were Tamura Gonzaemon and Goto Saijiro. Toshiharu directed these men to open a new kiln at Kutani, in the Enuma district of the province, and to employ the lately discovered porcelain stone of Dainichi. The essay was not successful, and gave so little promise that it was temporarily abandoned. During the Manji era (1658-1660) Maeda Toshiaki, the son and successor of Maeda Toshiharu, regretting the fate of the enterprise that his father had desired to establish, sent Goto ^aijiro to Hizen for the pur- pose of studying the processes of porcelain manufacture. Goto made the journey, but found that the secrets of the art were guarded with the greatest jealousy at Arita. His only resource was to accept service in the household of a potter, and to behave as though he intended to become a permanent resident of the province. This he was able to accomplish, after three years’ service, by marrying a woman of the place, after which his employer, who had counte- nanced the marriage, admitted him into the porcelain works. After four years of unremitting application. Goto, feeling that he had sufficiently mastered the processes of the art, deserted his wife and children and fled to Kaga, where he submitted to his prince a l full report of the Arita methods.^ After this event, j which may be placed in the year 1664, the Kutani potters rapidly attained a high standard of skill. The wares that they produced were of two kinds. The first, and more characteristic, was Ao-Kutani, so called from a deep green [ao") glaze, of great bril- liancy and beauty, which was largely used in its dec- oration. Associated with this glaze were others, not ^ See Appendix, note 5. 237 JAPAN less lustrous and full-toned, — yellow, purple, and soft Prussian blue. The glazes were applied so as to form diapers, scrolls, and floral designs ; or they were simply run over patterns traced in black on the biscuit. The second class of ware was decorated somewhat after the Arita fashion, with this principal difference, — that the Kutani potters seldom employed blue under the glaze in conjunction with enamels, except in wholly subordinate positions. Their chief colours were green and red, supplemented by purple, yellow, blue (enamel), silver, and gold. ^The Kutani red was a specialty, — a peculiarly soft, subdued, opaque colour, varying from rich Indian red to russet brown. For designs the early potters had recourse to a well-known artist, Kuzumi Morikaga, of the Kano school, a pupil of the renowned Tanyu. From his sketches they cop- ied miniature landscapes, flowers ruffled by the breeze, sparrows perched among plum-branches, and other glimpses of nature in her simplest garb. On some of their choice pieces the decoration is of a purely formal character, — diapers, scrolls, and medallions enclos- ing conventional symbols. On others it is essentially pictorial. Figure subjects are rarely found, except the well-known Chinese children [Karako), The amateur may be tolerably confident that specimens decorated with peacocks, masses of chrysanthemums and peonies, figures of wrinkled saints, brightly apparelled ladies, cocks upon drums, and so forth, belong to the manu- factures of modern times. It is doubtful whether the first place among Japanese enamelled porcelains does not belong to the Kutani-yaki, In wealth and profusion of or- nament the Chrysanthemo-poeonienne family of Imari appeals more forcibly to Western taste, while the 238 WARES OF KAGA productions of the Kakiemon school are chaster and more delicate. But for decorative effect, com- bined with softness and artistic beauty, the Ao-Kutani has, perhaps, no equal. The transparency, purity, and richness of the enamels are not unique. In the best wares of Arita and even of Kyoto these features are equally conspicuous. The charm of the Ao-Kutani is due primarily to the admirable harmony of its colours and to their skilful massing, and secondarily to the technical excellence shown in the manner of applying the enamels. The Kutani potter, in tracing his designs, used enamels with as much facility as though they were ordinary pigments, and balanced his masses of green, red, blue, purple, and yellow so perfectly that their harmony delights the sense of sight as keenly as the motive they served to depict appeals to the artistic instinct. Besides, Japan has the right to claim this decorative fashion as her own invention. Its origin has been sometimes attributed to the Kochi-yaki, or so-called faience of Cochin China. But the two have nothing in common beyond similarity in the colour and quality of their enamels. Still more marked is the difference between the Ao-kutani and every other porcelain of China or Japan. Thus the ware acquires additional interest as a genuine representative of Japanese taste. The same is true, though to a less conspicuous extent, of the second family of Kutani ware, — the famille rouge^ as it may not inaptly be called in contradistinction to the famille verte [Ao-kutani), The dominant decorative colour in this ware is red — rouge mat ; varying from Indian red to russet. It is generally employed in diapers or scrolls separating 239 _ xj A P A N medallions which contain floral compositions, land- scapes, dragons, phoenixes, children at play, and so forth, in yellow, green, purple, and red enamels. Vases of this Ko-kutani (old Kutani) are scarcely ever found. Indeed, specimens of any shape are rare, but those most frequently met with are plates, small dishes {muko-dzuke or vegetable vessels), cups, sake bottles, censers, and incense-boxes [kd-go). They pre- sent a large variety of decorative designs, executed sometimes with consummate skill and always with artistic feeling. There is no difficulty in distin- guishing these pieces from the enamelled porcelains of Arita or Nabeshima : the balance and softness of the colours ; their tone ; the subdued yet rich character of the decoration, and the comparative absence of gold and silver in combination with vitrifiable enamels, constitute familiar points of difference. One class of old Kutani decoration, belonging to the famille rouge, must be specially mentioned. In this the whole surface of the piece is covered with red, to which are applied designs in gold, silver, light green, and, more rarely, purple and yellow enamels. It has been erroneously asserted, and is commonly be- lieved, that the first employment of red as a ground for decorative designs belongs to a late period of the Kutani manufacture. Such is not the case. This fashion of decoration occurs on old and choice ex- amples of the ware. But the character of the red differs essentially from that of the modern manufac- ture ; the former being a soft, subdued colour, more like a bloom than an enamel ; the latter a glossy and comparatively crude pigment. A further and readily appreciated distinction is that the gold and silver of 240 WARES OF KAGA the ancient decorators are almost entirely free from glitter. They present the appearance of virgin metals that have undergone the action of heat without subsequent burnishing. This is partly due to the oxidisation of age, but chiefly to the manner in which the metals were prepared and applied. The subdued richness and harmony of the result can hardly be over-praised. It is stated above that blue sous couverte was seldom used in combination with enamels by the Kutani pot- ters. The statement is intended to direct attention to a difference between the decorative methods of Arita and Kutani. At Arita, it will be remembered, masses of blue designs under the glaze were commonly combined with similarly profuse coloured ornamenta- tion above it. At Kutani this fashion was not fol- lowed. Where blue sous couverte occurs, it is found only in subordinate positions, as on the under surface of plates or in the minor parts of a design. But speci- mens decorated entirely with blue under the glaze, though exceedingly rare, are sometimes met with. In these, as well as in the former class of cases, the tone* of the blue is peculiar. It lacks the depth and richness of the best Hizen blues, and is equally removed from the delicate purity of the Hirado colour. It is, in fact, an inferior and somewhat muddy pigment, though not unredeemed by a certain softness and sobriety. For two reasons these remarks have been thus far con- fined to the decoration of the Kutani ware : first, because the character of the decoration is so essentially distinct, and secondly because the question of pate and glaze presents peculiar difficulty. To explain the nature of this difficulty, analyses of Kaga ware recently made by Mr. Korschelt may be quoted. The following results were obtained : — VOL. VIII. — 1 6 JAPAN KAGA WARE MASSES Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Limb, Pot- ash, ETC. Water. Specimen i . . 64.66 23.61 0.88 7.28 2.55 Specimen 2 . . 68.19 22.58 0.31 6.73 1.95 Specimen 3 . 67.69 24.14 0.19 4.92 3-37 Specimen 4 • • 67.97 21.56 0.89 4.05 5.20 Specimen 5 . . 70.96 20.17 0.46 7.04 1-37 Specimen 6 . . 71.51 22.85 0.66 2.77 1.92 The six masses were all differently compounded. Speci- men I was of clay found at Chikano-mura, Kaga, without any addition. The ware obtained from this mass was faience, having a tolerably white pate^ like that of inferior Arita por- celain, but not transparent. Specimen 2 was a mixture, in the proportion of 7 to 3, of clay from Gokokuji-mura and stone from Nabedani-mura, both in the province of Kaga. The ware obtained from this mass was porcelain, having a yellowish, slightly transparent/)^/^. Specimen 3 was a mix- ture similar to specimen 2, except that one part of the stone from Nabedani-mura was replaced by a stone from Onomura. The ware obtained from this mass was faience, having a yel- lowish-white pate. Specimen 4 consisted entirely of clay from Hanida-mura, in Kaga. The ware obtained from it was stone-ware, having a pate like that of the preceding specimen. Specimen 5 was a mixture of four parts stone from Gokokuji-mura, two parts stone from Nabedani-mura, and four parts stone from Aratani-mura. The ware obtained was close-grained, tolerably transparent porcelain, of bluish tint. Specimen 6 was a mixture of unascertained materials. It gave a porcelain very white and close-grained, but little transparent. The appearance of the fracture resembled that of European porcelain, being less granular and stony than Arita ware, and less lustrous than the porcelain of Owari. Commenting on these analyses, Mr. Korschelt says : ‘‘It appears that in Kaga there are manufactured from the same raw materials two different articles : one a transparent porcelain ; the other a faience, or stone-ware, of yellowish p^te and colourless glaze. Between the two, however, there are transitions so gradual as to be difficult of distinction. As 242 WARES OF KAGA the raw material of all seems to be the same kind of stone — no importance attaching to the fact that it is called clay some- times— we must conclude that it depends upon the degree of heat whether the Kaga ware emerges from the oven a yel- lowish faience or stone-ware, or a white or bluish porcelain/’ Mr. Korschelt further observes : ‘‘ The differences in the chemical composition of the Kaga wares are not greater, but rather less, than those in the wares of Arita, and both are manufactured from one raw material, a stone. But the analyses show that the porcelain stone of Kaga is not identi- cal with the porcelain stone of Hizen. The former contains much less silica and much more clay-earth and alkalies than the latter.” With regard, on the other hand, to the quanti- ties of the constituents of Kaga wares, the following table will show that considerable differences exist : — CONSTITUENTS OF KAGA WARE No. Felspar. Clay Substance. Quartz. Specimen i. Stone- ware • • 19-53 47-34 31.69 Specimen 2. Stone-ware . . 20.51 45-51 32.82 Specimen 3. Porcelain . • • 39-53 33-75 25.25 Specimen 4. Porcelain . . . 41.89 27-34 29.81 Specimen 5. Porcelain . . . 14.31 44.78 39-54 In preparing the glazing material, lixiviated ashes of Keyaki (Planecu Japonica) were mixed with the porcelain stones of Nabedani and Gokokuji. It is not to be assumed that all the materials entering into the above masses were known to the ancient potters of Kutani. Which of them they did know, and in what manner they employed them, there is unfortunately no hope of ascertaining now. A careful exami- nation of Kutani specimens produced in the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century shows, however, four distinct varieties of ware. The first is stone-ware, heavy in proportion to its thickness, and of tolerably fine quality : its timbre poor, showing a large ratio of clayey substance ; its colour grey, verging on brown, and its glaze impure white, often disfigured by minute pitting. The second is semi- porcelain, often no harder than faience, thin and light. The glaze of this variety, always soft and opaque and generally 243 JAPAN showing accidental crackle, is sometimes greyish white, and sometimes comparable to refined wax. The third is porce- lain of dull timbre but fine texture, covered with milk-white, opaque glaze of remarkable purity, without crackle. Finally, there is egg-shell porcelain, softer than that of Hizen or Owari, and further distinguished by the lustreless aspect of its glaze. It would be misleading to lay down any hard and fast rule associating special fashions of decoration with these different varieties of biscuit and glaze. The connoisseur will generally find, however, that the fate of the Ao-Kutani is stone-ware or semi-porcelain. A theory credited by some amateurs is that Gorodayu Shonzui, after his return from China (1515), settled at Kutani, and there manufactured enamelled porcelain. .There is no foundation for this idea except the recent discovery of a plate of old Kutani ware bearing Shonzui's mark. Very ample credulity is needed to draw from evidence so slender and deceptive a conclusion entirely at variance with fairly well authenticated annals. It ought to be mentioned that the Kutani experts of early days are credited with a monopoly of skill in preparing and applying a dead-leaf or chocolate- brown glaze of much depth and softness. It was copied from Chinese pieces, but the merit of reproducing it in Japan be- longs to the Kutani factory. The popularity enjoyed by the early Kaga ware was deservedly great, but owing to some unrecorded cause the manufacture did not long continue. It must be confessed, indeed, that very little is known about the story of the potteries until comparatively recent times. No names of experts have been handed down by tra- dition, nor do the marks upon specimens offer infor- mation of this character. That ware of such technical excellence and artistic beauty should have failed to find a market is scarcely credible. The probable ex- planation of the early factory’s short life, the explana- tion given by Japanese experts, is that the productions 244 WARES OF KAGA of the Kutani pottery, like those of Okawachi (Na- beshima, in Hizen), were officially limited. The workmen, forbidden to dispose of their wares without permission, depended on the patronage of their feudal chief and his officers, and losing that patronage — for presumably they did lose it — had no choice but to abandon their trade. Another reason is that under feudal rulers intercourse between the people of Kaga province and those of other fiefs was exceptionally restricted. Devout Buddhists, and almost fanatical in their allegiance to the Monto sect, the Kaga folks had shown such recklessness in their contributions to the support of that sect’s great monasteries in Kyoto, that their lord deemed it prudent to interdict all ex- port of merchandise, goods, chattels, or specie from the fief, except under official supervision. Such an embargo was not unlikely to check the develop- ment of the keramic art. At any rate, it was checked. Some seventy or eighty years after Goto Saijiro’s return from Arita, the Kutani factory practically ceased to be active, and by 1750 the production of the beautiful specimens described above had almost, if not entirely,* ceased. The potter’s industry did not, indeed, thence- forth become extinct in the province, but its products were of a common, unattractive type. Things remained thus until 1779, when a man called Honda Teikichi, a native of Hizen, came to Kanazawa, the chief town of Kaga. This Honda was an expert potter and had worked for a long time at the Arita factories. Falling under the displeasure of the local authorities, he was obliged to fly from his home, and after wandering through various parts of the Empire, he found refuge in the house of a potter of Kasuga-yama, in Kaga. Shortly afterwards, he 245 JAPAN moved to Wakasugi, in the Nomi district (Nomi-gori) of the same province, and there became the guest of Hayashi Hachibei, the head-man of the village. It was in the neighbouring district of Enuma that the Kutani factory stood : the Nomi district did not yet possess a kiln, and was supposed to be without keramic materials. Honda Teikichi proved that this supposi- tion was erroneous. He discovered good porcelain stone at a hill called Rokubei-yama, near Wakasugi. The discovery induced Hayashi Hachibei to open a factory, where, under Teikichfs direction, enamelled porcelain was produced. The artist was assisted by three other experts : Torakichi of Kyoto, Heisuke of Hirado, and Torakichi of Kumano. These four men carried on the manufacture with success. They did not, however, revive the methods of the old Kutani potters, choosing rather a style of decoration that re- sembled that of Imari but was less brilliant. To pre- pare and apply the beautiful enamels of the Ao-Kutani would evidently have overtaxed their ability. Teiki- chi died in 1819, having worked at Wakasugi for forty years. He left two sons, Seibei and Eikichi, who are said to have been expert potters. But in 1822 Hayashi Hachibei, the patron and capitalist of the factory, finding that the enterprise had ceased to be profitable, abandoned it. Ten years later (1832), a citizen of Kanazawa, by name Hashimoto Yasubei, re-opened the factory and placed it under the direc- tion of three potters, Hachibei, Kyubei, and Chojiro, who had been pupils of Teikichi. This revival was encouraged by the patronage of Maeda, ex-Daimyo of Kaga. In 1837 the industry received a further impulse through the discovery — by Hachibei — of porcelain stone at Niiyama, and pottery clay at Hachi- 246 WARES OF KAGA maita, in the district of Hanasaka. Among the deco- rators who had worked in the former factory and whose services were retained by Hashimoto, was an artist of Kyoto, named Yujiro, whose success in using enamels after the Imari style obtained for him the sobriquet of Akae-Tujiro [aka-e signifies painting with coloured enamels). In 1838, owing to conflagration, the factory was removed to Tsuchi-yama, in the same district. Seven years previously (1830), another fac- tory had been established in the neighbourhood (at Ono-mura), by a farmer called Yabu Rokuemon, who engaged two of Teikichi’s former pupils, Chosuke and Gihei, to carry on the potter’s work, and Kutani Shozo, Saida Dokan, and Kitaichya Heikichi as decorators. They used materials found at Gokokuji, at Nabedani, and at Sano, all in the immediate vicinity. Rokuemon conducted thiS' enterprise until 1850, when he trans- ferred the factory to one Zendayu, who managed the sale of its productions until i860. In 1824 Yujiro (mentioned above) had among his pupils two artisans, Ishida Heikichi and Kawashiri Shichibei, who are credited with having transmitted and improved his methods. A few years later (1830) two other potters attract attention. These are Mat- sumoto Kikusaburo and Awaya Genemon. The former appears to have undergone a very extensive training, having been the pupil successively of Saida Isaburo (otherwise called Dokai), a potter of Sano (in the Nomi district) ; of Kozaka Shirobei, an expert of Yoshikawa (in the same province) ; of Jozan, director of the Sanda factory (in Sesshu) ; and of Shuhei, a well-known Kyoto potter. Returning to Kaga from his last apprenticeship in Kyoto, he settled at Komatsu, and there worked for many years, in part- 247 JAPAN nership with Awaya Genemon and Sumiya Sakubei, to revive the methods of the old Ao-Kutani porcelain. The factory where these experiments were carried on, at Rendaiji (in the Nomi district) was under Gene- mon’s direction. From 1843 1850 Kikusaburo, Genemon, and Sakubei worked there ; after which they opened another kiln at the neighbouring village of Motoe, and continued the same style of manufac- ture for three years longer. Matsumoto Kikusaburo then settled finally at Komatsu, and in 1867 handed his business over to his son Matsumoto Sahei. Re- ferring to what has been said above, it will be seen that in 1830 a factory was established at Ono-mura by Yabu Rokuemon. Here, for the first time in Kaga, a kiln was built of the shape known as nabori-gama ; that is to say, a number of vaulted chambers arranged, one above the other, on an inclined plane. This form of furnace was more economical for stoving small pieces than the round kiln {maru-gama^ previously employed. Its superior facilities, the patronage of the local authorities, and the enterprise of the potters brought about a marked development of keramic in- dustry in the Nomi district. Between 1854 and 18^9, when this impulse was at its height, there were factories at seven places — Wakasugi-mura, Yawata- mura, Ono-mura, Sano-mura, Yutani-mura, Wake- mura, and Tokuyama-mura — each possessing a nobori-gama of from five to twelve compartments, and the whole giving employment to over two hundred artisans. Extracting salient facts from these somewhat con- fusing details, it appears that, after an interval of about thirty years’ cessation, the keramic industry of Kaga was revived (1779) in the N5mi district, by a fugitive 248 WARES OF KAGA potter (Honda Teikichi) of Hizen, who had the as- sistance of artists from Hirado, Kyoto, and elsewhere ; that the wares produced were of the Arita rather than the Kutani fashion; that in 1843 manu- facture of the beautiful Ao-Kutani ware was success- fully recommenced, chiefly through the exertions of an artist called Matsumoto Kikusaburo ; that the in- dustry grew in Nomori-gori until (1855) there were seven factories employing two hundred artisans ; and that the materials used were found at Gokokuji, Na- bedani, Sano-mura, Ono-mura, and elsewhere. Before speaking of the qualities of the wares pro- duced in the Nomi district, it is necessary to turn, for a moment to the Enuma district, where, as explained above, the original Kutani-yaki was manufactured. Here the revival of the industry did not take place until 1809, when Yoshida Denemon, a merchant of Daishdji, established a factory at Kutani. Two years later, with a view to greater facilities of access, the factory was removed to Yamashiro-mura, in the vi- cinity of Daishoji. Kutani porcelain stone, from Dainichi-yama, was employed, and the decorative methods of the old Ao-Kutani — green, purple, blue, and yellow enamels — were followed as closely as pos- sible. The ware thus produced was commonly called Toshida-yaki, Associated with Yoshida was an expert called Myamoto Uemon. These two men continued to work with success until 1840, when Uemon was succeeded by his son Riemon. About this time the factory obtained the services of an artist called lida Hachiroemon, who effected a marked change in the decorative fashion of the ware by introducing a style known as Akaji-kinga, or gold designs on a red ground. It was not an original idea. The Chinese 249 JAPAN potters of the Yung-lo era (1403-1424) and their suc- cessors had manufactured very beautiful specimens of this nature. Tradition says, indeed, that lida Hichi- roemon owed his conception to a piece of Chinese porcelain which he saw among the heirlooms of a neighbouring temple. Other authorities connect his methods with the work of the great Kyoto keramist, Eiraku Zengoro, whose red-and-gold porcelain had been famous for several years before Hachiroemon’s time. It has also been shown above that the idea of a red ground for designs in gold, silver, and coloured enamels was familiar to the original Kutani potters. The distinguishing feature of the style attributed to Hachiroemon, however, was that his decoration (on a red ground) was traced with gold alone, and there is no doubt that he was the first to introduce this style at the Kutani factory, though in Kyoto it was tolerably familiar. It became very popular. Pieces decorated with the Hachiro-e (pictures by Hachiroe- mon) found a ready sale, and their manufacture was continued on a considerable scale for about twenty years. Again summarising, it appears that, although the reproduction of the Ao-Kutani ware did not com- mence in the Nomi district of Kaga until 1843, it dated from 1809 in the Enuma district. From 1779, therefore, until about 1865, the keramic manufactures of the province of Kaga were of three varieties in respect of decoration. There was, first, the ware of Honda Teikichi and his successors, produced at Wakasugi, in the Nomi district; there was, secondly, the Ko-Kutani ware, produced from 1790 till 1865 at the Kutani factory, and from 1843 till 1865 at Waka- sugi, and there was finally the gold-and-red ware of 250 WARES OF KAGA the Hachiroemon kiln, dating from i 840. With re- gard to the first, it varied in quality from dense, some- what coarse pate — almost stone-ware — to thin and line, but soft porcelain. The decoration bore a close resemblance to that of Arita enamelled ware, but there were less massing of colours and a freer use of scroll patterns and diapers in principal positions : gold was sparsely employed, and the general effect was sub- dued. With regard to the second, the revived Ko-Ku~ taniy its pate was soft, heavy stone-ware, having a dull timbre. The glazes, green, purple, blue, and yellow, were lustrous and pure, but not so rich as those of the old Ao-Kutani, Finally, the fashion of running these glazes over designs — diapers, arabesques, floral scrolls, and sometimes landscapes — traced in black, was emi- nently characteristic of the time. Specimens of this middle-period Ao-Kutani are tolerably easy to procure. They do duty with bric-a-brac vendors for ‘‘ Old Ku- tani,” from which, however, they are readily dis- tinguishable by the greater softness of their pate, the inferior richness of their enamels, the greyish tone of their glaze, and the comparatively thin, crude appear- ance of their red pigment. With regard to the third variety — the Hachiroe ware — it was of two kinds, porcelain and faience. The distinguishing feature of its decoration was the free use of red and gold. In some part of the design red was nearly always em- ployed as a ground for floral scrolls or conventional patterns in gold. The faience, or semi-stone ware, of this period was covered with an opaque glaze of warm, ivory-like tint, and soft, grey appearance, show- ing accidental crackle. No similar glaze is to be found on any other ware of Japan. The decoration was more florid and elaborate than anything seen on 251 JAPAN old Kutani-yaki^ though in this respect it still fell considerably short of the miniature painting of the modern school. Hachiroemon died in 1849. Nine years later (1858), the two sons of the celebrated Kyoto keram^ ist Zengoro Hozen — commonly called Eiraku — together with another Kyoto artist, Ohashi Rakusen, were invited to Kaga by Maeda, chief of the fief. Of the two brothers one, Zengoro Wazen, remained six years at Kutani, and assisted in developing the decorative fashion — gold designs on a red ground — for which his father had been so famous. The differ- ence between Wazen’s style and Hachiroemon’s was that in the former the whole piece — except, perhaps, the inner surface, where designs in blue sous couverte occasionally appear — was covered with red, serving as a ground for conventional patterns in gold ; whereas in Hachiroemon’s ware red was used for purposes of delineation quite as much as for a ground colour. Further, Wazen’s red may be distinguished from Hachiroemon’s by its greater body, yet lighter, coral- like tone. Pieces manufactured by Wazen, or under his directions, at Kutani are generally marked Kutani ni oite 'Eiraku tsukuru^ which signifies, ‘‘ Made by Eiraku at Kutani.'’ During the troublous years immediately preceding and following the abolition of the feudal system, that is to say, from about 1863 to 1869, the keramic in- dustry of Kaga did not escape the general commercial depression. The factories in both the Enuma and Nomi districts were either closed or kept open for the production of common utensils only. At this junc- ture an amateur of considerable means, Abe Omi, set himself resolutely to work to revive the decaying 252 WARES OF KAGA industry. In 1868 he caused a kiln to be erected within the enclosure of the ex-feudal chief’s park, and engaged all the best-known potters of the district. It is unnecessary to recount the vicissitudes that over- took this enterprise. It cost its projector thirty thousand dollars, and reduced him to a position of ex- ceedingly straitened means. But the benefit conferred on the keramic art by his exertions and sacrifices was very great. There are now (1885) upwards of 2,700 persons engaged, either technically or commercially, in the industry in Kaga province. Among them are 280 painters whose pupils number 520. Frequent efforts have been made by the authorities to improve the standard of the art, and large quantities of the ware are exported every year. There is a Pottery Associ- ation to which the principal manufacturers belong, and there is also a Society of Experts who watch the work and keep the potters supplied with good designs. Kaga porcelain has thus been brought into consider- able favour. Table services of all kinds for Western use are produced in great numbers. They are porce- lain of fair quality, and their invariable decoration 'is of the red-and-gold type. Medallions of various shapes enclose landscapes, floral compositions, figures or mythical animals, and are themselves surrounded by a red ground with golden designs traced on it. The execution is often of a very high character, — miniature painting which for delicacy and accuracy leaves nothing to be desired. Especially is this true of pieces having a multitude of tiny figures in gold depicted with microscopic fidelity on a solid red ground. But it must be confessed that the fashion lacks variety. One wearies of a perpetual glitter of gilding and massing of red pigment, more especially 253 JAPAN as the latter, in point of tone and richness, does not commend itself to refined taste. The potters them- selves, appreciating the consequences of this monotony, have made resolute efforts, of late years, to revive the incomparably richer and more varied methods of the old Ao-Kutani. In this enterprise a leading part has been played by Takenouchi Kinshu, — called also Gaikyo, or Yusetsusai, — a man of gentle birth, who, having studied keramics under the potters Okura and Tsukatani, of Kutani, has succeeded, after years of experiment and innumerable failures, in reproduc- ing the beautiful green, yellow, purple, and blue vitreous glazes of former times. Matsumoto Sahei, of Wakasugi, has also contributed materially to the success of this revival, and is further distinguished by the beauty of his designs, many of which are taken from the works of celebrated pictorial artists. Other keramists of note who have flourished since the abolition of feudalism are Ishida Heizo, Mifuji Bunzo, Fujikata Yasojo, Tsukuya Sen (called also Chikuzen), Okura Seishichi (called also Juraku), Asukai Kyoshi, Kawashiri Kahei, Matsubara Shin- suke, Wakafuji Genjiro, Hashimoto Hachibei, and Nakagawa Genzaemon. The decorators form a sepa- rate school. In former times the potters of Kutani did not use their own names to mark their pieces. Sometimes they put the name of the factory (Kutani); but in the majority of cases they employed simply the ideograph fuku^' or “ good fortune.’’ The use of names for this purpose is comparatively recent : it does not date farther back than 1850, and is confined, for the most part, to elaborately decorated pieces of the red-and- gold type. The names are not stamped : they are 254 WARES OF KAGA written sometimes in gold, sometimes in red or black, and occasionally green enamel is run over the writ- ing. They are the names of decorators, not of potters. In addition to the wares mentioned above there was produced in the province of Kaga a faience called Ohi-yaki, It was of the Raku type. The factory stood in Ohi-machi, Kanazawa (the capital of Kaga), and its founder was Haji Chozaemon. This man came of a very ancient family of potters. He was twenty-eighth in descent from Naga-mitsu Michiyasu, a retainer of the Emperor Kammu (782-805 a. d.), and twentieth in descent from Nagamitsu Yasutoshi, who, following the celebrated statesman Michizane into exile (905 a. d.), settled in the province of Kawachi, at the village of Haji, so called because it was inhabited chiefly by potters. Nagamitsu, being without resources, adopted the potter’s trade and changed his family name to Haji (abbreviation of hani-shi, an ancient term for ‘‘potter”). His de- scendants continued to earn a livelihood by the manu- facture of unglazed pottery, until the time of Haji Chozaemon, who in the year 1657 visited Kyoto, and learned the art of making Raku faience. Nine years later (1666) he was summoned to Kaga by Prince Maeda Saisho, and there, building a kiln in Ohi-machi, manufactured tea-utensils after designs furnished by the Chajin Senno Soshitsu. The Ohi ware, as it was then, and as it remained with very little change until recent times, need not occupy much attention. A faience with reddish brown, somewhat coarse pate^ consider- ably heavier than the Raku-yaki of Kyoto, it only be- came interesting from an artistic point of view when used in the manufacture of figures, — deities, Rishi, ^SS JAPAN or mythical animals, — some of which were modelled with boldness and skill. The glaze was semi-trans- parent, 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 Hokoji-mura, in Kaga, and to these was added a white earth procured from the province of Etchu. Haji Chozaemon 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 Chozaemon; came from Kyoto in 1666, and settling in Ohi-machi, changed his family name to “ Ohi.** 2. Ohi Chozaemon ; enjoyed the patronage of two suc- cessive 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 con- ferred on him a pension of two rations of rice in perpetuity. In 1822 he was further rewarded with 500 me (4^^ 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 (i tsubo = 2^ 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 Shogun^ lenari, and was handsomely rewarded. WARES OF KAGA He was further commissioned to supply pottery every new year for use in the mansions of the Kaga family, and he executed various special commissions for the Kaga princesses. He died in 1856. 6. Ohi Sakutard ; continued to enjoy the special patron- age of the Kaga family. 