Page 63 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

PROVINCE OF HIZEN ;
37
considered the work of Goroshichi and the products of Kameyama, Boga-
saki, Utsutsugawa, and others, among which are found many pieces of
interest. The almost entire absence of marks renders the identification
in some cases extremely difficult. Yet a certain individuality attaches to
them all.

KARATSU (Cases 3 and 4 and Plate I. 179, 180, 181, 197, 206, 243, 252)
Under this name a very wide range of hard pottery is included. This pottery is
designated by different names, according to age or variety. I have found it difficult to
harmonize conflicting opinions among Japanese experts, and shall avoid making fur-
ther confusion by considering the entire group under the generic name of Karatsu.
In the ancient town of Karatsu, pottery has been made from remote times.
Records show that glazed pottery was made in Karatsu in 1200 or thereabouts.
Korean potters were at work there as late as the sixteenth century. The pottery
varies greatly in the color and the quality of the glaze. If decorated at all, the paint-
ing is done in black or brown, in the rudest manner ; if in Mishima style, the
designs are simple. Despite the hard, rough clay, which presents in many pieces a
resemblance to cast iron, and the archaic appearance of the pottery, there is a certain
charm about it, which increases with study. The older pieces belong to the past
they are like fossils, never again to be reproduced. The quarries from which the clay
was derived are exhausted ; the formulae for the glazes are lost. Old Karatsu pottery
is therefore unique. The earliest forms have a bluish-black clay and glaze. Subse-
quently Korean potters settled in Karatsu, and objects made by them are known as
Oku Korai (distant Korea). The pottery resembling Korean work is known as
Chosen (Korea) Karatsu. Castaways dug up from the ruins of old ovens are recog-
nized under the name of Horidashi (dug-up) Karatsu. Those decorated with rough
sketches, or rude splashes in black, are called Ye (painted) Karatsu. And those with
a broad brush-mark of white are termed Hakeme (brush-marked) Karatsu. The
designs, incised or impressed, and filled with clay of contrasting color, either white
or black, are known under the general name of Mishima Karatsu. Certain forms of
fine clay, rather delicately made, for the purpose of presenting to some Daimyo, are
called Kenjo (present to superior) Karatsu. Many of these distinctions are absurd as
well as useless, for they rarely indicate either special potters, ovens, or periods ; and
at the same time the distinctions are often so vague that native experts differ in dis-
tinguishing them, and even in defining them. For lack of other information, however,
and for convenience of cataloguing, the above groupings will be followed in a general
way.

179- Comfit -BOTTLE. H. 2J in. Smooth olive-gray clay, dull greenish-white underglaze,
dull brown overglaze. Lower portion unglazed. 1180
Type Ninagawa. Part III., Fig. 11.
180. Tea-bowl. D. si in. Dull light brown clay, olive glaze, crackled. Base unglazed.
Type Ninagawa. Part III., Fig. 12. 1280