Potter's clay is found in very large quantities in the provinces of Yamashiro, Hoki, Turoo Iyo, Hizen, Higo, Owari, Mikaera, Idyn, Musashi, and Mino. In the whole of Japan there are 283 localities where the clay is deposited; many of these only furnish inferior clays, but they are all fitted for use in some of the various kinds of pottery. These clays are thoroughly powdered by means of what is called "balance pounders," worked in some localities by water-power, but the work is often done by hand. The powder is then dried, and stored on boards or in flat boxes. This dough does not go through the process of fermentation. The shaping is almost exclusively done on the potter's wheel, which is set on a pivot working in a porcelain eye. As a rule, the wheel is turned by the potter himself, but in Hizen it is kept in motion by means of a band connected with its pivot and another wheel turned by a boy. In making dishes of other shape than round, a crude mould is sometimes used. After the clay has been shaped on the wheel, it is set away for drying, and usually in two or three days it is considered sufficiently dry for smoothing, which is done on the wheel with a sharp curved knife. The material is now made into "bisque," or biscuit, by a preliminary baking in small ovens, when it is ready for painting, if it is to be painted on the biscuit; if not, it is ready for the glazing. In either event it will then go to the large furnace for the final baking. The kilns for this purpose are always built on hill sides, and are joined together, increasing in size from the lower to the higher ones, and in number from four to twenty five; these kilns are so constructed that the draught is from the lowest one, in addition to which each kiln has its own firing place. The result of this construction is that the upper ones are by far the most heated, and the ware is arranged accordingly; that which requires the least baking, in the lower kiln, and that which requires the greatest heat, in the upper. These connecting kilns have the merit of being heat saving, but they are usually small and badly constructed, and the heat in none of them is uniform.