o\c)OJ7 iMu/try FRED LOCKLEY RARE WESTERN BOOKS 4227 S. E. Stark St. PORTLAND. ORE. 83K3 JAPAN IN ART AND INDUSTRY WITH A GLANCE AT JAPANESE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS BY FELIX REGAMEY \> AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION BY M. FRENCH-SHELDON AND ELI LEMON SHELDON WITH ONE HUNDRED DESIGNS BY THE AUTHOR LONDON : ^^^^ 23 ' B UVERIE ST. SAXON & CO. FLEET ST. PUBLISHERS 1893 DSS07 1133 COPYRIGHT, 1892 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Entered at Stationers' Hall^ London BY M. FRENCH-SHELDON CONTENTS. JAPANESE ART WORK i AN ARTIST'S VIEW OF JAPAN 3 DECORATION OF A EUROPEAN HOUSE 50 NATURAL PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES OF MANU- FACTURE 69 STONE 71 WOOD 75 Carpenters 75 Joiners 75 Cabinet-Makers 75 Coopers 75 Makers of Wooden Shoes, etc 75 METAL 88 Metal-Forgers 88 Armourers 88 Goldsmiths 88 Chasers, etc 88 CERAMICS 104 The Manufacture of Porcelain 114 The Manufacture of Faience 122 List of Places Giving Names to Certain Fictile Products . . 128 948191 iv Contents. TEXTILE FABRICS 130 Silkworm Raising : 130 Cotton 138 Reeling and Scouring Silk 139 Setting up the Loom 140 Dye 142 Colouring Plants 143 LACQUER 147 THE GRAPHIC ARTS 157 Paper 157 India Ink 165 Hair Brushes 167 Designing 170 Engraving 170 Printing of Cuts 170 Decorated Leathers 176 FOOD PRODUCTION AND PREPARATION 179 VIANDS 184 Rice ; 184 Cereals and Vegetables 187 Marine Plants 191 Fish 193 Fruits 194 Mushrooms 196 Spices, Condiments, Oil, and Honey 197 DRINKS 199 Tea 199 Sake" 208 Tosso 210 SMOKING 211 Tobacco 211 MIDORI No SATO : A CORNER OF JAPAN AT THE GATES OF PARIS 215 Contents. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 233 THE JAPANESE HOUSE 235 EMPLOYMENTS OF THE DAY 240 BIRTH 243 MARRIAGE 245 ADOPTION 247 FUNERALS 250 FETES AND REJOICINGS 252 THEATRICAL REPRESENTATIONS 259 RELIGION 268 A PAGE OF HISTORY 280 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 299 SHORT VOCABULARY : 313 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JAPAN 325 INDEX 341 ILLUSTRATIONS. FRONTISPIECE READER (HEADPIECE) 3 POETESS AND MAGICIAN 13 CHILDREN 14 SPECIMENS OF WRITING Kirakana, Katakana 15 THE CHILD'S PRAYER 16 SQUIRREL AND BIRD DRAWN WITH A HAIR BRUSH 25 DRAWING BY A LITTLE SEED-WOMAN (FAC-SIMILE) 26 SKETCH BY A LITTLE SERVANT AT A VILLAGE INN (FAC-SIMILE) 27 O HANA, THE YOUNG ARTIST OF ENOSHIMA 28 THE AUTHOR, BY KEJIRO 30 GROTESQUE SHADOWS 31 KIOSAI 45 Kakemono (TAILPIECE) 49 CHRYSANTHEMUM AND PAULOWNIA IMPERIAL ARMS (HEAD- PIECE) 5 o THE LIBRARY ; IPPIO, THE Cheret OF JAPAN ; LANTERN ; THEATRICAL ROBE 55 TIGRESS AND HER YOUNG ONE BAS-RELIEF IN WHITE MAR- BLE (HEADPIECE) 71 MASONS 73 BUDDHIST LION (TAILPIECE) 74 FRIEZE IN WOOD AND BAMBOO (HEADPIECE) 75 A WOOD-CARVER 81 WORKERS IN WOOD 82 A JOINER 83 MAKING WOODEN SHOES 84 vii viii Illustrations. PAGE METHOD FOR CARRYING BEAMS 85 SAWYER (TAILPIECE) 87 IRON TOOLS (HEADPIECE) 88 METAL FORGERS 91 SABRE-GUARDS, ANTIQUE HELMET, STIRRUPS 93 ARMOURER SHARPENING A SABRE (TAILPIECE) 103 PORCELAIN STORES (HEADPIECE) 104 POTTERS 123 SOME CELEBRATED MARKS 128 RAT IN BOWL (HEADPIECE) 130 CUTTING; REELING; PERFUMING; IRONING SILK STUFFS 137 GRINDING DRUGS 145 DRAWING ON CLOTH (TAILPIECE) 146 GEOMETRICAL CRANE (HEADPIECE) 147 STRAINING LACQUER 151 BOTTOM OF A LACQUER PLATE (TAILPIECE) 156 PLAYTHING IN PAPER: RABBIT, FISH (HEADPIECE) 157 Kozo (BROUSSONETIA PAPYRIFERA), Mitzu mata (EDGEWORTHIA PAPYRIFERA), Tororo (HIBISCUS), Gampi (WICKSTROEMIA). 159 PUPIL MAKING INDIAN INK 166 VILLAGE MAYOR SIGNING A PASSPORT 168 POSITIONS OF THE HAND FOR WRITING 169 WOOD ENGRAVERS 171 MATERIALS FOR TAKING IMPRESSIONS OF WOOD CUTS 173 FANS (TAILPIECE) 177 INDIGENOUS RICE, FIGURED AS A WRESTLER TRIUMPHING OVER IMPORTED RICE (HEADPIECE) 181 TEA AND CAKES ; PEASANT-WOMAN COOKING ; Makoura ; Hibashi ; CANDLESTICK; RICE-BOWL ; SAKE-BOTTLE 183 RICE GRINDERS 185 UTENSILS EMPLOYED FOR THE TEA CEREMONY '. . 202, 203 PIPES IN METAL ; A TOBACCO POUCH AND CASE 213 COCK AND HEN (TAILPIECE) 214 FRIEZE IN PERFORATED WOOD (HEADPIECE) 215 RED LACQUERED WOODEN BRIDGE 218 STONE VASE AND LANTERN AT THE WATER'S EDGE 219 " X " BRIDGE 220 STONE LANTERN 221 DETAILS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERIOR GATE 222 Illustrations. ix PAGE INTERIOR DOOR 223 WASH-HAND BASIN 226 " THE HILL OF FRESH VERDURE " 229 PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE 231 PEASANT UNDER RAIN (HEADPIECE) 235 BACK OF THE HOUSE 237 LANTERN ; CORNER OF A GARDEN 238 LESSON IN WRITING 242 EMBLEMS OF LONGEVITY 246 MAKING TOYS 257 Tama-lori 260 Sumo ( WRESTLERS ) 266 SHINTOISTS : PREACHER, DANSEUSE, OFFICIATING PRIEST, THE MIRROR DANCE 271 BUDDHIST PRIESTS 277 SMALL SETTING IN METAL (TAILPIECE) 295 BIRDS ON A BRANCH (HEADPIECE) 299 OKAME 306 HORSE (TAILPIECE) 310 ALPHABET 313 FLIGHT OF CRANES (TAILPIECE) 322 MASK AND SISTRUM (TAILPIECE) 339 JAPANESE ART WORK. AN ARTIST'S VIEW OF JAPAN. "As far as one can judge, the Japanese surpass in virtue and in probity all nations discovered up to the present. They are of a gentle disposition, averse from chicanery, and very covetous of honours, which they value above everything. Poverty is a frequent condition with them, but by no means discreditable, however much attended with hardships." SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER. ARE not Japanese and Chinese confounded to- gether by the great majority of people? This is a regrettable confusion which it is import- ant to set right : for if it is true that the civilisation of one of them was the cradle of that of the other, yet, in fact, the physical aspect and the personal character of these two peoples present profound dissimilarities. Without pretending to set forth in full, in proof of this assertion, the long series of facts w T hich patient and minute investigation might accumulate, I will here simply endeavour to cite a few of the most obvious and the most indubitable. 3 Japanese Art Work. Throughout hospitable Japan, art meets the eye everywhere ; it scents the air you breathe. The Japanese are proficient in the science at once of living and of painting life their life be it under- stcfqd; which is no more that of the Chinese than it is ours. China is a centre as hostile to art as to strangers. The unsuspecting traveller, stopping to take a sketch of a fortress on the German frontier, is not exposed to more unwelcome treatment than if caught taking notes in the streets of Canton. I speak from ex- perience. There is in such -case no invective too coarse for them to discharge at you, just as, almost down to our own times, you might have heard our peasants cry out : " Throw away the drawings ! " " Off with the pack ! " Offer to a Chinaman to take his portrait, he will at once hide himself, and all in vain is every temptation to induce him to stand ; the most miserable among them is proof against the most brilliant offers. To give one's likeness to a third person is, according to their narrow supersti- tion, to draw down on one all imaginable dangers. In Japan a flower-garden where all is gaiety and light and life, where everyone, from the highest to the lowest of the social scale, has a feeling more or less developed for the beautiful in nature the artist has nothing to fear. He is at liberty to paint to his heart's content, without awakening the least suspi- An Artists View of Japan. cion. And, no more than the painter's easel, are the photographer's materials an object of terror, such as they are on the banks of the Yellow River. At the sight of a passing European, on whom the ringer is pointed with disquieting words, the Chinese child shrieks in terror as though it were some demon going to snatch him away. In Japan, the same traveller will receive a very different reception, and the confiding Japanese baby will have nothing for him but smiles. Chinese men, and especially Chinese women, are covered with jewellery. Japanese women do not, any more than Japanese men, wear necklaces, or brace- lets, or rings, or earrings, or, in a word, any jewellery whatever " touching their skin " a peculiarity per- haps unique in human kind. China presents to view the most abject and revolt- ing assortment to be found in the world of famished, infirm, and deformed people. Not to mention the lepers found grouped around the towns, how many Cours des Miracles might be recruited from among its population ! Nowhere does sepulchral fetichism exercise a greater empire over the minds of the people. As everyone has the right to inter his dead as he likes and according to his means, you are continu- ally running across some funeral monument.* Here * It is to China that Japan is indebted for the invasion of cholera. Japanese Art Work. start up the decayed remains of a heavy wooden coffin on a level with the ground. There you meet the fragments of animals sculptured in stone horses, tigers, lions, or dromedaries which of yore guarded the avenue leading to the tomb of an illustrious personage now forgotten. In Japan it is all the other way. No one there seems to trouble his head with the destinies of la bete, and the people are so constituted as to take human miseries as little as possible to heart. Thus in actual life the blind are the subjects of consideration, yet the Japanese pictures the traffic in which is much brisker and more extensive than the Chinese, be it said in passing often make merry at their expense. Contrariwise, there is no example of the caustic wit of Japan exercising itself in the caricature of the hunchbacked. And for the very simple reason that, although there are many blind, there is no one hump- backed. With the exception of blindness, infirmities are very rare in Japan ; and, but for the Buddhist priests going about collecting alms, one would say that begging does not exist. The Chinese dwelling, constructed of brick, is heavy and of a harsh appearance, always hermeti- cally closed. The windows are swinging leaves, the doors turn upon hinges, the floor is paved. You find in the kitchen a chimney of masonry work. An Artist's View cf Japan. The court is enclosed by walls. The Chinese use actual beds, and, as we do, take their meals seated upon chairs. The Japanese house, made of wood and of paper, has the amusing air of a big toy. Partitions, doors, and windows are movable and slide in grooves. Open to all comers, the habitation is as hospitable as the inmates are affable. In the way of furniture the Japanse have only boxes and ttageres. Food is served on trays. Thick, soft mats cover the floor. Squatted thereon they sit ; stretched thereon they sleep, enveloped in warm covers provided with sleeves. Japanese costume disdains the buttons and button- holes of the Chinese. The Japanese wear sandals, the Chinese shoes. Japanese do not wear a queue, do not play cards, do not smoke opium. Finally a still more characteristic distinction their wo- men, who do not cripple their feet, are free to come and go as they like ; the need of guarding the women has never been felt in Japan. Is not that enough to explain the contempt that these two neighbouring peoples have for one another? # * * And yet for all that, we shall be told that it is from China and Corea that, along with her civilisa- tion, Japan borrowed her principles of art and her processes of manufacture. True no doubt, especially as regards the latter. Japanese Art Work. Yet, whereas the initiators became fixed in the grooves of undeviating uniformity whence all mem- ory of the original impulse more and more faded, the initiated, on the contrary, turning the invention put into their hands to admirable account, emanci- pated themselves from the narrow trammels that hindered its development and rapidly attained to the utmost limits of elegance and originality. Thanks, then, to her incomparable faculties of observation, her infallible sureness of taste, her ex- quisite feeling of nature, at once so ingenious and ingenuous, the pupil, pushing the science she acquired far beyond the limits of her master's lessons, has been able to create an art all her own, a national art. If, moreover, we were to linger on such questions of origin, should we not have to call to mind how Persian influence, travelling by way of China, might very well, according to certain authors, have affected Japanese as well as Indian art? Contrary to the disappointment that usually fol- lows high expectations respecting a masterpiece of art or of nature, I found on arriving at Japan only the fulfilment of my hopes. I exactly recognised the landscapes and the people the first albums reach- ing France had brought before my mind in 1863. It was under a superb sky I first beheld this A n Artist's View of Japan. volcanic archipelago of many thousand islands clothed with luxuriant vegetation, where slender bamboos and gigantic pines imprint quite a pecul- iar stamp of elegance and amplitude. In truth, the pictures had told me no lies. Yes, there lay dis- played before me all they had told me of the seasons and of the new decoration each brought with it, as in some fairy tale : the spring, innumera- ble cherry-trees in blossom, powdering with pink the undulating hills ; summer, sinuous rivers, all pelted by great rain storms ; autumn, maple trees display- ing an infinite gamut of bright colours ; winter, pad- dings of snow and embroideries of hoar-frost, which the Japanese go to see (just as we at home go to see the new piece of a favourite author), and do not tire admiring it. As pertinent thereto, I cannot resist quoting two passages of a charming naivete", as seems to me. It is M. Hayashi, one of the few Japanese that have written about their country in French, that relates them. A servant opening the door of the house, and see- ing before her the carpet of immaculate whiteness which the night had spread over the garden, cries out : " Ah ! the fresh snow ... it must not be soiled . . . where shall I throw these tea leaves ? " And this other talking to her mistress : " I pray you, Madame, do not send me to the market this TO Japanese Art Work. morning ; the little dog has flowered the court with his feet ... I should never have the courage to confound with my sabots these designs so pretty." * % * The theory of the influence of locality finds in Japan its perfect confirmation, and there was the proper soil for the birth of that charming thought attributed to one of her philosophers, " The smile is the source of happiness and of fortune." If that were true, the Japanese would be all rich and happy. That would be too much of a good thing. They are, accordingly, content to be a people gay, polite, and of never-failing urbanity ; to possess in a very high degree filial love, patience, order, and cleanli- ness. They hold that illness should disguise its deformity, that death, ignored by the living, should make as small a figure as possible. And, desiring to keep funereal affairs from intruding too much into the ordinary current of life, they affect an air of stoical coquettishness in eluding all lugubrious matters. Everyone thinks it is his duty to keep his troubles to himself and out of sight of others. Good taste suffices to impose silence on pessimistic sentiment, if indeed one could so much as suspect its existence in the bosom of such good-natured society. * There was a time, if tradition may be believed, An Artist s View of Japan. 1 1 when the gods were regarded as grand - parents gentle and compassionate ; when princes opened their granaries to the people in seasons of famine ; when, in the intervals of battle, warriors, in pavilions constructed over the water, composed sonnets by moonlight. . Nowadays still, at but a little distance from Kioto, may be seen a light edifice crowning a picturesque situation and commanding a wide horizon. There every year on the I5th of August, the poets assem- ble, as if for the purpose of some academic tourna- ment, to compose verses in praise of the reigning emperor. Of this official literature we have nothing to say ; but there is another literature more familiar, connected with certain popular customs, with cer- tain games, of which the following will indicate the character : Fragments of poetry are traced on small lacquered saucers, which are sent gliding over the water and picked up again when they reach the shore. Put together in the order in which they came to land, these fragments compose thoughts, and make a game reminding us of our petits papier s. Cranes are trained to do the same sort of service as that of our carrier pigeons. Merry it is to see them set off, venting their loud harsh cries and no less pleasant it is to see them arrive. 1 2 Japanese Art Work. One may trust them with a very full correspond- ence. In the case of these birds there is not much fear of any " excess of weight." On the occasion of the fete of the Marriage of the Stars, verses are composed and hung to the branches of the trees in blossom. This pretty fancy owes its origin to the adventures of two lovers who were changed into stars. Lost in the immensity of the firmament these stellar lovers are for eternity separated from one another by the milky way. Only once a year is it allowed them to draw near each other in the night. And for this meeting it is, moreover, necessary that the sky be very clear. Else, if the weather be cloudy and stormy, the birds whose wings have to make the bridge for the meeting dare not leave their nests, and the little fete has to be put off till the following year. It is to spare such mishap to these forlorn lovers, that the Japanese, the women especially, beseech Heaven with their supplications in verse, which they hang to the trees. And is it not a charming idea that shoots from the wide sleeve of this favourite poetess a flock of little papers, which become birds as they mount upward to the sky ? x- -x- The thought that will rise in the minds of An Artist ' s View of Japan. all mothers, on hearing of these games for grown- up people, will be that there must be doubtless rs^ plenty of others for the young folks. They are not amiss in this reflection. ID In this ~ v: N^ country, where no animal is tied up, where very XT few birds are caged, it is exceed- ingly rare K^ to hear a child cry ; these little creatures are ^7> never the prey of those fits of passion which take posses- sion of our children, very often without our knowing why. Japan is the paradise for babies, and so, when they come into the world, it is always in a good temper. Later on in their history, it is equal- ly a delight to them to go to school, where, for the rest, they are par- ticularly well behaved. They did not all go to school formerly. Before the revolution, which has to be thanked for the gratuitous and obligatory instruction of the Japanese Art Work. laity, public schools for the children of the people were not in existence. Yet nearly everybody knew how to read and write the characters representing the ideas and objects of common usage. In point of fact, about three thou- sand characters are taught in the schools. A distin- guished man must know from eight to ten thousand of them, and if one wants to pass for a veritable savant he must master some tens of thousands. Apart from a pho- netic writing, we have the Kirakana, invented, it is said, by the famous Bud- dhist priest Koobd DaisJii, and a later simplification thereof, which takes the name of Katakana. These two alphabets continue never- theless to be used simultaneously. An Artists View of Japan. 15 KIRAKANA. KATAKANA. V (4 A- - * ^f > 7 -f^^f -? > ' ^ ' tf 7 v; ^) ^ y( ;> >^ -&- r r. ff 3" 3' Translation : " The number of the population of Japan amounts to more than thirty-nine millions of inhabitants." Nowhere is the task of teaching less onerous than in Japan. Teachers are held in high esteem. A pupil betraying during the lesson the slightest symp- tom of weariness or inattention would be disgraced. To such strict principles of education, transmitted from generation to generation, the Japanese owe perhaps their peculiar equanimity of character and peculiar courtesy of manner. The Japanese child, however, goes not only to school, but to the temple, where the prayers he offers look much like poetry in action. An old woman is squatted at the door of the sanctuary, before a cage imprisoning some birds just captured. The child gives a very small piece Q- of a farthing), in return for which he has the right to set one of the captives free. It is in this way he sends his offering up to Heaven's gates. Hear what Lawrence Oliphant tells us about their i6 Japanese Art Work. education. He first cites the following passage from an author of the sixteenth century : " The Japanese chastise their children purely by words, and reprove them when five years old as if they were aged men." Then he adds : " To our knowledge this system has been in operation for three centuries, and, according to universal testimony, with the best results." The German Kampfer, the French Jesuit priest Charlevoix, and the Dutch Titsing agree in testify- ing that the affection, obedience, and respect of children for their parents know no bounds. Parents choose their children as umpires in their differences An Artists View of Japan. 1 7 with strangers, and submit implicitly to their deci- sions. Nor is it uncommon to see parents dispose of all their property to their eldest son, when he has arrived at due age, and to trust to him for their maintenance the rest of their life. No one, it is said, has ever known a son abuse this confidence. We may infer from these traits the fruits of such an education. There is one fruit precious among all, I mean the spirit of tolerance. The Japanese are in fact distinguished by the complete want of fanati- cism, and the rules- of good manners impose it on them as a duty, not indeed to honour their neigh- bours' gods as much as their own, but at least to treat them politely. Hence the zeal of our missionaries, no matter to what sect they belong, has hitherto had, and still has, to contend against a polite indifference more discouraging than would be persecution. In the seventeenth century, however, under Fran- ois Xavier, Catholicism succeeded in establishing itself to a tolerably serious degree in Japan. The experience did not last long. And if, to put an end to it, the then government had recourse to whole- sale massacre of the new converts, the reason is that it saw its security threatened by them. Religion had very little to do with the matter. Considerations of state were at the bottom of it. And no more then than now was Japan, which 1 8 yapanese Art Work. counts some seventy thousand temples, a prey to that religious fury which has caused so much suf- fering elsewhere. I find in my notes the record of a fact which passed under my own eyes and which appears to me to define precisely the state of local feeling in these matters. Some poor pilgrims were travelling through Yoko- hama. Meeting on their way a Catholic chapel, they deem it proper to enter, dip their fingers in the holy water, make a short genuflexion, and retire, not with- out having dropped the ordinary offering one pincette, representing infinitesimally small value into the confessional. This piece of furniture recalled to their minds, by certain marks, the large grated chest serving by way of poor-box at the entrance of their own temples. He who said that tolerance was the last word of philosophy, would have had a high opinion of those peasants. * * Certain striking analogies between Japan and ancient Greece have not escaped the perspicacity of studious observers.* Such analogies are found, in the first place,, in the geographical configura- tion of the two countries ; and next in the traits of heroism, of honour, and of fidelity to duty, * E. Pottier's Greece and Rome (Gazette Jes Beaux Arts, 398 liv. ). An Artists View of Japan. 1 9 common to both, and whereof the history of each is full. It is, however, a matter only of analogy, not of derivation of one from the other. The Japanese have drawn on their own resources ; their contempt for money is all their own, and just as much their own is the purely dilettante use they make of their poetic local superstitions. Now singular anomaly these people, though pagans, .were happy and honest ; there was among them an element operating like a sort of propa- ganda in favour of ideas which seemed prejudicial to ours. In short, the condition of affairs there was held to be a reproach, which it was time to put an end to. The Americans undertook this task in 1853. Un- der colour of a treaty of commerce and comity, and regardless of the vain protests of Japan, they bru- tally thrust in the regenerative wedge of modern ideas, represented, alas ! by bands of unscrupulous adventurers, of greedy and rapacious merchants. Among them slipped in the oblique Chinaman, who immediately became the indispensable intermediary between Europeans and Japanese, the agent or comprador whom no foreign commercial house could do without. This was the signal for a political revolution, which terminated in 1871 by the abolition of the feudal 2O Japanese Art Work. system, represented by the Shogun, to the advan- tage of the Mikado, the reigning Emperor Mutsu-Hito, who will be called in history the Louis XI. of Japan. This result could not, however, be attained with- out forming some slight alliance with the stranger, who made his profit out of the affair by establishing himself firmly in the country. Thereupon ensued a frightful inundation of im- ports, objects of the most ridiculous description : heavy cotton umbrellas, hats of grotesque manu- facture, stinking petroleum lamps stock for which it must be admitted naive purchasers are still to be found. What became then of the lovely lanterns and pretty paper umbrellas so cleverly decorated with designs in bright harmonious colours, and all the charming objects too numerous to mention ? People continued to make use of them, and forced their production so as to inundate us with them. Workers toiled more than in the past, the public added nothing to their fortunes by it, and Japan too was very nearly come to that lamentable division of labour which excludes all idea of serious art. Yet such is the vigour and so profound the senti- ment of art in this people, that the objects they export to us, though very much inferior to their former productions, always remain models of grace and good taste. An Artist's View of Japan. 21 They have given evidence thereof at our different exhibitions, those in particular of 1867 and 1878. As for me, I remember especially the sensation pro- duced by the Japanese work at the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876. Minds of delicate sense were enthusiastic over the charm of the refined art there displayed, and heads exclusively practical were moved at the view of the profits realised by the Japanese exhibitors, who in fact sold everything they had brought, down to the objects serving for their daily use. Since that epoch, Japanese taste, whose influence had already overtaken Europe, has taken full posses- sion of the United States. It may now be traced in the whole domain of decorative art : furniture, painted papers, dyes, gold- smith's work, without mentioning the thousand little objects that till then people on the other side of the Atlantic had not dreamt of manufacturing.* It cannot be too often repeated that the marvel- lous products of Japan are all invariably based on design. The artists of this happy country have created a special method of study and of labour easily explained, but not easily followed by anyone who does not share their genius. They proceed from long, patient, and sure analysis to synthesis, and do not rest satisfied until after successive * L? cnseignement du dessin aux Etats-Unis (Delagrave, editeur). 22 Japanese Art Work. and carefully reasoned eliminations they have succeeded in finding the dominant idea. Accord- ingly, they do not design directly after nature, except only for the sake of preparation and of fur- nishing their memory. When thereafter they pass to the work of creating, they apply their knowledge without hesitation and without alterations. At this stage, whether they design or paint, they no more copy that which they execute than a person, when writing, copies the letters of the alphabet. But do not speak to them either of mouldings or photography. Never would they consent to look to them for their first instruction ; it is to nature herself, to nature only, that they apply. All in vain was it for nature to have aspects so fugitive, and move- ments so elusive, that we had been unable to seize them till instantaneous photography came to our aid; the Japanese they had long found them out had fixed them and reproduced them for us. That which in their pictures we censured as outre, was all simply the result of marvellous ability of execution in the service of a naive power of observation passion- ately clear-sighted, and aided by a memory specially exercised. Ingres, a master in design and an enthusiastic admirer of Japanese art, was wont to say to his pupils : " You will know nothing until you are able to sketch, in the course of his fall, a man falling from An Artists View of Japan. 23 a roof." If I affirmed that this precept has its birth in a school of Yeddo or of Miako, with what charm- ing local colour would we not find it impregnated ? Hear, again, the report of Viollet-le-Duc, a man to whom no one will think of denying superior compe- tence : " Evidently the Japanese must have a singular love of nature, seeing they observe her with so much care, and reproduce her slightest work with so much precision. To them nothing is indifferent, and with just as much integrity do they study the form and behaviour of an insect, the aspect and details of a vegetable, as the physical character of a man. Nor does all this study of details disqualify them from confining their attention on occasion to the ensemble, and rendering with a few touches of the pencil the character of a landscape. " The artist seizes the main character of each of the aspects he wishes to reproduce, and, without losing himself in the details, he translates the dominant impression with a feeling of extreme delicacy. Thus, like nature herself, he makes poetry without knowing it. Take this view, for example, which, with the aid of a few strokes and three colours, represents a foam- crested wave borne by the wind. Away beyond this wave are marked out the outline of trees and the summit of Fuji-Yama. A cloud of little birds winds across a grey sky. The method of execution is the 24 Japanese Art Work. simplest, but the lines are so happily observed and reproduced, and the forms of this wind-riven foam are so admirably interpreted, as the result evidently of minute observation, that this sketch produces a profound impression. " We hear the shock of the billows, the crackle of the water-drops, the sough of the wind. In a word we are present at the scene. " The artist who has so powerfully rendered all this, fugitive though it be, must have himself experi- enced the impression he communicates, must have distinguished in the midst of the mobility of the elements composing his subject, the main character, the accidental union of the lines that paints it for us with such touching reality. This artist is a poet in the true acceptation of the word ; just as much as the Greek rhapsodist, who in two or three verses depicts to us the silent attitude of the old Trojans before Helen accidentally passing by, though in her absence they overwhelm her with bitter aspersions, is a poet. " A modern author would probably have prepared the mise en scene of this episode, by reciting to us these aspersions, by depicting the place, the dress, and the gait of Helen as she appeared, and it is highly probable that in two thousand five hundred years the world would have forgotten the trouble he took. A few pertinent words, on the other hand, of the Greek rhapsodist have sufficed to fix this scene An Artist's View of Japan. 25 for ever in the memory of men, as the liveliest expression of the influence of beauty on human sentiment." * The study of simplicity in conception, and espe- cially in execution, is one of the characteristics of Japanese art. Hence those sketches of landscapes and of animals, the represent a t i o n of which is ob- tained by a single uninterrupted stroke. Now this skill is within the ability of everyone in a country where all his life long, from the tenderest years to extreme old age, one has constantly Xthe pencil in hand. Practice / is moreover so much the more quickly acquired that the pen- cil is used not only for designing and painting, but also for writing. Thus without hyperbole it may be said that in Japan all the world sketches. This is the reason why, according to the measure of these acquirements, put to use for the sake either of his * Comment on dement dessinateur (Hetzel, editeur). } 26 Japanese Art Work. personal tastes or his needs, everyone on occasion tasks himself to do art work, alike without preten- sion and without effort. It would be easy to multi- ply instances. Here are a few : You enter a seed shop. Your choice made, the tiny saleswoman, squatting in a corner of her mas- ter's shop, takes her brushes, and on the paper bag you are waiting for indicates in a few strokes the picture of the plant of the seed which it contains. In some other place, it is the little servant of an inn who occupies her gay spirits in sketching the profile of a fine lady, under the eyes of the tourist,who is at once stupefied and charmed to find in an out- An Artist's View of Japan. 27 of-the-way village so much gracefulness and clev- erness. Turn your eyes next to O Hana, the young artiste o f Euoshima. Her work is skilful and more highly complicate. Bits of stuffs, of paper, of metal, and of glass, broken stones, shells, waste bits of mechanical and natural products : such are the varied materials she turns to account in her work. She gathers them, incrusts or glues them on a small plate, which receives in addition, when necessary, a light wash of India ink or some lively touch of water colour. The objects obtained by the employ- ment of such diverse ele- ments are 28 Japanese Art Work. generally of a consummate bad taste. Here this is not the case. O Hana makes sport of difficulties which anywhere else than in Japan would seem insurmountable, and the subjects real or fantastic of her delicate compositions are treated with an exquisite art. With this kind of productions may be connected the miniature figure-mvusmtfs, insects, and birds, made by material cut out, stuffed with wadding, and its edges glued on cardboard. The specialists of Kioto have created a school among our merchants of ready-made dresses. For it is by means of the An Artists View of Japan. 29 very same processes that Parisian advertisers present those stuffed dummies in relief on the flat side of cardboard announcing the novelties of the season. The scene represents a public place, upon which appears a man who carefully sweeps a part of the ground ; then opening bags full of sand of various colours, he takes handfuls from each in turn, sprin- kling the sand upon the ground, here, there at random, it would seem. And soon there comes to view at his feet some beautiful princess in chatoyant garments, some monster in glistening and multicol- oured scales, or some ingenious rebus offering to the sagacity of the arrested passers its polychromatic figures. Amid the loungers who surround it, notice : A man of the lower class, very scantily dressed, his naked back magnificently tatooed in blue, red, and black, representing a princess in grand costume. The practice of tatooing, in which one occasionally recog- nised the work of a master hand, is now forbidden. See Ameya, the cake merchant. He is a model- ler in things gastronomic. He takes a little paste at the end of a blow-pipe, then puff, puff. . . . And the gazing children gathered round see before their wondering eyes rabbits, foxes, monkeys, and flowers created, and all so appetising as to make one lick his fingers after them. Japanese Art Work. I should have kept Ameya to the end, were it not that I have to present to you a culinary artist more perfect still. He was my servant during an excur- sion of a few days into the interior. He answered to the fair name of Kejiro. There was no getting wearied with him of an evening, the jolly good-fel- low he was, for he had a thousand tricks at command wherewith to make himself agreeable in society. Singer, dancer, virtuoso in all sorts of instruments, story-teller, he excelled in all. Not to be beaten at the game of Go, which recalls somewhat our game of " Queen," at the game of the " Fox," of the " Hunter," and of the " Steel," a sort of " Mora " and twenty others, nothing was amiss to him. Did he want to draw your portrait in Indian ink? He twisted the characters serving to write your name so as to make them represent a body to which he nimbly attached the profile he wanted. The tcnogut, a narrow strip of blue or white cotton stuff, embellished with designs likewise blue or white, which no Japanese can do without, was transformed An Artists View of Japan. 3 1 under the fingers of Kejiro into an endless assort- ment of headdresses, each more whimsical than the other. Joining to the tdnogm, some very simple accesso- ries, such as household utensils, pipe, fan, etc., and by placing his body in peculiar positions between a lamp and the transparent surface cf a panel of white paper, he obtained the most extraordinary silhouettes now a fish, now a shrub, now a perched bird. He had a genius for costumes. As for his gastronomic science, it was of universal scope. The European cuisine can hardly have kept any secrets for him. His triumph was to serve square omelettes on round plates. Be it here called to mind that the Japanese mas- ters have written long treatises, minutely illustrated, 3 2 Japanese Art Work. on The A rt of Making Bouquets, treatises which are genuine masterpieces. This study constitutes one of the essential branches of the education of young girls. In everything leaving the hands of a Japanese artisan, from the richest furniture to the most com- monplace household article, we admire the unex- ceptional perfect appropriateness of the material employed for the purpose intended. And it is perhaps among the cabinet-makers and basket-mak- ers that the inexhaustible fancy and overflowing originality of the race is most attested. The former have produced those lacquered cabinets inlaid with precious stones and metals, the drawers of which act with marvellous fitness. To the latter we owe those fragile mosaics in straw, dyed with bright colours, serving for the decoration of wooden panels ; as also those woven coverings of bamboo lamel, adhering as by miracle to the glossy bulging surface of tiny porcelain cups, the cost price whereof is so modest that they can be sold even in our shops for a few halfpence and yet nothing short of genius for invention, good taste, astonishing dexterity, and untiring patience, was needed for the creation of this humble work of art. Is it nothing, either, to have found those floating blinds, where along silken or hemp threads tiny An Artist's View of Japan. 33 bamboo cylinders alternate with many-coloured glass beads, which scintillate so agreeably in the sun, rustle so gratefully at every breath of wind, and unite to form moving designs on the clear yellow background of the bits of bamboo ? All these things make up a feast for the eyes, a satisfaction for the mind (which in view of such objects exercises a sort of unconscious logic), and a gratification for the sense of touch. Apropos to this subject, here is a passage from a lecture delivered on Japanese art in 1869 at the Union Centrale, by Ernest Chesneau, the lamented art-critic : " They have pushed the dilettantism of art beyond imaginable bounds. Not only have they provided for the sense of sight the rarest pleasures and the most exquisite enjoyment by displaying all the re- sources, all the illusions, all the magic of colour, but, advancing a step farther, they have invented what I shall call the esthetics of touch. " The forms of objects made by them are finely calculated to stimulate and gratify every delicacy of the sense of touch." The Japanese sculptor, in his minute works, gives the most convincing demonstration of the truth of this ingenious criticism. An edict, issued at the beginning of the seven- 3 34 Japanese Art Work. teenth century, ordered the inside of every house to be adorned with the sculptured figure of one of the numerous divinities of the Buddhist cult. This was the golden age for image makers. Images were made in wood, in stone, and in metal. Of these last there still exist some specimens of enormous dimensions. Among them the famous Daiboutz of Kamakura. Ivory was used for the tiny statuettes that were kept enclosed in those curious little tabernacles of lacquered wood, which, opening with two leaves, much resemble certain triptychs of our Middle Ages. The religious idea was then very favourable for the development of sculpture ; yet it was not its only source of inspiration. Sculptured portraits, whether busts or statuettes, are rare ; yet there are some extant in lacquered wood, which do not yield in any respect to the finest specimens of the commencement of the P.enaissance. But our admiration is especially exercised in con- templation of the incomparable beauty of the Netzke's buttons for belts generally carved in ivory, which have borrowed their " motives " from the various kingdoms of nature. For originality, for intensity of expression, whether graceful or comic, for mastery of execution, to go a single step farther is impossible. Here is a description of two Netzkds in ivory, due to the masterly pen of M. E. de Goncourt, conveying An Artist's View of Japan. 