Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/366

 many difficulties and discouragements, succeeded in striking out new lines and establishing new standards of excellence. The main features of this fresh departure were, first, that the character of the decorative designs was changed, and, secondly, that the quality and range of the colours underwent great improvement. Three clearly differentiated schools came into existence. One, headed by Namikawa Yasuyuki, of Kyōtō, took for its objects the utmost delicacy and perfection of technique, richness of decoration, purity of design, and harmony of colours. The thin, clumsily shaped vases of the Kaji school, with their uniformly distributed decoration of diapers, scrolls, and arabesques in comparatively dull colours, ceased altogether to be produced, their place being taken by graceful specimens technically flawless and carrying designs not only free from stiffness but also executed in colours at once rich and soft.

The next school may be subdivided, Kyōtō representing one branch, Nagoya, Tōkyō, and Yokohama the other. In the products of the Kyōtō branch the decoration generally covered the whole surface of the piece; in the products of the other branch the artist aimed rather at pictorial effect, placing the design in a monochromatic field of low tone. Many exquisite specimens of cloisonné enamels have been produced by each branch of this school. There is nothing like them to be found in any other country, and they stand at an immeasurable distance above the works of early Owari experts represented by Kaji Tsunekichi, his pupils and colleagues.

The second of the modern schools is headed by Namikawa Sosuke, of Tōkyō. It is an easily traced