Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/393

 whereas the tendency of the Ise artists is now preeminently plastic, disposing them to construct cigarholders after the fashion of the calyx of a lotus, or ewers in the shape of egg-fruits, rather than to study the composition of glazes and enamels. The change is decidedly commendable. Grace and quaintness of conception are natural elements of Japanese genius; and when to these an infinite power of painstaking is added, the total represents a combination especially fitted for the production of such works as those found in the modern Banko ware.

The province of Omi adjoins that of Yamashiro and contains the largest lake in Japan, Biwa no Kosui. Its vicinity to Kyōtō and its exquisite scenery render it one of the best known parts of Japan. Moreover, it has always supplied the greater portion of the materials used in the manufacture of faience. Its own keramic productions are not, however, very remarkable. Chief among them is Zeze-yaki, called after the district of its manufacture, which lies near the head of Lake Biwa. The Zeze-yaki is associated with the name of Kobori Masakazu, for at his instigation the first furnace is said to have been erected by order of Tadafusa, feudal chief of Zeze ( 1640). This, however, was by no means the earliest manufacture of pottery in the district, for at the village of Nangano there exist the remains of a rude furnace which is believed to have been in use as far back as the time of Giyogi Bosatsu, and, according to some