35 an exact impression of the ideal perfection attained by the artist : " The ivory carver has given to the visage the moral expression of stupidity. With a mere sugges- tion of enamel, run under the eyelashes, he has given to this old man, I know not how, the look of bleared old age. " There is no need to say that it is a specimen of art, which were it not Japanese the French public would find of the highest order ; and, a curious cir- cumstance, the drapery with its little rumpled folds, is not without a likeness to the Italian alabaster draperies of the fourteenth century." And further: " A monkey this is a masterpiece furious at having vainly tried to bite a shellfish, shows the petty bestial anger of his face in the half-opening at the side of his mouth, in the effacement of his wrinkled nose, in the opening and dilatation of his eyes, in which the pupil is sunk to only an imper- ceptible black squinting point. It is not possible in a head of two centimetres to depict spiteful bestial resentment in a manner more expressive, more striking, more comical. And the marvel is not con- fined to the head alone, but extends to the body and the attachments of the shoulders, and the rotundities of the back, and the friction of the loins under the skin, and the firm root of the tail. The marvel is to 36 Japanese Art Work. see all the elasticity and the force of the quadruman rendered in the infinitely little in that broad and full manner, with which Barrye sets his deer on their haunches. This ivory is signed : Tada-Mount" ' It would be a mistake to conclude from the pre- ceding matter that Japanese genius is exercised only on the infinitely little. Superb monuments in exist- ence prove the contrary. Unfortunately the names of the architects much less favoured in this respect than painters have not come down to us. The grand portico of the temple of Hongandzi, occupied by the Buddhists of the sect Sin-Siou at Kioto, is certainly one of the finest specimens of local architecture. Thanks to the variety and richness of the materials employed, it is impossible to conceive an ensemble more sumptuous and, in spite of the most wonderful blending imaginable of wood, stone, metals, enamels, and painting, one more harmonious. Stone skilfully squared serves as basis for this con- struction ; gold and bronze are lavished on it. Yet, in this profusion of ornaments, there is none that is out of place. There is nothing useless ; not the bronze facings of the granite columns, nor the golden studs curiously wrought, nor the projecting girders, nor the inextricable network of consoles supporting * La maison d'un artiste (Charpentier, editeur). An Artist's View of Japan. 3 7 the powerful roof, any more than the strangely worked tiles with which it is covered. Assuredly an enormous quantity of wood is used in the making of this kind of roof. Yet not a morsel of it could be spared without injury to the general effect, so much do the smallest parts of this thought- ful and complicate structure evidently contribute to the stability and the handsome disposition of the whole. Assuredly, it is not in presence of this colossal and well-poised jewel that one will remember the accusations of roguishness and grimace which tourists, either superficial or prejudicial observers, have cast at Japanese art. The year 703 is assigned as the probable date of the creation of an Imperial academy of painting, with four swashi or master-painters, and sixty swabu or inferior artists. A century later, this institution was merged in the Tukmni-rio, or Ministry of Archi- tecture, charged with the decoration of the Imperial palaces. The most ancient name mentioned in the history of art in Japan is that of Ishiraga, to whom one is strongly disposed to attribute a portrait of Prince Sho-toku, dated 463 A.D. After him the Japanese cite with praise Kudarano-Kawari, Fugi- wara-no-Motosuno, Fugiwara-no-Nobuzano, S6jo-Ka- kuyu, who, though not belonging to the Court, were yet pleased to seek there the subjects of their works. 38 Japanese Art Work. In the first half of the fourteenth century appear Kao, Miocho, Josetsu, Shiubun, and the Buddhist priest Sesshiu, whose light hand contrasts with the noble and somewhat stiff style of the preceding men who belong to the school of Tosa. Then Masanobu and his son Monorobu, Fumiyi- oshi, and Kano. The descendants of the two last still exercise the profession of their ancestors. In the sixteenth century, Iwsa Matabei is cited. Akiyoytis the name given to his style, popularised in the following century by Hishigawa Moronobu, Tori Kiomitsu, Okuda, Masanobu, and others. Lastly, Utagawa creates a new style, taking the name of Ukiyo. It is well to say that these characterisations of style refer rather to the manner of execution, the expression, the accentuation given by the pencil to objects represented by the artists, than to the choice of subjects. There is an enormous consumption in Japan of pictures and illustrated albums, in which the most famous artists have not disdained to lend a hand, dealing with every possible subject. A work containing illustrations gross enough, dated 1604, passes for the first specimen of the kind. It is a novel having as its title Isimonogatori ; the author is unknown to us. It is not till the end of the seventeenth century and An Artist ' s View of Japan. 39 the beginning of the eighteenth that the Japanese production of pictures began to be worthy of our admiration. It attains the highest perfection at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Among the artists of this epoch who showed the most magnificent coloured plates, are cited Tori-i- Kiyonaga for his figures, Hiroshigue for his land- scapes, and Kishi Doko, better known under the name of Ganku. It is, however, Hokusai, who seems to gather up in himself all the qualities of his predecessors. His history deserves to be preserved. The following is M. Gonse's relation : " Hokusai was born, 1760, in the Honjo, a peace- ful quarter of Yeddo, full of gardens and flowers, in the east, on the other side of the river Soumido. " He assumed different names to escape importu- nate callers who began to infest him when his repu- tation became distinguished, and he shifted his residence every month. " The name Hokusai, pronounced Hoksai, giving the // a guttural sound, means 'genius of the North.' " Hokusai had a daughter who aided him with her talent in his labours, and married one of her father's pupils, Rokousen, who had become his adopted son, and who could have been no other than Hokkei himself, one of the most delicate and elegant paint- 4O Japanese Art Work. ers of the vulgar school, whose life is enveloped in mystery. " Hokusai died I3th April, 1849, at the age of ninety years. He was interred in the Buddhist temple of Saikiodje at Yeddo. " He remained poor all his life. His indefatiga- ble production did not enrich him. His paintings sold at a mediocre price ; he made the mistake of attaching himself to the realistic school and painting modern life. " 'T was evidence of little taste to hang up a kakemono of Hokusai in his house. His sketches passed into the hands of some artists, who used them as models, without taking any care of their preservation. His paintings, properly so called, have always been scarce, as are those of all the masters of the vulgar school. He designed and painted especially for the engraver, on thin sheets of paper destined to be glued on wood, and consequently to be destroyed by the engraver's tool. " Nowadays a painting of Hokusai is a distin- guished curiosity, as much in Europe as in Japan. Hokusai was in continuous process of improvement ; his powers knew no decline. " The following is a literal translation of a very curious note written by himself : " * Since ever I was six years of age, I have been pos- sessed with a mania for drawing the forms of objects. An Artisfs View of Japan. 4 1 When I was well on for fifty, I had published an infi- nite number of drawings, but I am dissatisfied with all I produced prior to the age of seventy. It was at the age of seventy-three that I came near to a comprehen- sion of the true form and nature of birds, of fishes, of plants, etc. u * Consequently, at the age of eighty I shall have made much progress ; at ninety years I shall touch the bottom of things ; at one hundred years I shall have de- cidedly attained a state superior, indefinable ; at the age of one hundred and ten years, be it a point, be it a line, all zuill be living. I ask of those who will live as long as I do to see if I keep my word. 1 Written at the age of seventy-five years, by me, formerly Hokusai, now Gouakijo-Rodjin, the old dotard of draiving? " Hokusai was one of the virtuosi of the brush. His colour, like his execution, is of a force, a splen- dour, a resolution incomparable. . . . " Hokusai, when designing for the engraver, will be concise, rapid, inconsiderate, often brutal ; when, absorbed in the contemplation of nature, he paints for himself, his execution becomes that of a fairy. " It seems as if his brush grew immaterial, so well does it follow in a sort of voluptuous delight the amorous movements of the thought. " Then Hokusai has the ingenuousness of a tender 42 Japanese Art Work. soul, that has soared above the noises of the world. He has the refinements and the happy thoughts that come only to imaginations lost in colours, in light, and in truth. " Nothing in nature was foreign to him ; with equal skill he designed temples, palaces, houses, cos- tumes, landscapes, flowers, trees, birds, fishes, insects, subjects pleasant or grave, real or imaginary, scenes of genre or of style. He was truly universal. That, however, which especially attracted Hokusai was the human animal. "The masterly quality that justified his cognomen of * old dotard of drawing,' was the expression of life in all the vigour of reality, in the infinite variety of its manifestations ; the rendering of the true gesture, surprised, divined by him ; the comedy of attitude and of physiognomy. Gesture with Hokusai is marvellous in point of accent, of synthesis, and of personality. ' Always and everywhere life ' : such might be the device of this superlative artist ; always and everywhere an intention is on the trait summary and expressive, feeling of the meaning of relief, ad- mirable discernment of that which is calculated to move and charm, a verve comic and inexhaustible, as if a comic spirit had taken possession of him. It is under such points of view that, in my eyes, he equals the ablest among us ; thence it is that his work mounts so high in the domain of An Artist ' s View of Japan. 43 Japanese aesthetics, and lays down its definitive formula." Among the moderns another painter, Kiosai, had Hokusai as his master. Kiosai excelled in every- thing, but more particularly as a great caricaturist. The boldness of his satiric drawings caused him to have often a crow to pluck with imperial justice. He died recently, having hardly passed his fiftieth year. The many years he passed in prison had no effect on either his gay spirits or his caustic verve. When at liberty he preferred living in the suburbs of Tokio. It was there, after no end of inquiry, I found him out, and I retain the most grateful mem- ory of this brave man, of his small family, of his cat, of his little house hidden among flowers. We ex- changed a thousand courtesies with each other. I shared my colours with him ; he gave me one of the masques which, on the wall of his study, made the finest grimace. I got his consent to draw his portrait. He wanted in turn to take mine ; it is a sketch of amazing verve, which I preserve as a treasure. His courtesy and politeness, which anywhere out of Japan might seem excessive, appeared to me by no means to justify the name he gave himself, and wherewith he some- times signed his drawings : " The mad and tipsy monkey" 44 Japanese Art Work. It must, however, be admitted that temperance was not Kiosa'i's ruling passion, still this did not hinder him from signing with another name aus- tere pages characterised by the purest religious sentiment. I have before me a series of compo- sitions from his brush that are marvels of taste and of delicacy. They are printed in colours and of small dimen- sions. One represents a serpent that has just seized a sparrow. It is done with a mere nothing, and everything tells : the veiled eye, the half opening beak, the body pulled together, palpitating under the reptile's tooth, the plucked out feathers flying away ! And this happens in the midst of plants, among pink flowerets, where glide tiny green spiders. You cannot tell which most to admire : the perfec- tion of the execution or the intense emotion sug- gested by the little drama. The second scene is a comedy : a sparrow flurried and stifled with surprise at the sight of a mole emerging from the ground under its feet ; startled, the wings wide apart, it makes the most expressive and comic of grimaces. The name gaku is given to stiff paintings placed in. frames of lacquered wood, and makimonos to such as are kept rolled up, several metres long, and un- rolled only when wanted to be admired or consulted. 46 Japanese Art Work. Surimonos are pictures extremely well taken care of, copied in colours in very small numbers, with minute precautions, veritable artists' proofs, which their authors keep as important presents or dis- tribute among their friends and members of tea- societies.* Much more common are the kakemonos. Out- wardly they cannot be better compared than to our geographical maps unrolled, which we hang up on the wall. They are mounted on silk and painted in water-colours, generally of moderate dimensions. I know one, however, of immense size and very remark- able, in the possession of a temple in the environs of Kioto. It is twelve metres long, and represents a subject very often treated, the Death of the Buddha Sakia-Muni. According to usage, the holy man is seen couched under the trees ; his mother descends from Heaven, supported by legions of angels ; he is surrounded by his disciples and by all the animals of creation, both disciples and animals in profound dis- tress. In the corner of the picture you remark a cat not without surprise for this animal has always been systematically excluded from this scene. No one has ever been able to give me the reason for this traditional exclusion, but the following is the ex- planation given for the exception in this case : The * Meeting of amateurs, attended with Tcha-no-yu (tea ceremony). An Artists View of Japan. 47 artist had at first conformed to the custom. The work done, he was preparing to send it to the Buddhists who had ordered it of him, when all at once his cat, of whom he was very fond, leaped on his shoulder and in her language made him under- stand that she would like to figure in the picture. The master could not resist this entreaty, and in three strokes of his pencil he made what his favourite asked of him. Let us cite a fact reported by M. Gonse : " Two kakemonos of the painter Isune"nobu, the one representing a white peacock spreading his tail, the other a landscape, were hung on the wall along with a drawing of Diirer, a sketch of Rubens, and an admirable study of Rembrandt. One was struck with the way in which the Japanese artist maintained this formidable comparison. In spite of the differ- ence of styles and of processes, Isune"nobu held his own with Rembrandt." What a happy triumph, and what argument in favour of Japanese artists ! Ought not that to put to shame the good people who, in the con- temptuous appellation of " Chinese toys," con- found indistinguishably all objects of art of the extreme East, whether coming from China or from Japan ? It is such people that do not scruple to say, with an accent of the most assured conviction, that Japan- 48 Japanese Art Work. ese painters are ignorant of the laws of perspective. Is it necessary to add here that this assertion, how- ever much accredited in drawing-rooms, is absolutely untrue ? The exhibition of the Japanese masters, for whom the doors of the ficole des Beaux-Arts have recently been opened, will hardly yet, we fear, have succeeded in triumphing over ignorance and prejudice. This display, however brilliant, will have come home to the minds of only a select circle of amateurs, that knew already what to look for, while the general public that have read Pierre Loti's Japan will, nevertheless, thanks to this brilliant writer, continue to take the pretty Japanese lanterns for bladders, and these of the worst taste. Outside observation is liable to slips. One can judge by these three quotations : " This country so foreign in which we can understand nothing. . . ." After such an avowel of incompetence, no one need wonder at such radically absurd statements as this: " As I more and more understand the horror of the Japanese entertained by all Europeans that have long lived in the midst of Japan. . . ." And again : " Here, as everywhere, persons are for sale just as much as t kings. The song preferred by the tender Rarahu, by the incandescent Fatou, by the " dear little Turkish An Artists View of Japan. 49 woman of Stamboul," should it not have found in Mme. Chrysanthemum the Japanese woman of its dreams ? In truth, it is the only plausible explana- tion of the phenomenon of a delicate artist becoming all at once the calumniator of Japan. DECORATION OF A EUROPEAN HOUSE. " T HAVE no idea of Japanese things except in a 1 glass case of curiosities or in a museum," said young Madame d'Arbois, in a large company, when the talk turned to the subject of Japan. " No one will make me believe that these bibelots, more or less graceful, more or less bizarre, can serve to ornament our apartments." " I will try and undeceive you," said the mistress of the house, the amiable Countess de Mayrial. " On the banks of the river Oise, in a village admirably situated on a slope and commanding the fairest horizon of hills and pastures, I have a little dove-cot diverting enough, where from time to time I go to pass a fortnight. If you agree to come and break- fast there some day this week, we will discuss together the question that you have raised, and perhaps you will have reason to change your mind." " Very well, then," replied Madame d'Arbois. " I 50 Decoration of a European House, 5 1 accept your invitation for Thursday, if that is con- venient to you." Three days later the two young women sat under the shade of an immense Japanese umbrella on the terrace of the Villa Mayrial, admiring the charming panorama that unrolled itself at their feet. De- scending to the road which it crosses, the garden is interrupted by the railroad, and extends to the river, from which it is separated only by a long green field where herds of cattle graze. The land- scape is extensive, at once animated and calm, peaceful and richly varied. Breakfast was announced. After the first satisfac- tion of an appetite, sharpened by the journey, Madame d'Arbois's glances wandered around the dining-room, which was sufficiently bizarre in its ornamentation to attract and retain her attention. She at first remarked a panel depicting birds flit- ting across flowers a subject very simple, no doubt, yet treated with an extreme delicacy of tone, and showing great dexterity of execution. Madame de Mayrial smiled : " You see," said she, " that it is not so bad after all, and that the kakemo- nos this is the name given to these Japanese pic- tures do not anyway disfigure our walls." " In truth," replied Madame d'Arbois, " it is very odd, very unlooked-for ; there is in this decoration a simplicity that attracts and charms. But one cannot 5 2 Japanese Art Work. stop long on one subject, there are so many things to observe." " Is it not amusing ? " " Yes, certainly. I admire this lantern which, by its airy lightness, seems to tremble at the slightest breath. What labour ! What patience ! " " It is one of the occupations reserved for women," said the Countess. " It is they in large part that do these lanterns. They thread the yellow and red beads work that is paid for by weight. The mount- ing is done atelier fashion, as are also the tassels, which are manufactured from silk thrums." Above the fireplace an immense black fan quite unexpectedly took the place of the traditional mir- ror. Some little flower-holders hanging against the wall, as also dishes of the most diverse forms, sur- rounded the principal subject in a capricious disor- der, heightened by a liberal sprinkling of birds and insects, and all sorts of little animals cut in crape, thrown hither and thither. Facing the fireplace, a light dresser with balus- trades of wood perforated with holes held Imari, Kutani, Kanga, and Fizen plate, that served both for ornament and for table service. Two similar dressers garnished the two other walls. Each of them was framed in kakemonos of a peculiar sort ; instead of being in cloth, they were in wood as thin as paper, and of a light straw-colour tint. Decoration of a European House. 53 The interstices were filled up with plate, dishes, fans, vases, screens of various colours, picturesquely hanging about as if at random. Exactly lining the ceiling was seen a parasol with- out the frame, displaying an immense crown of strange flowers, of birds with wings outspread, of many-coloured insects. At the corners lanterns with chatoyant colours relieved the dark background of the centre of the parasol. Other little parasols were scattered about the empty places, and insinuated themselves into corners. Embroidered panels of silk were stretched on the doors ; before the windows fell those blinds made of little bits of bamboo threaded together, alternating with coloured beads resembling drops of light. As for the furniture, however, it was found necessary to forego absolute appropriateness, for if the floor was covered with matting, as in the tiny houses of the Empire of the Rising Sun, the tables and chairs, that are unknown in that land, could have nothing Japanese except the bamboo of which they were made. Nevertheless the spectacle constituted an ensemble very exotic, producing an effect unexpected and very gay to the eye. " In truth, dear Madame, I must admit that this decoration is enchanting," exclaimed the visitor, " but that is due to your personal taste ; it would, perhaps, be difficult to vary this arrangement, which 54 Japanese Art Work. is perfectly appropriate to a dining-room ; but you talked of the possibility of having the whole house decorated in the same manner?" " By and bye I shall continue my lecture," said Madame de Mayrial. On the table, objects succeeded each other with an infinite variety of form, of bizarre appropriations, to Madame d'Arbois's great amusement. There were pretty little low bowls with wide opening, serving as sauce-boats, or containing hors-d'oeuvre, which in shape no way recalled our European faience. There were plates, no one of which resembled the other and lacking the usual flat rim, so that they looked like pretty porringers, throwing their lively shadows over the dazzling white linen. At dessert, still more new fancies. Among others, powdered sugar, enclosed in one of those bowls with saucer-shaped cover, the black lacquer of which sets off so well the snowy whiteness of the Japanese rice. Coffee was served on the terrace in fine cups of Rakdu faience, so highly prized by connoisseurs for its lightness, and the peculiar property it has of retaining the heat. Afterwards the visitor was conducted to the study. It was an average-sized room, with a very high ceiling, higher than the width of the room. Advan- tage was taken of this lack of proportion to construct an original library. THE LIBRARY. IPPIO, THE STAGE MANAGER OF JAPAN. 55 A LANTERN. ACTOR'S ROBE. 56 Japanese Art Work. At the bottom, at a height of six or seven steps, was raised a sort of gallery, of which the finely constructed facade was divided into four panels embellished with frames, sliding the one past the other in grooves. A wooden balustrade, sparingly pierced with holes, ran the length of the floor. Each of the alcoves was surmounted by a little panel of light wood decorated with graceful emblematic com- positions traced in Indian ink. This sort of terrace was accessible by a rustic staircase with a plain hand-rail. There were no doors, only two bands of printed cotton two ttno- guis floating between the chambranles. The floor of this little place was covered with matting. Madame de Mayrial slid aside the frames, and the lighted room showed on its three sides shelves filled with books. Trays with four feet, which in Japan are used as tables, were covered, some with tea utensils, others with small articles composing the table furniture of a Japanese meal ; in the corners were vases with strange bouquets that very much surprised Madame d'Arbois, for she had never before noticed such floral compositions. Over the ceiling were stretched embroidered stuffs ; from the centre was suspended a hexagonal lantern enveloped in painted silk gauze. " I begin to be converted," said Madame d'Arbois, as she cautiously seated herself on the flat edge of Decoration of a European House. 5 7 the balcony ; " I see that there are indeed great resources in this manner of decoration ; nevertheless you will pardon my observing that there is a trifle lacking in some of the things our grandmothers called the commodities of conversation no chairs, so that one must either squat or lie flat, a hardship for people accustomed tofauteui/s." In the toilet room, a superb white marble wash- stand showed the sacrifice of local colour to European comfort ; but the stand was partially concealed by a half-open screen, and the walls were hidden beneath such confusion of screens, fans, and kakemonos of coloured figures, of parasols of all dimensions and of all shapes, that one was at a loss what to look at. There also was displayed the most curious collection of flower-holders: horns of bronze or oi faience imi- tating the most diverse objects, menacing dragons, baskets of a thousand forms, fish with sparkling scales. From all these shot forth picturesquely ar- ranged flowers, branches, and light grasses. But what surprised Madame d'Arbois the most were the branches of dead wood thrown hither and thither, seeming to complete the surrounding pictures to such a degree as to suggest the idea that they had served as models for their execution. Madame de Mayrial smiled on recognising her friend's surprise. " Behold," said she, " Japanism applied ! You see 58 Japanese Art Work. that this style is not one to lead to great expense, seeing that this item full of grace, one of the prettiest, perhaps, of this decoration, is furnished by a dead peach tree in our garden. The beautiful, however, is not necessarily costly : witness this branch the green moss that covers certain parts, the little red points that enamel others, are they not exquisite? And see the caprice of form of these contorted boughs, which the Japanese have turned to such good account. Look there, you will find them again in the pictures on these screens." " It is very curious. Bit by bit I yield to the persuasive, seductive influence, and am ever more astonished." Saying these words, Madame d'Arbois paused before the mantelpiece. A robe was spread, partially hiding the mirror ; it was yellow, with large red flowers, trimmed at the bottom with a thick padding, with its obi (girdle) of enormous shells, and its big sleeves used by the Jap- anese instead of pockets. There was a peculiar grace in the way in which this vestment was draped. The decoration of the panel was completed by fans and screens, throwing a chatoyant radiancy on the glittering material of the robe. Madame d'Arbois had pulled from her pocket a little book, and was taking notes, not now trusting her memory. Decoration of a European House. 59 A door-curtain concealed the recess of the toilet room reserved for the bath. Above the draperies a frieze of perforated woodwork, of exquisite execu- tion, represented fans entangled together. The vestibule was a new source of astonishment and gaiety, to such a degree were the subjects of decoration varied and odd. Theatre placards in bright colours first caught the eye. Here was seen a great warrior tumbling down other smaller warriors with halberd blows ; another armed with a sword made heads fly. There a frightful monster drove before him a disorderly crowd of desperate people, who in their terror precipitated themselves from the top of a rock. Next appeared at the edge of a som- bre forest, the enormous head of the Cat of the Mountain one of those imaginary monsters of Japan. In contrast with these violent exhibitions a scene inside displayed all the Japanese joviality: the rep- resentation of a social game which had for its object the taking of something placed beyond a slip-knot. To pass the hand through, to seize the article, and draw back the hand without allowing one's playfel- lows, who hold the end of the cord, time enough to tighten the knot, is not a very easy thing to do. The picture showed the player caught in the trap, to- gether with the inextinguishable laughter and the figures of merriment on the part of the spectators. 60 Japanese Art Work. " These images," observed Madame de Mayrial, " recall to me a trait of honesty rather characteristic. When I was leaving Japan I was desirous to get some of those large theatre bills the character of which had struck me. After much search I ended by finding out the address of Ippio, the ingenious artist, their author. I went to his house and found him at home surrounded with a bevy of children, every one funnier than another. He was teaching the biggest of them to write, whilst the little ones rolled on the mat with Nekko San Master Cat in the most amusing attitudes. I made known to him my wish, and ordered of him two bills, leaving to him the choice of subjects, only specifying that the one should represent a scene the gayest he could im- agine, and the other, on the contrary, a scene as terrible as possible. " I gave him the sum that he fixed for his work and left him my Paris address. When, after long pere- grinations through China, India, and Egypt, I re- turned, I found at my house these two charming pictures, which had preceded me, and I was touched by the evidence of such carefulness and loyalty on the part of the man who knew very well that he should never again see me. His name, Ippio, de- serves to be remembered." The walls of the staircases were masked in the Decoration of a European House. 6 1 lower part by red and white mats, and in the higher by a series of panels representing cranes in various attitudes winging their flight skywards, perched on the border of a brook amidst flowers, or dreaming poised on one foot, or drawn together like a ball, close by a surly pine. Everywhere you remarked that diversity of invention in the same subject, that finesse of tone so rare and so distinguished, that faultless design in semblance of carelessness, which is peculiar to Japanese painting. The salon astonished the visitor less ; she had al- ready seen those large vases, those lacquered cabi- nets full of delicate objects in ivory, in chiselled bronze, or in fine porcelain ; little figures, netzke's, sabre guards, etc. However, in the window embra- sures, pretty benches, very low, in fine gold lacquer, attracted her attention, and Madame de Mayrial ex- plained to her how graceful are the little mousmts when, kneeling on the thick tatamis, they lean their elbows, lost in their immense sleeves, on those little benches looking like baby furniture. The sumptuous silks that formed the framework of the windows, and which you found mantling the seats and the piano, gave a finishing touch to the ensemble and fixed its character. Yet one had been obliged, here more than elsewhere, to make some sacrifice to the necessities of European life. Was it in fact possible to dispense with tables, easy-chairs, i 62 Japanese Art Work. couches, etc., with all that furniture totally foreign to Japan ? Here was an obstacle insurmountable for common mortals. One might have borrowed from China its heavy round tables, its square seats, and ponderous marble slabs with which, in like case, amateurs, igno- rant and little fastidious, put up ; or, pushing one's scruples farther, obtained from a fashionable manu- facturer frightfully spurious furniture, where imita- tion bamboo would be matched with bells of gilded copper, having only a very distant relation to the Japanese style. Beyond these two solutions none other had hith- erto presented itself. Madame de Mayrial had a third at her command. She was not ignorant that the Louis XV. style, so elegant and so smart, so French in one word, owes much to Japanese art. Not that it had servilely borrowed anything from it, nor copied it, but that its imaginative verve was spurred by Japanese ex- ample to shake off the trammels of the precise rules of the preceding style. And thus it is that at the two extremities of the world the same air was sung at the same moment by artists, keeping each the manner absolutely proper to his individuality. There is perfect accord between the harmonious curves of that engarlanded console and the contour of that antique lacquered seat taken from a Buddhist Decoration of a European House. 63 temple, unique of its kind ; and between the capricious decoration of the big-bellied harpsichord and the embroideries of the obi (broad girdle worn by Japanese women) ; between those inlayings on gilded rockwork, and those bronze vases wherein the artist has skilfully moulded the metal to the fancies of his unrestrained imagination. Madame de Pompadour, the voluptuous artist, doated on Japanese bibelots, a fact explanatory of many things. If, however, the furniture was less Japanesque than the rest, the walls, by way of compensation, were of pronounced Japanese accent. Each panel, painted in water-colour, in cameo on a simple back- ground of clear silk, depicted a scene or landscape. Here a dear little mousme inquisitively pulled aside the ttnoguis closing the entrance of her house, and saluted the garden with her naive, laughing look. There a stone lantern, surrounded with flowers and bamboos, was reflected in the waters of a lake. Farther distant, the Fust- Yama loomed up proudly, dominating by its imposing mass, truncated by clouds, a charming landscape nearer hand, where cherries in blossom scattered their fresh and rosy hue. " And who is the artist that has painted all this ? " exclaimed Madame d'Arbois. " Your humble servant, dear Madame," answered Madame de Mayrial, with roguish salute. 64 Japanese Art Work. " You, Countess, you a painter? " " Oh, so little. I learned like all the rest of us at school to paint fans and dishes : since then the Martin varnish has had no more secrets for me ; next, after an unhappy trial at pastel and miniature, I daubed some canvas with no great success, until one day I set myself to decorate this house. " Wishing to obtain what you see here, I asked of an artist, who knows Japan to the tip of his fingers and has made it his specialty, to be good enough to execute for me the panels of this salon. Instead, however, he wished me to do the work myself. He gave me directions, furnished me with documents and sketches, and, thanks to him, I have achieved this result. I must add that the work has been an infinite pleasure to me." " I envy you." " You are as much of an artist as I, and it is at your pleasure to achieve as much, I assure you. My professor will not refuse you his, help, and mine is likewise at your disposal." " I shall keep your good word in mind," replied Madame d'Arbois. The long visit drew to an end. Madame de Mayrial had completely succeeded in her undertak- ing. She had revealed to her friend the beauties of Japan and Japanese art. She wished however to do more and make her admire the ways and the in- Decoration of a European House. 65 genious activity of its inhabitants. The task was not so easy, as it was only by captivating the young wife's curiosity that the mission could be attained. " You see," said she, " that with these elements you have material for the richest as well as for the simplest of decorations. You can inform an entire house with the gaiety of art for a trifling sum, as it is in your power to spend a fortune on a single room, if, instead of these bibelots, that cost nothing, but are always in good taste, you employ embroid- ered tissues, if you want faience or ancient bronzes, if you choose kakemonos or surimonos signed by celebrated names. Cheap or dear, this decoration will always be original and never vulgar." " But," observed Madame d'Arbois, " to get such an extraordinary bargain, the long voyage of the wares being taken into account, the workmen and artists of Japan must make very little profit." " That is true ; but in that happy land the wants are very limited, living is inexpensive, and above all it has to be said, however improbable to us it seems, that the love of art, born of the perpetual contem- plation of nature, which penetrates artists and arti- sans down to the humblest, is such that the joy they experience in doing things of beauty enables them to look with indifference at the mercantile side of existence." " In order to complete my education," resumed 5 66 Japanese Art Work. the insatiable neophyte, " I should have to visit a true Japanese garden." " I see that the passion is being born in you. Unfortunately, I cannot gratify this just desire. This ground here did not lend itself to the creation of a Japanese garden. But one of my friends pos- sesses, not far from Paris, a charming nest, which he will be happy to show you. It is called Midori no Sato that is to say, the hill of vernal verdure." " The name is charming, and invites the incredu- lous to make a trial." " The situation is more charming still. My friend has constructed there, close by his villa, a complete Japanese house, exact to the minutest detail, in the middle of a park that is a model of its kind. If you feel any desire that way, I will write to him and we can go together." " A thousand thanks. I accept anew the offer you make me with such good grace." " Meanwhile, come again to see me, and we will turn over the leaves of some interesting albums, which, aiding me by their souvenirs and some sketches taken in my travels, will pretty nearly explain to you all you desire to learn." Some few days afterwards the two ladies met again as proposed. They installed themselves in the library. The Decoration of a European House. 67 Countess piled upon the table a heap of albums, thin and pliant, covered with light designs and in- comprehensible signs. Madame d'Arbois took up one and glanced through it as if it had been a European book. Her friend stopped her. " You begin at the end," said she ; " see this nar- row band of paper covered with characters ; it is the title of the work, read from top to bottom, and not from left to right, and begin your book on what would be the last page with us." " Thanks. At present, if I do not know how to read Japanese, at least I know how it ought to be read. That is always a beginning of knowledge." " Now," continued Madame de Mayrial, " I com- mence my lesson. We are going into the very heart of our subject ; we are going to see the work of those workmen-artists and those artist-workmen for whom there exist no vain distinctions of * pure art ' and ' applied art.' " It is in this way that the humblest thing is not without its elegance, seeing it comes from the hands of a workman having in him the stuff of an artist, while, on the other hand, the artist, to obtain by himself the realisation of his dream, will not shrink from the most fastidious manual labour, any more than he will hesitate to give to it the form of a common object, if such be his good pleasure." NATURAL PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. STONE* STONE is sufficiently abundant in Japan, but is little used for building. The tori-i and the toro, i.e. the portico and the lantern, are two of the few objects that the Japanese execute in stone. The former is a decorative object placed in front of the temples ; the latter, besides serving a like purpose, is also used in gardens and along roadsides. The tori-i is composed of four principal pieces simply united : two cylindric columns, very slightly inclined to one another, support a fascia of stone, disposed horizontally, without moulding or sculp- ture of any sort, but lightly raised at the two ends ; the other column, perfectly straight, is placed be- * The great part of the information in the following pages concern- ing the industries and processes of manufacture, the natural products, etc., have been taken from official sources. 