Chapter XII: Part 12

_Architecture._--From the evidence of ancient records it appears that before the 5th century the Japanese resided in houses of a very rude character. The sovereign's palace itself was merely a wooden hut. Its pillars were thrust into the ground and the whole framework--consisting of posts, beams, rafters, door-posts and window-frames--was tied together with cords made by twisting the long fibrous stems of climbing plants. The roof was thatched, and perhaps had a gable at each end with a hole to allow the smoke of the wood fire to escape. Wooden doors swung on a kind of hook; the windows were mere holes in the walls. Rugs of skins or rush matting were used for sitting on, and the whole was surrounded with a palisade. In the middle of the 5th century two-storeyed houses seem to have been built, but the evidence on the subject is slender. In the 8th century, however, when the court was moved to Nara, the influence of Chinese civilization made itself felt. Architects, turners, tile-makers, decorative artists and sculptors, coming from China and from Korea, erected grand temples for the worship of Buddha enshrining images of much beauty and adorned with paintings and carvings of considerable merit. The plan of the city itself was taken from that of the Chinese metropolis. A broad central avenue led straight to the palace, and on either side of it ran four parallel streets, crossed at right angles by smaller thoroughfares. During this century the first sumptuary edict ordered that the dwellings of all high officials and opulent civilians should have tiled roofs and be coloured red, the latter injunction being evidently intended to stop the use of logs carrying their bark. Tiles thenceforth became the orthodox covering for a roof, but vermilion, being regarded as a religious colour, found no favour in private dwellings. In the 9th century, after the capital had been established at Kioto, the palace of the sovereigns and the mansions of ministers and nobles were built on a scale of unprecedented grandeur. It is true that all the structures of the time had the defect of a box-like appearance. Massive, towering roofs, which impart an air of stateliness even to a wooden building and yet, by their graceful curves, avoid any suggestion of ponderosity, were still confined to Buddhist edifices. The architect of private dwellings attached more importance to satin-surfaced boards and careful joinery than to any appearance of strength or solidity.

Except for the number of buildings composing it, the palace had little
to distinguish it from a nobleman's mansion. The latter consisted of a
principal hall, where the master of the house lived, ate and slept,
and of three suites of chambers, disposed on the north, the east and
the west of the principal hall. In the northern suite the lady of the
house dwelt, the eastern and western suites being allotted to other
members of the family. Corridors joined the principal hall to the
subordinate edifices, for as yet the idea had not been conceived of
having more than one chamber under the same roof. The principal hall
was usually 42 ft. square. Its centre was occupied by a "parent
chamber," 30 ft. square, around which ran an ambulatory and a veranda,
each 6 ft. wide. The parent chamber and the ambulatory were ceiled,
sometimes with interlacing strips of bark or broad laths, so as to
produce a plaited effect; sometimes with plain boards. The veranda had
no ceiling. Sliding doors, a characteristic feature of modern Japanese
houses, had not yet come into use, and no means were provided for
closing the veranda, but the ambulatory was surrounded by a wall of
latticed timber or plain boards, the lower half of which could be
removed altogether, whereas the upper half, suspended from hooks,
could be swung upward and outward. Privacy was obtained by blinds of
split bamboo, and the parent chamber was separated from the
ambulatory by similar bamboo blinds with silk cords for raising or
lowering them, or by curtains. The thick rectangular mats of uniform
size which, fitting together so as to present a level unbroken
surface, cover the floor of all modern Japanese houses, were not yet
in use: floors were boarded, having only a limited space matted. This
form of mansion underwent little modification until the 12th century,
when the introduction of the Zen sect of Buddhism with its
contemplative practice called for greater privacy. Interiors were then
divided into smaller rooms by means of sliding doors covered with thin
rice-paper, which permitted the passage of light while obstructing
vision; the hanging lattices were replaced by wooden doors which could
be slid along a groove so as to be removable in the daytime, and an
alcove was added in the principal chamber for a sacred picture or
Buddhist image to serve as an object of contemplation for a devotee
while practising the rite of abstraction. Thus the main features of
the Japanese dwelling-house were evolved, and little change took place
subsequently, except that the brush of the painter was freely used for
decorating partitions, and in aristocratic mansions unlimited care was
exercised in the choice of rare woods.

Buddhist Temple Architecture.

The Buddhist temple underwent little change at Japanese hands except in the matter of decoration. Such as it was in outline when first erected in accordance with Chinese models, such it virtually remained, though in later times all the resources of the sculptor and the painter were employed to beautify it externally and internally.

