Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/311

 magnitude. Arrived in Amakusa, Tamikichi found hospitality and aid at Tōkōji. The Abbot deputed a priest to introduce him to a porcelain manufacturer called Ueda Gensaku, whose factory he entered. Here he soon mastered the mechanical processes of the workshop, but the principles, the nature of the ingredients and the proportions in which they were mixed, remained a sealed book to him. As to these things, Gensaku would teach him nothing. Tamikichi determined to push on to Hizen. Again the priests came to his assistance. From the Abbot of Tōkōji he received a letter enlisting the good offices of the Prior of Saihōji, a temple in the island of Hirado. Leaving Gensaku's factory under pretence of a brief visit to the town of Nagasaki, he found a warm welcome at Saihōji, where the Prior himself had just commenced the diversion of making Raku faience.

The keramists of Mikawachi (Hirado) then enjoyed the highest reputation among their fellow craftsmen throughout Japan. Tamikichi was franked on to another temple (Yakuōji), and by the aid of its priests found himself presently in the service of Imamura Ikuemon, chief potter to the lord of Hirado. He did not remain there long. The local officials were careful to enforce an order prohibiting the residence of any one from another fief. Once more he entreated the good offices of the priests, and after many difficulties succeeded, at last, in obtaining an entry to the factory of Fukumoto Nizaemon, in Sasamura (Hizen). Ten months had now elapsed since Tamikichi left Seto. He worked two years at Fukumoto's factory, and became so skilled that his master made determined efforts to retain his services permanently. The Seto potter could not bear to treat his