The morning call., 1893-08-20
That Which Is Really
Made in Japan.
MANY CHEAP INVITATIONS
Genuine Satsuma Rarely Sent to
Foreign Markets Europeans
Badly Fooled.
Correspondence Of THE MORNING CALL.

We who buy Japanese porcelain in
Paris shops do not enjoy being told that
at least half sold as japanese is poor
imitation; we who have spent immense
sums to have service of real Satsuma do
not feel very happy when Informed that
real Satsuma is not sent TO the European
markets. True, an imitation of Satsuma
is made at Kloto, and specimens of this
may be- seen in Paris; this imitation is
made of white earth called by japanese
shirotsuchi, the same earth that is used
| for the real Satsuma. However,, although
Satsuma ware belongs to the japanese, it
was Corean named Boku-Teigo who, in
1850, discovered this white earth, and now
In all parts of Japan it can be procured.
| The reason that Satsuma ware cannot be
! found in the market is this: The Prince
of Satsuma owns the manufactures at
NaeshirO-Gawa, and all the pieces of
porcelain are given by this Prince
TO his friends and state dignitaries.
| The Prince de Satsuma is very
wealthy, and 500 families work for him
alone. Some time at the end of the six
teenth century the ancestors of this Prince
went to Corea for some military purpose.
| This japanese general was much lnI-
ressed by the beauty of the C0rean pot
| ery, aud carried back with him to Japan
| seventeen Dotters. These were instructed
to marry among themselves, and to-day in
| NaeSnlrn- Gawa there are more than 1900
pOtters, ali related in greater or less de-
gree.
In Japan the most precious pieces of
Satsuma are called 'Nshiklde," and their
| value is very great. A popularity about
the decoration of Satsuma is that one sees
always birds aud flowers, never figures.
! The Awata-Y Yaki porcelain, on the con-
! tTary, Is decorated With the saVantS and
the ancient Japa nese gods. Although this
has many limitations, much of the real Is
| brought to France and sold at price COM
paratively small, if we consider that the
secret of its fabrication is known only to
| ten families.
The Imari is another japanese porcelain
brought to Europe; IDari is also known
by the name Arita. from the place where
it was first fabricated. This porcelain
was originally white, ornamented with
blue designs; and until the middle of the
eighteenth century all the Imari porcelain
was blue and white. Then there was a
Dutch. The Dutch were the only
Europeans who entered the Japanese
| ports, and a merchant named Hlsotami
Noz DO formed the plan of making pOr-
celain services to order for these Dutch
! travellers. TIE Dutch sea captains carried
drawings 20 be executed on the porcelain
services. and as the inha bitantS of Holland
were at that time especially noted for their
love of flowers, these formed the greater
| part of the decoration. Van Huysum and
| Ruysch often were called upon for designs
and as they were the great flower paiater
their work was never inartistic. So many
services were ordered for Holland that
even the peasants possessed Japanese
porcelain. but great deal OF this has now
| been sold to ocuriOSity-seekers. The name
If the Dutch Japanese 1mari porcelain is
Gokushin.
1t is somewhat difficult to distinguish
between piece of old Chinese and one of
old Japanese ware. AS the japanese
really learned their art from the Chinese
they preserved many decorative types used
by the Chinese, especially on their vases
For instance, the imperial dragon, ki-hin,
the imperial bird. Foo. the dog of Fo aud
the sacred turtle ornament both Chinese
and japanese porcelain.
But we may be sure that when we see
mandarin the porcelain Is Japanese. no
Chinese. The Chinese would never use
for decoration anything that recalls then
subsection to the Tartars, and the costume
of a mandarin is purely Tartar. The Ja o.
apese. however, found this costume very
effective, and in spite of the indignation
of the Chinese they use 1t for the deco
ration Of their porcelain.
Many Oh Tue JapdU6S6 I6dpOIS, D0WIS,
cups and saucers that we see in Paris are
called "somet-suke," and come from XII
yomidZu and Goyo. But lovers of tea
prefer to drink their beverage from cups
OF RakuyOkl, because this porcelain has a
delightful odor and keeps the liquid warm.
| A Japanese chaJlre, or tea faster, will
never try the tea from other cups or tea
pots. Raku means pleasure, and in 1886
Tako Hidey Tiki. q great Japanese gen.
eral, was so delighted with this porceia n,
the invention of Corean, naturalzed
japanese, that he authorized him and his
| descendants to use this word as a trade
mark. Eleven generations have stamped
the word Raku on the porcelain,
and the ware is as beautiful
as ever But merchants in Europe
are apt To call all these different porce-
lains Kiotoware, although our Japanese
education would be much improved were
these same merchants To label properly
| their real and imitation pOrceIains. The
Bon Marche" and "Magasins du Louvre. u
Paris. exhibit many bronZes. Some OF
! these are real aud some imitation
The splendid incense burners, seen
AT the exposition OF 1889 | saw
a magnificent brule- parfums at least five
feet high; this was the facsimile of q
sacred vase that sym mbolized Japanese
worship. In the center was a cascade
falling over grotto, and in his grotto the
| HeImlL pIloats MuIlSdhu-Oul0lD, was pray
ing. Motionless, the eyes half-closed, his
hands pnioned. this priest remains in
prayer fifteen days; he neither eats uol
drinks, and coutemplates the cascade
) auding not far away is the god of the
noun tains. and the entire bronze is q
chiseled poem.
A Japanese has told me the manner in
| which brOnZes are made in his country
eacn piece is unique because it is made
like the bronZes of the Renaissance. The
| object is mode ed in wax and covered with
cay in such way that when submitted To
the action of fire the wax melts and leaves
perfect mold of its form. In this mold
the melted metal is poured. and when this
is cold the mold is broken, so that the
bronze may be seen. Then it is the turn
of the finisher here TO sofie en- an angle and
| there to accentuate aD ornament Some
OF these ornaments are so intricatr thai
they resemble SPIDERS webs. and although
| the japanese learned their art from the
Chimes the pupil is far more skllful than
the master. For the bronzes sent to
the European markets the work usu-
ally stops here, but the mosi
beautiful specimens of bronze are
incrusted with gold, silver, mother-of-
pearl, and even precious stones. The
| nninn IF hr0n7a Onl6 ic palla6 hoi-