Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/351

 specimens have been obtained by Western collectors and are regarded with admiration. But the fault of these modern pieces is want of lustre and softness. The body colour is cold grey, not offering sufficient contrast to the white encaustic design. In other respects the ware is carefully manipulated and decidedly attractive. Its pâte shows a distinctly redder tinge and is softer than the pâte of former times. A variety frequently seen now has its encaustic decoration disposed in white vertical stripes running from the top to the bottom of the specimen. This is a reproduction of the "corduroy" type often affected by Satsuma potters. Indeed, the amateur may easily mistake occasional specimens of so-called "Mishima" Satsuma for Yatsushiro ware, more especially as the Higo potters sometimes employed clay obtained in Satsuma. Old examples of Yatsushiro-yaki are usually without marks.

There is a porcelain factory also in the province of Higo. It was established at Oda, in the Udo district, by order of the Hosokawa chief, in 1791, and under his patronage the industry attained some importance. Porcelain stone was found at Shirato, in the neighbourhood, but an examination of the ware shows that the celebrated Amakusa stone was also employed; as might indeed be expected, seeing that the Udo district lies on the coast opposite the island of Amakusa. Specimens of Higo porcelain are rarely met with, and unless they bear the mark of the factory, they can scarcely be distinguished from Arita ware. Vitrifiable enamels do not seem to have been used, the decoration being confined to blue sous couverte. Some pieces are white, with reticulated or moulded designs. The industry still exists on a