"The building, sometimes of huge dimensions, is invariably surrounded
by a raised gallery, reached by a flight of steps in the centre of the
approach front, the balustrade of which is a continuation of the
gallery railing. This gallery is sometimes supported upon a deep
system of bracketing, corbelled out from the feet of the main pillars.
Within this raised gallery, which is sheltered by the over-sailing
eaves, there is, in the larger temples, a columned loggia passing
round the two sides and the front of the building, or, in some cases,
placed on the façade only. The ceilings of the loggias are generally
sloping, with richly carved roof-timbers showing below at intervals;
and quaintly carved braces connect the outer pillars with the main
posts of the building. Some temples are to be seen in which the
ceiling of the loggia is boarded flat and decorated with large
paintings of dragons in black and gold. The intercolumniation is
regulated by a standard of about six or seven feet, and the general
result of the treatment of columns, wall-posts, &c., is that the whole
mural space, not filled in with doors or windows, is divided into
regular oblong panels, which sometimes receive plaster, sometimes
boarding and sometimes rich framework and carving or painted panels.
Diagonal bracing or strutting is nowhere to be found, and in many
cases mortises and other joints are such as very materially to weaken
the timbers at their points of connexion. It would seem that only the
immense weight of the roofs and their heavy projections prevent a
collapse of some of these structures in high winds. The principal
façade of the temple is filled in one, two or three compartments with
hinged doors, variously ornamented and folding outwards, sometimes in
double folds. From these doorways, generally left open, the interior
light is principally obtained, windows, as the term is generally
understood, being rare. An elaborate cornice of wooden bracketing
crowns the walls, forming one of the principal ornaments of the
building. The whole disposition of pillars, posts, brackets and
rafters is harmonically arranged according to some measure of the
standard of length. A very important feature of the façade is the
portico or porch-way, which covers the principal steps and is
generally formed by producing the central portion of the main roof
over the steps and supporting such projection upon isolated wooden
pillars braced together near the top with horizontal ties, carved,
moulded and otherwise fantastically decorated. Above these ties are
the cornice brackets and beams, corresponding in general design to the
cornice of the walls, and the intermediate space is filled with open
carvings of dragons or other characteristic designs. The forms of roof
are various, but mostly they commence in a steep slope at the top,
gradually flattening towards the eaves so as to produce a slightly
concave appearance, this concavity being rendered more emphatic by the
tilt which is given to the eaves at the four corners. The appearance
of the ends of the roof is half hip, half gable. Heavy ribs of
tile-cresting with large terminals are carried along the ridge and the
slope of the gable. The result of the whole is very picturesque, and
has the advantage of looking equally satisfactory from any point of
view. The interior arrangement of wall columns, horizontal beams and
cornice bracketing corresponds with that on the outside. The ceiling
is invariably boarded and subdivided by ribs into small rectangular
coffers. Sometimes painting is introduced into these panels and
lacquer and metal clasps are added to the ribs. When the temple is of
very large dimensions an interior peristyle of pillars is introduced
to assist in supporting the roof, and in such cases each pillar
carries profuse bracketing corresponding to that of the cornice. The
construction of the framework of the Japanese roof is such that the
weights all act vertically; there is no thrust on the outer walls,
and every available point of the interior is used as a means of
support.

"The floor is partly boarded and partly matted. The shrines, altars
and oblatory tables are placed at the back in the centre, and there
are often other secondary shrines at the sides. In temples of the best
class the floor of the gallery and of the central portion of the main
building from entrance to altar are richly lacquered; in those of
inferior class they are merely polished by continued rubbing."--(J.
Conder, in the _Proceedings of the Royal Institute of British
Architects._)

Shinto Architecture.

None of the magnificence of the Buddhist temple belongs to the Shinto shrine. In the case of the latter conservatism has been absolute from time immemorial. The shrines of Ise, which may be called the Mecca of Shinto devotees, are believed to present to-day precisely the appearance they presented in 478, when they were moved thither in obedience to a revelation from the Sun-goddess. It has been the custom to rebuild them every twentieth year, alternately on each of two sites set apart for the purpose, the features of the old edifice being reproduced in the new with scrupulous accuracy.

They are enlarged replicas of the primeval wooden hut described above,
having rafters with their upper ends crossed; thatched or shingled
roof; boarded floors, and logs laid on the roof-ridge at right angles
for the purpose of binding the ridge and the rafters firmly together.
A thatched roof is imperative in the orthodox shrine, but in modern
days tiles or sheets of copper are sometimes substituted. At Ise,
however, no such novelties are tolerated. The avenue of approach
generally passes under a structure called _torii_. Originally designed
as a perch for fowls which sang to the deities at daybreak, this torii
subsequently came to be erroneously regarded as a gateway
characteristic of the Shinto shrine. It consists of two thick trunks
placed upright, their upper ends mortised into a horizontal log which
projects beyond them at either side. The structure derives some grace
from its extreme simplicity.

_Textile Fabrics and Embroidery._--In no branch of applied art does the decorative genius of Japan show more attractive results than in that of textile fabrics, and in none has there been more conspicuous progress during recent years. Her woven and embroidered stuffs have always been beautiful; but in former times few pieces of size and splendour were produced, if we except the curtains used for draping festival cars and the hangings of temples. Tapestry, as it is employed in Europe, was not thought of, nor indeed could the small hand-looms of the period be easily adapted to such work. All that has been changed, however. Arras of large dimensions, showing remarkable workmanship and grand combinations of colours, is now manufactured in Kioto, the product of years of patient toil on the part of weaver and designer alike. Kawashima of Kioto has acquired high reputation for work of this kind. He inaugurated the new departure a few years ago by copying a Gobelin, but it may safely be asserted that no Gobelin will bear comparison with the pieces now produced in Japan.