71 72 Natiiral Products and Manufactures. neath, enclosed within the two vertical ones ; it is attached to the upper fascia by a shaft dividing the space between the two vertical columns into two equal parts. There are tori-i in unwrought and in lacquered wood, and also in metal. The toro has always a little of the look of a pagoda in miniature. The ornamentation of those species of lanterns intended more for show than for use is often highly elaborate and varied. They admit always, however, a pedestal, a shaft and a receptacle for the light, with its capriciously distorted roof. They have a massive appearance not belonging to those made in bronze. The stones most used are : 1st. Granite, of which are made the statues of the gods, the columns and porticos of temples, the corner-stones of bridges, the causeways, etc. 2d. Limestone, the first quality of which, marble, is employed for tombs, monuments, and the great lanterns of temples and parks. Inferior qualities are used in making lime. 3d. Argilite, a refractory stone, serving for the con- struction of roads, for watering-troughs, for mill- stones, and entering into the composition of porcelain. 4th. Schistose chlorites, blue, green, and ashy grey, serving for the construction of bridges, for 74 Natural Products and Manufactures. flagging, for pavements, and (the more beauti- ful sorts) for the ornamentation of gardens. 5th. Sand-stones, highly varied and very beautiful, often chosen by sculptors ; they serve numerous purposes, among others that of whetstones. 6th. Slate, black or brown, often with red or blue spots, serving similar purposes as among our- selves. 1 ^ ?.23^J^ 1 ^ '&*? f \ - WOOD. CARPENTERS JOINERS CABINETMAKERS- COOPERS MAKERS OF WOODEN SHOES, ETC. JAPAN has an abundant variety of woods, and the care taken in the preservation of their forests is not the least among the touching traits in the character of its inhabitants. This solicitude is not due to avarice, to greed of gain, but, rquch to the contrary, is prompted by a delicate sentiment of tender respect for everything that contributes to the beauty of the country in the midst of which they live and which they so well appreciate. In the front rank must be placed the light bam- boo, so graceful of mien that it might have dispensed with the property of usefulness. Its trembling foliage recalls the willow; like this, the bamboo is fond of humid places ; and also, seen in mass 75 76 Natural Products and Manufactures. and at a distance, it fails a little of that which artists call character : it is accordingly a fore- ground decoration. In one of those consecrated forests in which are sheltered the tombs of the priests, one receives a thrilling impression. The bamboo shafts, slim, sleek, and annulate, attaining extraordinary heights ; the rustling of the foliage like the murmur of swept silk ; the exquisite freshness enjoyed beneath the umbrageous canopy, the haunt, as one might imagine of benevolent spirits ; all contribute to inspire meditation sweet and unforgetable. What would be Japan without the bamboo ? For what is it not useful ? Under the name of takenoki the young shoots are used as food. Basket-work, umbrellas, fans, lanterns, and hats are all contribu- tions of the young bamboo. Flower-stands in endless variety of shapes, boxes of all orts, certain trays, the kagos, or carrying- chairs, in which sit the graceful moiismc's, apparatus for irrigation and canalisation, flying bridges, hydrau- lic machines, etc., and many details of construction are all made from the tall bamboo. After the bamboo comes the superb and numerous family of conifers which give to Japanese landscape a character so individual. It is the multitude of firs, whose agitated outline fringes, as with capri- cious lacework, the crest of the hills ; it is the Matsu Wood. 77 C Cryptomeria japonica), the heart of which is red- dish, the grain close, and the cell-tissue very resinous. The Tsuga (Abies tsuga), a fir-tree very close and very hard of grain ; the Momi ( Abies firma), another species of fir-tree whose rapid growth renders it very serviceable. These woods furnish the materials for cabinet-making, for architecture, and for ship- building, etc. Oaks, much less diffused, serve to make furniture, wheels, and handles for tools. The following species are for the most part un- known out of Japan. Kusonoki (Cinnamomum camphora), the wood of which, very compact and very hard, is not injured by contact with the water. Its beauty causes it to be often used for the ornamentation of apartments. Hari-giri (Kalopanax ricinifolia), hard wood, coarse grain, is sometimes used in joinery, etc. Cabinet-makers, besides the preceding woods, util- ise the following : The Sawara ( Cliamcecyparis pisifera), the Hiba (Thuyapsio dolabrata), the Nedzuko (Thuya gigan- tea), very dark ; the Tsubiakudan ( Thuya gigantea), the Benibiakutan ( Juniper us japonica), of red colour 78 Natural Products and Manufactures. with very close grain ; the Kay a ( Torreya nucifera), very white ; the Inugaya (Cephalotaxus drupacea), less beautiful than the preceding one ; the Nagi (Podocarpus nageia), the Tohi (Pice a Alcokiana), which is also much used in architecture split in little laths it serves for roofs ; the Sirabe (Abies Veitchi), the Icho (Ginkgo biloba), the Midzume (Betula ulmifolia), the Shirabaka (Betula alba), with a vein of black, which is worked in the lathe ; finally and above all the Chanehin (Cedrela sinensis), of a very beautiful red, and the Kurumi (Juglans mandshurica), a very beautiful wood, used for ornamentation of houses and for costly furni- ture, etc. Cabinet-makers have still the choice of the follow- ing varieties : Take (bamboo), Nanten (Nandina domestica), Sen- dan (Melia Azedarach), Tubaki (Camellia japonica), Sansyo (Zanthoxylonpiperitum), Kiri ( Paulownia im- perialis), a light and very soft wood ; Awogiri (Ster- culia platanifolia), Hanoki (Magnolia hypoleuca), very close and very tender in the grain, of this is also made the charcoal with which are polished lacquer and metals ; Akiniski, Enoki ( Chamczcyparis obtusa), Kuwa (mulberry tree), of very fine wood, hard and brilliant ; Kuri (chestnut), Sawa gurumi (Ptero- carya rlwifolia), the bark of which, known under the IVood. 79 name of JukoJii, is used to make the small famous objects of Nikko ; Maki (Podocarpus macrophylla), etc. Many others are also utilized to advantage. Minebari (Betula corylifolia) is used for making weavers' shuttles and walking-sticks ; Hannoki(Alnus japonic*) is used for charcoal, and its bark as a dye ; Yama narashi (Populns tremula) serves for making chopsticks, tooth-brushes, seals, etc. Tsuge (Buxus japonica), excessively hard and yellow ; used to make combs, printing plates, and artificial teeth ; Mochi noki (Ilex Integra), yields glue. Urushi (Rhus vernicifera), from which is procured the precious varnish with which lacquer is made ; it further serves for inlaid work, shuttles, and fishing floats ; its fruits yield wax. This tree is highly prized in Japan. Kaki (Diospyros kaki), a very hard wood, with close grain ; the heart, named kurogaki, acquires with age a dark hue that can also be artificially obtained by burying the tree in ferruginous earth. From it are made objects of value. Its fruits are very much esteemed. Their juice yields shibu, a sort of very precious coating used for the preserva- tion of materials. Biwa (Photinia japonica), very solid wood with close grain ; is reserved for musical instruments. Its fruits are excellent. 8o Natural Products and Manufactures. Mokukoku(Ternstr(zmiajaponica) is used to make combs and small objects; Kamboku (Viburnum opulus) makes toothpicks ; Isu ( Distylium race- mosum), brown-red wood, serves the same pur- poses as the preceding woods, and is indispensable in the composition of porcelain glazes. Hinoki ( Chamcecyparis pisifera) emits an agreeable odour, is a faultless wood, and of a very close grain. Sculptors use it in preference to all other woods ; it is used also in house-building. It is called " sun- wood " or " fire-wood," because, before the inven- tion of tinder-boxes, it was used to obtain fire by friction. Of this wood are sculptured the statues of the gods, warriors, geniuses, guardians of temples, as also those gates of temples marvellously carved in intaglio, and witnessing to extraordinary patience exercised in the service of an exquisite art. Let us mention in passing the exterior gate of the temple of Katasse with two valves, each con- taining three panels sculptured outside and inside, pierced in such a way that the same openings lend themselves to the forms demanded by two very different compositions. Of other temples, those consecrated to the cult of the Shintoistes admit only the use of unwrought wood, without either decorations or varnish. Wood. 8 The tools of the Japanese sculptor are the chisel, the hammer, and the mallet. It is worth remarking that he never works standing, but either A WOOD-CARVER. seated or squatted on a trestle at a higher or lower elevation. Joiners and carpenters have tools very nearly alike, except in respect of their dimensions smaller for the latter. 82 Natural Products and Manufactures. Here is a very ingenious tool used for tracing lines. A cord is fixed to a bobbin, whence it un- winds itself, passing across a reservoir with a sponge soaked in Indian ink. This cord ends in a nail WORKERS IN WOOD. fixed in the piece of wood to be marked, so that a single man suffices for working it. The nails are of iron, without the flat heads of ours, but split into two flat plates that are bent round to form a ring. Wood. 83 Nor has the carpenter's saw, either, any resem- blance to ours ; it is held in both hands, with the point of the teeth turned towards the handle. The place of our hatchet is likewise supplied by a tool formed like a hoe ; it requires consummate skill to use it their way without hurting one's self. Their chisels are not set straight-handled ; their plane is very flat. They use these tools by drawing them towards them, and, as they work without benches, squatted on the ground, they cut out, saw, and plane, using their feet to hold the wood. It is from among the carpenters that the fire- brigade is recruited. Look at a workman cleaving wood into thin slabs, whether for veneer- A JOINER. ing, or for manufacturing articles before being lac- quered. He is squatted, and holds his slab with his feet supporting it against his forehead, so as to have both hands free to ply his task. A joiner bores a hole in a board by rapidly turn- ing a gouge between his hands. This other one uses a tool resembling a sickle with outside edge ; the same tool answers with a cooper. And in every case the foot is always ready, like another hand, to 84 Natural Products and Manufactures. help in the work and to make up for the inadequacy of equipment. Ingenious in everything, they have devised a curious method whereby one man can carry four beams with least expense of effort. One of them serving to support the others leans upon the man's shoulder; a rope is fastened around the narrower extremity of the three beams, and attached to the MAKING WOODEN SHOES. one serving to sustain the others, so that the whole is kept in perfect equilibrium. It is Paulownia wood, whereof are made the guttas, those bizarre sabots, so high that it is a puzzle how anyone can walk in them without falling. They are always left at the interior door of the habitation, for no one walks upon the mats (tatamis) shod otherwise than in a sort of cloth stocking, which detaches the big toe as in a glove, in order to let the Wood. 85 wearer grasp the strap which binds to the foot the straw sandal or the gue'ta. METHOD FOR CARRYING BEAMS. The maker of sabots uses his feet to hold the piece of wood out of which he fashions them ; occasion- ally, however, he sits astride a sort of trestle. 86 Natural Products and Manufactures. His tools are similar to those of the joiner and carpenter ; he uses them in the same way. There is yet much that might be said in respect of a multitude of methods of daily practice, as simple as they are ingenious, connected with the fabrication of wood. The little boxes used to enclose the apparatus necessary for blackening the teeth ; the receptacle for the tooth- and powder-brushes ; the dressing- table with its numerous drawers of all dimensions, and which, as an accessory to their toilet, would certainly please European ladies ; a box with all sorts of writing materials ; hand-screens, screen- frames, and music-tables ; dining-tables ; boxes hold- ing the chop-sticks ; flat bobbins for thread and silk ; large chests covered with designs in bright colours, which would look so well in an ante- chamber. The various kitchen utensils ; and finally the work-table, left to the end of this long enumera- tion, as it merits special mention. This piece of furniture is very ingeniously planned. From the body of it, which rests on the ground and contains many drawers, there rises a small column, the capital of which supports a pincushion with a drawer. This arrangement enables the work to be placed on the table without hiding or upsetting the small Wood. 87 articles used by a dressmaker cottons, needles, pins, etc. It is a pity that these little pieces of furniture are not imported by us ; as well as the dressing- tables cited above. They would be sure of a good reception. METAL: METAL-FORGERS, ARMOURERS, GOLDSMITHS, CHASERS, ETC. A URI FERGUS ore was formerly worked with j[ V the hand. After being pounded, sorted, and classed, the ore was taken to the refiner's, crushed by iron hammers on sloping plates, sifted, in part decanted, ground by means of hand-mills, washed on tables, and winnowed on wooden plates. The particles of gold were smelted in small cruci- bles heated by a charcoal fire, whose combustion was quickened by hand-bellows. The methods are now much improved, and the yield is very much greater. 88 Metal. 89 According to latest official reports, there are in Japan ninety-one copper mines, fifty-three mines of iron, forty-one of silver, and twenty-nine of gold. Lead, tin, and antimony are found only in small quantities. IRON. High furnaces of fire-clay are now used. The hearth is constructed of clay and pulverised coal. The fire is maintained by rocking bellows worked by two or three men. In the province of Rikuchiu, some are also constructed double in fire-brick. Com- bustion is promoted by square bellows worked by hydraulic power. COPPER. This mineral is sorted, pulverised, and washed with the hand. It is calcined in furnaces heated by wood fires. Argentiferous copper is melted with lead and treated by liquation. The argentiferous lead obtained thereby is subjected to cupellation. LEAD. Lead ore is crushed, sifted, washed, and smelted in a small furnace like that used for refining copper. Cast-iron is added for precipitation. ALLOYS. Japanese alloys are employed for the most part for ornamental mouldings, for statues, for musical instruments, and bells. The following are the principal : go Natural Products and Manufactures. SEIDO (green copper), an alloy of copper, lead, and sometimes tin. UDO (black copper), alloy of copper, tin, and lead, giving also in other proportions sentokudo. SHIDO (violet copper), alloy of copper and lead. SCHINCHIU (yellow copper), alloy of copper, zinc, and lead. The principal alloys, however, are schakudo and schibuichi. The former contains 95 per cent, cop- per, i to 4 per cent, gold, I to ij per cent, silver, and sometimes a little lead, iron, and arsenic. The latter contains 50 to 67 per cent, copper, 30 to 50 per cent, silver, with iron and gold in infinitesimal quantities. Such is the virtue of these alloys that most fre- quently patina is obtained without the adjunct of any foreign agent. Contact with the hand suffices with chamois leather. Schinchiu and shido are of great use in deco- ration. Copper not having been discovered in Japan till towards the eighth century, it may be concluded that for the manufacture of bronze objects before that date, the primary ingredients were imported from China or the Corea. Metal. The most beautiful antique articles still in exist- ence go back to the introduction of Buddhism : statues, some of them of colossal size, bells, lanterns, basins, sword-guards. These are the finest speci- mens of an art which, since its origin, has been in continuous progress. METAL FORGERS. Moulding in wax, which is afterwards run out, is the most common process both for the making of objects of regular use, such as incense-pans, brasiers (hibachi), and flower-vases, as also for the most elaborate works of art. Bronze is coloured with plum vinegar, the sul- phate of copper or of iron, verdigris, the red oxide of iron and varnish. Q 2 Natural Products and Manufactures. Sometimes the workman-artist, to complete his work, has recourse to chasing, to hammering, and to inlaying, which, according to the case, may be in gold, in silver, in mother-of-pearl, or even in precious stones. But these different arts appear first in the' sixteenth century. Here are several expressions indicating certain of their processes : kibori, fine chasing ; hirazogan, embossing; kata kiri bori, relief obtained with chas- ing and with the hammer ; kata kiri bori zogan, uniting these various processes with other manual ones. In such fashion are made objects intended for the decoration of apartments, and others used in religious services : vases, statues of the gods and of fantastic animals, chandeliers representing often a crane or a tortoise, incense-pans, gongs, and bells, etc. i ARMS AND ARMOURERS. For centuries veritable artists have devoted their talents to the manufacture of armour and arms. And for the ornamentation, more especially of the swords, whose temper sets at defiance your Toledo and Damascus blades, they have put in contribution nature, history, and reli- gion ; and, despite the enormous production, they have never repeated their designs. Let us examine in detail the formidable apparatus of those fierce warriors of former times : Metal. 93 First, helmets, often of grotesque shape, just revealing in the shade of the projecting visor a grimacing iron mask. Next, a sort of coat of mail SABRE-GUARDS. ANTIQUE HELMET. STIRRUPS. wrought on textures, surrounding the bust and arms, and falling over the haunches in separate bands, either overlapping or diverging from each other, according to movements and attitude. 94 Natural Products and Manufactures. The shoulders are protected by broad epaulettes of the same description, over which falls the articu- lated bavolet of the helmet. The legs, the fore- arms, and the hands are protected by plates of metal. Under the coat of mail comes a pair of bulging pantaloons, more suitable than the national robe for riding and for exercise in arms. The Japanese have now adopted European ac- coutrements. Thereby they have lost in originality what they have gained in convenience. In former times they used only noble arms the sabre, the lance, and arrows. Before the revolution it was the manner of the nobles and principal officials to wear two sabres. One, the katana, eighteen inches long, was the arm used in fight. The other, the wakisashi, of smaller dimensions, was destined for hara-kiri, i.e., for the act of legal suicide. Much more ornamented than the katana, it was by way of distinction the noble arm, the gentleman's safeguard, that which rendered him master of his life ; and, in case of crime or disgrace, spared him the ignominy of execution by the public headsman. Inasmuch as legal suicide cleared away all taints, a family might thereby continue to bear its name, the honour of which must remain unsullied. The scabbard of the katana (saya) is in light wood lacquered with black. The blade, of perfect temper, Metal. 95 is sharpened by one of those master steel-whetters nowhere found out of Japan. He works in a squatting position, his grindstones, ever smoother and smoother, plunging into buckets resting on the ground. Polishing is done by means of patient and me- thodical friction effected with a cloth moistened in the water in which the grindstones for sharpening blades are dipped. The final finishing of choice arms, which must never be anointed with oil nor touched with moist hands, is committed to an expert. The two menukis, passed through the loop platted in the form of a lozenge which adorns the handle, are intended to prevent the weapon from slipping in the hand. They are veritable jewels, thanks to skilful goldsmiths, as is also the kodzaka, a small knife, the sharp blade of which is buried in the scabbard of the sabre, its handle passing into one of the holes of the guard. The Japanese use it as a missile weapon, somewhat in the style of the Italians. In the other hole reserved in the guard passes the kogai, a head-pin, formerly serving to fix the head- dress of the soldiers by attaching it to the hair, which was then worn very long, somewhat in chignon style. There was a time when it was deemed a great luxury to have a great number of swords. A different sort 96 Natural Products and Manufactures. of sword was used for each kind of dress. Certain nobles possessed as many as from twelve to fifteen hundred, testifying to their nobility. A man, however poor and ill-clad, having ancient and costly sabres at his belt, was more esteemed than a man in rich costume carrying a common weapon. The legends of the country declare the sword blades to be fairies, each with a soul in it. Nothing in the world would therefore induce a Japanese to carry arms not belonging to him. It was in order to exorcise the bad spirits roaming about in space that the armourers dedicated their choicest works to Bishamon, God of War, and that they suspended in their workshops the Shinto'ist goe y a garland composed of narrow bands of white paper. They also believed that the god Inari came to help them to forge the beautiful blades, to which names were given, and which, loved and esteemed, passed from generation to generation in the family. The profession of master-armourer ennobles its practitioner. Custom requires a master-armourer to put on his court suit when giving the last touch to a valuable piece of arms. This habit shows in what high honour this art and the master of this art were held. Metal. 97 CLOISONNE ENAMELS. The processes followed in the manufacture of cloisonne enamels were bor- rowed from China in the sixteenth century. Delicate filigree bands of copper applied imme- diately to the metal surface of an object are fixed by a soldering mixed with borax. They form small moulds which are filled up with enamels of various colours, comparable, in composition, to those em- ployed for the decoration of porcelains : pulverised glass, powder of lead, silex, and various metallic oxides. Charcoal is used for heating this first coating, and the operation is repeated till the required thickness is obtained. Sand, a series of whettings on stones, and, by way of finish, charcoal of magnolia, are used in polishing. Cloisonne" enamel has recently been applied to porcelain ; the processes are the same as above, except that to fix the brass filigree a very fusible glass is employed. The fusion of metals powerfully aids their adhesion. It is at Nagoya that the finest cloisonne 1 enamels are at present manufactured. GOLDSMITH'S WORK. The Japanese have no goldsmith's work, properly so-called, and still less jewelry. They wear neither necklaces, nor rings, nor bracelets ; they use no silver-plate ; they have no vessels of gold in their temples. 98 Natural Products and Manufactures. Their only jewels small plates adorning tobacco- pouches, tiny pipes in chased silver or in copper, the bowl whereof contains tobacco for only one or two whiffs ; inkstands, medicine-boxes, menukis, hodzukas, lastly and especially the netzkds, on which, irrespec- tive of the material, so much art has been expended have nothing in common with ours. Natural wood, lacquered wood, ivory, horn, jade, amber, onyx, coral, crystal, and all sorts of metals have been used in the manufacture of netzke's. These objects, of prime necessity to an inhabitant of the Empire of the Rising Sun, objects which have exercised the talents of innumerable artists, are used in suspending to the girdle various little bibelots, without which a Japanese's toilet would not be com- plete : pipe, tobacco-pouch, writing-tablet, and some- times a medicine-box. Each article is tied to a string. These strings, united, pass through a small hole in the netzkt. A large knot is tied at the other side of the hole to hold them all together. The netzke thus forms the head of a kind of tassel, whereof each thrum ends in a light object. When the waistband is tied, one drops under it the netzk^ which prevents all sus- pended to it from slipping through the girdle. Osaka, Nara, and Kioto are the towns which supply the most beautiful and the most numerous specimens of these delicate objects of art. Metal. 99 The okimono is like the netzke in every respect, except that it is not perforated, and can serve only as an ornament for the ttagere. There is, then, no comparison between the Japan- ese goldsmith's work and ours. Fancy and taste follow the prescribed style and rules. Drawing his inspiration always from nature, the Japanese artist evinces a high degree of pliancy. Free and picturesque is his art, altogether indifferent to the materials whereon it is exercised, except in relation to the effects of which they are susceptible. Of small moment to him whether an object be in gold or in silver. Be it of the commonest material, his appreciation will respect the elegancy of its form and the delicacy of its elaboration. All that the Japan- ese artist regards in so many different metals is their colour, their brilliancy, their sparkle. He assorts them as does a painter the colours on his palette, choosing now tin and now lead, with the same pleasure as at another time gold, and at another time silver. Certain large bronze vases, adorned with gold and silver, and covered with sculpture and designs, held below apparently by but a thread, have proved insoluble problems to our most skilful artists. We wonder at religious statues of colossal dimensions, at bells and at lanterns, whereon the artist has lavished invention and genius, and wherein he has attained the utmost limits of art. ioo Natural Products and Manufactures. Let us follow him in some of his operations. First of all, he makes choice of the subject to be executed. It is, we will suppose, the dried branch of a peach. There it is wrinkled, twisted, distorted, and spec- kled with yellow and greenish moss, sprinkled with small red points, pitted, exhibiting an old wound at the point of its junction with the tree, a wound that is probably the cause of its death. He installs himself in his garden, to study well his model and to completely saturate his nature with its idea. He begins by modelling it in wax ; then he does it over in fine clay and with successive coatings thereof, which he allows to harden. He makes a mould of it which he lutes, that is to say, surrounds with a special coating forming an envelope, perforated, however, by some small apertures. He then encloses it in a cover which he has made for the purpose, and heats it at a small fire. The melted wax runs off by the holes, and the result is a mould of scrupulous exactness. Not disdaining the work of a founder, he prepares his alloy and runs it into the pit of the heated mould, which, after it has completely cooled, is broken, and the branch appears in its absolute purity. The workman now resumes his function of artist, and sets himself to his task, squatted in front of his model, holding with his feet the ob- Metal. 101 ject he desires to perfect. A work minute and delicate begins. With what devotion he chisels, polishes, colours, putting in contribution all the processes above -cit^ed : the kibora, the hira zogan, the kata ki?i j >'bvri, and many others ; doting on his labour pf l&va, rbtu'fcn"'- ing a hundred times to the same detail, putting his whole soul into his art, if so he might attain unto per- fection and to the very inmost heart of the subject ! And what a triumph when there at last appears on this dead wood the velvety complexion of the moss dotted with red lacquer like small drops of blood ; when the gray bark assumes such a look of dryness that you feel inclined to crumble it ; when tiny in- sects in corselet of gold or of iron, of unimaginable tenuity, seem to live and to move, to be in the act of flying away. He never attains satisfaction, but ceaselessly finds something to perfect, something to add. It is im- possible to detail the manifold operations to which he subjects his work niello, dressings with sulphur, polishings with impalpable powder, washing with plum vinegar, heatings demanding incredible precau- tions in order to arrive at the masterpiece which the artist will sign with the woful presentiment of a near separation. Sheathed first in a silk case, then committed to a box of his own making, a nest tenderly prepared by tO2 Natural Products and Manufactures. his own hands : so is it that the precious object of his cares will be presented to the lord that com- manded it of him. The artist will now address himself to carry it home,-' 6lad in his finest habits, deeming it impos- sible therebyto do too much honour to the work of art that has proceeded from his hands. In this he acts in the same spirit as the master-armourers when they don their best clothes to give the last touch to their celebrated blades. But that wherein the Japanese artist specially excels are the minute objects of which we have already spoken the netzkts, sabre-guards, menukis, chiselled, perforated, sunk ; they are pure marvels. The one set form veritable pictures representing personages, flowers, landscapes ; the others are animals, insects, etc. The whole history of Japan might be read therein, by piecing them all together, so much has the genius of its artists given itself free scope in that direction. So in former days were such things done. It is not credible, however, that the objects now delivered for the European market should be executed with so much fidelity and pains. Japan, in opening its doors to the stranger, has entered upon mercantile traffic for ever incompatible with pure art. Metal. 103 What the present day demands are hastily made and cheap products, wherein quality is sacrificed to quantity. The tradition of better times still abides, however, in Japan ; and in all the huge stock despatched to us may be recognised processes and formulas that smack of a flavour other than the general common- place. No work whatever of these workmen is ever vul- gar. So much is the sense of art engrained in that people that everything proceeding from their hands shows the special stamp of grace and distinction. 7> \f\ Q'r * s~ l// W \VJ^)( yy// ^AV CERAMICS. JAPANESE pottery has its peculiar place in the history of ceramics ; and no one will think of disputing its right to the first rank. Chinese porcelains alone can compete with Japan- ese, for indeed certain of the China colours are inimitable imperial yellow, ruby, sang de bceuf, crushed strawberry, peach bloom, moonlight blue, camellia green, green apple. But in the totality of the ceramic art the Chinese cannot maintain comparison with the Japanese, who from pupils have become masters of the Chinese, in this province, as in all others relating to art. Japan possesses three well discriminated sorts of ceramic products : ist. Faience, composed of kaolin, the glaze of which comprises divers metals mixed with lye. 104 Ceramics. 105 2d. Gray potteries, made from a hard clay, some- times overlaid with glaze. 3d. Porcelain, composed of silica more or less pure, quartz, felsite, felspar, pulverised granite. Ingredients in the glaze are silica, lye, and various metals. They are decorated with gold, silver, lead, tin, copper, chloride of gold, oxide of iron, etc. The most ancient porcelains seem to be those of Owari. They are mentioned as early as A.D. 920. The porcelains of Seto, in the same province, date from the thirteenth century. A Japanese went to study the porcelain manufacture in China. He afterwards settled in the province of Owari, where he introduced the elements of an art which he improved and modified. This industry was per- petuated in the family, the head of which, Kichi- gaemon, about the year 1800, was desirous of becoming acquainted with the methods employed at Arita. But the potters of that country withheld from him the information he wanted. Thereupon Kata Kichigaemon despatched his brother, named Tamikichi, on the same errand. In order to achieve his ends Tamikichi married the widow of a workman of Arita. At the end of four years, having learned all that he wanted to know, he made his escape and returned to Owari. There he gathered about him some clever pupils and set himself to the manufacture io6 Natural Products and Manufactures. of porcelains called Somet-Suke, which had a great success. He turned out large plates of blue porcelain. Owari is still the only place in Japan where articles of that magnitude can be manufactured. The porcelains of Mino scarcely differ from those of Seto. The same processes are followed in both places. It was in the beginning of the sixteenth century that a Japanese, named Gorodayu Shonsui, brought back from Foochow, in China, the secret of porce- lain, as he also brought with him all the ingredients necessary for its manufacture. He constructed furnaces in the province of Hizen, and limited his operations to the making of white and blue porcelain overlaid with glaze. But, obliged to be very economical of the products he had brought with him, he could make pieces only of small size. This industry was, however, hampered in its development till a Corean, named Risampei, con- ducted to Japan by a Japanese general, -found in the mountains the felspar that was wanted for the manufacture of this kind of porcelain, which was accordingly thereupon imitated, and the production maintained and modified by the factories of Kame- yama and of Imari. It was, however, not till a much later period that the manufacture was established at the last-named Ceramics. 107 place. An inhabitant of this province, Higashi Jima, and one of his compatriots, Gesu Gombe, gave themselves up to a series of experiments issuing in the most satisfactory results. Good luck later on came to the aid of the manufacturer, and led to the discovery of a process giving a more perfect baking. In 1/70 a manufacturer observed on withdrawing the porcelains from the furnace that several pieces were stuck together. He detached with care that one which was in the middle, and found it admirably baked and lustrous. Thenceforward, in order to bake the fine pieces, he enclosed them in jars furnished with lids, her- metically sealed by a layer of glaze. This method is employed down to the present day. The porcelain decorated over the glaze was im- ported from China by Tokuzaymon in 1650, and improved by Kakiyemon, whose coloured enamels have not since been surpassed. Their soft tints blue, lilac, pale green, and dull red produce, upon a back- ground of milk-white, delightfully soft harmonies. The quality of the paste, that yields to the snap of a finger the ring of a fine bell, add intrinsically to the artistic value of these products. The Eiraku yaki is one of the most beautiful porcelains of Kioto. It was invented by Zingoro io8 Natural Products and Manufactures. Riozen, whose ancestors were potters for ten generations. When Riozen hit upon the plan of imitating the ancient ceramic products of the Chinese and Japan- ese, Prince Kishu, in admiration of the splendid results obtained, gave them the name of Eiraku, a name which thereupon Riozen adopted as the family name. Yaki means porcelain or faience. Potteries coloured by red oxide of iron and orna- mented with designs in the ancient style in gold have acquired an unrivalled reputation. Riozen called them Eiraku kinrandd, because of their resemblance in brilliancy and lustre to the gold brocade named kinran. The factories of Kiyomidzu and of Goyo have since 1800 acquired a great reputation. Before that epoch, the potteries turned out were rather coarse, pretty nearly the same processes being applied as at Seto, province of Owari. The principal products are tea-pots, cups, bowls, saucers, etc. There are at present fifteen furnaces at Goyo and six at Kiyomidzu. The porcelains of Mino are made in many villages of the district of Toki. The manufacture at Tajima is the most important. Here they make chiefly Ceramics. 109 flower-vases and bottles. The processes are the same , as those of Seto ; it is only blue porcelains that are produced. From the province of Hirado in the last cen- tury came the most beautiful little figures in white porcelain that are known. Kutani is a village in the province of Kaga, which has given its name to the gilded porcelain on a background of red, with which the European market is inun- dated, and the invention of which does not date beyond 1814. Kutani is situated on a high mountain covered with snow throughout a part of the year, greatly impeding communication and transport. About 1878, a workman of the family of Eiraku came to Kutani, where he introduced their mode of decoration. Thenceforth there was a notable im- provement in design, in ornament, and lustre of colouring. From this time very brilliant gold leaf was applied upon a clear red ground. Previously the red was darker, and gold powder was used. This new product has already given rise to numer- ous counterfeits of an inferior kind and betokening a less elevated art. In 1650 a samurai (officer) of the clan of Daishoji (province of Kaga) imported from China the proces- 1 10 Natural Products and Manufactures. ses there in operation and began the manufacture of porcelain. There is indeed a marked likeness between the blue, green, and red products of this period and those of the Chinese. In the process of time the decoration was improved by the application of dark green, mauve, and pure yellow. In 1658 Prince Mayedo ordered of Saijiro a num- ber of little wares decorated in red, green, yellow, violet, gold, and silver. This dates a point of de- parture in the history of a celebrated manufacture that owed its development to the discovery of a loam suitable thereto. After attaining a flourishing eminence in the seventeenth century it suffered a marked decline in the eighteenth. In 1800, Yoshidoya undertook the task of reviving this industry. He founded a pottery at Yamashiro- mura, in which were embodied the best processes of the origin of the art. Yoshidoya conceived the happy idea of setting up his new factory in the plain, an example, that was quickly followed. A great number of such factories may be counted in the districts of Yenuma and Nomi. But the chief materials are drawn from Kutani. The principal Japanese factories of faience after the above are those of Satsuma, Awata, Raku, Shi- Ceramics. ill garaki, Soma (with the arms of the Prince of Soma a runaway horse), Takatori, Banko, Yatsushiro, Kinko Zan (blue enamel), Toyosuk (brown with white reliefs), Oribe (with brilliant colours), Bizen (blue and white). The faience of Satsuma owes its origin to the prince of this name who went to fight the Coreans about 1592. Charmed by the ceramic products of that country, he brought back with him, in 1598, seventeen potters emeriti, whom he installed in his province and in that of Osumi. Later, he set them up at Naeshiro Gawa, there to practise their industry. Marrying none but their own countrywomen, these workmen lived for a long time as a little peo- ple by themselves, with a distinct tongue, manners, and type of their own. At present there are in that quarter five hundred families, making a total of one thousand four hun- dred and thirty individuals, all carrying on the trade of their ancestors. In 1630 one of these potters, Boku Zeigo, discov- ered shiro tsuchi (white earth) in the vicinity of the pottery. This important event sensibly improved the manufacture. From that moment the use of gold, silver, and colouring materials for decoration became general. 1 1 2 Natural Products and Manufactures. faience is of marvellous purity ; the base colour is cream, with a fine crackle, and a paste as close as ivory, gilded, and enamelled with brilliant colours. Unfortunately it is now reproduced in slip- slop quantities by the manufacturers of Kioto. The faience manufacture of Awata is exclusively in the hands of ten families, who in the decoration and composition of the glaze have followed the processes of their ancestors. Only one of these potters, Tanza Rokuro, has broken through the traditional rule in the manufac- ture of porcelain. The faience of Raku goes back to 1550. At this epoch a Corean, named Amaya, went and estab- lished himself to Kioto. He became naturalised and changed his name to that of Sasaki Sokei ; his son Tanaka Chojiro succeeded him. In 1580, however, his great-grandson, named Kich- izaimon, received from a grand personage a gold seal bearing the mark Raku, which signifies joy, pleasure. In giving him this present his patron laid on him the duty of affixing it to each piece of his workmanship. In consequence of this order the products of this manufactory took the name of Raku yaki. These products have undergone no modification from the time of their invention down to our day. Eleven generations of potters have transmitted them to us in all their purity. Ceramics. 