7. Ohi Michitada; had the honour of being admitted to the outer audience chamber of the Kaga mansion, and received various rewards from the Kaga family. He abandoned the potter’s trade ' in 1869, after the fall of the feudal system, but resumed it in 1885, establishing his kiln at Kasugamachi. Here, as in the case of the Raku-yaki of Kyoto, it is necessary to caution the reader against basing any extravagant idea of the Ohi faience on the compara- tive accuracy of its records. Whenever in Japan any branch of industry has been the specialty of one family, it is always easy to compile such a table as the above. The Ohi-yaki was, in truth, an unattractive faience, only redeemed from utter homeliness by the occa- sional skill of its modellers and the peculiar amber- like colour and transparency of its glaze. Its annals are interesting, however, as showing the intimate nature of the patronage extended by families of feudal chiefs in Japan to the artists and artisans in their fiefs. The articles manufactured by the Ohi potters in for- mer days were chiefly utensils for the Cha-no-Tu. These are still highly valued by Japanese connoisseurs. In the majority of cases the mark of the factory [Ohi^ is stamped in the pate. During the present century Raku ware after the fashion of the Ohi-yaki has been manufactured by two families of Kaga potters besides that of Haji Chozae- VOL. VIII. 17 257 JAPAN mon. They are the family of Kato Nagatoshi, who established a kiln in Yamano-ue-machi, Kanazawa, 1856, and employed clays obtained at Hokoji-mura, Yamano-ue-mura, Dangi-mura, and Ono-mura in the Nomi district of Kaga ; and the family of Hara Yo- sobei (called also Gozan), a Cha-jiriy who, in 1862, built a kiln at Uguisu-dani, and produced ware that has been compared to the yellow Chien-yao (vide Chten-yao^ of China. He employed clays from Ara- tani-mura, Nabetani-mura, Sano-mura, Utsu-yama, and Yamada-mura (all in Kaga), from Shigaraki, in Omi, and from Awata, in Kyoto. One other ware produced in the province of Kaga remains to be mentioned : a faience of great beauty, popularly but erroneously known as Ohi-yaki. The pate is of the Kaku type, — soft with a peculiarly dull timbre. The glaze is cream white, waxy, opaque, showing subdued lustre and finely crackled. But the charm of the ware lies in the enamelled decoration. It is difficult to conceive anything more admirable, from a technical point of view, than the manner in which the decoration is executed. The enamels, pure and lustrous, green, blue, yellow, purple, and red, are used with all the facility of ordinary pigments to depict landscapes, floral subjects, birds, diapers, scrolls, and so forth, with microscopic accuracy and charm- ing taste. Only in some of the choicest specimens of Kyoto faience, masterpieces by Eiraku, Shuhei, and their peers, can work be found of such infinite deli- cacy. The Kaga faience is further distinguished by metallic reflection ; but, on the other hand, it is with- out the exquisite softness of the Kyoto glaze. The originator of this beautiful ware was Kurin-ya Gem- bei, who constructed a kiln for the manufacture of 258 WARES OF KAGA Raku faience, in Edamachi, Kanazawa, in 1827. It is to Gembei’s son, Awaya Genemon, however, that the credit belongs of bringing the manufacture to its highest point of excellence. This expert's name has already been mentioned. To him, working in con- junction with Matsumoto Kikusaburo at the Rendaiji factory, is due the revival of the Ao-kutani ware in the Nomi district of Kaga. Simultaneously he carried on the manufacture of enamelled Raku faience — essen- tially a domestic industry — at his house in Edamachi. He flourished from 1843 1865, and left behind him some specimens which are now eagerly sought by connoisseurs. Genemon's mastery of the technique of his craft seems to have been very remarkable. He was noted for his extraordinary success as a potter of ro-huchiy — square frames used at Tea Ceremonials to form lips for fire-boxes. To produce faience of such a shape with mathematical accuracy was a feat quite beyond the strength of any but the most dextrous ke- ramist. His skill as a decorator combined with his remarkable mastery of keramic processes may be seen to greatest advantage in faience writing-boxes (suzuri- bako) and writing-desks [kendat\ which are as true and accurate as joiner's work. Genemon was succeeded by his son Aoki Eigoro, who, though not without skill, could not emulate his father's achievements. The manufacture, temporarily abandoned in 1862, was recently resumed. Eigoro now confines himself to decorative work. He is successful in the prepara- tion and use of enamels, but the ware itself, being no longer a family specialty, falls palpably below the quality of the earlier faience. It may be worth while to mention that the term Kaga-yaki (ware of Kaga) has, of late years, come to 259 JAPAN signify the red-and-gold porcelain of the province, as distinguished from the enamelled ware of Kutani. The distinction is purely capricious. All the varieties described above, whether porcelain or pottery, are properly included in the name Kaga-yaki, Chapter VI WARES OF OWARI, OR BISHIU, AND MINO POTTERY The province of Owari, or Bishiu, now in- cluded in Aichi Prefecture, is full of interest for the student, whether for the sake of its association with the name of Kato Shirozae- mon (commonly called Toshiro), or because its manu- factures were sufficiently pre-eminent to become a synonym — Seto-mono — for all keramic productions in Japan. It has already been related how Shirozae- mon visited China in 1223, and what improved pro- cesses he there acquired. The pieces he is said to have previously produced did not possess one redeem- ing feature, nor need they be cited except as illustra- tions of the very small progress Japan had made in keramics up to that time. They were thick, clumsily shaped, and unglazed at the orifice, so that even the Japanese C ha-jin, who treasures them to-day with enthusiasm, is at a loss to point out any merit justify- ing his affection. Among these specimens of ‘‘ Ko- seto'^ (old Seto), as they are called — though Kato Shirozaemon never worked at Seto until after his return from China — a curious example of the ficti- tious value attached by subsequent generations to the great master’s handiwork is seen in the variety “ Hori-dashi-te*' or ‘‘ dug-out ware.” It consists of 261 JAPAN pieces which, having been rejected from time to time on account of technical defects until their inconvenient accumulation suggested the expedient of burying them in the ground, were dug out two or three centuries later and placed among the treasures of the tea-clubs, the faults that originally rendered them worthless several hundred years being subsequently condoned for the sake of their associations. Before his visit to China, Toshiro’s wares, or, to speak more correctly, the wares of his time, were stoved in an inverted position, so that the orifices were unglazed. For this reason they were subsequently called Kuchi-hagi-de^ or bared {hagi) orifice {kucht) variety (te). Another dis- tinguishing appellation was Atsu-de^ or thick variety, — a term that explains itself. It is unnecessary to describe these productions at length. They were nothing more than coarse pottery, made of iron-red clay, covered with clumsily applied glaze, sometimes black, sometimes brown, sometimes a reddish grey, and occasionally having a tinge of yellow. The idea that pottery was manufactured in Owari by Kato Shirozaemon before his visit to China, to supposed specimens of which pottery the term Koseto (old Seto) is now erroneously applied, is one of those curious myths to which dilettanti cling in the face of the clearest evidence to the contrary. Unfortu- nately, every Japanese tradition about the keramic industry is prefaced by legends that carry the student back to the prehistoric days of this ancient Empire. Conservative Japanese confidently regard Jimmu Ten- no, who is supposed to have reigned more than twenty- five hundred years ago, as the first purely human sovereign of their country, and since history, so called, says that this ruler ordered one Shii-netsu-hiko to 262 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O manufacture earthen jars for sacrificial purposes, the fact is indisputably established, for those having sufficient faith, that the keramic industry existed in Japan at the end of the age of the god-kings. Turning to a vener- able record (the Kyuji Honki,) there is found a confi- dent statement that pottery was first manufactured by one Osugi, in the province of Kawachi, whence the industry spread to Izumo, Owari, and elsewhere ; and that the earliest Superintendent of Keramics was Izumo no Otodo, whose title in connection with this office was Haji-no-mura-ji, and whose descent could be traced to one of the divine rulers. These circum- stances, and others scarcely less apocryphal, are always quoted in the context of Owari pottery, after which comes information that an official of high rank (^Sa6en- kan), by name Choya Gunsai, visited Owari during the reign of the Emperor Horikawa (1087-1109), and brought back with him to Ky5t5 a quantity of earthenware vessels. Specimens said to be as old as that event have been exhumed in the province. They are hard, well-fired pottery, showing marks of the wheel, and having no glaze except where a natural coating of vitreous matter has been produced in the furnace. Such ware could not have attracted much attention, and it is not surprising to learn incidentally that Owari’s reputation was quite unestablished when Kato Shirozaemon returned from China. Kato, whose real name was Fujiwara Masakage, is said to have come in his youth to Kyoto from his native place (Michikage-mura, in Yamato). There he became a retainer of Kuga Michichika — one of the three principal Ministers of State — and was raised to the fifth order of official rank. Tea-drinking was then becoming a fashionable pastime among the 263 JAPAN nobles in the capital. The choice utensils used by its devotees — the Ting-yao, Chun-yao, "Ju-yao, etc., of the Sung dynasty — were all Chinese, and their im- mense superiority to everything produced in Japan was palpable. Masakage conceived the ambition of raising the keramic art of his country to a higher level. He resigned his official position and built a kiln at Fukakusa, a village about five miles from Kyoto. But his wares proving little if at all superior to those of his contemporaries, he determined to visit China in the capacity of a student. By the aid of Doyen (or Dogen), a Buddhist priest (second son of Masakage’s lord, Kuga Michichika), he was enabled to accomplish his purpose. Tradition says that he travelled from one to another of the great Chinese keramic centres, and, during five years’ study, acquired a full knowledge of the processes of the Middle King- dom. If so, the only conclusion is that his ability to utilise this knowledge in Japan was limited by lack of materials. From China he brought back pottery earth which he called Sohoaki (mother’s bosom), doubtless in the sense that the development of his art depended upon this material, though a local tradition says that the term was applied to clay found in Owari by the potter’s mother and carried home in the bosom of her robe. His first essay after his return was made at his former kiln in Fukakusa. Three tea-jars potted there with Chinese clay were entirely successful. One of them was presented to the Regent Tokiyori; the other two to the priest Doyen, who bequeathed them to the temple Eiheiji, where they are still pre- served. But Japanese material proved as refractory as ever. . Kato Shirozaemon — as Masakage now called himself — wandered from place to place in 264 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO search of suitable clay. At Sakai, in the province of Izumi ; at various places in the Gokinai (five central provinces) ; in Omi, where the much employed Shi- garaki earth was afterwards found ; and at Kuwana, in Ise, he repeated his experiments. The idea of trying Owari had not occurred to him. So far from having practised the keramic art there before his journey to China, it was only through information accidentally obtained in Ise that he determined to visit the province. Even then his first essay, made at Hant- suki-mura, in the Chita district of Owari, was a failure. Ultimately he came to Seto, and there at last found what he wanted. It is said, indeed, that he pronounced the Seto earth superior to the Chinese Sobokai. The former was certainly the harder, but in closeness of grain the advantage lay with the latter. It may be mentioned here that among tea-jars used in Japan from old times, not a few of Chinese manu- facture are to be found. They can generally be recognised at once by the nature of their pate, which not only is so fine that its grain is scarcely perceptible, but also has a glistening appearance that suggests com- parison with moist mud. The pottery made by Kato Shirozaemon — or Toshiro, as he soon came to be called — was far superior to any Japanese ware that had preceded it. He produced dainty little tea-jars of close, fine pdte^ excellently manipulated. The thick, clumsy character of former specimens disappeared entirely. His pieces were no longer stoved in an inverted position, so that their edges, instead of being bare and fringed with irregular patches of glaze, were smooth and fairly finished. His glazes were lustrous and free from discontinuities and irregularities. Their colours were 265 JAPAN black, amber brown, chocolate, and yellowish grey. They were not monochromatic, but showed differ- ences 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 Toshiro-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 Toshiro’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 pate; his second-best those with a light-red pate ; his third-best those with a grey pate, and that the p^te 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. Toshiro’s factory was known as Heishi-gama, appar- ently because the experimental pieces first potted there were heishi (a species of wine-jar). Extravagantly refined but confused distinctions are set up by dilet- tanti 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 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO or Kambutsu ” (Chinese thing) to pieces in which they profess to recognise Toshiro’s work and Chinese materials ; while others call this variety “ Tobutsu” a term now employed in the sense of “ imported article.” These subtleties belong entirely to the region of Cha-no-Tu romance. Toshiro changed his name in after life to Shun- kei, and the pieces he then manufactured are called ‘‘ Shunkei-yaki” They are accounted his chefs- a oeuvre. It would be difficult to convey to the reader an ad- equate impression of the esteem in which choice specimens of Tbshiro-yaki are held in Japan. They are swathed in coverings of the costliest brocade and kept in boxes of superb lacquer. There is scarcely any limit to the prices paid for them, and the names of their fortunate owners are spoken of with respect by Chajin of a proper spirit. Kaempfer tells a won- derful tale about an island called Mauri-ga-shima, in the vicinity of Formosa, where in ancient times there was found a porcelain clay of fine quality. Enraged by the wickedness of the inhabitants, the gods caused the island to sink beneath the sea, and with it all its keramic treasures disappeared. But the beauty of its porcelain was so well remembered that in after years men were wont to search the depths of the ocean for a vase. When they found one, they would remove with infinite care the shells that encrusted it, and sell it for a fabulous sum in Japan, where this ware of Mauri-ga-shima was so much esteemed that none but the Emperor might possess it. Of course this is all a foolish fable. Kaempfer credited it, and Jacquemart gravely made it the basis of a general theory with regard to the keramic productions of the Far East. 267 JAPAN The probable truth is that the story was invented by some Japanese Swift to satirise the irrational value which the virtuosi of his country attached to rusty old specimens of Korean faience, homely pieces of Imbe pottery, and tiny tea-jars of Shunkei-yaki. To examine, with anything like becoming accuracy, the subject of tea-jars, tea-cups, and other Cha-no-Tu utensils, of which the wares of Seto may be considered typical, would require a separate treatise. Several treatises have indeed been devoted to the matter by Japanese dilettanti. In every case the authors are faithful to the spirit of their science. They waste no time upon historical details which, however welcome they might be to outsiders, are supposed to be familiar to every duly educated devotee. The information they give is limited to an outline drawing of each cha-tsuho (tea-jar), cha-wan (tea- cup,) koro (censer), mizu-sashi (ewer) and so forth, thought worthy to be included among the meibutsu (celebrities) of the craft ; the dimensions of every part of these little vessels ; a description of the brocade bags in which they repose ; facsimiles of the certificates accompanying them or the inscriptions on their boxes, — certificates and inscrip- tions, which, as the autographs of renowned virtuosi^ add immensely to the intrinsic value of a specimen ; the names, sometimes of past, always of present, for- tunate possessors of these gems, and finally the names of the chefs-i ceuvre themselves, — names that consti- tute a curious record of Japanese ingenuity, ideality, and refinement. The Western amateur is bewildered by this extraordinarily elaborate framework of unes- sential information. He fails to connect it with the merits of the picture itself, being, in fact, incapable of appreciating those merits. Were there question 268 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O of decorative beauties, of technical excellences, or of wonderful effects of colour, such as those shown by many Chinese masterpieces, there would be some- thing to lay hold of. But the cha-tsubo and cha-wan of Seto, and their Chinese or Korean companions, depend, so far as Western appreciation is concerned, entirely on the peculiar character of their glaze and the accuracy of their finish. The glaze, indeed, is often very beautiful, — rich, lustrous and showing a curious blending or contrast of fanciful and assthetic tints. The workmanship, too, is sometimes highly skilled. But it by no means follows that specimens possessing these charms are most treasured by the orthodox Chajin, His ideal is frequently a rustic, homely object, incomprehensible, if not actually shocking, to the uninitiated. His inherited percep- tion detects features of refinement [garni'), and of ele- gance [johin) that have no significance for outsiders, and his imagination is moved by associations that cluster round an ideograph. To ridicule such fancies would be presumptuous. They are the finer breath of a civilisation the most ancient, and in many re- spects the most picturesque, the world has known. Westerners do not fully comprehend them : that is all. If, then, but brief space is here devoted to the old pottery of Seto, of Korea, and of other factories re- vered by the disciples of the Cha-no-Tu cult, it is not because the right is denied to Japanese virtuosi to credit such wares with charms invisible to duller eyes. Above all, the sincerity of their asstheticism is beyond question. It is recorded in their annals that a Korean, by name Yugeki, on the eve of starting for Japan, received from his Sovereign a cup of Komagai faience to serve as a pen-washer should occasion arise to dis- 269 JAPAN play his renowned calligraphy ; how he presented this bit of white, unadorned, craquele faience to Takeda, a Japanese doctor who had saved his life; how Ta- keda ignobly parted with it in payment of a debt, and how in the year 1639 it came into the possession of a Japanese feudal chief for a sum equivalent to It is also recorded that the Abbot Nensei, in exchange for a little tea-jar of Chinese faience, known as ‘‘ First Flower” [hatsu-hand)y obtained (1584 a.d.) a ver- milion rescript excusing himself and his descendants from the payment of all taxes for ever. And it is further a fact that amateurs of the present time dis- burse hundreds of dollars for specimens of Soto-yaki that scarcely seem worth the boxes containing them. No sentiment, wholly spurious, could have established these subtle standards and maintained them through centuries. Even the shock of Western civilisation, unromantic, leisureless, and radical, has failed to lower them appreciably. If they are here left undiscussed, it is not because they excite contempt, but because they baffle comprehension. Kato Shirozaemon's successor was his son, to whom he gave his own industrial name, Toshiro. Hence a new source of confusion was introduced. For amateurs who apply the term Ko-Seto to the pro- ductions of Shirozaemon himself, have chosen to call his son’s pieces Toshiro-yakiy whereas by other con- noisseurs the latter name is understood to refer to the works of the earlier potter. A more correct nomen- clature distinguishes the pieces of the first generation as Toshiro-yakiy and those of the second as Manaka Kobutsu (true middle-period antiquities). The ware is not inferior to that produced by the first Toshiro, but Chinese clay being no longer used, the purplish 270 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO pate of the Ko-seto is not found in the Tbshiro-yaki, Otherwise the two faiences are scarcely distinguish- able. To the second Toshiro, however, is attributed the manufacture of an impure yellow and slightly crackled glaze which is much prized by Japanese amateurs under the name of Kt-SetOy or yellow Seto ware. Toshiro 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 Toshiro’s death is not recorded, but it probably took place about 1290. In the hands of Toshiro the third, grandson of Shirozaemon, the Seto ware attained a high degree of excellence. His pieces are known as C/iu Kobutsu (medium antiquities) or Kinka-zariy 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 choco- late or of jlambe description, were among his spe- cialties, 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 jlambe glazes received the name of Namako-de, in allusion to a resemblance which their surface bore to ^271 JAPAN the sheen of a cuttlefish [namako^ supposed to live in a lake at the foot of Mount Kinka in Oshu. Toshiro the third died about the year 1330. Toshiro the third was succeeded by his son Tozaburo, who flourished during the middle of the fourteenth century. The works of this the last of the four great Seto masters, are called Hafu-gamay because the lower edge of the glaze, which is unusually thick, often assumes a contour like the curve of the Hafuy an opening of pointed-arch shape above the entrance in Japanese houses. Inferior to the productions of his predecessor, Tozaburo’s ware is nevertheless immensely esteemed. In truth, if a list were com- piled setting forth all the special names that have been given to particularly prized specimens of old Seto pottery, and all the couplets that have been composed in praise of pet pieces, the result would be a tolerably bulky volume. It is somewhat strange that the history of men whose productions were so highly prized should not have been more carefully recorded. Scarcely anything is known about the lives of the four renowned Seto experts, and of the wares of their successors people speak collectively, calling them all Kodai-Shunkei (Shunkei of later gen- erations), or at best distinguishing among them Sakai- Shunkei and Yoshino-Shunkei ; concerning which terms there is nothing to be said except that Sakai- Shunkei refers to faience potted on the borders [Sakaime) of Owari and Mino. Tozaburo died about the year 1380. It is an article of faith with Japanese connoisseurs that after the death of the fourth Toshiro the pottery manufacture of Seto entered a steadily declining phase, and was only rescued from worthlessness by the occa- 272 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO sionally exercised influence of such amateurs as Shino, Oribe, Rikiu, and Kobori Masakazu. Here, again, . the standard is applied. From a Western point of view the history of the factories reads differ- ently. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the disturbed state of the Empire undoubtedly affected the Owari potters and greatly checked the develop- ment of their industry. But from 1600 to 1800 there can be no question that they worked prosper- ously and skilfully. The remains of twenty-nine kilns can now be traced in the neighbourhood of Seto, and specimens belonging to that era show con- siderable technical ability. The preparation of the pate underwent improvement. From somewhat coarse pottery it became hard, close stone- ware. As for the glazes, they offer charming variety. Although limited to a few colours, their richness, lustre, and depth, and the manner of their application are deserving of praise. The commonest body-glaze is feuille-mortey warm yet delicate. Frequently this is splashed or shot with deep claret, honey yellow, or golden brown. There is, also, very dark mahogany, almost black, with flecks of grey, clouds of russet,, or bands of amber ; iron red, dusted with metallic specks ; claret brown passing into pinkish buff with ruddy effects of much beauty, and other combinations evincing taste and skill. Unfortunately these glazes are found only on insignificant pieces- — tea-jars, cups, ewers, and so forth — that possess no decorative claims. A faience of quite a different class is craquele Seto-yaki. The glaze of this is peculiarly vitreous, and so translucid that the brown colour of the pate shows through it. The crackle is regular and well marked, and some very pleasing specimens have been VOL. VIII. 18 070 JAPAN produced in which the brownish or grey body glaze is relieved by streaks and splashes of colour. These, however, do not date farther back than the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century. Among them may also be placed the yellow Seto faience [Ki-Seto) mentioned above as distinct from the Kt-Seto of the second Toshiro. The origin of this later-period yellow faience is often attributed to one Hakuan, who is supposed to have flourished about 1470. But in truth Hakuan is a person of whom very little is known. Some authorities assert that he was a physician of the thirteenth century ; that he never manufactured any faience himself, and that his name is associated with Seto ware by the accident that, having attended the first Toshiro in an illness, the latter presented him with six tea-bowls. How- ever this may be, the point to be noted is that craquele Ki-Seto faience does not appear to have been produced before the end of the sixteenth century. It can hardly be termed a yellow ware, as in the majority of specimens one is perplexed to determine whether the impure yellow of the transparent glaze itself, or the brownish colour of the pate beneath it, predomi- nates. Occasionally ornamentation is added, generally taking the form of floral scrolls in relief. The col- lector finds, also, figures of mythical personages and animals in crackled Kt-Seto-yaki, Until the present century it was not the habit of the Seto potters to mark their pieces. Neither did any of them, after the fourth Toshiro, attain sufficient distinction to be remembered. It is known only that between 1600 and 1800 the following families, all of which are now represented, were among the principal artists : — 274 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O The Kato Shozaburo family, with its branch, the Kato Sadatar5 family. The Kato Enroku family, with its branches, namely, the Kato Monemon family, and the Kato Kanshiro family. The Kato Jyokichi family. The Kawamoto Hansuke family (founded 1689). The Kawamoto Sukegoro family. The Kato Shyubei family. The Kato Gosuke family, descended directly from Kato Shirozaemon. Wares produced in Owari after the time of the fourth Toshiro are included in the term Nochi-gama (subsequent kiln). Certain special varieties of these call for brief notice. ORIBE-YAKI To the initiative of the celebrated Chajin Furuta Oribe is attributed the establishment (1573—1592) of a factory at Narumi, where were produced, under his personal direction, sixty-six tea-jars of special excel- lence, one for each province in Japan. To these alone originally belonged the name Oribe-yakiy but the term subsequently received a wider signification, being applied to all pottery manufactured at the Narumi factory. The characteristics of this ware are sugary white, buff, sage green, and salmon pink glazes, used alone or in combination. The varying thickness of the green glaze often produces the effect of blue mottling or streaking. Light brown glaze is also found. There is coarse crackle. Decoration of an archaic character is frequently added, the pigment used being invariably dark brown (shibu). A favourite design is plum petals among latticed bars, that being the badge of the Oribe family. This Oribe-yakiy .. _ 275 JAPAN though never delicate or elaborate, is often striking and artistic. The manufacture is still carried on, but rough, insignificant pieces alone are produced. SHINO-YAKI The original Shino-yaii, another variety of the Nochi-gama, is interesting as an example of the ex- ceeding rusticity affected by some devotees of the Cha- no-Tu cult. It is strikingly rude, clumsy faience, or stone-ware. The fate is coarse ; the glaze thick, white, crackled, and glistening ; and the decoration — when there is any — consists of the most archaic designs ; as banded hedge patterns, rudimentary grasses and blossoms, suggestions of birds, and so forth, dashed on with dark brown pigment [shibu). The style was originated (1480) by Shino lenobu, a cele- brated master of Tea Ceremonials and vassal of the great dilettante, the Regent Yoshimasa. Japanese connoisseurs do not hesitate to pay two or three hun- dred dollars for an old specimen of this remarkably homely ware. Shino is chiefly remembered in con- nection with a system of incense burning which he elaborated, — a delicate and refined process, very dif- ferent from the homely faience that bears his name. Another variety of the ware attributed to Shino’s inspiration is known as Mugi-wara-de, or barley-straw pattern, the decoration consisting of lines that are intended to imitate straw. GEMPIN-YAKI When the Ming dynasty of China had been over- thrown by the T'sung Tartars, four Chinese nobles came (1659) to Japan to pray for aid against the 276 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O northern invaders. The Japanese were at first dis- posed to entertain this request, but, reflecting that they should be supporting rulers who fifty years before had sent an army to oppose Hideyoshi’s generals in Korea, they ultimately decided to let the Ming fight their own battles. The fugitive nobles were, however, treated with all courtesy. Confided to the hospitable care of Japanese barons, three of them seem to have passed the remainder of their lives in uneventful seclusion, while the fourth, Gempin, re- siding at Nagoya, in Owari, devoted his leisure to painting and pottery-making. As an artist he was not without ability, but his keramic productions show either that he possessed little technical skill, or that he adapted himself to the severest canons of the tea- clubs. Amongst the recognised chefs-d' ceuvre [met- hutsu) of Japan there is figured a small incense-burner, the work of Gempin. It is of unglazed pottery. Engraved in the pate is a single petal of the Nelumbo nucifera^ and incised on both the inner and outer sur- faces are a number of ideographs executed with won- derful delicacy and precision. Gempin’s favourite method of decoration, however, was blue under the glaze. The painting was rough, almost rudimentary ; the tone of the blue impure, and the glaze greyish white. MIFUKAI-YAKI During the Genki era (1570- 1571), the province of Owari was the scene of a war that partially dispersed the Seto potters. At that time the representative of the Kato family was Kato Kagemasa. Accompanied by his younger brother, Nihei, this man made his way to Satonoki-mura, in the neighbouring province •277 JAPAN of Mino, and there set up a kiln. Some forty years later (i6io,) when Tokugawa Yoshinao, Prince of Owari, established himself at Nagoya, he instituted enquiries with the object of reviving the keramic industry of the province. Kat5 Kagemasa’s title to be regarded as the direct descendant of the celebrated Toshiro having been thus verified, he was recalled from Mino and granted a yearly pension as well as a plot of land in the village of Akazu, where he opened a factory. His kiln was called 0-kama-ya (honourable kiln), in recognition of the fact that it enjoyed official patronage. The ware produced was of the usual Seto type, but of such good quality that when, in 1630, Tokugawa Mitsutomo, the then Prince of Owari, desired to establish a special factory to manufacture faience for his own use and for purposes of presenta- tion, he entrusted the work to the potters of Akazu. The result was the Mifukai kiln, within the outer enclosure of the Nagoya castle. It was under the superintendence of Kato Tozaburo, and its productions were called Mifukai-yakiy or sometimes Oniwa-yakt (honourable garden ware) but the latter term is seldom used, being easily confounded with the name of a wholly different faience manufactured in Kishiu [vide Kishiu-yakiy The Mifukai-yaki includes most of the ordinary Seto glazes, and in these varieties presents no special features, except that the pate is closer and of lighter colour than the usual Seto-yaki. There is, however, one kind to which the name Mifukai-yaki is principally applied by connoisseurs. Its body glaze is the vitreous, semi-translucid, craquele glaze of Owari ; over this run broad bands of brown ochre, splashed with a glaze like avanturine lacquer, and between the bands are streaks of green and violet. 278 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O The effect is more bizarre than artistic. The ware is no longer produced. The custom of maintaining a private kiln was long observed by the princely family of Owari. In the grounds of their Yedo (Tokyo) mansion, at Toyama a small kiln stood until the beginning of the nineteenth century. SHUNTAI-YAKI This is a variety of faience produced at Akazu from about the middle of the seventeenth century. It is of the jlambe description, the most characteristic variety having vitreous, grey craquele glaze streaked with blue showing shades of violet and buff. Considering the productions of the Akazu potters, especially the Mifukai and Shunfai wares, it will be seen that a comparatively new departure was made by the potters of Owari at the beginning of the seven- teenth century. Instead of confining themselves to the solid, lustrous glazes of the Toshiro school, they turned also to vitreous, craquele glazes of clear, bright colours, disposed in the jlambe or splashed style. There is such a marked affinity between these manu- factures and those of Karatsu, in Hizen (vide Karatsu- yakt) that the student is led to suspect imitation. In the annals of the neighbouring province Mino, it is related that a descendant of Kato Shirozaemon came from Seto to Kujiri in 1573, and that, some thirty years subsequently, his son and successor, Kagenobu, by a train of circumstances that will be related in connection with the Mino industry, acquired an intimate knowledge of the Karatsu methods. Refer- ence to the story of the Mifukai-yaki (vide suprai) shows that at this time Kato Tagemasa and his brother 279 JAPAN Nihei — afterwards leading experts at Akazu, in Owari — were working at the neighbouring village of Satonoki. Hearing of the novel processes intro- duced by Kagenobu, these men, as well as other potters of Mino and Owari, made several efforts to learn his methods. They were unsuccessful, until, one New Year’s day, during an entertainment at Kagenobu’s house, Nihei secretly climbed into the factory and took observations. The story runs that his temerity nearly cost him his life when, a few days later, Kagenobu discovered what had occurred. Thenceforth the art of manufacturing polychrome glazes received considerable development. Its best examples are the Mifukai-yaki and Shuntai faiences. TOKONAME-YAKI This ware derives its name from that of the village where it was first produced (in Owari) during the Tensho era (i 573-1 591). It is pottery of rude character made to imitate an imported ware called Namban-yaki (southern barbarian ware). Where the Namban-yaki was produced there is difficulty in de- termining. Some attribute it to Cochin China, some to Korea, and some to Luzon. Its qualities would scarcely repay the trouble of identification. It is coarse, unglazed pottery, having the appearance of rusty iron, and devoid of decoration, unless the term can be applied to impressed cord marks. The Nam- ban-yaki is one of the inexplicable fancies of the Jap- anese Chajin. He distinguishes it by various names according to the nature of the cord marks — as Nawa- sudare (cord curtain), or Yoko-nawa (cross cord) — and he pays two or three hundred dollars for a cylin- 280 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO drical vessel of this semi-savage manufacture. It has been imitated by various Japanese potters, whose ori- ginal productions are incomparably superior. The T okoname-y aki is among these imitations. It did not, however, attract the fastidious attention of the tea- clubs until the time of Chozaburo (1818-1839) and Hachibei (1830—1844). These experts succeeded in prostituting their skill sufficiently to manufacture good likenesses of the Namban ware. TOYOSUKE RAKU-YAKI This is a faience produced at the Horaku factory in Nagoya, the chief town of Owari. It dates from the early part of the nineteenth century, and owes its origin to an expert called Toyosuke. It is soft, crackled faience of the Kaku type, covered on one side with greenish white glaze, embellished by bold sketches of floral subjects, and on the other with a thin coat of lacquer, carefully applied, and bearing delicate designs of considerable beauty. Lacquer thus employed on small pieces of faience becomes an agent of considerable value in keramic decoration, and is especially suited to the soft Raku ware of Toyosuke. NOCHI SHUNKEI There is some confusion about the use of this term. Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, in his work Kanko Zusetsu, applies it to all the faience produced in the time of Kobori Masakazu (1620-1660), not only in Owari, but also in Tambu and Ise, and says that the most valued specimens were manufactured by the dilettanti Chaemon, Koson, Soi, Tahei, Doyen, and Asakura Domi. Other authorities use it only in reference to the 281 JAPAN faience of the second T5shiro. The question pos- sesses no importance from an artistic point of view. OWARI PORCELAIN The keramists of Owari, although they enjoyed the reputation of being the first potters of Japan, made no attempt to manufacture porcelain until more than a century and a half had elapsed from the date of its successful production in Hizen. The circumstances under which this notable addition was made to the industrial resources of the province are interesting. In the year 1798, Tsugane Bunzaemon Taneomi, then governor of Arsuta, the port of Nagoya, re- ceived instructions from the chief of the province to reclaim a stretch of the foreshore. The work having been accomplished, a proclamation was issued offering free allotments to farmers. One day the governor visited the place on a tour of inspection, and observed among the new agriculturists a number of men who were evidently without experience in such business. On enquiry, it appeared that these men had come from Seto. The once flourishing potteries of the little town had long suffered from want of custom, and their owners were reduced to great straits. The situation was aggravated by an old law of the fief, for- bidding more than one member of the potter’s family to devote himself to his father’s trade. Under these circumstances the offer of free allotments in the re- claimed district had been gladly embraced by many of the artisans. The governor summoned one of the latter to his residence ; reminded him that the prov- ince had long been noted for its keramic productions, and urged him to return with his companion to Seto. 282 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O But the ex-potter, whose name was Kichizaemon, ex- plained that a livelihood was no longer obtainable at Seto : not from choice, but from necessity, he had given up his trade to his eldest son, and had come to the new farms accompanied by his second son, Tami- kichi. The governor was still unsatisfied. It was ill, he said, adopting a new profession in mature years. Finally, he offered to become himself Kichizaemon’s instructor in the art of porcelain making. The Seto artisan gladly availed himself of this proposal. A kiln was built at the governor’s residence, and for several months Kichizaemon worked there. Only a small measure of success was achieved. Coarse household utensils of porcelain were the utmost that could be produced, and even among these the proportion of failures was almost prohibitively large. But the gov- ernor and his son Tanesada were indefatigable. They supplied the necessary capital and made arrangements for the prosecution of the industry on an extended scale. The potters of Seto now took alarm. Their head-man, Kato Tozaemon, visited the governor of Atsuta, and being admitted to his sick-room, explained that the results of his project would probably prove fatal to the industries of Seto and the neighbouring villages. The governor did not deny that this fore- cast might be just, but explained the Atsuta factories were only intended to give employment to potters who were prevented by local regulations from pursuing their trade at Seto. Could this difficulty be overcome, Tozaemon’s remonstrance would have more weight. The issue of the interview was that representations were made to the Prince of Owari, and the law re- stricting the number of potters in each family was repealed. 283 JAPAN The potters of Atsuta now returned to Seto, and Kat5 Tozaemon, Kichizaemon, and his son Tami- kichi combined to establish a porcelain factory there. Their example was followed by fourteen keramists. But the quality of the ware underwent no improve- ment. It became evident that without fuller instruction the industry had no future. In this dilemma the eyes of the potters naturally turned to- wards Hizen. Tamikichi resolved to proceed thither, — a tedious journey and one of more than doubt- ful success. It was known that the secrets of the art were jealously guarded, and that an attempt to acquire them might end disastrously. The story furnishes another instance of the part played by the Buddhist priesthood in fostering and promoting Japanese in- dustries. It was a priest that familiarised the people with the chief mechanical processes of pottery manu- facture ; it was a priest that enabled Kat5 Shirozae- mon to visit China ; and it was a priest that now aided Tamikichi’s design. The consent of the lord of the fief was, of course, a necessary preliminary to the journey ; but great a noble as was the Prince of Owari, he could do little to further Tamikichi’s ultimate purpose. In the island of Amakusa, off the coast of Higo, the temple of Tokoji was under the direction of an Abbot named Tenchu. This prelate was a native of Owari, had served there as an acolyte, and still continued to visit Seto on his preaching tours. Furnished with a letter to the Abbot, Tamikichi set out in company with a priest called Genmon. The two men left Seto March lo, 1804. They were escorted to the outskirts of the district by all the chief men of Seto, such a journey for such a purpose being regarded as an undertaking of almost solemn 284 WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O magnitude. Arrived in Amakusa, Tamikichi found hospitality and aid at Tokoji. The Abbot deputed a priest to introduce him to a porcelain manufacturer called Ueda Gensaku, whose factory he entered. Here he soon mastered the mechanical processes of the workshop, but the principles, the nature of the ingredients and the proportions in which they were mixed, remained a sealed book to him. As to these things, Gensaku would teach him nothing. Tamikichi determined to push on to Hizen. Again the priests came to his assistance. From the , Abbot of Tokoji he received a letter enlisting the good offices of the Prior of Saihoji, a temple in the island of Hirado. Leaving Gensaku’s factory under pretence of a brief visit to the town of Nagasaki, he found a warm wel- come at Saihoji, where the Prior himself had just commenced the diversion of making Raku faience. The keramists of Mikawachi (Hirado) then enjoyed the highest reputation among their fellow craftsmen throughout Japan. Tamikichi was franked on to another temple (Yakuoji), and by the aid of its priests found himself presently in the service of Ima- mura Ikuemon, chief potter to the lord of Hirado. He did not remain there long. The local officials were careful to enforce an order prohibiting the resi- dence of any one from another fief. Once more he entreated the good offices of the priests, and after many difficulties succeeded, at last, in obtaining an entry to the factory of Fukumoto Nizaemon, in Sasa- mura (Hizen). Ten months had now elapsed since Tamikichi left Seto. He worked two years at Fuku- moto’s factory, and became so skilled that his master made determined efforts to retain his services perma- nently. The Seto potter could not bear to treat his 285 JAPAN teacher unceremoniously. He waited patiently until a letter, written at his request by the Abbot Tenchu, rendered the necessity for his departure clear to Fuku- moto. On his way back Tamikichi called at Arita, and there, for the first time, saw the factories where the celebrated enamelled porcelains were produced. The Mikawachi potters were incomparably skilled in the preparation of pate and glazes, in the use of the modeller’s and engraver’s tool, and in the application of blue sous couverte. But they worked very little in vitrifiable enamels. Tamikichi desired earnestly to master this process. He employed a clever ruse to compass his object, but the Arita potters had too much respect for their lives to be incautious. It was only when, paying a farewell and apologetic visit to his first teacher Gensaku, in Amakusa, Tamikichi told the whole story of his labours and subterfuges, that Gensaku, moved to admiration, consented to reveal the secrets of decorative enamelling. On the 5th of July, 1807, Tamikichi returned to Seto, where he was treated as a hero and handsomely rewarded by the Prince of Owari. In conjunction with his father, Kichizaemon, he built a kiln, and manufactured a choice piece of porcelain which he presented to his Prince. It would appear that in this first essay he used materials brought from Amakusa. The work was so excellent that Tamikichi was offi- cially authorised to assume the patronymic ‘‘ Kato.” It was also ordered that his ware should be distin- guished as Some-tsuke-yaki (ware decorated under the glaze), the term Hon-gyo (original industry) being used to designate the pottery manufacture. Kichi- zaemon and Tamikichi thenceforth called themselves Kageto and Yasukata, respectively. The memory of 286 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO the latter is scarcely less revered in Owari than that of Kato Shirozaemon. Some time must have elapsed before the Seto artisans were able to employ local materials with success. Owari is rich in such materials, but they do not occur in constant or particularly simple forms. Mr. Korschelt has analysed eleven specimens of modern Owari porcelain masses, and found them considerably different in composition. Here follow the analyses of the two varieties which contain the highest and lowest per- centages of silica : — OWARI PORCELAIN MASS First Specimen Second Specimen . 