RERAMIC STUDIO 
27? 
the highest degree of perfection and excellence ever attained. 
The best examples were made at Mikochi between 1740 and 
1830. The pate is exceptionally fine and pure, and the ex- 
cellence of the ware was the result of unlimited pains in tri- 
turating, washing and straining the clay. The preparation of 
the glazing material alone occupied several months. The dec- 
orations were almost entirely in blue, of a shade between the 
intense blue of the old Chinese artists and the light blue of the 
Nabeshima ware — exquisitely soft and clear, and harmoniz- 
ing perfectly with the milk-white^ velvet-like glaze in which 
it seems to float. It is said that only a few pieces of really 
choice Hirado ware have been allowed to leave Japan, and it 
is only within recent years, owing to the craze for blue and 
white ware, that the Japanese have placed this ware on the 
market, and then only in limited quantities. 
To the Satsuma ware has been generally assigned the 
first place among all the faiences of Japan. This must not be 
confounded, however, with the mass of showy objects bearing 
that name, which have been exported to this country and 
Europe during the last twenty years or so, and which differ 
in many essential respects from the beautiful ware so highly 
prized by Japanese connoisseurs. Satsuma ware dates back to 
1598 when Shimazu Yoshi-hiro, chieftain of Satsuma, on his 
return from the invasion of Korea, brought with him a large 
number of workmen including several skilled potters. Subse- 
quently, some of the best workmen settled at Chosa in the 
province of Osumi, and here the world renowned ware was 
made. Sometimes Korean models were copied, some being 
covered with glaze of green, yellow or black. Indeed, its 
chief beauty lay in the glaze, of which two, three and some- 
times four coats were applied. A potter named Saburohei 
was especially skillful in the preparation of this glaze. His 
pieces bear no mark, but some critics can distinguish them at 
once by their excellence of shape and lustrous surface. 
In the latter third of the seventeenth century the Prince 
of Sasshiu established a factory in the grounds of his own 
castle, and a number of pieces destined entirely for private use 
or for presents, were made. The celebrated painter Tangen 
was engaged to do the decorating, and certain specimens 
known to this day as "Satsuma-Tangen", are among the best 
treasures of Japanese collectors. 
It is said that a genuine Satsuma tea jar can be readily 
identified by a mark, known as " ito-giri," left on the bottom 
by the thread with which the potter severed the piece from 
the clay out of which it was modeled. It may be objected 
that such a mark is found on all well made Japanese tea jars, 
but it should be carefully remembered that, as the Korean 
workmen who settled in Satsuma, turned the throwing-wheel 
with the left foot, while potters at other factories turned it 
with the right, the spiral of the Satsuma thread-mark is from 
left to right, while that of other factories is from right to left. 
The manufacture of enameled faience in Japan dates 
back to 1653, when the secret of decorating with verifiable 
enamels, which had been acquired, it will be recalled, by 
Tokuzayemon, some years before, fell into the hands of 
Nomura Ninsei, who lived in a village near Kioto. He had a 
genius for decorating pottery, and in his hands, with the 
special knowledge he had gained, Kioto faience became an 
object of rare beauty. Not only was the pate of his pieces 
close and hard, but the almost circular crackle of the buff or 
cream-colored glaze was nearly as regular as a spider's web. 
The commonest pieces were of hard, close-grained clay, verg- 
ing upon brick-red. In others the color was a yellowish grey, 
while the texture was nearly as fine as that of pipe-clay. 
Among his monochrome glazes was a metallic black, run over 
a grass-green in such a way that the latter shows just enough 
to prevent the effect from being too sombre. On the surface 
of this glaze, or else in reserved medallions of cream-like 
crackle, are painted chaste floral designs in gold, silver, red and 
other colored enamels. Another of his glazes was a pearl- 
white, through which a pink blush seems to spread. He also 
produced charming tints in golden brown, chocolate and buff, 
while his skill as a modeler was unsurpassed. Decorated 
faience then became the rage, and in some parts of Kioto 
nearly every house had its little workshop and kiln. 
The most important of these kilns was established in 1620 
by Kuzayemon and was known as " Awata." He copied Nin- 
sei's methods, decorating his pieces with black and blue pig- 
SATSUMA 
1MARI (HIZENJ 
