Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/274

 nership with Awaya Genemon and Sumiya Sakubei, to revive the methods of the old Ao-Kutani porcelain. The factory where these experiments were carried on, at Rendaiji (in the Nōmi district) was under Genemon's direction. From 1843 till 1850 Kikusaburo, Genemon, and Sakubei worked there; after which they opened another kiln at the neighbouring village of Motoe, and continued the same style of manufacture for three years longer. Matsumoto Kikusaburo then settled finally at Komatsu, and in 1867 handed his business over to his son Matsumoto Sahei. Referring to what has been said above, it will be seen that in 1830 a factory was established at Ono-mura by Yabu Rokuemon. Here, for the first time in Kaga, a kiln was built of the shape known as nabori-gama; that is to say, a number of vaulted chambers arranged, one above the other, on an inclined plane. This form of furnace was more economical for stoving small pieces than the round kiln (maru-gama) previously employed. Its superior facilities, the patronage of the local authorities, and the enterprise of the potters brought about a marked development of keramic industry in the Nōmi district. Between 1854 and 1859, when this impulse was at its height, there were factories at seven places—Wakasugi-mura, Yawata-mura, Ono-mura, Sano-mura, Yutani-mura, Wake-mura, and Tokuyama-mura—each possessing a nobori-gama of from five to twelve compartments, and the whole giving employment to over two hundred artisans.

Extracting salient facts from these somewhat confusing details, it appears that, after an interval of about thirty years' cessation, the keramic industry of Kaga was revived (1779) in the Nōmi district, by a fugitive