65.07 75.48 25.85 15.14 Iron Oxide. 0.55 o. 10 Limb, Mag- nesia, ETC. 6.74 6.11 Water. 1.32 2. 20 Into the composition of all the porcelain masses ex- amined it was found that there entered a clay called Kaeru-me^ obtained from Shimo-shinano, and a stone called Ishiko, obtained from Ishitobi. Occasionally another stone called Gyaman-ishi (glass-stone) is added : it is pure quartz. The Kaeru-me clay differs very considerably in composition. Of eleven specimens analysed, the constituents of the two which least resemble each other are here given : — « KAERU-ME” CLAY Water. I 2.69 4-37 Mr. Korschelt, however, in spite of this great difference, decides that the Kaeru-me clay must be called Kaolin, Now, as this clay preponderates in the composition of the Owari porcelain mass, an important distinction is immediately established between the latter and the Arita mass, which consists almost entirely of Petuntse. It may be interesting to mention here that the first specimen of Kaeru-me clay mentioned above corresponds very closely in composition with the Kaolin used in Cornwall for the manufacture of _ 287 Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Limb, Mag- nesia, BTC. First Specimen . . 48.94 36.48 0.48 1.22 Second Specimen . 81.88 13.15 0.39 0.35 JAPAN porcelain. On the other hand, among the various varieties of Kaolin found in Europe, there is not one which contains such a high percentage of silica as the second of the Owari specimens. With regard to the composition of the Ishiko^ two specimens out of thirteen analysed gave the following results : — First Specimen . Second Specimen ISHIKO Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Limb, Magnesia, Potash, etc. Water. 98.61 0.34 0-37 0.29 0.56 65-75 I 8.67 0.66 14.89 0.38 If this Ishiko be considered with regard to the quantities of felspar, quartz, and clay substance which it contains, great variations are observed, as will be seen from the following table: — ISHIKO OF OWARI Felspar. Quartz. Clay Substance. Specimen i . . . . 53.61 39-70 5.62 Specimen 2 . . . • 35-24 49-95 14-34 Specimen 3 . . . . 60.72 35-81 2.02 Specimen 4 . . . . 37.90 55.02 5-47 Specimen 5 . . . • 71-36 24.62 2-37 These differences are striking. It is plain that the Owari potter, using such a variable material, can never be sure of his results. This, indeed, is at present the great obstacle to the large development of which his trade is certainly capable. However uniform may be the temperature of the ovens, the condition of the baked ware can never be predicted. Warped plates, distorted bowls, and decrepit vases are just as likely to emerge from the furnace as perfect specimens. Orna- mental tiles might be a profitable product of the Seto industry. In such a line Owari could defy competi- tion ; for where else is art labour available on terms so easy that the decoration of every tile might be an independent conception ? But the Owari tiles are practically valueless. They are too crooked to be used in any symmetrical structure, and to employ only 288 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO those with even surfaces entails the rejection of so many that the price becomes prohibitive. So it is with plaques, table-tops, and other large, flat objects, which the Seto workmen are fond of producing as tours de force. These, when they do succeed, are deco- rative and imposing ; but the percentage of failures is absurdly large, and the cost proportionately high. Difficulties of a cognate nature have always beset the Japanese keramist. Some lack of mathematical regu- larity is so common in his pieces that ignorant foreign amateurs often regard imperfections of shape as a mark of age and excellence. How is such infatuation to be described? It is true that the morbidly rustic canons of Cha-no-Tu tolerate technical accidents which shock the instincts of less romantic critics. Y et, even by these extravagant aesthetes, such blemishes are not approved, but only condoned for the sake of some real or imaginary excellence in the specimen they disfigure. Apart from the historical utensils of the tea-clubs, an object of art, to be acceptable in Japanese eyes, must before all things possess correct- ness of form. A lacquer box, however elaborate its decoration, however rich its material, is fatally con- demned should its lid deviate by so much as a hair's breadth from perfect fit. So in keramics, the highest test of the potter’s skill was to produce a set of rice- bowls, for example, of such correct shape and uniform size that their covers should be absolutely interchange- able. In fact a misshapen vessel has always been as flagrant an evidence of faulty technique in Japanese estimation as in European. The potteries of Owari, with a curiously blind confidence in the balance of chances, continue to use a greatly varying conglom- erate of felspar and quartz, trusting to fortunately ex- VOL. Vlll. 19 289 JAPAN ercised skill for the result ; and that, too, when both of these minerals are to be found in sufficient purity everywhere throughout the province. A workman who exercises his reasoning faculties will naturally en- deavour to obtain his raw materials in a state of the greatest purity. That the manifest advantage of such a precaution is not appreciated by the artisans of Seto must be attributed partly to ignorance, and partly to the fact that they find it much easier to pulverise the conglomerate, Ishiko, than to pulverise quartz and fel- spar separately. The opinion of Western experts does not go so far as to recommend that Ishiko should be abandoned altogether, in favour of pure quartz and felspar, though some such radical measure may appear unavoidable so long as the manufacturer is not in a position to analyse the composition of his Ishiko; and having regard to the conditions that exist in Jap- anese porcelain districts, as well as to the 'miniature nature of the factories, it would be extravagant to ex- pect that degree of educated competence for the present at all events. Perhaps the best remedy is to be found in a combination of manufacturers, and the establishment of an institution to analyse, and if, necessary, to procure and distribute, the raw materials. Without some measure of this sort, the immense capa- bilities of the porcelain industry in Owari must remain virtually undeveloped. On the other hand, such a scheme will scarcely find favour until the potters be- gin to appreciate the full value of combining resources and economically dividing labour. Mr. Korschelt says : “ The district which furnishes the so-called Owari porcelain extends over parts of the provinces of Owari, Mikawa, and Mino. The mountain range dividing these provinces consists of granite. Seto-mura is situated 290 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO on the last spurs of the range ; low hills which, where they merge into the plains, are formed of sand and convey the impression of old downs. But around Seto-mura these hills consist of Kaeru-me^ partly covered with sand or plastic clay. The latter, called Kibushi by the people of Seto, is used to manufacture seggars and common ware, for which purposes it is well adapted, since, beyond the addition of a little water, it requires no preparation for moulding processes. They told me in Seto that the Kaeru-me used there is taken from one place only, which is of moderate extent and lies imme- diately behind the village. The presence of water prevents deep excavations. But I also learned that Kaeru-me is found in all the hills around Seto, in which case the wealth of the deposit is inexhaustible. The Kaeru-me of these districts consists of clay and quartz granules, mixed sometimes with undisintegrated or partially disintegrated felspar, as is also apparent from the considerable proportion of alkali which the clay contains. Mica laminae have not been found either in the samples analysed or in the Kaeru-me seen at Seto. The original mineral, therefore, is not an ordinary granite, but a granite free of mica, or a quartz porphyry.'* Mr. Korschelt also concludes, from an exhaustive comparative analysis of European and Owari porcelains, that the Owari ware must be regarded as a new variety, which finds no exact represen- tative in Europe. It contains, on the one hand, a larger quantity of felspar, and on the other, a considerably smaller quantity of clay substance, than any European porcelain. Great differences exist, however, in the composition of Owari porcelains, the percentage of clay substance varying from thirteen to forty-three, and that of felspar from thirty- four to fifty-nine. The quantities of the constituents of various specimens are shown in the following table : — CONSTITUENTS OF OWARI PORCELAIN No. Felspar. Clay Substance. Quartz. Specimen l . . . . 50.72 •3-65 31.63 Specimen 2 . . . . 35.84 19.17 43.08 Specimen 3 . . . . 59.20 *S-3* >3-43 Specimen 4 . . . . 41.50 27.38 29.30 Specimen 5 . . . . 34.04 291 36.78 26. 10 JAPAN From the year i8io the porcelain industry of Owari entered a really thriving and important phase. Tamikichi had soon eighty-five pupils, all men of greater or less traditional skill. It has been said that, on the eve of his departure from Hizen, he acquired a knowl- edge of enamelling processes. But he did not employ them at Seto. Decoration with blue under the glaze was alone practised in his time and for some years afterwards. The ware was praiseworthy in some re- spects. Its pate was inferior in texture and its glaze in purity to the beautiful porcelain of Hirado, but the tone of the blue decoration was good, and the designs were not less artistically chosen than skilfully executed. Strange to say, good specimens of early Seto porcelain are exceedingly rare in Japan. The highest reputa- tion was acquired by Kawamoto Hansuke. To him is attributed (about 1830) the first employment of the stone called gyaman-ko {vide supra). An artist of about the same period, Kawamoto Jihei, was remarkable for skill as a modeller. His work of this nature shows delicacy and power. Some of the earlier pieces of Owari porcelain are marked with the names of facto- ries or makers, but the general prevalence of this prac- tice belongs rather to modern times. The industry has now assumed large dimensions. A recent census showed that there were then 296 kilns ; that they produced porcelain and pottery of the average annual value of $180,000; and that the master potters num- bered 274, the artisans 600, and the labourers 1,350. The Kawamoto factory, under the direction of Masu- kichi (direct descendant of Kawamoto Hansuke) turns out, perhaps, the choicest pieces. Other notables are Kawamoto Hansuke, representative, but not direct de- scendant, of the house of the celebrated potter of the 292 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO same name ; Kato Mokuzayemon, whose specialty lies in colossal specimens ; Kato Zenji, who, on the con- trary, turns out small pieces elaborately decorated ; Kato Gosuke, who has succeeded in obtaining cdadon glaze of considerable merit ; and Kato Kansuke, who affects a species of Jiambe ware in which chocolate- coloured glaze predominates (locally kpown as Hagi- gusuri). Of late years, considerable skill has been developed in the use of colours other than blue under the glaze. Pieces thus decorated with green, red, and blue are turned out in large quantities for purposes of export. The four hamlets of Seto are indeed veri- table colonies of potters. They produce more porce- lain than any other factory in Japan. The chief mar- ket for their ornamental pieces is Western, from which it will be inferred that they aim rather at brilliant and decorative effects than at delicacy and purity of style. The pigment employed for decorative purposes by the Seto potters when Tamikichi inaugurated the porce- lain industry, was native cobalt. This ji-egu^ as it was called, existed in small quantities in the province. Its preparation entailed labour and expense out of proportion to the results obtained with it. The colour it gave was lighter, less brilliant, and not so pure as that of the Chinese potters during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. About the year 1830 the Seto artists began to substitute Chinese cobaltiferous manganese [gosii) for this ji-egu, and thenceforth the tone of their blue sous couverte became of high charac- ter, intense, full-bodied, and brilliant. From this time until about i860, the finest specimens of blue-and- white Owari porcelain were produced. When, how- ever, the supply of foreign markets became a prime object, European smalt came into general use. It had 293 JAPAN the advantage of being less than one-third of the price of the Chinese mineral, and the results obtained from it were much more uniform. But it gave such a miserable colour, so shallow, hard, and garish, that after some years Western taste rebelled against it, and the potters reverted to the Chinese mineral. They use the latter now with considerable success, not, of course, in decorating common pieces, but only for choice specimens. Sometimes they employ native cobalt, and sometimes they mix it with European smalt. One of the most difficult feats of the Japanese pot- ter was to produce monochromatic glaze of Mazarin blue (rurt^. This could be accomplished only by using the best Chinese or Japanese cobalt. European smalt gives a wholly inferior colour. When to this blue ground white designs in high relief were applied, a rich and charming result was attained. Such a fashion of decoration was successfully followed by the experts of Hizen and Owari in former times. It was generally used for flower-pots, water-vessels, and so forth. OWARI PORCELAINS DECORATED OVER THE GLAZE It is difficult to say precisely when the use of en- amels and pigments over the glaze came into vogue in Owari. Certainly the potters of Tamikichfs time did not affect this style, from which it may be inferred that the information given by Gensaku of Amakusa to the Seto student was not so full as the latter’s annalists claim. According to some authori- ties, painted porcelain was first produced in Bishiu at the Inagi-mura kiln. This was a factory situated about two miles (English) from the castle of Inu-yama, 294 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO on the left bank of the Kiso River. It was opened in 1752, and from that time until 1810 the various faiences for which the province was celebrated were manufactured there. These pieces are to be identified only by the mark [Inu-yama^ The ware was called either Inuyama-yaki or Kenzan-yaki [Kenzan being an- other method of pronouncing the ideographs inu- yama). In 1810 the factory was moved to Maru-yamUy east of the castle, and the ware was thenceforth known as Maru-yama-yaki, About this time, or a little later, porcelain began to be included among the Maruyama products. It was, however, decorated only with blue under the glaze. Not till 1835 did a potter called Michihei introduce the fashion of sur-couverte deco- ration. He took as his model a peculiarly rough Chinese porcelain (known in Japan as Gosu-aka-e)^ which was valued by the tea-clubs on account of its bold designs and antique associations. This variety of the Maru-yama-yaki — or Inu-yama-yaki^ as it is popularly but erroneously called — may be described as thick and somewhat clumsy porcelain, having a solid, lustrous glaze, and decorated with archaic designs in blue sous couverte^ and red ochre, green, and gold over the glaze. It is not a manufacture of any beauty or merit, and it may be dismissed, as may also the subsequent story of the Maruyama factory, by saying that the recent productions of the latter are faience of the rudest type. Shortly subsequent to, or perhaps contemporaneous with, this new departure by Michihei at Maruyama, an expert called Kawamoto Jihei (better known by his mark, Sosendo) began to employ vitrifiable enamels. The style adopted bore some resemblance, in point of design, to that of the Nabeshima factories, but the 295 JAPAN enamels were less brilliant, and, the glaze lacking so- lidity and purity, the general effect was rather con- fused than brilliant. A much better conception of the same potter was to add floral designs in green, blue, yellow, and light red (or pinkish) enamels to the dead-leaf glaze of the old Seto masters. Another variety, the manufacture of which dates from 1840, and it is said to have been conceived by the Prince of Owari himself, had cherry-flower and maple-leaf enamelled decoration on slate-coloured, or grey, ground. At that time the best porcelain decorators were assembled at the Sanko temple, and had their kilns within its enclosure. Among them an artist of special note was Kanematsu Shosuke. Their pieces enjoyed considerable popularity. So rare, however, are authenticated specimens of enamelled Owari porcelain dating farther back than the abolition of feudalism (1868), that this branch of the Seto manu- facture may be called a practically recent departure. Even now the work of decoration over the glaze can- not be said to be carried on in Owari itself, the fact being that Owari porcelain is brought to Tokyo and Yokohama and painted there. Advisedly the term “painted’’ is here used because in the atelier of the Tokyo e-fsukeshi (decorator) vitrifiable enamels are almost unknown ; he prefers pigments, — dark brown, black, red, gold, green, pink, and yellow. Sometimes the designs are traced on white ground ; sometimes the ground itself is tinted. The pictures are often of high merit, — beautifully executed, cleverly distributed, and full of artistic instinct. Outside Japan such work could only be executed at almost prohibitive expense ; in Tokyo it is done by artists who are happy if they earn half a dollar daily. Pages would be needed to 296 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO convey an idea of the wealth of fancy displayed in the decoration of modern Owari porcelain. It will suffice, however, to say that the dominant feature of the dec- oration is pictorial. No other Japanese ware has been so thoroughly and frankly adapted to Western tastes. From the monster pieces of blue and white manufactured in Owari (vases six feet high and garden pillar-lamps half as high again do not at all perplex the modern Seto keramist) to the tiny coffee-cups decorated in Tokyo with their delicate miniatures of birds, flowers, insects, fishes, and so forth, there is nothing that does not indicate the death of the old order. Seto and the Tokyo ateliers constitute the Stoke-upon-Trent of Japan, always excepting the tri- umphs of plastic art for which the latter is renowned. Owari porcelain is easy to recognise by the pecu- liarly chalky, soft appearance of its pate. This feature is more marked in modern than in old ware. Since 1868 the Owari potters have introduced an entirely novel method of decorating porcelain, by cloisonne enamelling. The art of enamelling upon copper had long been known and practised in Japan. A knowledge of the process is said to have been ac- quired at the close of the sixteenth century, when the patronage of the Taiko imparted such a marked impulse to all the art-industries of the country. But although the Japanese manufactured cloisonne enamel which was not wanting in evidences of patient dex- terity, their work was never really satisfactory. They were unable to produce the beautiful colours of the Chinese experts, and their artistic instinct consequently impressed a different character upon their pieces. The Chinese applied his full-bodied brilliant colours to vessels of solid construction ; the Japanese laid his 297 JAPAN tracery of dull, impure blues, greens, and reds upon bowls and vases thin enough to consort with their weak-toned decoration. It may be briefly stated that before the opening of the country to foreign inter- course the art of cloisonne enamelling never attained much development in Japan. It was practised, indeed, with sufficient diligence to supply a considerable number of specimens ; but the best of these were comparatively unattractive. No sooner,* however, were foreign markets thrown open than enamellers, like all the other artist-artisans of Japan, responded to this new demand, and with the assistance of imported pigments and Western chemists began to produce pieces of great beauty and brilliancy. The use of cloisonne enamelling for porcelain decoration was among the earliest inspirations of the new school. The porcelain was treated as though it were metal. Its surface was covered with a network of copper cells, into which enamels were filled. There was only this difference between the methods pursued with copper and porcelain : the enamel pastes for the decoration of the latter were soft and easily vitrifiable, so that they refused to respond to the polishing processes subsequently employed. Thus the result was dull and unprepossessing. It would be difficult to conceive a wider departure from- the canons of true art than this reckless association of hard metal and brittle porcelain. Such a vitiated industry could never have flourished under purely Japanese auspices. Its only patrons were Europeans and Americans whose tastes lay in the direction of curiosities rather than of works of art. Encouraged by these patrons, the industry is still continued, though on a reduced scale, in Nagoya, the chief town of Owari, by a company called the 298 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO Shippb-gaisha. (The term Shipp'd literally signifies ‘‘the seven precious things/’ In Japan it is used also to designate cloisonne ^ or champleve, enamel.) Not by any means on account of its merits, but solely for the information of inexperienced collectors, reference must be made to a faience of' which large quantities have been manufactured during the last few years in Owari. It is a counterfeit Satsuma ware, and the perpetrators of the fraud have not hesitated to import materials from Tsuboya itself to make the de- ception more complete. Medicated and begrimed specimens of this Bishiui-yaki are still successfully palmed off on unsuspecting foreigners to an incredible extent, and will probably continue to find purchasers so long as men are sanguine enough to fancy that the long-since depleted curio market still contains treas- ures accessible to themselves alone, and so long as the disfigurements of age and the blemishes of wear find people who regard them as beauties. Vases made in Owari with clay from Kiushiu may, of course, be quite as good as anything produced in Satsuma itself, but in point of fact they are not. Besides, Owari materials are generally used in part, at any rate. No difficulty ought, then, to be experienced in distinguish- ing a specimen, for not only is the Owari clay darker and denser than that of Satsuma, but the ware and the glaze are both thicker, while the latter has a peculiarly dull, viscid appearance not easily mistaken. The crackle, too, is more strongly marked, and, though fine, is often irregular, being for the most part nea ly imperceptible on the inner and under surfaces of t e piece. Finally, the decoration is so coarse that it c' ^s not assort ill with patches of grime and stains of lye added to simulate antiquity. 299 JAPAN SETOSUKE-YAKI A commonly received tradition says that an Owari potter, by name Setosuke, having studied the art of porcelain making at Seto, established a factory at Yok- kaichi, in the province of Ise, about the year 1770. From what has been written above, it will be seen that this is impossible, since porcelain was not pro- duced at Seto before the beginning of the nineteenth century. Setosuke was certainly an Owari expert, and he did settle at Yokkaichi about the time mentioned. But the ware he manufactured was not porcelain. It was faience, having a brownish pate^ covered with diaphanous craquelk glaze, and ornamented with archaic designs in white slip, inlaid after the style of Korea or Yatsushiro (vide Tatsushiro-yaki). Setosuke produced also other faiences not differing appreciably from those of Owari. At a subsequent period he, or his son of the same name, moved to Yedo, and there manufactured coarse porcelain, decorated with colours over the glaze. The designs were boldly executed, but the ware was only adapted to the rustic tastes of the tea-clubs. The materials were obtained from Owari. Setosuke worked in Yedo as late as the year i860. WARES OF MINO In former times no serious effort was made to dis- tinguish between the keramic productions of Owari and those of Mino. The wares themselves did not present any features of marked dissimilarity, and moreover the pottery district of Mino being included in the fief of the Owari Princes, its products neces- sarily passed into the hands of officially licensed 30Q WARES OF OWARI AND M I N O dealers of Nagoya, twelve in number, by whom they were sold under the generic name’ of Seto-mono, There is a record that pottery was manufactured in Mino as far back as the beginning of the tenth century [Enki era, 901-922), and presented to the Imperial palace in Kyoto, but nothing is known as to the char- acter of the ware, and the connoisseur may fairly assume that it did not differ from the generally unin- teresting and worthless products of the period. In the middle of the sixteenth century the family of Kat5 Shirozaemon of Seto was represented by Kage- haru, of whose six sons the second, Yosobei Kage- mitzu, moved (i 573) to Kujiri in Mino and established a kiln at the back of a hill on which stood the temple Seianji. His principal manufacture was faience having thick glaze of yellowish white colour and called Haku-yaku-de. A tea-jar of this ware is said to have been presented to the celebrated Oda Nobunaga, who bestowed on the maker a red stamp. Kagemitsu had three sons, Shirozaemon Kagenobu, Yazaemon Kage- yori, and Taroemon Kagesada. He also employed Goroemon Kagetoyo (called afterwards Shoemon Kagetada), the second son of his elder brother. Kagenobu appears to have been a more skilled potter than his father. His manufactures attracted so much attention that the Prince of Owari bestowed on him the title of Chikugo-no-Kami, He also received a spe- cial order to manufacture faience for the ex-Emperor Goyozei, who gave to the faience the name Asahi- yaki (morning-sun ware) of Chikugo. It continued to be faience of a rustic character, its thick brownish white, or yellowish white, glaze somewhat resembling a Korean product. About the year 1597 Mori Zene- mon, a fugitive expert of Karatsu, in Hizen, came to 301 JAPAN Kujiri, and sought the hospitality of the Abbot of Seianji. Hearing what this man had to tell of the Karatsu productions, Kagenobu visited that place, and on his return to Mino manufactured faience after the Karatsu style. Thenceforth (about 1600) among the wares of both Mino and Owari craquel'e variegated glazes are found, differing essentially from those previously produced, but, though more decorative, not superior or even equal in respect of technical qualities to the glazes of the old Seto-yaki, Kage- nobu employed every means to guard the secrets of his new processes, but the experts of the neighbour- ing province were too clever for him. They very soon succeeded in spying out and imitating his meth- ods [vide Shuntai-yakiy At this period the manufac- ture of faience was carried on at four places in Mino, namely, Kujiri, Tajimi, Kasa-wara, and Shimoishi. A small tax was levied on the industry, and fiscal records show that the total number of kilns at these four places was twenty-four. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies the pottery of Mino appears to have undergone little if any change, but being, as has been said above, constantly confounded with the ware of Owari, noth- ing can be stated about it with certainty. Some doubt exists also with regard to the date of the earliest pro- duction of porcelain in Mino. One record gives the year i8o4,3nd says that the industry was started by a dealer of Osaka, named Nishikawaya Mohei, who came to Tajimi carrying specimens of Hizen porce- lain. It is not impossible that the first attempt to manufacture porcelain took place then, but it is tolerably sure that nothing of any excellence was produced until the potters of the neighbouring prov- 302 WARES OF OWARI AND MINO ince (Owari) had given the initiative after the return (1807) of Tamikichi from Hizen. 'The materials used by the Mino porcelain makers were identical with those employed in Owari. From the first the decoration was confined almost exclusively to blue sous couverte, native cobalt [kongo\ found in the neigh- bourhood, and Chinese cobalt (gosu^j being used, the latter for all choice specimens. About the year 1830 great technical skill had been developed, especially at the Ichi-no-kura factory, where was produced blue- and-white egg-shell porcelain of wonderful delicacy. Large pieces of this class were not potted, the work- men limiting themselves chiefly to tiny tea-bowls or wine-cups, of which the outer surface was generally plain, and the inner decorated with designs of the utmost simplicity, exhibiting that charming combina- tion of grace and boldness for which Japanese art is remarkable. An outline sketch of Fujiyama, its blue head touched by golden clouds among which floats a flock of cranes ; or, it may be, a single branch of plum-bloom, peeping apparently through mists that hide a forest of flowers ; or again, the gable of a cottage, its rustic eave overshadowed by a pine-bough — these are among the subjects most commonly found on the egg-shell porcelain of Ichi-no-kura, and in examining them one is disposed to fancy that the artist’s intention has been to suggest, not a permanent picture, but rather some transient vision reflected for a moment on the pure surface of the ware. It was not till the year 1878 that decoration with enamels over the glaze began to be employed by the Mino potters. This innovation is due to the Tajimi factory. The style adopted closely resembles the modern ware of Kaga, that is to say, designs in gold 303 JAPAN on a red ground, or medallions containing miniature paintings of flowers, birds, landscapes, etc., and sep- arated by solid spaces of red with scrolls and arabesques in gold. Considerable quantities of this ware find their way to China, probably for the use of the foreign residents, though it is said that the Chinese themselves affect it. A wealthy merchant, Nishimura Fuji, pro- motes the manufacture and exports the ware. In recent times common porcelain for domestic use in Japan is largely produced at Tajimi, Ichi-no-kura, and other places in Mino. The decoration, blue sous couverte, is no longer the work of free-hand draughts- men, but is accomplished by the aid of stencil paper. The pigment employed is European smalt. Economy was always a feature of the Mino methods. It is related that the factories at Tajimi were largely patronised by the Government in the early part of the seventeenth century, not so much for the sake of the merits of their ware as on account of its compara- tive cheapness, for the potters of Seto, trading on their reputation, had gradually raised their prices to an almost prohibitive degree. It should be mentioned that among the modern enamelled porcelains of Mino there is a variety having gold decoration in relief after the fashion of late-period Satsuma faience. Apart from the reputation it acquired in connection with the egg-shell ware of Ichi-no-kura, the province of Mino deserves special notice for the sake of an artist called Gosuke, whose porcelain, painted with blue under the glaze, is in some respects the best of its kind now produced in Japan. The colour is pure and very delicate, the outlines are distinct, and the glaze is lustrous and regular. 304 r* A* -ft. ( i •j,.' •r i > V .• i f WARES OF OWARI AND MINO One of the most remarkable efforts to which foreign contact roused Japan’s keramists is displayed in the white porcelain of Tajimi with elaborate mod- elling in high relief. Even the gossamer e'gg-shell ware of Ichi-no-kura looks clumsy beside it, and one is inclined to doubt whether the celebrated flowers of Vincennes that deceived King Louis himself can have been more carefully moulded than some of the specimens Tajimi now furnishes. Plum-blossoms, in which neither leaf, petal, nor pistil differs by a hair’s breadth from the dimensions prescribed by nature, or racemes of wistaria with every tendril and foliation copied unerringly, may not be very fit- ting subjects for production in the most fragile form of an eminently fragile material, but as examples of patience and dexterity they cannot fail to command admiration. It would probably puzzle the best artists of Europe to achieve any finer specimens of model- ling in porcelain than those sent by the factory of Tajimi to the first Japanese Exhibition of native manufactures (1877). This Tajimi-yaki however, quite a modern production, and the great difficulty of transport as well as the expense of manufacture have hitherto prevented many pieces from leaving the country. The colour of the ware, too, is seldom quite satisfactory. A perfectly pure white is difficult to find. The Mino potteries are scarcely less important than those of Owari as a producing centre. Their scope, however, is different. For while at Owari large, imposing specimens are manufactured and the tastes of the foreign market are constantly consulted, in Mino small pieces for domestic use are chiefly turned out, and the workmen look primarily to sales in their VOL. VIII. 20 one JAPAN own country. The total number of kilns in Mino (Gifu Prefecture) at the time of the last census was 1 88, and the number of potters, 1,017. The corre- sponding figures for Owari (Aichi Prefecture) were 261 and 1,306. Chapter VII MISCELLANEOUS WARES KARATSU-YAKI Reference has been made more than once in the preceding pages to the ware of Ka- ratsu. A port on the northwest coast of Hizen, Karatsu, or Nagoya, may be said to have been the harbour of entry and exit for the greater part of the traffic between Japan, China, and Korea. It was here that the Taikby in 1572, assembled his forces for the Korean expedition. More than a thousand years ago the little town possessed kilns, and was recog- nised as a place of some importance for the sake of its potteries. But there is no evidence that in those early days the outcome of its factories was in any re- spect above the generally low level of the potter's industry throughout Japan. The best specimens pro- duced at the foot of Mount Karatsu in the ninth and tenth centuries were of coarse clay, dark and heavy, showing only an occasional trace of natural glaze. Their one feature of interest is that they were made on the wheel. Early in the eleventh century, how- ever, some Korean potters are said to have found their way to Karatsu and settled there. The date of this event is somewhat apocryphal. If it be accepted, the student is obliged to admit that Kato Shirozaemon was not the “ father of Japanese potters," and that, 307 JAPAN some two hundred years before his visit to China, the glazing processes which he went to learn were prac- tised successfully at Karatsu. For it is certain that the pieces attributed to the Korean settlers of the eleventh century were glazed, and that their general manufacture showed a higher degree of skill than that attained by Shirozaemon himself before his trip to China. Evidence bearing upon this point is meagre and inconclusive. The probability is that the age of these early specimens of Karatsu-yaki has been exag- gerated. They were called Oiu-gdrai, a term which may mean Korean [Korai^ ware manufactured either in a distant [oku^ country or at a remote period. If the latter explanation be taken — and the balance of expert opinion is in favour of it — Oku-gorai-^yaki may be translated ‘‘ Ancient Ware in the Korean Style.’’ It is scarcely necessary to dwell upon this point, or indeed upon any point connected with the Oku-gorau The pottery has neither technical nor artistic merit, if judged by modern standards. It chiefly deserves to be remembered as disputing with the Toshiro-yaki the distinction of representing the first artificially-glazed faience of Japan. The Korean settlers appear to have used imported material originally. Among the speci- mens identified as Oku-gorai are some which bear a strong resemblance to vessels of undoubted Korean manufacture dating from the ninth and tenth cen- turies. Their pate is coarse, but of tolerably light colour ; their glaze semi-diaphanous, roughly crackled, somewhat granular and of a patchy brown colour, often disfigured by blisters. It was soon found that the necessary clay existed at Karatsu, and the Japanese artisans, profiting by Korean instruction, would prob- ably have developed considerable skill but for lack of 308 MISCELLANEOUS WARES incentive. Among the middle classes there was little if any demand for utensils of faience, and it is recorded that the choicest productions of the Karatsu potters during the twelfth century were bowls for measuring rice, called Yone-hakari, These, as well as. the Oku- goraiy were stoved in an inverted position. They bear, inside, three marks, traces of their supports while in the kiln, and the glaze runs towards the upper rim, which it generally fails to cover. It is thick glaze, of a reddish grey tint, in tolerably good keeping with the pdt6y which is dark slate-colour. Early in the thirteenth century the factory at Karatsu, like those in Owari, felt the influence of the newly developed taste for tea, and began to adopt the improvements in- troduced by Kato Shirozaemon. Among these the most noteworthy was that the pieces were no longer baked in an inverted position : their inner surface ceased to be disfigured by marks of supports, and their upper portions by the rough edges of the glaze. These easily detected differences distinguish the original out- come of the Karatsu kilns — namely, the Oku-gorai and Kome-hakari or Yone-hakari — from the pieces produced during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — namely, the Ko-garatsu (Old Karatsu) and Seto- garatsu. With regard to this last term, it is evidently derived from the fact that after the faience manufac- tured at Seto by Kato Shirozaemon began to grow famous, his methods were adopted by the potters of Karatsu. The truth is that the potters of Karatsu were chiefly imitators. Their best efforts being in- tended for the tea-clubs, they took as models the rusty , wares of Korea, Annam, Luzon, etc., or the choicer but still sombre products of the Seto kilns. Things remained thus at Karatsu until the close of 309 JAPAN the sixteenth century, when the Japanese expeditionary force landed there (1598) on its return from Korea. The Taiko had died four years previously, but his orders had been obeyed. The Japanese generals brought back with them a large number of Korean keramists. Of these, some settled at Karastu, where their skill soon made itself felt at the potteries. The pieces produced under their instruction were called Chosen-garatsUy or “ Korean Karatsu,” Chosen being the name by which Korea was then known. The pate of these specimens is better manipulated than that of any previous Karatsu-yakiy but, though hard, is coarse and very dark in colour. Two glazes are al- most invariably used, — the one rriahogany, the other dark cream-colour. These glazes show considerable lustre. The former generally constitutes the body- glaze, while the latter is used to cover small portions of the surface. The effect of the combination is pleasing. Another, though very rare, variety has iron- red metallic spots, and is partially covered with a curi- ous creamy glaze, tinged with red. Good specimens of Chbsen-garatsu have always been prized by Japanese amateurs. From about the middle of the seventeenth century the Karatsu ware begins to assume a more decorative character. The Korean potters appear to have fol- lowed the example of their Chosa contemporaries [vide Satsuma-yaki). They began to produce jiambe glaze, — chiefly mahogany or dark brown with splashes of bluish white or clouds of blue and green. These are not uninteresting. Certainly they are far superior to the thick, grey granular glazes, coarsely crackled and often blistered, of the earlier Karatsu-yaki. But they do not show either the lustre or the solidity of 310 MISCELLANEOUS WARES the Chosa jlambe faience, and they are almost invari- ably disfigured by technical defects. Another variety of faience manufactured at Karatsu, from the close of the sixteenth century, was directly copied from a Korean stone- ware called E-Goraiy or ^‘painted Korean.” Pottery of this class waS' known as E-garatsu. It may be described as grey or brown- ish ware, sometimes having a tinge of green, with archaic designs boldly executed in reddish brown or black under the glaze. The Karatsu potters never marked their pieces, and have left no personal records. At the beginning of the eighteenth century they were taken under the patronage of their feudal chief, who, like the other nobles of Japan, began to adopt the practice of send- ing to the Court of the Shogun in Yedo, or to his brother peers, specimens of the best products of his fief. Pieces manufactured for this special purpose were called Kenjo-garatsUy or Presentation Karatsu.” Among them are cups, tea-jars, etc., covered with thin glaze, generally of dusky green hue, and having under the glaze simple designs formed by incising the pate and filling the incisions with white clay. These are tolerably tasteful. They bear a close resemblance to the faience manufactured at Yatsushiro in the same province. But the best variety of the Kenjo-garatsu is a stone-ware the white or grey glaze of which is so manipulated that it assumes the form of little globules, remarkably distinct and regular. Specimens of this are rare. The idea is said to have been de- rived from a species of Chinese porcelain, made early in the Ming period, the surface of which was granu- lated like the skin of an orange. But in the Chinese ware the glaze is continuous, while in the Japanese JAPAN each globule appears to be, and in some cases actually is, distinct from its neighbour. This result was pro- duced by using for the phe and the glaze clays with different indices of expansion. Careful manipulation of materials and management of temperature were necessary to achieve success, but the difficulties were not very great. The commonest species of Karatsu- yaki may be described as faience made of dark, toler- ably fine clay, over which is run thick buff-coloured glaze, coarsely crackled, and generally showing ir- regular patches of white towards the edges. It may be worth mentioning that the only authenticated specimens of Karatsu ware dating farther back than the seventeenth century are bowls and cups. The first tea-jars were made by a potter called Gombei, who lived about the year 1630. With the exception of this man, the only experts of Karatsu whose names have descended to posterity are Yojibei, Taroemon, and the latter’s son, Kiheiji. These flourished during the first half of the eighteenth century. Among the miscellaneous, or minor, wares of Japan, the first place is here given to the Karatsu-yaki, not on account of its excellence, but because the factories at that place rank first in point of antiquity. So long, indeed, had Karatsu been associated with the keramic industry that in old times the inhabitants of Hizen were wont to speak of pottery generically as Karatsu- monoy just as the people of Japan apply to it to-day the name Seto-mono. At present the term Hizen-yaki conveys, to ninety-nine persons out of every hundred, a signification entirely unconnected with the produc- tions of any factory in the province other than those in Arita and its environs. A modern Karatsu expert called Nakazato Keizo 312 MISCELLANEOUS WARES is distinguished for his skill in modelling figures of men and animals. He ceased to work, some five or six years ago, owing to partial loss of sight. WARES OF CHIKUZEN ^akatori-yaki The reader will not have failed to perceive how largely the keramic industry of Japan was influenced by the advent of the Korean potters who came over in the train of the Taiko s generals. Of these im- ported experts not the least successful, from a tech- nical point of view, were those who settled at Takatori, in Chikuzen, a province lying on the north of Hizen, and forming, in the early days of the seven- teenth century, the fief of a nobleman, Kuroda Naga- masa, whose relations with the Court at Kyoto, and subsequently with that at Yedo, were particularly close. Of the exact number of Koreans who were located at Takatori there is no record, but the .names of two, Shinkuro and Hachizo, have been preserved as masters of the art. The latter is said to have been among the prisoners taken by the chief of Chikuzen, and the former to have been specially selected by Kato Kiyomasa, general-in-chief of the expedition, as a potter already renowned in Korea. The names Shinkuro and Hachizo were, of course, given to them in Japan. What they were originally called tradition does not say, but it is on record that both were natives of a Korean village known by the Japanese as Ido. There is no question that the potter’s industry had been practised in Chikuzen long before the coming of these men. Ancient annals mention ware produced 313 JAPAN there as early as the ninth century, but it was probably unglazed pottery, without any claim to public favour. That the resources of the place were meagre has been inferred from the fact that Shinkuro and Hachizo, during the early years of their residence at Takatori, used imported materials only. But it seems to have been a part of the Taiko s order to his generals that not workmen alone but also matter to work with should be brought from Korea. Chikuzen certainly did not want for fine clays, as was proved by the pieces subsequently manufactured there. The first productions of Shinkuro and Hachizo at Takatori were in the pure Korean style, the shapes and orna- mentation being archaic in character, the pate coarse, , the glaze thin and diaphanous. Shinkuro did not long remain a captive. He died almost immediately after the lord of the province, Kuroda Nagamasa. The latter’s son, Tadayuki, showed himself a liberal patron of art. It happened at this time that the cele- brated dilettante Kobori Masakazu, feudal chief of Enshiu, interested himself in the work of the Korean captives, and to him, at Fushimi, near Kyoto, Tada- yuki sent Hachizo and the latter’s son, Hachiroemon, for instruction. Even this temporary association with the great amateur would probably have been sufficient to establish the prestige of the Takatori ware. But, in addition, Hachizo and his son were shortly after- wards assisted by a workman of greater skill and finer artistic instincts than themselves. This was Igarashi Jizaemon, a native of Hizen, who had devoted several years to acquiring and practising the processes of the Seto potters of Owari. He appears to have been a man of independent means, wandering from place to place in his capacity of amateur artist. Happening 314 MISCELLANEOUS WARES to visit Chikuzen, he w'as speedily taken under Tada- yuki’s protection, and appointed, conjointly with Hachizo, to superintend the factory at Takatori. Previously to this event the Takatori-yaki potters, under the direction of Hachizo and Shinkuro, had applied only one coat of glaze to their pieces. They made no attempt to copy the multiple glazes of the Seto artists. But with Igarashi’s advent a new era commenced, and the T^akatori-yaki very soon rose to conspicuous eminence among Japanese ware for the lustre, variety, and general beauty of its glazes. The renowned Tao-pien-yao^ or “ transmutation ware,” of China is said to have been at first taken as a model, but it is plain that the Japanese experts depended on their own methods of mixing colouring materials rather than on partially accidental effects of oxidisa- tion. In point of colour a characteristic difference between the two wares is that, while some shade of blue enters largely into the composition of the com- mon varieties of Chinese variegated glazes, the domi- nant tinge of the Japanese resembles dark amber. Very rich transparent brown, almost verging upon claret-colour, is also found, and occasionally the ‘‘iron-dust” glaze [Tungshu-hwa) of China was copied successfully. The pate of all these better sorts was fine pipe-clay, sometimes not unlikely to be con- founded with the clay of the Middle Kingdom. The potters confined themselves to working for the tea- clubs, and achieved such renown in this branch of their art that the great Kobori Masakazu (1645) him- self selected some of their best productions, and gave them names indicative of their peculiar merits ; as, for example, “ dyed river ” [Some-gawa) ; “ cross- fence” i^Ogaku) ; “autumn evening” i^Aki-no-yo)^ 3H JAPAN and so forth. It is scarcely possible to overestimate the value attaching to pieces distinguished by the approval of such an amateur. Their weight in gold proved often but a fraction of their worth in the eyes of subsequent generations, for they became the repre- sentatives, not merely of names great in the history of keramics, but also of a creed reverenced by every student of art in succeeding centuries. The T^akatori- yaki is one of the few Japanese wares that may be mistaken for a Chinese production. ' The lustre and softness of its glaze bear comparison with the chefs- d' oeuvre of the Middle Kingdom. Unfortunately the choicest specimens are tiny, insignificant tea-jars. Hachizo and his descendants are regarded as the chief potters of Takatori. The genealogy of the family is as follows : — 1. Hachizo, founder of the family. 2. Hachiroemon, son of Hachizo; died 1665. 3. Hachiroemon, son of the above; died 1712. 4. Tohachi, son of Hachiroemon (the second); died 1752. 5. Tokichi, son of Tohachi ; died 1785. 6. Tsunekichi, son of Tokichi; died 1815. 7. Kokichi, son of Tsunekichi ; died 1854. 8. Koichi, son of Kokichi ; now living. The history of the Takatori potters shows that they frequently changed the site of their factory, doubtless in search of good clay. Thus in 1614, they were at Iso; in 1630, at Shirahata-yama ; in 1662, at Tsu- tsumi-mura ; a little later, at Tajima-mura and Shimo- keigo-mura. Finally, in 1708, they moved to Shikahara-mura (Stag-plain village) — always, of course, keeping within the province of Chikuzen — and there, establishing a factory on the slope of Ueno-yama, manufactured censers, teacups, water- 316 MISCELLANEOUS WARES vessels, incense-boxes, etc., so skilfully and in such quantities that the place ultimately received the name of Higashi-sara-yama, or Eastern Plate-Hill. A few years later (1716), another factory was established in the neighbourhood, under thenameof Nishi-sara-yama (Western Plate-Hill). The productions of the latter were coarser and destined for commoner use than those of the former. These various changes of locality may be traced, with more or less accuracy, in the pate of the ware. Thus, the amateur may accept it as a rule that the clay of the early period (1600—1660) Takatori-yaki is of a light grey colour (called by the Japanese nezumi-iro, or mouse-colour) ; that of the middle period (1660—1700), nearly white; that of the third period ( 1700— 1 800), reddish, and sometimes purplish. It will not, however, be safe to conclude that every specimen having a nearly white pate dates from a period prior to 1700. All that can be con- fidently asserted is that such a pate does not belong to an era earlier than 1660. Three varieties of clay were used by the Takatori potters. They are all found in Chikuzen, and are named after the places where they exist. No attempt has yet been made to analyse them, nor is there any record of the propor- tions in which they were mixed. Considering the qualities of the Takatori-yaki, the notice it has hitherto received at the hands of Western commentators is singularly meagre. Among specimens produced dur- ing the third period of manufacture are to be found cleverly modelled figures of mythological beings and animals, covered with lustrous variegated glazes, the general colours being grey or buff, with tints of green, chocolate brown, and sometimes blue. These have always been favourites with buyers of bric-a-brac, 317 JAPAN and many of them are doubtless to be found in Western collections. The first manufacturer of such pieces is said to have been a priest who (circa 1615) modelled statuettes of Buddhistic deities. It may be mentioned that a popular distinction is made in Japan between the earliest specimens of Takatori ware and those manufactured subsequent to the instruction re- ceived from Kobori Masakazu (born 1576, died 1645) : the former are called Ko-Takatori (old Taka- tori) ; the latter Enshiu-Takatori, There are at present three kilns at which the manu- facture of Takatori-yaki is carried on. The first is at Koishibara. It is under the direction of Yanase Jim- bei, Nakagawa Buhei, and Hayakawa Kabei. Of these potters the two first are the descendants of Kambei and Kahei respectively, who flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century. The productions of the Koishibara factory are chiefly imitations of the old Kutani-yaki, to which, however, they are much in- ferior. The second factory is at the same place. It is managed by Takatori Shigeki — whose ancestor of the same name commenced the potter’s business in 1791 — and Yanase Shunzo, whose family has been at the business since 1752. These experts copy the style of the old Takatori ware, but produce also white glazes, thick and lustrous. The third factory is at Momo-mura. It was opened by Sasaki Yozo, a Kyoto artist, who came to Kaga by official invitation in 1856, and remained there until 1880. He was succeeded by Sawada Shunzan, who now produces inferior faience for daily use. Sohichi-yaki Kuroda Nagamasa, feudal chief of Chikuzen, ap- pears to have been a dilettante of unusual earnestness. 318 MISCELLANEOUS WARES The story of a tea-jar, known among Japanese ama- teurs as Funrin Cha-tsuboy illustrates his love of objects of art. There lived in Osaka a wealthy brewer of sakcy named Sotan, a native of Chikuzen. He was in the habit of sending a clerk to China, from time to time, to transact business. This clerk fell in love with a Chinese courtesan — in what part of China there is no record — and having squandered a large sum of money belonging to his master, found himself barely able to make his way home. At parting, the woman presented to him a tea-jar reputed to be of great value. The clerk, in turn, presented the tea-jar to Sotan, who was so delighted with the specimen that he forgave his employe’s misdeeds and restored him to his former office. By-and-by Kuroda Naga- masa saw the tea-jar, and would fain have become its possessor ; but the brewer refused to part with it. Subsequently the Taiko also tried to obtain it. Sotan, however, remained obstinate. In the spring of the following year the brewer gave a tea reunion, at which the Taiko and Kuroda were both present. During the entertainment Hideyoshi, beckoning to his host, left the room, followed by Kuroda. Sotan seems to have known what was coming, for when the Taiko accosted him, saying, ‘‘ Of all your treasures, Sotan, there is one only that I covet,” he at once drew the tea-jar from his bosom, and replied : ‘‘ Here is the object of your thoughts, my lord. Since it has attracted such honourable attention, I will present it to my chief Kuroda.” It is related that Kuroda had a triple case made for the tea-jar, and that he ap- pointed fifteen officials, all of whom were held re- sponsible for its safety. That the keramic industry of Chikuzen should have flourished under the patron- 319 JAPAN age of such an enthusiast, is not wonderful. A few years after this event, Kuroda, hearing that a tile- maker of remarkable skill lived in the adjoining province of Bungo, invited him to Chikuzen. -.This man’s name was Buroku. His grandson, Sohichi, developed great plastic ability, and gave his name to a ware little known in modern times, but well de- serving of notice. It was buff stone-ware, the pate as. .fine as pipe-clay and exceedingly hard, and the glaze ' very thin and diaphanous with a greenish tinge. Many specimens are not glazed at all, their surface being merely polished, after the style of the old Fukakusa- yaki. In this Sbhichi-yaki excellent examples of plastic work are to be found, as masks, censers, alcove ornaments, and so forth. At a later period of the manufacture — probably from the beginning of the eighteenth century — pigments were used for decora- tive purposes, especially in the manufacture of figures with drapery elaborately painted in various colours. ’Dispute of the ware is. not uniform, and sometimes it is comparatively soft and chalky. • From; the time of Sohichi until that of his- seventh descendant (about 1830), the family had. the honour of sending a special parcel of ware every year to the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Tradition says that while this ware was in process of manufacture, a mauve curtain, embroidered with the Imperial coat of arms, was drawn round the factory, which was in the town of Fukuoka, and no one below the rank of Councillor of State was per- mitted to pass on. horseback. . . It was also perma- nently forbidden that any one residing within two cho (240 yards) of the factory should use the ideograph so (initial character of Sohichi) to form his name. There is now a porcelain factory at Tsukushi, in 320 • MISCELLANEOUS WARES the same province of Chikuzen. Blue-and-white ware of fair quality is produced, but it scarcely rises to the level of an art manufacture. WARES OF HIGO (KUMAMOTO PREFECTURE) The principal province of Kiushiu is Higo, which lies to the south of Hizen. The feudal chief of this province at the end of the sixteenth century was the renowned warrior Kato Kiyomasa, who led the expe- dition of 1592 to Korea. Returning in 1598, he brought with him two Korean potters, and directed them to open a factory at the foot of a hill called Koshiro, near Minamiseki. The ware produced [Koshtro-yakt) was faience, or stone- ware, having jiambe glazes resembling but inferior to those of the Chosa-yaki (vide Satsuma-yaki), and evidently copied from Chinese models. The factory was patronised by the feudal chiefs of the province. In 1670 an order was issued that specimens of the Koshiro-yaki should be regularly furnished to the house of Hoso- kawa. Subsequently, at an unrecorded date, the potters moved to the Hori-ike park in Minamiseki. The productions were thenceforth known as Shofu- yaki. The present owner of the factory is Noda Ma- tashichi, who carries on a considerable trade in coarse articles of daily use. Another factory was established (1765) at Honto- baba by Okabe Tokuzo. Faience was manufactured there, having reddish brown and mahogany glaze. But the ware on which the keramic reputation of the province chiefly depends is the Tatsushiro-yaki, Among the Koreans brought to Japan by Kato Kyo- masa was Sonkai, said to be a son of the governor of Fusan, in that country. Sonkai resided for a short VOL. VIII. 21 J2I JAPAN time at Karatsu. Then, either of his own wish in- spired by what he saw at the Karatsu factories, or in obedience to Kato Kiyomasa’s commands, he revisited Korea and fully studied the potter’s art. Returning to Japan in 1602, he was invited to Agano, in the province of Buzen, by Hosokawa Tadaoki. Estab- lishing a factory there, he changed his name to Agano Kizo. In 1631 the province of Higo became the fief of the Hosokawa family, and Tadatoshi, the then representative of the family, moved his residence to Yatsushiro in that province. Thither he was fol- lowed by Kizo and two of his sons. They settled at Toyobara, and opened a factory where two varieties of ware were produced. The first was faience re- sembling the Koshiro-yaki mentioned above ; its pate being reddish brown, and its glaze mahogany with splashes, or clouds, of blue, black, and buff. The second, to which the name Tatsushiro-yaki has ever since been confined, had similar p&te^ but more care- fully manipulated and of finer texture, and diaph- anous pearl-grey or warm brown glaze, uniform, lustrous, and finely crackled. The decoration, which consisted generally of storks flying among clouds, or of simple combinations of lines and diapers, was in- cised in the pate^ the incisions being filled with white slip and the glazing material run over the whole. This, one of the most delicate and aesthetic of all Japanese faiences, was a copy of the Korean ware known in Japan as TJnkaku-de (clouds and storks pat- tern), to which, however, it is decidedly superior in delicacy and beauty of finish. But, on the other hand, neither the Tatsushiro-yaki nor its Korean pro- genitor compares favourably with the Chinese faience which is the original of both. Another variety of 322 MISCELLANEOUS WARES this ware imitates the Korean Hakime, or ‘‘ streaked pottery, in which the white engraved design is in- tended to represent the marks [me) of a coarse brush [haki)y the idea being to convey an idea of boldness and rapidity of finish. A third variety, copied from the Mishima faience of Korea, has a pattern of vertical cord-marks, which, from the resemblance they bear to the lines of closely written characters in the old almanack of Mishima (a large town on the Tokaido), suggested the name of the ware. The decoration of the Tatsushiro-yaki is practically confined to white, incised designs. Rarely, and then only in very choice pieces, is there any addition of blue under the glaze. Sonkai, or Agano Kiz5, having been enrolled among the vassals of the chief of Higo, his family received a perpetual annuity. He died in 1646. One of his sons had remained at Agano, in Busen ; another, Chubei, succeeded to the charge of the Toyobara factory, and a third, Tokubei, called also Tbshiro, established a branch factory. About the year 1715 a grandson of Kizo, by name Tarosuke, founded another branch of the family with a separate kiln. For the sake of clearness it will be well to note briefly the various artists of the three factories : — FAMILY OF AGANO KIZO 1. Kizo; died 1646. 2. Chubei, art name Hosan ; died (about) 1680. 3. Chubei, art name Ipp5; died (about) 1730. 4. Chubei; died (about) 1770. 5. Chuzo ; died (about) 1810. 6. Chubei; died (about) 1850. 7. Saibei, afterwards called Shuzo, art name Hosan; still living, but not working. 8. Teizo, the present representative. 323 JAPAN FAMILY OF AGANO TOKUBEI, OR TOSHIRO I. Tokubei, or Toshiro ; died (about) 1690. The representative of each generation of this family seems to have taken the name Toshiro, until the sixth (about 1840), an expert of considerable reputation called Yahachiro. His son, Tdshiro, was the father of the present representative, Jirokichi. FAMILY OF AGANO TOROSUKE I. Torosuke; died (about) 1760. It is said that this artist travelled to Yedo, and learned the method of manufacturing Raku faience. There is no record of the history of this family, except that the representative of the fifth generation, named Gentaro, was counted an expert of great skill and flourished in the Tempo era (1830-1843). The present representative is Agano Yaichiro. In recent years the manufacture of Yatsushiro faience, after a period of comparative cessation, has been actively revived. The best specimens now pro- duced are carefully and artistically made, but fall short of the old ware in lustre and delicacy. Six varieties of clay are used to form the pate and glaze. They are all found within the boundaries of Higo, and are named after the localities where they exist. As is the case with nearly all Japanese wares, good specimens of early Tatsushiro-yaki are generally small and insignificant. Vases are rarely, if ever, found : they belong to a comparatively late period of manu- facture. Censers, cups, bowls, and small dishes make up the total of procurable examples. Decora- tion over the glaze was never employed : such an addition indicates a piece destined for the foreign market. Within the past twenty years many modern 324 MISCELLANEOUS WARES specimens have been obtained by Western collectors and are regarded with admiration. But the fault of these modern pieces is want of lustre and softness. The body colour is cold grey, not offering sufficient contrast to the white encaustic design. In other respects the ware is carefully manipulated and deci- dedly attractive. Its pate shows a distinctly redder tinge and is softer than the pate of former times. A variety frequently seen now has its encaustic decoration disposed in white vertical stripes running from the top to the bottom of the specimen. This is a repro- duction of the ‘^corduroy’’ type often affected by Satsuma potters. Indeed, the amateur may easily mistake occasional specimens of so-called “ Mishima ’’ Satsuma for Yatsushiro ware, more especially as the Higo potters sometimes employed clay obtained in Satsuma. Old examples of Yatsushiro-yaki are usually without marks. There is a porcelain factory also in the province of Higo. It was established at Oda, in the Udo district, by order of the Hosokawa chief, in 1791, and under his patronage the industry attained some importance. Porcelain stone was found at Shirato, in the neighbourhood, but an examination of the ware shows that the celebrated Amakusa stone was also employed ; as might indeed be expected, seeing that the Udo district lies on the coast opposite the island of Amakusa. Specimens of Higo porcelain are rarely met with, and unless they bear the mark of the factory, they can scarcely be distinguished from Arita ware. Vitrifiable enamels do not seem to have been used, the decoration being confined to blue sous couverte. Some pieces are white, with reticulated or moulded designs. The industry still exists on a 325 JAPAN small scale in the hands of the potters Tanaka Sakai, Matsumura Jisaburo, Nagao Teigoro, and others. FUKAKUSA-YAKI In the suburbs of Kyoto, distant about five (English) miles from the city, lies the village of Fushimi, cele- brated as the site of the Palace of Pleasure {Juraku)^ built by the order of the Taikb, and by his order also levelled with the ground after the intrigues of its first inmate, Hidetsugu. Near this village, at a place called Fukakusa, there was a fine pipe-clay that gave peculiarly close, hard pate. For the sake of this clay the village was occasionally chosen by potters as a place of residence. It has been shown that the “ father of potters,” Kato Shirozaemon, attempted to manufacture porcelain there in the thirteenth century, and that Soshiro, who flourished in the time of the Talk'd (1590), produced with Fukakusa clay unglazed pottery of considerable beauty which he decorated with black and gold lacquer, receiving from the Talk'd the title of merit Tenka Icht. The records tell nothing of Soshiro’s family. If any of his descendants inherited his art, their names have not survived. Contempo- rary with him was an expert called Hirata Heiemon, who opened a factory in Kawara-machi, Fushimi, in the year 1593. By this man and his posterity the manufacture of the Fukakusa-yaki was virtually mo- nopolised. The factory was moved to Sukikai-bashi, in the same village, in 1642, and there it still remains, its present owner, Heiemon, being ninth in descent from the founder. At the outset the productions were confined to unglazed pottery, which owed its merit entirely to quality of pate and accuracy of finish. Articles such as fire-boxes, tea-urns, ash-holders, 326 MISCELLANEOUS WARES etc. were chiefly manufactured. By Heiemon’s son, Koemon, however, a new departure was made. This artist possessed rare skill as a modeller. His statuettes attracted so much attention at the time that he received the soubriquet of ‘‘Ningyo-ya Koemon” (Koemon the puppet-maker), and subsequent genera- tions came to regard him as the real originator of this style of work in Japan. Very few genuine specimens of Koemon’s manufacture survive, but these suffice to show that he possessed rare ability as a modeller. His pieces are not glazed, nor did he use vitrifiable enamels. The decoration of his statuettes was effected by painting in distemper — green, slate blue, and red being the principal colours employed — with the addition of gold. Since his time the modelling of mythical figures — men, birds, and animals — has always been a specialty with the Fukakusa potters. After Koemon’s death, however, they abandoned his distemper colours — except in rare instances — and used a thin, diaphanous glaze. Whether by design or by accident, their pieces thus assumed the appearance of wood-carvings, the brownish pate bearing a close resemblance to wood slightly discoloured by age. During the latter half of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries, two of the Sukikai- bashi artists, Rokuro and Sozaburo, established a rep- utation that still survives. Of their successors none were specially distinguished, though specimens of their handicraft often show great mastery of the plastic art. SHIKASE-YAMA-YAKI Before leaving the province of Yamashiro, mention may be made of the Shikase-yama-yakt, a faience pro- 327 JAPAN duced at a place of the same name in the Sagara dis- trict of Yamashiro. The manufacture was commenced in 1827 by Morimoto Suke-emon, in consequence of the discovery of potter’s clay in the neighbourhood of his house. He invited an expert from Kyoto, and produced faience to supply local demand. The ware resembled that of Awata, but was coarser and not so highly decorated. Twenty years later ( 1 847), Ichigo, feudal chief of the district, obtained the services of a keramist called Ogawa Riuzaemon. ' In the hands of this potter and his son, Ogawa Kyuemon, the S/ii- kase-yama-yaki acquired considerable reputation. It deserves no special description, being scarcely dis- tinguishable from the ordinary faience of Kyoto. Ogawa Kyuemon’s skill in connection with the con- struction of kilns has already been spoken of {vide last paragraph of Chapter VIII). BIZEN-YAKI Bizen is a province on the coast of the Inland Sea. Tradition assigns a very early date to the origin of keramic manufacture in the province, and says that it was one of the places where clay substitutes for human sacrifices were produced in the opening cen- turies of the Christian era. Authentic records, however, do not go back farther than the Oei era ( I 394~i427)when three kilns, called respectively the southern kiln, the northern kiln, and the western kiln, were constructed at the foot of the hills Kayabara- yama, Fure-zan, and Ikuo-zan, all in the Imbe district. The ware manufactured was very hard, coarse, red stone-ware, unglazed, or having only a natural glaze, and designed for rough use in farmhouses. The materials were found in the neighbourhood. Owing 328 MISCELLANEOUS WARES to the great capacity of the kilns and the refractory nature of the clay, a very high temperature had to be applied : the furnaces \vere kept alight from twenty- three to thirty days. Towards the close of the six- teenth century the manufacture underwent considerable improvement, probably owing to the encouragement of the Taiko, who visited the factories in 1583, when on a campaign in the central provinces. There were then six master-keramists at work, — Terami, Kane- shige, Tongu, Oba, and two representatives of the Mori family. Under them were employed forty-six potters. The ware was known as Imhe-yaki or Ko- Bizen (old Bizen). Previously to the time of the TaikOy large vases for religious festivals, jars for keep- ing and germinating agricultural seeds, and other common utensils were chiefly made. But from the end of the sixteenth century ware for the use of the tea-clubs — as tea-jars, censers, ewers, and teapots — began to be manufactured. To this term the Bizen-yaki properly applies. At first it differed from its prede- cessor only in more careful technique. The pate was finer and better manipulated, and the general work- manship superior. By-and-by, however, the patches of accidental glazing that appeared occasionally on specimens of the Ko-Bizen-yaki were replaced by a regular coating of thin, diaphanous glaze. There can be little doubt that the motive of the potters was to imitate the red Boccaro pottery of China, but their success in this respect was only partial. About the middle of the seventeenth century the character of the choicest Bizen-yaki underwent another change. It became slate-coloured, or bluish brown faience, with pate fine as pipe-clay but very hard. In this Ao-Bizen (blue Bizen), as it is called, figures of mythical 329 JAPAN beings and animals, as well as birds, fishes, and so forth, were modelled with a degree of plastic ability that can scarcely be spoken of in too high terms. Repre- sentative specimens are truly admirable, every line true, every contour faithful : they will bear comparison with similar works produced in any country at any age. There is nothing to show exactly at what time or under what circumstances this most remarkable plastic skill was developed, but its first exercise does not appear to date farther back than- the second half of the seventeenth century, and the best examples were probably produced at a still later epoch. Cocks in the attitude of challenging or crowing, sparrows, quails, mythical animals, the Shichi-fuku-jin, the Shishi, and so forth, were favourite subjects for the modeller ; he generally managed to represent them instinct with life and of unerringly correct form. In rare cases specimens of this character were intended to serve as alcove ornaments (oki-mono\ but the great majority of them were censers. It is said that the bluish grey, or slate colour, of the pate was obtained in the furnace by skilful management of temperature. Whether such was the fact, or whether the colour resulted from using special materials, must remain for the present undecided, since the Ao-Bizen ware is no longer produced. The records of the factories say that, for choice ware, earth found in the Imbe district was mixed, after careful preparation, with fine parti- cles of mud from a pond in Hatada-mura, and that the latter, with a proportion of lixiviated ash of the Goma [Sesamum orientalis^, served for glazing material. The baking, even of these smaller articles, occupied thirteen days, and much depended on proper manage- ment of temperature. It is not to be understood that 330 MISCELLANEOUS WARES the best productions of the Bizen factories are con- fined to the Ao-Bizen type. Many beautiful speci- mens have the red pate generally but erroneously supposed to be characteristic of all Bizen-yaki. Some- times the glaze applied to this latter variety bears such a close resemblance in colour and metallic sheen to the finest golden-tinted bronze that the two may readily be confounded. As a general rule this charm- ing glaze, unique in Oriental keramics, belongs to the productions of the eighteenth century. The terms Ko-Bizen-yaki and Imbe-yaki are prop- erly interchangeable, but by some connoisseurs the former is applied to unglazed, the latter to glazed, specimens. The most valued pieces of old Bizen ware are those stamped with the shape of a new moon [Mikka-zukt) , a waning moon [Kae-zuki'), or the ideographs Koku-bei [vide Marks and Seals), while another less esteemed variety bears the delineation of a cherry blossom. The last mark is found also on comparatively modern pieces. During the period of art renaissance, towards the close of the sixteenth century, Kyoto amateurs appear to have visited Bizen and manufactured tea-utensils there. In the collec- tions of modern virtuosi pieces are preserved bearing marks attributed to Sohaku, Shimbei, Shogen, and Moemon, who flourished between 1573 1614. Another variety of Bizen-yaki, found in ware of various epochs from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, is distinguished by the term Hi-dasuki, Ta- suki is the name of a cord used to confine the long sleeves of the Japanese dress when the wearer wishes to employ his arms freely. It passes round the shoulders and is crossed behind them. Hi-dasuki thus signifies a kiln [hi) mark resembling the tasuki. Such mark- 331 JAPAN ing was obtained originally by tying a straw rope round the piece before placing it in the oven. When the rope was consumed there remained on the surface of the pottery an appearance of mottling or irregular lines of red. This crude method and its rude results suggest a fair idea of the old Bizen-yakt s qualifications. A connoisseur's taste must have been specially educated when he consents to pay ten or twenty guineas for a water-holder that might easily be mistaken for a sec- tion of a drain-pipe, partially blackened by lire and ornamented with patches or streaks of brick-colour. Later specimens of the Hi-dasuki variety have close grey pate covered with exceedingly thin, diaphanous glaze. In these the red mottling, from which they derive their name, is evidently produced by some method different from that described above. A rare variety of Bizen ware has greyish or almost white pate with diaphanous glaze of the same colour. This ware is known as Kankoku-yaki or Shira-Bizen (white Bizen), having been manufactured at a place called Kankoku. Sometimes its decorative effect is heightened by the addition of red and gold. Numer- ous specimens of it have been produced within the past ten years and sold as old pieces to amateurs who esteem Shira-Bizen for the sake of its rarity rather than its artistic merits. Information as to the Bizen potters is quite incom- mensurate with their merits, for without doubt choice specimens of their work during the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century are among the very highest achievements of Japanese plastic art. At present the chief potter at Imbe is Mori Riuzb. It has been seen that when the Taiko visited Bizen (1583), two representatives of the Mori family were 332 MISCELLANEOUS WARES among the master-potters. More than a century later, the head of the family was Mori Yosoemon (died about 1775). His son, Mori Goroemon (died about 1810), and his grandsons, Mori Moemon (died about i860), and Mori Kakuji (died 1853), were distin- guished experts. Kakuji was succeeded by his son, Mori Kotaro (died 1882), and the latter’s son, Mori Riuzo, now carries on the trade. During the Temmei era (1781—1788), an expert called Kimura Shohachi distinguished himself by manufacturing sake bottles decorated with designs in coloured slip (blue, red, and white). Kimura Hei-ichiro and Kimura Mitsutaro, descendants of this artist, share with Mori Riuzo the reputation of producing the best modern Bizen ware. Another scion of the Mori family, Mori Hikoichiro, has a factory in the neighbouring district of Mushia- keo. This artist was for some time associated with Makuzu, of Ota (near Yokohama). He stamps his pieces “ Mushiake.” None of these potters produce anything comparable with the wares of their prede- cessors. The admirable plastic skill of the latter and their technical methods seem to be beyond the range of the modern Bizen keramist. SHIDORO-YAKI A ware of which some specimens bear a close resemblance to the old faience of Seto, while others may easily be mistaken for Bizen-yaki (described above), is the Shidoro-yaki, manufactured in the province of Totomi (Enshiu), which now forms part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The first pottery produced in this province is attributed to Gyogi Bosatsu (eighth century), but there is no authentic record of the 333 JAPAN existence of any kilns before the Dai-ei era (1521- 1527). A factory was then established at Shidoro- mura, and subsequently (about 1720) removed to Yoko-oka-mura. The productions were of coarse, rough character — red stone-ware covered with thin, uneven glaze of light brown-ochre colour — until the close of the sixteenth century, when some experts from Seto (in Owari) came to the province. Specimens attributed to this period (1590-1670) show plainly that the Seto style was taken as a model. Lustrous black and golden-brown