CHAPTER VI

KERAMICS

Though the golden period of Japanese Keramic art was attained during the Tokugawa dynasty, 1603-1868, yet its origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. An interesting passage in an old Japanese chronicle shows that in the times of the Emperor Suwinin, about the beginning of the Christian era, the craft of the potter was the recognised industry of certain tribes. After giving an account of the death and burial of the Mikado’s brother the record proceeds:

“On this they assembled those who had been in his immediate service, and buried them all upright round his sepulchre alive. For many days they died not, but day and night wept and cried. At last they died and rotted. Dogs and crows assembled and ate them. The Mikado, hearing the sound of their weeping and crying, felt saddened and pained in his heart. He commanded all his high officers saying: ‘It is a very painful matter to force those whom we have loved during life to follow us in death, and though it is an ancient custom why follow it if it be bad? From now and henceforth plan so as to stop causing men to follow the dead.’ On the death of the Empress, some time afterwards, the Emperor called his advisers together, and asked them: ‘What shall be done in the case of the present burying?’ Thereupon Nomi-no-Sukune advanced, and said: ‘It is not good to bury living men standing at the sepulchre of a prince, and this cannot be handed down to posterity. I pray leave now to propose a convenient plan, and to lay this before the sovereign.’ And he sent messengers to summon up a hundred of the clay-workers’ tribe of the country of Idzumo, and he himself directed the men of the clay-workers’ tribe in taking clay and forming shapes of men, horses, and various things, and presented them to the Mikado, saying: ‘From now and henceforth let it be the law for posterity to exchange things of clay for living men, and set them up in sepulchres.’”

The result of Mr W. Gowland’s excavations of the dolmens, or burial mounds, which date from about 200 B.C. to 600 A.D., has been the discovery of a great deal of the ancient pottery--coarse ware unglazed and unpainted, and decorated only with simple patterns of lines incised in the clay while soft. The shapes, however, are often graceful and pleasing. In the dolmens were also found the rude terra-cotta figures of men above referred to.

For many centuries the art of the potter remained in very much the same primitive condition. A coarse ware sufficed for the domestic utensils of the common people, and lacquered vessels supplied the wants of the more luxurious. There is, indeed, mention of Korean potters having been brought over to Japan after the Empress Jingo’s victorious campaign, and it is said that the art of glazing was practised at Hizen in the eighth century.

Little real advance, however, was made till the thirteenth century, when Kato Shirazayemon, better known as Toshiro, a native of Seto in Owari, and the father of Japanese pottery, appears. Dissatisfied with the results of the native kilns he visited China in 1223 to study the methods practised there, and after six years’ absence returned to Seto. His pottery is a brown stoneware of firm and dense texture, and is covered with a glaze of a deep rich brown, sometimes mottled, altogether a great advance on the previous product of the country. The vessels made by him, mostly cha-ire, or tea-jars, used in the tea ceremony, are now valued at fabulous prices by the Japanese dilettante.

A certain authority states that Japanese history has been denominated by three factors: the sword, the tea-cup, and the paper house. The effects of the first and the last have been already indicated, and a few words here as to the second may not be out of place.

Legend ascribes a supernatural origin to the tea-plant. The Buddhist saint Daruma, he who sat wrapt in meditation for eight long years so that he quite lost the use of his lower limbs, once at his devotions was overpowered by sleep. On awakening, filled with shame at his frailty, he took a pair of scissors, and, snipping off the offending eyelids, cast them indignantly from him. They took root where they fell, and from them sprang a plant whose leaves had the magic quality of driving away sleep from weary eyes. In the temples it was much valued by the holy men, and a certain degree of ceremony or ritual attended its use.

It was in the time of Yoshimasa, in the fifteenth century, that the cha-no-yu, or tea ceremony, began to assume public importance. In his peaceful retirement, surrounded by artists and philosophers, it was practised by the ex-Shogun. The priest Shuko drew up a code of its rules, characterised by a severe and dignified simplicity. The room used was small, and plain to bareness, the utensils were unornamented, but, though to the ordinary eye crude and rough, were much prized by the connoisseur. Indeed, Yoshimasa often rewarded important services not by a grant of land but by the gift of a valued tea-jar.

