Hompo Tosetsu (Japanese pottery theory)

marusankakusikaku

Book title. One volume. Written by Imaizumi Yusaku and published in April 1891. This work was serialized in the antique art magazine “Kokka” No. 49 from January of the previous year, and its style was modeled after Chu’s “Tou-setsu,” hence the name. The first part is the current section, which describes pottery making methods in the following sections: clay making, glazing with ash, making saggars, imitating round vessels, abalming round vessels, making polished vessels, building clay bricks, making elements for the first kiln, selecting blue material, painting blue and white, painting glaze, opening kilns, making pottery in a kiln, painting with clay, and making raku ware. The first section describes the pottery of each province, and then describes the pottery of the present kilns. Next, in the section on “Kogama of Each Province,” the names of pottery produced in each region are enumerated, and the clay and glaze are also described. The second section is on ancient ceramics, which first describes the various aspects of Kamiko ceramics in the section on “Primitive” and then reviews dozens of old and secondhand ceramics from all over Japan, including those from Kosedo, as well as ceramics from Japan in the recent past. In addition, he mentions pottery from China, Korea, and other countries. Finally, a chronology of old kilns is given, from the arrival of Fujishiro to Sung China in 1223 to the establishment of Seto porcelain by Kato Tamikichi in the Kyowa period (1804-1804). Although its contents are not necessarily appropriate, it is worth a look as a unique ceramic document of the period. Incidentally, although this book appears to have been written by Yusaku Imaizumi, it is actually based on the notes of Hayata Takemoto, who was heard as a potter in Tokyo at the beginning of the Meiji period.

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