glazes, laid on in two or three coats, replaced the thin brown-ochre glaze previously employed, and tea-utensils of the most approved shapes made their appearance. A little later on (1680), the influence of Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu, produced its effects. The brown-ochre glaze re-appeared, now, however, variegated by patches of yellow ; and very dark green was added to the colours already existing. The clay was coarse and of dull red tinge, differing but little from that found in the inferior varieties of Imbe (Bizen) ware. In 1720, as has been said, the factory was moved from the district of Shidoro to that of Yoko-oka, and from that time the pieces were for the most part stamped with the characters [Shidoro-yakiy The manufacture, no longer confined to the old grooves, was gradually modified, till in late years claret coloured and green glazes, after the so-called Cochin-China fashion, were produced, and finally even the Ky5t6 school was represented by small pieces with whii^ pate and decoration in gold and coloured enamels. An- other variety, called Karafu, was obtained by mixing charcoal ashes or powdered pebbles with the glazing material, the result being a dull mottled surface more 334 MISCELLANEOUS WARES curious than beautiful. Probably, however, the only specimens of Shidoro-yaki likely to interest Western collectors are the figure-subjects, some of which ex- hibit considerable plastic skill and quaintness of fancy. The amateur is likely to find a certain difficulty in distinguishing these from similarly modelled speci- mens of middle-period Bizen ware. The most easily identified differences are that the pate of the Shidoro- yaki is whiter than that of the Bizen-yaki, and that the glaze of the former is generally lustreless dun- colour, resembling the skin of a ripe pear, whereas the glaze of the Bizen ware is diaphanous and nearly colourless. The surface of Shidoro stone-ware is usually mottled or roughly speckled with black. The manufacture is now carried on in Shidoro-mura by Suzuki Kanehiro. No record of former potters has been preserved. WARES OF IZUMO (SHIMANE PREFECTURE) Few Japanese wares are more deservedly appreciated by Western buyers than the modern Izumo-yaki, man- ufactured in the province of Izumo. It is faience, having light grey, close pate, and yellow or straw- coloured glaze, generally without crackle. The dec- oration is in gold and green enamel. The designs are usually formal, and do not show remarkable skill of execution, doubtless owing to the difficulty of painting elaborately or delicately on a tender, wax- like yellow glaze such as that of the Izumo-yaki, The manufacture of glazed pottery in Izumo com- menced during the Keian era (1648-1651), but no success was attained until, some twenty-five years later (about 1676), the feudal chief of the province, 335 JAPAN procured the services of a potter named Gombei Shigiyoshi a native of Nagato . (Choshu), where he had studied the art under a Korean, Korai-zaemon. This man set up a kiln at Rakuzan, in the Nishika- watsu district, and using materials partly imported from Nagato and partly found in the neighbourhood manufactured a faience which received the name of Rakuzan-yakL Intended for the use of the tea-clubs,- and faithful, for the most part, to Korean models, this Rakuzan-y aki had few features of interest. Oc- casionally, however, a specimen is found that recalls the work' of Seto experts. ' Gombei’s reputation, from an artistic point of view, is founded on a rich brown, or chocolate, glaze powdered with golden speckles, which he is said to have introduced. This is an imi- tation of the beautiful nasbiji (pear-skin-ground) seen in aventurine lacquer. It was esteemed one of the chefs-d' ceuvre of the Rakuzan factory, and justly so, for chocolate glaze clouded with amber and flecked with glittering dust was undoubtedly a beautiful con- ception. If Gombei introduced this glaze, he cannot be said to- have invented it. Its prototype is to be found among the productions of the Chinese keram- ists during the Ming period. Further, there is -even reason to doubt whether he introduced it, some virtuosi holding that it was first introduced nearly a century later at the Fujina factory [vide inf ra^, Gombei died in 1694, and was succeeded by his pupil Kada Han- roku, who had come with him from Nagato. On Kata’s death (about- 1720), the Rakuzan factory ceased to work. A factory of later date but greater repute ,was established at Fujina (in the same province) by Funaki Yajibei, in 1764. ' According to local records, 3-36 ■ . MISCELLANEOUS WARES the Funaki family settled at Fujina in 1624, and had already been engaged in the pottery manufacture for several generations. If the same source of information be followed, the production of pottery in Izumo dates from an era as remote as the beginning of the twelfth century. But nothing is known of the wares of those early days, and no interest attaches to the story of the Fujina kiln prior to 1764, when, as has been said, Funaki Yajibei worked there. Yajibei himself does not seem to have possessed any special aptitude. The reputation acquired by his factory is due, rather, to the patronage of Narusato, feudal chief of the province. This nobleman, who after his retirement from active life took the name by which he is best known, — Fumai, — was one of Japan’s most celebrated virtuosi. He added to the fashions of the tea-clubs a style elaborated by himself, and hence called Unshiu-riu (Unshiu is another name for Izumo), and his patron- age of the fine arts was invariably liberal and intelli- gent. During the Horeki era (1751-1763) Fumai engaged a potter of repute, Tsuchiya Zenshiro, and appointed him keramic instructor in Izumo. In 1772 this rnan came to Fujina, and there, with the assistance of Funaki Yajibei, began to manufacture faience that soon acquired a considerable reputation. There were four varieties. The first had chocolate- brown or mahogany glaze resembling that of Seto, but thinner and without any amber tints ; the second was distinguished by the aventurine glaze, mentioned above in connection with the Rakuzan factory ; the third had soft, wax-like yellow glaze with decoration in gold, red, and green, now the characteristic ware of the province — and the fourth was greyish (some- times reddish white) faience with exceedingly delicate VO^. VIII. 22 <707 JAPAN and elaborate decoration in coloured enamels. The pate of all these varieties was close in texture and of greyish-white colour easily mistaken for the pate of Awata-yaki {vide Kyoto), — and their glazes showed thorough mastery of technical processes. From Fumai’s time the Fujina-yaki — or, speaking more broadly, the Izumo-yaki — was placed among the choice faiences of Japan. The manufacture was carried on with success until i860, when it began to languish, and came almost to an end about five years later (1865). The principal potters were of the lin- eage of Tsuchiya Zenshiro, Funaki Yajibei, and Sawa Tasuke. THE TSUCHIYA FAMILY 1. Tsuchiya Zenshiro ; died 1806. 2. Tsuchiya Zenshiro ; died 1829. 3. Tsuchiya Zenshiro ; died 1854. 4. Tsuchiya Zenshiro ; died 1876. THE FUNAKI FAMILY 1. Funaki Yajibei ; died 1773. 2. Funaki Shinzo ; died 1803. 3. Funaki Kakusaburo ; died 1825. 4. Funaki Kenemon ; died 1856. 5. Funaki Kenemon ; still alive. A SECOND BRANCH OF THE FUNAKI FAMILY 1. Funaki Kinzo, son of Funaki Shinzo; opened a factory in 1 8 1 1 . 2. Funaki Fusuki; succeeded to the business in 1849. 3. Funaki Ryoemon ; succeeded to the business in 1865. A THIRD BRANCH OF THE FUNAKI FAMILY 1. Funaki Heibei, son of Funaki Kenemon; opened a factory in 1866. 2. Funaki Asataro ; succeeded to the business in 1878. 333 MISCELLANEOUS WARES THE SAWA FAMILY 1. Sawa Kasuki ; commenced work in 1790. 2. Sawa Ichiemon; succeeded in 1804. 3. Sawa Kasuki; succeeded in 1843. 4. Sawa Taichiro; succeeded in 1873. Another Branch of the Sawa Family 1. Sawa Toemon, son of Sawa Kasuki; opened a sepa- rate factory in 1800. 2. SawaToemon; succeeded in 1830. 3. Sawa Toemon ; succeeded in 1863. 4. Sawa Toronosuke ; succeeded in 1876. Another family of experts is descended from Nagahara Yozo, who opened a factory in 1802. He was succeeded by his son of the same name 1839, latter by his son Eisuke in 1864. Like other noble patrons of the keramic art in Japan, Fumai, lord of Unshu, had a private factory. It was called Kairaku-zan, and the principal expert employed at it originally was Nagaoka Sumiemon. In 1816 this same potter constructed a kiln within the park of his patron’s mansion in Yedo. Returning to Izumo, he was succeeded by his son Kosai ; the latter by his son Sumiemon, and the last by his son Shonosuki. The wares of these artists did not differ from the Fujina-yaki described above, except when the faience of Korea was taken as a model for special manufactures. It will be seen from what has been written that the ware of Izumo owed its reputation almost entirely to the patronage of Fumai, and that its period of greatest prosperity was during his lifetime. Shortly before the abolition of feudalism (1868), the factories at Fujina were closed. They remained so until 1875, when Mr. Wakai, a well-known connoisseur, at that 339 JAPAN time attached to the Kosho-gaisha, a trading company partly supported by the Government, visited Izumo and induced the potters to resume their industry. In honour of his initiative and assistance, the name of the re-established factory was changed from Raku- zan ’’ to ‘‘ Jakuzan ” [Jaku is the alternative sound of the ideograph JVakai), Two faiences were and are still manufactured ; the one in considerable quantities, the other rarely and with less success. The former is the well-known variety mentioned at the beginning of this section — yellow glaze with decorations in gold, red, and green — the latter the beautiful aven- turine glaze. Both are inferior to their prototypes of Fumai’s time, their technique being less careful and their glazes wanting in richness and solidity. On the other hand, these modern specimens are of a much more imposing and decorative character than anything formerly produced. Since 1873 porcelain has been included among the manufactures of Izumo. Its production was origi- nated by Hadano Soemon, a merchant of Shimmachi, in the Nogi district of Izumo. This man procured the services of an expert called Madasuke, from the province of Tajima, and constructed a kiln for him at Shiotani. Two varieties of stone and a clay, all found in the neighbourhood, were employed. The ware requires no special description. It is blue-and-white porcelain of mediocre quality. IWAMI WARES It is convenient to speak here of the porcelain manufactured in Iwami, a neighbouring province of Izumo. It had its origin in i860, when two brothers, Noda Shota and Noda Genzo, discovered porcelain 340 MISCELLANEOUS WARES stone at Shirakami and opened a factory there. They enjoyed the patronage of the feudal chief of the dis- trict, and their industry gradually increased until it gave occupation to over thirty potters working at about twenty factories. The ware is a coarse variety of blue-and-white porcelain, similar to the Izumo porcelain mentioned above, and the manufacture is limited to ordinary household utensils. At Nagahama, in the same province, there is also produced a species of Raku ware resembling, but more brittle than, the Kyoto Raku-yah\ It was origi- nated at the beginning of the eighteenth century by a potter called Nagami Fusazo, and the industry was continued without interruption by his descendants of the same name. Like other wares intended for the use of the tea-clubs, it enjoyed, from time to time, the special patronage of local magnates, but it merits no detailed description, being simply an imitation of the well-known Raku faience of Kyoto. WARES OF SJNUKI (EHIME PREFECTURE) The first pottery of the province of Sanuki was of the Raku type. Its originator was Akamatsu Kihei. He opened a factory (1573) at Daikucho, in the Ka- gawa district, and used clay obtained from the cele- brated old battle-field of Y ashima. This Raku-yaki had nothing to recommend it, and attracted no attention. Some seventy years later (1647), Prince Matsudaira Yorishige, on the occasion of moving to Takamatsu (the chief town of Sanuki), invited thither a potter of Awata (Kyoto), called Sakubei Shigetoshi. Sakubei was an expert of considerable skill. He is said by some to have been a pupil of the renowned Nomura Ninsei, and to have settled at Awata for the purpose 341 JAPAN of receiving the great potter’s instruction. His father, Morishima Hambei Shigeyoshi, a native of Osaka, adopted keramics as his profession at the instance of a Chinese potter, whose name has not been transmitted. From the time of Sakubei’s arrival in Sanuki, the ware of the province — generally known as Takamatsu-yaki — underwent a marked change. It became faience after the Awata type ; both the decorative subjects and the manner of their execution, in green, blue, and red enamels picked out with gold, being scarcely dis- tinguishable from the work of the Kyoto keramists. The pate of the Takamatsu-yaki is, however, easily rec- ognised, owing to its sandy character and dark colour. The glaze also is greyer and duller than that of Ky- oto faience. In 1649 Prince Yorishige conferred on Sakubei the name of Kita, by which his family was thenceforth known. The ninth representative, Kita Rihei, who flourished in the second half of the eighteenth century, enjoyed a very high reputation. He was not a scion of the Kita family, but was adopted by Iwanojo, the eighth in descent from Sa- kubei. Rihei spent six years in Kyoto, where he studied under the first Dohachi. He did not remain in the family of his adoption, and it appears to have become extinct after the death of Iwanojo. Taka- matsu faience is no longer produced. Another factory in the same province is at Nishi- katamoto. It was opened in 1803 by order of the feudal chief of the district, and was placed under the direction of Mitani Rinzo. The family of this potter had been working at Shidaura, in the same district, since 1766. Their faience, locally known as Shido- yaki, or Tashima-yaki (from the name of the old battle-field whence the clay was procured), had no 342 MISCELLANEOUS WARES merits from an artistic point of view, and aimed at nothing higher than a resemblance to the homely ware of Korea. Some specimens, however, are of the same type as the ware of the Kita family de- scribed above, and may easily be confounded with enamelled faience of Kyoto. WARES OF lYO (EHIME PREFECTURE) In the province of lyo, which adjoins Sanuki and is included in the same prefecture (Ehime), the ke- ramic industry is of comparatively modern origin. It was inaugurated in 1796, at Gohonmatsu, by Mukai Genji, whose grandson, Mukai Wahei, still carries it on. Three other factories may be mentioned in con- nection with this branch of keramics, namely, the factory at Iwaya-guchi, opened in 1820 by Morimoto Chusuke, whose son, Morimoto Yujiro, now has charge of the work ; the factory at Nanaori, opened in 1842 by Sagawa Tomosuke, who was succeeded, in 1856, by Sakamoto Gembei ; this factory remained practically inactive from 1861 till 1870, when it was reopened by Sakamoto Gengo ; and finally the factory at Ichiba, which was opened by Kanaoka Otoemon in 1810, and is now under the direction of his grand- son, Kanaoka Sadazo. Good porcelain stone is found at more than one place in the province, but the am- bition of the manufacturers has not hitherto extended beyond the supply of local wants. Their ware is blue- and-white porcelain of mediocre quality. HAGI-YAKI This ware is manufactured in the province of Nagato, formerly the fief of Choshiu, but now in- 343 JAPAN eluded in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. It takes its name from Hagi, the chief town of the province. There is some uncertainty about the date of its origin, but most accounts agree that the first kiln was not opened before the beginning of the sixteenth century. Not till the close of that century, however, did the Hagi-yaki attract attention. During the expedition to Korea, Mori Terumoto, lord of Choshiu, employed as guide a Korean named Rikei, by whom he was accompanied on the return of the troops to Japan. Learning that Rikei was by profession a potter, and being anxious to encourage the keramic industry in his fief, Mori desired the immigrant to search for suitable clay and select a place for a factory. After a lengthy examination, Rikei reported that good materials were procurable at Matsumoto, in the Abu district. There, accordingly, he was instructed to settle. The hill where potter's earth was found, being completely handed over to him, thenceforth received the name of Kanjin-yama (Korean-man's mount), while Rikei himself took the Japanese appellation of Sukehachi, subsequently, however, changing it to Koraizaemon (Zaiemon of Korea). A Korean faience, known in Japan as Ido-yaki, seems to have served him as a model, for the chief characteristic of his produc- tions was greyish craquele glaze with clouds of salmon tint. In addition to the earth found at Kanjin-yama, materials were procured from Daito-mura, Mishima- moto-mura, and Ukino-mura. Small utensils for the use of the tea-clubs were principally manufactured. The best specimens were reserved for the lord of the district, whose officers attended at the time of opening a fournee. Koraizaemon was raised to the rank of shizoku. As will be seen from the genealogy given 344 MISCELLANEOUS WARES below, his descendants have continued the keramic manufacture without interruption down to the present time. They did not, however, retain the monopoly at Matsumoto. During the Kambun era (i66i — 1672), an expert from the province of Yamato entered the service of the Mori house, and was as- signed for his support a tract of land in Higashiwake- mura, Abu district, receiving, at the same time, the name of Kiusetsu. This man also opened a factory at Matsumoto, and employing materials procured at Higashiwake, Mishimamoto, and Ukino-yama, manu- factured faience not only after the fashion of Korai- zaemon’s Hagi-yaki, but also in the style of the well-known Raku ware of Kyoto. From his time, in addition to the pearl grey and salmon glazes of Koraizaemon, there were produced pale green and light lavender glazes, sometimes applied as monochromes, sometimes used to variegate greyish or cream-white grounds. Another variety, known as E-hagi, or painted Hagi, also made its appearance. It had boldly executed designs in black, slate colour, or red- dish brown, after the fashion of Korean painted ware [E-gdrai), The Hagi-yaki occupies a place of little artistic importance among Japanese keramic produc- tions, though it is much valued by the tea-clubs. The artist whose name is best remembered for technical shill is Kiusetsu of the fourth generation, who flourished from 1740 to 1776. GENEALOGY OF THE BAN FAMILY, FOUNDED BY RIKEI, OR KORAIZAEMON 1. Koraizaemon; died 1643. 2. Sukehachi ; died 1668. 3. Shimbei ; died 1729. 345 JAPAN 4. Shimbei; died 1748. 5. Sukehachi ; died 1769. 6. Shimbei; died 1803. 7. Sukehachi; died 1824. 8. Shimbei, afterwards called Koraizaemon ; died 1878. 9. Dosuke, the present representative. Another centre of keramic industry in the same province is at San-no-se. Factories were opened there in 1683 by the ancestor of the present potter Shinjo Orie ; in 1692 by the ancestor of the present Kurazaki Otojuro ; in 1760 by the ancestor of the present Nami Hanzaemon ; in 1775 by the Itakura family, and during the Temmei era (1781—1788) by Sakata Densaku, Tahara Kenji, and Yamashita Mago- roku. All these artists were under the patronage of the noble family of Mori, Prince of Choshu. Since 1846 porcelain has been manufactured in the province of Nagato. A potter called Furuse is said to have originated its production, using materials found at Kawamagari and Ohama, in the province of lyo, and working at Takibe. Ware of the same nature was also produced at Tagayasu by a potter named Wada, from the year 1854. It was not till 1880, however, that porcelain stone was discovered in Nagato itself, at Obata. An association called the Shoshosha was formed in consequence of the discovery, and considerable quantities of coarse blue-and-white utensils were produced. Occasionally among the wares of this province ivory-white porcelain of some merit is found. It does not form a staple production, but is to be regarded rather as an experimental manu- facture. Its pate consists principally of stone from Amakusa. Hagi, or Choshiu, porcelain, manufactured with 346 MISCELLANEOUS WARES the stone of Obata, has been analysed. Its composi- tion is as follows : — CHOSHIU PORCELAIN Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxidr. Limb, Magnesia, etc. Water. 73.45 20.71 0.52 4.48 1.15 The modern faience manufactured at Matsumoto is of the Raku type ; that is to say, a thick, soft-look- ing pottery with little lustre of surface and a wooden timbre. The fracture shows a yellowish tinge. The only pieces worthy of note from an artistic point of view have decoration in the Yatsushiro style; designs engraved in the paste are filled with white clay which retains its colour after baking. WARES OF SUO Suo is the neighbouring province of Nagato, on the east, and is also included in the Yamaguchi Pre- fecture. Its keramic productions have never acquired any reputation, and are of modern date, the first kiln of which anything is known having been opened by Matsuo Tobei, at Hachido, in 1850. His faience, and indeed all the faience manufactured in the province, may be described as an inferior variety of Hagi-yaki, Of late years a potter called Yoshika Tosaku, of Nishi-no-ura, has begun to add red and green enamelled decoration to soft craquele faience, made from materials found at Daido-mura. There are many kilns in the province, but their productions are to be classed as coarse porcelain and faience, of the same type as the wares of Nagato. WARES OF KOCHI Kochi is the capital of the province of Tosa. The oldest and best known ware manufactured in this 347 JAPAN province is the Odo-yaki, produced at a town called Otsu, about live miles to the east of K5chi. The factory was established at the close of the sixteenth century by a Korean potter called Shohaku, who came to Japan in the train of Motochika, feudal chief of Tosa. Shohaku is said to have originally used ma- terials imported from Korea, which produced light- red, hard pate, covered with diaphanous glaze. These pieces were not painted or enamelled, their only dec- oration being a coat of white glaze run over the ground-glaze so as to suggest the idea, sometimes of a wrapper, sometimes of streaks of snow. Another and choicer variety had somewhat coarse pate, nearly white, over which was run lustrous grey glaze ; the decoration consisting of scrolls and conventional designs incised in the pate and filled in with white clay, after the fashion of the Yatsushiro faience and the Gohon ware of Korea. Of this early faience very few authentic specimens exist. Soon the potters began to use clay found at Nochazan, in the neigh- bourhood of Kochi, the result being soft, reddish grey pate covered with diaphanous glaze. In 1653 the character of the ware underwent a change. Yama- nouchi Tadayoshi, lord of the province, invited from Osaka a skilled potter called Hisano Seihaku, who had been a pupil of the celebrated Kyoto artist Nomura Ninsei. Seihaku soon returned to Osaka, but not before he had introduced in Tosa the Kyoto style of Shibu-e decoration — that is to say, decoration in black or reddish brown under the glaze. Seihaku’s place in Tosa was taken by his pupil Yamazaki Heinai, one of whose sons, Morita Mitsuhisa, subse- quently went to Osaka and studied for several years under Seihaku. 348 MISCELLANEOUS WARES In 1679 this same Morita visited all the prin- cipal factories at Kyot5, and in Owari, Mino, To- tomi, and elsewhere. Returning to Kochi, he set himself to produce faience after Korean or Kyoto models. He did not, however, use enamelled deco- ration, but preferred the severe style of the Shibu-e and confined himself to the manufacture of tea utensils. Among his pieces the most valued were cups with paintings of Sho-chiku-bai — pine-sprays, bamboos, and plum-blossoms — in black or dark brown sous couverte. Of his successors during the eighteenth century the best known were Mitsunaga, Mitsuyoshi, Mitsutsugu, and Mitsutane. Probably about the year 1760 bright green glazes, monochromatic or in combination with yellow, began to be applied. Associated with these is generally found plastic decoration — engraved or in relief. At the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury the Odo factory was moved to the neighbour- hood of Nochazan. Its productions thenceforth began to be called Nochazan-yaki. Mention may be made here of a local tradition which says that, even before the time of Shohaku, pottery was manufactured in Tosa from the clay of Nochazan, and that it was decorated with designs, engraved or in relief, copied from studies by the celebrated painter Kano Motonobu. Of this there is no trustworthy evidence. Owing to some reason which experts fail to explain, the potters of Imado, Tokyo, also produced a faience to which the name of Odo-yaki, or Odo-yoki^ was given. This is easily distinguished from the true Odo-yakiy having very soft pate and a milk-white, waxy glaze — in quality resembling that of Kyoto Raku ware — to which are applied somewhat ar- chaic designs in dull blue. The commonest vari- 349 JAPAN ety of the modern Kochi-yaki of Tosa is faience covered with bright metallic green glaze, slightly crackled. AWAJl-YAKI A ware of which considerable quantities have found their way westward of late years is Awaji-yaki, so called from an island of the same name, where it is manufactured at the village of Iga. It was first pro- duced between the years 1830 and 1840 by one Kaju Mimpei, called also Toyonosuke, who had acquired his technical knowledge in Kyoto. Mimpei was a man of extraordinary enterprise and resolution. When he succeeded to the family estate he found himself the possessor of about forty-five acres of rice land and a pros- perous manufactory of shoyu (fish sauce). His tastes were at once literary and artistic. He was a writer of some talent, and a Chajin of acknowledged authority. Moved, however, by the very straitened circum- stances of the numerous population of Awaji, he cast about for some means of supplementing their resources. To develop the fishing industry seemed most feasible. He applied himself to the task with energy, engaging some three hundred fishermen and employing an immense seine made at Sakai, in Izumi. To procure this seine he travelled to Sakai, and en route made the acquaintance of the distinguished Kyoto keramist, Ogata Shuhei. His homeward journey led him by Ikenouchi-mura — now called Shiroto-mura — and finding there a clay that appeared suitable for pottery manufacture, he carried some of it to his native place, Inada-mura, and succeeded in producing good faience of the Kaku type. It is said that even at this early stage his ambition was to imitate the beautiful Impe- 350 MISCELLANEOUS WARES rial Yellow of China, but that he failed completely. Meanwhile, his fishing venture proving more and more unsatisfactory, he finally abandoned it, and shortly afterwards (1829), closed his sKbyu manufactory also. Thenceforth the keramic industry occupied his sole attention. From 1830 to 1834 his experi- ments were unceasingly directed toward the production of the deep green and imperial yellow glazes of China, and success at last crowned his efforts. In 1834 he visited Kyoto, and induced Ogata Shuhei to return with him to Awaji, where the two men worked together for two years. Specimens are occasionally found bearing their double stamp. Mimpei was now able to manufacture excellent stone-ware, covered with lustrous yellow and deep green glazes. But his resources were nearly exhausted. He had disposed of his father’s estate and was in actual want. A relative, Yuzaemon, came to his assistance, presenting him first with forty acres of land, and afterwards with a considerable sum in cash. His younger brother, Tsunezaemon, then the head-man of the village, also converted all his available property into money, and handing this over to Mimpei, joined the latter’s kera- mic industry. Thenceforth Mempei superintended the factory, and Tsunezaemon took charge of the kiln. In 1838 Mimpei added greyish white glaze to his manufactures, and in the following year supplemented it by mirror black. He was now in the full tide of technical success. So thoroughly had he mastered the management of glazes that he could combine yellow, green, white, and claret-colour in regular patches, to imitate the curious tortoise-shell ” glaze Bekko-de) of Satsuma and Kyoto [vide Zengoro) Hozen). His green and yellow glazes were lustrous 351 JAPAN and brilliant, though neither could rival the ex- quisitely delicate canary-yellow and apple-green of China. He was able to manufacture ware having a rich uniform yellow glaze with reserved designs in green, or green and white. He used gold and silver for decorative purposes with the greatest skill. His modelling was spirited and exact. His designs were chaste and well executed. He had, indeed, built up an industry destined to raise Awaji to a high place among the keramic centres of Japan. In 1842 his kiln was honoured by a visit from Hachisuka, whose fief included the island of Awaji, and an official factory was opened and placed under Mimpei’s superintend- ence. But in 1856 Tsunezaemon died, and six years later (1862) Mimpei himself contracted a disease that obliged him to abandon the industry. He survived until 1870, but took no active part in the work, aban- doning it entirely to his nephew Sampei, son of Tsunezaemon, his pupil Keyakida Zenjiro, and his son Rikitaro. The last, however, being a confirmed in- valid, was soon compelled to retire. An additional factory was opened at Sumoto, in 1883, by Tamura Kyuhei. Awaji-yakiy or Mimpe-yaki as it is sometimes called, commands a fair market. The rich yellow and green glazes, relieved by incised designs, are well suited for plates, dishes, cake-boxes, and other table utensils. The works of the present potters are pal- pably inferior to those of Mimpei himself. Speaking generally, the Awaji-yakt may be classed under two heads. The first sort has strongly baked biscuit, varying from stone-ware to porcelain, which is glazed with an easily fusible mixture of sand and oxide of lead. The addition of oxide of copper, or of naturally coloured clays, imparts to the glaze a 352 MISCELLANEOUS WARES green, yellow, or reddish brown colour. In this species of Awaji-yaki there is little or no crackle. The second sort closely resembles Awata faience. It has delicate yellowish or cream-white glaze, covered with a network of fine or bold crackle. The glazing material of this species is of similar composition to that of Satsuma or Kyoto. On both of the above varieties designs are painted in strong black outlines, or in enamels more or less transparent. An analysis of the Awaji-ware mass by Mr. Kor- schelt showed the following composition : — Specimen from Ineda-mura AWAJI-WARE MASS Silica. Alumina. . . 63.67 3.04 Iron Oxide. 0.38 Limb, Pot- ASH, ETC. Water. 2.91 3.52 This mass was found to be a mixture of eight parts of clay and two parts of stone, both obtained from a place called Ike-no-uchi, in the island of Awaji. Specimens of the ware manufactured from the mixture were very white and hard. They appeared to have been exposed to the full heat of the Japanese oven. The fracture was smooth and lustrous, slightly transparent at the edges, and resembling the fracture of European porcelain. In fact, fate of the best Awaji ware may be classed as a porcelain, although green or yellow lead-glaze gives It the appearance of faience. Mimpei himself did not much affect the use of enamel decoration, though he used it occasionally with great success, as might be anticipated from his intimate association with Shuhei, of Kyot5. The present artists of Awaji resort more freely to this style. Some of their pieces, covered with cream- white crackle glaze and having decoration in enamel colours, are at once rich and solid. The Awaji glazes are peculiarly wax-like and smooth to the touch. They are generally made of an easily fusible mixture VOL. VIII. — 23 ? r 9 JAPAN of sand and oxide of lead, with the addition of natu- rally coloured clays or copper oxide. Some are finely crackled ; others have only accidental crackle, or are entirely free from this feature. MINATO-YAKI This is a ware produced at Minato, in the province of Izumi. The factory is of considerable antiquity. In the days of Sen no Rikiu (1580) it was celebrated for ash-holders — used at Tea Ceremonials — of un- glazed pottery, brittle, and yellowish in colour. By some authorities pottery is said to have been manu- factured at Minato from the time of the priest Gyogi (eighth century). Towards the close of the seven- teenth century (1673—1690) an expert called Ueda Kichizaemon acquired a wide reputation. By him the use of thin, mottled glazes — yellow ochre and claret colour — was introduced, and great plastic skill was developed. During the Bunsei era (1828- 1829) Kichizaemon, fifth in descent from Ueda, • began successfully to copy the faience of Raku and so-called ‘‘ Cochin-China.” Thenceforth are found green, yellow, claret, amber-brown, and salmon glazes. Some specimens of this nature may readily be mis- taken for Awaji-yaki, The pate of the Minato-yaki is, in good examples, very fine, tolerably hard, and of light grey colour. In pieces of comparatively modern manufacture and inferior technique, the clay is coarser and darker, covered generally with impure grass- green glaze. Examples of the old Mmato-(2ii^ncQ are exceedingly rare. They generally show remarkable plastic skill : not such skill as that displayed in the delicate lines and softly rounded contours of Ao-Bizen 354 MISCELLANEOUS WARES ware ; but rather the skill of firm, sharply cut outlines, and bold modelling. The Minato-yaki is much prized by the Japanese, who consider that its makers were second to none in the ability with which they used their graving and moulding tools. The family of Ueda has become extinct, and the Minato factory is now in the hands of Tsushiro Kichibei. Its produc- tions no longer merit attention. WARES OF YAMASHIRO Asahi-Taki It has already been mentioned that in the fifth century the Emperor Yuriaku ordered the potters of Yamashiro to manufacture, for the use of the Court, a species of ware called Seiki^ or pure utensils. Anti- quarians differ as to the meaning of this term, but agree in designating the village of Uji in Yamato as the site of the factory where the Emperor’s orders were executed. On the east of this village lies a hill called Asahi-yama. Thence the materials for the ware, as well as its appellation, were derived. There is no record that prior to the seventeenth century the workmen at Asahi-yama produced anything but com- mon utensils of unglazed pottery, except the Imperial Seiki^ which, however, for aught that is known to the contrary, may have been an equally primitive affair. To the celebrated dilettante Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu, is due the influence that excited the potters of Asahi to attempt the manufacture of faience. It cannot be said that their efforts were very successful. The clay of the district produced soft coarse pate of dull red or grey colour. The glaze employed was muddy grey, showing coarse crackle, and the decora- 355 JAPAN tion was confined to patches of red, varying in tone, after the fashion of the Korean Go~hon ware, or to a partial coat of some other glaze — generally impure white — running down into irregular edges like sta- lactites. Occasionally imitations are found of the so- called Cochin-Chinese faience, but they are rare and defective. The potter by whom the factory was opened (1644—1647), under the patronage of Kobori Masakazu, was named Okamura Josaku. He pro- duced cups, bowls, and other small utensils which are still valued by the tea-clubs. The manufacture was discontinued at the death (about 1730) of Josaku’s son. It owes its revival in recent times to an expert called Chobei, but the modern ware finds no favour with connoisseurs. The reason assigned for their in- difference is that the materials now used — which are obtained at Warada — show marked inferiority to those employed by the Okamura family. To ordinary critics there is little to choose between the two, both being equally unattractive. Tawara-Taki This is faience identical with that of Asahi, and produced in the same distriet of Yamashiro, at a place called Tawara, near Uji, from about the middle to the close of the seventeenth century. WARES OF YAMATO Akahada- T aki This ware derives its name from a barren hill called Akahada, which overlooks the little town of Gojo in Yamato. The district is one of peculiar keramic 356 MISCELLANEOUS WARES interest, for it includes the village of Haji, where clay substitutes for human sacrifices were first made, nineteen hundred years ago, at the suggestion of Nomi no Sukune, the prince of wrestlers. The kiln at Aka- hada is said to be of considerable antiquity, but, how- ever this may be, it was only under Nomura Ninsefs direction that its productions began to exhibit any merit. The pate of the early pieces (1644—1700) shows greater admixture of sand than that of the con- temporary Kyoto faience — for which in other respects it might easily be mistaken — while the glaze is opaque and bears a considerable resemblance to that of the Hagi-yaki of Nagato, being thick, creamy, and crackled. The manufacture was practically confined to tea utensils, which, in decorative style, show marked affinity with the fashions of the Kyot5 school, but are generally severe and even archaic. Few speci- mens survive of the ware of this first epoch — during which the potters conformed strictly to the tastes of the tea-clubs — and the old Akahada-y aki is corre- spondingly little known outside the circle of Japanese chajin. Its production was discontinued, according to some authorities, as early as 1670 ; according to others, about 1700. In 1761 it was revived, under the patronage of Yanagi-sawa, lord of Koriyama, a chajin of note, who is said to 'have himself painted some of the pieces. The most characteristic produc- tion of this second period is faience having buff- coloured lustreless glaze, to which is applied minutely executed decoration in vitreous enamels, red being largely pre-dominant. There are also variegated or monochromatic glazes — green, olive, brown, grey, and white — and a variety of the Raku type of which the surface is covered with dull gold forming a ground 357 JAPAN for decoration that consists generally of floral designs or diapers, traced sometimes with white slip, but more usually with a paste formed of glue and white- lead powder. No personal record of the Akahada potters is preserved. The only remembered artist is Bokuhaku. He flourished down to about i860. BANKO-YAKI At the village of Kuwana, in the province of Ise, between the years 1736 and 1795, there lived a rich merchant, by name Numanami Gozaemon, who in the days of his prosperity turned his thoughts to garden-making, that refined extravagance which has always been among the first fancies of a wealthy Jap- anese. Until that time Gozaemon had given him- self little concern about the Chajin and their tenets, but his horticultural predilections necessarily drove him to seek the aid of those masters of aesthetics. To this end he visited Kyoto, and there became the pupil of a renowned virtuoso, from whom he acquired not the principles of garden-making alone, but also that taste for keramics which forms an integral part of the Tea Ceremonials. The renown of the great potter Kenzan was then fresh, and the Kyomizu factories had attained the zenith of their excellence. The merchant of Kuwana, now an ardent disciple of the Cha-no-Tu ethics, never wearied of wandering from workshop to workshop and watching the clay assume, under the touch of skilled manipulators, shapes the beauties of which he had newly learned to appreciate. His interest gradually developed into a desire to imi- tate. The Kyoto potters were easily persuaded to explain their processes, and whether their pupil pos- 358 MISCELLANEOUS WARES sessed some innate ability, or whether, as a wealthy amateur, he was able to command the best materials and devote ample time to the manufacture of single pieces, it is certain that by the circle of friends who were so fortunate as to receive the products of his kiln he was pronounced one of the best artists of his