A hundred years later Hideyoshi revived the ceremony, and its rules were revised by the famous philosopher Rikiu, the greatest of all the Cha-jin, or tea professors. Rikiu considered that the essentials of the tea ceremony were: “Purity, peacefulness, reverence, and abstraction.” “It was important for the guest to come with clean hands, but much more so with a clean heart.” Social rank was ignored: those present took rank according to their standing and reputation as Cha-jin. The most perfect courtesy and politeness governed all the proceedings. Frivolous or worldly talk was forbidden, and the conversation chiefly turned on the merit of the kakemono adorning the room, the flower decoration hanging before it, and the implements used in the ceremony.

A special ware was used for the tea bowls termed Raku ware. It is said first to have been made by a Kioto potter Ameya from a design by Rikiu, and so delighted Hideyoshi that he presented the maker with a gold seal, with the characters “Raku” (enjoyment) inscribed upon it, with permission to use it as a stamp. The ware is soft and porous, and covered with a thick, soft glaze. Not turned on the wheel but shaped by hand, it is rough and uneven in shape, and usually bears no ornamentation. Coarse and unsightly and rough as it may appear to the uninitiated, to the eye of the connoisseur it possesses many beauties; its irregular shape is comfortable to the hand, its soft glaze pleasant to the lips, and is said even to impart a flavour to the tea.

As the relaxation of the most cultured of the land, the tea ceremony had effects of far-reaching importance. As a corrective to the military spirit its glorification of the gentler virtues was invaluable, and to it in no small degree it is said the Japanese owe their character as the most courteous nation in the world. In art, though most strongly felt in the field of Keramics, its influence extended widely, affecting to no small extent the various branches of the minor decorative arts, and dominating, almost in a sense creating, the arts of landscape gardening and flower arrangement.

With Hideyoshi’s revival of the tea ceremony, and the importation of Korean potters, the real history of Japanese Keramic art begins. Kilns were founded in many different parts of the country, and as each produced its own distinctive ware the development of these local art industries can best be traced separately.

The province of Hizen, lying in the south of the island of Kiushu, and the nearest point of the Korean mainland being only some two hundred miles away, it is natural that here the borrowed industry should first take root.

The most ancient kiln was erected at Karatzu as early as the seventh century, and a hundred years later glazing was there used for the first time in Japan. So famous did the Karatzu ware become that Karatzu-mono, “things of Karatzu,” became the current name for all sorts of pottery. The Old Karatzu ware, however, was coarse and rough in quality, though some of its rich brown glazes were not without beauty.

In the sixteenth century Gorodayu Shonzui visited China and learned the art of making porcelain, and on his return to Japan brought a quantity of the clay with him. On the supply being exhausted, however, the manufacture stopped.

After Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea, towards the end of the century, many captives were brought back, including a Korean potter, Risampei, who discovered on the hills of Hizen a clay suitable for the making of porcelain. Kilns were erected, and the new manufacture started in earnest.

When the Dutch traders dealt with the port of Nagasaki the chief article of their export was the porcelain ware of Arita--known as Imari ware, from which port it was shipped to Nagasaki.

It is this ware that was distributed through Europe and gave the first and totally erroneous idea of the Keramic art of Japan. For the “Old Japan” ware, as it is called, was deliberately manufactured to suit the vulgar taste of the barbarous foreigner, who demanded copious and crowded decoration. It is almost ludicrous to compare it with the ware manufactured at the same time for home use. The one, the work of the artist Kakiyemon, is decorated with dainty and graceful designs, which in their reticence and simplicity are the embodiment of good taste; the other is quite un-Japanese in style, the ornament crowded and overloaded with colour, and often a mere gaudy jumble. But the “Old Japan” ware formed the models for half the factories of Europe, and we only need to turn to the Old Crown Derby porcelain to find its atrocities repeated with ludicrous fidelity.