The most approved fashion of weaving is called _tsuzure-ori_
(linked-weaving); that is to say, the cross threads are laid in with
the fingers and pushed into their places with a comb by hand, very
little machinery being used. The threads extend only to the outlines
of each figure, and it follows that every part of the pattern has a
rim of minute holes like pierced lines separating postage stamps in a
sheet, the effect being that the design seems to hang suspended in the
ground--linked into it, as the Japanese term implies.[3] A specimen of
this nature recently manufactured by Kawashima's weavers measured 20
ft. by 13, and represented the annual festival at the Nikko mausolea.
The chief shrine was shown, as were also the gate and the long flight
of stone steps leading up to it, several other buildings, the groves
of cryptomeria that surround the mausolea, and the festival
procession. All the architectural and decorative details, all the
carvings and colours, all the accessories--everything was wrought in
silk, and each of the 1500 figures forming the procession wore exactly
appropriate costume. Even this wealth of detail, remarkable as it was,
seemed less surprising than the fact that the weaver had succeeded in
producing the effect of atmosphere and aerial perspective. Through the
graceful cryptomerias distant mountains and the still more distant sky
could be seen, and between the buildings in the foreground and those
in the middle distance atmosphere appeared to be perceptible. Two
years of incessant labour with relays of artisans working steadily
throughout the twenty-four hours were required to finish this piece.
Naturally such specimens are not produced in large numbers. Next in
decorative importance to tsuzure-ori stands _yuzen birôdo_, commonly
known among English-speaking people as cut velvet. Dyeing by the
_yuzen_ process is an innovation of modern times. The design is
painted on the fabric, after which the latter is steamed, and the
picture is ultimately fixed by methods which are kept secret. The soft
silk known as _habutaye_ is a favourite ground for such work, but silk
crape also is largely employed. No other method permits the decorator
to achieve such fidelity and such boldness of draughtsmanship. The
difference between the results of the ordinary and the yuzen processes
of dyeing is, in fact, the difference between a stencilled sketch and
a finished picture. In the case of cut velvet, the yuzen process is
supplemented as follows: The cutter, who works at an ordinary wooden
bench, has no tool except a small sharp chisel with a V-shaped point.
This chisel is passed into an iron pencil having at the end guards,
between which the point of the chisel projects, so that it is
impossible for the user to cut beyond a certain depth. When the velvet
comes to him, it already carries a coloured picture permanently fixed
by the yuzen process, but the wires have not been withdrawn. It is, in
fact, velvet that has passed through all the usual stages of
manufacture except the cutting of the thread along each wire and the
withdrawal of the wires. The cutting artist lays the piece of
unfinished velvet on his bench, and proceeds to carve into the pattern
with his chisel, just as though he were shading the lines of the
design with a steel pencil. When the pattern is lightly traced, he
uses his knife delicately; when the lines are strong and the shadows
heavy, he makes the point pierce deeply. In short, the little chisel
becomes in his fingers a painter's brush, and when it is remembered
that, the basis upon which he works being simply a thread of silk, his
hand must be trained to such delicacy of muscular effort as to be
capable of arresting the edge of the knife at varying depths within
the diameter of the tiny filament, the difficulty of the achievement
will be understood. Of course it is to be noted that the edge of the
cutting tool is never allowed to trespass upon a line which the
exigencies of the design require to be solid. The veining of a cherry
petal, for example, the tessellation of a carp's scales, the serration
of a leaf's edge--all these lines remain intact, spared by the
cutter's tool, while the leaf itself, or the petal, or the scales of
the fish, have the threads forming them cut so as to show the velvet
nap and to appear in soft, low relief. In one variety of this fabric,
a slip of gold foil is laid under each wire, and left in position
after the wire is withdrawn, the cutting tool being then used with
freedom in some parts of the design, so that the gold gleams through
the severed thread, producing a rich and suggestive effect. Velvet,
however, is not capable of being made the basis for pictures so
elaborate and microscopically accurate as those produced by the yuzen
process on silk crape or habutaye. The rich-toned, soft plumage of
birds or the magnificent blending of colours in a bunch of peonies or
chrysanthemums cannot be obtained with absolute fidelity on the ribbed
surface of velvet.

Embroidery.

The embroiderer's craft has been followed for centuries in Japan with eminent success, but whereas it formerly ranked with dyeing and weaving, it has now come to be regarded as an art. Formerly the embroiderer was content to produce a pattern with his needle, now he paints a picture. So perfectly does the modern Japanese embroiderer elaborate his scheme of values that all the essential elements of pictorial effects--chiaroscuro, aerial perspective and atmosphere are present in his work. Thus a graceful and realistic school has replaced the comparatively stiff and conventional style of former times.

Further, an improvement of a technical character was recently made,
which has the effect of adding greatly to the durability of these
embroideries. Owing to the use of paper among the threads of the
embroidery and sizing in the preparation of the stuff forming the
ground, every operation of folding used to cause perceptible injury to
a piece, so that after a few years it acquired a crumpled and dingy
appearance. But by the new method embroiderers now succeed in
producing fabrics which defy all destructive influences--except, of
course, dirt and decay.

Early Period.

_Ceramics._--All research proves that up to the 12th century of the Christian era the ceramic ware produced in Japan was of a very rude character. The interest attaching to it is historical rather than technical. Pottery was certainly manufactured from an early date, and there is evidence that kilns existed in some fifteen provinces in the 10th century. But although the use of the potter's wheel had long been understood, the objects produced were simple utensils to contain offerings of rice, fruit and fish at the austere ceremonials of the Shinto faith, jars for storing seeds, and vessels for common domestic use. In the 13th century, however, the introduction of tea from China, together with vessels for infusing and serving it, revealed to the Japanese a new conception of ceramic possibilities, for the potters of the Middle Kingdom had then (Sung dynasty) fully entered the road which was destined to carry them ultimately to a high pinnacle of their craft. It had long been customary in Japan to send students to China for the purpose of studying philosophy and religion, and she now (1223) sent a potter, Kato Shirozaemon, who, on his return, opened a kiln at Seto in the province of Owari, and began to produce little jars for preserving tea and cups for drinking it. These were conspicuously superior to anything previously manufactured. Kato is regarded as the father of Japanese ceramics. But the ware produced by him and his successors at the Seto kilns, or by their contemporaries in other parts of the country, had no valid claim to decorative excellence. Nearly three centuries elapsed before a radically upward movement took place, and on this occasion also the inspiration came from China. In 1520 a potter named Gorodayu Goshonzui (known to posterity as Shonzui) made his way to Fuchow and thence to King-te-chen, where, after five years' study, he acquired the art of manufacturing porcelain, as distinguished from pottery, together with the art of applying decoration in blue under the glaze. He established his kiln at Arita in Hizen, and the event marked the opening of the second epoch of Japanese ceramics. Yet the new departure then made did not lead far. The existence of porcelain clay in Hizen was not discovered for many years, and Shonzui's pieces being made entirely with kaolin imported from China, their manufacture ceased after his death, though knowledge of the processes learned by him survived and was used in the production of greatly inferior wares. The third clearly differentiated epoch was inaugurated by the discovery of true kaolin at Izumi-yama in Hizen, the discoverer being one of the Korean potters who came to Japan in the train of Hideyoshi's generals returning from the invasion of Korea, and the date of the discovery being about 1605. Thus much premised, it becomes possible to speak in detail of the various wares for which Japan became famous.

