Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/385

 interest, for it includes the village of Haji, where clay substitutes for human sacrifices were first made, nineteen hundred years ago, at the suggestion of Nomi no Sukune, the prince of wrestlers. The kiln at Akahada is said to be of considerable antiquity, but, however this may be, it was only under Nomura Ninsei's direction that its productions began to exhibit any merit. The pâte of the early pieces (1644-1700) shows greater admixture of sand than that of the contemporary Kyōtō faience—for which in other respects it might easily be mistaken—while the glaze is opaque and bears a considerable resemblance to that of the Hagi-yaki of Nagato, being thick, creamy, and crackled. The manufacture was practically confined to tea utensils, which, in decorative style, show marked affinity with the fashions of the Kyōtō school, but are generally severe and even archaic. Few specimens survive of the ware of this first epoch—during which the potters conformed strictly to the tastes of the tea-clubs—and the old Akahada-yaki is correspondingly little known outside the circle of Japanese chajin. Its production was discontinued, according to some authorities, as early as 1670; according to others, about 1700. In 1761 it was revived, under the patronage of Yanagi-sawa, lord of Koriyama, a chajin of note, who is said to have himself painted some of the pieces. The most characteristic production of this second period is faience having buff-coloured lustreless glaze, to which is applied minutely executed decoration in vitreous enamels, red being largely pre-dominant. There are also variegated or monochromatic glazes—green, olive, brown, grey, and white—and a variety of the Raku type of which the surface is covered with dull gold forming a ground