Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/53

 gave Chōjiro a large order for cups and other tea utensils, with the immediate result of making the Ama-yaki fashionable. Ten years afterwards, Hideyoshi summoned Chōjiro to his palace of Juraku, and was so pleased with his productions that he presented to him a gold seal bearing the ideograph Raku, which from that time became at once the name and mark of a ware exceedingly popular with the Japanese tea-clubs.

The Raku-yaki of those times was hand-made pottery, with little technical excellence, and only one artistic recommendation, namely, quaintness of shape and glaze. But the clay used in its manufacture possessed non-conductive properties, which rendered it peculiarly suitable for tea-drinking purposes. At first, the only glaze produced appears to have been black. But from Chōjiro's time there is found a light red or salmon-coloured glaze, which, being obtained by the action of heat on a clay originally yellow, presents a somewhat patchy or clouded appearance. The Raku experts showed much dexterity, not only in adapting the shapes of their pieces to the tastes of the chajin, but sometimes also in moulding them with spirit and fidelity. This is especially true of Dōniu, Chōjiro's grandson. He is popularly known as Nonko, and has been placed at the head of his school by common consent. From his time a straw-yellow craquelé glaze of considerable merit made its appearance, as did also a remarkable black glaze pitted with red. To produce either of these must have demanded no little skill. About the middle of the eighteenth century green and cream-white glazes began to be manufactured. The innovation is attributed to Chōniu, eighth in descent from the Korean Masakichi. He is also