The principal kinds of ware are Hizen, Kioto, Satsuma, Kutani, Owari, Bizen, Takatori, Banko, Izumo and Yatsushiro.

Hizen.

There are three chief varieties of Hizen ware, namely, (1) the
enamelled porcelain of Arita--the "old Japan" of European collectors;
(2) the enamelled porcelain of Nabeshima; and (3) the blue and white,
or plain white, porcelain of Hirado. The earliest manufacture of
porcelain--as distinguished from pottery--began in the opening years
of the 16th century, but its materials were exotic. Genuine Japanese
porcelain dates from about a century later. The decoration was
confined to blue under the glaze, and as an object of art the ware
possessed no special merit. Not until the year 1620 do we find any
evidence of the style for which Arita porcelain afterwards became
famous, namely, decoration with vitrifiable enamels. The first efforts
in this direction were comparatively crude; but before the middle of
the 17th century, two experts--Goroshichi and Kakiemon--carried the
art to a point of considerable excellence. From that time forward the
Arita factories turned out large quantities of porcelain profusely
decorated with blue under the glaze and coloured enamels over it. Many
pieces were exported by the Dutch, and some also were specially
manufactured to their order. Specimens of the latter are still
preserved in European collections, where they are classed as genuine
examples of Japanese ceramic art, though beyond question their style
of decoration was greatly influenced by Dutch interference. The
porcelains of Arita were carried to the neighbouring town of Imari for
sale and shipment. Hence the ware came to be known to Japanese and
foreigners alike as _Imari-yaki_ (_yaki_ = anything baked; hence
ware).

Nabeshima.

The Nabeshima porcelain--so called because of its production at
private factories under the special patronage of Nabeshima Naoshige,
feudal chief of Hizen--was produced at Okawachiyama. It differed from
Imari-yaki in the milky whiteness and softness of its glaze, the
comparative sparseness of its enamelled decoration, and the relegation
of blue _sous couverte_ to an entirely secondary place. This is
undoubtedly the finest jewelled porcelain in Japan; the best examples
leave nothing to be desired. The factory's period of excellence began
about the year 1680, and culminated at the close of the 18th century.

Hirado.

The Hirado porcelain--so called because it enjoyed the special
patronage of Matsuura, feudal chief of Hirado--was produced at
Mikawa-uchi-yama, but did not attain excellence until the middle of
the 18th century, from which time until about 1830 specimens of rare
beauty were produced. They were decorated with blue under the glaze,
but some were pure white with exquisitely chiselled designs incised or
in relief. The production was always scanty, and, owing to official
prohibitions, the ware did not find its way into the general market.

Kioto.

The history of Kioto ware--which, being for the most part faience,
belongs to an entirely different category from the Hizen porcelains
spoken of above--is the history of individual ceramists rather than of
special manufactures. Speaking broadly, however, four different
varieties are usually distinguished. They are _raku-yaki_,
_awata-yaki_, _iwakura-yaki_ and _kiyomizu-yaki_.

Raku.

Raku-yaki is essentially the domestic faience of Japan; for, being
entirely hand-made and fired at a very low temperature, its
manufacture offers few difficulties, and has consequently been carried
on by amateurs in their own homes at various places throughout the
country. The raku-yaki of Kioto is the parent of all the rest. It was
first produced by a Korean who emigrated to Japan in the early part of
the 16th century. But the term _raku-yaki_ did not come into use until
the close of the century, when Chojiro (artistic name, Choryu)
received from Hideyoshi (the Taiko) a seal bearing the ideograph
_raku_, with which he thenceforth stamped his productions. Thirteen
generations of the same family carried on the work, each using a stamp
with the same ideograph, its calligraphy, however, differing
sufficiently to be identified by connoisseurs. The faience is thick
and clumsy, having soft, brittle and very light _pâte_. The staple
type has black glaze showing little lustre, and in choice varieties
this is curiously speckled and pitted with red. Salmon-coloured, red,
yellow and white glazes are also found, and in late specimens gilding
was added. The raku faience owed much of its popularity to the
patronage of the tea clubs. The nature of its paste and glaze adapted
it for the infusion of powdered tea, and its homely character suited
the austere canons of the tea ceremonies.

Awata.

Awata-yaki is the best known among the ceramic productions of Kioto.
There is evidence to show that the art of decoration with enamels over
the glaze reached Kioto from Hizen in the middle of the 17th century.
Just at that time there flourished in the Western capital a potter of
remarkable ability, called Nomura Seisuke. He immediately utilized the
new method, and produced many beautiful examples of jewelled faience,
having close, hard _pâte_, yellowish-white, or brownish-white, glaze
covered with a network of fine crackle, and sparse decoration in pure
full-bodied colours--red, green, gold and silver. He worked chiefly at
Awata, and thus brought that factory into prominence. Nomura Seisuke,
or Ninsei as he is commonly called, was one of Japan's greatest
ceramists. Genuine examples of his faience have always been highly
prized, and numerous imitations were subsequently produced, all
stamped with the ideograph Ninsei. After Ninsei's time, the most
renowned ceramists of the Awata factories were Kenzan (1688-1740);
Ebisei, a contemporary of Kenzan; Dohachi (1751-1763), who
subsequently moved to Kiyomizu-zaka, another part of Kioto, the
faience of which constitutes the Kiyomizu-yaki mentioned above;
Kinkozan (1745-1760); Hozan (1690-1721); Taizan (1760-1800); Bizan
(1810-1838); and Tanzan, who was still living in 1909. It must be
noted that several of these names, as Kenzan, Dohachi, Kinkozan, Hozan
and Taizan, were not limited to one artist. They are family names, and
though the dates we have given indicate the eras of the most noted
ceramists in each family, amateurs must not draw any chronological
conclusion from the mere fact that a specimen bears such and such a
name.

