porcelain 復習

創業400年を迎えた有田焼。節目を迎えた今年、佐賀県は次の100年に向け新たな挑戦を始めています。

Arita porcelain 400 years on: Manufacturers make efforts to wow the world again

Arita-yaki, the first made-in-Japan porcelain, marked its 400th year in 2016. The story of the porcelain begins in 1616, when a skilled Korean potter settled in Arita in Saga Prefecture. Since that time, Arita has been a major porcelain production base looking to overseas markets.

This is the first installment of a two-part series on the new efforts to revive the Arita porcelain business.

PARIS — Maison Wa, a showroom in Paris, displays modern versions of traditional Arita porcelain pieces. Sales assistants talk in both English and French with buyers who come mainly from other parts of Europe.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002728668

ここでは、見出しにもある”porcelain”を取り上げます。Merriam-Webster Onlineでは”a hard, white substance that is very delicate and that is made by baking clay”と、『ジーニアス英和辞典第三版』(大修館)には「1.磁器　2.[集合的に]磁気製品」と定義されています。上記の定義は簡易版ですが、full definitonでは” a hard, fine-grained, sonorous, nonporous, and usually translucent and white ceramic ware that consists essentially of kaolin, quartz, and a feldspathic rock and is fired at a high temperature —called also hard-paste porcelain, true porcelain”とあり、磁器の特徴がきちんと網羅されています。また、原産地からか”china”「1.磁器；磁気製品 2.[集合的に]陶磁器類、瀬戸物；皿、食器類」、”japan”「漆(の)、漆器(の)」とも表現できるようです。口語では文脈を踏まえるか、あるいは直後に”wear”と加えれば誤解を生ずることも少なくなるかもしれません。(あいづ)