day. Yet, like the majority of Japanese keramists, he was an imitator, not an originator. The thick un- adorned Raku ware and ill-favoured Korean faiences supplied him with models that seemed not less worthy of reproduction than the delicate conceptions of Ninsei or the bold designs of Kenzan. In both directions, however, Gozaemon was successful ; so successful that his fame reached the Court at Yedo, and a special order was sent to him from the Shogun lyenari (1786). No doubt such a commission incited the amateur to more than common exertions, for the pro- ficiency he displayed induced the Shogun to summon him to Yedo. He accordingly moved to Komme, in the northeast suburb of the Eastern Capital, where he already possessed a residence, and there pursued his keramic pastime under the patronage of the Court nobles, lyenari himself sometimes condescending to visit Komme and watch the elaboration of results which he so much admired. The effect of all this upon Gozaemon’s reputation can be easily conceived. His ware became the rage everywhere, — not, per- haps, for the sake of its merits alone, but also because of the difficulty men experienced in procuring it ; for fame had made the artist capricious, and, since he did not work for gain, none but the favoured few might obtain specimens of his handicraft. He now no longer restricted himself to imitations of ancient models, but, giving the reins to his fancy, 359 JAPAN turned out pieces combining the graces of the Jap- anese school with the brilliancy of Chinese polychro- matic porcelain. Just then, however, the factories of the Celestial Kingdom, under the munificent patron- age of the Emperor Chien-lung, were producing wares not unworthy of their ancient fame ; and side by side with these the inferiority of the Japanese keramist’s enamels became easily apparent. The Shdgun, therefore, commissioned the Governor of Nagasaki to procure from Ching-te-chen the recipes used at the Imperial factory, together with a supply of the best materials. It is not easy to conceive by what means these instructions were carried out, but the Governor seems to have experienced no difficulty, for within a year he forwarded to Yedo all that was required. With this aid Gozaemon’s success was more marked than ever. The best connoisseurs could scarcely distinguish his pieces from Chinese porcelain decorated with red and green enamels of the Wan-li period (1573—1620), though indeed it must be con- fessed that the models he copied did not exhibit any very remarkable degree of keramic skill. His imita- tions of Delft faience, too, were certainly quite as good as the very inferior specimens of that ware which found their way to Japan; but his achieve- ments in this line need not occupy attention. He was at his best when, departing from his models, he combined brilliantly glazed surfaces with chaste floral decoration in the pure Japanese style. He imitated everything, from the rude faiences of Korea and the soft colours of so-called ‘‘Cochin-China’’ ware to the severest styles of Ninsei and Kenzan. He generally marked his pieces Banko (ever-lasting or enduring), sometimes, however, adding Fuyeki (changeless). His 360 MISCELLANEOUS WARES productions are now known as Ko-Banko-yaki (old Banko ware). He died about the year 1795, at Ku- wana, whither he had been recalled by Matsu-daira, lord of Etchiu, one of the most celebrated of modern virtuosi. Whatever special skill he possessed died with him, for, since he cultivated keramics entirely as a pastime, he neither took pupils nor imparted his art to his children. Like all noted amateurs, Gozaemon would probably have found imitators in later times. Yet had it not been for an accident, his name would certainly be little remembered outside the circle of connoisseurs of whose somewhat archaic creed he was so obedient a disciple, and in whose hands his comparatively scanty productions remained. That accident was the discovery — about the year 1830 — of a recipe which he had employed in the manufacture of his enamels. The document containing the precious formula had found its way into the possession of a dealer in bric-a- brac who lived at Kuwana, and whose son, Mori Yusetsu, had already gained some distinction as an imi- tator of Baku faience. Fully appreciating the value of the knowledge thus strangely acquired, Yusetsu immediately set himself to profit by it, and in order to give his counterfeit ware a greater semblance of au- thenticity, he persuaded Gozaemon’s grandson, Goro- bei, to sell him the Banko stamp. Thus the works of the Ise amateur were again brought into public notice, and that rather by a freak of .fortune than by any public knowledge of their merits. Yusetsu, however, was saved from performing the ignoble role of a mere imitator by his quickness of observation ; for, detect- ing that the Chinese artists — whose works, like Gozaemon, he took as his models — used moulds 361 JAPAN applied internally for their more elaborate pieces, he immediately adopted that method in his own work- shop, and so caused the name of Banko — for he still continued to employ Gozaemon’s stamp — to be asso- ciated with the introduction of a valuable novelty in Japanese keramics. It has already been noticed that the Kyot5 artist, Mokubei, was the first to follow the Chinese example in the matter of moulds, but whereas he fashioned his clay in the mould, Yusetsu reversed the process by putting the mould inside the vase and pressing the clay with the hand into the matrix. The consequence is that his pieces carry their design on the inner as well as the outer surface, and are moreover thumb-marked. Of course a mould thus employed was necessarily constructed on principles different from those which governed the Ky5to pro- cess. The mould of Yusetsu, instead of being simply divided into two parts, was built up of six, eight, or sometimes twelve longitudinal sections, which were withdrawn one by one after they had accomplished their purpose. The results displayed such clever modelling that they subsequently came to be regarded as repre- sentative pieces of Banko-yaki, In fact, it is through the works of Yusetsu, or rather through the methods he devised, that the Ise ware has attained the wide-spread popularity it now enjoys : nor that undeservedly, either, for some of the designs of his school exhibit a re- markable combination of artistic and technical ex- cellence. Particularly worthy of mention are pieces ornamented with storks, dragons, and so forth, in relief, and others with clever arabesques in coloured slip on green or rich brown ground. All the Yusetsu Banko ware is faience, and the specimens are sometimes stamped “ Yusetsu'' Among his productions a variety 362 MISCELLANEOUS WARES which often passes, or is made to pass, for “ Ko-Banko ’’ is finely crackled faience of dark cream or light grey tint, decorated with blue under the glaze, and above it with a preponderance of red and green floral de- signs, or red diapers among which are reserved medal- lions containing landscapes or mythical subjects. Pieces in this style bear a considerable resemblance to the modern Akahada-yaki, but even in the absence of marks the two may be readily distinguished, not only by the omission of the blue in the latter, but also by its denser pate and the yellowish tinge of the body- glaze. The amateur will generally be safe in attrib- uting specimens of this nature to Yusetsu. Yuyeki, originally called Yohei, a younger brother of Yusetsu, was also an able artist — better, indeed, than Yusetsu himself according to some authorities. The reader will perceive that in the hands of Yusetsu th& Ban ko- ware underwent a complete change of character. This alteration was carried still farther by his son. Abandoning coloured glazes and brilliant decoration, the younger Yusetsu made beauty of form and plastic skill his chief aims. In his hands the Banko-yaki be- came hard, light, thin pottery, — sometimes without glaze, sometimes having a slight coat of colourless dia- phanous glaze, — exquisitely modelled, the pate grey, white, dove-coloured, chocolate, or black, its surface slightly roughened, and relieved by delicately executed designs in white slip. His ware became immediately popular : it suited Japanese taste excellently. Factories were opened in 1845 t>y Yamaka Chiuzaemon and Takekawa Chiku- sai ; in 1861 by Hori Tomonao ; in 1876 by Kuwa- mura Matasuke ; in 1879 by Ito Shohachi and Matsumura Seikichi, etc. The industry spread also 363 JAPAN to Yokkaichi, a seaport village near Kuwana, where some potters who had formerly gained a livelihood by imitating the faiences of Seto and Awata under the patronage of the Court of Yedo, seeing themselves suddenly deprived of employment on the fall of the Tokugawa Regency in 1868, had recourse to the manufacture of Banko ware as the speediest means of finding a new market. Thenceforth this village became the principal seat of the manufacture. A not very creditable story is told of the device by which the Yokkaichi potters made themselves masters of the methods and models of Yusetsu, but at any rate they profited so well by their acquirement that there is scarcely a house at present in Toky5 where a teapot or some other utensil of their manufacture is not in daily use. Quaint and very characteristic teapots they are, too, presenting all the peculiarities of form — and many others besides — that are to be found in Chinese boccaro^ to which, moreover, the pate bears some resemblance in its changes of colour. It would be impossible to enumerate all the varieties of Banko ware now produced — grey, chocolate, or dove-coloured grounds with delicate diapers in gold and engobe ; brown or black faience with white, yellow, and pink designs incised or in relief ; pottery curiously and skilfully marbled by combinations of various coloured clays, and so forth ; all presenting one common feature, namely, skilful finger moulding and slight roughening of the surface as though it had received the impression of coarse linen or crape before baking. In short, the Banko-yaki of to-day bears no resemblance to the work of its nominal progenitor, Gozaemon. His chief aim was the production of solid glazes or brilliant enamels in the Chinese style, 364 MISCELLANEOUS WARES whereas the tendency of the Ise artists is now pre- eminently plastic, disposing them to construct cigar- holders after the fashion of the calyx of a lotus, or ewers in the shape of egg-fruits, rather than to study the composition of glazes and enamels. The change is decidedly commendable. Grace and quaintness of conception are natural elements of Japanese genius; and when to these an infinite power of painstaking is added, the total represents a combination especially fitted for the production of such works as those found in the modern Banko ware. WARES OF OMI PROVINCE Zeze-yaki The province of Omi adjoins that of Yamashiro and contains the largest lake in Japan, Biwa no Kosui. Its vicinity to Kyoto and its exquisite scenery render it one of the best known parts of Japan. Moreover, it has always supplied the greater portion of the materials used in the manufacture of faience. Its own keramic productions are not, however, very remark- able. Chief among them is Zeze-yaki, called after the district of its manufacture, which lies near the head of Lake Biwa. The Zeze-yaki is associated with the name of Kobori Masakazu, for at his instiga- tion the first furnace is said to have been erected by order of Tadafusa, feudal chief of Zeze (a. d. 1640). This, however, was by no means the earliest manu- facture of pottery in the district, for at the village of Nangano there exist the remains of a rude furnace which is believed to have been in use as far back as the time of Giyogi Bosatsu, and, according to some 365 JAPAN antiquaries, unglazed pottery was produced at a place called Kagami-yama, in Omi, nineteen hundred years ago. At Oe, too, in the same vicinity, tradition says that a kiln was set up in the middle of the fifteenth century on the occasion of the visit of a Chinese keramist who called there en route for'^Owari. But all this is of small moment, since it is quite certain that no pieces of Zeze-yaki possessing any merit were produced before the middle of the seven- teenth century. Of the ware turned out then and subsequently there are five varieties, viz., Oe^ Seta, Kokubu, Barin, and Susume-ga-tani, The first three are known as Furu-Zeze, or Old Zeze, and the two last as Shin-Zeze, or New Zeze. That of Oe is the oldest of all. It consisted almost entirely of tea-utensils, resembling the old Seto pottery, and of such excellent finish that their reputation is scarcely second to that of Takatori masterpieces. Golden brown, russet, and purplish glazes, of remarkable lustre and richness, cover carefully manipulated dark grey and very fine pate, and it seems not unlikely that the cessation of the manufacture alone prevented it from attaining a very high place among the keramic efforts of Japan. During Tadafusa’s lifetime specimens of this Oe-yaki were sent as presents to many nobles and virtuosi, so that the ware attained considerable reputation. But in the early part of the eighteenth century the factory was closed, for some unascertained reason, and its site is now a vegetable-garden. The Seta-yaki dates from a period somewhat subse- quent to that of Oe, which, for the rest, it resembles in almost every particular except that the workman- ship is slightly inferior. The village of Seta, where it was manufactured, lies within a short distance of 366 MISCELLANEOUS WARES Oe. The production ceased about a. d. 1700, but was revived in 1801 by an amateur, Ikeda Mompei, who departed somewhat from the fashions of his predecessors. His specialty lay in polychrome glazes, among which his most noteworthy manufacture was red glaze passing into green and buff and overlaid by a blush of blue. The pate of this second-period Seta- yaki is coarser and more sandy than that of the old ware : its colour is light buff. Mompei was succeeded by his son, who obtained the assistance of some experts from Kyoto, and added to the Seta productions a ware resembling that of Awata but of inferior quality. The Kokubu-yaki was first manufactured at a village of the same name, about 1660, and, as might be expected, Ninsei's influence, which was just then beginning to effect a thorough metamorphosis in the character of Japanese faience, did not fail to make itself felt in the province of Omi also. The finely crackled Awata pottery was taken as a model by the workmen of Kokubu, so that the only immediately apparent difference between their ware and that of Kyot5 is absence of coloured enamels in the former, its decoration generally consisting of some simple floral subject painted in black. The manufacture came to an end in 1725. In the beginning of the present century the manu- facture of faience called Barin-yaki was commenced in the village of Minami-bata, in the same province of Omi. This was altogether different from its prede- cessors, being an imitation of the so-called Cochin- Chinese style ; that is to say, faience covered with green, yellow, and purplish glazes. The coloured glazes were, however, invariably toned down almost 367 JAPAN to dulness, and this peculiarity, as well as very fine crackle and reddish brown pate, soft and close in grain, constitute the characteristic features of the ware. The manufacture was only carried on for a very short time, so that specimens are now exceedingly rare. Considerably more modern is the Susume-ga-tani-yaki which made its first appearance in 1867. It is called after a valley of the same name in the neighbourhood of the village of Awazu. It is a clumsy imitation of Koyomidzu faience, some of the pieces being decora- ted with coloured enamels and some with polychrome glazes, but none presenting either originality or artistic merit. .In 1867 the. factory came into the hands of a merchant called Inoue Ikuemon, and there are now several kilns at which coarse utensils are produced. In connection with the Zeze-yaki, mention must ' be made of faience manufactured by a workman of Kyot5,. called Torakichi, who, about the year 1840, set up a kiln in the neighbourhood, of Hachidai-riuo, in Omi. Little is known of his productions, but they are said to have been shapely, well finished, and decorated with simple designs in black or brown. The manufacture was only continued for a very short . time. Torakichi's pieces are called Zeze-Tora-yaki, to distinguish them from Zeze-yaki proper, Shigaraki-yaki Within a few miles of the group of Zeze kilns, and in the same province of Omi, is a place called Shigaraki, in the Nagano district, where a factory for the manufacture of pottery existed as long ago as the. fourteenth century. The pate of the ware produced MISCELLANEOUS WARES there was coarse and very hard, with a considerable admixture of sand : it belongs to the category of stone-ware rather than of pottery. In the early days of the factory’s existence its outcome consisted entirely of rude household utensils. But about the year 1520 it attracted the attention of Sho5, a well-known chajin. At his instigation the potters set themselves to court the patronage of the tea-clubs by imitating the Seto methods. Their most characteristic manufacture was hard, close faience, having a body glaze of amber red, over which was run semi-diaphanous green or brown glaze. They produced also thin brown glazes, plain, streaked with black or spotted with white ; and occasionally they resorted to the curious device of imbedding little fragments of quartz in the glaze ; a fashion said to have been suggested by the Chinese habit of jewelling choice bronzes. Shigaraki ware of this period received the name of S/iod- Shigaraki, in reference to its patron. Shoo. Towards the close of the same century — sixteenth — the factory attracted the special attention of the great chajin Sen no Rikiu, and its productions of that era were distinguished as Rikiu- Shigaraki. They resemble the greyish craquele faience of Korea. A little later (about 1630) appeared the Soton-shigaraki, a faience having white pate and craquele buff glaze, which derived its name from the chajin Sotan. The Enshiu-shigaraki, called after Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu (1650) is another variety, offering no distinctive features, but valued by the tea-clubs for the sake of its orthodox shapes and sober glazes. Many specimens of old Shigaraki ware show the mark known as geta-okoshi, produced by two wooden supports resembling those of a clog {geta'J, on which the piece was placed before firing. Tea-Jars VOL. VIII. — 24 260 JAPAN of Shigaraki-yakiy always valued on account of the conservative qualities of the clay, were brought into special fashion at the beginning of the present century, owing to their use at the Shogun's Court in Yedo. At present there are several factories in the Nagano district, but their productions are limited to coarse household utensils. Shigaraki is interesting for another reason. Its clay was largely employed by the potters of Kyoto, especially those of Kyomizu. This clay has been analysed by Mr. R. W. Atkinson, and found to con- sist of the following ingredients : — SHIGARAKI CLAY Moisture 3*i6 Combined water 7.00 Silica 56.87 Alumina 28.56 Ferric oxide .98 Lime .69 Magnesia .47 Potash 2.08 Soda .06 Nagarasan-yaki Near the town of Otsu, in the province of Omi, is a well-known hill called Miidera-yama. There, about the year 1830, a kiln was established for the manufacture of faience, but little is known with re- gard to the origin of the enterprise. Probably very few pieces were produced, for specimens are now scarcely obtainable. The potters seem to have made polychrome glazes a specialty. It is said that Zengoro Hozen, the great Kyot5 artist, worked for some time at Nagarasan after the destruction of his own house by fire, and that shortly after his departure for Yedo 370 MISCELLANEOUS WARES the Miidera factory was abandoned. At all events, the ware is unimportant and deserves only passing mention. Koto-yaki This ware also is among the manufactures of the province of Omi. The factory was established within the territory of the chief of Hikone, near the eastern shore of Lake Biwa — the name Koto signifies “ east of the lake ” — about the year 1830. Its chief out- come from the first was porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze. Considerable quantities were pro- duced, for the ware found a ready sale in the form of plates, bowls, and other vessels of daily use. The biscuit is sometimes hard, ringing nearly as sharply and clearly as that of Hizen; sometimes it is grey stone-ware ; the blue is deep and full, and the glaze has a peculiarly soft, lustrous, oily appearance that constitutes an easily recognised feature. The faults of Koto porcelain of this class are want of contrast be- tween the white ground and the blue decoration, and too much solidity of biscuit. Otherwise the ware has considerable merit. Specimens are found bearing the cachet of the great Kyoto artist, Zengoro Hozen, or Eiraku, who worked for some years at Kyoto after the destruction of his Kyoto residence by fire. The designs are generally formal, — floral scrolls, ara- besques, and diapers. The Koto potters excelled, also, in the use of enamelled decoration. They pre- pared their green, yellow, red, purple, and blue enamels with the greatest care, and applied them with admirable skill, sometimes copying the decorative methods of the Ching-hwa and Wan-li Chinese artists, and sometimes borrowing designs from the Kano 371 JAPAN school of pictorial art. In the latter variety the pig- ments used are, for the most part, confined to red and gold, and the decoration is of profuse and elabo- rate character, — landscapes, floral subjects, mythical figures, and so forth, being the general motives. The factory was closed immediately after the assassina- tion of the celebrated li Kamon-no Kami, feudal chief of Hikone, in i860, and has not since been re-opened. WARES OF HARIMA (BANSHU) The province of Harima lies on the Inland Sea, to a large portion of which it gives its name (Harima Nada). It has never been remarkable for its potteries. The best ware manufactured there is the Himeji-yaki, or Tozan-yaki This is porcelain of two varieties, blue-and-white and celadon. The factory was established at Himeji, one of the principal towns in the province, during the Kan-ei era (1624—1643) under the patronage of the lord of the fief — Sakai Uta no Kami — for whose family and retainers the ware was principally destined. Materials were obtained from a hill, called Tozan, in the vicinity of the town ; hence the term Tozan-yakt. The biscuit was not of first-class quality, but the blue decoration was often spirited in execution and of pure, brilliant tint. The celadon was tolerably good, but distinctly inferior to that of Nabeshima (Hizen). The productions of the kiln consisted, for the most part, of small pieces, such as wine-bottles, cups, bowls, tea- pots, ewers, and so forth. The manufacture ceased to be profitable after the abolition of feudalism 372 MISCELLANEOUS WARES (1868), and is now limited to coarse ware for do- mestic use. Maiko-yaki This is faience or stone-ware, produced at Maiko, in the Akashi district of Harima. The manufacture was inaugurated in 1820 by Mikuni Kyuhachi, whose grandson, Mosaburo, still carries it on. The Maiko- yaki never aspired to be called a decorative product. It was grey stone-ware, or faience, covered with di- aphanous glaze, the only ornamentation being brown mottling or speckles. Sometimes, however, as is generally the case with the ruder wares of Japan, ingenious and artistic specimens of modelling are to be found among the works of the Maiko potters. Akashi-yaki Akashi is the first town which a traveller by the Tokaido, or great trunk road of Japan, reaches after entering the province of Harima. Tradition says that a factory was established in the Akashi district by the great Ky5to artist (Nomura Ninsei), about 1650, at the request of the feudal chief of the province, and that faience after the Kyoto style, but of very inferior quality, was produced. But the reputation of the ware never succeeded in extending beyond the district of its manufacture. Another variety of Akashi ware is popularly known as Annam-yaki. It is rude, brown pottery, thinly glazed, and depending entirely upon conceits of shape. Its name is derived from its resemblance to faience supposed to have been imported from Annam. This manufacture was inaugurated by Yakichi, son of Mikuni Kyuhachi, the originator of the Maiko-yaki. 373 JAPAN It is now carried on not only at the Maiko factory, but also by Tsuji Seizaemon, at Matsukage, in the same district. Y et another variety of Akashi ware is the Shudei- yaki, manufactured by Fuji Tsunez5, of Kanegasaki, with clay obtained from Matsukage, in the same dis- trict. “ Shudei ’’ literally signifies ‘‘ red clay.” It is a name given by the Japanese to Chinese boccaro, the celebrated pottery of Yi-hsiang. Chinese boccaro was imitated with some success by Kyot5 artists, but Japan never furnished materials for this class of ware comparable with those of Yi-hsiang. The Shudei-yaki of Akashi is inferior to that of Kyoto, and is used principally in the manufacture of common utensils. Within the past few years a ware called Asagiri- yaki has been produced at Matsukage, in the Akashi district, by Teraoka Genjiro, and a ware called Uozumi-yaki, at Nakano, in the same district, by Ni- shino-umi Otosuke. The term Uozumi is derived from the ancient name of the district. WARES OF KISHIU (WAKAYAMA PREFECTURE) Oniwa-yakiy or Kairaku-en-yaki A little more than half a mile westward of the town of Wakayama, in the province of Kishiu stood formerly the country residence of the family whose representatives governed the district. Within the park of this mansion (called Nishihama), at the be- ginning of the present century, Tokugawa Harunori, then head of the family, caused a private kiln to be built for the manufacture of porcelain deco- rated with blue under the glaze. It has been 374 MISCELLANEOUS WARES shown that the porcelain industry, as distinguished from that of pottery and faience, received a notable impulse in the opening years of the nineteenth century. The Nishihama factory is an example of this development. Very little is known of its first productions. They were completely lost sight of when, in 1827, Harunori, after one of his periodical visits to Kyot5, brought back with him the already renowned keramist, Zengoro Hozen. The character of the Kishiu-yaki immediately underwent a complete change. Zengoro had made his name by imitating the brilliant glazes of the so-called Cochin-Chinese faience, and to this species of work he applied himself at Harunori's factory. The outcome of the kiln was thenceforth known as Oniwa-yaki (ware of the honour- able park) or Kairaku-en-yaki (ware of the park of ease and fellowship). The pate, sometimes white, sometimes reddish grey, was very fine, varying from porcelain to faience, but being for the most part hard stone-ware. The glazes were remarkably rich and beautiful : purple, green, turquoise, yellow, and white. They were employed in various ways. Perhaps the most common was a purple ground covered with scroll-work in relief, portions of the scroll being filled with turquoise blue. In other and even more ex- cellent pieces there is found rich green ground marbled with purple, or decorated with medallions in yellow, purple, white, and blue. Glazes showing greater rich- ness, lustre, and purity of colour were never produced by any Japanese potter. Harunori loaded Zengoro with favours, and bestowed on him three seals ; two of silver, bearing the inscriptions Kairaku-en and Eiraku, and one of gold, inscribed Kahin Shiriu. Japanese antiquaries say that the term Kahin Shiriu 375 JAPAN (branch of Kahili) has reference to the earliest pottery of China, which, according to them, was manufac- tured by an artist called Chun at the kiln of Kahin (Chinese Hopin), about 3000 years ago. This point is involved in obscurity. Eiraku, as already explained {vide Kyot5 wares), is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese period Tung-lo (1403-1425), during which was first produced the celebrated “rouge vif’’ with decoration in gold. Zengoro never allowed any specimen to leave his hands bearing the stamp Kahin Shiriu unless he was thoroughly satisfied with the success of his work. Sometimes he added the mark Eiraku, and in many cases his imitations of the Chinese turquoise-blues and purples are stamped simply “ Kairaku-ken. He generally worked to order, and it is said to have been his habit to manufacture from five to ten specimens of any piece which he had undertaken to produce. Of these the best was chosen, and the remainder were destroyed in the presence of the person who had given the order. He appears to have remained some eight or nine years in Kishiu, and after his return to Kyoto the Nishihama factory was placed under the direction of another workman from the West- ern capital, by name Yoshihei. It would appear, however, that Zengoro’s glazes were not to be com- passed by any other expert. The Kairabu ware gradually lost its high character, and on Harunori’s death, in 1844, the manufacture came to an end. Otoko-yama-yaki The Kairakuen-yaki was one of the first to attract the attention of Western collectors after the opening of 376 MISCELLANEOUS WARES Japan to foreign intercourse, and a considerable num- ber of pieces found their way to Europe. Good speci- mens are now almost unprocurable. Those usually offered for sale are the productions of one of three factories ; namely, Otokoyama, Ota, or Etchujima. Otokoyama is in the neighbourhood of Nishihama, in the same province of Kishiu. A kiln was set up there about the year 1847, until 1866 wares were pro- duced, some after the fashion of the original Kaira- kuen-yaki^ some decorated with bleu sous couverte^ and some having celadon glazes. They were by no means of first-class quality. The celadons and blue-and-whites were marked Nanki Otoko-yama, but the imitations of the Onlwa-yaki generally bore no cachet, Ota is a village lying some three miles to the east of Nishihama. Up to the year 1874 the keramic industry had not been carried on there. But at that date a workman called Miyai Saguro, inspired by the favour which the original Kairakuen-yaki found with foreign collectors, opened a factory at Ota, and attempted to reproduce Hozen’s inimitable glazes. He failed signally, but there is no doubt that many of his pieces were sold to unwary amateurs. The same prospect of gain led simultaneously to the opening of another factory at Etchujima, in Tokyo, so that the market was flooded for a time with gaudily glazed vases of most faulty technique, some of which were exported, while others gravitated to their proper level in the windows of barbers’ shops or on the shelves of lumber-stores in the purlieus of the metropolis. It may be added here, with regard to the Ota-yaki mentioned above, that after Miyai’s attempt to repro- duce the Oniwa-yaki had failed, two of his fellow- workmen, Shosaburo and Sensuke, turned their attention 377 JAPAN to the production of flambe glazes after Chinese models. These were often tolerably successful, but the number of failures was always so great that the price of the successful pieces became well-nigh prohibitive, and the manufacture is consequently no longer carried on. Meppo-yaki Another factory of some importance in Kiahiu is that of Meppo, which was established at the end of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its productions were almost entirely confined to cUa- dons. They are known either as Meppo-yaki or Zuishi- yaki. Good specimens are generally stamped ‘‘ ZuisW [vide Plates), that designation being employed because the green colour of the porcelain was supposed to re- semble that of a grass called Zuishi which grew in profusion near the site of the manufacture. The ware is, for the most part ornamented with designs in relief under the glaze, and these are often executed with considerable skill. Rokuro, a pupil of the celebrated Kyoto artist Rokubei, was the first workman of note employed at the factory. During his time the Meppo- yakin enjoyed considerable reputation, but it gradually fell into disfavour, and, in spite of some fitful support from Tanzan of Kyoto and others, the manufacture was finally abandoned a few years ago. WARES OF SETTSU (HYOGO PREFECTURE) Kobe-yaki It will be convenient here to pass from the province of Kishiu to that of Settsu, in order to speak of the present representative of the beautiful Oniwa-yah [vide 37B MISCELLANEOUS WARES wares of Kishiu). This is faience the manufacture of which was commenced by Hotta Sozaburo, in 1877, in Kobe. At first the venture proved a commercial failure. The refractory nature of the local clays con- stituted an almost insuperable difficulty, and it became necessary to import materials, of which those obtained from Hizen gave the most satisfactory results. With any other pate — and even with this, though in a less degree — the production of uniform glaze appeared to be little better than a matter of accident, so that some- times among a hundred pieces stoved not one emerged without some serious defect. Such conditions were, of course, prohibitory, and before long Akamatsu Eiji, the only workman whose achievements were of much promise, was obliged to abandon the undertak- ing. Subsequently, however, the manufacture was re- vived on a larger scale and with a purely commercial aim. It was found that blue and purple glazes could be turned out in great quantities at a very trifling cost, and that America offered a ready market for such specimens. A tolerably flourishing trade accordingly sprang up, and from K5be were exported some thou- sands of pieces yearly, a great many of which were not free from gross blemishes — as, for example, serious faults in the pate or solutions of continuity in the glaze — while the majority were crude, ill-fired, and unsatisfactory, only redeemed from hopeless mediocrity by their brilliant effect as decorative pieces and by the accidental skill sometimes displayed in the combina- tions of their colours. The latter, though rich and often lustrous, lacked uniformity, especially at the edges and other salient points, and could not bear comparison with the aubergine and turquoise-blues of Zengoro. The pate had a chalky appearance, and the 379 JAPAN glaze was usually traversed by accidental crackle. Within the past few years, however, very great im- provements have been made in the manufacture of this ware. No mean degree of technical skill has been developed. Pure, delicate colours — especially turquoise-blue and purple — are obtained ; the crackle is fine and uniform, and the glazes are seldom dis- figured by faults such as used formerly to be con- stantly apparent. Sanda-yaki Tradition says that a factory for the manufacture of porcelain was established in the Arima district of Settsu, in 1 690, by order of Kuki, feudal chief of the province. Its productions, rude faience after Korean models, at- tracted no attention until the end of the eighteenth century, when Kanda Sobei, a merchant of Sanda, caused twelve kilns to be constructed at Inugahara, in the same district, and engaged experts from Kyot5 and Hizen to manufacture blue-and-white porcelain. In 1801 this same Kanda, or, according to some authorities, two potters, Uchigami and Ippei, discov- ered materials suitable for making celadon at Koishidani, in the neighbourhood of the factory. Thenceforth celadon became a staple article of production at Inuga- hara. From Kyoto were obtained the services of Shuhei, Kumakichi, and Kamesuke, all artists of note, and with their aid the Sanda-Seiji, as the new celadon was called, justly attained great popularity. It was ware of much merit, but its bright green colour could not compare with the beautiful glazes of the old Chinese celadons, and was even inferior to the delicate tinge of the Nabeshima-Seiji, manufactured at Oka- wachi, in Hizen. The pate varied from dense but 380 MISCELLANEOUS WARES close-grained stone-ware to porcelain. The invention of this Sanda-Seiji gave a great impetus to keramic industry in the Arima district. The number of kilns increased considerably. Porcelains decorated with blue under the glaze and with enamels over it, applied in the archaic style of early Chinese wares, were also produced, but they present no specially noteworthy feature. On Sobei's death, in 1828, the factories were about to be closed, when Mukai Kidayu purchased them and continued the industry on a smaller scale. He abandoned it in 1850, but four years afterwards the kilns were re-opened by Tanaka Riemon. Their outcome, however, was palpably inferior to the pro- ductions of Kanda Sobei’s time. Kosobe-yaki Though Settsu is known to foreign collectors prin- cipally through the celadon of Sanda, two other wares, esteemed by the Japanese tea-clubs, belong to the same province. They are the Kosobe-yaki and the Sakurai- yaki, both being faiences. The former was first pro- duced, in 1799, at the village of Kosobe, by Igarashi Shimpei, a potter who had studied keramic processes at Kyoto, and whose works were consequently little more than imitations of Ninsei and Raku. His suc- cessor, Shinzo, on the other hand, took his models from Takatori, Karatsu, and Korea ; while Shingoro, the third and present representative of the family, sent to Kyot5 for workmen, and by their aid produced some very good pieces after the style of Rokubei. Among the most valued examples of Kosobe-yaki, however, are those by an amateur, Tasuke Dainen, who flourished between 1840 and 1870. Originally 381 JAPAN a dealer in bric-a-brac, the choice specimens which passed through his hands supplied models of unusual merit, and the designs he employed in the decoration of his pieces were thoroughly artistic both in choice and execution. The pb^te of the Kosobe-yaki is hard and fine, but somewhat sandy ; it varies in colour from dark-grey to reddish white. The glaze is sometimes pearl-grey, sometimes reddish buff, and sometimes white. The decoration is for the most part confined to slight sketches in black or brown. Dainen’s works may generally be known by the predominance of a peculiar russet-brown enamel. Sakurai-yaki The manufacture of this ware was commenced at Sakurai, in the Shimokami district of Settsu, by Kyo- mizu Kanzo, in 1782, who is said to have been a pupil of the Kyoto expert Ogata Shuhei. Both Shu- hei and Mokubei are reported to have themselves visited the factory and helped to inaugurate the in- dustry, but there is little authority for this statement. At all events, the Kyoto style was adopted. Materials were obtained sometimes from the province of Yama- shiro and sometimes from Shigaraki (in Omi), as well as from the island of Amakusa. The pate was very light buff, generally close in texture. The glaze was white, occasionally with a greenish tinge or flecked with red. The designs generally consisted of pine- trees, floral subjects, and verses of poetry, executed in black, brown, violet, and blue. Kyomizu Kanzo was succeeded by Tazaemon, and the latter by Tajuro, the present artist. The outcome of the factory is now insignificant. 382 MISCELLANEOUS WARES Kikko-yaki This is a faience little known outside Japan. The manufacture was commenced about fifty years ago in Osaka, at a place called Juso-mura, by a workman named Kikko. It was an exact imitation of the Raku ware of Kyot5, except that coloured glazes were used with greater freedom. Some of the specimens were well modelled and quaint. The ware need not be further described, since it may be classed with the Raku faience of Kyoto. Takahara-yaki This is faience of archaic type. It owed whatever measure of public favour it received to the patronage of Doi, feudal chief of Osumi, who flourished in the middle of the seventeenth century. Using clay found at Kurodani in Yamashiro, the potters of Takahara took Korean wares as their type, copying especially a variety known in Japan as Gohotiy or ‘‘ honourable model.’’ This was crackled faience, having grey or buff glaze, with designs in white under the glaze. Sometimes the decoration is in reddish brown [Shibu-e), Naniwa-yaki In olden times Osaka was known as Naniwa. In a suburb of the city there was established, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a workshop at which faience of some merit was produced. Its pate was coarse and grey in colour. The glazes used were green and black, and sometimes designs in light-blue were painted under a colourless glaze. Flower-vases of quaint shapes, as for example peonies, vine-leaves, 383 JAPAN bamboos, and so forth, were produced. The ware is little known, and never occupied a place of any im- portance in Japan’s keramic productions. . WARES OF YEDO, OR TOKYO Strange to say, Yedo' (now Tokyo), the. eastern capital, and during three centuries the seat of the chief executive, power of Japan, did not possess any potteries worthy of note in former times. The first factory established there (1630), under the auspices of lyemitsu, third Shogun of the Tdkugawa dynasty, proved a complete failure. It was in the quarter of the city called Asakusa, near the gate of the now cele- brated temple of Monzeki,. and the workmen' em- ployed were specially summoned from Settsu, where, as has been already mentioned, the manufacture of faience in Korean style had been carried on since the- beginning of the seventeenth century. * The ware potted at Asakusa was of a similar nature, but the materials, being those. found in the neighbourhood, were of most inferior quality.. The. result was so discouraging that the undertaking was ^ very soon abandoned. Imado-yaki In the same district, .at a place called Imado, is another factory which, whatever the merit of its pro- ductions, struggled on through ill report and good report until a road to comparative prosperity- was at last opened to it. To what period the establishment* of the kiln niay be attributed is not very.. accurately known, but its founder, is said to have been a vassal of the noble house of .Chiba, who, after the confisca- tipn of his lord’s estates in’ 1600, resorted to the • 384 • MISCELLANEOUS WARES potter’s art as a means of gaining a livelihood. If this be true, the factory must take precedence of all others, so far as Yedo is concerned, but it is here placed second, because its productions failed to attract any attention for nearly a century after the reported date of their first appearance. The furnace was then (1680) in the hands of one Shirai Hanshichi, and its outcome was confined to tea-ware and fire-holders of unglazed pottery. But in the next generation (1720) faience after the fashion of the Raku-yaki gained for the factory considerable local popularity. Small figures, especially of women, and the larger class of utensils used by the tea-clubs, were the staple articles of manufacture. A business of some importance was also done in fire-boxes of coloured clays, after the style carried to such perfection by Zengoro Hozen of Kyoto. Green, black, red, and white clays were employed ; sometimes mixed so as to produce a marbled effect ; sometimes used separately. The glaze was very thin and glossy and the pate carefully manipulated. This manufacture is now carried on with great success. The fire-boxes are deservedly very popular in Tokyo, being not only finely finished but also remarkably cheap. They resemble highly polished marble. Tokyo Raku Ware The reader will probably have observed that am- ateur Japanese keramists generally chose Raku-yaki for their first essays. This is of course due in great part to the fact that the Korean master’s faience, ow- ing to the peculiarly simple methods of its manufacture, is well adapted to domestic manufacture. Another reason is to be found in the low temperature at which VOL. VIII. 25 08 f JAPAN the ware is baked and the inexpensive nature of the furnace employed. The Raku potter’s oven- — a lit- tle earthen erection, measuring less than two feet in any direction — resembles an article of cottage furniture rather than a kiln, and the few simple appliances that constituted his plant were within easy reach of the humblest means. This facility of manipulation has procured for Raku faience the title of “ JJchi yaki” or “ home made pottery,” and the names of quite a considerable number of amateurs are associated with its domestic manufacture. As shown above, the Imado potters included it among their productions. It has also been made, from time to time during the present century, by various residents of the Honjo district of Tokyo. A curious and interesting manner of employing this Raku faience was suggested by the Chinese device of ornamenting woodwork with inlaid plaques of porcelain. Ogawa Ritsuo, or Haritsu, a Kyoto artist who flourished during the first half of the eighteenth century, appears to have been the origina- tor of this style in Japan. He used it in a variety of ways, as, for example, in the ornamentation of screens, medicine-boxes [inro), and hashira-kake (long, narrow pictorial boards for hanging against the square pillars in a Japanese room). The Japanese expert, however, altogether eschewed the formal fashions of his Chinese models. His plan was to produce mosa- ics in faience on a ground of plain or lacquered wood. The skill shown by Haritsu in work of this nature is really admirable. Not only is his technique remark- able, but his artistic effects are often charming. As a potter he deserves high rank, for certainly the man- ufacture of every variety of Raku faience — black, red, yellow, cream-white, and green glazes, as well 386 MISCELLANEOUS WARES as ware painted or enamelled over the glaze — was never carried to a point of greater excellence by any Japanese expert. His greatest triumphs, perhaps, were in modelling flowers and insects. Doubtless the fashion introduced by Haritsu found imitators in later times, but no distinction was gained in this line until the Tempo era (1830-1843), when the work of Miura Kenya, of Kyoto, began to attract attention. Kenya came to Tokyo (then Yedo), about 1840 and settled at Asakusa, where he continued the manufac- ture of faience mosaics until a recent period. He never reached the standard of Hariteu, but nevertheless left many specimens of great beauty and excellence. He was succeeded by Kozawa Benshi, who, in addition to inlaying with faience, manufactures figures of terra cotta elaborately painted in body colours. Tedo Banko yaki This is the name given to ware manufactured by Numanami Gozaemon, the originator of the Banko- yaki, during his residence at the village of Komme, in the suburbs of Toky5 (vide Banko yaki). It can scarcely be classed among the keramic productions of the capital, and of course it is not distinguishable from work produced by the Banko expert at his native village (Kuwana). In the same category of exotic man- ufactures may be placed ware made at the private kiln of the Prince of Mita, within the grounds of his Yedo mansion (at Toyama), up to the beginning of the present century. To this ware, as well as to the faience manufactured at the Prince’s private factory in Owari, the name Oniwa-yaki (honourable garden ware) was given, and it was usually marked Go-raku-en 387 JAPAN (‘‘later Raku-en'^ The nature of the ware has al- ready been described in the chapter upon Owari keramic products. Tokyo Porcelain Porcelain was first produced in Tokyo by Fuku- shima Masabei, who erected a kiln within the enclosure of the Prince of Kameyama’s mansion in the Minowa suburb, 1863. The industry was aban- doned the following year, and Tokyo remained with- out a porcelain factory until 1875, when Inouye Ryosai, a potter of Seto (Owari), went into partner- ship with a pottery-dealer called Shimada Sobei, and set up a kiln at Hashiba, in the Asakusa district. Materials were procured from Owari, and the manu- facture was vigorously pushed. The porcelain is identical with that of Seto (Owari), but the decoration is after the fashion of the T5kyo school — to be presently spoken of — that is to say, elaborate painting over the glaze, with scarcely any use of vitrifiable enamels. Tokyo Decorators l^E-Tsuke) Although not remarkable as a centre of keramic production, Tokyo possesses a school of artist-artisans second to none in Japan. Every year large quantities of porcelain and faience are sent from the provinces to the capital to receive surface decoration, and in wealth of design as well as excellence of execution the results are everything that can be desired. But of the pigments and enamels employed nothing very laudatory could be said until very recent times. They were generally crude, of impure tone, and without depth or brilliancy. Now, however, they have lost 388 MISCELLANEOUS WARES these defects and entered a period of considerable ex- cellence. As for the nature of the designs, it may fairly be said that figure-subjects constitute their chief feature. A majority of the artists are content to copy old pictures of Buddha’s Sixteen Disciples, the seven Gods of Happiness, and other similar assemblages of mythical or historical personages, not only because such work offers large opportunity for the use of striking colours and the production of meretricious effects, dear to the eye of the average Western house- holder and globe-trotter, but also because a compli- cated design, as compared with a simple one, has the advantage of hiding the technical imperfections of the ware. Of late there have happily appeared some decorators who prefer to choose their subjects from the natural field in which their great predecessors of former times excelled, and there is reason to hope that this more congenial and pleasing style will sup- plant its modern usurper. The best known factory in Tokyo for decorative purposes is the Hy5chi-en. It was established in the Fukagawa suburb in 1876, with the immediate object of preparing specimens for the first Tokyo Exhibition held at that time. Its founders obtained a measure of official aid, and were able to secure the services of some good artists, among whom may be mentioned Obanawa and Shimauchi. The porcelains of Owari and Arita naturally received most attention at the hands of the Hyochi-en decora- tors, but there was scarcely one of the principal wares of Japan upon which they did not try their skill, and if a piece of monochromatic Minton or Sevres came in their way, they undertook to improve it by the addition of designs copied from old masters or sug- gested by modern taste. To all such pieces the cachet 389 JAPAN of the Fukagawa atelier was indiscriminately applied, and has probably proved a source of considerable con- fusion to collectors. Many other factories for deco- ration were established from time to time in Tokyo. Of these some still exist ; others, ceasing to be profit- able, have been abandoned. On the whole, the industry may now be said to have assumed a domestic character. In a house, presenting no distinctive features whatsoever, the decorator is found with a cupboard full of bowls and vases in glazed biscuit which he adorns, piece by piece, using the simplest conceivable apparatus and a meagre supply of pig- ments. Sometimes he fixes the decoration himself, employing for that purpose a small kiln which stands in his back-garden ; sometimes he entrusts this part of the work to a factory where greater facilities are provided. As in the case of everything Japanese, there is no pretence, no useless expenditure about the process. This school of Tokyo decorators, though often choosing their subjects badly, have contributed much to the progress of the keramic art during the past ten years. Little by little, there has been de- veloped a degree of skill which compares not unfa- vourably with the work of the old masters. Table services of Owari porcelain — the ware itself excel- lently manipulated and of almost egg-shell fineness — are now decorated with floral scrolls, landscapes, insects, birds, figure subjects, and all sorts of designs, chaste, elaborate, or quaint; and these services, repre- senting so much artistic labour and originality, are sold for prices that bear no ratio whatsoever to the skill required in their manufacture. There is only one reservation to be made in speaking of this modern decorative industry of Japan under its better aspects. 390 .MISCELLANEOUS WARES It is a reservation applying equally to the work done in T5kyo, Kyoto, Yokohama, and Kobe. The artists use chiefly pigments, seldom venturing to employ vitrifiable enamels. That the results achieved with these different materials are not comparable, is a fact which every connoisseur must admit. The glossy surface of porcelain glaze is ill fitted for rendering artistic effects with ordinary colours. The proper field for the application of these is the biscuit, in which position the covering glaze serves at once to soften and to preserve the pigment. It can scarcely be doubted that the true instincts of the keramist will ultimately counsel him to confine his decoration over the glaze to vitrifiable enamels, with which the Chi- nese and Japanese potters of former times obtained such brilliant results. But to employ enamels suc- cessfully is an achievement demanding special training and materials not easy to procure or to prepare. The Tokyo decorators are not likely, therefore, to change their present methods immediately. Meanwhile a wholesome impetus has been given to keramic deco- ration by the efforts of a new school, which owes its origin to the late Dr. G. Wagener, an eminent Ger- man expert formerly in the service of the Japanese Government. Dr. Wagener conceived the idea of developing the art of decoration under the glaze, as applied to faience. Faience thus decorated has always been exceptional in Japan. Rare specimens were produced in Satsuma and Kyot5, the colour employed being chiefly blue, though brown and black were used in very exceptional instances. The diffi- culty of producing clear, rich tints was nearly prohib- itive, and though success, when achieved, seemed to justify the effort, this class of ware never received 391 JAPAN much attention in Japan. By careful selection and preparation of pate, glaze, and pigments. Dr. Wagener proved not only that the manufacture is reasonably feasible, but also that decoration thus applied to pottery possesses unique delicacy and softness. Ware manu- factured under his direction at the Tokyo School of Technique [Shokko Gakko), under the name of Asahi Taki attracted considerable attention at one time, but the glazing material being prepared in accordance with European formulas, presented a vitreous aspect offensive to Japanese taste, and, indeed, not likely to appeal to any connoisseur. Nevertheless Dr. Wage- ner’s innovation bore fruit in the ateliers of Kyoto artists, as will be seen when the modern develop- ments of Japanese keramics come to be discussed. The decorative industry in Tokyo owes much to the Kosho Kaisha, an institution started by Messrs. Matsuo Gisuke and Wakai Kanesaburo (a connoisseur of note), in 1873. Owing to the intelligent patron- age of this company and the impetus given to the keramic trade by its enterprise, the style of the Tokyo etsuke was largely improved and the field of their in- dustry extended. It must be acknowledged, however, that Tokyo artists often devote their skill to purposes of forgery, and that their imitations, especially of old Satsuma-yaki {vide Satsuma Wares), are sometimes franked by dealers whose standing should forbid such frauds. TAKATA WARE In Toyokawa-machi of the Takata suburb, there is a factory established by Takemoto Hayata in 1867. This expert had come from Seto some years previ- ously, with Inouye Ryosai, at the invitation of Matsu- 392 MISCELLANEOUS WARES daira, lord of Settsu, for the purpose of opening a kiln in the grounds of that nobleman's mansion, in Araki- machi, Koishikawa, T5kyo. On the abolition of feudalism (1867), the two potters moved to Takata. Eight years later, Inouye Ryosai, as has been stated above, constructed a porcelain kiln on his own account at Hashiba. The Takata factory was at first employed in producing imitation Satsuma faience, but this occupation proving unprofitable, Takemoto turned his attention to the manufacture of special glazes, which will be spoken of in the section relating to modern developments of keramics. MUKOJIMA WARE Koren-yaki At present Tokyo boasts a lady keramist whose works deservedly attract attention. Hattori Tsuna, or Koren as she is commonly called, is the wife of an official of some rank, so that her pursuit of the potter's art is chiefly a labour of love. She does not use glaze or coloured decoration of any kind, but depends entirely on plastic skill. At first sight her statuettes and other quaintly modelled pieces might easily be mistaken for wood-carvings, and indeed there is little doubt that they are designed with this intention, for the unglazed clay of which they are made is stained to a dark-brown tint, and the surface is often pitted or grained. The ware itself does not possess any great merit, but that is perhaps ascribable to the faulty nature of the materials furnished by Tokyo rather than to any want of skill on the part of the manipulator. Most of Keren's productions find their way to America, being exported by a large trading 393 JAPAN company by which everything she can turn out is bespoken. In her own country, therefore, her name is not yet widely known. The Koishikawa Factory Within the past four years there has been established at Koishikawa, in the northwesterly suburb of Tokyo, a factory where considerable quantities of good por- celain are produced. The proprietor is Kato Toma- taro. He employs materials brought from Arita, Seto, and Amakusa. The staple product of the kiln is blue-and-white ware, of which the best examples are delicate and well finished. Kato has shown some capacity for manufacturing glazes of the beautiful red known in China as Fen-hung^ but his work of this nature is still tentative and uncertain. Aizu-yaki or Wakamatsu-yaki One of the most important keramic centres in the north of Japan is at Hongo, in the province of Iwa- shiro (Fukushima Prefecture). The industry was started by an expert of Mino, called Mizuna Genzae- mon, who came to Wakamatsu (the chief town of the province) in 1845, and was engaged as a potter by Matsudaira Masayuki, lord of Aizu. His family carried on the industry for ten generations, producing coarse faience of the Seto type for local use. The tenth representative, Mizuno Tamon, visited Owari, in 1865, and having acquired the processes of porce- lain manufacture, introduced them at Hongo. At first the ware was somewhat coarse. The composition of two specimens, examined six years ago, was found to be as follows : — 394 < MISCELLANEOUS WARES AIZU PORCELAIN First Specimen . . 72.98 20.07 0.28 3*54 3*50 Second Specimen . . 78.80 17.61 0.23 2.49 0.64 Neither of these specimens can properly be called true porcelain. As for the former, were it not baked in a porcelain oven and did it not possess a thoroughly fused porcelain glaze, its grey fracture and lack of transparency would relegate it to the rank of fine stone-ware. It is manufactured entirely from clay found near a village called Nagami. The latter speci- men is composed of equal parts of three clays ( Okubo- tsuchi, Shira-shari-tsuchi, and Kabuto-tsuchi)y all found near the village of Kongo. It represents the better kind of Wakamatsu-yaki^ having a pure white fracture, but little transparency even at the edges. The Aizu potters, in fact, experienced difficulty in obtaining a temperature sufficiently high to produce transparent ware. Their raw material, pronounced by experts to be an imperfectly hardened porcelain stone and placed in the same category with the Arita mineral, proved somewhat refractory. But of late they have com- pletely overcome these difficulties. They now suc- ceed in producing translucid porcelain of fine quality and almost egg-shell thinness. The decoration, confined to blue under the glaze, is brilliant in colour, and carefully executed. The industry gives occupation to about a thousand persons. The name of an expert Kishi Denzo, is associated with the progress of recent improvements. Soma-yaki According to tradition, pottery was produced in the province of Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture) as 395 JAPAN early as the eleventh century, but nothing is known of the ware until 1648, when Toshiro, a retainer of Soma, feudal chief of the province, is said to have visited Kyoto in his master’s train and studied the keramic art under Nomura Ninsei for a period of seven years. Returning to Iwaki in 1655, he estab- lished a factory at Nakamura, in the Udo district. There is no resemblance between the Soma-yaki of that time and the faience of Ky5t5, though some similarity is suggested by the story of T5shiro’s educa- tion. The Soma-yaki was rather coarse, grey stone- ware, having thin translucent glaze with brown speckles. In some specimens glaze was not used at all. It is said that the artist Kano Naonobu visited the province of Iwaki, and being desired by the Soma chief to furnish a design for keramic decoration, limned a horse galloping. This event must have occurred before the visit of Toshiro to Kyoto, for Naonobu died in 1650. At all events, a galloping horse, which is the signification of the word So7na^ became, from the middle of the seventeenth century, the only decorative subject employed by the potters of Nakamura. It was traced occasionally in gold, but generally in black ; and sometimes it is found engraved or in relief. To this design the ware owes its name, Soma-yaki, By a strange anomaly the same term is applied to the earlier undecorated pieces : they are called Muji-soma (plain Soma). An inter- esting variety of Soma-yaki, dating from the close of the last century, has its glaze granulated in distinct glob- ules after the fashion of a species of Karatsu pottery al- ready described. In almost every case a horse, whether painted, incised, or in relief, appears upon the piece. Specimens of old Soma-yaki are difficult to find, and 39^ MISCELLANEOUS WARES have few artistic merits to repay the search. The collector will generally meet with cups and bowls in the best examples of which the potter has evidently taken Kwang-yao and the Tuan ware of China as his model. He never, indeed, produced, or thought, ap- parently, of producing, the clair-de-lune body colour of the Yuan keramists. But their large, blood-red splashes he imitated with tolerable fidelity, and the effect of these upon his peculiar mottled-grey glazes is not unpleasing, — praise that may be extended to his combinations of blue and brown also. Pieces thus decorated belong to the middle period of manufacture (1750 to 1820). Those of earlier date must be classed among the essentially severe wares of Japan, — wares destined to suit the exaggerated simplicity of the Cha-no-Yu canons. Some amateurs find con- siderable merit in the vigorous delineation of the horse which constitutes the cachet of the Soma potters. It is the conventional horse of the Kano school, a sufficiently fiery animal, but stereotyped. Its original designer showed himself at least capable of independent conception, since in limning a gallop- ing horse [Sd-ma^, he did not hesitate to represent it as tethered to a stake. Specimens of Soma-yaki are often distinguished by a circular device of nine balls, the badge of the Soma family. The province of Iwaki has several factories where rude pottery and stone-ware for local use are manufac- tured. It is unnecessary to speak of these in detail. Nishi Raku-yaki At Ikao, a well-known watering-place in the prov- vince of Joshiu (Kotsuke), faience of the Rahu type 397 JAPAN has been manufactured since 1780 by the Kishi family, who, as has been the case with many makers of Raku ware, carry on the business not by way of regular profession but as an occasional household industry. Materials, not being procurable in the district, are imported from Owari, but despite the heavy expense thus entailed, the little factory appears to prosper. It supplies local wants to some extent, and derives an- other and more considerable means of support from the patronage of visitors to the hot springs. Almost every Japanese is something of an artist, and ever since pottery and porcelain became essentials of the tea-clubs, it has been a favourite amusement with dilettanti to use their own brushes for the decoration of specimens manufactured to order. Day by day during the “ season ’’ three or four gentlemen may be seen seated in Kishi Ah5’s picturesque cottage among the woods and cascades of Ikao, leisurely trans- ferring their fancies to cups, bowls, and vases of Raku biscuit, which are presently glazed, and re-fired in a little kiln that stands in an adjoining building. The decoration is in black and brown sous couverte, the ware is of the ordinary character, soft and brittle faience. The usual black Raku glaze is not, how- ever, employed ; salmon-colour with white clouding or frosting, yellowish white with green patches, and light brown being the staple glazes. TAMBA WARES Tl achikui-y aki In the province of Tamba, which lies to the west of Yamashiro and is included in the urban district of Kyoto, pottery is said to have been manufactured as 398 MISCELLANEOUS WARES early as the sixth century. Not, however, until the time when the Taiko s influence imparted so much activity to the art-industries of Japan did the ware assume any features worthy of note. Pieces after the fashion of the rude faience of Korea then made their appearance. The workshop — which was at a place called Onohara — was brought into some notice by peculiar faience having reddish pate and blisters on its surface, supposed to resemble an imported ware attributed to Siam. In general, however, the Tamba potters of those days took the Seto-yaki as their model. Among their tea-jars, cups, and water-vessels, speci- mens with very hard, reddish brown pate^ and choco- late, black, or mahogany-coloured glazes occasionally showing yellow mottling, are most frequently met with. An inferior sage-green glaze was also pro- duced. About the middle of the seventeenth century the factory was moved to a place called Tachikui, and from that time its productions were known as Tachikui-yaki. They have but little interest for Western collectors, though occasionally the splashed glazes are not without attractions. The first work- man of Tamba who distinguished himself by the production of good faience is said to have been a man named Kichizo. Sasayama-yaki Early in the present century, under the auspices of Kutsuki, feudal chief of the district, a factory estab- lished at Sasayama, also in the province of Tamba, began to turn out pieces of greatly improved descrip- tion. The pate, light grey in colour, was carefully manipulated, and the decoration — sometimes applied 399 JAPAN in the form of pate-sur-pate to an unglazed surface, and sometimes enamelled in the ordinary method — was generally of -a very artistic nature, the subjects being copied direct from the works of the celebrated painter Okyo. The best specimens of this period are stamped with the name of Nosaka, the only one of the Tamba workmen who seems to have marked his productions. ... Iga yaki The province of Iga. adjoins that of Omi,' whence the Kyoto potters have always procured so much of their materials.. It is surrounded by mountains, among those on its north being the 'Nagano district, where ■ Shigaraki clay, is found (vide Shigaraki-yakiy The province is regarded with interest by Japanese virtuosi on account of the antiquity of its keramic productions. As . long, ago as- the Tempyo-hoji era (759-764), a factory .existed at Marubashira, in the Ahai district-. Tradition says that the manufacture was interrupted from the middle of the ninth to the beginning of the sixteenth century, but it is certain that Miki-dokuri — bottles' for • sacrificial wine — of unglazed pottery were produced at Marubashira dur- ing the Fjtiki era (90 1-9 2 2), 'for use at the bi-annual festival of Daijingu. There is also preserved in the collection of a well known Japanese dilettante a fire- box of Iga pottery marked Shotai ni-nen Ishiyamadera^ that . is • to say, “ the temple of Ishiyama, second year of the Shotai era ’’ (899). Recent researches have further shown that the ware known as Ko- Iga-yaki (old Iga ware) was probably manufactured as long ago as the Kemmu era (1334-1336); arid during the Kyoroku era (1528-1531), two experts, 400 . . ‘ MISCELLANEOUS WARES Jirodayu and Tarodayu, are said to have revived the extinct manufacture. But it must be confessed that the whole history of the Iga-yaki, prior to the early years of the seventeenth century, is wrapped in some obscurity. The Ko-Iga-yaki, of the fourteenth century, bore a close resemblance to the faience of Seto known as Hafugama^ and indeed it may be said generally that from the time when the Iga potters began to apply glaze to their ware — probably about 1300 — they took the faience of Seto as their model. In 1635 Todo Takatora, feudal chief of the province, summoned from Kyot5 two potters, Mogibei and Denzo, and set them to manufacture tea-utensils at Marubashira. About the same time the celebrated Chajin Kobori Masakazu interested himself in the factory and furnished models to the potters. Speci- mens produced under the direction of Todo Takatora were subsequently distinguished as Todo Iga-yaki, and those manufactured at Kobori’s instance as Enshiu Iga- yaki, Both varieties are highly esteemed by the tea- clubs. They may easily be mistaken for Seto ware. There is found in the Iga-yaki mahogany glaze, merg- ing into black and buff, familiar in old Seto tea-jars and the same richness and lustre of surface that the latter possess. The pate of the Iga manufacture is, however, greyer and more stone-like than that of the Seto-yaki. The names of two experts who directed the Marubashira factory in the days of Takatora and Masakazu have been preserved : they are Okamoto Sadahachi and Okamoto Sadagoro. They received from Takatora two copper seals {vide Marks and Seals) with which they stamped their productions. In addition to rich mahogany black, and amber glazes, they manufactured also greenish glaze mottled with VOL. VIII. 26 J.OI JAPAN brown, or brown streaked with green. In modern times the keramic products of Iga are confined to coarse vessels for every-day use. They are, for the most part, hard faience or stone-ware, having pdte identical with that of the Shigaraki-yaki and an im- pure yellowish glaze. WARES OF BUZEN (FUKUOKA PREFECTURE) Agano~yaki This ware derives its name from the place of its manufacture, Agano, in the Tagawa district of the province of Buzen. On the return of the expedition sent by the T'aiko to Korea (1598), a potter named Sonkai was brought from Fusan by order of Kato Kiyomasa. This man and his sons erected a kiln at Agano (1602), and, as was naturally the case with the Korean workmen who came to Japan at that time, began to manufacture faience after the fashions of his country. No authentic specimens of his early work have been preserved. His name was subsequently changed to Juji Kiz5, and he is generally spoken of by Japanese connoisseurs as Agano Kizo. He re- mained at Agano until 1631, when the feudal chief of the district, Hosokawa Tadayoshi, receiving the province of Higo as his fief, moved to Yatsushiro, and was followed thither by Kizo, his eldest son, Chobei, and his third son, Toshiro. The second son, Magozae- mon Sonkiu, remained at Agano and carried on the manufacture. The expenses of the factory were entirely defrayed by the local government, Magozae- mon and his descendants receiving a yearly pension in lieu of wages. The articles produced were not sold, being reserved solely for official use. A very few, 402 MISCELLANEOUS WARES dating from the seventeenth century, are now extant. Th^pate, which was fine and oily, resembling in these respects pate of Chinese pottery, was manufactured with materials found at Ichitsu and Natsuyoshi, in the same district. The glaze was thin and cleverly ap- plied ; its colour, lustrous brown with dark claret speckles or patches. In 1757 Magozaemon Sonko, seventh in descent from Kiz5, obtained official per- mission to sell his wares, and the dimensions of the industry increased considerably. About this time, or shortly before, a curious variety of faience was pro- duced. It had coarse, reddish gray pate, and light claret-coloured glaze, granulated so as to resemble the skin of a lime. It is vulgarly known as Tachibana- hada-yaki, because of its likeness to the skin of the orange tribe [tachibana^ In 1804 the Agano-yaki as- sumed the character of Kaku ware, the methods of the Kyoto faience having been acquired by Magozaemon Sonsho, the then representative of the Kiz5 family, in obedience to the command of the chief of the dis- trict. Sonsho’s success procured for him the privilege of riding on horseback and going about with an at- tendant. In 1834 the local government issued an edict forbidding the employment of any potter be- longing to another fief, and this prohibition was not removed until 1872. The chief experts at present are Juji Kihachiro and Yoshida Hikoroku ; both very inferior in skill to their predecessors of the feudal era. Among comparatively modern varieties of Aga- no-yaki there are (besides the Tachibana-hada-yaki), the Mokume-yaki, which has muddy yellow or claret glaze marked like the grain of wood [mokume^, and the Shiro-te, which has greyish white pate and glaze and is entirely without decoration. Of late very in- 403 JAPAN ferior specimens of yellow stone-ware, after Chinese models, have been produced at Agano. Ueno-yaki The manufacture of this little-known faience was commenced early in the seventeenth century at Ueno, in the province of Buzen. The potters confined themselves to imitating an imported ware called Sun- korokuy which came from Aden. It was somewhat coarse red stone-ware or pottery, covered with semi- transparent, bluish white glaze, and decorated with archaic designs in black. The well-known dilettante, Ogori Sotan, extended his patronage to the workmen of Ueno, and in his time their cups, tea-jars, and water-vessels were in some demand, but the ware has little interest for Western collectors. Ota-yaki Ota is near Yokohama. A factory was established there in 1879 by Suzuki Yasubei, a merchant of Yokohama. He invited thither Miyagawa Kuzan, son of the Ky5to potter Chobei, who worked at Gion, producing a faience known as Makuzu-yaki, The idea of a factory near Yokohama is said to have been suggested by Umeda Yukihiro, a vassal of the Prince of Satsuma. At all events, its early productions were imitations of the celebrated Satsuma-yaki, Materials were procured from both Satsuma and Kyoto, and no little pains were lavished on the manufacture. But though a good deal of this highly decorated ware was at first disposed of as genuine Satsuma-yaki^ the enterprise had to be abandoned in the end. Subse- 404 MISCELLANEOUS WARES quently Miyazawa struck out a line of his own, in which he attained considerable reputation. His con- ception was to supplement by plastic additions the ordinary style of faience decoration in coloured pig- ments and enamels. This new variety of ware was known as Makuzu-yaki. It was rather bizarre than beautiful. Almost every object in nature, the nude human figure alone excepted, might be found moulded in high relief on vases, pots, and jars — sages, storks, sparrows, bamboos, reptiles, fishes, and flowers. Not a few specimens were marvels of patient skill, and in consequence attracted a fair share of public patronage. But, in truth, that can scarcely be counted art which chooses a material so fragile for the elaboration of details so easily marred by accident. The chefs- d' ceuvre of the Ota factory were monstrosities never tolerated by Japanese connoisseurs and soon rejected by foreign buyers. Two clays were used in their manufacture, one obtained in the province of Izu, the other from the banks of the Tamagawa, in the province of Musashi — in which Yokohama is situ- ated. The former is a well-known clay — consist- ing of disintegrated porphyry — which is largely used in Tokyo for the manufacture of fire-proof bricks. The constituents of the Makuzu faience mass are as follows : — , . Iron Limk, Magnesia, . Silica. Alumina. ’ Water. 63.42 32.20 0.18 1.66 2.07 It will be observed that this faience has a distinctive composition ; it contains more clay-earth and less alkali and iron oxide than any other Japanese faience. Its mass is pronounced by M. Korschelt to be the whitest and best in Japan. But if this be true of the 405 JAPAN mass, it certainly is not true of the ware itself, which has a crude, brittle, and chalky appearance, exceed- ingly ill suited to the elaborate plastic conceits with which the surface is loaded. Porcelain is manufactured at Ota as well as faience, and, in addition to a quantity of specimens of both natures decorated after the fashion of the Tokyo school, Miyagawa has turned out a good many porce- lain vases in which surface-tints of skilfully graduated intensity produce effects at once rich and delicate. He and his son now stand almost at the head of Jap- anese keramists, and their works will be spoken of in the section on modern developments. The composition of the Ota porcelain is that of the Kyoto ware. It consists of six parts of Amakusa stone with four parts of Shigaraki clay, to which is added a small quantity of ashes obtained from Satsuma and Tosa — the same ashes being used for glazing pur- poses. The addition of ashes to the glazing mass is a custom prevailing in Ky5t5 and other places, also, though the practice appears to be resorted to in the case of special manufactures only. WARE OF HITACHI Mito-yaki This is a species of Raku faience, interesting en- tirely for the sake of its first and only manufacturer, Nariaki, commonly called Rekko, feudal chief of Mito in the province of Hitachi. A descendant of the renowned lyeyasu, and one of the greatest nobles in Japan, Rekko did not hesitate to manufacture with his own hands pieces of pottery which he bestowed upon his vassals. Near his castle in Mito was a Cha- 406 MISCELLANEOUS WARES zashiki (tea-house) called Kobun-tei, standing in the garden of the Koraku-en. Here the faience was potted, and hence it derived its name Koraku-en-yaki, It was simply a copy of the Raku faience of Kyoto, being red in colour and covered with waxy, diaphan- ous glaze. Another type had black glaze with archaic designs in white slip in high relief. All the wares hitherto spoken of in this volume, present some feature of interest, whether from a his- toric or an artistic point of view. They do not, how- ever, exhaust the list of Japanese keramic productions. There is scarcely a province in the Empire where pottery, faience, stone-ware, or porcelain is not pro- duced. But wares other than those here noticed are without exception of a more or less coarse, rude nature, and are destined only for common local consumption. They are therefore omitted from these pages. For the sake of convenience, a table is added show- ing the various kinds of Japanese porcelain with reference to their constituents : — CONSTITUENTS OF JAPANESE PORCELAINS CE OF Manufacture. Felspar. Clay Substance. Quartz. Owari . 42.06 28.45 27.31 Kyoto . 33-07 29.89 35-56 Arita 20.32 30.84 46.62 Tajima . 15.90 39.58 42.50 Choshiu 23.09 35-70 39-38 Harima . 21.04 39-91 36.61 lyo .... 21.87 31.80 44.96 Tokyo . 25-31 41-31 3'-°3 Yokohama . 33-04 32.12 33-63 Koshiu . 26.99 47-53 21.72 Kaga . . . 31-91 35-29 31-56 Aizu 18. 15 28.36 46.38 The first six wares of this table have already been distinguished as different classes of Japanese porcelain. 407 JAPAN Among the remaining six, it will be seen that the ware of lyo closely resembles that of Arita. The porcelain of Tokyo, on the other hand, though man- ufactured with materials procured in Gwari, shows a composition very different from that of the Seto ware. This difference can be due only to a variation in the method of preparing the raw materials. Mr. Kor- schelt, by whom these analyses were made, suggests that the dealers from whom the materials are procured in Owari mix quantities of the clay called Kaeru-me with the stone Ishiko, in order to evade the expense of pulverising the latter. However this may be, since Owari, and Owari alone, furnishes the constituents of the Toky5 porcelain mass, there is no reason to re- gard the latter as a separate variety. The Yokohama porcelain, again, both in the manner of its manufac- ture and in the quantities of its constituents, corre- sponds almost exactly with the ware of Kyoto. Finally, the porcelain of Koshiu, although, as analysed above, it certainly constitutes a special class — corre- sponding pretty closely with the porcelain of Limoges — has not yet been examined with sufficient care to justify a final opinion, and is, moreover, manufactured in such small quantities and for such inferior purposes that it has not secured admission to the rank of Japan’s characteristic wares. The Aizu porcelain closely re- sembles that of Arita, and the porcelain of Satsuma has been omitted altogether, being practically identical with the latter. The following table, compiled by Mr. Korschelt, as the result of a very large number of analyses, shows the composition of the principal porcelains and faiences of Japan in their anhydrous condition — i, e, after baking — the differences in their chemical composition 408 MISCELLANEOUS WARES becoming clearer when the varying quantities of water contained in the unstoved masses are eliminated : — COMPOSITION OF JAPANESE PORCELAINS AND FAIENCES (ANHYDROUS) Porcelain. Silica. Alumina. Iron Oxide. Lime, Magnesia. Potash. Soda. Owari . 