Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/231

 ity. Its best representatives, for all their fine pâte, their extraordinary regular crackle, and the warm richness of their buff-coloured body, inevitably present, in greater or less degree, a comparatively fragile aspect. They vie with the Satsuma ware in delicacy of tone and richness of decoration, but stand to it, after all, in much the same relation as that in which faience stands to ivory.

Large quantities of Iwakura-yaki and Awata-yaki have been fraudulently placed upon Western markets as genuine Satsuma-yaki. A little experience should obviate any danger of confounding the two. The ware of Kyōtō, being much less dense than that of Satsuma, is appreciably lighter, and its glaze has a more marked tinge of yellow. Specimens of Satsuma faience which, from the yellowish colour of their glaze, might be mistaken for Kyōtō productions, will be found to possess the characteristics of stone-ware rather than of pottery. Yet in spite of these well-marked differences, it is probable that much of the so-called "Satsuma ware" of Western collections was in reality manufactured in Kyōtō.

Another factory that attained some prominence after Ninsei's time is that of Gobosatsu, or Mizoro. Consulting the record of the family of Minamoto no Yasuchika, given above, it will be seen that from the early part of the sixteenth century, that is to say, from a period antecedent to Ninsei's time by more than a hundred years, potteries existed at Mizoro. Their products, however, were limited to unglazed utensils such as wine-bottles, cups, plates, and bowls for use in religious rites. There was always a demand for unglazed pottery in Kyōtō. In the Imperial Palace vessels of this kind were used in great numbers, cus-