113 The Chajins or Tcha-jin prefer them because of their beauty and elegance. Being very delicate, they impart an agreeable sensation to the lips, and have the property of keeping the heat for a long time. Although in Raku all sorts of faience are manufactured, the principal products are cups and teapots. Banko yaki is a gray pottery of ferruginous paste, dating back to 1680. A potter named Banko Kichibe set up at Komiime (Tokio) a branch of his porcelain manufactory of Kutani. Thence were turned out fairly beautiful productions, recalling the faience of Satsuma in respect of paste and of decoration. This pottery died out. In 1840, however, a potter of Komaki, Yusetsii, a native of the province of Yse, settled there and engaged in the production of a new kind of gray pottery with ferruginous paste, to which he gave the name of the ancient manufacture. He met with success and persevered. His pro- ducts, some with, some without, glaze, are for the most part teapots, cups, and other articles of com- mon use. They are greatly appreciated for their delicacy. But the most curious articles are marbled pieces, obtained by a mixture of brown and of white clays, recently discovered. Others again, of a violet 1 1 4 Natural Products and Manufactures. brown, with incrusted white characters and designs, are obtained by the employment of a very great variety of enamels. The Dutch, who during the last two centuries enjoyed the exclusive privilege of trading with Japan, brought from this market especially ceramic products as objects of art numerous specimens from Imari, Arita, Bizen, Owari, Satsuma, Kioto, Kutani, to cite only the most celebrated. But they lent themselves to the production of singular counterfeits ; they sent to the isle of Dcima, where their compatriots were quartered under close surveillance, whole services in white porcelain for the Japanese to decorate, which afterwards found their way back to Europe. THE MANUFACTURE OF PORCELAIN. IMARI PORCELAIN. All the primary ingredients are pulverised in stone mortars with a swing pestle of the most ingenious contrivance. It is set up at the edge of a little watercourse, and is composed of a long horizontal beam, one end of which is covered with an iron sheathing intended for crushing the materials, while the other supports a bucket. Thanks to the movement of the swing, the bucket fills with water and empties alternately. When Ceramics. 115 full, its weight lifts the pestle, which, in falling, pounds to powder the contents of the mortar. The materials when pulverised are first sifted then subjected anew to the action of the pestle and so over again until the requisite degree of fineness is obtained. They are then placed in a receiver, water is poured over the composition, the mixture is stirred, then it is allowed to rest, and decanted. This paste is dried on furnaces to give it the necessary consistency, then it is cut in pieces to be wrought. Next, the workman takes a portion of the paste, places it on a table, and kneads it with both hands. He thus gives it the shape of a ball, which thereupon he places on a turning lathe worked by a pedal. Having given to the block the de- sired form, he places it upon a small board in the sun to dry. He then replaces the object on the turning-lathe, bringing it to the required thickness by means of a small knife ; wipes it carefully with a wet cloth, lays over it a thin coating or slip, and introduces it into a biscuit furnace. The biscuit furnace is brought to a temperature a third of that of furnaces at full heat. After this first baking, the object is decorated and glazed, then placed in an ordinary furnace to bake twelve hours. 1 1 6 Natural Products and Manufactures. When it has been satisfactorily determined that the baking has gone far enough, the oven is closed up and allowed to cool for three complete days in the case of small ware, and six or seven in the case of larger. In order to feed the furnace, care must be taken in shutting it to leave a little hole for the admission of billets of wood of equal length and thickness. Eighteen thousand of them are burned every twelve hours. For the first five hours the fire is kept mod- erate, but the combustion is pushed on at a great rate throughout the succeeding hours. The baking over, a piece is withdrawn from the furnace and plunged into cold water, in order to test its vitrification. If the baking is found to be suffi- cient, the furnace is closed and allowed to cool as aforesaid. How THE GLAZE is PREPARED The glaze is composed of white clay, mixed with water and of the ashes of Distylium racemosum, of which the best variety comes from the provinces of Satsuma, Hiuga, and Higo. The ashes are then spread out on the ground ; in the centre is put a certain quantity of charcoal, which is next lighted and covered with those ashes until the combustion is complete. This operation lasts two days. The residue, having been cooled, is thrown into water and then sifted. Ceramics. \ 1 7 Thereafter the white clay, pulverised, is dissolved in a vessel of water, and the ashes in another. A bit of biscuit is then steeped in each of these solu- tions, and on it gathers a more or less thick deposit. Should this deposit be of equal thickness on each of the two bits, the mixing process is then taken in hand. If a green glaze is wanted, forty per cent, of oxide of cobalt is added. There are two qualities of oxide of cobalt the better sort green, the inferior brown. A paste is made by mixing it, after reducing it to powder, with an infusion of tea. It is then thoroughly diluted with water, left to itself for three hours, and a pre- cipitate is obtained by means of sulphate of mag- nesia. After a final washing in plenty of water, the product is ready for use. KUTANI PORCELAIN. The primary materials- stone of Kutani, of Gokoji, and of Susutani are crushed with a swinging pestle. The powder is left in water, drained, and ground anew between the millstones. It is then, after being strained through a silk sieve, put back into the water, where it is left to itself for two or three days. It is next dried in the sun, made into a paste, and thereupon worked in the manner aforesaid. 1 1 8 Natural Products and Manufactures. The glaze is composed of the ashes of Distylium racemosum and Kutani stone. The decorative processes consist in putting the different colours on the white pieces, which for nine hours are subjected to the action of a pine fire. They are then allowed to cool, decorated with gold, and anew subjected to the baking process. Lastly, this gold is polished, at first with bran, then with steel. The Kutani manufacture employs more than four thousand workmen. GOLD AND SILVER POWDERS First Method The metals are beaten, and reduced to excessively fine leaves ; they are then pulverised, being mixed for seven days with powder of lead. When required for use, the whole is mixed with liquid glue and then pounded. Second Method. Dissolve, in six parts of nitro- muriatic acid, one part of pure gold, and add a hun- dred parts of distilled water. Pour into this solution some liquefied sulphate of iron, and the gold is reduced to a powder and precipitates. It is allowed to rest, the water is withdrawn, and the deposit is washed several times with lukewarm water, and then two or three times with cold ; finally the powder is dried to keep it. When about to be used, it is mixed with a liquid glue. Ceramics. 1 19 The same process is followed in the case of silver, except that pure nitric acid is used instead of nitro- muriatic acid. When these powders are used in the decora- tion of faience, there is added a small quantity of bar use. (?) In this last case, moreover, only powders of gold and of silver of the first quality are available ; otherwise, the baking being very long and the fire intense, the effect would be considera- bly lessened. PORCELAINS OF EIRAKU, OF KIYOMIDZU, AND OF GOYO. For these three kinds of porcelain the processes of manufacture are the same. Commence by crushing with iron mallets the blocks of stone, from which have been removed foreign ingredients. Pound anew, pass through a riddle, and cast this powder into water, there to remain three days. It is then passed ten times under a millstone, and the powder, when fine enough, is thrown into water, stirred, dried, and strained through a silk sieve. The residue is likewise kept as serviceable for other purposes. This powder is mixed either with one tenth of Shigaraki earth for the finest porcelains, which yet, however, cannot resist a fierce heat ; or, with three tenths of Shigaraki earth, which gives a superior 1 20 Natural Products and Manufactures. quality of porcelain ; or with a half of Shigaraki earth, which gives a common quality of porcelain. When the vitrifaction of the powder is effected with difficulty, there is added a little of the ashes of Distylium racenwsum. This mixture requires much care ; it is passed fifteen times under the millstones, then strained through a silk sieve, and finally kneaded and made into balls. MOULDING. The balls of paste are placed on the lathe, set in motion by the right hand ; with the left hand the worker prescribes the size and the thickness of the piece, cuts its base by means of a thread, and places it upon a stand. In this way he can make from fifty to a hundred per day, according to the different sizes. They are dried in the open air, then in a room. Certain objects need to be afterwards adjusted with a knife : for example, the tea-cup. It is reversed upon the lathe, held by a support, and the potter cuts the bottom in relief. Pieces not circular are shaped by means'of wooden moulds. When the pieces are very large, the lathe is turned with the foot, in order to leave both hands free. Awatd, faience is moulded in the same way. In the case however of the porcelains of Kiyo- midzu, there are employed, besides the lathe, wooden Ceramics. 1 2 1 and biscuit moulds. The biscuit moulds are in relief or sunken. The moulded articles are made in two pieces, which are afterwards joined together. The knobs and spouts of the teapots are made in the mould when they are ornamented with designs. The articles lose twelve per cent, of their volume in baking. The luting, joining the different parts together, is made of porcelain paste softened with water. The wooden moulds are made of small movable boards jointed one into another. The sides and the bottom of the mould are covered with linen, then the paste is introduced in sheets, care being exercised to make it take the exact form of the mould. At the end of a given time it can be removed. Sometimes the place of the linen is taken by the powder of Pueraria Thumbergiana. Moulds may, however, be dispensed with in two different ways: 1st, by placing the plate of paste on a linen cloth and moulding it by the hand ; 2d, by cutting out the pieces, which are then joined together in the same way as are the different sides of a mould, i.e., by moistening the edges of the various parts. This last process is attended with inconvenience; the pieces so made easily break whilst baking. The small pieces, representing animals and other minute objects are made by the hand and in one 1 2 2 Natural Products and Manufactures. single lot. They are placed upon a linen cloth to hinder them from sticking together. THE MANUFACTURE OF FAIENCE. SATSUMA FAIENCE. The primary ingredients (earths, stones, and sands of different origins) are divided into three categories, according to their quality. The first category serves for the Nishikide manufacture (faience of a very great value). The materials are crushed, sifted, steeped in water, and strained anew through a very fine silk sieve. This operation is repeated a great number of times until the powder is reduced to an almost impalpable fineness. Then it is dried on small boards. One proceeds in the same way, but with less punc- tiliousness in the case of the second and the third quality. The glaze is made of the white stone of Kaseda, which, having been pulverised, is mixed with the ashes of Ilex crenata^ of Queceus crispula, and of other very hard woods. When the powder has acquired the smoothness required, it is made into a paste by mixing it with water. It is then put on a table and beaten three thousand times with wooden mallets. It is next enclosed in a vessel or box hermetically closed, where it is left for fifty days, after which it is beaten anew. Ceramics. 123 It is beaten again before the moulding is taken in hand. This paste improves with age. CONSTRUCTION OF THE OVENS. They are of Corean origin and defective enough. The founda- MANUFACTURING FAIENCE. tions are in brick, the rest in clay. The fore part is less raised than the other, and furnished moreover with an orifice serving as fireplace. On each side are holes by which the fire is fed. The fire is lighted in the fireplace and kept up through the holes at the sides. 1 24 Natural Products and Manufactures. This mode of feeding the fire leaves a good deal to be desired, for thereby one runs the risk of upset- ting the objects or of soiling them with the ashes ; and, lastly, it does not allow of an equal temperature being maintained. Aw ATA FAIENCE. As always, the balls of earth are pulverised, then passed through ten sieves of graduated fineness up to the silk sieve. The powder is allowed to remain in the water for two hours ; it is stirred, and water gently poured over it, so as to make the water overflow from the first vessel into a series of five others, placed, each following one lower than the preceding, and communicating with one another by means of tubes. This operation lasts twelve hours, and yields three different qualities of earth. The best is held in the fourth vessel and the poorest quality in the second. Each quality is then turned into a huge vat, where it rests in water for five or six days. Once dried, it is distributed into lots that are placed upon tables, where, while still humid, it is beaten with wooden mallets, rolled, again beaten, and so over again three times running. Afterwards it is formed into balls, which are placed in a humid situation away from the air. When wanted for use it is kneaded anew. To obtain a perfect re- sult a great deal of trouble and much skill are needed. Ceramics. 125 The process of moulding is the same as in the case of porcelains of Eiraku. BAKING. The biscuit ovens are generally isolated, or, at least, so placed that the flames of the one cannot reach those of the other. The circular form is the most common ; the oven has no vault and but one fireplace ; the inferior part at the back is sloping, in order that the flame can run the entire length. The baking requires great attention, punctilious and skilled care. The best woods for heating are pines of from seventy-five to a hundred and fifty years old, kept for two years in the woodyard. It is necessary to begin with a slow fire that is gradually quickened, just as in the same way the oven has to be cooled little by little, if one would avoid the risk of cracks coming to light. The baking takes on an average from twelve to fourteen hours, but the time varies according to the size of the pieces. After being decorated and glazed, the articles are baked at a large fire. In the construction of those ovens a sloping form is chosen, otherwise they must be raised in the form of an amphitheatre. There are ten successive ovens communicating with one another. The lower oven is not counted. Number I contains the pieces of inferior quality ; Number 3 those of the first order ; 126 Natural Products and Manufactures. the last ovens are used in the baking of objects of little value and biscuits. It is likewise necessary to locate the pieces according to the degree of heat they require. The things of value are placed in the superposed jars, and upon their covers the pieces of inferior quality. The heating must 'be carefully progressive, and observation must be taken of the barometric and thermometric variations of the atmosphere, which exercise a direct influence on the temperature of the oven, etc. Pieces coloured and decorated with gold and silver are baked in special ovens, called kingama RAKU FAIENCE. The primary materials (Aka and Shira red and white clays) are simply crushed in stone mortars with wooden pestles, and then passed through copper wire and hair sieves. Ki (yellow earth) is applied to pieces in a liquid state, after having been moulded with the hand and the knife. Sometimes earthen or wooden moulds are used, but never the lathe. GLAZE. Sekishi seki, plumbeous glass, and silica are crushed, then milled, then the powder strained through a silk sieve. Then proceed in the manner already described. Ceramics. 127 BAKING. The ovens employed are similar to, but smaller than those available for Awata and Kiyomidzu faiences. The firewood is always pine. The ovens used for baking the coloured pieces are similar to the kingama sort. The baking of black pottery, however, is done by itself. A single piece only is baked in each oven, and only charcoal is burnt, com- bustion being promoted by a blowing-machine. The fire must be very hot, as the baking lasts only half an hour, and with too low a temperature, the colour would lose its lustre. Baking coloured pieces requires two hours of a less hot fire. Banko is a grey pottery, of ferruginous paste re- cently invented. There are two kinds, one with, and one without engraving. The ingredients neces- sary for this manufacture are drawn especially from Komuki and from Shinedo, in the province of Ise. For the most part cups and teapots are the pro- ducts of this manufactory. They are highly appreci- ated for their refined elegance, and are in great demand. To this manufacture we also owe, as a more re- cent product, very curious marbled pieces, which by their lustre and novelty make one almost forget its ancient products. These marblings are obtained by the mixture of brown and white clay. Or, again, objects are 1 28 Natural Products and Manufactures. moulded in violet-brown, in the paste whereof white designs are inlaid. For these decorations, which are susceptible of great variation, a great range of enamels is employed. SOME CELEBRATED MARKS. AWATA. KUTANI. RAKU. LIST OF PLACES GIVING NAMES TO CERTAIN FICTILE PRODUCTS. Provinces Hizen es Towns Provinces Towns Nagasaki. Arita. Satsuma . . . Naeshirogawa. Kyomidzu. Imari. Kioto < Awata. Karatsti. Eiraku. Okawachi. . Raku. Mikawachi. ' Fukakusa. Shiraishi Uji. Shida. Fushimi. Odashi. Mimuro. Yoshida. Jamashiro .. - Mibosatsfl. Matsugaya Kameyama. Omura. Kinkozan. Iwakura yama. Seikanji. Goyo. Ceramics. 129 Provinces Towns Provinces Iwaki Towns Soina Owari ... Omi f Seto. 1 Tokoname. 1 Inuyama. [ Oribe. ^ Shigaraki. Musashi Sagami .... STokio. Imado. Sumida gawa. j Ota. ( Yokohama. Mino.... ' ' \ Zeze. Tajimi. Chikugo . . . Yanagawa. Jamato . Ise Koriyama. Banko. oakai. f Tayo ura. Bizen . . . Imbe. Nagato -j Matsumoto. Higo.... Yatsushiro. ( Hagi. Kaea j Kutani Izumo ( Matsuye. Setsu I Ohi. Mito Tchikuzln . ( Fuijina. Takatori. Totomi > Sliidaro Awadji .. Iganoraura. lea.. Uveno. TEXTILE FABRICS. SILKWORM RAISING. JAPAN is the country of silks. In all times the culture of the mulberry has there been held in great honour, and as early as the sixteenth century the processes of manufacturing silk textiles had attained the highest degree of perfection. Silkworm raising is an industry extended over the whole of Japan, and reaches back to the remotest antiquity. It is divided into two principal branches one, that of the production of the eggs ; the other, that of silk-spinning. Upon the first depends the breed of silkworms and the yield of fine cocoons. The cultivation of the mulberry, which thrives remarkably well in Japan, is also of the greatest importance. Eggs of the first quality are distinguished by their size, by their colour, and by the cleanliness of the pasteboards. 130 Textile Fabrics. 131 For the hatching of the eggs, the boards are taken out of the boxes towards the 2Oth of March, and placed in a very airy room. The hatching occurs ten days later, and the worms, after being delicately placed on a sheet of paper covered with millet, are supplied with young leaves of early mulberry, hashed and sifted. They should be fed on an average five times daily ; three times a day in damp weather, six, seven, or eight times in hot or dry weather, when the wind dries their litter. Ten days after being hatched, they have their first sleep. The worms then take a whitish colour. When they are preparing to sleep, a layer of rice bran should be spread on the paper on which they lie, and above it a sort of thread covered with chopped mulberry leaves. The following day, towards noon, the worms are all perched on the thread, which is next cautiously shifted to another place, in order to change the litter. This operation is repeated twice between each sleep, according to the atmospheric variations. The next day after their sleep only one meal is given to them. Thereafter the rations are increased in accordance with certain rules. The three sleeps require the same sort of care ; the one as the other. Only at the fourth sleep must the worms be taken up by the hand, instead of allowing 132 Natural Products and Manufactures. them to get up. Three days after whole leaves are given them. When it is observed that the worms want to spin, fresh leaves must be supplied them six or seven times a day, and even during the night. When the worms crawl up to the edges of the basket, they are taken one by one and put back in their places. For this purpose colza stalks are also used. When the worm has come to maturity, care must be taken to keep the silkworm nursery well aired and cleansed. Any want of care in this respect would be very prejudicial to the health of the worm. Six or seven days after, the cocoon can be taken away. Silkworms generally finish their cocoon in three days ; on the fourth, their transformation into a chrysalis begins. At first transparent, they become darker and darker. Then very fine cocoons are selected, of regular form and fine colour. They are ranged on an ctagere and covered with a sheet of paper. Next day the papilios get upon this paper, where the coupling should take place. Then they are borne very carefully in a basket covered with a mat. Towards two o'clock in the afternoon, the males are removed, and the leaves are taken and placed upon the final pasteboard, which is surrounded with a rim rubbed with oil, the object of which is to hinder the female from going elsewhere to lay. Textile Fabrics. 133 Each pasteboard has about from ninety to one hundred and twenty females. During the whole period of laying, a temperature of seventy to eighty degrees must be maintained. In cold weather the heating is kept up with braziers full of glowing charcoal. The pasteboards so prepared are next suspended in a very airy chamber, free from bad odours and well protected from rats, which are very fond of these eggs. In December advantage is taken of a fine day, first to air and clean the pasteboards, and then to put them in boxes which are laid by in a very clean place until the spring. Silk-culture, so fastidious in itself, is further embarrassed by the great number of deadly dis- eases liable to be engendered by atmospheric changes. Cold, heat, humidity, dryness, are so many causes of death, if, thanks to a wide experience and special intelligence, one is not at hand with the appropriate remedy. The establishment of the nursery is a thing of great importance. In its construction it is composed of a ground floor, and of a first story with a south- east exposure. Half of the ground floor is occupied by the raiser ; the rest is used to hold the mulberry leaves. 134 Natural Products and Manufactures. The breeding is done on the first floor, which is accessible by two staircases, and which moreover communicates by a trapdoor with the lower floor. The roof is composed of boards in juxtaposition, and covered with tiles ; upon the arris of this roof is erected another. Windows open on the four sides for ventilation. Each one is supplied with a spring-roller blind. The walls are in rough-coated wood. There are many ways of killing the worms in order to unwind the cocoons. They may be exposed to the sun between two sheets of paper. They may be placed above boiling water. They may be put in a very tight drawer and turned over from time to time. Finally camphor may be put in the box contain- ing them. The cocoons are unwound fifty days after their formation. Until quite recent times, machinery being un- known in Japan, women unwound them by hand. For this operation, the cocoons are plunged into hot water and agitated with little sticks, until the silk becomes attached to them. Several cocoons are unwound at once, according to the quality. Close by the pan is a little ball of human hair or of horsehair. On this is made to pass the thread Textile Fabrics. 135 which is fastened to a reel turned by the right hand. This silk is passed over a series of winders of dif- ferent forms and dimensions according to the use for which it is intended. There are now steam spinning-mills in Japan. The breeding of silkworms and the weaving of certain ordinary textile fabrics were known in Japan as early as the year 660 before our era. In 283 A.D. Corea sent thither two women well acquainted with the weaving of figured stuffs. Then the court took up the new industry and appointed a minister charged with its surveillance, and with the direction of the manufacture of the fabrics which itself used. This caused great emula- tion and led to rapid improvements. By the year 550 A.D. highly satisfactory results were witnessed. Down to this day there are still to be seen in one of the temples of Nara magnificent brocades dating from the year 750. As early as the sixteenth century the processes of manufac- ture had reached the highest degree of perfection. One ought to read in M. de Goncourt's La Maison d'un Artiste, the brilliant description of Japanese robes kimonos from the most elaborate down to the simplest, adorned with stamped designs, re- peated and distributed in pieces, whereon has been exhausted the whole gamut of diversified tones of exquisite distinction. 136 Natural Products and Manufactures. Marvellous is the impression we there receive of dazzling colours, of sumptuous designs, figured, worked with gold or silver wire, encrusted with em- broideries, borrowing, here from the region of dreams, apparitions, and fantastic dragons, and there from nature, plants, fishes, and animals ; dis- playing landscapes and sea views ; now flashing before our eyes dazzling day, and now unveiling serene night, all in decorations before which imagi- nation itself becomes paralysed. We are then instructed regarding those wonderful runnings-off of tint melting one into another, flowing from the neck to the padded hem trailing on the ground, and serving as background to superb and finished compositions. And how much art and erudition are lavished on those broad girdles of the women the obi on those squares of embroidered stuff, the fukusas, etc. It is at Nishijin, Kioto, that fabrics of great value are made, such as the karaori, the yamato, the nishiki, the tsuzurcori, the donsu, etc. Kirin, in the province of Kozuki, is one of the most ancient centres of this industry. After a period of decline this manufacture regained its prestige towards the year 1 500, and its production increases every year. Other manufactories are also celebrated. We may cite in the province of Rikuzen, that of Miadju, pro- CUTTING REELING PERFUMING IRONING. 138 Natural Products and Manufactures. ducing the Seikoori, Haki ta ori ; in the province of Chikuzen, that of Fukuoka, producing the Hakata ori ; in the province of Omi, that of Nagahama, pro- ducing the Chirimen ; in the province of Yamato, those of Kito and of Hagi, producing delicious crepons called Kano Kosi bori, etc., etc. COTTON. In the most remote times the cotton of Japan was known ; but, being badly cultivated, this plant disappeared. In 1550 the Portuguese im- ported anew the seed. The cotton culture has since spread and attained a very great importance in the country. A steam factory has recently been founded at Sakai, province of Idzumi, for the manufacture of cotton cloths. Sixteen provinces possess factories for their production. In addition, hemp, boehmeria, yields two sorts of cloth, specially manufactured in the province of Echigo. The province of Ise furnishes a species Meji which is divided into linen and cotton. The province of Iwaki produces esteemed stuffs made of cotton and paper ; the first serving as warp, and the second as woof. Textiles are also made with the fibre of the titila cordata, from which are also got materials suitable for the making of cords ; and tissues are further made with the fibres of the kutzu, of the banana, Textile Fabrics. 139 with the flowers of salix, with the fibres of the bark of the mulberry, which enter into the manufacture of mats. It is worthy of remark that, even in these ordinary stuffs, the design, if simple, is still as artistic as in costly fabrics. There are cotton textiles upon which the designs are partly printed and partly embroidered in silk. The effect is charming. REELING AND SCOURING SILK. The quality of the raw silks depend in great part on their place of origin. For tissues of great value there is careful selection of fibre, neither too hard nor too soft ; it must be fine, clean, and brilliant. If for the warp and the woof the threads have to be single, they are dyed first, then reeled. If they require to be twisted, they are reeled first, then dyed and re-reeled. If they have to be double, they are dyed, reeled, and doubled. If the silk needs boiling, it is first reeled, then twisted, then boiled, then dyed and then re-reeled. Once these operations are over, the silk is put on spindles and on shuttles. Often, according to the nature of the tissues to be made, the silk is impregnated with rice or seaweed glue. 140 Natural Products and Manufactures. To scour the silk, it is enclosed in a linen bag and boiled in lye. It is then washed in several waters. To boil the stuffs, they are first left in water for twelve hours, then boiled in lye, then washed, then boiled afresh, then washed afresh. In certain cases, the raw silk is put into a supple leather sack, and beaten for an hour with wooden mallets. This operation is called nayasu. The reeling consists in rolling the silk in skeins after being wet and dried on to little bobbins. The twisting called katayori, consists in twisting, by means of a reel, the raw silk which has been al- ready once reeled. The twisting from left to right of a silk of several strands is called awost-yori, the reverse twisting moro-yori, and the more complicate twisting of silk of many strands by reels of different dimensions, hou-yori. When the thread which has already undergone the twisting hou-yori is joined to another which has been twisted moro-yori, it takes the name of habe-yori. Doubling consists in reeling upon a single bobbin several strands already united singly upon other bobbins. THE SETTING UP OF THE LOOM. To set up the loom, the warp threads are first passed onto the comb which is then put back in its place. Textile Fabrics. 141 The " simple, " in which the number of strings is proportionate to the warp threads, is arranged accord- ing to the designs traced on the rule paper. This " simple " is held by a man seated at the top of the loom. He lowers and raises the threads to form the design. There are two sorts of looms : the one requiring a large shuttle, and the other only a small one. Crape is made with two threads twisted in a con- trary direction, producing undulation. It is always the women who reel, and nearly always they who weave. In some cases they get the help of children for the manufacture of certain tissues. In the bro- cades, yinran, requiring gold, they are used only for the woof. The preparation of these gold threads is compli- cate and interesting enough for a few words of ex- planation. First a gourd is allowed to rot until the fibres alone remain. Then a sheet of Echizen paper called torina ko, is taken and coated with a layer of seaweed glue. This is next rubbed with the gourd fibres, anew varnished and immediately wiped. The gold leaves are then taken and applied at once to the varnish, thereupon follows rubbing with wadding to make the adhesion the firmer all over, then drying, then rubbing with a tampon soaked in Colzal oil. 142 Natural Products and Manufactures. When required for use, the threads are cut out to the desired thickness. DYE. The following are the products employed in order to obtain the principal colours used in dye- ing the silks of Japan : Sumi (black) : Bark of Myrica nagy, chalybeate water, gall nut, pomegranate bark, sulphate of iron. Chiai (red) : Curcuma, Brazil-wood, alum. Chai (greenish brown) : Bark of Myrica nagy, saffron, alum, Brazil-wood, chalybeate water. Kobicha (straw yellow) : Ditto, less Brazil-wood. Kabacha (orange) : Saffron and Brazil-wood. Shiracha (brown) : Myrica nagy, Brazil-wood, alum. Kurikawacha ( chestnut ) : Myrica nagy, weak chalybeate water, Brazil-wood, and alum. Tobi (reddish-brown) : Weak chalybeate water, Brazil-wood, and alum. Hitobi (bistre) : Brazil-wood, alum, lime water. Tetsuonando (chestnut) : Myrica nagy, weak chaly- beate water. Ha (mouse-grey) : Gall nut, chalybeate water, Myrica nagy, and solution of indigo. Budo nedjumi (slate-grey) : gall nut, chalybeate water. Hi (vermilion) : Carthamus, saffron, vinegar of plums and of rice, evodia glauca. K0&ai(rose): Carthamus, vinegar of plums and rice, Textile Fabrics. 143 evodia glauca. For the colours momo iro, pale rose, and Toki, deep rose, the ingredients are the same but the proportions are varied. Murasaki (violet) : Lithospernum erythrorhizon and lye. y2z(blue): Solution of indigo; the proportions are varied according to the shade required. Moegi (green) : Saffron and a solution of indigo. The proceedings and the installation of the dyers are of the simplest. The women are employed like the men. While one set of women crush the colours by means of a mill-stone pierced in the centre, which they ceaselessly turn, others prepare the mixtures, and others again dip in the articles to be dyed. COLOURING PLANTS. Japan is very rich in col- curing plants ; some cultivated, others growing wild ; certain of them being used alone, in the way of de- coctions, others being blended with metals or metallic oxides. Here is a list of some of the most frequently utilised : Shibuki is the bark of the Yamamomo (Myrica rubra) which grows wild in hot countries. Its de- coction, of a beautiful reddish colour, possesses astringent properties preservative of fabrics. It is much used for colouring fishers' nets. Hannoki (Alnus maritima) yields the fruits of 1 44 Natural Products and Manufactures. which the decoction, named yasha, mixed with chalybeate water, gives black. Kifushi (gall nut) is employed in the same way. With the stalks and the leaves of Ariyasu (Helian- thus tinctorius), chopped together and dried in the shade, a decoction of greenish-yellow is produced. Several plants furnish various yellows : Roots of the Ukon (Curcuma macrophylla), the bark of Zumi, the bark of Kirvada ( Evodia glauca) and the fruits of Kuchi nashi (Gardenia florida). Each one of these plants treated singly yields a yery brilliant colour. From the roots of the wild plant Murasaki Kusa is obtained a beautiful violet. The roots of Akane (Rubia cordifolia) yields a lovely red. The leaves of the Indigo (Polygonum tinctorium), a vivacious plant, very much cultivated in Japan, yield a substance greatly employed in painting and dyeing. Its cultivation demands special mention. The seeds, before being sown, must undergo the following preparation : they are placed in a vessel and covered with a light infusion of tea, in which they are allowed to abide five or six days ; they are then taken out, dripped, and dried in the shade, and covered over with a mat. They are now ready for sowing. The ground is then ploughed, the seeds are sown in the furrows, the soil is harrowed, and covered with vegetable mould or sand. At the end of about twenty-five days, when the plant appears, the land is dunged with a sort of manure, composed of dried Textile Fabrics. 145 herrings and sardines, of earth, and of the residue of certain oils. It is manured three successive times every twelve days ; if necessary, the seed-plot is thinned ; at the end of seventy-five days the plants are transplanted and again manured five times over, care being taken to keep the earth very clean by frequent weed ings. GRINDING DRUGS. Seventy-five days later the crop is harvested, the plant being cut at the base. There are two methods of procedure either cutting at two o'clock in the afternoon, bearing home the stalks and drying them in the court-yard till the noon of next day, turning them over frequently meanwhile, or cutting in the morning, drying them on the spot, and then carrying them home. 1 46 Natural Products and Manufactures. In both cases the leaves are separated from the stalks and put in a straw sack. To transform them into balls water is poured upon the leaves several times in the course of four or five days and covered over with mats. At the end of this period they are turned over ; then the same process is gone through again twenty to twenty- five times. This watering is of great importance, and is a delicate operation, requiring to be regulated accord- ing to the temperature. Finally, the leaves are pounded in a mortar for a day and a half. There must be water supplied to the mortar to facilitate the reduction of the leaves to a paste of extreme fineness, whereof are formed the balls, which are dried and will keep good for an indefinite length of time. LACQUER. TOKIO dealers in curios have, it appears, recently resolved on holding an exhibition, in which nothing is to be admitted but objects of art dating as far back as at least a thousand years. There will be seen very rare specimens of lacquer, for it is one of the most ancient products of Japan, the origin of which is enveloped in mystery ; it is in some respects a prehistoric art. It is as the result of a long course of tentative experiments that the degree of perfection has been attained which is registered by veritable master- pieces of the kind. Lacquer, properly so called, consists of a varnish of manifold combinations, varied according to the quality and the finish of the objects contemplated. This varnish is nothing else than the juice of the lacquer-tree (R/ius vernicifera), a precious tree, much cultivated in Japan, and producing, in addition to the varnish, wax and a highly valued yellow wood. 147 148 Natural Products and Manufactures. It is the kernel of the nut of the tree which yields the wax. The varnish is obtained by mak- ing incisions in the bark of the tree when five to eight years old. The outflow lasts six months, from June until November, and is distributed into three qualities corresponding with three different periods of yield. The tree is then razed at the foot, the branches lie immersed in water for a fortnight, and additional varnish is extracted from them, which, being placed in vast wooden receptacles, is exposed to the sun and at the same time stirred with a spatula, with a view to the evaporation of the water therein con- tained. The varnish is strained, then mixed with sulphate of iron and water falling from the stone upon which are sharpened the knives serving to cut the tobacco. The use of this water causes infinitesi- mal and impalpable doses of whetstone and tobacco to get blended with the varnish. The different qualities of lacquer depend thence- forth upon the employment of varnish with or without oil (the best qualities are used without oil) and of the colouring ingredients added, as, e. g., for red lacquer, vermilion of superior quality and bcni- gara (composed of red oxide of iron) of inferior quality are used. Another colour is obtained by mixing, with the varnish, orpiment and indigo in powder, such as Lacquer. 