Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/396

 to dulness, and this peculiarity, as well as very fine crackle and reddish brown pâte, soft and close in grain, constitute the characteristic features of the ware. The manufacture was only carried on for a very short time, so that specimens are now exceedingly rare.

Considerably more modern is the Susume-ga-tani-yaki which made its first appearance in 1867. It is called after a valley of the same name in the neighbourhood of the village of Awazu. It is a clumsy imitation of Koyōmidzu faience, some of the pieces being decorated with coloured enamels and some with polychrome glazes, but none presenting either originality or artistic merit. In 1867 the factory came into the hands of a merchant called Inoue Ikuemon, and there are now several kilns at which coarse utensils are produced.

In connection with the Zeze-yaki, mention must be made of faience manufactured by a workman of Kyōtō, called Torakichi, who, about the year 1840, set up a kiln in the neighbourhood of Hachidai-riuō, in Omi. Little is known of his productions, but they are said to have been shapely, well finished, and decorated with simple designs in black or brown. The manufacture was only continued for a very short time. Torakichi's pieces are called Zeze-Tora-yaki, to distinguish them from Zeze-yaki proper.

Within a few miles of the group of Zeze kilns, and in the same province of Omi, is a place called Shigaraki, in the Nagano district, where a factory for the manufacture of pottery existed as long ago as the fourteenth century. The pâte of the ware produced