is a style of Japanese porcelain, with overglaze decoration called "enameled" ceramics. It was originally produced at the factories around Arita, in Japan's Hizen province (today, Saga Prefecture) from the Edo period's mid-17th century onwards. The style shares much in common with the Chinese "Famille Verte" style. The quality of its decoration was highly prized in the West and widely imitated by major European porcelain manufacturers during the Rococo period. Kakiemon is a term that generates some confusion, being the name of a family, one or more kilns, and a brightly-coloured overglaze style broadly imitating Chinese wares. The style originated with the family, whose kilns were the main producers of it, but other kilns also made it, and the Kakiemon kilns made other styles. Both the palette and style, and very probably the kiln, were in place by the 1680s. The style is a sub-type of what is called in the West Imari ware, the overglaze coloured variety of the broader grouping Arita ware, dominant in Japanese export porcelain in its first successful period, up to the 1740s. The style was quickly copied by the new European porcelain factories that appeared in the 18th century, such as Meissen in Germany, Chantilly in France and Chelsea in England. The Chinese also began to copy the style for Chinese export porcelain. By about 1760 it had largely fallen from fashion in Europe. History The potter Sakaida Kakiemon (酒井田柿右衛門, 1596–1666) is popularly credited with being one of the first in Japan to discover the secret of enamel decoration on porcelain, known as akae. The name "Kakiemon" was bestowed upon Sakaida by his lord, after he perfected a design of twin persimmons (kaki), developing as well the distinctive palette of soft red, yellow, blue and turquoise green now associated with the Kakiemon style. The name Kakiemon is sometimes used as a generic term describing Arita wares or Imari wares made in the Arita factories using the characteristic kakiemon overglaze enamels and decorative styles. The Kakiemon kiln seems to have been established by the 1680s, when the decorating technique was also fully developed. The early history and ownership are not very clear, and at this period the real Kakiemon enterprise may have been a decorating workshop that worked very closely with this kiln, which had developed a white porcelain body and a near-transparent glaze, superior to the other Arita producers. Shards from the kakiemon kiln