1 49 they are, or diluted in oil, according to require- ment. Another mixture is with glue, with rice paste, with whetstone powder, according to the effects and the qualities that one wishes to obtain, the juice of the Rhus vernicifcra remaining always the base. There is more than one way of making lacquer, and each master in the craft has had largely to exercise his own judgment in the business. It is amazing to think of the range and delicacy of operations required for this manufacture. You begin with the wood, choosing in preference that of Hinoki and of Kinoki (magnolia). The wood must in every case be very soft, seeing that, for certain very fragile things, it has to be no thicker than a sheet of paper. The first thing is to adjust minutely all the parts of the object to be made. You then stop up the interstices of the joints with a sort of mastic com- posed of raw varnish, of farine, and sawdust. When the object is large and requires thick wood the angles are fastened by pegs. As all the surfaces must be very smooth, the slightest grain is effaced by pumice-stone, and the object is next overlaid with a close coating of a substance made with a kind of pulverised and baked potter's earth mixed with varnish. It is again, after a long drying, rubbed with pumice- 1 50 Natural Products and Manufactures. stone ; then silk, cotton, or paper, according to the finish required, is glued upon the wood ; the join- ings of the pieces are disguised by means of raw varnish mixed with calcined clay ; then there are applied five successive layers of the first coating, each being allowed to dry, and thereafter polishing is done with a coarse whetstone. It is now time to use for the applications a brush of human hair. It will be observed that the Japan- ese hair, like that of the Chinese, is coarse and hard. After a coat of raw varnish, in which have been mixed, in equal portions, calcined clay and pulver- ised whetstone, polishing is applied anew with a finer stone, and, to efface the traces of this polish- ing, another coat of raw varnish, mixed with pul- verised whetstone diluted with water, is laid on. Another polish with a finer stone, or, rather, one polish by the hand with the impalpable ashes of deer-horn. Then the object is covered with a coat of pure raw varnish and enclosed in a press, where it is left drying for twenty days. Finally, it is polished once more with very fine charcoal pbwder, and the result is an object smooth and brilliant as a mirror. But this it not all. These different operations are interrupted by dryings, which must all be made in the most complete darkness and in a slightly humid Lacquer. 1 5 1 place, all the while the articles being frequently turned round for the sake of an equal diffusion of the varnish. People frequently have cellars devoted to this purpose exclusively. The desic- cation of the objects is determined by blowing upon them ; the breath should leave the impression of steam. SIFTING. But at this stage all that is yet obtained is only smooth lacquer of the desired colour ; it is a back- ground, chosen by the workman, grey, yellow, green, brown, red or black, upon which will be applied gold, silver, or precious materials fitted to serve for the decoration of these pieces. 152 Natural Products and Manufactures. To obtain marbled lacquers, you mix with the var- nish, colouring ingredients and the white of an egg. A coating of this mixture is passed over the article, and then you beat with a very thin spatula. Such of the varnish as is thereby raised forms the depressions which are the points of departure for the marblings. Next are added in alternation with the rubbings with pumice-stone, as above described, seven coat- ings of varnish of several qualities ; then the object is exposed for three days to the sun. Contrary to what might be supposed, this exposure makes the colour brighter and more brilliant. Then again three coats of varnish are applied, and, finally, the last touch is put to the work by rubbing, at first for a long time with a tampon soaked in a mixture of oil and pulverised stone, then with wad- ding soaked in raw varnish and upon which are poured oil and calcined deer-horn. The processes vary in details, the substance is always the same : more or less numerous appli- cations sometimes up to twelve, twenty" and even more of varnish, variously combined with the other ingredients; pumice-stone rubbings, as nu- merous in the case of the higher qualities, as are the applications. But where the execution varies infinitely is in the colouring and decoration. Lacquer. 153 In black lacquers, Indian ink plays an important part ; a coating of it is applied after one or several applications of varnish. For red lacquers, you apply a coat of vermilion for the first quality and a coat of bcnigara for the inferior quality. For the yellow, there is employed an extract of gardenia florida, then one proceeds as previously described. Charcoal is also frequently used, as much in the polishing as in the colouring. For gold lacquers, a mixture of vermilion and of varnish is heated on a slow fire ; afterwards one takes a sheet of transparent paper on which is the design to be reproduced upon the lacquer. The paper is turned over and the reversed design is followed with a pencil steeped in the aforesaid mixture. Apply then on the lacquer the paper at the moistened side, and rub with a bamboo spatula. Afterwards tap lightly upon the lines of the counter- drawing with a little silk sachet filled with nearly im- palpable whetstone powder. The object of this pro- cess is to perfect the application of the design, which is subsequently polished with charcoal and covered over minutely with varnish, in order to secure the adhesion of the gold powder, which is applied either with a brush, or by sprinkling through a tube, according to its fineness. r 54 Natural Products and Manufactures. It is allowed to dry for a whole day ; then it is continue, in the case of the marbled lacquers, with the application of varnish, followed by pumice-stone rubbings more or less frequent. For the designs in relief, the process varies some- what from the preceding. The counter-drawing being obtained, it is covered by carefully following the lines, with a mixture of two-thirds of charcoal and one-third of orpiment. Rub with a tampon of wadding, steeped in varnish ; dry, rubbing anew to smooth down the relief ; then, by means of a morsel of very fine charcoal, the outlines of the design are carefully polished ; with a paper stump covered with calcined varnish, you polish the design itself. Rub again with varnish and dry, then delin- eate the outlines of the design with a special var- nish and cover the parts in relief. This varnish is baked with lamp-black and camphor, and strained three times. It has the property of not cracking, but it dries more slowly. After this application and drying, several coats of varnish are given, and at the last but one, silver powder is put on the brush, and polished again with charcoal. Then the design is covered with a coating of very old varnish, allowed three days to dry, polished with a piece of camelia charcoal, then with whet^ Lacquer. 155 stone powder ; then varnishing again ; then gold powder ; another drying ; a last polishing with charcoal ; then with calcined deer-horn ; finally, the design is coated with varnish of three years old ; and the object completed, as in the case of the gold and the marbled lacquers, by successive coats of varnish alternating with pumice-stone rubbings. Lacquers inlaid with mother-of-pearl are manufac- tured pretty nearly in the same way. In and under the varnish is placed the mother-of-pearl which is to form the design. It is then covered over with var- nish, which is rubbed with pumice-stone till the mother-of-pearl reappears. In the same way is manufactured a quality of lac- quer capable of standing fire, and so used for culi- nary purposes. Lacquer has been applied to everything ; from objects the most sumptuous down to the most com- mon ; from the table and toilet vessel up to objects of pure art ; from the largest pieces of furniture down to the most frugal bibelots. Lacquer holds a place in the decoration of reli- gious edifices, as well in the objects of divine service as in architectural ornamentation. In this connection are more particularly cited the exterior gallery of the temple consecrated to the memory of Yemitsu, at Nikko, of which the floor 1 56 Natural Products and Manufactures. upon which people walk only barefooted is in beautiful black lacquer ; and in the same place the sacred bridge, in red lacquer, a bridge crossed by a procession only once a year. THE GRAPHIC ARTS. PAPER. THE Japanese made use of paper long before it was in use among us. Already towards the end of the sixth century in the reign of the Empress Suiko, we hear of a Corean priest importing new processes for its manufacture. Some centuries later the existence of three kinds of paper is attested Mashi, Hishi, and Kokushi, and others besides, all manufactured from certain plants still in use in our day. The materials entering into the composition of paper are derived solely from the vegetable kingdom. First and foremost we have the mulberry tree, mitsu mat a in Japanese ( ' Edgeworthia papyrifera), yielding the most beautiful qualities ; gampi ( Wiks- troemia canescens) yielding a paper proof against worms ; kdzo (Broussonetia papyrifera) and Tororo (Hibiscus), the roots of which contain a precious juice. i57 1 58 Natural Products and Manufactures. The three principal species of paper manufactured in our day from these plants, under the common name of Kami or riohi, are : the Danshi, smooth or wrinkled ; the Hoshio of the province of Yechizen, and the Sugihara of Harima. Then comes the fol- lowing species : the Hagi (Lespedeza cyrtobotrya), the Higaki (Picrasma ailantlwidcs), the Yanagi (Salixjaponica), the Hinoki (Chamce cyparis obtusa), and also the bamboo. The stalks are cut from these plants to about three feet long, and the first operation they are subjected to is that of separating the liber * from the two outer envelopes of the bark, which latter are available only for inferior qualities, being immersed in boiling water. The liber is several times washed, then kneaded and dried in the sun until it becomes absolutely white. Then it is boiled in a lye of buckwheat ashes to extract the gum and resin. The fibres, from which are removed any knots that are too hard, are next detached from the liber, and beaten with wooden mallets. The paste is now ready for the vat, where it is mixed with a certain quantity of water, to which is added rice flour, a little of the gum derived from the bark of the Nori * Liber the innermost of the three envelopes forming the bark of the tree. KOZO (BROUSSONETIA PAPYRIFERA). MITSU MATA (EDGEWORTHIA PAPYRIFERA). TORORO (HIBISCUS). GAMPI (WICKSTRCEMIA). 1 60 Natural Products and Manufactures. noki (Hydrangea paniculata), or from the mucilag- inous fluid extracted from the root of the Torora. Hurdles made of very thin bamboo laths, joined together by silk or hemp threads, are plunged in the vat, where they become covered with paste which, by means of a backward and forward motion im- pressed on it, gets equally diffused. Thence are obtained sheets which are then dripped, pressed and stretched upon boards to facilitate drying. Beautiful wall paper is obtained by spreading upon the sheet, while still damp, a powder com- posed of glue and pulverised shells. Or even by sprinkling pulverised mica. Of a solidity proof against everything, this paper sometimes takes the aspect of chased leather, richly decorated with superb designs in relief and colours, gold generally predominating. For the purpose of stamping, it is first squeezed in order to make it supple, and then stretched, by means of very hard brushes, upon a board where are incised the designs required to be reproduced. The great solidity of Japanese paper comes from the fact that the fibres composing the paste are not completely disaggregated but only pounded. The paper used for books, copy-books, registers, and albums, is used also to manufacture a multitude of objects. It takes the place of glass in houses ; it is used to decorate the frames of small panels (kara- The Graphic Arts. 161 kamis), dividing the interior apartments ; it serves for hanging on the walls. Varnished, it is made to imitate leather ; oiled, it becomes impermeable, and is employed for umbrellas and rainproof mantles; rolled very fine, it is twine ; finer still, it is thread that enters along with cotton into the fabrication of tissues. Of it are made lanterns, fans, pocket-handkerchiefs, bill-posters, kites, artificial flowers, etc. Of it are made those pretty screens, varied, bright, commodious, sometimes so artistic, always so charming. The most delicate part of their execution is evi- dently the sizing of the painted sheets : the result is always perfect, though the artisans work squatted upon mats, that is in conditions the most unfavour- able from our point of view. In this product Japanese taste shines in an in- contestable manner, as much in the choice of the paintings before they are brought into conjunction, as in that of the papers and the brocaded stuffs in harmonious colours, framing each panel. Nothing is left to chance. The disposal of the margins the opposite of ours, broader at the top than at the bottom and the different threads of the framings are the result of study and instructed calculation whereof our artisans are completely ignorant. 1 62 Natural Products and Manufactures. A great assortment of common objects, light and durable, are manufactured with a species of papier mdche named ikambari. A curious employment of paper is that for the moulding of masks. You proceed thus : Give the model a coating in oil, then stick thereon, moisten- ing it, a thin, supple paper. As many as thirty thicknesses are put on, the slightest details of the mask being exactly observed. It is allowed to dry, then potter's earth is put on both sides ; the paper is burnt, leaving its impres- sion in the clay mould, wherein is run the material of which new masks are desired to be made. The fabrication of screens and fans requires an enormous quantity of paper. Tradition carries the invention of fans back to the end of the seventh century. It would seem that the observation of the wings of bats first suggested the creation of this object of first necessity for a Japan- ese. Thence the name Kuvahori (bat), long serving as its designation. The modern name is Sensu. The principal centres of this production which is enormous are Kiota, Owari, Osaka, but the most renowned are the fans and screens (Utschiwa) of Tokio. They are made of ivory, of shell, of a certain hard wood imported from China, and above all of bamboo. The Graphic Arts. 163 Each class of society has its own ; there are even fans which one is bound to carry on certain occasions. There is the noble fan, which does not fold up; and the fan of battle, all iron, which was wont to form part of the formidable apparatus of the warrior of former times. There is the fan of the acrobat and that of the prestidigitator, the former manipulated with so much grace by the acrobat, who never parts with it even in the performance of his most perilous feats, and the latter also with so much grace by the prestidigi- tator, who makes so peculiar a use of it, employing it to juggle with eggs or humming-tops, or to fly and be pursued by white paper butterflies, a game that caused such a sensation in our circuses some years ago, at the time when the secret fan, carry- ing a dagger in one of its branches, also made its appearance. But if the fans of ceremony are the work of verita- ble artists, the common fan, without other value than that of a cheap commodity, generally made by women, is an object of wide commerce. Every one knows the name of the priest who in- vented the hand-screen outchiwa in the seventeenth century ; an article still more diffused than the fan, for it is in millions that exporters have inundated the world with it, so that it would be difficult to find 1 64 Natural Products and Manufactures. anyone who had not held in his hands one of those light and graceful objects. To describe them would be superfluous, but how not admire the skill of the workman who knows nothing of machinery, and has only a thin blade for dividing into quite small pieces the bamboo that serves as skeleton to this knick- knack ! Housekeepers employ hand-screens for all sorts of uses for which they do not seem to have been in- tended. Swinging suspended by a thread, the fan is a fly-flap ; tossed above the hearth it is a bellows ; or, again, it will take the place of a shovel to gather up the dust ; or it will take the place of the wooden bowl of the mendicant (see Marchande de Sourirs). One word on the fabrication of books. Each volume contains a certain number of leaves folded double, of which the borders, parallel with fold and tied by a thread, form the back exactly the opposite of our book-stitching. The fold is not cut ; the leaf remains double ; it is printed only upon one and the other of the exterior surfaces, which form the verso and the recto. It is indeed in this order that we must designate the two sides of the leaf, inasmuch as what would be to us the last page of a book is in Japan the one to start with. Each page is framed by a thread. On the margin of the right of the recto, and that of the left of The Graphic Arts. 165 the verso, that is exactly in the fold, are found : first, at the top, the title of the work ; second, in the middle, the number of the page ; and, third, at the bottom, the publisher's name ; and, the volume closed, these indications stripe and decorate the edge ; the leaves are simply stitched together at the same time with the thin gauffered pasteboard cover. This mode of stitching is impossible except with perfectly supple and firm paper such as the Japanese make. In Europe, Japanese paper is employed in preference to all others for printing editions de luxe by our artists and publishers. INDIAN INK. The Japanese, who have assimilated the art of caligraphy with the art of drawing, have at all times held the former in great honour. They do not use pens for writing, nor crayons for drawing ; they know only the brush, using with it Indian ink. In the Middle Ages it was the Thoshiro, or Depart- ment of Archives, which had the exclusive privilege of manufacturing ink. This fabrication has remained the same to our day, but private industry has mas- tered the craft. There are two processes : one has for its base black vegetable soot, the other uses only lamp-black. The latter gives the best result. 1 66 Natural Products and Manufactures. Vegetable black is obtained by burning very resinous pine on the ground flagged with a small construction of masonry divided into several com- partments. The partitions are covered over with rough paper on which the soot deposits. Lamp-black is more costly, but much preferable for use. To obtain it there are placed upon a shelf a large number of saucers containing oil of Gama, or of colza, and a lighted wick. These are covered over with a conical vase pierced by a hole at the top. The soot should be collected very often, other- wise it deteriorates. The Graphic Arts. 167 Whatever be the kind of black one use, it is mixed, by punctilious kneading, with water and paste boiled together. Then this paste is put in moulds where it is compressed. Thereafter it is placed for four hours in wet ashes, then for an entire day in ashes only humid, finally three days in dry ashes. All that remains to be done is washing with pure water and polishing. This ink improves with age. HAIR BRUSHES. HAIR BRUSHES. It is generally admitted that hair brushes were invented at the same time with paper. At first the hair of the rabbit and deer was used, and posterity has preserved the name of one of the first fabricators Kohoski. With the ashes accruing from the burnt bran of rice the workman rubs in his hands, in small quanti- ties, the hairs which he wants to use, in order to divest them well of grease. Then he assorts them and smoothes them with a very fine copper comb. According to the size or the quality of the brushes that he wants to make, he prepares a more or less thick layer of hairs, pastes them together with a so- lution of seaweed named Funori, and lets them dry. He now examines them to see that they are regu- larly placed, picking out with a knife those that are 1 68 Natural Products and Manufactures. defective ; then he unites them in the form of a tapering cone. He licks them several times to unite them well, and smoothes them carefully with the back and the edge of a knife. Finally he ties them with a linen thread, and sticks them in a little bam- boo tube, by means of the aforesaid solution of seaweed. He ends the operation by combing them and stroking them between his fingers. Look at the manufacturer of brushes established in his shop, to which an enormous specimen of the objects he has on sale serves as sign, while pots full of brushes likewise appeal to the customer. The position for writing is very different from ours : the brush is held vertically between the two forefingers, supported by the thumb, which remains The Graphic Arts. 169 immovable. The hand does not touch the paper, and the arm rests upon the left hand. The writer is seated upon his heels, and has before him a little table, very low. Close beside him, upon the mat, are placed his writing-stone, a stick of Indian ink, and one of vermilion, a puncheon, a pen-knife, a metal drainer, etc. All these minute 1 70 Natural Products and Manufactures. objects are contained in his standish, a little lacquer box. Occasionally also, they make use of a hand- rest, made of a morsel of ivory, of bone, or of bamboo, having the shape of a narrow tile with wide opening, most frequently in faience. For work that demands less care, the table is dis- pensed with, the paper is laid flat on the mat, where the writer in a kneeling position lies more or less stretched out on his elbows, the left hand holding the wrist. Altogether different is the attitude for teaching writing. The mother or the master guides the child, not by conducting its hand as we do, but by holding by the end of the handle the brush which he directs. Drawing is taught in the same way ; these two studies are simultaneously taught. DESIGNING. ENGRAVING PRINTING" OF CUTS. ENGRAVING. There is no country in the world where the people, down to the lowest classes, are so familiar with the arts of drawing, and where the demand for pictures and illustrated works is so great. The Graphic Arts. If the romances, educational works, books of voy- ages and travels, historical and religious treatises, albums representing theatrical scenes, etc., that have been published for centuries back, were piled above one another, the snowy summit of Fuzi-Yama would itself be surmounted. Movable types being unknown, the contents of these works had to be all carved in relief. Text and WOOD-ENGRAVERS. figures are traced with a brush on transparent and very thin paper, pasted upside down upon wood, which is eaten into by the graving tool passing through the paper. This process spares the artist the trouble of making his designs on the wood in reverse, as we did before the art of photographing upon wood was known. 172 Natural Products and Manufactures. For work-table the engraver, squatted upon the floor, has a little bench, under which is just room for his folded legs. He holds his tool solidly in the right hand, and moves the blade by means of his left hand. The squatting position, which would be intolerable for any other than a Japanese, is a general habit with those of sedentary occupations, litterateurs, artists, and artisans. They are accustomed to it from infancy, and, in certain crafts, such as those of the blacksmith, carpenter, and twenty others, the workmen profit greatly by it. Their feet not having to sustain them, lend to their hands very valuable assistance. PRINTING WOODCUTS. The material necessary for taking impressions of pictures is of the most compendious description. Here is the list : First. Two tablets of wood, measuring six by eighteen inches ; -the one horizontal, supported by two ledges, the other slightly inclined, like a desk. The first of these tablets serves for the moistening of the leaves, which are printed on the second by the aid of special tampons for each colour. Second. Tampons, discs of thin pasteboard of nearly five inches in diameter, enveloped with a ligneous sheet of bamboo, perfectly tense on one The Graphic Arts. 173 side and twisted on the other into two cords which join together in a knot, and serve by way of handle ; for mechanism has nothing to say in the matter, all being done with the hand, and the printer MATERIALS FOR TAKING IMPRESSIONS OF WOODCUTS. going through with all these operations seated upon his heels. Third. Two or three iron and porcelain mortars (suri-batchi) with their pestles (suriko-ki), many little pots, cup for the colours, and that is all, with the exception of brushes that are of two kinds one 174 Natural Products and Manufactures. flat, for moistening the paper before pulling; the other harder and thicker (hake), serving to spread the colour on the parts of the wood left in relief by the engraver. This is what is called, in printer's language, inking. For this very delicate operation, there is further used a piece of muslin stretched upon a little wooden hoop with a handle (soui-no); the colour is distributed more equally by the aid of this article than by brushes, which, although more frequently employed, are more difficult to work with. The construction of the brushes is sufficiently curious. The handles are of wood, and of two sorts : the one is made of a little board, cut out and split, so that the hairs tied by horse hair braided in three rows are as tight as in a claquoir. For the other, which is thicker, they employ two plates of wood also bound together by horse hair. We subjoin the list of the colours most used for this printing: Tamango, clear yellow. Tatsi(tsi, silver white. Toka, dark chestnut. Chia'i, vermilion. At, dark blue. Tauha, red brown. Kusa, lettuce green. Murasaki, brilliant violet. Yama buki> clear orange. Sumis, black. Yubana, mastic white. Beni, brown lacquer. The composition of this last colour is known only to the inventor, who carefully keeps the secret. The Graphic Arts. 175 The colours, pulverised in the mortars, are diluted in cold water except murasaki, which requires boiling water and mixed with a solution of alum (miobam), and with glue (nikana). The colours are mixed upon a wooden palette. Each leaf, having been moistened, is placed upon the relief engraving, and the engraver rubs with the tampons, turning lightly, without at first bearing too much upon it, and without tapping. Great dexterity is needed to place the leaves properly upon the marks obtained by means of notches made at the four corners of the wood. As soon as the leaves are printed it is necessary to put them under press in order to avoid warping. Bright and fresh colours are obtained by passing each time a light coating of rice paste upon the wood before spreading the colour. If this is not done, the tones remain always a little dull. The Japanese printer has other resources. He employs gold and silver powders and dry printing, giving embossings which sometimes happily effect the underlining of the contours of the design. In short, with methods very primitive, the Japanese printer obtains results that have never been surpassed elsewhere. The operations he has to accomplish are so minute, demanding such great experience and such care, that it might very well be said that he has as much merit in pulling an engraving as 176 Natural Products and Manufactures. has the engraver in engraving it, and his part in the production of the work may be compared to that of the actor in reciting well his role ; in short the printer also is an artist. DECORATED LEATHERS. The Hinuji-kawa, or leather of Hinuji, takes its name from the locality in the province of Harima where it is manufactured. It is oftenest ornamented with designs stamped in relief obtained by means of copper plates upon which are graven by incision the ornaments, flowers and birds, whereof the representation in relief is de- sired upon leather. Coloured at first with varnish, gold and silver nec- essary for the composition are then added. Thus decorated these leathers serve to make min- ute objects: boxes, tobacco-pouches, etc. The Some kawa, or dyed leather, is manufactured at Tokio especially. Here the method of decora- tion differs from the preceding. The designs are not stamped, they are obtained by means of reserves stamped on leather, which care was taken to apply previously on a cylinder. The colouring material used is in ordinary cases, liquid ; yet recourse is sometimes had to pine-soot : the leather thus fash- ioned takes the name of Kusubc kawa. This last The Graphic Arts. 177 process is very ancient, and was employed for the ornamentation of armour. Uzura kawa is a wavy leather obtained by sur- rounding it with solid wires when it is fixed upon the cylinder. It is thus plunged into the colour, and thereafter subjected to the action of smoke. The colours mostly used are indigo-blue and dark red, and others that are composed as follows : Green : Indigo and the juice extracted from flowers of Carthamus (mock-saffron). Yellow : Decoction of the bark oijumi. Black : Ferruginous water and gall nut. Red: Decoction of Carthamus and Brazil-wood. The colour known under the name of kobicha (straw yellow) is obtained simply by exposing the leather to the fumes of straw and fir-wood. It is the same with those named kuri iro (chestnut) with a basis of red acid of iron, and tobi iro (red brown) procured from Brazil-wood treated simply with the smoke of straw. FOOD PRODUCTION AND PREPARATION FOOD PRODUCTION AND PREPARATION. WHAT do they eat in Japan ? The simpler way of answering this question might be to begin by saying what they do not eat. Having no prairies, but all their lands converted into rice plantations and fruit gardens, the Japanese have very few animals, and therefore no butcher meat, no fats, no milk, no butter, and no cheese. They have only a little wheat which they utilise in another way than is the habit in Europe, and do not know bread, any more than the potato, the place of which is taken among them by the sweet potato. 181 1 82 Food-Supplies. They have neither beer, nor wine, nor coffee, and drink nothing, while eating, but tea ; sake, a fer- mented drink, follows the meal, and that is all. The culinary preparations are extremely com- plicate. The making of one dish takes up to twen- ty-four hours ; the chefs of Japan have nothing in their menu quickly made. All their dishes require preparation, maceration, cooking, and all sorts of learned combinations, which take much time. They are then served in an infinite number of small utensils, pleasing and graceful. Only rice, which in a manner takes the place of bread, and is served with all dishes, is presented in one large round box with lacquer cover. Everything serves them as a pretext for ornamen- tal pieces, for picturesque arrangement. The dishes are dressed with taste, their colours matching one another and set off with the varieties of verdure which brings out their varied tones; it is like culinary jewelry executed for the pleasure of the eyes. The uncooked fish, cut up into small strips, is arranged in glass plates, particularly the tea, the fish most highly prized in Japan. They have fowl, eggs, game, and magnificent vegetables, some attaining colossal dimensions, abundance of eatable marine plants seasoned with a certain sauce, called shoyu. Then come haricot TEA AND CAKES. PEASANT WOMAN COOKING. MAKOURA, HEBASHI. CANDLE- STICK. BOWL OF RICE. BOTTLE OF SAKE. 1 8 4 Food- Supplies. pates, various pickles, plenty of preserves, rice- cakes, etc. What most distinguishes Japanese cooks is their extreme cleanliness. Never do they touch viands with their ringers, but with small chop-sticks kept for the purpose, Their establishment is not complicate : A stove, saucepans, boilers, ladles like very small saucepans, buckets on trestles, a mortar, a pestle, plates, teapots, bowls, numberless bowls these form pretty nearly the whole equipment. In the country the equipment is simpler still. In the floor is a large opening, closed by a sliding trap. A hole in the ground, forming the fireplace ; above it, descending from the ceiling, is a chain with a pot-hook. VIANDS. RICE. Agriculture was formerly held in great honour in Japan ; it was in ancient times the only occupation of the men. As society developed this state of things underwent complete modification, and people became divided into four classes corresponding to four different functions. (i) No, peasants; (i) Shi or Samurai, soldiers ; (3) K6, artisans ; Viands. (4) S/w, merchants. Peasants, nevertheless, still formed the majority, just as rice has always held the first place among agricultural products. RICE POUNDERS. The cultivated soil is of two sorts, dry and moist. This last is entirely given up to rice plantations, which of themselves cover an area much greater than that of all other cereals and of garden plants com- 1 8 6 Food- Supplies. bined. On the other hand an area almost double that of the rice plantations is taken up in the culture of the mulberry and of tea. Japan possesses two principal sorts of rice : uruchi, ordinary rice, and mochigome, glutinous rice. These two kinds are each divided into three others : early, middle, and late rice. From ordinary rice are procured foods, leaven, sak^ and vinegar. Ground into flour, it serves to make pud- dings. Boiled and then dried, it is worm-proof, and keeps a very long time ; in this state it is called hosJii. Glutinous rice is utilised for the making of cakes and the liquor called mirin. From it is also extract- ed starch for dyeing, and an imitation of glass. With rice straw they make roofings, paper, cords, mats, sandals, brooms, hats ; they give it to the horses as fodder ; it is excellent bedding for animals ; rotted it makes manure. Rice is the wealth of Japan ; it is the basis of their nourishment. A satirical picture represents the struggle of native products with imports ; these latter triumph over all except rice, which routs all its competitors. It is sown broadcast and covered with water by night to the depth of one half to two inches, the height the plant attains at the end of fifty days. It is then transplanted in little bunches, that are later on easily cut with a sickle. Viands. 1 8 7 They also cultivate a species of rice in the dry lands, but it is of inferior quality, and called field rice. Nothing is so charming as the aspect of the rice plantations. In an amphitheatre of hills fenced with tortuous pines, groups of men and women are seen bent at work, deep in water. The land is marked off like an immense checquer- board, whose somewhat oblong squares are separated by roads elevated a little above the submerged and cultivated soil. It is the time of transplanting, and people are bustling about under the bright sunshine, enlivening the landscape. At wide intervals you perceive the scarecrows. Some are formed of a board on which hang thin wooden plates clacking in the wind. Others represent a peasant with his bent bow, his cloak and straw hat. All this peaceful verdure with its soft shades con- trasts agreeably with the more sombre sweep of trees superbly encircling this fresh valley. CEREALS AND VEGETABLES. From the flour of barley, wheat, and rye, are made cakes and a sort of bread. The straw is fashioned into a multitude of small objects, and it is also made into hats and mantles for watermen and peasants. Then it covers roofs, etc. 1 8 8 Food- Supplies. Millet and buckwheat are the usual food of people in the country. Maize is eaten boiled or roasted on the cob, or in flour. Mame (haricot) is eaten cooked or ground into flour. All the waste, husks, stalks, and leaves are used as fodder for horses. Azuki (Phaseolus mungo) is used to make cakes, the flour has the property of removing grease stains from cloth. The roots of the lotos (Nelnmbium speciosum) are a very delicate fare ; they furnish not only food, but also starch. Daikon, a sort of radish, is used boiled, then dried or grated. The leaves are also eaten. Carrots of various species are eaten fresh or salted, as also the leaves, which are called haningin. Gobo ( Lappa edulus) is preserved, or is prepared by cooking. Sweet potatoes are delicious, boiled or roasted ; eau-de-vie and starch are extracted from them. Kashu ( Dioscorea Japonic a var.), Naga imo ( Dios- corea Japonica var.), Jinen jo (Dioscorea Japonica var.), and Tsuku imo (Japonica), are tubercles that are cooked. By grating and pounding, there is obtained a kind of oatmeal eaten with a sauce. Starch is like- wise obtained. Imo (Colocasia antiquorum), of which there is a Viands. 189 number of varieties, is eaten cooked. It is also dried for keeping. In the springtime the tubers are covered with earth to make them germinate, and the little sprouts are eaten. In the variety called Haso imo, the stalk only is eaten. Another variety, Koniaku (Amor- phallus konjac) gives an excellent fecula. Kurwai (Sagittaria sinensis) sprouts in marshy land, and is eaten cooked, as is also the kuro guwai. The roots of the wild and of the cultivated lilies furnish a very good food. Those of the cultivated lilies are bitter, and yield a fecula which keeps. The tuber-like roots of Choro-gi (Stachys affinis) resemble caterpillars. They are preserved in plum- vinegar, as are also the bulbs of garlic and of onions. Fudenso, literally, irrepressible herb (Chrysanthe- mum coronarium), is a good vegetable ; its name comes from the fact that its leaves shoot up again as fast as they are plucked. Tissa (lettuce) is good raw or cooked. Mitsu ba ( Crypt oloenia canadensis) and Udo (Ara- lia cdulis) are got by covering in winter their roots with a vegetable manure. The first yields a kind of apple, the second edible shoots and buds used in the way of spice. The young leaves of the Junsa'i (Braseniapeltata), which grows wild in the bogs and ponds, are eaten raw or cooked. 1 90 Food- Supplies. Onion cooked is considered a vegetable ; chopped raw while still green, it is a condiment. Haha hige (Kochia scoparia) and Akaza (Chenopo- dium album) are plants of which everything is used. The young leaves are edible. The stalks and branches of the former, once dried, make brooms ; the stalks of the latter, walking sticks. Warabi (Pteris aquilina), Zemmai (Osmunda re- galis), Mioga (Zingiber mioga) are valuable wild plants ; the young stalks are cooked or salted to keep them ; the roots yield starch ; the ,old stalks make cords. Nasu (Aubergine) of a violet black, with varieties of white, yellow, or green, is a vegetable highly appre- ciated ; it is one of the greatest resources of the Japanese kitchen. Fuki (Pctasites Japonicus) grows in a wild state, but is also cultivated ; it is an agreeable vegetable, whose flowers serve for spices under the name of Fuki nota. The flowers of the Rioki kiku (Pyrethrum sinense) are eaten with vinegar and sugar. Dried, they keep. The kernel of the Chosen mugi (Coix lacJiryma) yields farina. The roots of the Kudzu (Pueraria Thunbergiania), a valuable wild plant, furnish starch ; its leaves are suitable for fodder ; its fibres are used for textiles. Viands. 191 Several of the vegetables just passed in review at- tain extraordinary dimensions. It is the same with the curcurbitaceous plants, amongst which it is proper to mention the Kuiri (cucumber), the Ma- kourouri (melon), the Tonasou (pumpkin), etc. MARINE PLANTS. From the long foregoing recital of roots and leaves disdained by us, but appropriated as food by the Japanese, and from the great number of wild plants utilised by them, it seems fair to infer that in earlier times Japan was subject to frequent dearths, which drove the inhabitants to search, with their habitual ingenuity, for edible plants. Such dearths were bound to arise in a country where there were so few cattle and where, before the opening of their ports to foreign commerce, the inhabitants were entirely dependent for subsistence on the products of their own soil. When the harvest failed and the rigours of famine were felt, nowhere was the art of culinary appropria- tion pushed farther, and a great many things else- where disdained or unknown were utilised. Hence the great quantity of marine plants that the Japanese have made use of for food. Here are some of them : Porphyra vulgaris. In order to gather this plant, they sink, into the sea-beach, branches, which arrest 1 9 2 Food- Supplies. the Algce. These grow upon the branches, and are harvested at maturity. Alaria pinnatifida is dr'ed as a commercial product. Laminaria saccharina is eaten boiled, grilled, or dried, or, again, reduced to thin slices. Much is exported to China. Capea Elongata is dried, and keeps a very long time. This plant has rendered great service during times of famine/ Cystoseira and Enteromorpha compressa are likewise dried, and keep. Gclidiwn contemn keeps dried, after having been well washed in fresh water. For eating it is plunged into boiling water, in which it dissolves. The liquid is filtered and left to cool ; this forms a jelly that is cut. It is a dish reserved for very hot weather. When it is required to be kept for the following summer the jelly is exposed to the cold of a winter night ; it congeals and hardens. It is also utilised for pastry and for certain dishes. Apart from all this the plant serves for the fabrica- tion of paper and for many other things. Holochloa macrantha is salted and eaten with vinegar. Kallimenia deutata, Phillederum sacrum, Nemalion vermiculara, Mesogloia dccipiens, Codium tomcntosum Viands. 