Page 479 - Catalogue of the Edward Morse collection of Japanese pottery MFA BOSTON

PROVINCE OF SATSUMA 319

PROVINCE OF SATSUMA

The name of Satsuma is widely known abroad by its peculiar crackled
faience decorated in vitrifiable enamels and gold. Enormous quantities of
this pottery have been made within the last thirty years solely for export to
America and Europe, and but little of it has been made in Satsuma. The
genuine old Satsuma, which this so-called Satsuma is supposed to resemble,
is only one of many distinct types known in Japan under the generic name
of Satsuma. The specific names known to the Japanese are descriptive,
such as crackled {Hibi), brocade painted {Nishikt-de), shark skin {Same),
Seto glaze {Seio-kusuri), tortoise-shell (Betsu-kafu\ and also names the
origin of which is doubtful or obscure, as Mishima and Sunkoroku. It
has been a matter of great perplexity to arrange these types either as to
potter or place of baking. The difficulty arises from the fact that the
same signature is often found on widely different types of Satsuma, and,
furthermore, that identical kinds of pottery were made in a number of dif-
ferent places. To add to the difficulty, the marks are not common, and
some of these have thus far proved absolutely undecipherable. The only
logical way is to arrange the pieces according to their marks when they
occur, though by so doing the types, as recognized by the Japanese, would
be thrown together. Other pieces which cannot be classified as above will
be recognized under their Japanese names as Mishima, Seto-kusuri, etc.
Satsuma is indebted to Korea for at least three distinct types of pottery.
Shimadzu Yoshihiro, a feudal lord of Satsuma, accompanied Hideyoshi in
the invasion of Korea in 1592. On his return he brought back with him
to Satsuma a number of skilled potters who began work near Kagoshima,
the capital of the province. Afterwards a few potters were sent to Chosa,
in Osumi, an adjacent province, at which place the first white crackled faience
was made. Sir Ernest Satow in his interesting article on the Korean Pot-
ters in Satsuma (Proceedings Asiatic Society of Japan, 1878) gives a list of
the names of these families. He further states that their descendants con-
tinue to this day as potters, and that their work is cooperative. In this list
the name Boku occurs, and various chroniclers record a Boku as a skilful
potter. Mr. Matsuki, to whom I am much indebted for various records,
learned that a Boku was making pottery in Satsuma in 1781. The marks
Ho-hei, Hd-ju, Ho-yei, etc., are found on double gourd-shaped bottles of
Seto glaze and Mishima, and these are probably the work of descendants
of the Boku family to-day. Chin, another name occurring on the list, has a
descendant making pottery at Ijuin, near Kagoshima.