Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/431

 Jirodayu and Tarodayu, are said to have revived the extinct manufacture. But it must be confessed that the whole history of the Iga-yaki, prior to the early years of the seventeenth century, is wrapped in some obscurity. The Ko-Iga-yaki, of the fourteenth century, bore a close resemblance to the faience of Seto known as Hafugama, and indeed it may be said generally that from the time when the Iga potters began to apply glaze to their ware—probably about 1300—they took the faience of Seto as their model. In 1635 Todo Takatora, feudal chief of the province, summoned from Kyōtō two potters, Mogibei and Denzo, and set them to manufacture tea-utensils at Marubashira. About the same time the celebrated Chajin Kobori Masakazu interested himself in the factory and furnished models to the potters. Specimens produced under the direction of Tōdō Takatora were subsequently distinguished as Tōdō Iga-yaki, and those manufactured at Kobori's instance as Enshiu Igayaki. Both varieties are highly esteemed by the tea-clubs. They may easily be mistaken for Seto ware. There is found in the Iga-yaki mahogany glaze, merging into black and buff, familiar in old Seto tea-jars and the same richness and lustre of surface that the latter possess. The pâte of the Iga manufacture is, however, greyer and more stone-like than that of the Seto-yaki. The names of two experts who directed the Marubashira factory in the days of Takatora and Masakazu have been preserved: they are Okamoto Sadahachi and Okamoto Sadagoro. They received from Takatora two copper seals (vide Marks and Seals) with which they stamped their productions. In addition to rich mahogany black, and amber glazes, they manufactured also greenish glaze mottled with