Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/63

 presence speedily made itself felt, less, perhaps, for the sake of what they were able to accomplish than because of the interest which the feudal barons thus acquired in the progress of the potter's art. The territorial magnates, having openly associated themselves with such an enterprise and taken the trouble to import experts from beyond the sea, were not likely to let the industry languish for lack of patronage. Hideyoshi doubtless anticipated this, and the event justified his forecast.

It becomes here a point of importance to know what Korea could teach Japan about keramic manufactures at the time when these Korean potters were brought over by the Taikō's generals; that is to say, at the close of the sixteenth century. The subject is complicated by the existence in Japan of a large number of specimens which, though attributed by the Japanese to Korean factories, and supposed to represent the best efforts of Korean workshops, are erroneously classified in both respects. The most important of these is ivory-white, translucid porcelain of fine quality, not to be distinguished by any intelligible test from the well-known blanc de chine of Western collectors. For at least four centuries Japanese virtuosi have not hesitated to pronounce this beautiful ware a Korean product. The theory used to be stoutly maintained by the late Mr. Ninagawa Noritane, who asserted that the difference between the so-called Korean porcelain and that of China was discernible by any experienced eye. But Mr. Ninagawa himself could never explain wherein this difference consisted, nor has any other Japanese expert been more successful. Certainly the colour and texture of the glaze in both wares are identical, as are also the shapes and decorative designs—when any such exist—whether incised or in relief. As evidence in favour of the Korean origin of the ware, reference has been made to a passage in the Tao-lu (History of Ching-tê-chên Keramics), where it is stated that among the wares of Korea some esteem was enjoyed by porcelain ornamented with