Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/313

 the latter is scarcely less revered in Owari than that of Katō Shirozaemon.

Some time must have elapsed before the Seto artisans were able to employ local materials with success. Owari is rich in such materials, but they do not occur in constant or particularly simple forms.

Mr. Korschelt has analysed eleven specimens of modern Owari porcelain masses, and found them considerably different in composition. Here follow the analyses of the two varieties which contain the highest and lowest percentages of silica:—

Into the composition of all the porcelain masses examined it was found that there entered a clay called Kaeru-me, obtained from Shimo-shinano, and a stone called Ishiko, obtained from Ishitobi. Occasionally another stone called Gyaman-ishi (glass-stone) is added: it is pure quartz. The Kaeru-me clay differs very considerably in composition. Of eleven specimens analysed, the constituents of the two which least resemble each other are here given:—

Mr. Korschelt, however, in spite of this great difference, decides that the Kaeru-me clay must be called Kaolin. Now, as this clay preponderates in the composition of the Owari porcelain mass, an important distinction is immediately established between the latter and the Arita mass, which consists almost entirely of Petuntse. It may be interesting to mention here that the first specimen of Kaeru-me clay mentioned above corresponds very closely in composition with the Kaolin used in Cornwall for the manufacture of