There are three chief varieties of Hizen ware, namely, (1) the enamelled porcelain of Aritathe old Japan of European collectors; (2) the enamelled porcelain of Nabeshima; and Hizen (3) the blue and white, or plain white, porcelain of Hirado.
The Hirado porcelainso called because it enjoyed the specia patronage of Matsuura, feudal chief of Hiradowas produced al Mikawa-uchi-yama, but did not attain excellence until.
At Hirado the ceramists affected a lighter and more delicatetone than that of the Chinese, and, in order to obtain it, subjected the choice pigment of the Middle Kingdom to refining processes of great severity.
The Hirado blue, therefore, belongs to a special aesthetic category.
So, too, the blue-and-white porcelain of Hirado, though assisted by exceptional tenderness of sous-pdte color, by milk-white glaze, by great beauty of decorative design, and often by an admirable use of the modelling or graving tool, represents a ceramic achievement palpably below the soft paste kai-pien-yao of King-te-chen.