Page 279 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

PROVINCE OF OWARI 183

probably is that Kyoto, being the art capital of the empire, the former resi-
dence of the Mikados and court nobles, with all the elegance and luxury
accompanying their surroundings, the potters possessed an added dignity
by being within this great circle. Owari, on the other hand, with its small
and scattered villages of Tokoname, Akatsu, Inuyama, Narumi, represented
the country, so to speak. The capital of Nagoya, a great commercial city,
did no more to foster the potter's art than did commercial Osaka or Tokyo.
Outside the oven established under princely patronage in the castle of
Nagoya, this city has hardly produced a potter whose name is worth pre-
serving. Gempin, it is true, worked in Nagoya, but he came from abroad.
Nagoya being the centre of distribution of the " blue and white " industry
of Seto, has availed itself of these avenues to foist on the market discredit-
able imitations of Kaga, certain kinds of Kyoto, and other pottery. It has
been difficult, and in some cases impossible, to ascertain the history of
certain signed pieces by no means uncommon, many of which are of fair
age and quality. As an example, the well known mark of Shuntai is seen
on a variety of forms, yet I have never met with a Japanese expert, even
in Owari, who could tell me whether there was one or several generations
of this family; and as to the relations of Shuntan, Shunzan, and many
other Shuns, whose various essays bear the mark of strength and origin-
ality, the testimony varies as much as the pottery. A variety of opinions
may be gathered, from sources apparently trustworthy, in regard to nearly
every kind of pottery in the province. Even Toshiro, the "father of
pottery " in Japan, to whom a monument has been erected in Seto, comes
in for this share of doubt. A recent native authority says that the
opinions vary even as to the manner in which Toshiro acquired his know-
ledge of the art. (See Toshiro.) These statements are made, not as an
excuse for the very imperfect and fragmentary history of Owari potters here
presented, but rather to show the disjointed and unreliable material that
one must study to gain even a glimmer of light regarding the early Owari
potters, their dates, and their relation to one another. Only those who have
pored over the vague, confused, and unsystematic methods of native
chroniclers will appreciate the difficulties of straightening out the tangled
mass of misinformation.
TOSHIRO (Case 21 and Plate XVII. 2240, 2241, 2242, 2243, 2244, 2252, 2253)
The " Father of Pottery," Toshiro, as he is known in Japan, erected an oven in
the village of Seto in the early part of the thirteenth century. Of this fact there can
be no doubt. The accounts vary greatly as to his life and the influences that led him
to become a potter. One opinion is that the Shogun ordered Kato (the head of the