458 ART INDUSTRY AND RELATED OCCUPATIONS. 



especially in baking stone-ware for household purposes, has been 

 used for many centuries. Coloured opaque glazing was introduced 

 gradually, but the white tin enamel has never become really do- 

 mesticated, not even in Cloisonne ware. In the centuries following, 

 the introduction and general adoption of tea and the so-called Cha- 

 no-yu, or ceremonial tea parties (in which ladies, however, took no 

 part), proved a peculiar stimulus to the manufacture of pottery. 

 Tea-pots, tea-cups, and urn-like covered vases for preserving tea, 

 were much in demand. But the taste of the time had a peculiar 

 tendency, as the coarse hand-made vessels were preferred if they 

 could only show the black glazing, which was especially valued for 

 the preservation of the tea. These properties were found notably 

 in the kind of pottery known by the name of Raku-yaki. This 

 was brought to Kioto about 15 70, by a Corean named Amenya, 

 and called at first Juraku-yaki, after a quarter of the city in which 

 the furnace was located. But after it had met with the approval 

 of the mighty Taiko-sama (Hideyoshi), who distinguished its maker 

 by bestowing on him a golden seal, bearing the inscription Raku, 

 "delight," this word became universal as the designation of these 

 wares. 



The fancy for Raku-yaki and similar vessels for the preservation 

 and preparation of tea, as well as the high price which was paid 

 for such black jars in the second half of the i6th century, is 

 mentioned by several authors of that time, Jan Huygen van Lin- 

 schoten ^ and Antonio de Morga," among others. Page 287 of 

 the English edition of Morga has this paragraph : — 



" In this island of Luzon . . . there are to be found amongst 

 the natives some large jars of very ancient earthenware, of a dark 

 colour, and not very sightly. . . . The Japanese seek for them 

 and value them because they have found out that the root of a 

 herb which they call Cha (tea), which is drunk hot, as a great 

 dainty and a medicine among the kings and lords of Japan, does 

 not keep or last except in these jars." 



It may indeed be doubted whether the peculiar tendency of 

 taste which originated with the Cha-no-yu, was not more of a 

 hindrance than a means of advancement, in ceramics. Toward 

 the end of the i6th century, this art succeeded in gaining a new 

 foundation, upon which it soon attained a freer and more powerful 

 position. This was the introduction of porcelain industry from 

 China, to which the expedition of the Hideyoshi to Corea, was 

 the stimulating impulse (see vol. i. p. 266). Before we take up 

 minutely the introduction and development of higher ceramic art 

 in Japan, let us glance first at its products generally, and their 

 origin in China. 



^ "The voyage of J. H. Van Linschoten to the East Indies." From the old 

 English translation of 1598, by A. Biirnell. London, Hakluyt Society, 1875. 



2 "The Philippine Islands, Moluccas, Siam, Cambodia, Japan and China, at 

 the close of the 1 6th century, byA.de Morga." London, Hakluyt Society, 1868 



