Japan Ceramic

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NU SUR LA MER
By Rene Menard
(As to this, opinions might differ)


It is interesting to note that factories developed independently in many different provinces of Japan, and this has led to the distinct types of Japanese ceramics. The most famous of these ceramic-producing provinces are the following: Porcelain - Owari, Hizen, Hirado and Kaga. Faience - Satsuma and Kioto. Pottery- Tokio. Owari probably is the cradle of this industry in Japan, for history mentions that in 920 A.D. porcelain was being made here, and it is reasonably certain that the art, if not the materials themselves, were derived from China.

In the thirteenth century a Japanese potter was sent to China, where he learned more of the Chinese art, and on returning set up his kilns at Seto, in Owari province, and turned out much famous ware. Later, when Hizen province had become famous for its artistic porcelains, the descendants of the potters at Seto, wishing to improve their products, tried vainly to obtain information from the Hizen artists, but without progress until one Tamikichi went to the Arita potteries and married the widow of a potter. After four years of practice and study at Arita, Tamikichi ran away from his wife and, returning to Seto, put into practice the secrets he had learned at Arita. His kilns were famous for the large plates of that blue porcelain known to the Japanese as Somet-Suke.

Probably, Hizen province is best known to Europe on account of the quantities of porcelain sold to the Dutch traders during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most of which came from the district of Imari. While Owari is probably the pioneer province in the porcelain work, there can be no doubt that Hizen province has perfected the Japanese ceramic art.