Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/226

 butted. But their pieces still retain many of the best characteristics of the Japanese school and are undoubtedly works of high excellence. For several years an art association—the Kiriu Kōshō Kaisha of Tōkyō—monopolised the whole of Tanzan's pâte-sur-pâte manufactures and exported them to the United States, where they are probably at least as well known as in Japan, their costliness being a serious objection to Japanese householders. Since 1884 this special export has ceased, and Tanzan Rokuro now exhibits his works in a large warehouse at Awata. Few places in the old Japanese city will better repay a visit.

An Awata potter who attained considerable reputation for his skill in delineating figure subjects was Hasegawa Kumenosuke, whose artist name was Gekka, or Bizan. He began life as a painter, having studied under Okamoto Toyohiko. In 1820 he joined Taizan Yōhei, the sixth representative of the Taizan family, and worked at Awata until his death in 1838. Few of his productions survive, and it may be said that his methods were popularised by his adopted son and successor, Yozaemon, known in art as the Second Bizan. This expert made a special study of official costumes and of the rich dresses worn by the nobles in the posture-plays called Nō. He decorated his wares with figures thus apparelled. In technical execution few potters of Awata excelled him. The pâte of his faience was fine and hard, the glaze remarkably lustrous, the crackle uniform, and the enamels used in the decoration were of the purest quality. His mastery of technical processes did not, however, betray him into any excesses: his pieces generally show sparse decoration. He died in 1862, and was succeeded by his son, the third Bizan, who extended the