Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/198

 son Hideyori and the renowned Iyeyasu, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of Regents, a feud which ended in the partial destruction of the splendid castle at Ōsaka, and temporarily checked the prosperity which had begun to smile upon Kyōtō after such a long interval of suffering and disturbance. It may be said that the condition of keramics in this city first began to deserve attention in the early part of the seventeenth century. Previous to that time the potter's art had been regarded as a species of genteel pastime, and had been practised by dilettanti who proposed to themselves no very high ideal and were good-naturedly appreciative of one another's achievements.

The first Kyōtō potter of whom there is any record was a scion of the Imperial family. This was Prince Unrin-in Yasuhito, seventh son of the Emperor Nimmyō. In the year 851 he is said to have settled at Kami-yama, in the Shigaraki district of the province of Omi, and there to have commenced the manufacture of pottery. His instructor in the art was Imbe Kyonushi, by some called the father of Japanese keramists. It is recorded that in the year 888, on the occasion of a festival, Yasuhito manufactured a vase with Kami-yama clay, and presented it to the Emperor Uda, who as a reward raised him to the fifth official rank and authorised him to take the family name of Genji. Yasuhito was thenceforth known as Minamoto no Yasuchika (Gen is an alternative pronunciation of Minamoto). As to the nature of his productions tradition is silent, but there can be no doubt that they were unglazed pottery. Some antiquarians have been disposed to believe that the art of glazing pottery was known to the experts of the Imperial city at the time when Yasuchika flourished. They found this idea on