Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/283

 * He was further commissioned to supply pottery every new year for use in the mansions of the Kaga family, and he executed various special commissions for the Kaga princesses. He died in 1856.
 * 6. Ohi Sakutarō; continued to enjoy the special patronage of the Kaga family.
 * 7. Ohi Michitada; had the honour of being admitted to the outer audience chamber of the Kaga mansion, and received various rewards from the Kaga family. He abandoned the potter's trade in 1869, after the fall of the feudal system, but resumed it in 1885, establishing his kiln at Kasugamachi.

Here, as in the case of the Raku-yaki of Kyōtō, it is necessary to caution the reader against basing any extravagant idea of the Ohi faience on the comparative accuracy of its records. Whenever in Japan any branch of industry has been the specialty of one family, it is always easy to compile such a table as the above. The Ohi-yaki was, in truth, an unattractive faience, only redeemed from utter homeliness by the occasional skill of its modellers and the peculiar amber-like colour and transparency of its glaze. Its annals are interesting, however, as showing the intimate nature of the patronage extended by families of feudal chiefs in Japan to the artists and artisans in their fiefs. The articles manufactured by the Ohi potters in former days were chiefly utensils for the Cha-no-Yu. These are still highly valued by Japanese connoisseurs. In the majority of cases the mark of the factory (Ohi) is stamped in the pâte.

During the present century Raku ware after the fashion of the Ohi-yaki has been manufactured by two families of Kaga potters besides that of Haji Chōzae-