Iwakura.

The origin of the Iwakura-yaki is somewhat obscure, and its history,
at an early date, becomes confused with that of the Awata yaki, from
which, indeed, it does not materially differ.

Kiyomizu.

In the term Kiyomizu-yaki may be included roughly all the faience of
Kioto, with the exception of the three varieties described above. The
distinction between Kiyomizu, Awata and Iwakura is primarily local.
They are parts of the same city, and if their names have been used to
designate particular classes of pottery, it is not because the
technical or decorative features of each class distinguish it from the
other two, but chiefly for the purpose of identifying the place of
production. On the slopes called Kiyomizu-zaka and Gojo-zaka lived a
number of ceramists, all following virtually the same models with
variations due to individual genius. The principal Kiyomizu artists
were: Ebisei, who moved from Awata to Gojo-zaka in 1688; Eisen and
Rokubei, pupils of Ebisei; Mokubei, a pupil of Eisen, but more
celebrated than his master; Shuhei (1790-1810), Kentei (1782-1820),
and Zengoro Hozen, generally known as Eiraku (1790-1850). Eisen was
the first to manufacture porcelain (as distinguished from faience) in
Kioto, and this branch of the art was carried to a high standard of
excellence by Eiraku, whose speciality was a rich coral-red glaze with
finely executed decoration in gold. The latter ceramist excelled also
in the production of purple, green and yellow glazes, which he
combined with admirable skill and taste. Some choice ware of the
latter type was manufactured by him in Kishu, by order of the feudal
chief of that province. It is known as _Kaira-ku-yen-yaki_ (ware of
the Kairaku park).

FIG. 23.--TEA BOWL. By Kenzan.

FIG. 24.--TEA JAR. By Ninsei.

FIG. 25.--FIGURE. By Kakiemon. Arita porcelain.

FIG. 26.--LION. By Chojiro Raku.

FIG. 27.--CENSER, WITH KOCHI GLAZE. By Eisen.

FIG. 28.--TEA JAR. By Ninsei.

FIG. 29.--BIZEN WARE. Samantabhadra

FIG. 30.--CENSER. By Kenzan.]

FIG. 18.--LID OF BOX. By Korin.

FIG. 19.--CASE FOR HEAD OF A SKAKUJO.

FIG. 20.--OWL ON A BRANCH. By Ritsuo.

FIG. 21.--BOX WITH BUTTERFLIES AND FLOWERS IN GOLD (12th century).

FIG. 22.--LACQUERED BOXES. By Kôami (1598-1651).]

Satsuma.

No phrase is commoner in the mouths of Western collectors than "Old
Satsuma"; no ware is rarer in Western collections. Nine hundred and
ninety-nine pieces out of every thousand that do duty as genuine
examples of this prince of faiences are simply examples of the skill
of modern forgers. In point of fact, the production of faience
decorated with gold and coloured enamels may be said to have commenced
at the beginning of the eighth century in Satsuma. Some writers maintain
that it did actually commence then, and that nothing of the kind had
existed there previously. Setting aside, however, the strong
improbability that a style of decoration so widely practised and so
highly esteemed could have remained unknown during a century and a
half to experts working for one of the most puissant chieftains in
Japan, we have the evidence of trustworthy traditions and written
records that enamelled faience was made by the potters at
Tatsumonji--the principal factory of Satsuma-ware in early days--as
far back as the year 1676. Mitsuhisa, then feudal lord of Satsuma, was
a munificent patron of art. He summoned to his fief the painter
Tangen--a pupil of the renowned Tanyu, who died in 1674--and employed
him to paint faience or to furnish designs for the ceramists of
Tatsumonji. The ware produced under these circumstances is still known
by the name of Satsuma Tangen. But the number of specimens was small.
Destined chiefly for private use or for presents, their decoration was
delicate rather than rich, the colour chiefly employed being brown, or
reddish brown, under the glaze, and the decoration over the glaze
being sparse and chaste. Not until the close of the l8th century or
the beginning of the 19th did the more profuse fashion of enamelled
decoration come to be largely employed. It was introduced by two
potters who had visited Kioto, and there observed the ornate methods
so well illustrated in the wares of Awata and Kiyomizu. At the same
time a strong impetus was given to the production of faience at
Tadeno--then the chief factory in Satsuma--owing to the patronage of
Shimazu Tamanobu, lord of the province. To this increase in production
and to the more elaborate application of verifiable enamels may be
attributed the erroneous idea that Satsuma faience decorated with gold
and coloured enamels had its origin at the close of the 18th century.
For all the purposes of the ordinary collector it may be said to have
commenced then, and to have come to an end about 1860; but for the
purposes of the historian we must look farther back.

The ceramic art in Satsuma owed much to the aid of a number of Korean
experts who settled there after the return of the Japanese forces from
Korea. One of these men, Boku Heii, discovered (1603) clay fitted for
the manufacture of white _craquelé_ faience. This was the subsequently
celebrated _Satsuma-yaki_. But in Boku's time, and indeed as long as
the factories flourished, many other kinds of faience were produced,
the principal having rich black or _flambé_ glazes, while a few were
green or yellow monochromes. One curious variety, called _same-yaki_,
had glaze chagrined like the skin of a shark. Most of the finest
pieces of enamelled faience were the work of artists at the Tadeno
factory, while the best specimens of other kinds were by the artists
of Tatsumonji.

