Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/303

 northern invaders. The Japanese were at first disposed to entertain this request, but, reflecting that they should be supporting rulers who fifty years before had sent an army to oppose Hideyoshi's generals in Korea, they ultimately decided to let the Ming fight their own battles. The fugitive nobles were, however, treated with all courtesy. Confided to the hospitable care of Japanese barons, three of them seem to have passed the remainder of their lives in uneventful seclusion, while the fourth, Gempin, residing at Nagoya, in Owari, devoted his leisure to painting and pottery-making. As an artist he was not without ability, but his keramic productions show either that he possessed little technical skill, or that he adapted himself to the severest canons of the tea-clubs. Amongst the recognised chefs-d'œuvre (meibutsu) of Japan there is figured a small incense-burner, the work of Gempin. It is of unglazed pottery. Engraved in the pâte is a single petal of the Nelumbo nucifera, and incised on both the inner and outer surfaces are a number of ideographs executed with wonderful delicacy and precision. Gempin's favourite method of decoration, however, was blue under the glaze. The painting was rough, almost rudimentary; the tone of the blue impure, and the glaze greyish white.

During the Genki era (1570–1571), the province of Owari was the scene of a war that partially dispersed the Seto potters. At that time the representative of the Katō family was Katō Kagemasa. Accompanied by his younger brother, Nihei, this man made his way to Satonoki-mura, in the neighbouring province