In 1660 Prince Nabeshima established a kiln at Okawachi. It was reserved for the finest porcelain only, which was made for his private use, the sale being prohibited. Beautiful ware with a fine blue under the glaze was the chief product, and at a later date fragile imitations of flowers were made, of wonderful delicacy.

[Illustration: A GROUP OF PORCELAIN (_British Museum_) 1. Large Plate, Kutani ware (purple, blue, and green, on yellow ground) 2. Plate, Imari ware (design by Kakiyemon, red, blue, green, and yellow, on white ground) 3. Plate, Nabeshima ware (blue, on white ground)]

Another famous factory of Hizen is that at Mikawachi, where the Hirado ware, perhaps the finest of all Japanese porcelains, was produced. The factory was founded towards the end of the sixteenth century, and its first manufacture was an earthenware covered with a blue-grey glaze. In 1712, however, the discovery of fine porcelain stone was made in the vicinity, and in 1751 Matsura, the feudal chief of Hirado, took the kiln under his patronage, and for the next hundred years the ware may be assigned the first place among Japanese porcelains; for not only is the ground a pure and clear white, but the paté, free from gritty particles, is of a fineness of texture which is not possessed by other similar wares. With rare exceptions blue is the only colour used in its decoration, not the deep Chinese blue nor yet the rather weak tint of Nabeshima, but a delicate shade between the two. The favourite decorative motive was a scene with pine-trees and children at play. In ware of the finest quality seven children were introduced, in the second quality five, and in the third three. Many charming pieces were also made in plain white ware with pierced patterns or designs in relief, and at a later date the factory became famous for a delicate blue-and-white eggshell porcelain. Since 1830, however, the wares of the factory have declined greatly in quality.

Until within the last forty years the Keramic arts of Japan were only known to Europe by their porcelain, and only crude and inferior specimens of that, but the pottery and faience which merited even more attention were utterly unheard of. Since then matters have changed very much, and the faience of Satsuma is now the most sought after of all Japanese wares. But though Old Satsuma ware has become almost a household word, and there are few collections but boast of a specimen or two, the bulk of these objects are more or less clever imitations of a later date, excellent often in themselves, but not the rare and wonderful old Satsuma with its soft, ivory tint and its almost imperceptibly crackled glaze.

The original kiln appears to have been founded by Prince Shimazu Yoshihiro, chief of Satsuma, on his return from the Korean expedition, from which he brought back seventeen skilled Korean potters. In 1598 a kiln was opened close to his castle at Chosa, in the neighbouring province of Hiuga, which manufactured chiefly objects for the tea ceremony not unlike those previously made at Seto; but the glazes were of many varieties and very beautiful, some of them being exceedingly rich and brilliant. Prince Yoshihiro took great interest in the manufactory, settling handsome annuities on the most skilful potters, and stamping the finest pieces of work with his own seal.

In the year 1618 Boku, one of the original seventeen Korean potters, discovered in Satsuma a fine white clay or sand and other materials suitable for the manufacture of a finer quality of faience, and the result was a great improvement in the ware.

In 1630 the kilns were removed to Nawashiro, and by 1675 the ware had reached a high degree of excellence. About this time Tangen, a pupil of the great Kano painter Tanyu, was employed to paint or furnish designs for the potters, and Satsuma Tangen now constitutes one of the greatest treasures of the Japanese connoisseur. The decoration of such pieces as remain is slight and sketchy, the designs usually landscape, bird, and floral subjects, and the colours few and simple, often a reddish brown only being used.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century two Satsuma potters, Hoko of the Tatsumonji factory and Chiubei of the Tadeno factory, were sent by Shimazu Tomonobu, the chief of the clan, to travel all over Japan, visiting the different factories and learning the processes used in each. They visited Hizen, Kioto, Bizen, Owari, and other places, and particularly seem to have profited by their insight into the methods used in the production of the enamelled faience of Awata, for after their return, in 1795, may be dated a large increase in the manufacture of enamelled Satsuma faience, Nishiki-de, and it is this faience that is so widely known and valued as Old Satsuma.

