474 ART INDUSTRY AND REL/ITED OCCUPATIONS. 



which common felspar or plagioklas crystals have crumbled away. 

 G. vom Rath found on the walls of these spaces and on small clefts 

 and corners, infinitesimally small splinters of iron mica and ap- 

 parently new-formed little quartz crystals. These little crystal- 

 shaped cavities are seen in every specimen and are therefore 

 the most striking marks for the recognition and distinction of the 

 Amakusa stone. This rock contains a large proportion of potash, 

 as may be seen in the analysis of C Sarnow, I. Table B. A com- 

 parison of the chemical composition of other stones given there, 

 shows that in this respect Amakusa-ishi stands next to the peg- 

 matite (VIII.) of Ylikan in China. 



Amakusa belongs to the province of Higo, situated to the east, 

 on the island of Kiushiu, where a clay-ware manufacture was 

 established at Yatsushiro, after the Corean expedition, which is 

 more notable for the peculiar treatment and ornamentation of its 

 productions than for their extent and high character. Kato 

 Kiyomasa,^ the great antagonist of Konishi Yukinaga and bitter 

 enemy of the Christians (see vol. i. p. 284), is said to have brought 

 about their introduction through the Corean Kizo. It is a kind of 

 stone-ware or hard porcelain, of a grey or greyish brown colour, in 

 which the decorations are of inlaying or incrustations of white 

 porcelain material, similar to that of Banko-Yaki. (See Plate 

 XXIII., figure 2, on the right at the top of the page). 



Satsuma Faience of Kagoshima and Nayeshirogawa. 



The province of Satsuma, which bounds Higo on the south, is 

 known to collectors as furnishing the most beautiful and most 

 valuable Faience of Fastern Asia. Satsuma- Yaki, the designation 

 given it in the country, is distinguished less by its composition than 

 by its decoration. Whatever can be conceived by inventive genius, 

 taste and perseverance, is here accomplished in form and decor- 

 ations.2 A glaze adapted to the ware, varying in its soft yellow 

 colour from that of old ivory to cream, is the fitting groundwork 

 of this ornamentation, that consists of fine hairlike cracks {craquele) 

 of the glaze, and in open work and relief decorations of the material 



^ A remarkable equestrian statue in bronze, representing this hero, may be 

 seen in the Industrial Art Museum at Kensington. 



2 The heliotype (Plate XXI.) representing an urn of cream white Faience 

 of Kagoshima shows the character of the decoration of Satsuma- Yaki in one of 

 its most original forms, which Japan has borrowed from China, and often 

 employs for censers, but in such case, in metal. The two winglike handles, 

 with their grotesque decoration, are specially striking. The vessel rests on 

 three feet and terminates at the top in a Botan blossom {PcEonia Moidan), 

 forming a knob on the cover. It is painted with gold and muffle colours. 

 The principal pattern of the ornaments, the leaves and blossoms of the chrysan- 

 themum and patrinia (Kiku-no-hana and Omina-meshi, p. 274) are distinctly 

 seen in the illustration. 



