JAPAN
They are generally marked with the place of their production (vide Marks and Seals), and can thus be easily distinguished. It may be well to refer here to an erroneous notion widely entertained that Zengoro Hōzen visited Kaga, and that some of the specimens manufactured there are his work. Such is not the case. He had been dead some three years before his sons received the Prince of Kaga's invitation.
When Zengoro Wazen revisited Kyōtō, the national troubles induced by the opening of foreign intercourse were tending to an acute stage, and all art industries had suffered from the depression incidental to such a revolution. He found his brother working in partnership with Ohashi Rakusen under circumstances of great difficulty. Wazen changed the family name from Nishimura to Eiraku, and for a time attempted to find a market for his ware in the disturbed city. Unsuccessful, he migrated to Okazaki, in the province of Mikawa, in company with Ohashi Rakusen, and there opened a factory. His brother, meantime, established himself in Ōsaka and died there in 1873. Wazen ultimately returned to Kyōtō and settled at Abura-kōji, where his son Eiraku Tokuzen now carries on the business partnership with Ohashi Rakusen. Tokuzen's pieces are not without merit, but they do not approach the productions of his grandfather. It may be safely stated, indeed, that Zengoro Hōzen was the greatest and most versatile among the keramists of Kyōtō. His incomparable aubergine, turquoise, and yellow glazes; his coral grounds with gold designs; his enamelled and blue-and-white porcelains; his white ware with designs in relief; his artistic faience, and his pottery of variously coloured clays—all these are masterpieces. It may be
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