Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/285

 Raku faience, in Edamachi, Kanazawa, in 1827. It is to Gembei's son, Awaya Genemon, however, that the credit belongs of bringing the manufacture to its highest point of excellence. This expert's name has already been mentioned. To him, working in conjunction with Matsumoto Kikusaburo at the Rendaiji factory, is due the revival of the Ao-kutaniKutani [sic] ware in the Nōmi district of Kaga. Simultaneously he carried on the manufacture of enamelled Raku faience—essentially a domestic industry—at his house in Edamachi. He flourished from 1843 to 1865, and left behind him some specimens which are now eagerly sought by connoisseurs. Genemon's mastery of the technique of his craft seems to have been very remarkable. He was noted for his extraordinary success as a potter of ro-buchi,—square frames used at Tea Ceremonials to form lips for fire-boxes. To produce faience of such a shape with mathematical accuracy was a feat quite beyond the strength of any but the most dextrous keramist. His skill as a decorator combined with his remarkable mastery of keramic processes may be seen to greatest advantage in faience writing-boxes (suzuri-bako) and writing-desks (kendai), which are as true and accurate as joiner's work. Genemon was succeeded by his son Aoki Eigorō, who, though not without skill, could not emulate his father's achievements. The manufacture, temporarily abandoned in 1862, was recently resumed. Eigoro now confines himself to decorative work. He is successful in the preparation and use of enamels, but the ware itself, being no longer a family specialty, falls palpably below the quality of the earlier faience.

It may be worth while to mention that the term Kaga-yaki (ware of Kaga) has, of late years, come to