Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/287



HE province of Owari, or Bishiu, now included in Aichi Prefecture, is full of interest for the student, whether for the sake of its association with the name of Katō Shirozaemon (commonly called Tōshiro), or because its manufactures were sufficiently pre-eminent to become a synonym—Seto-mono—for all keramic productions in Japan. It has already been related how Shirozaemon visited China in 1223, and what improved processes he there acquired. The pieces he is said to have previously produced did not possess one redeeming feature, nor need they be cited except as illustrations of the very small progress Japan had made in keramics up to that time. They were thick, clumsily shaped, and unglazed at the orifice, so that even the Japanese Cha-jin, who treasures them to-day with enthusiasm, is at a loss to point out any merit justifying his affection. Among these specimens of "Koseto" (old Seto), as they are called—though Katō Shirozaemon never worked at Seto until after his return from China—a curious example of the fictitious value attached by subsequent generations to the great master's handiwork is seen in the variety "Hori-dashi-te," or "dug-out ware." It consists of