Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/307

 drical vessel of this semi-savage manufacture. It has been imitated by various Japanese potters, whose original productions are incomparably superior. The Tokoname-yaki is among these imitations. It did not, however, attract the fastidious attention of the tea-clubs until the time of Chōzaburo (1818–1839) and Hachibei (1830–1844). These experts succeeded in prostituting their skill sufficiently to manufacture good likenesses of the Namban ware.

This is a faience produced at the Hōraku factory in Nagoya, the chief town of Owari. It dates from the early part of the nineteenth century, and owes its origin to an expert called Toyōsuke. It is soft, crackled faience of the Raku type, covered on one side with greenish white glaze, embellished by bold sketches of floral subjects, and on the other with a thin coat of lacquer, carefully applied, and bearing delicate designs of considerable beauty. Lacquer thus employed on small pieces of faience becomes an agent of considerable value in keramic decoration, and is especially suited to the soft Raku ware of Toyōsuke.

There is some confusion about the use of this term. Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, in his work Kanko Zusetsu, applies it to all the faience produced in the time of Kobori Masakazu (1620–1660), not only in Owari, but also in Tambu and Ise, and says that the most valued specimens were manufactured by the dilettanti Chaemon, Koson, Soi, Tahei, Doyen, and Asakura Domi. Other authorities use it only in reference to the