Kutani.

The porcelain of Kutani is among those best known to Western
collectors, though good specimens ofthe old ware have always been
scarce. Its manufacture dates from the close of the 17th century, when
the feudal chief of Kaga took the industry under his patronage. There
were two principal varieties of the ware: _ao-Kutani_, so called
because of a green (_ao_) enamel of great brilliancy and beauty which
was largely used in its decoration, and Kutani with painted and
enamelled _pâte_ varying from hard porcelain to pottery. Many of the
pieces are distinguished by a peculiar creamy whiteness of glaze,
suggesting the idea that they were intended to imitate the soft-paste
wares of China. The enamels are used to delineate decorative subjects
and are applied in masses, the principal colours being green, yellow
and soft Prussian blue, all brilliant and transparent, with the
exception of the last which is nearly opaque. In many cases we find
large portions of the surface completely covered with green or yellow
enamel overlying black diapers or scroll patterns. The second variety
of Kutani ware may often be mistaken for "old Japan" (i.e. Imari
porcelain). The most characteristic examples of it are
distinguishable, however, by the preponderating presence of a peculiar
russet red, differing essentially from the full-bodied and
comparatively brilliant colour of the Arita pottery. Moreover, the
workmen of Kaga did not follow the Arita precedent of massing blue
under the glaze. In the great majority of cases they did not use blue
at all in this position, and when they did, its place was essentially
subordinate. They also employed silver freely for decorative purposes,
whereas we rarely find it thus used on "old Japan" porcelain.

About the time (1843) of the ao-Kutani revival, a potter called lida
Hachiroemon introduced a style of decoration which subsequently came
to be regarded as typical of all Kaga procelains. Taking the Eiraku
porcelains of Kioto as models, Hachiroemon employed red grounds with
designs traced on them in gold. The style was not absolutely new in
Kaga. We find similar decoration on old and choice examples of
Kutani-yaki. But the character of the old red differs essentially from
that of the modern manufacture--the former being a soft, subdued
colour, more like a bloom than an enamel; the latter a glossy and
comparatively crude pigment. In Hachiroemon's time and during the
twenty years following the date of his innovation, many beautiful
examples of elaborately decorated Kutani porcelain were produced. The
richness, profusion and microscopic accuracy of their decoration could
scarcely have been surpassed; but, with very rare exceptions, their
lack of delicacy of technique disqualifies them to rank as fine
porcelains.

Owari.

It was at the little village of Seto, some five miles from Nagoya, the
chief town of the province of Owari, or Bishu, that the celebrated
Kato Shirozaemon made the first Japanese faience worthy to be
considered a technical success. Shirozaemon produced dainty little
tea-jars, ewers and other _cha-no-yu_ utensils. These, being no longer
stoved in an inverted position, as had been the habit before
Shirozaemon's time, were not disfigured by the bare, blistered lips of
their predecessors. Their _pâte_ was close and well-manufactured
pottery, varying in colour from dark brown to russet, and covered with
thick, lustrous glazes--black, amber-brown, chocolate and yellowish
grey. These glazes were not monochromatic: they showed differences of
tint, and sometimes marked varieties of colour; as when
chocolate-brown passed into amber, or black was relieved by streaks
and clouds of grey and dead-leaf red. This ware came to be known as
_Toshiro-yaki_, a term obtained by combining the second syllable of
Kato with the two first of Shirozaemon. A genuine example of it is at
present worth many times its weight in gold to Japanese dilettanti,
though in foreign eyes it is little more than interesting. Shirozaemon
was succeeded at the kiln by three generations of his family, each
representative retaining the name of Toshiro, and each distinguishing
himself by the excellence of his work. Thenceforth Seto became the
headquarters of the manufacture of _cha-no-yu_ utensils, and many of
the tiny pieces turned out there deserve high admiration, their
technique being perfect, and their mahogany, russet-brown, amber and
buff glazes showing wonderful lustre and richness. Seto, in fact,
acquired such a widespread reputation for its ceramic productions that
the term _seto-mono_ (Seto article) came to be used generally for all
pottery and porcelain, just as "China" is in the West. Seto has now
ceased to be a pottery-producing centre, and has become the chief
porcelain manufactory of Japan. The porcelain industry was inaugurated
in 1807 by Tamikichi, a local ceramist, who had visited Hizen and
spent three years there studying the necessary processes. Owari
abounds in porcelain stone; but it does not occur in constant or
particularly simple forms, and as the potters have not yet learned to
treat their materials scientifically, their work is often marred by
unforeseen difficulties. For many years after Tamikichi's processes
had begun to be practised, the only decoration employed was blue under
the glaze. Sometimes Chinese cobalt was used, sometimes Japanese, and
sometimes a mixture of both. To Kawamoto Hansuke, who flourished about
1830-1845, belongs the credit of having turned out the richest and
most attractive ware of this class. But, speaking generally, Japanese
blues do not rank on the same decorative level with those of China. At
Arita, although pieces were occasionally turned out of which the
colour could not be surpassed in purity and brilliancy, the general
character of the blue _sous couverte_ was either thin or dull. At
Hirado the ceramists affected a lighter and more delicate tone than
that of the Chinese, and, in order to obtain it, subjected the choice
pigment of the Middle Kingdom to refining processes of great severity.
The Hirado blue, therefore, belongs to a special aesthetic category.
But at Owari the experts were content with an inferior colour, and
their blue-and-white porcelains never enjoyed a distinguished
reputation, though occasionally we find a specimen of great merit.

