The shapes and uses of Japanese porcelain start, for the most part, from Chinese models of Ming times, but there are a few forms that are not found in China. The _hi-bachi_ or fire-bowl, though more commonly of bronze, we sometimes find made of celadon or of blue and white porcelain; the _kôrô_ or incense-burner, with a cover of pierced metal, is a form characteristic of Japan; and the more elaborate _choshi-buro_ or ‘clove-bath’ is, I think, peculiar to the country; so, too, are both the _saké_-bottle of cylindrical or square section, with a curved lip for pouring, and the little cups, in sets of three, often of egg-shell ware, from which the _saké_ is drunk. The use of the miniature teapot, in which the better sort of tea is infused, is again confined to Japan; but these little _kibisho_, unlike the vessels for powdered tea used in the _Cha-no-yu_, have not, I think, been long in fashion. We have described the three kinds of porcelain made in Hizen for exportation to Europe, and we have seen that by the middle of the seventeenth century this commerce, in the hands of the Dutch, and to some extent of the Chinese, had already attained large proportions. Before turning to the kilns that sprung up in other parts of Japan during the eighteenth century--of these the origin in every case can be traced back directly or indirectly to the early Hizen factories--we must say a word about some other varieties of porcelain made in the same neighbourhood, but not destined for foreign use. The village or town of Arita, of which the better-known Imari is the port, lies about fifty miles to the north-east of Nagasaki, and it may almost be regarded as the King-te-chen of Japan. The clay and china-stone used there is now brought, for the most part, from the adjacent islands, from Hirado, from Amakusa, and even from the more remote Goto islands. By a combination of some of the most important potters of the district, and with the assistance of some wealthy merchants, a company, the _Koransha_, was formed some twenty-five years ago,[123] and an attempt was made to keep up the quality of the porcelain produced, at least from a technical point of view. It was certainly time for some such effort to be made, for about that period, just after the Philadelphia Exhibition, the arts of Japan reached perhaps their nadir. MIKÔCHI OR HIRADO WARE.--It was with a somewhat similar object that, long before this--about the middle of the eighteenth century--the feudal lord of Hirado had taken some of the kilns near Arita under his patronage, and had also attempted to regulate the wasteful and careless way in which the materials were quarried on the slopes of Idzumi Yama. This was the origin of the beautiful Mikôchi (_Mi-ka-uchi_) ware, which was at first produced only for the use of the prince and of his friends, or for presentation to the Shogun.