duce such
fine or original work as the artisan of old leisurely employed at his
craft and pluming himself, not on the amount of his earnings or the
extent of his output, but on the quality and artistic merits of his
work.

Next to lacquer in importance amongst the Japanese arts, I think,
comes ceramic ware, which has long had a great vogue in Europe, and
indeed was highly prized here many years before the artistic skill of
the Japanese in lacquer was generally known. That decorative art, as
expressed in the pottery and porcelain of Japan, has been largely
influenced by China and Korea seems to be unquestionable. The Japanese
have nevertheless imparted to it a peculiar charm of their own, the
outcome of originality in ideas, while the art has, through many
centuries, been fortunate enough to have been fostered and encouraged
by the great and powerful of the land. As a people the Japanese are
entirely free from anything that savours of ostentation, and this fact
is emphasised in their art just as it is in their homes. The charm of
the ceramic ware of Japan, in my opinion, consists in the beauty of
its colouring rather than in its figuring. This ceramic ware, as my
readers probably know, differs greatly in appearance, quality, and, I
may add, in price according to the particular part of the country in
which it is produced. It is not necessary to be an art connoisseur to
grasp the fact that, say, the famous Satsuma ware is distinct in
almost every respect from that of Imari, Kaga, Ise, Raku, Kyoto, &c.
All these different wares have charms peculiar to each. It is really
marvellous to think that a country with such a comparatively small
area as Japan should have produced so many different kinds of ceramic
ware, each possessing distinct and pronounced characteristics, and
having indeed little affinity with each other save in regard to the
general excellence of the workmanship and the artistic completeness of
the whole.

As I have said, both Korea and China have had a marked influence on
the manufacture of pottery and porcelain in Japan. Korean potters
appear to have settled there prior to the Christian era, and to have
imparted to the Japanese the first rudiments of knowledge in regard to
working in clay, but the development of the process was greatly due to
Chinese influences. During the thirteenth century, one Toshiro paid a
visit to China, where he exhaustively studied everything relating to
the potter's art. On his ret