193 are eaten dry or salted. The Japanese frequently use ashes for their preservation. FISH. The numerous water-courses which furrow Japan, and especially the sea which washes her coast, con- stitute for her an immense food-store, inexhaustible, sufficient to satisfy the most exacting ichthyophagist. There is an enormous consumption of fish, some of them excellent. The tat, equal to the most re- nowned species, occupies the first rank. Then follow : Luzuki, that is caught more especially at the mouths of rivers. The Katsuwo and the Namako, to be kept, are steamed ; then dried. The latter is eaten also raw. The Ayu, the Fuma, a sort of carp, keep grilled and dried. The Uni is eaten salted, and keeps. The Skira uwo, a little fish of very delicate eating. The Sake is salted and smoked. Salted, it is the Skiwo biki ; smoked, it is the Fusube sake. The Nishin (herring) is salted and smoked ; the roe is eaten dried. It is called Kazu noko. The Tako and the Sidako are eaten fresh, but may be dried for preserving and for exportation. The Koi, a very large fresh-water fish, is very savoury. '3 1 94 Food- Supplies. The Tara (cod) is eaten salted or dried ; its oil is used as a medicine. The Namako is eaten raw. China consumes a great quantity of this fish. For export, it is steamed and then dried. The roe of many fishes forms a sort of caviare, that is called Karasumi. The Suppon is an exquisite turtle. The he Yebi is a large fresh-water cray-fish that is desiccated for keeping. The Avabi, the shell of which serves as an ornament, is a big shell-fish, which is dried whole and exported in quantities to China under the name of Hoshi awabi. It may also be dried in thin slices, the same as the Sazce, the shell of which serves the same purposes. The Hamaguri is very small. Its shell is also frequently utilised. The Fugu is a venomous fish, ugly and deformed. The powerful poison it yields is such that Japanese, weary of life, have recourse to it in preference to all other modes of suicide. The effect is fatal, not quite half an hour after ingestion. FRUITS. Japan possesses several varieties of the banana ? two of which, in addition to their fruit, yield a fibre suitable for making textiles. The banana tree is only found in very hot regions. Viands. 195 The Mume (plum-tree) possesses a host of various qualities, turned to the best account. The plums keep by salting ; they are made into preserves and into eau-de-vie. The flowers, salted, are used as a kind of tea. The salt water used to keep the plums takes a sharp taste, and is known as plum-vinegar. It is used to preserve vegetables and for colouring metal. The Momo (peach) is divided into several species, of which one, the Kan momo, is very choice, for its fruits, after maturity, keep on the tree until winter. The Ringo (apple), the N&shi($ttx),\h,Hebiitsigo (strawberry) have excellent fruits. The very acrid fruits of the Kuwarin (quince) are cooked with honey and ginger. The Biwa (Bibacier) yields little yellow fruits which are eaten raw ; those of the Nagabiwa, of the same family, are oval. The Natsume (jujube), the Kemponashi (Hovenia dulcis), the Toshi, the Icho (Ginkgo biloba), the Hashi-bami (hazel-nut), the Shii (Quercus cuspidata), the Hischi ( Trapa cispinosa), all yield edible fruits under various forms. The last is aquatic, its name signifying floating water caltrop. The fruits of the Kay a (Torreya nucifera) are used to make cakes, and yield oil. The Kurumi (walnut) produces good nuts, from which oil is extracted. 1 96 Food- Supplies. The same use is made as in Europe of the nuts of the Kuri (chestnut) ; one of its varieties, the Sando guri, yields up to three crops annually. Several species of Yakuso (pomegranate) and of Mikan (orange) yield good fruits. The Unshumikan produces big oranges without pips, like those of Bahia, Brazil. The Kaki (Diospyros Kaki) has both sweet and bitter fruit ; the former are eaten raw, the latter be- come more palatable after being hung up for a cer- tain time in a hogshead that has contained sakd, or, again, by placing them in a new hogshead and pour- ing over them hot water aromatised with the leaves of Tadt. One variety of Kaki, the Shinano Kaki, yields the shibu (varnish employed for diverse uses, notably in making lacquer). The grape (Budo) is known in Japan. One wild variety, the Yamabudo, grows in the mountains and in cold climates ; it is a valued resource for the in- habitants, despite the inferiority of its fruits. MUSHROOMS. All varieties of mushrooms grow wild, except the Shiitake, which is obtained in the following manner : Incisions are made in the trunk of the Shu, which is watered and left in a dark place. Viands. 197 Soon mushrooms may be seen appearing, which are called according to the season of their growth in springtime Haruko, in summer Natsuko, in autumn Akito. Dried, they keep a long time. The Shoro and the Natsutakt grow in the pine forests ; the first prefers sandy soil. The Skimeji funji and the Hadsudakt, grow indifferently in forests or on the plains. The Kawatakc' grows in the woods in the most profound shade ; its perfume is very agreeable, its flavour exquisite ; it is dried to keep. The Kikuragt grows under no matter what tree, but the best are found under the shade of the mul- berry, of the Nire, and of the Niwa toka. The Iwatake is found only in the rugged moun- tains and on steep rocks ; it is dried to keep. There are still a dozen species, but they do not present any particularity. SPICES, CONDIMENTS, OIL, AND HONEY. The Shoyu of all the sauces is the most in request. It is prepared as follows : The hulled wheat is roasted and cruched ; to it is added oily peas ( Sofa hispida), boiled and cooled. This mixture is left in a hot chamber, and becomes yeast ; to it is added salt in rather large quantity, after it has undergone a certain preparation with a view to purify the mixture. 1 98 Food-Supplies. This yeast, stirred three times a day for three months, becomes doughy. At the end of this time it is put in cotton bags, through which the liquid is filtered. It is then boiled and recooled, separated from the lees, and placed, to keep, in little barrels. The residue, mixed with water and some salt, boiled, then settled, and filtered, serves again by mixing in certain preparations, for an inferior quality of shoyu. They employ in cooking dinner : Hempseed and keshi (poppy) seeds roasted. Tade* (Polygonum japonicum), natural or salted, green, rasped, and mixed with vinegar ; it is used as a sauce for fish. Chimpi (dried orange-peel). Citron, flowers, and fruit. Shoga (ginger), raw or dried in powder ; it can be salted and preserved. Wasabi ( Tutrema wasabi), leaves and roots. Togarashi (allspice), raw, roasted, or salted. Sansho ( Xant ho xy Ion piper itum). All of this plant is used, the leaves and seeds, and even the sap-wood is boiled. OILS. The Tojin mame" ( Arachis hypogda) and the Goma (Sesamum indicum) yield an edible oil, Drinks. 1 99 used also for lighting. Their seeds are eaten also roasted. Several sorts of camelias yield oil, sometimes edible, when prepared for the purpose. HONEY. The honey extracted from the beehives is called Mitsuro. DRINKS. TEA. In this country of marvels, where everything has its legend, tea, too, has its legend, which is worthy of being narrated. Dharma, a celebrated hermit, in great odour of sanctity in Japan and China, was such a severe observer of the very hard rule he had imposed on himself that his limbs rotted without his perceiving it, for he had remained seated on the hard ground fourteen years without moving. He had forbidden himself sleep. One night, how- ever, he fell asleep and did not waken until day. Indignant with himself for having been betrayed into such weakness, he cut off his eyelashes and threw them far from him, as miserable tempters, sullying the sanctity to which he aspired. Then a miracle happened. His eyelashes took root in the place where they had fallen and a bush 2OO Food- Supplies. shot forth, bearing leaves which the people of the country picked, and whereof they made an aromatic infusion which chases away sleep. It was in the year 1200 that a Buddhist priest, named Esei, brought from China the. seed of tea, which he sowed on the mountain of Sifuri in the province of Chikuzan. This culture succeeded, and the use of the tea became so general that in the year 1400 a Shdgun ordered a nobleman of his suite to lay out new and immense plantations. Nevertheless, it is said that tea was known as early as the year 729 as a very costly rarity, reserved for high personages upon occasions of great solemnity. Originally, the tea-leaves were pulverised, after having been plunged in boiling water and dried in the sun. This tea was named Udeaha. It was in 1570 that a merchant invented an ap- paratus for withering the leaves. This apparatus, called Hairo, did not come into general use until much later. Nowadays, by reason of the extension of its exportation, they have adopted the Chinese methods, which are much more expeditious. The same merchant invented, also, the treillage, which protects the shrub against the white frosts of winter. In Japan everybody takes tea several times a day ; it is offered to every visitor ; it is almost as indispen- Drinks. 20 1 sable as rice. For ordinary purposes the tea is used in leaf. Powdered tea is reserved for the ceremony of Tcha-no-yu, of which we are going to speak. This tea is literally pulverised, properly to an impalpable fineness ; it is divided into two qualities, the Ko'i Cha and the Usu Clia. Sourimonos have bequeathed to us some documents relative to the Tcha-no-yu custom, which has for its object the tightening of the bonds of friendship. Books contain but little information concerning this ancient ceremony, which is not lacking either in grandeur or in character. The preparation of the tea (tcha) has its high priests, called Tcha-jin, who study the art of serving tea with great ceremony, as formerly etiquette was studied in a sovereign court of Europe. They have, besides, to deal with fine connoisseurs, whose observation not a fault would escape. For the Tcha-no-yu, the Japanese require the uten- sils to be of ancient pottery, and to come from the hands of well-known artists ; their eye is especially educated to distinguish them. Powdered tea of the first quality, reserved for these august solemnities, is shut up in a double well-closed case. Often even the space between the cases is filled with ordinary tea, to concentrate the better the bouquet of the interior one. 2O2 Food- Supplies. The meeting is held in a special room ; when pos- sible, in an isolated pavilion in the garden the Tcha-Seki a pavilion containing one saloon and an ante-chamber, and a cabinet called the midzu-ya. Not a single servitor aids the master of the house to do the honours ; he must prepare everything himself. First of all he fetches forth from the midzu-ya all the necessary utensils, and these are very numerous. The following is a list of the principal ones : (1) Box with incense (Ko-bako). (2) Box containing paper and inkstand. (3) A basket with select pieces of charcoal. (4) A brush for perfectly cleaning each article. (5) A fan formed of three feathers (mitzu-ba) to quicken the fire. Drinks. 203 (6) Tongs (hibachi). (7) A bowl (hi-ire) with hot ashes, for burning the incense ; the combustion is promoted with the tongs (hibachi). The perfumes are burned to over- power the fumes of the charcoal. (8) Ring handles ( Kama-shiki) to hold the kettle etc., etc. As a rule, the tea ceremony may not last more than two hours, in the course of which there must be no question raised either of religion or of politics ; personal scandals are also severely excluded from the conversation, and the most complete equality reigns among the guests, no matter what their rank. The guests, who must not number more than six, commence by examining the perfumes, and by com- 204 Food- Supplies. plimenting the host upon their quality, and on the beauty of the box containing them. This is, according to the season, in lacquer or in faience, with a view, doubtless, to the best preserva- tion of the contents. The master of the house washes the cups himself, and wipes them with a fukussa, a little square piece of silk stuff, very costly, which is enclosed in a case or tube of precious porcelain. The table upon which all these preparations are made is of mulberry wood and stands about two feet high. On this the host places the midzu-ire' full of pure water, the tcha-van, teapot, which, whether in faience or in porcelain, is always of great value for its an- tiquity ; then the tcha-ire 1 , an earthen jar with ivory lid, enclosed in a cover of antique brocade, from which is taken the powdered tea with a bamboo spoon. The tea being placed in a bowl, boiling water is poured over it, and it is stirred with a bamboo whisk. The bowl is then offered to the chief guest, who partakes thereof, and passes it to the second, who passes it to the third, and so on. In this decoc- tion the powder also of the tea is drunk. The Tcha-jin have their exclusive utensils, enclosed in a lacquered box called nassume ; it contains a part of the articles previously described. When one has the Tcha-no-yu presided over by a Tcha-jin the master Drinks. 205 of the house takes the passive rdle of a guest ; but the ceremony is much more appreciated and the guests feel themselves much more honoured when it is the master himself who officiates. The Tcha-jin are well compensated, but in a dis- creet fashion. Not as a fixed price, but in the form of a present, the master offers them whatever he can afford, somewhat after the fashion in which in France one rewards the most distinguished artists. Women have also their Tcha-no-yu, differing but slightly from the men's. For ordinary usage the tea is prepared in another way. The tea is put into the teapot, which has been carefully scalded ; upon it is poured a little water, having boiled, but no longer boiling ; it is stirred with a whisk. This first water, which absorbs the bitterness of the tea, is thrown away ; then there is poured upon the tea a sufficient quantity of water of the temperature previously indicated, and it is left to infuse for five minutes. The tea is propagated only by seed. It requires a temperate climate and the vicinity of watercourses. A slight slope is preferable. The seeds are sown in a circle, are covered with earth, then with a bed of rice bran, which protects them from the white frosts. The gathering is made at the beginning of sum- 206 Food- Supplies. mer, when the young leaves are plucked ; a fresh plucking is made at the end of a month. The ingathering is taken to the place where it is submitted to various preparations. At first the leaves are picked, then subjected to the action of steam, by placing them on a screen over a vat filled with hot water at a temperature of 200. The screen is covered fifteen seconds for the leaf tea and thirty seconds for the powdered tea. The tea leaves are then turned, fanned, and placed in a basket in order to cool. They are again fanned to prevent their becoming yellow and losing their aroma. The hotro, apparatus for drawing tea, is of oblong rectangular form. The outside case is of wood ; the interior is roughly lined. Charcoal of hard and soft wood is lighted ; on this is burned some straw, the ashes of which temper the too direct action of the fire. Above the fireplace are iron bars sustaining a grid- iron of copper wire, on which is placed a drying-pan made of paper and wood. The leaves are put in the dryer and rolled between the palms of the hands, a process which is repeated until they become crisp and curled and pretty nearly dry ; then they are transferred to another kozro where the fire is less hot, in order to complete their desiccation. Drinks. 207 Afterwards the leaves are put into a copper-wire screen and rubbed with the palm of the hand to separate the petioles from them ; they are then win- nowed and assorted into three qualities that are more or less finely screened. There are ten sorts of bamboo screens, of graduated fineness. The common tea is screened once ; the superior teas, five to seven times ; the powdered tea, up to as many as ten times. The preparation of this last quality is much more minute also in other respects. It is very difficult to retain the aroma and colour of powdered tea. In July, after the first processes are complete, it is subjected for several hours to the action of a gentle fire ; then it is spread upon a platter, and stirred to re-cool it. Next, it is put into a jar, that is shaken to make it settle. This is corked up and covered over with several sheets of paper, which are tied round the neck. The jar is then carried to the first floor of the storehouse, into a chamber well aired, where it remains protected from the heat and humidity. In the month of August it is subjected again to the action of a gentle fire to re-dry it, and this operation is repeated in the following November, February, and March. It is then dried five times, and so prepared it keeps perfectly till the following harvest. 208 Food-Supplies. The quality of the jars has much to do with the preservation of the tea ; it is necessary that the paste be fine and well baked. The best are those of Koshigaraki-Kobizen, and of Kotamba. For transportation by land, it is sufficient to enclose tea in boxes of Kiri wood (Paulowina imperialis). For shipment by sea, the tea is enclosed in tin-plate, encased in the wood of the Cryptomeria japonica. In small quantities it can be kept in glass flasks, corked with pitch. These flasks may be kept in the water of a well or of a spring. Powdered tea, so difficult to preserve, is kept in a pewter flask, hermetically sealed, which is enclosed in a kiri box, in which it is surrounded with common tea. This method of preservation is also employed to keep superior leaf tea. SAKE. SakJ is an essentially Japanese liquor. It is an eau-de-vie, made with rice. The best sake's are those from Ikda and Itami. In its manufacture they first of all hull excellent rice, wash it four times in plenty of water in a cask ; then throw it into a panier, where it is again rinsed with clean water. It is then turned into another cask, where it remains in water for six hours ; then it is taken out, and subjected to the action of Drinks. 209 steam. Afterwards it is spread out upon mats to cool a little. It is then enveloped in mats and carried to a cel- lar where the temperature would be eighty degrees. It is mixed with some mouldy rice, and at the end of a day the whole mass is covered with mould. It may now be fermented in two ways, yielding two different liquors, the one named Moto, the other The first fermentation is procured by a mixture of the rice with water and yeast. It lasts ten days in summer and twenty days in winter. The second is procured with a mixture of must, rice, yeast, and water. This mixture is stirred five or six times a day with a huge spoon ; the fermentation begins at once. At the end of six days, it is poured into another vat, and the fermentation is arrested. The liquid then takes a sweet taste. It is allowed to remain twelve days, completely cooled, and filtered through cotton bags. The lees are allowed to settle, the liquid is decanted and boiled, and kept in casks hermetically closed. The Shiro mirin is a sweet sake, indispensable for seasoning Japanese dishes. Instead of ordinary rice, it is made from glutinous rice. After the preliminary preparations of washing and steaming, described above, the rice is spread upon mats, then, when sufficiently cooled, it is mixed 4 2 1 o Food- Supplies. with yeast and spirits of wine. It is shaken in a well corked cask, and this operation is repeated every eighth day during two months. It is decanted, filtered, and placed in another cask, where it rests fifteen days. By adding a certain quantity of kumenshu, which is nothing else than shiro mirin greatly reduced by boiling, a fine reddish hue is imparted to it. The liquor called Yoro-shu, is mirin mixed with aromatic plants. TOSSO. Tosso is a beverage that is rarely used except on certain fetes, more particularly New Year's Day. A trifle bitter to the taste, the Japanese think it has an agreeable bouquet. In default of precise information on the nature of the plants which enter into its composition we only know that cinnamon is one of its ingredients we give the legend of tosso : Of yore there lived in a grotto of China a recluse, whose sole occupation was the study of the philoso- phy of Laotseu. One day an old beggar came and asked him for something to eat and drink. Having received from the hermit a hearty welcome, the old beggar, before resuming his journey, spoke these words : Tobacco. 2 1 1 " I am the god of epidemic maladies. Every time that a people is attacked by one of these maladies they owe it to me, and no one until now has discov- ered the remedy. Very well ! In exchange for the services that you have rendered me, I will inform you of a very efficacious way to protect yourself from such disaster." He then pointed out to him certain plants, as well as the mode of treating them in order to extract from them a sort of elixir, which, drunk on the first of January, would insure him perfect immunity for the entire year. Left to himself, the recluse had no more pressing impulse than that of sharing the precious recipe, which had just been confided to him, with the inhab- itants of the neighborhood. These told it in their turn to more distant people ; so that, from one to another, the use of tosso spread until it reached Japan, where very few people have kept the remem- brance of its origin. SMOKING. TOBACCO. Already indebted to Portugal for cotton seed, the Japanese next received from that country the seed of the tobacco plant. This culture made such great and such rapid strides that the government had to intervene for its regulation. 2 1 2 Smoking. At present more than twelve provinces produce it in great quantities, for everybody smokes, and the consumption is considerable. The two species of Japanese tobacco are the Nico- tiana chinensis and the Nicotiana tabacum. As each country has its own way of cultivating this plant, we will give a rapid sketch of the method employed in Japan. The field, with a southern exposure, must be well tilled. The sowing done, the soil is very thinly covered with dung. When the plant appears above the ground it is watered with a liquid manure, after the dung has been removed. The plants are thinned if necessary, transplanted, and manured several times. As soon as the flowers form, they are lopped off ; the little secondary branches are likewise suppressed, The flowers, however, are left on the tobacco plants intended for seed. In the month of July the plant yellows, and it is time to harvest it. The leaves at the bottom are of an inferior quality; they are picked twelve or fifteen days in advance and put by themselves. The choice leaves benefit by this lopping off i. e., those in the middle. Those at the top, as well as the stems, like- wise yield a secondary quality. The drying is rather complicate. First of all, to make it perfectly yellow, the tobacco is piled upon Tobacco. 213 the ground, under a shed, where it is covered over with mats and left three days. Once turned yellow, METAL-PIPES, PIPE-CASES, AND POUCHES. the leaves are hung in a well-aired room ; at the end of two weeks they are exposed for two or three days to the sun, and for two nights to the dew 214 Smoking. in order that they may absorb a certain portion of humidity. Then it is straightened out, put up in bunches by the stalks, put under a press, and, a few days later, shut up in a very dry place. Opium is almost unknown in Japan. MIDORI NO SATO. A CORNER OF JAPAN AT THE GATES OF PARIS. it not seem to you that the sun is your ally?" said Mme. d'Arbois to her friend, the Countess of Mayrial, whilst a dapper carriage bore them athwart woodland. " The weather displays a veritable coquetry in seconding you in your presenta- tion of the little paradise towards which we hasten." " And I 'm thankful to it; a Japanese house with- out sun would be incomplete ; only one thing could take its place, and that would be one of those dilu- vial rains such as fall in Japan, and which have in- spired Japanese artists in such a diverting manner." These ladies were making for Midori no Sato, that corner of unveiled Japan not far from Paris, and of which a word has already been said in a preceding chapter.* * Decoration of a Modern European House. 215 216 Midori no Sato. The carriage rolled along in the shade of the um- brageous canopy, across which, through mysterious openings, the sun played just enough to justify the display of the fresh and bright-toned parasols which produced such a pretty effect under the trees. The sprightly travellers in this long trip were accompanied by their husbands. If, on leaving Paris, the way had appeared to them scant of charms while driving through the ugly sub- urbs on the left bank of the river, they were amply compensated for it, now that they were entered into the woods. From Meudon to Versailles, it was all an uninter- rupted succession of beautiful woods in varied tints, with delightful vistas, and gentle acclivities, which seemed there only for the purpose of making them admire the landscape the more leisurely, by some- what abating the rapid pace of the two trotters. To right and to left the eye roamed over roads or paths carpeted with velvety moss, green or pink, dis- tinguishing here a spring, and there a pool whose glaucous surface was starred with broad water-lily leaves. It is a little beyond Versailles where is situated Midori no Sato, the name of which, signifying the " Hill of Fresh Verdure," is written in Japanese characters above the rustic portal at the entrance of a fine avenue of great oaks. Midori no Sato. 2 1 7 The two leaves of this portal are ornamented with projecting iron and copper nails, and framed by three beams, each one longer than the portal itself, so as to form with their projecting ends, at their junction, a right angle. Of these three beams, the two vertical ones are round, the other square and invested at its ends with two cylindrical bronze bands. Two small lateral doors give admission to pedes- trians. As soon as the landau was fairly on the broad hilly avenue, there appeared across the trees, en- sconced in the verdure, the outlines, at once elegant and low, of the maisonette, the goal of the excursion. The master of the house the intelligent traveller who had turned his peregrinations through the world to good account by bringing back with him so many exquisite souvenirs of an intellectual and captivating character had come out to meet his guests. We will leave them to shake hands and exchange salutations, and go off by ourselves on a random exploration of this delicious abode, the passionate expression of a sincere admiration, the dream of a millionaire smitten with things of beauty ; a con- struction that may, in fine, be called art in action. Close by the portal to the left, a staircase, each step of which is formed by a slim tree trunk, leads to an- other shorter one farther along. A high rustic slope 218 Midori no Sato. formed of mossy rocks, fringed with vigorous vege- tation, borders a side of the road. This slope is topped with young tufted trees. To the right, be- yond a grassy swell, runs a somewhat steep descent scooped out like a valley, but rising up again to sink farther on into a new valley, which joins a bit of water, the sinuous out- lines of which are lost in the " Hill of Fresh Verdure." You take all this in with a rapid sweep of the eye, wh i 1 s t walking under the dense shade of the oaks. Pathways to the right cleave the screen of trees and the young coppice; one leading to the water's edge, where joyously and clamorously sport a flock of aquatic birds. Thanks to the declivity of the hill, this first basin is much higher than the others; the waters pass under a bridge of red lacquer, crossing a chaos of Midori no Sato. 219 rocks and falling from a considerable height into the next basin. The banks bristle with rocks, or are bordered with trunks of trees sunk in the ground, in imitation of the small pilework common in Japan to prevent the land from slipping down. From the red bridge where we halt, our view, looking up- wards, is arrested by immense grassy lawns sprinkled with broom and shrubbery, which straggle up the hill to go and die at the foot of the master's house, after having softly en- veloped the fine and delicate Japanese maisonette, where all that, is wanting to the balcony, standing out from the white back- ground of the papered frames, are some little mous- mes in dazzling robes, to render the illusion complete. Here, there, disseminated by a peculiar art, birches, sycamores, and numerous varieties of pine follow the capricious undulations of the hill. 22O Midori no Sato. Without in any manner appearing studied, the vegetation presents itself scattered, and just as in Japan one makes a bouquet with only a few flowers, and never by crowding them into a bunch, as in France, so here the trees not being drawn too close together preserve their individuality, without losing any of their grace and character. From diverse points escape springs which form rivulets tumbling down over a bed of rocks, and pass- ing under many little wooden bridges, each meriting a special description. At the very top a large grotto doubtless the hab- itation of the naiads of this charming spot enscon- ces itself in the upper part of the hill. Stone lan- terns stand at certain turnings, presenting their curious grey outlines against the sombre green of the cryptomerias, or projecting boldly over pieces of water, supported by a bent arm of stone. Midoi no Sato. 221 Turning your back to this spectacle, you have be- fore your eyes the vast extent of water reflecting great trees under every shade ; below, to the left, it twists into an abrupt turn which ends at the foot of a hill, the steep slope of which shuts the horizon on this side in a very picturesque fashion. Without being satiated with the view of the gardens, the house attracts us, and, clearing the lacquer bridge, we come to another bridge which is most curious. On each side two beams inter- crossing in the shape of an X form obtuse and acute angles; they compose the framework of the bridge ; crosswise are placed narrow tree trunks, forming the platform. We ascend by paths which are staircases, so steep is the declivity. Another bridge: it consists of three rectangles of stone, great dominoes laid flat upon the rocks which stick out of the rivulet. Let us not pause to admire the lanterns buried in the verdure, or the bizarre plants clothing the old tree stumps, but arrive at the mansion, and enter within the enclosure formed by a palisade nineteen 222 Midori no Sato. to twenty inches high, rising beside the gates, the principal one of which lies under the shelter of a dainty little roof. All is on a miniature scale: small garden, small piece of water, small lawns where flat stones, taking the place of gravelled paths, indicate the road, and conduct us to the entrance of the jewel calling itself a Japanese house. Let us take off our shoes before resting our feet on the red wood flooring of the ground story, so polished, so bright, as to seem the surface of a piece of furniture. A pair of Turkish slippers present themselves by way of concession to European visitors in the little ves- tibule to the left of the entrance to a corridor which completely surrounds the apartments, as a ring does a finger. This corridor becomes a balcony when the shut- ters are raised and placed in the presses destined to Midori no Sato. 223 receive them ; to the right the partition is formed by frames sliding in grooves. These are the walls of the bedchamber ; they are covered with white paper hav- ing the appearance of a dull white cloth. The basement is made of a network of slim leaves, of a white roseate wood, like the flesh of fruit, giving 224 Midori no Sato. the appearance of basket-work wrought with lovely velvety plants. We step within the first room. Let us look at the design of the frames. They are composed of small regular lozenges ; but here caprice resumes its sway. The workman has arranged his small sheets of white wood in an order that seems at first sight irregular, catching and holding the attention, while amusing it. Above is a frieze in red natural wood, very slender, perforated with designs representing flights of cranes. One part of these frames leans, at a height of nine- teen to twenty inches, upon a tablet in red varnished wood, jutting out into the interior, and capable of serving as a seat. The space below this shelf is closed by small sliding frames, and forms a tiny closet. The fine mats which carpet the floor must be very thick, for you seem to be walking upon a mattress ; they are each bordered by broad, dark-blue lace. The room where we are has eight tatamis (mats). The rooms in Japan are measured by counting the number of mats, which are always of the same size. To the right, all along the partition, is a sort of alcove, of about two feet deep, and the floor of which is raised four inches. It is divided in its whole height into two parts by a slight partition, sus- tained by a lacquered tree-trunk forming a column. Midori no Sato. 225 In the first division are hung two remarkable kakt- monos ; on the floor is a pretty piece of furniture in which are multiplied irregular drawers. The second division is occupied by shelves of unequal height, supporting marvellous pieces of Sat- suma, Kutani, and Eiraku ceramics. At the very top, is a tablet, fifteen and a half inches from the ceiling, closed by sliding frames covered with pretty designs. From here, through the frames, which are widely opened, we see the shutters being all removed magnificent vistas of the park, with its lawns, stair- cases, and rivulets, basking happily under the bright sun. Raising the eyes, we see the frieze of the corridor, formed of an intercrossing of small rods of wood, of a surprising caprice ; then glancing back at the frieze of the chambers, we are likewise surprised by its play of bold fancy. The adjoining room is the bedclamber ; it meas- ures six mats. It is separated from the preceding room by karakamis, large frames resembling the leaves of screens, and covered with beautiful designs of plants, done with Indian ink on a white back- ground. To enable them to be moved with the finger, they are scooped into small anfractuosities covered with lacquer. The upper part is open-worked at a height of two feet, and is not movable. 226 Midori no Sato. A narrow alcove runs the length of this chamber likewise, and encloses, on one side, little rectangular closets fixed to the wall at unequal heights, having sliding doors, the lowest touching the floor, and capable of serving as a seat ; on the opposite side, a large cupboard for keeping clothing and folding-screens. In the angles of the room hang red cords terminating in tassels. Midway are hooks destined to catch the mosqui- to net that is laid out at night to protect the sleepers. The nails are hidden everywhere under bronze ornaments. For the rest, there is not a piece of furniture to detract from the local colour. Only, above each alcove is sus- pended a wooden panel bear- ing devices in Japanese char- acters ; the hooks that hold these sloping pictures are hidden in the triangular cushions of yellow silk intended to protect the border. Let us step into the corridor. On the right we find a little secret apartment in which the principal object is a basket in blue porcelain. The door is Midori no Sato. 227 fastened in a manner as simple as it is ingenious. Small horizontal cross-bars are applied on the out- side of the door, two above, two below, and three in the middle. One of these last, when taken be- tween the thumb and forefinger, slides and drops into a kind of bolt scooped out in the chambranle ; it is a kind of invisible latch. Beside this door, and outside of the house, upon the trunk of a tree enveloped with ivy and cut off about four feet from the ground, is a large faience basin full of water, in which is dipped a small wooden cask with a long handle, used for ablutions. Above, suspended to a ring, is a little blue towel, the tenugui. To avoid moistening the floor of the gallery, it is covered at the place of the basin with a bamboo hurdle, forming a little bridge of forty centimetres. Finally we come to the out-houses. They occupy a whole side at the rear of the house, and are sepa- rated from the apartments by the corridor-balcony. First comes the bath-room, with its bath-tub of wood, a large oval vat with a heater and cover ; then the kitchen, of the most compendious description ; lastly, the servants' room. It measures four tatamis, and is constructed length- wise. At the bottom of the room, upon a raised console, is a miniature in wood of a small Shint6 temple, with two statuettes, likewise in wood, repre- 228 Midori no Sato. senting Ota'i and Yebis, two of the gods of good- fortune. They are accompanied by a little lamp and copper bouquet-holders. Above is a cord of rice straw, from which hang little bits of straw and of cut paper, destined to exorcise bad spirits ; it is the Shintoist gohe. At the end of the chamber is a little recess, where upon two shelves are ranged lacquer plates and dishes, of divers shapes and dimensions, in lovely faience of colours. See ! We have now found our way back again to the vestibule, where our shoes await us. These we reluctantly resume, so much are we interested by our visit, so much art do we find expended on this simple construction, which attests in each detail a spontaneous taste and not mechanical routine workmanship. Before leaving, we make the acquaintance of the workman-artist, who was brought all the way from Japan to execute this masterpiece, and we congratulate him on his achievement with all our heart, only regretting that it is not in our power to ask him to do anew for us all that we have just admired. The night falls, the carriages rattle off, bearing back the four visitors, who interchange with one another their impressions of the visit. Midori no Saio. 229 Nothing that surrounds them any longer at- tracts their attention ; they are as yet all absorbed in their new sensations. " Since I undertook to make you acquainted with Japan," said the Countess to her friend, " we have been roving about somewhat desul- torily in a charming country. In the course of our travels I have revealed to you an admirable art, and we have come across real, sin- cere artists." "And I am most grateful to you." "In all sincerity," ob- served M. de Mayrial, "we can say that no one succeeds better than the Japanese in grasping, with so much power and grace, the private and delicate phases of nature, such as they have here under their eyes, one of the most beauti- ful of the world, as well as in rendering her syn- thetic and broadly varied aspect. Subtle analysts, 230 Midori no Sato. they have learned how to unite with exquisite perfec- tion of execution an infinite variety of conceptions, as abundant as the sources at which they have never ceased to draw." " Is it not to be feared that all these beautiful theories will no longer find their application ? " asked Madame d'Arbois. " Do not be anxious," responded the Count, " one begins to recover a little from this dread ; no, the race of masters is not extinct. There has just been founded in the capital of Japan, a society of ' Old Japanese/ partisans of the national art, decided to struggle for its preservation, and to resist the in- vasion of foreign and mercantile influence." " Let us pray for their success ! " exclaimed Ma- dame de Mayrial. "Yes, let us associate ourselves with the regrets of the two friends, to which M. Maget gives expres- sion in his charming novel of Dai Nippon, when they recall the old Japan, its mild people, always smil- ing, full of good faith, the courtly manners ex- pressed by the humblest, the distinguished epicur- ism of the nobility, the marvellous instinct of all for things of art, the general happiness. The Japanese then merited Plato's word addressed to the Athen- ians : ' You are always children, and you have always the spirit of youth.' ' " Now that you know the modes of manufacture Midori no Sato. 231 among the Japanese and the diverse products of their industry and of their soil," resumed the Countess, " now that you know their houses, their gardens, we are going, if you please, to see a little how they live there, what are their manners, their pleasures, and their sorrows ; you will then better understand them." " You overwhelm me, dear friend," exclaimed Madame d'Arbois. " We will commence to-mor- row this interesting study." MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. THE JAPANESE HOUSE. IN all countries of the world there is an endeavour to adapt buildings to climate, to make them answer the needs and usages of life. In Japan this aim is more or less happily satisfied. In a climate so variable the dwellings were required to insure protection as much against bad weather as against the burning rays of the sun. The Japanese have, accordingly, invented those immense over- hanging roofs that alike shield from rain and give shade. They have surrounded their houses with balconies and terraces opening out in great bays, that may again be closed up by screen partitions sliding in grooves. Lastly, they have planted those delicious gardens, full of freshness and picturesque detail, which environ their dwellings with a framework of verdure. 