The characteristics of this beautiful ware may be briefly noted. The paté is close as pipeclay and almost as firm and hard as porcelain. The chalky, porous nature of the newer work at once proclaims its late date. The old glaze is soft, lustrous, and mellow, with an exceedingly fine crackle. The decoration is simple, chiefly diapers and floral subjects in comparatively few colours, and the pieces are invariably small--tripod incense burners of about seven inches high being, perhaps, the largest objects. The large examples profusely decorated with human figures, peacocks, and other designs, are all of later date belonging to the period of forgeries which set in with the great increase of European trade after 1868.

[Illustration: VASE IN FORM OF LOTUS, SATSUMA FAIENCE (18TH CENTURY) (_From the Collection of Mr M. Tomkinson_)]

Of imitations there are many varieties. But first it may be mentioned that, prior to 1868, undecorated white faience was largely made at Satsuma, which was afterwards decorated at Tokio, but the refiring necessary completely takes away, in most cases, the distinctive and beautiful qualities of the crackled glaze.

The rarity of Old Satsuma ware may be judged from the fact that the average number of genuine pieces offered for sale in Japan during the last fifteen years has probably not been more than ten, and not more than half of these have left the country.

Though the Satsuma faience has the distinction of being the most beautiful ware produced in Japan, it is in association with the Kioto factories that we find most of the great names of Japanese Keramics--Ninsei, Kenzan, and Hozen.

The wares of Kioto may be divided into three classes: first, the Old Raku ware used in the tea ceremony; second, the decorated faience of Awata and the neighbouring kilns; and third, the porcelain which was the product of the early part of the nineteenth century.

During the civil wars which preceded the Tokugawa period the city of Kioto, though the seat of the Imperial Court, dwindled rapidly in importance; even the Mikado and his Kugé, or Court nobles, lived in dire poverty. Its tide of prosperity did not turn until the seventeenth century, and it is with the advent of Nomura Seisuke (also called Seiyemon and Seibei) that the great period begins. His native place was Ninnaji, near Kioto, and, taking the first syllable of that name and adding to it the first syllable of his own, he adopted the name Ninsei, with which he stamped his work.

As already described, the porcelain makers at Hizen had learned the secret of vitrifiable enamels as early as 1620, but it was guarded by them most jealously. It is said, however, that between 1650 and 1655 Kurobei, a Kioto dealer in porcelain, obtained the precious secret from an Aritu potter, Aoyama Koemon. The miserable man was immediately put to death by his irate lord; but the secret was out, and passed from the dealer to Ninsei, to the great future benefit of Japan. He applied it to the decoration of faience with the most excellent results, for his taste and skill as a decorative artist were unrivalled among his contemporaries, and to his influence may be traced many of the most charming developments of later years.

A man of birth, he was not actually a potter by profession, and had, therefore, no fixed workshop, working at the factories of Awata, Iwakura, and Mizoro. He seems to have made no secret of the processes he had mastered, but gladly imparted them to those with whom he came in contact, and to this fact is doubtless due the rapid rise in the quality and increase in the output of the Kioto ware.

A word as to the Kioto kilns, which were all within a radius of a few miles, may be here advisable. The best known were Awata, Iwakura, and Mizoro; the others were grouped together under the general term Kyomizu.

Ninsei’s faience is almost worthy to compare with the best ware of Satsuma, but is marked by a slightly darker colour, and is a trifle fragile in appearance, lacking the firm solidity of the Satsuma ware. Its crackle is fine and beautifully regular, giving the appearance of a covering of fine netting. His glazes range from a metallic black to a pearl white, through which a pink flush seems to spread.

His designs for decoration are simple and chaste, and the clear, pale greens and blues and rich reds of his enamels are of exquisite quality.

