Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/354

 duced at a place of the same name in the Sagara district of Yamashiro. The manufacture was commenced in 1827 by Morimoto Suke-emon, in consequence of the discovery of potter's clay in the neighbourhood of his house. He invited an expert from Kyōtō, and produced faience to supply local demand. The ware resembled that of Awata, but was coarser and not so highly decorated. Twenty years later (1847), Ichigo, feudal chief of the district, obtained the services of a keramist called Ogawa Riuzaemon. In the hands of this potter and his son, Ogawa Kyuemon, the Shikase-yama-yaki acquired considerable reputation. It deserves no special description, being scarcely distinguishable from the ordinary faience of Kyōtō. Ogawa Kyuemon's skill in connection with the construction of kilns has already been spoken of (vide last paragraph of Chapter VIII).

Bizen is a province on the coast of the Inland Sea. Tradition assigns a very early date to the origin of keramic manufacture in the province, and says that it was one of the places where clay substitutes for human sacrifices were produced in the opening centuries of the Christian era. Authentic records, however, do not go back farther than the Oei era (1394-1427) when three kilns, called respectively the southern kiln, the northern kiln, and the western kiln, were constructed at the foot of the hills Kayabara-yama, Fure-zan, and Ikuo-zan, all in the Imbe district. The ware manufactured was very hard, coarse, red stone-ware, unglazed, or having only a natural glaze, and designed for rough use in farmhouses. The materials were found in the neighbourhood. Owing