Of these there were several kinds—the first, Ao-Kutani, was so called from the deep green glaze (ao = green) which was largely used in its decoration; and other glazes—yellow, purple, and soft Prussian blue—made up a rich, low-toned harmony of great beauty. In the second class of ware the Arita style of decoration was followed, except that the Kutani potter used blue under the glaze very seldom, and only in subordinate positions. Their chief colours were red—a soft, dull, rich colour varying from Indian red to a russet brown—and yellow, purple, and blue, supplemented by silver and gold.

Their designs were largely made by Morikaga, a pupil of Tanyu—landscapes, birds, and flowers being the chief subjects.

A third famous ware of Kutani, which may be termed the red Kutani as distinguished from the green, had a ground of rich red, with diapers or medallions decorated in yellow, green, purple, and red enamels. Another style had the ground entirely of red, to which designs were applied in silver and gold, light green, and sometimes yellow and purple enamels.

For some reason the activity of the Kutani factory only continued for about sixty years, and during the next hundred years there followed a period of inaction. In the middle of the nineteenth century the manufacture was revived, both the red and the green Old Kutani wares being imitated, but with doubtful success. The modern colours, especially in the case of the red, lack the softness of the old, and are, comparatively speaking, harsh and glaring.

In 1827, at Edamachi Kanazawa, a kiln was founded which produced a beautiful faience known as Ohi-yaki, which is characterised by enamelled decoration of great delicacy and refinement.

The foregoing are the most important of the old Keramic arts, for the most distinguished products of the pre-Meji days may be summed up as the porcelain of Hizen and Kutani and the faience of Satsuma and Kioto.

A number of wares of lesser importance remain, chief among these being the Owari wares.

It will be remembered that it was to Seto in Owari that Toshiro returned after his visit to China in the thirteenth century, and founded the industry which entitles him to the name of “The Father of Japanese Pottery.” But from that time till the beginning of the nineteenth century little change took place in the character of the Seto wares, which continued to be stoneware and earthenware vessels, and little else. About 1801, however, a Seto potter visited Hizen, and after studying in the factories there returned, and founded a porcelain manufactory in Seto. Soon they attained great proficiency in the production of a blue-and-white ware which rivalled the products of Hizen. Their large pieces were particularly fine examples of firing, the technical difficulties to be overcome being enormous. The quality, however, of this ware rapidly deteriorated after 1850.

At about the same time a soft-crackled faience was made at Nagoya by a potter called Toyosuke. It is a soft-crackled faience of the Raku type, covered on the inside with a greenish white glaze decorated with bold floral designs, and on the outside with a thin coat of lacquer.

And now, for the remaining smaller branches of the industry a passing mention must suffice.

In the province of Bizen was manufactured a curious hard stoneware of a bluish grey colour, which chiefly took the form of vigorously modelled figures of gods, men, animals, and birds. Indeed, in the Bizen stoneware you find repeated in another form, but with the same vigour and originality, the achievements of the netsuké carver and the tsuba worker—Hotei, the pot-bellied god of contentment, being a favourite subject for treatment.

At Ise a wealthy amateur named Gozayemon founded a kiln in 1736, executing a ware which was known as Ko Banko. In the beginning of the nineteenth century a potter, Mori Yusetsu, conceived the idea of imitating this old ware. The imitator, however, was a much better artist than his prototype, and soon the new Banko ware was both widely different from, and of a much finer quality than, the old. This ware was worked on a mould, which was placed inside the article, and the clay pressed in with the fingers, the mould being afterwards removed in sections. The decoration was vigorous and artistic, consisting often of dragons, storks, etc., in relief.

In Higo a very beautiful ware called Yatsushiro was made. It is a dense faience coated with a film of pale grey clay by immersion in slip; the design, usually a delicate diaper, is then engraved and the lines filled in with white clay—the whole being covered with a finely-crackled glaze.

Mention must be made also of the beautiful eggshell ware of Mino—delicate little saké cups and other vessels encased in envelopes of bamboo basket-work; and also of the Fujina ware of Idzumo—a faience decorated with beautifully executed designs of insects.

At Nakamura, in Iwaki, a kiln was opened in 1650, and here the ware known as Soma ware was produced. It is said that the Kano painter Naonobu, drew as a crest for Soma Yoshitane the galloping horse which in varying forms is seen on almost every piece of this ware.

Other lesser kilns are too numerous to mention, and existed in almost every province.

The British Museum possesses a good and varied collection of Japanese Keramic ware, but, unfortunately, the lack of a catalogue and the absence of any systematic arrangement, or even of proper labelling, takes away much from its usefulness to the student.

A Japanese Fan