466 ART INDUSTRY AND RELATED OCCUPATIONS. 



purpose is mostly of the simplest form, the shaping board serving 

 at the same time as the swinging-wheel. It has a hole near the 

 edge in which a rod, 20 centimeters long, is placed, by which it is 

 set in motion. In a more developed state, as at Arita, for instance, 

 the larger wheel is bound firmly to the shaping board, some 20 to 

 30 centimeters apart, by four rods, and is turned with the feet. 

 Plaster of Paris, moulds and castings of the material are as un- 

 common as the employment of patterns and models. These are 

 indeed striking wants, but the Japanese substitutes for them his 

 great skill in the handling of his machine and of the remarkably 

 plastic material. Articles having an elliptical or polygonal cross- 

 section cannot of course be turned on the wheel, but are shaped in 

 moulds of burnt clay or w^ood. In the latter . case, the Kata or 

 mould is separated into smaller parts. (See Banko-yaki.) The 

 handle, cover and its knob, sieve and spout of teapots, etc., are 

 each formed separately and fastened to the body of the vessel. 



For example, the spout with its sieve on the inside, the foot, 

 handle, cover, and chain, as well as the applied decoration (pate 

 sur pate) of the pot of grey stone-ware, 16 centimeters high, from 

 Kuwana in Ise (Fig. 19) were all shaped separately and then fitted 

 to the pot itself The handle and cover represent branches of the 

 popular Matsu or pine, which divide and lie with their needles 

 close upon the foundation. The bamboo decoration is also shaped 

 by itself and pressed on, and the circle of Kiku-no-hana, or Chrys- 

 anthemum flowers at the base. All the figures are of the same 

 material, a rough, lustreless biscuit on the outside, and trans- 

 parently enamelled within. 



Porcelain firing is done with pine-wood as fuel, and in the so- 

 called low furnace, the Kama, like other clay-wares. A quick 

 drying of the ware in the biscuit kiln goes before the hard burning 

 of the porcelain. This furnace, a simple vault of moderate size, is 

 almost always placed in the courtyard of the factory. The interior 

 is divided lengthwise into a narrow passage for the fire, and a 

 wider space for an oven, by a wall 60 centimeters high, made 

 of upright, thick slabs of fire clay. The articles to be burned 

 are generally placed in the oven without covering. There is an 

 opening at one end of the fire passage for putting in wood, and a 

 place is made for the draft at the sill and through a row of holes 

 high at the back. When the fire is lighted, the flame mounts over 

 the fire-proof partition wall away to the top of the arch, follows it 

 up over the porcelain chamber, and then falls on the steeper side, 

 and operates by its heat on the porcelain from above, the same as 

 on the other side. The length of time necessary for burning the 

 biscuit varies greatly, depending on the material, the construction 

 of the furnace, etc., and can only be determined by experience. 



After cooling the porcelain, comes painting under glaze with 

 cobalt, and other decoration, then immersion in the glazing 

 material, and drying, just as with us. 



