Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/131

 former place, but the stone of Izumi-yama was ill-adapted to the purpose. It is recorded that about the year 1820 a fire, occurring at one of the Arita factories, destroyed nearly the whole hamlet. The potters were reduced to great straits, and had almost despaired of carrying on their industry, when one of their leaders, Hisatani Yojibei, assembled his comrades and suggested the expedient of manufacturing porcelain expressly for foreign markets. It is not to be inferred that the productions of Arita had hitherto been confined to Japanese use. They were unquestionably exported by the Dutch. But the pieces sent to Nagasaki with this object were the surplus rather than the staple of the manufacture. Hisatani's idea was that an effort should be made to develop foreign sales, as no other prospect offered of recouping the losses caused by the fire. The potters adopted his counsel. A quantity of porcelain was soon ready for sale, but the question was how to sell it. The consent of Nabeshima, chief of Hizen, had to be first obtained; after which Hisatani himself proceeded to Nagasaki to manage the business. There, however, he found that the number of merchants permitted to engage in foreign trade was strictly limited to ten. These monopolists refused peremptorily to imperil the porcelain market by throwing on it a sudden profusion of Arita wares. Hisatani did not succumb to such adverse circumstances. He set himself down in Nagasaki, and after ten years of perseverance, varied only by differences in the degree of hardship endured, he succeeded in purchasing the privilege of one of the monopolists. During this interval of waiting he had time to study the tastes of European customers, as interpreted by the Dutch. He learned that the