70.57 20.97 0.75 0.67 0.26 4-34 1-94 Kyoto . 73. 66 20.04 0.67 0.62 0. 12 2.97 1.84 Satsuma 77.10 17-59 0-94 0.28 0. 10 3. II 0. 10 lyo .... 76.38 18.75 0.86 0. 38 0.37 3-47 0. 03 T5kyo . 69.91 23. 81 1.07 1.03 0.46 3. II 0. 82 Y okohama 73-59 21.29 0.15 0. 82 0. 16 3.18 0.73 Choshiu 74-31 20.95 0. 52 0.86 0. 26 0. 61 2. 30 Koshiu . 66.51 26. 27 1. 16 2.43 0.40 0.86 2.60 Tajima . 74-43 21.28 0. 36 0-93 0. 52 1.40 0.90 Harima . ■ 71-71 22.29 0.69 0. 69 0-33 3.56 — Kaga . . . 70.39 23.63 0.62 0. 30 0-53 3-90 0.56 Aizu 78.90 16.49 0.86 0-35 0.06 2.28 0. 56 Arita Faience. 77.08 1 8. 29 0.68 0.48 0. 30 2.57 0. 65 Awata . 64.03 30.56 0.81 0.51 0. 29 2.02 1. 10 Satsuma 65-99 31-13 0.40 0.44 0. 29 1.83 0.47 Awaji . 67.47 27.37 1.05 0.55 0.13 ^-55 0. 56 Bizen 62.68 28.37 0. 92 0.86 0.41 3.06 2. 91 Choshiu 63.41 32.88 1. 91 0.35 0.25 1.59 0.06 Yokohama . 64.76 32. 88 0.18 0-43 0. 1 1 1-15 Aizu 63.66 28. 83 2.35 0. 67 0-59 3-65 Banko (white) . 72. 10 25. 16 1.63 1 0.25 0.03 0.33 Banko (brown) . 60. 17 23. 28 5.08 1 1.20 — — 1 This occurs as Fc203. Readers who have travelled through this long and often tedious story of Japanese porcelain and pottery, will probably have observed that the products of the keramic art of Japan group themselves into two divi- sions, the one conventional and archaic, the other original and natural. Throughout the whole of Jap- anese Art this line of demarcation is plainly visible. It is probably due, in great part, to the religious cult which prescribed ancestral worship. People who, year after year, pray and burn incense before the mortuary tablets of their forefathers, cannot choose but become imbued with reverence for the works of 409 JAPAN the illustrious dead. The greatest painters in Japan were never permitted to be wholly original ; it was essential that at some time or other they should walk in the footprints of their predecessors. An unwritten but practically recognised canon required that, in order to qualify for orthodox recognition, whatever they might accomplish in their own they should show themselves familiar with and even competent to reproduce the methods and conceptions of the old masters. The tea-clubs were the great patrons and preservers of this conservative orthodoxy. They carried their severe idealism to a point entirely beyond the range of ordinary intelligence. Their aesthetic affectation became a mystery unfathomable even by themselves. Yet their influence survives even now, and has left its mark upon every branch of art, espe- cially the keramic. The rude homely potteries of Bizen, of Karatsu, of Shinto, of Iga, and many another kiln, when placed side by side with the exquisite porcelains of Hirado and Nabeshima, or the beautiful faiences of Satsuma and Kyot5, show how often Japan did violence to her own natural genius in deference to the dictates of an artificial and perverse dilettante- ism. If foreign influence threatened at first to vitiate her taste, it will probably atone for this crime by finally discrediting the cramping canons of the C ha- no- Tu cult. 410 Chapter VIII MODERN DEFELOPMENTS OF JAPANESE KERAMICS PEAKING broadly, the distinguished products of Japanese keramic art in ipvc-Meiji days may I be said to have been the porcelains of Hizen and Kutani and the faiences of Satsuma and Kyoto. Many other wares have attracted attention, but though not without merits and even beauties, they are comparatively insignificant. In the term ‘‘ Hizen porcelains ” are included not merely the richly deco- rated Imari ware — the “Old Japan’’ of Western collectors — but also the finely modelled and delicately coloured masterpieces of Hirado, and the jewelled specimens of Nabeshima which undoubtedly stand at the head of all Japanese porcelains ornamented with vitrifiable enamels over the glaze. Many examples of these varieties deserve the enthusiastic admiration they have received, yet they unquestionably belong to a lower rank of keramic achievements than the choice productions of Chinese kilns. The potters of the Middle Kingdom, from the early eras of the Ming dynasty down to the latest years of the eighteenth century, stood absolutely without rivals — - hand aqui aut secundi — as makers of porcelain. Their technical ability was incomparable, — though in grace of decora- tive conception they yielded the palm to the Japanese, 411 s JAPAN — and the representative specimens they bequeathed to posterity remained, until quite recently, far beyond the imitative capacity of European or Asiatic experts. As for faience and pottery, however, the Chinese despised them in all forms, with one notable excep- tion, the Tishing-yao, known in the Occident as boccaro. Even the Tishing-yao, too, owed much of its popu- larity to special utility. It was essentially the ware of the tea-drinker. If in the best specimens exquisite modelling, wonderful accuracy of finish, and pates of interesting tints are found, such pieces are, none the less, stamped prominently with the character of utensils rather than with that of works of art. In short, the artistic output of Chinese kilns in their palmiest days was, not faience or pottery, but porce- lain, whether of soft or hard paste. Japan, on the contrary, owes her keramic distinction in the main to her faience. A great deal has been said by enthusi- astic writers about the Famille Chrysanthefno-Pceonienne of Imari, and the Genre Kaktemon of Nabeshima, but these porcelains, beautiful as they undoubtedly are, cannot be placed on the same level with the Kwan- yao and Famille Rose of the Chinese experts. The Imari ware, even though its thick biscuit and gener- ally ungraceful shapes be omitted from the account, shows no enamels that can rival the exquisitely soft, broken tints of the Famille Rose ; and the Kakiemon porcelain, for all its rich though chaste contrasts, lacks the delicate transmitted tints of the shell-like Kwan-yao, So, too, the blue-and-white porcelain of Hirado, though assisted by exceptional tenderness of sous-pdte colour, by milk-white glaze, by great beauty of decorative design and often by an admirable use of the modelling or graving tool, represents a keramic 412 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS achievement palpably below the soft-paste Kai-pien-yao of Ching-te-cheng. It is a curious and interesting fact that this last product of Chinese skill remained unknown in Japan down to very recent days. In the eyes of a Chinese connoisseur, no blue-and-white porcelain worthy of consideration exists, or ever has existed, except the Kai-pien-yaOy with its imponderable pate, its wax-like surface, and its rich, glowing blue, entirely free from superficiality or garishness, and broken into a thousand tints by the microscopic crackle of the glaze. The Japanese, although they obtained from their neighbour almost everything of value she had to give them, did not know this wonderful ware, and their ignorance is in itself sufficient to prove their keramic inferiority. There remains, too, a wide domain in which the Chinese developed high skill, whereas the Japanese can scarcely be said to have entered it at all ; namely, the domain of monochromes and polychromes, striking every note of colour from the richest to the most delicate ; the domain of truite and jlambe glazes, of “ transmutation ware’’ [To-pien- yao), and of egg-shell with incised or translucid deco- ration. In all that region of achievement, the Chinese potters stood alone and seemingly unapproach- able. The Japanese, on the contrary, made a spe- cialty of faience, and in that particular line they reached a high standard of excellence. No faience produced either in China or any other Oriental country can dispute the palm with really representative specimens of Satsuma ware. Not without full reason have Western connoisseurs lavished panegyrics upon that exquisite production. The faience of the Kyot5 artists never reached quite to the level of the Satsuma in quality of pate and glowing mellowness of decora- 413 JAPAN tion : their materials were slightly inferior. But their skill as decorators was as great as its range was wide, and they produced a multitude of masterpieces on which alone Japan’s keramic fame might safely be rested. Such, briefly speaking, had been the story of the art and the distinction between the methods of its practice in China and Japan until the commencement of a new era in the latter country. When the medi- atisation of the fiefs, in 1871, terminated the local patronage hitherto extended so munificently to ke- ramic and other artists, the Japanese gradually learned that they must thenceforth depend chiefly upon the markets of Europe and America. They had to appeal, in short, to an entirely new gallery, and how to secure its approval was to them a perplexing problem. Perhaps their wisest plan would have been to adhere strictly to pure Japanese canons during that period of shifting patronage, and they have been severely censured by some critics for not exhibiting such conservatism. But when has it been the habit of sellers to impose their own standards upon buyers rather than to cater to the latter’s tastes ? Great painters may, in a measure, create an atmosphere for themselves ; yet even the greatest painter, though he may direct and elevate, must always remain in touch with the spirit of the time in which he lives and of the public to whom he appeals. The same rule applies with much greater inflexibility to the art- artisan. It was but natural that the Japanese potter, when required to win favour in Europe and Amer- ica, should endeavour to adapt his work to Western taste. In the early years of the Meiji era, there was a 414 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS period of complete prostitution. No new skill was developed, and what remained of the old was expended chiefly upon the manufacture of meretricious objects, disfigured by excess of decoration and not relieved by any excellence of technique. In spite of their artistic defects, these specimens were exported in considerable numbers by merchants in the foreign settlements, and, their first cost being very low, they found a not unremunerative market. But as European and American collectors became better acquainted with the capacities of the ^vc-Meiji potters, the great infe- riority of these new specimens was recognised, and, the prices commanded by the old wares gradually appreciated. What then happened was very natural : imitations of the old wares were produced, and having been sufficiently disfigured by staining and other processes calculated to lend an air of rust and age, were sold to ignorant persons, who laboured under the singular yet common hallucination that the points to be looked for in specimens from early kilns are, not technical excellence, decorative tastefulness and rich- ness of colour, but dinginess, imperfections, and dirt; persons who imagined, in short, that defects which they would condemn at once in new porcelains ought to be regarded as merits in old. Of course a trade of that kind, based on deception, could not have per- manent success. One of the imitators of ‘‘ old Satsuma ” was among the first to perceive that a new line must be struck out. Yet the earliest results of his awakened perception helped to demonstrate still further the depraved spirit that had come over Japanese art. For he applied himself to manufacture wares having a close affinity with the shocking monstrosities used for sepulchral purposes in ancient Apulia, where frag- 415 JAPAN ments of dissected satyrs, busts of nymphs or halves of horses were considered graceful excrescences for the adornment of an amphora or a pithos. This Makuzu faience, produced by the now justly cele- brated Miyagawa Shozan of Ota (near Yokohama), survives in the form of vases and pots having birds, reptiles, flowers, Crustacea, and so forth, plastered over the surface ; specimens that disgrace the period of their manufacture and represent probably the worst aberration of Japanese keramic conception. A production so degraded as the early Makuzu faience could not possibly have long vogue. Miya- gawa soon began to cast about for a better inspiration, and found it in the monochromes and polychromes of the Chinese Kang-hsi and Tung-cheng kilns. The extraordinary value attaching to the incomparable red glazes of China, not only in the country of their pro- venance, but also in the United States of America, where collectors showed a fine instinct in this matter, seems to have suggested to Miyagawa the idea of imi- tation. He took for model the rich and delicate liquid-dawn ” monochrome, and succeeded in pro- ducing, not indeed a rival of that grand ware, but at any rate some specimens of considerable merit. Thenceforth his example was largely followed, and it may now be said that the tendency of many of the best Japanese keramists is to copy Chinese chefs d' oeuvre. To find them thus renewing their keramic reputation by reverting to Chinese models, is not only another tribute to the perennial supremacy of Chinese porcelains, but also a fresh illustration of the eclectic genius of Japanese art. All the products of this new effort are porcelains proper. It is not intended to suggest that beautiful faience has ceased to be a Japa- 416 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS nese specialty. The Kyoto potters still tread success- fully in the old grooves. But the question here is of a novel departure which distinguishes the present era. Seven kilns are devoted, wholly or in part, to the new wares ; namely, that of Miyagawa Shozan of Ota ; that of Seifu Yohei of Kyot5 ; those of Takemoto Hayata and Kato Tomotaro of Tokyo ; that of Higu- chi Haruzane of Hirado ; that of Shida Yasukyo of Kaga and that of Kato Masukichi of Seto. Among the seven keramists here enumerated, Seifu of Kyoto probably enjoys the highest reputation. He manufactures monochromatic and jewelled porcelain and faience, which differ essentially from the tradi- tional Kyoto types, their models being taken direct from China. But a sharp distinction has to be drawn between the method of Seifu and that of the other six keramists mentioned above as following Chinese fashions. It is this, that whereas the latter produce their chromatic effects by mixing the colouring mat- ter with the glaze, Seifu paints the biscuit with a pig- ment over which he runs a translucid colourless glaze. The Kyoto artist’s process is much easier than that of his rivals, and although his monochromes are often of most pleasing delicacy and fine tone, they do not be- long by any means to the same category of technical excellence as the wares they imitate. From this judg- ment must be excepted, however, his ivory-white and celadon wares, as well as his porcelains decorated with blue, or blue and red sous couverte^ and with vitrifiable enamels over the glaze. In these five varieties he is emphatically great. It cannot be said, indeed, that his celadon shows the velvety richness of surface and tenderness of colour that distinguish the old Kuang- yao and Lunge huan-yao^ or that he has ever essayed the VOL. VIII. 27 A\n JAPAN moss-edged crackle of the beautiful Ko-yao. But his celadon certainly equals the more modern-Chinese ex- amples from the Kang-hsi and Yung-cheng kilns. As for his ivory-white, it distinctly surpasses the Chinese Ming Chen-yao in every quality except an indescrib- able intimacy of glaze and pate which probably can never be obtained by either Japanese or European methods. Miyagawa Shozan, or Makuzu as he is generally called, has never followed Seifu’s example in descend- ing from the difficult manipulation of coloured glazes to the comparatively simple process of painted biscuit. This comment does not refer, it need scarcely be said, to the use of blue and red sous couverte. In that class of beautiful ware the application of pigment to the unglazed pate is inevitable, and both Seifu atid Miya- gawa, working on the same lines as their Chinese pre- decessors, produce porcelains that almost rank with choice Kang-hsi specimens, though they have not yet mastered the processes sufficiently to employ them in the manufacture of wares of moderate price. But in the matter of true monochromatic and polychromatic glazes, to Shozan belongs the credit of having inaugu- rated Chinese fashions, and if he has never fully suc- ceeded in achieving Lang-yao (^sang-de-bceuf^y Chi-hung (liquid-dawn red), Chiang-tou-hung (bean-blossom red, the “peach-blow"’ of American collectors), or above all Pin-kwo-tsing (apple-green with red bloom), his efforts to imitate them have resulted in some very in- teresting pieces. Takemoto and Kato of Tokyo entered the field subsequently to Shozan, but follow the same models approximately. Takemoto, however, has made a specialty of black glazes, his aim being to rival the 418 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS Sung Chien-yao, with its glaze of mirror-black or raven’s-wing green, and its leveret-fur streaking or russet-moss dappling, the prince of all wares in the estimation of the Japanese tea-clubs. Like Shozan, he is still very far from his original, but, also like Shozan, he produces highly meritorious pieces in his efforts to reach an ideal that will probably continue to elude him for ever. Of Kato there is not much to be said. He has not succeeded in winning great distinc- tion, but he manufactures some very delicate mono- chromes, fully deserving to be classed among prominent evidences of the new departure, and he has also been able to produce porcelains decorated with blue under the glaze that are almost equal to fine specimens of the best-period Chinese ware. Indeed it must be ad- mitted that Japan’s modern potters have solved the problem long supposed to be insolvable, the problem of blue under the glaze. Seifu, Miyagawa, Kato Tomotaro, and others are turning out admirable speci- mens of that class, though there is no evidence that they will ever achieve the soft-paste blue-and-white of the Chinese masters. Higuchi of Hirado is to be classed with keramists of the new school on account of one ware only, namely, porcelain having translucid decoration, the so-called “ grains-of-rice ” of American collectors, designated “ fire-fly style ” [hotaru-de) in Japan. That, however, is an achievement of no small consequence, especially since it had never previously been essayed outside China. The Hirado expert has not yet attained technical skill equal to that of the Chinese. He cannot, like them, cover the greater part of a specimen’s surface with a lace-work of transparent decoration, exciting wonder that pate deprived so 4J9 JAPAN greatly of continuity could have been manipulated without accident. But his artistic instincts are higher than those of the Chinese, and there is reasonable hope that in time he may excel their best works. In other respects the Hirado factories do not produce wares so beautiful as those manufactured there between 1759 and 1840, when the Hirado-yaki stood at the head of all Japanese porcelain on account of its pure, close-grained pate, its lustrous milk-white glaze, and the soft clear blue of its carefully executed decoration. When the Owari potters entered the new school, which was not until 1894, they took jiambe glazes for their first models, and their pieces presented, an air of novelty that attracted attention. But the style was not calculated to win general popularity, and they soon entered a much better route, namely, the manu- facture of egg-shell porcelain. Chinese potters of the Tung-lo era (1403—1424) enriched their country with ware to which the name of totai-ki (bodiless uten- sil) was given on account of its wonderfully attenuated pate. The finest specimens of this porcelain had in- cised decoration, sparingly employed but adding much to the beauty of the piece. In subsequent eras the potters of Ching-te-chen did not fail to continue this remarkable manufacture, but its only Japanese repre- sentative was a porcelain distinctly inferior in more than one respect, namely, the egg-shell utensils of Hizen and Hirado, some of which had finely woven basket-cases to protect their extreme fragility. The Seto experts, however, are now making bowls, cups, and vases that rank nearly as high as the celebrated Tung-lo totai-ki. In purity of tone and velvet-like gloss of surface there is distinct inferiority on the 420 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS side of the Japanese ware, but in thinness of pate it supports comparison with, and in profusion and beauty of incised decoration it excels, its Chinese original. Latest of all to acknowledge the impulse of the new departure have been the potters of Kaga. For many years their ware enjoyed the credit, or discredit, of being the most lavishly decorated porcelain in Japan. It is known to Western collectors as a prod- uct blazing with red and gold, a very degenerate offspring of the Chinese Ming type which Hozen of Kyoto reproduced so beautifully at the beginning of the nineteenth century under the name of Eiraku-yaki, Within the past six years, however, a totally new de- parture has been made by Morishita Hachizaemon, a keramic expert, in conjunction with Shida Yasukyo, president of the Kaga Products Joint Stock Company [Kaga Buss an Kabushiki Kaisha^ and teacher in the Kaga Industrial School. The line chosen by these keramists is purely Chinese. Their great aim seems to be the production of the exquisite Chinese mono- chromes known as u-kwo-tien-tsing (blue of the sky after rain) and yueh-peh [clair-de-lune), into the composi- tion of both of which glazes gold enters. But they also devote much attention to porcelains decorated with blue or red sous couverte. Their work shows much promise, but like all fine specimens of the Sin- ico- Japanese school, the prices are too high to attract wide custom. The Satsuma potters also have made a new depar- ture, but in their case originality may be claimed, since no prototype is to be found among Chinese wares. They now produce faience with designs pierced a jour in a manner that is at once very beau- 421 JAPAN tiful and extraordinarily delicate. Satsuma keramists were never remarkable for such work in former times. It belonged almost solely to the province of the Hirado potters, and they used it solely in a subsidiary role, as for the tops of censers or for some trivial part of an alcove statuette. But what the Satsuma artists have now conceived is pierced decoration constituting the sole ornamentation of a specimen. It appears at first sight that translucid porcelain should be a better and more natural medium for work of this kind, since faience does not lend itself so readily to the produc- tion of sharp edges and clearly chiselled contours. But no one who has seen the Satsuma work can hesitate in choosing between the results of the pro- cess in the two materials, faience and porcelain. The former shows softness and grace which cannot possibly be obtained with the latter. Chinese keramists under- stood this well. All their exquisite modelling in relief was done with soft-paste porcelain, and every- body who has had an opportunity of examining their masterpieces in that line cannot have failed to appre- ciate the charm of such work. Chiselling in relief and chiselling "a jour are different operations, of course, but the decorative features of both are similar, and the quality of ware that lends itself to an admirable result in the case of the one is equally essential for the other. The new Satsuma method is not described exhaustively as decoration a jour. Much of it is chiselling in the round, a wholly new departure. It is difficult to speak too highly of the delightful effect produced. Such a feat of technical skill is possible only in a country where expert labour is satisfied with a very small reward. An interesting fact connected with this new departure is that it was inaugurated by Chin 422 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS Jukan, a descendant of one of the Korean potters who were brought from the peninsula by Hideyoshi’s general in the sixteenth century. Ito Tozan of Kyot5 is a keramist of the highest rank, though his new specialty belongs to a different class of work from that of the seven experts men- tioned above. He manufactures faience decorated with a number of sous-couverte colours — blue, green, red, yellow, black, and purple — and the technical features of his ware are irreproachable. Doubtless he derived inspiration from the Asahi-yaki of Tokyo, but his faience takes artistic rank incomparably higher than that held by the now little admired product of the capital. The sum of the matter is that the modern Japanese keramist, after many efforts to cater to the taste of the Occident, evidently concludes that his best hope consists in devoting all his technical and artistic re- sources to reproducing the celebrated wares of China. In explanation of the fact that he did not essay that route in former times, it may be noted, first, that he had only a limited acquaintance with the wares in question ; secondly, that Japanese connoisseurs never attached any value to their countrymen’s imitations of Chinese porcelains so long as the originals were obtainable ; thirdly, that, the keramic art of China not having fallen into its present state of decadence, the idea of competing with it did not occur to outsiders ; and fourthly, that Europe and America had not de- veloped their present keen appreciation of Chinese masterpieces. Yet it is remarkable that China, at the close of the nineteenth century, should have again furnished models to Japanese eclecticism. There are reasons which render it doubtful whether the Jap- 423 JAPAN anese potter, without a radical change of technical methods, will ^ ever reach the level upon which the Chinese masters stood, but it is very probable that he may produce en route many beautiful and excellent varieties of porcelain. 424 Appendix 425 Appendix Note i. — Izumo is the place where men emigrating from the Asiatic continent to Japan via Korea would naturally land, supposing them to follow the chain of islets which form partial stepping- stones from Korea to Japan. The story of keramics thus fur- nishes incidental evidence of the theory that Izumo was the first point reached by the Mongoloid immigrants, who subsequently pushed on to Yamato. Note 2. — Owari, Bizen, Izumo, Mikawa, Settsu, Nagato, Omi, Mino, Harima, Sanuki, Chikuzen, Tampa, Awa, and Chikugo. Note 3. — One of the chief imperfections of modern Arita por- celain is due to the faulty manipulation of its glaze. Note 4. — It will be well, perhaps, to warn collectors against elabo- rately modelled and highly decorated specimens of Imari porcelain which are placed upon the market by unprincipled dealers as ex- amples of Kakiemon’s work. There were several generations of Kakiemons, and the mere fact of ascribing a specimen to Kakiemon is sufficient to proclaim the ignorance or dishonesty of the description. As for the figures of richly robed females that have received this title in recent works on Japanese art, they are manifest forgeries. Note 5. — The leading features of this story are repeated in the case of two or three potters. INDEX mmm -( ,,;4;sk m KiJ'li'j;;’ . ■''' v^'i'v; ' ' / ' ' '■’ ,y' ' ' ” •> 'i; T'/'v 'v^i^ - If V" HJW-. /tf!.' . ', 'I ‘ ' ^ ” j'l, , '*;*. ' .' ' r »''!':•)■ '..e:- ,''.> ■• ., ; . ‘ ijn-.jij/l v ■ :k ii , : , ': -w ,m''ifr .,• ' vi; "l ‘ 'u •tt/'w-am, ■ .'r *• «'t ' ' '; ' • ’. : '*i t)Of ' . : /. , . ' ' 1 ,'9*^'^ f 'a:.', i- j '■ :, ■ >-U,. i i ■ 'f-i ■' .w1-MV..v7(:H 7' ; , ; V' - . ..J , ''.;.v.' .<. :s.»'ty.; . -j -• ..- :.- ^ ■./.•,■.> -r ' . Jv.:;, ,‘^J vmfci^c- '■; ; , ' ■ i'"''"''’'’-!: '■ • V- :r <-‘'1 *■“'■ 1 * ■ ' ‘‘’’fe 'ite A'/ „:;v- ■• -'■■'"■ M 'M. INDEX Abe Omi, amateur potter, revives keramic industry in Kaga, 252. Agano family, potters, 322-324. Aichi Prefecture. See Owari. Ai-no-suke, Takayama, potter, 218. Aitaro, Takayama, potter, 218. Aizu, faience, 394; porcelain, 394, 395- Akahada ware, old, 357 ; second period, 357. Akaji-kinga ware, 220. Akamatsu Eiji, potter, 379. Akazu, Owari, Kato Kagemasa’s kiln, 278 ; Shuntai ware, 279. Aki Zenkichi, potter, 229. Alcock, Sir Rutherford, collector of keramics, 132. Ama ware, 32. Amakusa porcelain stone, discovery, 101. Ama-no-Hibako, alleged potter, 7. Ameya. See Masakichi. Analysis. See Composition. Ancestral worship, influence on art, 409. Anderson, W., on the Shijo school of pictorial art, 1 94. Annam ware, 373. Antique, influence on keramic art, 409. Ao-Bizen ware, 329 ; no longer pro- duced, 330. Aoki Eigoro, potter, 259. Aoyama Koemon, potter, discloses method of enamelling ware, 181. Arita, Hizen, Shonzui’s home, 22, 28, zj.2 ; early faience, 25, 54; Korean potters, 5 5 ; discovery of porcelain stone, 5 5 ; secluded posi- tion, 57 ; early porcelain, 57, 59 ; development and character of Arita, Hizen {^continued') : enamelled porcelain, 61, 63 ; influence of Dutch trade, 76-79 ; Old Japan ware, 79-92 ; pros- perity, 87 ; identification of the ware, 89 ; various decorations, 90-94; decline, 92, 129; egg- shell porcelain, no; modern con- ditions, 1 1 3, 129; Old Japan for export not characteristic, 1 20-122 ; skill in decoration, 122; and Okawachi ware, 123, 126; scar- city of blue-and-white ware, 127 ; crackle, 128. Asagiri ware, 374. Asahi ware, 35^. Asami Gorosuke, potter, 229. Asataro, Funaki, potter, 338. Asukai Kyoshi, potter, 254. Audsley, G. A., error on Japanese por- celain, 18, 39 ; on Japanese porce- lain in European collections, 121. Awaji ware, origin, 350 ; glazes, 351-353 ; decoration, 352, 353 ; modern, 352; varieties, 352; composition, 353. Awata, Kyoto, potteries, one of Ninsei’s workshops, 182; origin of the factory, 187—189 ; charac- ter of its faience, 189 ; Kenzan’s ware, 190— 192; Dohachi family, 193-195; Kagiya family, 195; usual shapes, 196; Hbzan ware, 197 ; pate -sur- pate decoration, 198, 200, 201 ; Taizan family, 199, 200; Tanzan family, 201 ; Bizan figure-decorated faience, 202 ; composition of the faknce, 203 ; compared with Iwakura wares, 204-206. 431 INDEX Awaya Genemon, potter, 247 ; re- vives the Ao-Kutani ware, 248 ; his Ohi faience, 259 ; technical ability, 259. Baihin, Seifu, potter, 226. Baikei, Seifu, potter, 227. Ban family, potters, 345. Banko ware, original, 358-360; mark, 360; revival, 361 ; use of moulds, 362 ; character of re- vived, or Yusetsu ware, 362, 364 ; popularity and imitation, 363; varieties and essential feature, 364 ; Yedo, 387. Banshu. See Harima. Barin ware, 367. Bishiu. See Owari. Bizan, four generations of Awata potters, 202. Bizen province ware, early, 328, 331; varieties and characteristics, 329—332; modelled, 329; marks, 33 333; potters, 332; decline, 333 ; identification, 335. Blue under the glaze (^sous couverte') decoration, in Shonzui’s use, 21- 25 ; use by his successors, 25, 54 ; on Arita porcelain, 57, 73, 79, 123, 127; application, 68-70; subordination in Nabeshima ware, 96; on Hirado ware, 103, iio, I13, 128; on Satsuma faience, 152; on Kyoto faience, 179, 197 ; Rokubei’s landscapes, 212 ; on Kutani ware, 241 ; on Owari porcelain, 292; on Mino egg- shell porcelain, 303 ; modern success, 419. See also Decoration. Boku Heii, Korean potter in Satsuma, 135, 136; finds materials for Satsuma ware, 1 40 ; descendants, 141, 152. Bokuhaku, potter, 358. Bowes, J. L., error on Japanese por- celain, 18,39; on Japanese porce- lain in European collections, 121. Brocade pattern, in Old Japan ware, 81. Bunzo, various potters, descendants ofYasuchika, 188, 197. Butsuyu, name for Zengoro, 223. Buzen province, Agano ware, 402— 404 ; Ueno ware, 404. Carles, W. R., on Korean keramics, 48. Celadon y ancient reference to, 10 ; Chinese, 19 ; Korean, 47-49 ; Okawachi, ^8 ; attempted in Kyoto, 210 ; Himeji, 3^72 ; Meppb, 378; Sanda, 380; Seifu’ s, 417. See also Porcelain. Characteristics. See Identification. Chikaharu, Higuchi, potter, 117. Chikuzen. See Sohichi, Takatori. Chin family, potters, 141, 159, 422. China, ancient intercourse with Japan, II ; keramic primacy, 13, 19-21, 41 1— 413; art influence on japan, I 8 ; influence on Japanese keram- ics, 62, 416, 423 ; enamelled por- celains, 62 ; porcelain process, 72. Chobei, Yama-no-uchi, potter, 108. Chojiro of Kaga, potter, 246. Chbjiro, Tanaka, potter, 32, 36. Chokku-en. See Yohei (Yama-no- uchi) . Choniu, Tanaka, potter, 33, 37. Chosa, Satsuma, ware, origin, 136; Yoshihiro’s patronage, 136; char- acter of early ware, 136; faience, 136; varieties, 137, 169; change in location, 138; identification, 1 5 1 . Chosen-garatsu ware, 3 1 o. Chbshiu. See Nagato. Chosuke, potter, 247. Chowaken, potter, 227. Choyu. See Chojiro (Tanaka). Chozaemon, Haji or Ohi, potter an- cestry, 255; character of his Ohi ware, 255, 257; descendants, 256, 257. Chozo, potter, 232. 432 INDEX Chu Kobutsu ware, 271. Chubei, Agano, potters of several generations, 323. Chuzaemon, Fukuda, potter, 109. Chuzaemon, Higuchi, potter, 1 1 8. Chuzu, Agano, potter, 323. Civilisation, introduction, 2. Cloisonne. See Enamel. Cochin China ware, 214. Colours (pigments and enamels) , Mo- hammedan blue of Chinese porce- lain, 23 ; in Hizen porcelain, 68— 70, 74, 82, 87, 96, 103; in Satsuma faience, 150, 163; sub- stitution of pigments for enamels, 166, 167, 296, 391 ; in Awata faience, 189 ; in Kutani ware, 238 ; in Owari porcelain, 293. See also Decoration, Glaze. Comb pattern, 98. Composition, porcelain : Hizen stone, 58, 65 ; Hizen, 72, 73 ; Satsuma, 156; Kyot5, 234; various, 234, 407-409; Kaga, 241-244; Owari, 287, 288, 291 ; Nagato, 346; Awaji, 353; Aizu, 395; Ota, 406. Faience: Satsuma, 153, 156, 157 ; Kyoto, 203, 232 ; Kaga, 242-244 ; Shigaraki clay, 370 ; Makuzu, 405 ; various, 409. Chinese cobalt blue, 69. Crackle, in Arita and Okawachi porce- lain, 128 ; in Satsuma faience, 133, 146, 149; in Ninsei’s faience, 183. Decoration, keramic, of dolmen pot- tery, 3, 4; Shonzui’s style, 23; Korean, 47-50 ; Hawthorn pat- tern, 78 ; wealth of designs of Old Japan, 79, 80 ; figure subjects, 81, 104, 202 ; of Old Japan not char- acteristic, 83, 120— 122, 132; devices in Arita porcelain, 90 ; lacquer, 91-94, 198, 281, 326; VOL. VIII. — 28 Decoration (^continued')', paste, 94 ; of Okawachi porcelain, 96-98 ; comb pattern, 98 ; of Hirado or Mikawachi porcelain, 103—106 ; on Hizen egg-shell por- celain, 1 1 o ; character of Arita porcelain, 122; of old and new Satsuma faience, 134, 143, 146, 149, 167 ; of early Kyoto ware, 179; Ninsei’s, 184, 186; Ken- zan’s, 190; influence of the Shijo school of pictorial art, 194, 21 1 ; style of the Dohachi family, 194; style of the Kagiya family, 1 96 ; pate-sur-pate, 198, 200, 201 ; Rokubei’s, 21 1 ; Zengoro’s, 221, 224; of Rengetsu ware, 231 ; of Kutani ware, 238—241 ; Hachi- roemon’s Akaji-kinga, 249, 251 ; of the so-called Ohi ware, 258; of Oribe ware, 275; of Owari porcelain, 292, 295-297 ; of Mino porcelain, 303 ; of Yatsu- shiro ware, 322 ; distemper paint- ing of Fukakusa ware, 327 ; of Odo ware, 348, 349; of Awaji ware, 354> 355 ; ofKoto porcelain, 371 ; modern surface, 388-392; of Soma ware, 396; ‘‘ grains-of-rice,” 419 ; Satsuma a jouvy 421 ; modern under the glaze, 423. See also Blue under the glaze. Colours, En- amel, Glaze, Modelling. Delft faience, imitation of Hizen por- celain, 85 ; in Japan, 86 ; Japanese imitation, 197, 360. Denzo, potter, 401. Diraku Zengoro, potter, 188. Distemper painting on Fukakusa ware, Dohachi, Takahashi, potters of four generations, 193 ; decorative style, 194- Dolmen pottery, 2 ; decoration, 3-5 ; similarity to ancient Cyprus ware, 4. Domi, amateur potter, 178. Doniu, Tanaka, potter, 33, 36. 433 INDEX Doraku, Tanaka, potter, 36. Dosen, Irie, potter, 219. Dosuke, Ban, potter, 346. Ebisei. See Seibei Yahyo. Effigies on the dolmens, 5. Ehime Prefecture. See lyo, Sanuki. Eikichi, Honda, potter, 246. Eiraku, mark and name used by Zen- goro, 220, 221; family name of his descendants, 224. Eisen, amateur potter, manufactures Kyoto porcelain, 210. Eisuke, Nagahara, potter, 339. Enamel keramic decoration, first use on Japanese porcelain, 57 ; Chinese, 62 ; development at Arita, 61, 63 ; process and materials at Arita, 74 ; of Old Japan, 79, 80 ; varieties in Arita and Okawachi porcelain, 1 26 ; modern substitution of pig- ments, 129, 166, 167, 296, 391 ; use on Satsuma faience, 142, 145, 1 46 ; beginning of faience decora- tion, 1 80; Shubei’s, 216; on Kutani ware, 238-241 ; on so- called Ohi ware, 258 ; on Owari porcelain, 295 ; cloisonne y 297— 299; on Koto porcelain, 371. S>ee also Decoration. Enshiu. See Totomi. Enshiu-shigaraki ware, 369. Ezaiemon, Fukagawa, potter, 1 1 2 ; and the Koran-sha, 113. Faience, Korean, 46, 49-53 ; pro- cess, 160-164 ; mosaics, 386, 387 ; modern decoration under the glaze, 391 ; composition of various kinds, 409; Japanese primacy, 41 3. Chikuzen : Takatori, 3 14-3 1 8 ; Sohichi, 320. Higo : minor wares, 322; Yatsu- shiro, 322-325. Hizen : early Arita, 54; early Mikawachi, 100 ; Hikiba, 108. Faience (^continue : Kaga: Suizaka, 236; composi- - tion, 242-244 ; Wakasugi, 246, 251 ; revived Kutani, 248-251 ; Hachiroe, 249, 251 ; Ohi, 255-258; so- called Ohi, 258. Koratsu: earliest, 308; imitation of Seto, 309 ; development under Korean influences, 3 1 o, 3 1 1 ; presentation ware, 3 1 1 . Kyoto: RakUy 32-38, 386; early, 179, 187 ; art and in- fluence of Ninsei, 1 80-1 86 ; beginning of enamelled deco- ration, 181 ; identification, 184, 189, 204; coloured ware, 1 84, 212; Awata potters and wares, 187-204 ; modelled, 196; imitation of Delft, 197; phe-sur-pate AtQ- oration, 198—201 ; lacquer decoration, 198; composi- tion, 203, 232 ; comparison of Awata and Iwakura wares, 204—206 ; and Satsuma fai- ence, 206, 207 ; Mizoro, 208 ; Kyomizu ware and potters, 209—213 ; Mokubei’s imitations, 214 ; Zengoro’s ware, 220, 223, 224; Kan- zan’s ware, 227 ; physical character, 233. Owari and Mino : Seto, of Toshiro and his descendants, 265-272 ; later Seto, 272— 274, 278; Oribe, 275; Shino, 276 ; Gempin, 276 ; Mifukai, 278 ; Shuntai, 279 ; Toyosuke, 281 ; counterfeit Satsuma, 299 ; Setosuke, 300 ; early Mino, 301 ; polychrome glaze, 302. Satsuma: Occidental reputation, 133; character of old and new, I33-i35» 146-152, 166— 168 ; Chosa, and other 434 INDEX Faience {continued) : coloured, 136-139, 152, 168-170; origin of “ Sat- suma ware,’’ 140 ; produc- tion of enamelled, 142—146, 152; identification, 151, 1 66-1 68 ; hybrid, 151, 166; SamCy 153; composition, I53> 156, 157; Genriu, 157; modern conditions and methods, 158-166; imita- tion, 168, 299; scarcity of genuine '' old Satsuma,” 168; inferior, 171 ; com- pared with Kyoto faience, 206, 207 ; modern a jour decoration, 421. Yedo: first, 384; Imado, 385; Raku mosaics, 3 86 ; modelled, 387; Yedo Bankoy 387; Yedo Onizuay 387; Keren, 393. Miscellaneous : early Arita blue- and-white, 25 ; Fukakusa, 326; Shikase-yama, 327; Bizen, 328-333 ; Shidoro, 333-335 ; Izumo, 335-338; Sanuki, 341-343 ; Hagi, 344; modern Nagato, 347; Suo, 347 ; Odo, 348-350 ; Awaji, 351-354; Minato, 354; Asahi, 355 ; Akahada, 357 ; original Bankoy 358- 360 ; Yusetsu Bankoy 360— 365 ; Zeze, 366-368 ; Shi- garaki, 369; Maiko, 373; Akashi, 373, 374; Oniwa or Kairaku-eUy 375 ; Kobe, 379 ; Kosobe, 381 ; Sakurai, 382; KJkko, 383 ; Takahara, 383; Naniwa, 383; Aizu, 394 ; Soma, 396 ; Kishi Rakuy 397 ; Tachikui, 399; Sasayama, 399; Iga, 401 ; Agano, 402-404 ; Ueno, 404; Makuzu, 405, 416; Mito, 406. See also Keram- ics. Porcelain. Fine arts, influence of the tea cere- monial, 17 ; influence of tradition and the antique, 53, 410 ; influ- ence of Tokugawa epoch, 88. See also Keramics. Fuji family. See Hayashi. Fujikata Yasojo, potter, 254. Fujina ware, 336-339. Fujiwara Masakage, Kato Shirozae- mon’s real name, 263. Fukagawa family, potters, 112. Fukakusa ware, original unglazed, 326 ; Koemon’s improvements, 327 ; glazed ware, 327. Fukami family, potters, 113, 114. Fuka-umi Obasen, Korean potter in Hizen, 57. Fukuda family, potters, 108, 109. Fukuoka Prefecture. See Buzen. Fukushima family, potters, 115. Fukushima Prefecture. See Aizu, Iwaki. Fumai, chief of Izumo, patron of keramics, 337. Funaki family, potters, 336, 338. Furoken Kamefu, potter, 227. Furuse, potter, 346. Furuta Oribe, master of the tea ceremonial, originates Oribe ware, 275.^ Fushimi, Yamashiro, Fukakusa ware, 326. Fusuki, Funaki, potter, 338. Gaikyo. See Takenouchi Kinshu. Gembei, Takayama, potter, 218. Gempin, fugitive Chinese noble, his ware, 276. Genjiro. See Aitaro. Genjuro, amateur potter, 178. Gen-no-jo, Fukuda, potter, 108. Genriu. See Ono. Gensuke, Kawara, potter, 144, 158. Gentaro, Agano, potter, 324. Gifu Prefecture. See Mino. Gihei, potter, 247. Giokozan. 6'