Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/383

 ware; but rather the skill of firm, sharply cut outlines, and bold modelling. The Minato-yaki is much prized by the Japanese, who consider that its makers were second to none in the ability with which they used their graving and moulding tools. The family of Ueda has become extinct, and the Minato factory is now in the hands of Tsushiro Kichibei. Its productions no longer merit attention.

It has already been mentioned that in the fifth century the Emperor Yuriaku ordered the potters of Yamashiro to manufacture, for the use of the Court, a species of ware called Seiki, or pure utensils. Antiquarians differ as to the meaning of this term, but agree in designating the village of Uji in Yamato as the site of the factory where the Emperor's orders were executed. On the east of this village lies a hill called Asahi-yama. Thence the materials for the ware, as well as its appellation, were derived. There is no record that prior to the seventeenth century the workmen at Asahi-yama produced anything but common utensils of unglazed pottery, except the Imperial Seiki, which, however, for aught that is known to the contrary, may have been an equally primitive affair. To the celebrated dilettante Kobori Masakazu, lord of Enshiu, is due the influence that excited the potters of Asahi to attempt the manufacture of faience. It cannot be said that their efforts were very successful. The clay of the district produced soft coarse pâte of dull red or grey colour. The glaze employed was muddy grey, showing coarse crackle, and the decora-