Decoration with vitrifiable enamels over the glaze, though it began to
be practised at Owari about the year 1840, never became a speciality
of the place. Nowadays, indeed, numerous examples of porcelains
decorated in this manner are classed among Owari products. But they
receive their decoration, almost without exception, in Tokyo or
Yokohama, where a large number of artists, called _e-tsuke-shi_,
devote themselves entirely to porcelain-painting. These men seldom use
vitrifiable enamels, pigments being much more tractable and less
costly. The dominant feature of the designs is pictorial. They are
frankly adapted to Western taste. Indeed, of this porcelain it may be
said that, from the monster pieces of blue-and-white manufactured at
Seto--vases six feet high and garden pillar-lamps half as tall again
do not dismay the Bishu ceramist--to tiny coffee-cups decorated in
Tokyo, with their delicate miniatures of birds, flowers, insects,
fishes and so forth, everything indicates the death of the old severe
aestheticism. To such a depth of debasement had the ceramic art fallen
in Owari, that before the happy renaissance of the past ten years,
Nagoya discredited itself by employing porcelain as a base for
cloisonné enamelling. Many products of this vitiated industry have
found their way into the collections of foreigners.

Bizen.

Pottery was produced at several hamlets in Bizen as far back as the
14th century, but ware worthy of artistic notice did not make its
appearance until the close of the 16th century, when the Taiko himself
paid a visit to the factory at Imbe. Thenceforth utensils for the use
of the tea clubs began to be manufactured. This _Bizen-yaki_ was red
stoneware, with thin diaphanous glaze. Made of exceedingly refractory
clay, it underwent stoving for more than three weeks, and was
consequently remarkable for its hardness and metallic timbre. Some
fifty years later, the character of the choicest Bizen-yaki underwent
a marked change. It became slate-coloured or bluish-brown faience,
with _pâte_ as fine as pipe-clay, but very hard. In the _ao-Bizen_
(blue Bizen), as well as in the red variety, figures of mythical
beings and animals, birds, fishes and other natural objects, were
modelled with a degree of plastic ability that can scarcely be spoken
of in too high terms. Representative specimens are truly
admirable--every line, every contour faithful. The production was very
limited, and good pieces soon ceased to be procurable except at long
intervals and heavy expense. The Bizen-yaki familiar to Western
collectors is comparatively coarse brown or reddish brown, stoneware,
modelled rudely, though sometimes redeemed by touches of the genius
never entirely absent from the work of the Japanese artisan-artist.
Easy to be confounded with it is another ware of the same type
manufactured at Shidoro in the province of Totomi.

Takatori.

The Japanese potters could never vie with the Chinese in the
production of glazes: the wonderful monochromes and polychromes of the
Middle Kingdom had no peers anywhere. In Japan they were most closely
approached by the faience of Takatori in the province of Chikuzen. In
its early days the ceramic industry of this province owed something to
the assistance of Korean experts who settled there after the
expedition of 1592. But its chief development took place under the
direction of Igarashi Jizaemon, an amateur ceramist, who, happening to
visit Chikuzen about 1620, was taken under the protection of the chief
of the fief and munificently treated. Taking the renowned
_yao-pien-yao_, or "transmutation ware" of China as a model, the
Takatori potters endeavoured, by skilful mixing of colouring
materials, to reproduce the wonderful effects of oxidization seen in
the Chinese ware. They did not, indeed, achieve their ideal, but they
did succeed in producing some exquisitely lustrous glazes of the
_flambé_ type, rich transparent brown passing into claret colour, with
flecks or streaks of white and clouds of "iron dust." The _pâte_ of
this faience was of the finest description, and the technique in every
respect faultless. Unfortunately, the best experts confined themselves
to working for the tea clubs, and consequently produced only
insignificant pieces, as tea-jars, cups and little ewers. During the
18th century, a departure was made from these strict canons. From this
period date most of the specimens best known outside Japan--cleverly
modelled figures of mythological beings and animals covered with
lustrous variegated glazes, the general colours being grey or buff,
with tints of green, chocolate, brown and sometimes blue.

Awaji.

A ware of which considerable quantities have found their way westward
of late years in the _Awaji-yaki_, so called from the island of Awaji
where it is manufactured in the village of Iga. It was first produced
between the years 1830 and 1840 by one Kaju Mimpei, a man of
considerable private means who devoted himself to the ceramic art out
of pure enthusiasm. His story is full of interest, but it must suffice
here to note the results of his enterprise. Directing his efforts at
first to reproducing the deep green and straw-yellow glazes of China,
he had exhausted almost his entire resources before success came, and
even then the public was slow to recognize the merits of his ware.
Nevertheless he persevered, and in 1838 we find him producing not only
green and yellow monochromes, but also greyish white and mirror-black
glazes of high excellence. So thoroughly had he now mastered the
management of glazes that he could combine yellow, green, white and
claret colour in regular patches to imitate tortoise-shell. Many of
his pieces have designs incised or in relief, and others are skilfully
decorated with gold and silver. Awaji-yaki, or _Mimpei-yaki_ as it is
often called, is generally porcelain, but we occasionally find
specimens which may readily be mistaken for Awata faience.

Banko.