235 236 Manners and Customs. It was further indispensable that these habitations should be accommodated to the volcanic soil of a country frequently visited by earthquakes. This necessity has created a particular art. It was necessary for the edifices to be at once solid and elastic, in order to resist the atmospheric com- motions and the rockings of the earth, as well as the ravages of the weather. Japanese architects have solved this problem, for they have known how to construct temples that after a thousand years' existence are still intact. Yet they have discarded stone, fairly abundant with them ; they have used scarcely anything but wood in the execution of those marvels of elegance, of rich- ness, and of solidity. Making up for the want of foundations by socles of stone upon which to rest the beams that serve for the base of the edifice, they have reserved an empty space between the flooring and the ground, thereby avoiding inundation or humidity, and have succeeded in mitigating the effects of earthquakes. The house, not being attached to the ground, resumes its place after the oscillation, thanks to its elasticity and to the equilibrium imparted to it by the heavy roof. But there is one scourge they have not learned to baffle, namely, fire. It is seldom that a day passes without a fire somewhere or other in each of those cities which cover such a great extent of land, and people philo- The Japanese House. 237 sophically make up their minds to witness the disap- pearance of whole quarters ravaged by the flames. The houses have almost the same appearance in the city as in the country, except that in the latter they are more frequently thatched ; they are rough coated on the out- side with a mixture of clay and chopped straw, and covered again with a stucco having for base pounded shells. In summer, the houses are open to all eyes, and the passers-by can witness the family scenes en- acted without con- straint, whether it be the bath hour, the hour of work, or the hour of repose. These fragile hab- itations so delicate that a European is afraid to stir for fear of bursting the movable partitions made of panels of paper, which are taken down and put back at will require, for their compre- hension and appreciation, that the habits of the 238 Manners and Customs. people and their turn of mind be taken into ac- count. For them, everything lies in the finish of the work, in the delicate decoration of the walls, in the dressing of the wainscoting. No furniture, no incumbrances. Those who possess objects of art shut them up in a sort of special apartment, from which they are only taken out on rare occasions. The mats are always of an immaculate cleanliness, as is also the white or yellow wood of the floor or of the wains- coting, which are frequently washed, and whose brightness no stain ever tarnishes. Here and there some screens, a niche indented in the wall that faces the entrance is called the Tokonoma ; the panels of this niche are in natural wood, of openwork wrought with a consummate art. At the back of the Tokonoma is hung a kakemono. There, too, is placed, as in a sort of sanctuary, an ob- ject of art, or one of those bouquets of flowers which are veritable marvels of grace and composition. The Japanese House. 239 The pillars supporting the framework are of the most capricious shapes, from the geometric form of perfect precision down to those the most contorted. Occasionally the trunk of a tree, with all its rusticity about it, is used as a supporting column. The interior partitions sliding in grooves allow instant improvisations of subdivisions of the space at disposal, according to requirements. The first story, to which there is access by a ladder, presents the same nakedness tatamis and white woods ; no furniture any more than in the ground floor, with the exception of chests ; no ornament ; only little niches, masked by panels of white paper ornamented with painting, serving as repositories for clothes. And yet luxury exists in an infinity of detail, luxury of refined people, such as does not strike the eye. The wood of the beams and the encasement of the panels will accordingly be natural and simply planed, but the nails will be hidden under bronze plates finely worked ; the movable partitions are provided with oval niches sunk in the wood in lieu of handles, adjusted to the form of the finger ends, and these will be garnished with chased bronze. In fine, the Japanese, sensitively responsive to the grand shows of nature, is yet far from despising little things. If his house is small and appears too 240 Manners and Customs. empty, it is of an exquisite cleanliness, and every- thing is arranged with a perfect taste. EMPLOYMENTS or THE DAY. In Japan they have solved in a very practical manner the question so difficult for us that of ser- vants. The middle-class families in easy circum- stances ordinarily have a maid and a man-servant, or even two maids and a nurse, if there is occasion. Servants are not a very expensive commodity ; they are procured from employment offices, which guarantee their good behaviour. If the servant' steals, it is the bureau that pays, having contracted to do so. Unfaithfulness on the part of a servant being very rare, the sum paid to the agent is trifling. A maid receives about ten francs per month, or seven francs and a half if fed and lodged. Men-servants are paid about twenty francs per month with board, or forty francs without board. Maids rise at six o'clock, open the shutters, heat the water for the toilet ; they then prepare break- fast, which consists of warm rice, misso soup (wheat fermented with salt), salad, tea, and sometimes other little dishes. Breakfast is served about eight o'clock ; it is the first of the three repasts of the day ; the Employments of the Day. 241 second is at noon, and the third at seven in the evening. At ten o'clock in the morning and at three o'clock in the afternoon a snack is taken. After opening the house the maid puts it in order. The mother busies herself with the toilet of the children and sends them to school. The first to get up, she is the last to go to bed, never doing so before her husband. It is she that carries the household purse. From early morning come tradespeople of all sorts. It is only by way of exception that people go to the shops. Certain dishes, however, are ordered outside from the restaurants, whose specialty it is, when it is desired to extend the menu a little. Merchants of fancy articles come to the house. The clothes for the whole of the family are made at home ; even rich women sew and cut, though assisted by the workwomen. By nine o'clock the husband has despatched some affairs, has breakfasted, and leaves his house to go to his office or to his desk, most frequently for the whole day. All the family live under the same roof. The grandfathers and grandmothers have a very easy life, free from cares and anxieties ; they do not work, and spend their time between reading and prome- nading. 16 242 Manners and Customs. The young daughters occupy themselves with sewing, music, the composition of bouquets, and studying the complicated law of the tea ceremony (tcha-no-yu). The boys, who nowadays go to school or college, formerly remained at home until the age of eighteen or twenty years. They learned fencing, riding, writing, literature, etc. Visits are made in the afternoon, and occasionally the visitor is invited to stay to dinner ; these invita- Birth. 243 tions are always impromptu, and the evening meal is the most important. What do the women talk of among themselves ? Slander having no great attraction for them is it credible? conversation turns on the children, the toilet, and the theatre. They talk over the plays, that last whole days, and criticise the actors, from whom they borrow the models of their robes and coiffures. Evening comes. Now and then when they are all by themselves, they call in the blind masseur, whose melancholy whistle of two notes is heard at a great distance, or, if they have guests, the time is passed in drinking sake and tea, with music and playing. But games of chance being prohibited, it is those of skill or of calculation to which they have recourse. And, as there are no cafe's in Japan, it is at home they join in a game. BIRTH. It is not, properly speaking, physicians who exer- cise the profession of midwifery. For the Japanese it is an art and a veritable specialty, that men and women practise with equal success. The layette is always made by one of the grand- mothers, or by the mother if they are deceased. When the child is born, it is bathed in warm water, and for three days it is given no other 244 Manners and Customs. nourishment than makuri dissolved in water, which the baby sucks out of a little silk bag. At the end of this time the mother gives it the breast. The baby is not swaddled ; its body remains free in its first clothes, simply held up by a little stuff corselet tied by cords. The birth is occasion for a ceremony which con- sists in a repast where rice coloured by red haricots is eaten. The seventh day the child is given a name, which is changed at puberty and at death, irrespective of other changes of name caused by various circum- stances of life. The twentieth day the midwife, accompanied by the servants of the house, carries it to the temple Oudzikami or to the local Shinto temple. There the baby, clad in a very beautiful costume presented by the grandfather, drinks sacred water that is, without doubt, to bring it good fortune. The mother does not budge from her bed until the twenty-first day. There are four great epochs in the life of a man, marked by ceremonies : Kwan, majority. Kwon, marriage. So, funerals. Sai, the feast commemorative of ancestors. Marriage. 245 The feast of majority does not present anything worthy of note ; it is celebrated at the age of fifteen. MARRIAGE. Young people marry from the age of eighteen to twenty-five. It is almost always the parents that choose a husband or a wife for their children. Sometimes the betrothed do not know each other, sometimes the engagement dates from infancy. Marriages formerly were always made from disin- terested motives. Until the arrival of strangers in Japan, there was no question of money mixed up with that of marriage. When a family wishes to marry one of their children, they choose a nakodo. This personage, with his wife, serves as witness. Bachelors and widows cannot act as nakodo. They are the important personages in the cere- mony. They ask the consent, undertake all the arrangements, gather the information, settle the marriage portion. They conduct the newly married couple to the conjugal house. When the pair retire to their chamber, the nakodo accompanies them. 246 Manners and Customs. During the whole time of the union to which he has contributed, he will be the arbitrator in any dissensions that may arise between the husband and wife. If divorce ensues, it is he who regulates it, and it is seldom that the courts have to interfere in such matters. EMBLEMS OF LONGEVITY. It is necessary to a man's respectability to have been nakodo at least once in his life, and it is con- sidered highly honourable to have often fulfilled such functions, which are reserved for the worthiest. After the marriage, the nakodo receives presents Marriage. 247 of two sorts : symbolical presents, and presents destined as thanks to him for his trouble. The symbolical presents are represented by some hemp, and some silk wadding, emblems of longevity and of lasting union. The others consist of fine stuffs The marriage portion consists in cloths, rice, sake", fishes, silk wadding, etc. Sometimes, or often even, money is sent with a list of articles the sum is estimated to represent. The future husband presents to his fiancde the ceinture (obi). The fiancee presents to her future husband his dress of ceremony (kamishinoo). The exchange of presents is made a week before the wedding. In Japan young men are asked in marriage just as often as young women. Adoption. When there are only girls in a family, it is the custom for the parents to ask a young man in marriage for one of them, and him they adopt. He must, in such case, come and live in the home of his wife, and take the name of the family he enters in order to perpetuate it. In that event he gives no presents, and on the day of the nuptial ceremony it is he that is sought in order to be led 248 Manners and Customs. to his fiancee, while it is she who receives him at the door. There is a grand reception the next day. It is always the wife who brings as a marriage por- tion the household utensils, as well as the bedding for herself and her husband, in large and very beautiful chests, carried on the day of the wedding by servants. The betrothals are held at the house of the parents of the young woman, where are convened the nakodo and some friends ; the fiancee goes there ; it is the first interview between the young people, and the only one before marriage, as they have no courtship. The young girl appears only an instant in the drawing-room to offer a cup of tea to her betrothed. The Japanese claim that the unions regulated by the parents are more lasting and better assorted than love matches. For the day of the ceremony, the bride has several costumes. She changes them three 'or four times, according to her fortune. The first is black ; all the robes have long sleeves trailing almost to the ground. At sunset the nakodo goes to seek the fiancee to conduct her to the nuptial house. The cortege goes on foot, either in cago or in djinrikischa. Marriage. 249 At the threshold of his door, the bridegroom receives his bride, and escorts her to the drawing- room with parents and friends. The betrothed then sit facing one another at a certain distance, and three little cups are brought, generally in gilded lacquer, to celebrate the cere- mony of san-san-ku-do (literally, triple changing of three cups). It is the bridesmaid and bridesman who pour into these cups the sake contained in two vases, upon which are painted two emblematic butterflies, the one male and the other female. In this country, doubtless, these insects do not symbolize incon- stancy, as with us. At the same time there is brought in the shell-fish soup that commences the meal. The nakodo chants a poem composed by him for the occasion ; it is the sa-ka-sa-go (literally, a chant wishing long life). After the wedding repast the relations retire ; the nakodo accompanies the married couple to the entrance of their chamber. For two or three days more friends and relations are invited. At the eighth day nuptial visits are made to the parents of the wife, which gives occasion for more rejoicings. Then comes the ceremony of the sa-ko- tat-ri, connected with sending presents to the 250 Manners and Customs. nakodo ; and with this the series of marriage fetes is closed. FUNERALS. As soon as one is dead, the corpse is laid in the principal room. Pure water and incense are placed near the body. Then one goes to the temple and to the cemetery. Formerly the cemetery was attached to the temple, but it is so no longer. Next, relations and friends are informed, and the coffin ordered, unless it is desired to resort to crema- tion, which is just as usual as burial. The coffins are of two sorts. The one, like ours, receives the body laid out ; the other, when the body is bent up in a sitting position, has a form analogous to that of Peruvian burial jars, and is, moreover, in terra- cotta. A thin wooden box serves to envelop the dead. Before placing the body in the coffin it is washed, then dressed. Until this time it has been left exactly as it was at the moment of death. To permit its introduction into the coffin in the form of a vase, if the corpse is rigid, it is made supple by the use of a certain powder, so that the knees may be bent under the chin. The family keeps vigil. The day of the interment, the priest comes to the house to give to the dead a name more or less hon- Funerals. 251 curable, according to the value in which the dead has been held, to take the place of the one he bore while living ; then the priest accompanies the body to the cemetery. The cortege is preceded by the priest, going on foot, followed by a man who holds up a little board formed like a poster, on which is inscribed the post- humous name of the deceased. Then comes the coffin covered with white tapestry, carried by men, escorted by people furnished with white lanterns not illuminated ; for white is the colour of mourning in Japan, as in China. Then follow friends and relations, among whom the descendants only are represented. The religious ceremony bears much analogy in its external form to that of the Catholic religion. The name given by the priest is engraved upon the front of the little monolith which marks the place of burial ; the family name is engraved behind. After the ceremony of sepulture, they return to the temple, where, in a little hall specially set apart for this purpose, cakes are distributed to the persons who have attended the funeral. In the same way as on the occasion of a marriage, the friends and relatives offer presents, or money representing their value. It is a sort of reciprocal tribute, which is found in operation in the case like- wise of cremations. 252 Manners and Customs. Seventy days after the death, cakes are sent to the friends who made the presents on the occasion of the death. FETES AND REJOICINGS. As with all the fetes of former times, the celebra- tion of New Year's Day has lost much of its solemnity and picturesque character, since the adop- tion in 1872 of the Gregorian calendar taking the place of the Chinese calendar and its lunar months. The year then commenced twenty-seven or twenty- eight days later than now. From the I3th December the preparations for Gan-Gitz, the feast of Ichi-Gok (the first of the year) begin. A general house-cleaning is taken in hand, and there is a day appointed for the fete of the motchis (rice-cakes). It is not seldom that resort is had for the preparation of this exceptional dish to the talent of certain special culinary artists, who bear to the houses of their clients all their material a trifle cumbersome. Two or three days before the end of the year, the fronts of the houses are covered with emblematic decorations. At each door there are planted in vases, filled with earth, great branches of pine and of bamboo, and from one end to another of the pro- jecting roof is stretched a garland of plaited straw, F&tes and Rejoicings. 253 whence, at equal distances, depend tufts of straw. This ornamental custom, called kazari, goes back to the remotest antiquity. It is like a reminiscence of the ancestral simplicity that may be recognised in nearly all Japanese festivals. The addition of a citron, of a lobster, of sea-weeds, of ferns, and of green leaves from the izourika tree, united in a sort of trophy in the middle of the twisted straw fringe, is peculiar to New Year's Day, each one of these objects having an auspicious meaning for the occu- pants of the house. Certain temples have opened their gates in the night of the 1st of January. The tabernacle is illu- minated, and the faithful have there sought the fire that will serve to cook the zoomi, a sort of rice cakes with a sauce, misso, a soup composed of white haricots, of fermented oats, and of salt. It is of this unique dish that the first repast of the year before the sun rises must consist. After the white haricots come the black haricots, which are eaten in the family circle at the ordinary hours of repast, at the same time with two species of fish the kazonnoki, that are caught in the sea of Yzo, and the gomanie, found in innumerable shoals like the herring. The haricots, of which several are contained in a single pod, the kazonnoki, propagated in great numbers from a single fish, and the gomanie, which 254 Manners and Customs. are found always together in thousands, are for the Japanese the symbols embodying the precept, " increase and multiply," and the expression of a hope. It is then that they drink the wine of tosso, made with medicinal plants, a trifle bitter to the taste, but having a very agreeable perfume, so say its lovers. All this allegorical gastronomy does not make them lose sight of the social duties that are incum- bent at this time of the year on the Japanese, what- ever may be the class to which they belong. The following is a programme of the first day of the year : And first, at court : The Mikado receives the civil and military func- tionaries. The latter in laced uniforms, the former in dresses more or less embroidered in gold lace, according to their rank. The humblest present themselves in plain black dress. In 1872, the Mikado, in his grand costume of antique state, received for the last time his subjects, clothed they also in the ancient mode, and for the moment the foreign functionaries could see him on his throne, then the curtain closed over him, after a general salute on the part of the company. It was the end of a world. Now the Emperor wears a hat Fetes and Rejoicings. 255 with a white plume, the grand cordon, and panta- loons of cassimere with gold bands. Secondly, with the high functionaries : Great commotion, exchanging of visits, great jostling of djinrikisckas before all the doors of the ministers. Those to whom the means of transport are wanting put on their guetas and go bravely in the mud and snow, their straw-sandals in their hands. Thirdly, with private individuals : A great number of visits and drinkings of tea are exchanged. The Japanese of the old school avoid pronouncing on this day the syllable ski, the root word of death. This would be a bad omen, and, as this syllable enters into an infinite number of words, the avoid- ance involves interminable periphrases. Inferiors come and bring little presents to their superiors, consisting chiefly of oranges and eggs. They add a morsel of symbolic fish-tail or its repre- sentation, fastened to the object offered by pretty bands of paper. As to the servants, the master responds to their presents by pecuniary generosity. The children receive toys. Fourthly, with the people : There is a holiday during the entire week of the 256 Manners and Customs. New Year's Day. The population gather in the streets, sauntering about when the weather is fine, if not, they meet to play the chamisen and drink tea. When the sun shines, the animation of the people, who only seek to enjoy themselves, presents a charming picture. Everywhere, indoors and out, reigns an air of festivity and good humour. In meeting they bow, placing their hands on their knees, and exchange the consecrated word Omedetto. Many shops and stalls in the open air expose toys in profusion. Oh ! how wonderful were the toys in the olden time ! The end of the year marks for the merchants and for the debtors Rabelais' quarter of an hour. One would lose all credit if he failed in paying his debts on the 3 ist December. To that has to be added what it is necessary to spend on New Year's gifts, so that many have need to drown the troubles of this day in a cup of sake'. The joy of the children is, on the contrary, with- out alloy. They roam about in the streets, the boys with their kites, which they dart among the legs of the passers-by ; the girls with their battle- dores and shuttlecocks. Yet this is not their real fete. Later on there will be a special one for each. For the girls it will be the hina-matsuri> fete of playthings, which will Fetes and Rejoicings. 257 overwhelm them with dolls such as they must guard without damaging, and which, in their turn, when they become mothers, they will have to transmit to their girls. The/r/V day for the boys is no less important. Upon this day, every family to whom a boy has been born in the year erects before its door a tall MAKING TOYS. bamboo, at the top of which floats a nobori, a big paper fish which the wind inflates and balances at will. The plaited straw of New Year's Day has here its place taken by a rope adorned with reeds. The salmon which swims up the streams struggling against the current, is emblem of the physical and moral force necessary to vanquish the difficulties of life. 258 Manners and Customs. Apart from these two fetes which are all their own, the children take part in a great number of others that run like a chain throughout the year. There are, first, the five traditional fetes of Japan, Go SekkUj that are held : The seventh day of the first month ; The third day of the third month ; The fifth day of the fifth month ; The seventh day of the seventh month ; The ninth day of the ninth month. In April, there is rejoicing over the appear- ance of the rosy blossoms of the cherry of Ueno and of Mukojima, of the white flowers of the plums of Tokaido, and of the apple blossoms of Miyaski. In June are the glycines ; in July, the iris, which both serve as occasions for merry-making. And when the autumn comes, it is the turn of the chrysanthemums and of the maples. To these festivals of nature, which are general, have to be added others local or occasional. They walk much about, and everything is made a pretext to take holiday. Birth, baptism, marriage, and de- cease are celebrated in the family. There is the festival of the neighbourhood, that of the city with fireworks on the rivers, and the religious festivals with grand parade, etc. There is no ennui in Japan. Theatrical Representations. 259 THEATRICAL REPRESENTATIONS. In the ninth century, reign of the Emperor Heijo, a subsidence of the earth occurred in the province of Yamato, near Nara, a place to-day famous for the magnificence of its temples, and a poisonous gas exhaling from the pit diffused its deadly pestilence everywhere. To exorcise this plague, the priests took it into their heads to institute an emblematic dance on a grassy hillock nearby the accursed place. Then, as by magic, the gas stopped its exhalation. This was, so the legend runs, the consecration of the Drama. Down to our time, in memory of the Nara miracle, the same dance, called Sambas fw, precedes each theatrical representation, and is performed by an actor dressed like a priest of the olden time. The people being very much taken with these religious evolutions, very simple in their origin, the Shinto clergy organised veritable comedy- pantomimes. One of these, named Tama-tori, shows us a holy woman shaking a sistrum with jingling bells, which protect the precious ball of crystal, emblem of purity and truth, from the attacks of a demon. As is evident, the theatre in Japan originated in much the same way as in France. Our mystic pro- cessions and mysteries, as celebrated in the churches 260 Manners and Customs. of the Middle Ages, transferred to the palaces of princes and thence to public places, correspond with the Japanese, and the closest analogies may be traced in the steps followed by the two peoples in order to arrive at the present state of things. The marionettes, Joruri and Ningyo Tsukai, were invented at the commencement of the seventeenth century. To-day the facade of a Japanese theatre is deco- rated with lanterns, with streamers, and with large pictures in bright colours reproducing the principal scenes of the piece announced. Theatrical Representations. 261 The entrance is railed off by big bars of black wood, that form cages for the cashiers and check- takers. There is a cloak-room for umbrellas and guttas, or wooden shoes. The hall consists simply of a parterre and a gallery. In a screened box of the proscenium, the guidayu is squatted ; he plays the guitar (samissen), and speaks in a tone of doleful cadence. He recounts to the audience the situation, and from time to time he is heard describing the sentiments which the actors express by their gestures and their physiognomy. Below this commentator, who reminds one of the ancient chorus, is placed the amatetaktf, provided with two massive square pieces of wood, wherewith he does the roll on the floor. It is in pathetic moments that he strikes with all his might and accentuates the actors' words by a deafening tremolo. The ceiling of the house is ornamented by long bands of many-coloured stuffs, covered with cursive characters, fantastically variegated ; they are the property of the stars employed in the representa- tion, and form part of their wardrobe. They owe them to the admiration of the specta- tors, and, when the talk is of a comedian of great talent, it is customary to say : " He is a man of thirty-six curtains ! " 262 Manners and Customs. Order is preserved within the theatre by only one policeman. This fact does honour to the good be- haviour of the public. The spectators squatted upon their heels follow the representation throughout in this position, which is habitual with them. Square partitions, of one foot high, divide the house into compartments of equal size, forming a sort of uncovered loges. These partitions are broad enough to walk on easily ; they form paths by which one reaches his place. It is also by them that, be- tween the acts, the sellers of programmes, of cakes, and of tea pass among the spectators, who, not uncommonly, get their repasts served them by res- taurant-keepers of the neighbourhood, it being not unusual for a piece commencing in the morning not to end until a very advanced hour of the night. In each compartment there is a little hibacki, serving to light the tiny pipes which are finished in three puffs. A little bamboo tube is used as a cuspidor. The deportment of the auditory is of a " free and easy " description ; in fact, yielding to the sugges- tion of the heat, each one makes quick work in stripping off any embarrassing clothing. The stage machinery consists of two scenes : a screen representing the sea, lighted by candles placed naively in full sight in the water, and the facade of a tiny tea-house. Theatrical Representations. 263 Besides the partitions of which we have already spoken, there are two broader ways, to the right and to the left, which, placed on a level with the scene, allow the actors ingress and egress otherwise than by the back of the theatre, and offer opportunity, on occasion, for the simultaneous representation of different scenes. One of these entrances is sufficiently broad to permit of the passage of vehicles and the bodies of carriages on castors. When a play requires numerous and rapid changes of scene, two scenes placed back to back are disposed on a turn-table, and at the required moment a group of actors leave by rotation, while another group appears in an entirely different scene. Independently of the actors, there are on the scene other persons, clothed in black, who are supposed to be invisible. These are the kuromango ; they go, come, move about, busy themselves with the accessories, snuff the candles, intervene even in the most thrilling mo- ments ; they seem to have been put there to solace the actor in the sorrow and the emotions he feigns ; they slip behind him, within the folds of his ample dress, a footstool which helps him to recover breath ; they pass him a handkerchief, a cup of tea, etc. In the scene where a frightful warrior prepares to cut the throat of an innocent young girl, we perceive two of these innocent little dramatic gnomes ; the one 264 Manners and Customs. refreshes his man with vigorous wavings of the fan, and the other, kneeling, holds at the end of a long stick a wax taper which lights up the grimacing mask of the actor. The subjects of the pieces so represented are taken from history and legend. The play is not so long in the itinerant theatres, but, as the manners there are nearer the truth of life, it is perhaps more interesting for us. In them are represented vaudevilles and farces, which often have the attraction of actuality. The introduction into current life of Western usages and products, giving rise to an infinite number of grotesque and ridiculous incidents, the actors of such like drolleries have drawn largely on them. Such a resource was wanting to their predecessors, who had no material to exercise their talent on but the eccentricities of the Japanese character. Here is an example of the kind picked up in a " market theatre," which is held from one end of the year to the other at the approaches of the temple of Assaksa at Tokio : A husband has just lost his wife ; a bonze is about to say his prayer, accompanied with the roll of a big drum, according to the prescribed rites. The hus- band addresses the priest in reference to the obse- quies, and asks him to trace with a learned brush upon the little board that he brings an epitaph Theatrical Representations. 265 worthy of his better half. Discussions, plays of words, epigrams, repartees on the part of the bonze, pleasantries on that of the widower follow. The piece at this final stage runs : Frightened by the demands of the priest, moved by the thought of the extravagant sums that he will be constrained to disburse, the man comes to regret bitterly that his wife is dead. Wrestlers are in great vogue in Japan, and enjoy an exceptional consideration ; so much so that they were allowed to carry arms, even when that privilege was reserved for the nobility. Exercising their pro- fession from generation to generation, subject to a special training, the sumo form a race apart in the nation, and attain extraordinary physical develop- ment. There exist three classes of wrestlers : the aspirants, komosobi ; the masters, maigashira ; and the grand- masters, ose'ki. The last title can only be obtained by eminent prowess. The announcement of the opening of one of their arenas for they have no fixed theatre puts all the population of a town in a flutter. Several days in advance, a crier, perched on the top of a high tower made of bamboos skilfully massed together, announces the representation by striking a drum. The streets are decked with im- mense banners ornamented in a thousand ways. 266 Manners and Customs. A circular platform on which the wrestling is to come off is erected in the centre of a vast circus fitted up with tiers of seats, where the crowd is packed, and where people bet as we bet at our horse- races. The umpires of the wrestling match take their place on the platform ; they follow all the changes THE WRESTLERS. of fortune in the battle with an authority equal to that of the seconds in a duel. These functions, which are transmitted from father to son, require, in order to be worthily fulfilled, knowledge highly difficult, it is said, to acquire. The most renowned are the kimura, descendants of a family whose origin is lost in the night of past time. Theatrical Representations. 267 Everything that has any relation to dancing is held in great honour in Japan. At Kioto, the ancient capital, the government defrays the expense of an institution which recalls our " Conservatoire " in Paris. The dai-Kagura, or dance of the Corean tiger, recalling the conquest of that country by the cele- brated Empress Zingo-Kogo, is one of the most popular. One of the most curious examples of the chore- graphic genius of Japan is the matsu-odori, the dance of the pine. The gestures of the dancer imitate the capricious branches of the evergreen tree. Fans, which here play a great rdle, are used as accessories in the innumerable dances, which, though all more ingeniously graceful one than another, present each a special characteristic. Each place has its own. The kiinokumi, dance of the province of Ku, is ac- companied with a chant which recites the adventures of two lovers represented by two fans. Each step, every one of the elegant evolutions of the danseuse (the gue'chd] answers to a thought, to a situation. The spectator looks, therefore, at a sort of poem in action, in which the initiated take an extreme pleasure, both artistic and refined. The Japanese have acrobats and marvellous pres- tidigitators ; their skill surpasses belief. 268 Manners and Customs. The narrators of tales, who never fail of an audi- tory, also merit mention. RELIGION. Two creeds share we will not say dispute, seeing they live on terms -of mutual good under- standing Japan between them : Shintoism and Buddhism. Shinto is a sort of national cult. It admits the immortality of the soul, future life, with an eternal hell and an eternal heaven, enjoins respect for ancestors, and pays the Emperor the acknowledgment of a divine origin. The world as it exists is the result of the efforts of several generations of gods. After Ame-no-Mina-Kanuchi-no-Kami, who first appeared and created the heaven and earth, there came others who finished the work he commenced. Amaterasu, daughter of the god Isanagi and of the goddess Isanami, who populated the earth, was ap- pointed to govern the sun ; a race of demi-gods, issue of the same stock, afterwards reigned over Japan until Zin-mu-Ten-no, who, breaking off all attach- ment with heaven, became the founder of the present monarchy. The title of Kami has since then been given to the heroes and the benefactors of humanity, who by Religion. 269 their valour and their virtues deserved to be held up as an example to other men. It is in this way that the Emperor Hatchiman became the patron of warriors, and Ten-man-gu, a celebrated minister, the patron of letters. Held in almost as much honour as those are cer- tain old men, solitary and virtuous, albeit sorcerers, under the title of Sennins : Gama Sennin and his three-footed toad. Koi Sennin (Kin-ko in Chinese), who sails standing on a big fish. Kokaku Sennin, who cleaves the air, borne by a crane. Kore-jin, who tames the tigers. Bugen Sensei, with his gourd from which escapes a vapour giving birth to a mongrel horse, etc. The purity of the Shinto religion, which rejects all representations of the gods, and has only a very limited officiating flersonnet, suffered for an instant from the influence of Buddhism, whose external pomp is without bounds. A sect arose, that of Rio- Bou, which endeavoured to unite the two cults into one. This sect no longer exists. The natural wood, without ornament, is employed in the construction of Shinto temples. In them you find neither paint, nor varnish, nor sculpture, nor gilding. Three objects a mirror, a sword, and a gohe, a sort of cat-o'nine-tails without handle, in 270 Manners and Customs. which strips of paper cut zigzag take the place of thongs are laid on a table at the bottom of the otherwise completely bare sanctuary. Shinto is the religion of the higher classes and of the lettered it would be more just to say that for them it takes the place of religion. The unobtrusive external manifestations are often con- founded by the people with those of Buddhism, which are more attractive for them. It is also diffi- cult to assign with certainty a political state to certain popular divinities. What, for example, is known precisely of the origin of the passengers of the Takara-bune', the enchanted barque that is wafted with full sail on a calm sea? A crane winging its way through the sky suffused with the saffron flush of the rising sun, takes the lead of the barque, and is immediately followed by a swimming turtle. On board are the Sichi-fuku-djin, the joyous troop of the seven gods of prosperity. First, Benten, whose scarf flutters in the wind. She holds a lute and a fan. The question of her origin, which is Indian, is settled, but her attributes are defined with just as little precision as are those of her compan- ions. She might be at once goddess of marriage, of the sea and of music, of musicians and dancers, patroness of artists and of the sky into the bargain. They all literally dispute for her possession. PREACHER. DANCER. ASSISTANT. THE MIRROR-DANCE. SHINTOISTS. 271 272 Manners and Customs. Hote'i, the friend of children, never goes without a big sack full of one knows not what nothing very precious at any rate, perhaps the wallet of the mendicant, for he preaches gaily his contempt for riches. Dai Kokou, on the contrary, is the god of opu- lence, and as formerly the wealth of people was measured by the quantity of bundles of rice they possessed, he is always represented with his big shoes, spread out among the rice bundles and watched by the rats. The miners' sledge-hammer, which recalls the treasures drawn from the bowels of the earth, is one of his attributes. Yebisu, god of commercial honesty and of nour- ishment, patron of fishers, is hooded with a swelling head-dress. He is always seen in company with a fish, as large as himself, the ta'i or dorade. Foku-roku-djon : god of longevity. The stork and the turtle serve as his emblems ; at the end of a long baton which he holds is attached a roll of prayers. He bears sometimes, besides, on his bald and immensely swollen head, a little smiling bonhomme, wrapped up and hooded, with a mallet in his hand. This high personage sums up in himself the Chinese trinity of the gods of fortune. Religion. 