The art has been continued to the present day; those beautiful and extremely delicate cups and saucers, thin as paper, are frequently seen covered on the outside with a casing of bamboo threads woven together; the larger basins and covers are also made of equally thin porcelain.
All these are produced now, as they were in ancient times, at Imari, in the province of Hizen. It is not in the village itself that these manufactories are established, but as many as twenty-four or twenty-five are situated near the mountain of Idsumi-yama, whence the kaolin is obtained of which the vessels are made.
Crackle china was made in Japan as well as in China from a very early period, and was frequently painted with flowers, landscapes, and birds.
Fig. 341.—Incense-burner.
Imari porcelain. 18th century.
According to the late Sir Augustus W. Franks, K.C.B., “the ceramic wares of Japan exhibit great differences in their composition, texture, and appearance, but may be roughly classed under three principal heads: (1) common pottery and stoneware, generally ornamented simply by scoring and glazing the surface; (2) a cream-coloured faïence, with a glaze, often crackled and delicately painted in colours; (3) hard porcelain.
“To the first of these classes belong the wares of Bizen, old Seto, Shigaraki, and other small fabrics, including the Raku wares. The principal factories of the second class are Awata, Satsuma, and the recent imitations of the latter at Ôta and elsewhere. Among the porcelain, the coarsest is that made at Kutani, but the most celebrated fabrics are in the province of Hizen, at Seto in Owari, and Kiyomidzu near Kiôto.”