Banko faience is a universal favourite with foreign collectors. The
type generally known to them is exceedingly light ware, for the most
part made of light grey, unglazed clay, and having hand-modelled
decoration in relief. But there are numerous varieties. Chocolate or
dove-coloured grounds with delicate diapers in gold and _engobe_;
brown or black faience with white, yellow and pink designs incised or
in relief; pottery curiously and deftly marbled by combinations of
various coloured clays--these and many other kinds are to be found,
all, however, presenting one common feature, namely, skilful
finger-moulding and a slight roughening of the surface as though it
had received the impression of coarse linen or crape before baking.
This modern _banko-yaki_ is produced chiefly at Yokkaichi in the
province of Ise. It is entirely different from the original banko-ware
made in Kuwana, in the same province, by Numanami Gozaemon at the
close of the 18th century. Gozaemon was an imitator. He took for his
models the raku faience of Kioto, the masterpieces of Ninsei and
Kenzan, the rococo wares of Korea, the enamelled porcelain of China,
and the blue-and-white ware of Delft. He did not found a school,
simply because he had nothing new to teach, and the fact that a modern
ware goes by the same name as his productions is simply because his
seal--the inscription on which (_banko_, everlasting) suggested the
name of the ware--subsequently (1830) fell into the hands of one Mori
Yusetsu, who applied it to his own ware. Mori Yusetsu, however, had
more originality than Numanami. He conceived the idea of shaping his
pieces by putting the mould inside and pressing the clay with the hand
into the matrix. The consequence was that his wares received the
design on the inner as well as the outer surface, and were moreover
thumb-marked--essential characteristics of the banko-yaki now so
popular.

Izumo.

Among a multitude of other Japanese wares, space allows us to mention
only two, those of Izumo and Yatsushiro. The chief of the former is
faience, having light grey, close _pâte_ and yellow or straw-coloured
glaze, with or without crackle, to which is applied decoration in
gold and green enamel. Another variety has chocolate glaze, clouded
with amber and flecked with gold dust. The former faience had its
origin at the close of the 17th century, the latter at the close of
the 18th; but the _Izumo-yaki_ now procurable is a modern production.

Yatsushiro.

The Yatsushiro faience is a production of the province of Higo, where
a number of Korean potters settled at the close of the 17th century.
It is the only Japanese ware in which the characteristics of a Korean
original are unmistakably preserved. Its diaphanous, pearl-grey glaze,
uniform, lustrous and finely crackled, overlying encaustic decoration
in white slip, the fineness of its warm reddish _pâte_, and the
general excellence of its technique, have always commanded admiration.
It is produced now in considerable quantities, but the modern ware
falls far short of its predecessor.

Many examples of the above varieties deserve the enthusiastic admiration they have received, yet they unquestionably belong to a lower rank of ceramic achievements than the choice productions of Chinese kilns. The potters of the Middle Kingdom, from the early eras of the Ming dynasty down to the latest years of the 18th century, stood absolutely without rivals as makers of porcelain. Their technical ability was incomparable--though in grace of decorative conception they yielded the palm to the Japanese--and the representative specimens they bequeathed to posterity remained, until quite recently, far beyond the imitative capacity of European or Asiatic experts. As for faience and pottery, however, the Chinese despised them in all forms, with one notable exception, the _yi-hsing-yao_, known in the Occident as _boccaro_. Even the _yi-hsing-yao_, too, owed much of its popularity to special utility. It was essentially the ware of the tea-drinker. If in the best specimens exquisite modelling, wonderful accuracy of finish and _pâtes_ of interesting tints are found, such pieces are, none the less, stamped prominently with the character of utensils rather than with that of works of art. In short, the artistic output of Chinese kilns in their palmiest days was, not faience or pottery, but porcelain, whether of soft or hard paste. Japan, on the contrary, owes her ceramic distinction in the main to her faience. A great deal has been said by enthusiastic writers about the _famille chrysanthemo-péonienne_ of Imari and the _genre Kakiemon_ of Nabeshima, but these porcelains, beautiful as they undoubtedly are, cannot be placed on the same level with the _kwan-yao_ and _famille rose_ of the Chinese experts. The Imari ware, even though its thick biscuit and generally ungraceful shapes be omitted from the account, shows no enamels that can rival the exquisitely soft, broken tints of the _famille rose_; and the _Kakiemon_ porcelain, for all its rich though chaste contrasts, lacks the delicate transmitted tints of the shell-like _kwan-yao_. So, too, the blue-and-white porcelain of Hirado, though assisted by exceptional tenderness of sous-pâte colour, by milk-white glaze, by great beauty of decorative design, and often by an admirable use of the modelling or graving tool, represents a ceramic achievement palpably below the soft paste _kai-pien-yao_ of King-te-chen. It is a curious and interesting fact that this last product of Chinese skill remained unknown in Japan down to very recent days. In the eyes of a Chinese connoisseur, no blue-and-white porcelain worthy of consideration exists, or ever has existed, except the _kai-pien-yao_, with its imponderable _pâte_, its wax-like surface, and its rich, glowing blue, entirely free from superficiality or garishness and broken into a thousand tints by the microscopic crackle of the glaze. The Japanese, although they obtained from their neighbour almost everything of value she had to give them, did not know this wonderful ware, and their ignorance is in itself sufficient to prove their ceramic inferiority. There remains, too, a wide domain in which the Chinese developed high skill, whereas the Japanese can scarcely be said to have entered it at all; namely, the domain of monochromes and polychromes, striking every note of colour from the richest to the most delicate; the domain of _truité_ and _flambé_ glazes, of _yo-pien-yao_ (transmutation ware), and of egg-shell with incised or translucid decoration. In all that region of achievement the Chinese potters stood alone and seemingly unapproachable. The Japanese, on the contrary, made a specialty of faience, and in that particular line they reached a high standard of excellence. No faience produced either in China or any other Oriental country can dispute the palm with really representative specimens of Satsuma ware. Not without full reason have Western connoisseurs lavished panegyrics upon that exquisite production. The faience of the Kioto artists never reached quite to the level of the Satsuma in quality of _pâte_ and glowing mellowness of decoration; their materials were slightly inferior. But their skill as decorators was as great as its range was wide, and they produced a multitude of masterpieces on which alone Japan's ceramic fame might safely be rested.

Change of Style after the Restoration.