Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/129

 somewhat rude stone-ware manufactured with clay found at an adjacent hill called Nagao. A century later, however, considerable improvements were introduced, and in 1784 four potters, Moto-ishi Heishichi, Fukuda Juemon, Fukuda Chūzaemon, and Fukuda Seimon, developed so much skill in the production of coarsely crackled glazes that teacups of their manufacture attracted the attention of their feudal chief and were thenceforth regularly presented by him, through the Governor of Nagasaki, to the Court at Yedo. The usual decoration on these cups was a branch of peach, with fruit and leaves, in blue sous couverte. Porcelain does not appear to have been manufactured at Hikiba until 1860, when the Amakusa stone began to be used in conjunction with materials from the Goto islands and Tsushima, Representatives of the Moto-ishi and Fukuda families still work there; namely, Moto-ishi Heishichi, Fukuda Yazaemon, Fukuda Katsuzaemon, and Fukuda Iemon.

Mention is here made only of potters whose families have included artists of distinction. The number of families actually engaged in the industry at Mikawachi in the days of the factory's prosperity was thirty-six. The kilns were all under the nominal superintendence of officials appointed by the Baron of Omura (i. e. the Hirado Chief), a special directorate for the purpose having been appointed as far back as 1666, though it was not until the middle of the following century that official interference assumed a helpful form.

From the Tempō era (1830) the Hirado porcelain began to show marked signs of inferior technique, and with the abolition of feudalism (1868) the production of fine pieces ceased altogether for a time.