CERAMICS. 483 



that, usually, it does not require much practice to recognise it. 

 Generally a conventional ornamental space in gold and red, in 

 many cases a meander, divides the surface to be decorated into 

 separate fields, on which the paintings proper, human figures, 

 flowers, birds, clouds consisting of single points of iron-red, are 

 represented. Sometimes, too, these pictures are executed in 

 enamel colours, although this is much less frequent than in 

 Seto-mono. Many articles of Kutani-yaki are among the most 

 beautiful that ceramic industry in general has ever furnished, 

 because of their extremely careful and effective decoration. The 

 character of this decaration may be distinctly seen in the heliotype 

 on Plate XXII. 



Banko-yaki. The province of Ise yields, under this name, in the 

 cities Yokkaichi and Kuvvana. on the T6kai-d6, as well as in several 

 towns between them, partly flint-ware and partly a kind of glazed 

 earthenware with beautiful enamel decorations, which has been 

 called very aptly Japanese Majolica. In a narrower sense, how- 

 ever, Banko-yaki consists of clay- wares having a red to dark 

 brown, yellowish, or white colour, either plain, marbled or painted. 

 They are extremely tasteful, but thin, light, and not very durable, 

 burning very hard, and exhibiting in the potsherd quite the 

 character of stone-ware. They are generally smaller articles, tea- 

 pots, jugs, small vases and several others which are formed neither 

 on the wheel nor by the hand, but in adjustable katas or moulds. 

 The ferruginous clay which is used for the coloured ware is ob- 

 tained in several places on a neighbouring hill near Obuke ; the 

 white ware is from the porcelain material of Seto. When the two 

 kinds have been finely pulverized and washed, pressed through 

 cloths and transformed to plastic paste, they are separated for the 

 plain wares and mixed for the marbled ; i.e. in the latter case 

 they are superficially kneaded together, and then rolled to a thin 

 paste like cake dough. The adjustable wooden moulds, having 

 a long prismatic or cylindrical piece as a handle in the middle, 

 are made wet and covered with strips of oiled or Shibu-saturated 

 paper. The sheets of doughy paste are then pressed firmly on all 

 parts of the mould. That which lies over the edges is trimmed 

 off. Special strips of the material are laid on and pressed close 

 together to form the neck ; the bottom also is cut out by itself and 

 pressed on. The same is done with the handle and spout, which 

 must be ready made beforehand. When the pot is thus modelled 

 on the kata and somewhat dried, the form is taken apart and out 

 from the centre, and the article placed to dry, after which the strips 

 of Shibu-gami may be easily removed. The cover is formed 

 separately also. The burning lasts twenty-four hours and the 

 articles are not glazed. 



The four pots on Plate XXIII. are decorated each in a different 

 fashion. The rings and knobs of the covers of the two upper pots 

 may be turned easily. The vertical striping of both is effected by a 



