Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/404

 (branch of Kahin) has reference to the earliest pottery of China, which, according to them, was manufactured by an artist called Chun at the kiln of Kahin (Chinese Hopin), about 3000 years ago. This point is involved in obscurity. Eiraku, as already explained (vide Kyōtō wares), is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese period Yung-lo (1403-1425), during which was first produced the celebrated "rouge vif" with decoration in gold. Zengoro never allowed any specimen to leave his hands bearing the stamp Kahin Shiriu unless he was thoroughly satisfied with the success of his work. Sometimes he added the mark Eiraku, and in many cases his imitations of the Chinese turquoise-blues and purples are stamped simply "Kairaku-ken.". [sic] He generally worked to order, and it is said to have been his habit to manufacture from five to ten specimens of any piece which he had undertaken to produce. Of these the best was chosen, and the remainder were destroyed in the presence of the person who had given the order. He appears to have remained some eight or nine years in Kishiu, and after his return to Kyōtō the Nishihama factory was placed under the direction of another workman from the Western capital, by name Yoshihei. It would appear, however, that Zengoro's glazes were not to be compassed by any other expert. The Kairabu ware gradually lost its high character, and on Harunori's death, in 1844, the manufacture came to an end.

The Kairakuen-yaki was one of the first to attract the attention of Western collectors after the opening of