Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/138

 stone of Uchino, instead of that imported from Amakusa, and by devising a mechanical method of tracing decorative designs. The design was cut in paper, and the latter being laid on the surface of the porcelain, a few strokes of the brush sufficed to transfer the picture. Fortunately for Japanese keramic art this degrading device is confined to the manufacture of common utensils.

A distinguished pupil of Fuji Tsunetaka was another member of the Higuchi family, Higuchi Chuzaemon. After twenty years of apprenticeship he was entrusted (circa 1840) by Tsunetaka with the manufacture of wares for official use. In 1840 the feudal prince of Hizen caused a private kiln to be built within the precincts of his castle, and placed it under the control of Chuzaemon. Many excellent pieces were manufactured at this factory. In 1886 Chuzaemon succeeded Fuji Tsunetaka in the control of the Odashi workshops, and was himself succeeded by his son Higuchi Heibei, who now carries on the industry. Heibei and his associates built, some years ago, a new and improved kiln at Higashi-yama.

Other experts whose names deserve to be recorded are as follows: Urakawa Yoemon, who lived in the Tempō era (1830–1843). He restored to some degree of prosperity the factory of Nishiyama. His wares were widely sold under the name of Yoemon-yaki, but their quality was not sufficiently fine to entitle them to a high place among Hizen wares.

Nakashima Nobunari, a man of gentle birth, who in 1869 discovered porcelain stone at Fujiwara and established a factory there.

Tanaka, Eiichi, a potter of Sarayama, in the Shirakabe district. Dissatisfied with the materials used at the factory, Tanaka, after much search, succeeded in finding good porcelain stone at Taohi-ishi, and subsequently formed an association called the Kyōryoku-Kaisho, in 1884.

Special mention must be made of a factory in the neighbourhood of Nagasaki called Kame-yama. There are various traditions with respect to the origin of this factory. Some say that it was due to official inception; others that it was purely a private enter-