After Ninsei’s death the next great name at Awata is that of Ogata Shinsei, or Kenzan, a younger brother of the still more famous Ogata Korin, painter and lacquerer, perhaps the greatest decorative artist Japan has produced. Kenzan was also a decorator of great power and originality. In complete contrast to the delicate harmonies of Ninsei, his designs are rough and bold, but his colour is superb and his decorative sense unerring. His work was at first confined to the coarser wares of the cha-no-yu, and here the singular force of his decoration harmonises well with the rude shapes, rough earthenware, and rich glazes, so that the Kenzan Raku ware is indeed a thing of beauty. But in faience he had equally great success. Once seen, his style can be recognised anywhere; a rough sketch of a landscape, a branch in blossom, a flight of birds, or the conventional shape of a flower, dashed in with seeming carelessness, but each touch placed in exactly the right spot for decorative fitness. A very fine specimen of his work--a brown pot decorated with an extremely rich design of peacock’s feathers, blue-green and purple--may be seen in the British Museum.

The third great name of the Kioto group is that of Nishimura Zengoro, by Keramists known as Hozen. Born towards the end of the eighteenth century, he was one of a long line of potters. In 1801-3 he studied at the Awata factory, and soon his celadon and blue-and-white porcelain became celebrated. His fame attracted the notice of the feudal chief of Kiushu, who, in 1827, invited him to his province, and built a kiln for him in his private park, at which he produced the well-known ware called, from its stamp, Kairaku-en ware. Zengoro had made a special study of glazes, and the great beauty of this ware is the rich harmony of purple, blue, and yellow glazes which he obtained.

His versatility is shown by another ware which has an equally high reputation--the “Eiraku,” or Kinrande (scarlet and gold brocade style). This is a porcelain ware of great delicacy and beauty, and usually made only in small pieces. The ground is of a soft coral red, upon which is traced a wealth of decoration in gold, with here and there a mass of rich blue.

Of the many other well-known names remaining among the Kioto potters only passing mention can be made. In many families the same stamp was used by one generation after another, rendering it difficult to distinguish their individual work.

The Kinkozan, Hozan, Taizan, and Tanzan families carried the traditions of Ninsei in Awata faience right down to the present day; while in the beginning of the nineteenth century the Dohachi family and the Kyomizu potter Rokubei followed in their decoration the newer naturalistic school. Mention must also be made of Shuhei and Kantei, potters of the end of the eighteenth century, who are regarded as the most eminent masters of the little Japanese tea-pot, or kuisu, and also of their contemporary Mokubei, a potter of so great ability that it is a pity he confined himself almost entirely to imitations of Chinese and other wares.

The history of the founding of the Kaga factories, which turned out the Kutani ware, is interesting and curious. Maeda Toshiharu, feudal lord of Daishoji, having discovered a bed of fine porcelain stone near Kutani, established a kiln about 1650, under the charge of two well-known potters--Tamura Gonzaemon and Goto Saijiro; but the venture was not a success owing to the lack of knowledge of the workers. Not to be outdone, Saijiro went to Hizen to learn there the secrets of porcelain making. The only way in which he was able to do this was by becoming a permanent member of the community. The manner in which he accomplished this was peculiar. He took service in the house of a potter, married a woman of the district, and worked there for several years. When he had learned all there was to learn he calmly deserted wife and family, and fled home to Kaga, where he imparted the needed information. Shortly after this time, about 1664, the Kutani potters were turning out wares of great beauty and individuality.

[Illustration: A GROUP OF VARIOUS WARES (_British Museum_) 1. Tea-Jar, by Toshiro I. 2. Tea Bowl--Raku Ware. 3. Tea Bowl after Ninsei. 4. Tea Bowl--Omuru, Kioto. 5 and 6. Tea Bowls, by Kenzan. 7. Kairaku-en Ware. 8. Kioto Ware. 9. Soma Ware. 10. Yatsushiro Ware. 11. Bizen Ware. 12. Banko Ware.]

Of these there were several kinds--the first, Ao-Kutani, was so called from the deep green glaze (ao = green) which was largely used in its decoration; and other glazes--yellow, purple, and soft Prussian blue--made up a rich, low-toned harmony of great beauty. In the second class of ware the Arita style of decoration was followed, except that the Kutani potter used blue under the glaze very seldom, and only in subordinate positions. Their chief colours were red--a soft, dull, rich colour varying from Indian red to a russet brown--and yellow, purple, and blue, supplemented by silver and gold.

Their designs were largely made by Morikaga, a pupil of Tanyu-- landscapes, birds, and flowers being the chief subjects.

