TWO CHAPTERS FROM THE TOKIKO 



I. Objects of the Namban 



The pottery of the Namban Islands which are Amakawa, 1 Luzon, 2 

 Mo-u-ru, 3 Eastern India, 4 Cochin, 5 Annam, Nekoro, 6 and Taiwan 

 (Formosa) is usually named according to the locality where it is manu- 

 factured. In case that its place of origin is not obvious, the people 

 simply speak of Namban objects, as Namban is a general designation 

 for all these places. While the best productions of the Namban are 

 tea-canisters (cha-ire), we have no reason to doubt that they produce 

 also utensils of othefr character. When I investigated a pitcher (mi- 



© 



zusashi) shaped like] pi, experts took it for the ware called Enshu- 



Mikirigata Takatori. 7 It was made from a black-purple clay covered 

 with a silvery lustre and brilliant with black marks. I had it exposed 



1 The name is transcribed in the text only in Katakana signs, not given in 

 Chinese characters, which would facilitate its identification. Judging from its 

 phonetic composition, it sounds Japanese, and amakawa is indeed a Japanese word 

 (meaning "the inner bark of a tree"). No such geographical name, as far as I know, 

 occurs in Japan, the Luchu Islands, or the Philippines. It is mentioned farther 

 below in this text that it forms with Luzon and Formosa the group of Three Islands 

 (Mishima) and produces pottery of white clay and grayish glaze. 



2 In Japanese pronunciation: Rusun (Chinese: Lii-sung). 



3 Presumably the Moluccas; written only in Katakana. 



4 In Japanese : To Indu. In other passages the word Tenji (Chinese : T' ien- 

 chu) is used for India. 



6 The Chinese designation Kiao-chih is used. 



6 Possibly the Nikobars. 



7 The designation of the famous master of tea-ceremonies (chanoyu) Kobori 

 Masakazu (i 576-1 645) and a group of pottery manufactured according to his 

 instructions in Takatori in the province of Chikuzen (see F. Brinkley, Japan, Vol. 

 VIII, Keramic Art, p. 318; Oueda Tokounosouke, La ceramique japonaise, pp. 

 89, 93). This name is given in distinction from the Ko-Takatori (Old Takatori) 

 started by Korean settlers in that district. It is not very likely that the above 

 mentioned pitcher is of real Takatori make, as a glaze of that description does not 

 occur among Takatori productions known to us, which generally are of white, 

 light-blue or ash-colored glazes, or take the Chinese "transmutation glaze" (yao 

 pien) as model. Our author evidently means to express the same opinion which 

 leads him to class the piece in question among foreign or Namban wares. — In this 

 connection, it is interesting to note that in the ancient pottery kilns at Sawankalok, 

 Siam, small vases and bottles have been discovered by Mr. T. H. Lyle, described 

 by Mr. C. H. Reid as being "of a fine pottery covered with mottled glaze, the 

 shapes often elegant, and sometimes highly finished, recalling the fine tea-jars made 

 at Takatori in the province of Chikuzen in Japan" {Journal Anthropological Insti- 

 tute, Vol. XXXIII, 1903, p. 244). 



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