Page 466 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

310 THE CATALOGUE

collection. The officers of that region have kindly forwarded important
details of the early history of this pottery, which for the first time clear
up many perplexing questions. From these accounts it seems that the
earliest Soma was a highly decorated pottery after the style of Ninsei.
These records further show that much of the pottery identified as Soma,
and supposed to have been baked at Nakamura, was made at Ohorimura,
and is not to be considered as genuine S5ma. The founder of Soma
pottery was Tashiro Goyemon. In 1624 the lord of Soma accompanied
the Shogun (third Tokugawa, lyemitsu) in his annual visit to the emperor
at Kyoto. In his suite was Tashiro Goyemon, who, if not a potter, was
probably an artist, for his master being greatly impressed with the remark-
able character of Ninsei's work selected Tashiro as the proper one to
become an apprentice of this famous potter. Tashiro remained with Ninsei
for seven years, and this great potter in reward for Tashiro 's diligence and
faithfulness permitted him to use Sei^ one of the characters of his name,
and thus Tashiro Goyemon became Tashiro Seijiyemon, and the mark Sd
was used in his work. Tashiro returned to Nakamura in 1631, and made
pottery at the order of his master. This pottery was known as Omuro, after
one of the ovens of Ninsei in Ky5to. The records say that the second
Seijiyemon made improvements on the work of his predecessor. The mean-
ing of this is obscure, though it is probable that his work was in closer imi-
tation of Ninsei, for the lord of Soma said to him : " If you continue pottery
after Ninsei style the two essays will be confounded, and in course of time
the reputation of Ninsei will be injured, therefore it would be wiser to adopt
changes of form, decoration, and signature." The potter following this
advice produced the typical Soma style known to us by the early examples
of this pottery. Kano Naonobu visited the province at this time and painted
a running horse at the request of Yoshitani, and this horse was used as a
decoration for the pottery. The date of this change was 1650. With this
information I critically examined every piece in the collection attributed to
Ninsei or to Ninsei's influence. A bowl, with the mark Seim a circle within
a square, and of Ninsei age, had always puzzled me, as the clay was unlike
that used by Ninsei or his contemporaries, and the direction of the spiral
on the base was opposite to that of the Ninsei spiral. On comparing this
specimen with the earliest type of Soma, figured by Ninagawa, the clay and
spiral were found to agree. A jar and wine-bottle, signed with the same
mark and identified by the Japanese as Ninsei, have recently been added to
the collection. The decoration is strictly after Ninsei style ; the clay, how-
ever, is absolutely identical with that of an early Soma in the collection.