Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/399

 the Miidera factory was abandoned. At all events, the ware is unimportant and deserves only passing mention.

This ware also is among the manufactures of the province of Omi. The factory was established within the territory of the chief of Hikone, near the eastern shore of Lake Biwa—the name Kotō signifies "east of the lake"—about the year 1830. Its chief outcome from the first was porcelain decorated with blue under the glaze. Considerable quantities were produced, for the ware found a ready sale in the form of plates, bowls, and other vessels of daily use. The biscuit is sometimes hard, ringing nearly as .sharply and clearly as that of Hizen; sometimes it is grey stone-ware; the blue is deep and full, and the glaze has a peculiarly soft, lustrous, oily appearance that constitutes an easily recognised feature. The faults of Kotō porcelain of this class are want of contrast between the white ground and the blue decoration, and too much solidity of biscuit. Otherwise the ware has considerable merit. Specimens are found bearing the cachet of the great Kyōtō artist, Zengoro Hozen, or Eiraku, who worked for some years at Kyōtō after the destruction of his Kyōtō residence by fire. The designs are generally formal,—floral scrolls, arabesques, and diapers. The Koto potters excelled, also, in the use of enamelled decoration. They prepared their green, yellow, red, purple, and blue enamels with the greatest care, and applied them with admirable skill, sometimes copying the decorative methods of the Ching-hwa and Wan-li Chinese artists, and sometimes borrowing designs from the Kano