A third famous ware of Kutani, which may be termed the red Kutani as distinguished from the green, had a ground of rich red, with diapers or medallions decorated in yellow, green, purple, and red enamels. Another style had the ground entirely of red, to which designs were applied in silver and gold, light green, and sometimes yellow and purple enamels.

For some reason the activity of the Kutani factory only continued for about sixty years, and during the next hundred years there followed a period of inaction. In the middle of the nineteenth century the manufacture was revived, both the red and the green Old Kutani wares being imitated, but with doubtful success. The modern colours, especially in the case of the red, lack the softness of the old, and are, comparatively speaking, harsh and glaring.

In 1827, at Edamachi Kanazawa, a kiln was founded which produced a beautiful faience known as Ohi-yaki, which is characterised by enamelled decoration of great delicacy and refinement.

The foregoing are the most important of the old Keramic arts, for the most distinguished products of the pre-Meji days may be summed up as the porcelain of Hizen and Kutani and the faience of Satsuma and Kioto.

A number of wares of lesser importance remain, chief among these being the Owari wares.

It will be remembered that it was to Seto in Owari that Toshiro returned after his visit to China in the thirteenth century, and founded the industry which entitles him to the name of “The Father of Japanese Pottery.” But from that time till the beginning of the nineteenth century little change took place in the character of the Seto wares, which continued to be stoneware and earthenware vessels, and little else. About 1801, however, a Seto potter visited Hizen, and after studying in the factories there returned, and founded a porcelain manufactory in Seto. Soon they attained great proficiency in the production of a blue-and-white ware which rivalled the products of Hizen. Their large pieces were particularly fine examples of firing, the technical difficulties to be overcome being enormous. The quality, however, of this ware rapidly deteriorated after 1850.

At about the same time a soft-crackled faience was made at Nagoya by a potter called Toyosuke. It is a soft-crackled faience of the Raku type, covered on the inside with a greenish white glaze decorated with bold floral designs, and on the outside with a thin coat of lacquer.

And now, for the remaining smaller branches of the industry a passing mention must suffice.

In the province of Bizen was manufactured a curious hard stoneware of a bluish grey colour, which chiefly took the form of vigorously modelled figures of gods, men, animals, and birds. Indeed, in the Bizen stoneware you find repeated in another form, but with the same vigour and originality, the achievements of the netsuké carver and the tsuba worker--Hotei, the pot-bellied god of contentment, being a favourite subject for treatment.

At Ise a wealthy amateur named Gozayemon founded a kiln in 1736, executing a ware which was known as Ko Banko. In the beginning of the nineteenth century a potter, Mori Yusetsu, conceived the idea of imitating this old ware. The imitator, however, was a much better artist than his prototype, and soon the new Banko ware was both widely different from, and of a much finer quality than, the old. This ware was worked on a mould, which was placed inside the article, and the clay pressed in with the fingers, the mould being afterwards removed in sections. The decoration was vigorous and artistic, consisting often of dragons, storks, etc., in relief.

In Higo a very beautiful ware called Yatsushiro was made. It is a dense faience coated with a film of pale grey clay by immersion in slip; the design, usually a delicate diaper, is then engraved and the lines filled in with white clay--the whole being covered with a finely-crackled glaze.

Mention must be made also of the beautiful eggshell ware of Mino--delicate little saké cups and other vessels encased in envelopes of bamboo basket-work; and also of the Fujina ware of Idzumo--a faience decorated with beautifully executed designs of insects.

At Nakamura, in Iwaki, a kiln was opened in 1650, and here the ware known as Soma ware was produced. It is said that the Kano painter Naonobu, drew as a crest for Soma Yoshitane the galloping horse which in varying forms is seen on almost every piece of this ware.

Other lesser kilns are too numerous to mention, and existed in almost every province.

The British Museum possesses a good and varied collection of Japanese Keramic ware, but, unfortunately, the lack of a catalogue and the absence of any systematic arrangement, or even of proper labelling, takes away much from its usefulness to the student.

[Illustration: A Japanese Fan]