273 Fo, rank, honour ; Lo, family joys ; and Cho, lon- gevity. He, moreover, personates the star of the south. Djou-ro-djin is a jovial old man invested with the ensigns of the man of letters ; he holds a screen, and a kind of shepherd's crook, to which is sus- pended a roll of papers. A sacred crane is attached to his person. His attributes are confounded with those of Foku-roku-djou, as it also happens that they interchange attributes. Bishamon : god of military glory, of Hindoo origin, with a martial mieu, armed with a lance or a club enveloped in cloth. He holds a pagoda in his open left hand. Quite as popular as the preceding is Inari, the god who is credited with having introduced the cul- ture of rice into Japan. Everywhere in the country there are raised to him altars guarded by foxes in stone. Among the supernatural beings of whom the peo- ple have to take account, it is proper to mention : Iwanaga-Hime : the goddess of the mountain. Jan-Sen-Siz : god of war, with three heads and 274 Manners and Customs. six arms, mounted upon a boar. He is descended from Maritchi, the bringer of fire in India. Kazeno-Kami or Put en : god of the winds ; he holds an inflated leather bottle on his shoulders. Kaminari or Reiden, god of thunder, is sur- rounded by drums, which are suspended in a halo of glory from a hoop in the middle of which he officiates, by striking with all his might. Godzu- Tenno : god of the waves. Tsukuyomi : the god of the moon, that star in which the Japanese, as may be remarked in passing, have discovered, instead of the whining mask we there see, a white rabbit pounding some rice in a mortar. Takoaka-mi-no-kami, is a sort of dragon, that holds in his empire the rain, the snow, and the hurricane. Kappa, the great serpent of the lake, nourishes himself on the intestines of the people that he draws to the bottom of the waters, and vigorously con- tends with Tatsu and Kirin, monsters no less frightful than himself. Religion. 275 The Great Cat of the Mountain, though several hundreds of years old, is for all that a being not to be scorned. His depredations are exerted against strayed travellers. Less dangerous are the Shojos, green monsters with red old wigs, who live at the bottom of the sea, and are impaired only by sakt. The Tengus are not very fierce, either ; winged personages with noses of exaggerated proportions. They exercise on the earth the role of Heaven's police. To aid them in this ungrateful task, they have servitors winged like themselves, but with huge crooked noses, distinguishing them from their masters. All this fantastic mythology is completed by an innumerable legend of demons that are designated under the collective name of Ogni, and by the five fabulous animals named below : The dragon (rid), which in China, whence it comes, is the emblem of imperial power, is in Japan no more than a monster born of the hurricane or of the foam of the maddened ocean-waves. The phcenix (hoho) is to the sovereign of the Em- pire of the Rising Sun what the dragon is to the ruler of the Middle Empire. It differs in no respect from the bird known in Europe under this name. 276 Manners and Customs. The kirin or kilin has the body and hoofs of a stag, the tail of a bull, and the head of a horse, with con- vulsed features, and bears on its forehead a rhinoce- ros horn. The fantastic lion, remarkable for the tufts of hair very regularly curled which covers his body. He is ordinarily represented playing with a ball. The sacred turtle (kame), emblem of longevity, is distinguished from profane turtles by a broad tail with wavy hair. The date of the introduction of Buddhism into Japan is a strongly contested point. It has been placed between the fourth and the sixth century of our era. It is now divided into six principal sects, which are : Zen-Siu, Sin-Gon, Ten-Dai, Hokke Siou, Giodo, and Sin-Siu. These sects present to view a host of divinities taken from India, such as Brahma, Indra, Garouda, etc., and numbers of Kamis borrowed from Shintoism. The four principal personages of this theogony, however, are : Amida : Buddha, eternal, who presides over Dharma-Datsu (or Paradise of Sukhavati), an im- mense lake where the blessed are united, sitting cross-legged upon the flowers of the full-blown lotos. 278 Manners and Customs. Jizo : saviour of the souls of children. He watches that their pastimes are not troubled by the demons. Children dying are found again on the shores of the celebrated lake, and there their principal amuse- ment consists in constructing, with stones and sand, little edifices which the demons are mad on demol- ishing. Kuan-non, god of charity and of compassion, has the power of changing his sex, and of dividing himself into two under the name of Seis-si, god of Prayer, in order to accompany Amida. Fudo-mio-6, commonly Fudo-sama, is the chief of the Tembus. He emanates from Varuna, the Hindoo god of the starry heavens. A great judge, none of men's actions escape him. The sun owes its light to his eye, the night to the stars that serve him as spies. He is always represented surrounded by flames, standing upon a rock, whence burst the waters in a cascade. Accoutred like a warrior, he holds in one hand a straight sword and in the other a cord coiled up and ending in a slip knot. The Tembus, his subordinates, are sanctified demons who are charged to reclaim sinners by terror and hard treatment to goodness. A Buddha is a man become god. A Bbdhisattwa is a man who has reached the highest degree of sanctity. The angels, the Tennins, are beautiful young girls Religion. 2 79 sumptuously clothed, who soar in the air playing on various musical instruments. Yomitsu-Kuni (the country of the retreat of souls) is the name given to a star where are found combined hell and paradise. In hell, the damned are subjected to the most varied tortures specially adapted to the nature of their misdeeds. Their condemnation is pronounced by a tribunal over which presides a grand judge named Ycma. The examination of each case does not last long. The culprit is brought before a magic mirror that shows to all eyes, not his picture, but that of the crime he has committed. Christianity was preached for the first time in Japan by Saint Frangois-Xavier, who disembarked there in 1549. Thirty-five years later, the embassy of a powerful da'imio went to pay a visit to the Pope. In the interval a Catholic church had been constructed at Kioto. Doubtless the impression which the embassy brought back of Rome was not favourable, for it was upon its return that the famous Shogun Hide- yoshi drove away the Christian missionaries. During the fifty years that followed, 1587 to 1637, the variances assumed a more and more pronounced character. After the missionaries, the foreigners were expelled, and all commerce with the outside world was interdicted. In 1638, there was no longer 280 Manners and Customs. a single Christian in Japan. They had been all massacred in consequence of the great revolt of Shimabara. The Dutch alone, after having ousted their rivals, the Portuguese, succeeded in establishing themselves at Deshima, where they were allowed twice a year, and at the cost of excessive vexatious formalities, to exchange the products of Europe for those of Japan. However, in 1846, Nangasaki, the ancient suffra- gan diocese of Goa, was converted into an apostolic vicarate, since divided, in 1876, into two parts, a north and a south. The first, with a population of 16,800,000, counted at the last census 4,85 5 Catholics, with a bishop and twenty-four European priests ; the second with a population of 17,125,000, has 24,350 Catholics, with one bishop, twenty-four European and two native priests. A PAGE OF HISTORY. There is no record in history of the appearance of Europeans in Japan before 1542, when the Portuguese imported firearms. This assertion is, perhaps, over-venturesome, con- sidering the ancient relations of the Empire of the Rising Sun with the Celestial Empire, which did not wait for Friar Schwartz to invent gunpowder. A Page of History. 281 Some years later came St. Frangois-Xavier with the cross, symbol of peace and love, to succeed the arquebus the remedy after the evil. We have seen how his reign was not of long duration. We cull from an old narrative of travels the following chapter, giving a very racy account of the endeavours of the Portuguese in 1685 to reinstall themselves in favour with the Japanese.* An unsuccessful mission to Japan by the Portuguese and some natives of Macao, undertaken, with a view to the re-establishment of the commercial relations which came to an end in the anterior persecution of the Christians. " The inhabitants of Macao have already made many attempts to recover a friendly footing with the Japanese, but always fruitlessly. The Japanese preferred to lose several thousands of crowns owing them by the Portuguese rather than to be reconciled to them, having sworn by their gods to admit no more Christians into their country, and to kill them without quarter, if found there. The Dutch, who want the trade with the Japanese all to themselves, advised them, in order to prevent Christians, under the name of other nations, from introducing them- selves, to lay a crucifix on the ground at the place * Giro del Mondo. Per Gemelli-Careri, Napoli, 1699-1700. 282 . Manners and Customs. of landing, so as to find out whether any one dis- embarking were a Christian or not, because if a Christian he would either refuse to trample on the crucifix, or at least hesitate to do so, in order to enter Nangasake". " In this way the Dutch clutched hold of the com- merce of the country, to the exclusion of every other nation, forswearing their Christianity before the Japanese, and making no scruple of treading under foot that sacred symbol ; an example which the English have no wish to follow. This is so true, that I have in China seen a Chinaman who assured me how he had himself trampled upon it, and that, having since had the happiness to become a Christian at Nankin, he had confessed this impiety. " Some years ago, several of the inhabitants of the town of Macao risked themselves in an intrepid manner to die or, by force of benefits, regain the hardened hearts of the Japanese. They were per- suaded that God had just furnished them with an opportunity of planting anew the tree of the Cross in this powerful Empire. This is how it happened. In the month of February, 1685, a Japanese barque, laden with tobacco, was wrecked near Macao, and twelve Japanese who were on board were saved along with the barque. The town took them in charge, A Page of History. 283 and the barque and what of the merchandise could be saved were sold for their benefit. A council was held on the matter, and it was agreed that here was a good means for renewing commercial relations with that island, the Jesuit Fathers themselves being of that opinion. " The town, then, and the Jesuit Fathers hired a vessel whereon embarked the Japanese. It set sail the 1 3th June, and arrived at Nangasak6 the 2d July during the night. At once a mandarin called St. Paul (sic) came on board the vessel, with an interpreter and four secretaries, one of whom was sent by the Governor, the second by the civil magis- trate, the third by the town, and the last by the judge of religion. All four were to write separately the demands addressed by the interpreter and the answers of the Portuguese, in order that there might be no deception. The interpreter knelt before the mandarin. Never did judge use so many devices to entrap a culprit into confession of crime, as did the mandarin to compel the Portuguese to admit that they were not ignorant of the ancient law which forbade, under penalty of death, any Christian vessel from approaching the empire of Japan, and, in case of its approaching, of the necessity of under- going the punishment without any remission. " The Portuguese were soon aware of the designs 284 Manners and Customs. of the mandarin, and prudently answered all his questions, without ever giving him reason to think that they had ever known anything of the inter- dict. They were asked when the barque had been wrecked ; in what quarter of Macao the twelve Japanese had lived ; if they had associated with the Christians ; what the town of Macao wanted of them ; if there were no old men in the vessel who might remember what had passed between the Christians and the Japanese. At last several other questions were put to them, which the four secretaries wrote with the replies, to convey to their superiors. After having taken the number of the crew and the measure of the vessel, the mandarin went away again with those who had come with him. " The lower class of people in Japan live in a condition worse than that of slaves in their relations with the nobles and mandarins. They dare not speak to them but upon their knees, the head bowed towards the ground, the hands clasped over the fore- head and stretched toward the mandarin as a mark of respect. It was thus the interpreter did when the captain of the ship had replied. If a mandarin were to embark on a vessel, the crew of which might number a thousand men, not a single word would be heard, the command being given by signs. The pilot uses a fan, which he waves to the right or to the left to direct the steersman. A Page of History. 285 " The next day the mandarin departed in a palan- quin for Amiaco, formerly Meaco, where he went to give an account to the Emperor of the arrival of the Portuguese vessel ; and, during his journey, there was sent from the town to the vessel a quantity of provisions. It was made known to the Portuguese that they had only to ask for what they needed to have it given to them ; and, although they were not very importunate in their demands, the Japanese did not fail to furnish them what they deemed they might require. " The vessel was guarded day and night by ten funes, or barques rilled with soldiers, who took care that no Portuguese set foot on land, nor threw any- thing into the sea. It even happened one day that a duck having escaped, several of these barques gave chase for a long time endeavouring to catch it. It was taken and brought to the Governor, who sent it back to the vessel, with orders to take greater care that no other animal escaped, and to let the slops be emptied in the presence of the soldiers. " The Dutch, thinking that the vessel was one of theirs, went with a little boat to board it ; but, find- ing it to be Portuguese, and learning the reason for its coming, they returned, telling the Portuguese that in that country it was necessary to speak the truth. These gentlemen have not the same freedom in the factory of Nangasake as in the other factories of the 286 Manners and Customs. Indies. As soon as one of their vessels arrives, a mandarin goes aboard, counts the crew, and orders the sails and helm to be carried ashore. " If any one dies the mandarin must see the corpse before it is interred. Six years ago there were two sailors missing, who had gone ashore, and who were suspected to be Jesuits that had taken this way of entering the Empire. All the trouble in the world had to be taken to hide their flight, and it was only with much money that the mandarin was bought over, and shown two places where it was pretended the sailors were buried. Since then the Dutch take no stranger on board their vessels bound for Japan. All in their vessels must be Dutchmen born, and the country of their father and of their mother be known. They hold no communication whatever with the town, and are obliged to live in their fac- tory, which is situated on a rock surrounded by walls, and has two entrances, one on the port side, for shipment of merchandise, which is closed by five seals as soon as the ships have lifted anchor, with injunctions not to open it under penalty of death ; the other on the town side, where there is always a guard. The Japanese permit commercial transac- tions to be made only once a year, when a passport is given to the person, who must go, and, in the name of the Company, salute the Emperor at Amiaco. A Page of History. 287 " The mandarin returned from the Court thirty- five days after, and if he was so long on his journey, it was because it required sixteen to seventeen days to make it. He went on board the vessel with secretaries and interpreters. He said nothing about his journey to the captain, and made him under- stand that neither the Emperor nor his council knew of the arrival of the ship, but that communi- cation having been made with a Secretary of State, the latter had taken up the affair, because no one could speak with his Majesty. He added that he (the captain) might sail away, but that henceforth neither he nor any Portuguese should take it into their heads to approach these islands under any pretext whatever ; that for the present they were pardoned and spared their lives, in recognition of the services that they had rendered to the twelve Japanese who were conducted into the town, where perhaps they were made to suffer death. After this, stringent prohibition the captain asked what it would be necessary to do if some other Japanese barque were shipwrecked on Portuguese territory, but he received no answer. " Then was read the order of the Emperor, that had been sent in a letter by the Secretary of State, and each time the name of the monarch was pro- nounced all the Japanese knelt. The time of departure was fixed, and all necessary provisions 288 Manners and Customs. promised. They were warned, however, that if tempest or accident obliged them to put back, they must return to Nangasak, and must not make for any other port, because of the danger to which they would be exposed. The Japanese having withdrawn, a number of barques towed the vessel within range of the cannon of the port of the town, where it remained six weeks, awaiting a favourable season. When this came, the Japanese carried to the ship the provisions demanded, as also water, which they tasted in presence of the Portuguese, in order to let them see that there was nothing to fear. They then returned to them the images, rosaries, and crosses which they had taken from them upon their arrival, and which they had shut up in a box, so much horror have they for the devotions of the Christians. They had pre- viously, on their arrival, demanded why they carried a cross into their pavilion, upon which the Portuguese replied that it was their king's Arms. At last, after much expense, the vessel returned to Macao without any success. " The pilot, the boatswain, and several sailors who were on this voyage, have told me that the channel of Nangasake, at the entrance, is very difficult, in consequence of sand-banks, islands, and rocks, apart from the trouble of casting anchor four times in a tide, which at certain hours of the day is favourable, and at others unfavourable. There are five guards A Page of History. 289 posted along the canal, and two bodies of coast- guards at the entrance of the bay, to send word to the town when any vessel is sighted. In this way Nangasake, that has neither walls nor cannon, finds its security simply in the vigilance of its inhabitants. The houses are of wood ; the streets are barricaded during the night, and guarded by captains, whose duty it is to report all that passes. " Nangasake is on the western side of Japan, and a mile in circumference. The Japanese shave their heads from forehead to crown, leaving the other hair very short. They go bareheaded when out-of-doors ; only the mandarins wear a hat of fine straw. They shave their beard entirely ; their clothing is short, at least that of the Japanese I have seen. They tuck in their dress with a girdle, in which they place their two scimitars, a long and a short one. The women are dressed in the same manner ; they wear their hair dishevelled. They use only paper pocket-handker- chiefs, which they throw away immediately after using them. The surrounding country of Nangasake is mountainous, but so fertile as to produce most of the fruits of Europe. " It is also known that the Japanese are idolaters in religion ; fair of complexion, like Europeans ; robust of build and tall of stature ; their swords heavy and wielded with both hands. They have a drink called sake, made of rice and sugar, and intoxicating, 290 Manners and Customs. besides several others, green, yellow, or red in colour. Most of their towns are built of wood. They have gold, silver, and excellent copper mines. The pearls they fish are of a colour inclined to sandy. Among all their trees, there is one very extraordinary, since it dries when watered and is nourished by iron filings and dry sand. If one wishes to keep its branches green, some iron is put to them. " To return to the Dutch, of whom we have pre- viously spoken, they are obliged to spend eight months of the year entirely by themselves in a penin- sula of two miles' circuit, called Dichiva,* which is attached to the mainland of Nangasake" . During the season for navigation, the factor stations sentinels upon the mountain to discover the incoming Dutch vessels. When there is word of their arrival, and the number of ships is known, as many boats put out as there are Dutch merchantmen. In each boat is a guard to take inventory of the vessel to which it is assigned. The captain is obliged to draw up in writing the name, personal description, and office of everyone on board, and to hand to said guard the list, which is at once translated into Japanese and immediately despatched by a courier to the Emperor, the postal service being well regulated in Japan. When the courier returns from the Court, the Dutch are permitted to land, one after another, passing, as *Or Deshima. A Page of History. 291 if in review, before a commissioner, who is accom- panied by a Dutch secretary (both holding a copy of the aforesaid list), and a Japanese secretary with a translation thereof. As each one passes, his name and office are read aloud. The Japanese next take the crew back to the vessel, and carry ashore the sails, arms, and powder. They lower the yards and close the hatchways, sealing them with a piece of paper, tied with straw in such a way that only the Japanese can do and undo the knot ; so that, if one of the sailors has need of anything at the bottom of the ship, he cannot have it without leave of the Governor, who sends a man to open the hatch and shut it again after he has taken the thing he wanted. " The Dutch are forbidden to light candles in the vessel, or smoke tobacco. The crew of one vessel can have no communication with that of another, and no one dares go on shore. The most fortunate are those appointed to carry to the Emperor the present of the States-General, and who have with them a goodly escort of Japanese, who then bring them back to their vessels with the presents they have received from the Emperor. " Not only are they obliged to salute the Emperor, kneeling with clasped hands, but likewise all the governors and' the principal noblemen of the coun- try. They are not permitted to traffic with the 292 Manners and Customs. Japanese, until they have returned from the Court a journey taking three months and a half not even with those who furnish them their necessary provi- sions, and who are paid later on when the order is given. The Japanese merchants are allowed to go and traffic on the vessels ; and six men are permitted to go on shore to traffic, even on their own account, and to remain four days either in the peninsula, or in the town, according to their own choice. They are then conducted back to their vessels, whence an equal number are allowed to leave, on the same errand. This liberty lasts one month and a half. These six persons must also be sailors and not mer- chants ; the reason given by the Japanese being that after having been held of little account, it is meet they should receive promotion. These new mer- chants hire a shop for a crown, from a man who ordinarily serves them as a servant and agent. u As to the merchandise, the prices are written on the margin of the list translated into Japanese, which is affixed to the city gate, in order ^.hat every- body may read it. When the sale is at an end, the payment is made with silver by weight, because there is no other money except in copper of less than a farthing in value. " The Dutch carry to Japan cloves, which they sell at the rate of two crowns a pound, cinnamon bark, sugar, and cloths. On their side they buy A Page of History. porcelain, silver in ingots of different weights, and gold secretly; copper, of which one hundred and thirty Spanish pounds cost twelve crowns ; and var- nished works. " When the month and a half are out, the Japan- ese are no longer allowed to go to the peninsula, nor the Dutch to leave their vessels, except the six who stop in the factories of the company until the following year. The factory is a house con- structed of bare stone, brought by the Dutch from Batavia, the Japanese not permitting them to build with lime." After the Dutch and the Portuguese, Russians came knocking at this inexorably closed door. In 1792, the great Czarina Catherine tries to open negotiations, but without the least success. They are renewed in 1807 by Alexander I., who attempts a landing at Yeso. Violence succeeded no better than diplomacy. There was no more thought of the Japanese until 1853, when the American Commodore Perry made a first appearance in the waters of Uruga. In 1854, he returns and obtains a treaty open- ing to Americans the ports of Shimoda and Ho- kodate. 294 Manners and Customs. Four years later, a new treaty was concluded be- tween the Shognn and the Americans, opening to them, at the same time as to England and to France, the port of Kanagawa, quite near to Yokohama, then only an insignificant village. We now come to the accession to the throne of the present Emperor, Mutsu Hito, who, ten years later, was to ratify the different treaties concluded with foreign Powers. This short period is not exempt from troubles. Many bloody battles were fought between the parti- sans of the ancient government, foe to the foreigners and the Imperial armies. At the instigation of the revolted Da'imios, among whom the Daimio of Satzuma was dis- tinguished, several legations were attacked, minis- ters assassinated, etc. These hostilities gave rise to reprisals. Kagosimawas bombarded by Admiral Kuper, and thereafter Simonoseki was bombarded twice by Admiral Jaures, the first time alone, and then in concert with the allied fleets. However, as early as 1856, a school had been founded at Tokio, then Yeddo, for the study of foreign languages, and in 1861 the first students were sent to Europe. These favourable dispositions made themselves felt particularly in regard to France, by the demand A Page of History. 295 addressed to that nation for a military mission that should not quit Japan until after having com- pletely organised her army ; and for men versed in law charged with the task of adapting the Code Napoleon to the habits of Japan. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. HAVING opened its doors to the manners, cus- toms, and industries of Europe, Japan could not do less than borrow also from the Western States their political constitution. The Japanese Empire on the nth February, 1889, adopted a constitution. The supreme power be- longs to the chief, Tenno, of the dynasty which has reigned for the last two thousand five hundred years, and which, after the restoration of 1868, quitted Kioto to establish itself at Tokio. The Emperor Mutsu Hito had reached his thirty-ninth year; his eldest son, Prince Yoshi Hito Harunomiga, is heir-apparent. A House of Peers and a Chamber of Representa- tives have been established by the constitution of 1889. Constituents of the House of Peers are : the male members of the Imperial family having attained their majority ; all princes and marquises the titles of nobility have, like other things, been European- 299 300 Miscellaneous Notes. ised (reader, pardon the neologism !) above twenty- five years of age ; counts, viscounts, and barons of the Empire of at least twenty-five years of age, elected by their peers for a term of seven years, at the rate of one representative for five electors ; members nominated for life by the Emperor, of at least thirty years of age their number not to exceed that of the nobility ; lastly, fifteen members, at least thirty years old, elected by the tax-payers of the highest amount of direct national taxes on land, or on industry or trade, of all the administra- tive districts, and confirmed by the Emperor, in their powers for seven years. The three hundred members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected by the votes of copy- holders. Electors are restricted to males of at least twenty-five years of age, and paying direct or land taxes to an amount not less than fifteen yen (the yen being about four shillings) a year. No one is eligible who is not thirty at least, and who has not paid in his district the poll-tax for at least one year. The executive power is exercised, by delegation of the Emperor and under his high direction, by the ministers of the interior, of justice, of finance, of war, of communications, of foreign affairs, of public instruction, and of agriculture and commerce. The president of the present Cabinet, General Count Yamagata-Aritomo, is minister without portfolio. Miscellaneous Notes. 301 Vice-ministers, corresponding to our under-secre- taries of state, assist the ministers in the transaction of affairs. Besides the Cabinet of ministers, a private Cabinet may be summoned and consulted by the Emperor. It is composed of a president, of a vice-president, of the ministers, and of seventeen councillors. A Court of Accounts, an office of legislation cor- responding to the French Conseil d'Etat (section de legislation), a Board of Railways, a Court of Cassa- tion, and a Presidency of Police complete the central organism of the governmental system of Japan. The working of this system applies to the (Jan- uary i, 1890) 40,072,020 inhabitants there were only 34,338,479 in 1876, distributed over 147,655 square miles of Japanese territory, through the medium of the chizi, governors of the "fu" or residence districts of Tokio, Osaka, and Kioto, and the forty-three " ken" or prefectures. By way of exception, the Kourile Islands and the island of Yeso hold directly of the Cabinet. The figures above quoted show that the population of Japan is denser than that of France 271 inhabi- tants to the square mile in Japan, as against 187 inhabitants to the square mile in France, but not so dense as in England, with 498 inhabitants to the square mile. Military service, personally obligatory on all males 302 Miscellaneous Notes. from seventeen to forty years of age has been added, since the 2ist January, 1889, to tne fiscal charges of Japan. The budget estimates for the year 1891-92 amount to 83,462,5337^2. The taxes yielding the most revenue are the land tax, the income tax, and the tax on sak^ malt, and tobacco. In the magnitude of the foreign commerce of Japan, England, the United States, and France head the list. Japan imports principally cotton, yarn, and piece-goods, sugar, wool and woollen goods, metals, machinery, ships, petroleum, drugs, calico, leather, clothing, fermented drinks, cereals, arms and ammu- nition. It exports principally raw silks and cocoons, rice, tea, coal, copper, fish, porcelain, lacquer, bronze, camphor, marine plants, paper, articles in bamboo, etc. The new Japanese monetary system was estab- lished in 1871, on the basis of the French decimal system, with a standard of 900 thousandths, but for weights and values approaching the money system of the United States (Laws of 1868 and 1871). The monetary unit is the gold yen whose nomi- nal value is four shillings closely approximating to the weight and value of an American dollar. The yen is equal to TOO sens. Gold yens consist of 20, 105, 2, and lyen pieces ; of Miscellaneous Notes. 303 the silver coinage there are I yen, 50; 20; 10; and 5 sen pieces ; of the nickel, 5 sen. The copper coins consist of 2 sens, I, J, and -fa (or riri) sen pieces, the last the smallest coin in use. The paper currency in Japan in 1889 amounted to 45, 468,455^8. The public debt in 1889 amounted to 251,000,000 of yen, of which 6,430,376 was foreign debt. Against this debt, however, has to be set a reserve fund amounting in April, 1889, to 15,707,505 yen. WEIGHTS. The unit is the momme = 2.12 drachms, i momme = 10 pun = 100 rins = 1000 mon. i king 1 60 momme = 1.325 Ibs. avoir, i kwan = 1000 momme = 8.281 Ibs. MEASURES. i shaku = .994 foot. i sun = 1.193 inches. i ken 6 shaku = 6 ft. 11.930 in. i chd 60 ken = 5.4229 chains, or -^ of a mile. i ri = 36 chd = 2.44 miles. i ri sq. = 5.9552 sq. miles, chd, land measure = 2.45 acre. * * * The greatest geographical curiosity of Japan is, beyond dispute Fuzi-Yama (Mount Fuzi). This 304 Miscellaneous Notes. mountain, 12,450 feet high, whose truncated cone looms up magnificently a short distance from Tokio, is the object of profound veneration. The Japanese make pilgrimages to it, and it has been reproduced in all modes and under all aspects by artists. According to the saying of the legend, this enor- mous mountain shot up from the earth all in one piece, in one night, a very long time ago, at the same moment that Lake Biwa was hollowed out a hundred leagues' distant. Tokaido, or the Eastern route, is the road connect- ing the new capital with the old i. e. Tokio with Kioto. Very picturesque, very broken, overshad- owed with gigantic pines, with sea views, now lost in mountains, now traversing the smiling villages, it offers the traveller a spectacle of the greatest variety and of the greatest interest, NakasendO) or the Western route, leads from Tokio to Kusatsu. Though less famous, it is very similar in character. Nikko and Nara are renowned for their magnifi- cent temples ; they have been frequently described. The celebrated traveller, Marco Polo, gives to Japan the name of Zipangou, the Chinese Jepen Kouo which means Empire of Japan. The same designa- tion is met with again on the globe of Martin Be- haim, of Nuremberg, in 1492. Miscellaneous Notes. 305 Japan in English, Japon in French, is in Japan- ese Nippon (literally, Source of Light). Dai Nippon means the Great Japan. Its white flag, garnished with a red central disk, corresponds with the appellation, Empire of the Rising Sun. * History has kept the names of one hundred and thirty sovereigns, amongst whom we count ten Empresses; the most celebrated is Jingo-Kogo. First in date, she reigned sixty-eight years, from 201 to 269. Of a bellicose temper, she conquered Corea ; she is venerated under the name of Kaschi- Dai-Miojin. The others are : Suiki (593 to 628). Kogioku (642 to 644). Saimei (655 to 66 1). Jito (690 to 696). Gemmio (708 to 714). Gensho (715 to 723). Koken (652 to 664). This Empress reigned a second time under the name of Shotoku (664 to 669). Miojo (1630 to 1643). Go-Sakuramachi (1763 to 1770). The Shoguns, wrongly called by Europeans Tai- kuns, are the military chiefs who, under cover of the Emperors, governed Japan from the thirteenth 306 Miscellaneous Notes. century until the middle of the nineteenth. They number forty-five. The three most celebrated SMguns are : Yoritomo (i 146 to 1 190), founder of the feudal military govern- ment ; Hideyhosi, better known under the name of Taiko (1536 to 1598), son of a peasant who attained to supreme power; lyeyasu (1542 to 1616), the first of the Tokugawa who continued down to our day. At the time when the Emperor Charlemagne was learning to read, the Buddhist Kobo-Daishi invented the Hirakana alphabet. The Japanese have so blended legend and history, that it is impossible to get at the truth concerning many personages, whose alleged acts and deeds are most frequently in contradiction with the laws of nature. There may be cited : Okame, the j oiliest woman ever seen in Japan, whose likeness figures everywhere in this land of good humour. Miscellaneous Notes. 307 Benke, a terrible colossal warrior, vanquished by the young Yoshitsune, eldest brother of Yori- tomo. Tekia'i (Li-Tie-Koue in Chinese) had the power of sending his soul out of his body. Raiko, great exterminator of demons. Komati, poetess of the ninth century, celebrated as much for her talent and her brilliant life as for her unhappy end. One of her most fervent adorers has been many times represented playing the flute under her balcony. Kugutsume Kaneko, the woman Hercules, so strong that she could hold under her arm that of a man who lifted his hand upon her, without spilling a single drop of milk from the full pail that she carried on her head, and this despite all the efforts the man made to escape from her grasp. Another time she stopped a fiery horse by simply putting her foot on the rein that trailed on the ground. Urashima Taro, who lived a thousand years at the bottom of the sea in company with the Queen of the Waters. Returning to his nets after this little escapade for Urashima was a fisherman despite the prohibition that had been given him, he opened a box that had been entrusted to him by his aquatic friend, and instantly died. Yamato-Dake, the greatest fighter of antiquity. Yasutnasu, a famous flute-player, whose glance, 308 Miscellaneous Notes. by contemplation of the moon, of which he was enamoured, became so refulgent as to smite his enemies with paralysis by its fascination. Shutendoje, an ogre who made his meals off the prettiest girls of Kioto. Ysrimitsu and Watanabe no Tuna, terrors of the ogres. Tametomo, indomitable archer, putting armies to flight and sinking ships with his arrows. Momotaro, who issued, not from a cabbage, but from a peach. Akaskito, god of poesy. Soto-ori-hime, goddess of poetry, under the name of Tamat-su-hima Miojin. Asashina, whose extraordinary vigour brought him well off from certain demons, who thereupon submitted to him. In the works of Japanese artists, you frequently remark the association of the same animals and the same plants. These conjunctions are not pure fancies, as may be seen from the following ex- amples : THE FEMALE GOAT AND THE BAMBOO. Because the goat is very fond of the paper mulberry, and even of manufactured paper. Miscellaneous Notes. 309 THE CUCKOO AND THE MOON. In allusion to a legend (twelfth century) concerning Yorimasa, a sort of Saint George, a killer of dragons, who had no less wit than valour. A Kuge" having come to bring him a sabre of honour, addressed to him a madrigal in verse, the sense of which is : " How does the cuckoo rise above the clouds?" an allu- sion to the fame of the hero to which Yorimasa replied in two improvised verses, which mean either " The rising moon does not stop at com- mand," or " I have only bent my bow and the arrow has sped." It appears that, for the Japanese, there is a delight- ful play of words in this answer. THE Fox AND THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. Another legend. An Indian prince was haunted by a fox in the assumed form of a ravishing young girl ; she fell asleep one day upon a bed of chrysanthemums, and resumed her natural shape of quadruped. SPARROW AND BAMBOO. The two most graceful figures of creation, each in his kingdom. GEESE AND THE RUSHES. Geese, in their long runs, carry off in their bills rushes, which they drop into the pond before committing themselves to the water, to serve them by way of buoy. Allusion is 3io Miscellaneous Notes. here made to the care needed in the choice of a residence. THE Ox AND THE PEACH. A Chinese proverb says : " Give the horse head on a mountain of flowers and the ox in an orchard of peaches." SHORT VOCABULARY. SHORT VOCABULARY. THE ALPHABET. V 7 \> -? ^ ir ^ ^ # r wa ra ya ina ha na ta sa ka a # J yj * * b m ^ 3x ^ >j wi n yi mi hi ni chi sbi ki i X^ ^ rt. A 7 3 y ^ ? & wu ru yu mu hu nu tsu su ku u JL JX Jl > ^ ^ T ^ ^ -X we re ye me he ne te se ke e y o 3 ^ ^ / h y n ^ wo ro yo mo ho no to so ko NUMERALS. Hitotsu, ichi i Futatsu, ni 2 Mitsu, san 3 Yotsu, shi 4 Itsutsu, go Mutsu, roku .......... 6 JVanatsu, shichi ....... 7 Yatsu, hachi .......... 8 Kokonotsu, ku ......... 9 10 The u is pronounced oo, 313 3H Short Vocabulary. JA-ichi ii JA-ni 12 Ni-jfi 20 San-jA .... 30 Hiaku 100 Ni-hiaku 200 Sen 1000 Man 10,000 THE FOUR CARDINAL POINTS. Kita, North. i) South. i Jfigaski, East. I Ms/it, West. THE SEASONS. Ah', Autumn. ) Winter. Haru, Spring. Natsu, Summer. THE MONTHS. Shd-gatsu January. Kisaragi February. Yayoi March. Uzuki April. Satsuki May. Minazuki June. Fumizuki July. Hazuki August. Nagazuki September. Kaminashizuki , October. Shimotsuki November. Shiwasu December. THE HOURS. Ne Rat : from 1 1 to i. Ushi Ox : from i to 3. Tora Tiger : from 3 to 5. U Hare : from 5 to 7. Tatsu Dragon : from 7 to 9. Short Vocabulary. 315 Mi Serpent : from 9 to 1 1. Uma Horse : from 1 1 to i. Hitsuji Goat : from i to 3. Saru Monkey : from 3 to 5. Tori Cock : from 5 to 7. Inu Dog : from 7 to 9. / Boar : from 9 to 1 1. Ten on Ame Sky. Tsuchi Earth. Hi Sun. Tski Moon. Noshi Stars. Koumo . . Clouds. Nichi Day. Yoi tenki Fine weather. Warui tenki Bad weather. Warui amt Rain. Warui kare Wind. Warui arare Hail. Warui ta'ifu Hurricane. Warui nideri Drought. Warui shikke Humidity. Midzu Water. K6ri Ice. Youki Snow. Meisho Remarkable city. Yama Mountain. Kawa River. Hashi Bridge. Hama Port. Minato Town. Mashi Quarter. Mura Village. 316 Short Vocabulary. Michi Route. Ishi Stone. Isuchi Earth. Miya, Shinto temple. Tera, Buddhist temple. Siro, Fortified castle. yy/ 9 House. Mado, Window. Tokonoma, Recess where kakemonos are hung. Fusuma, Movable partitions. Hikite, Handles for moving the Fusuma. Shoji, Window panel in paper. Ramma, Perforated frieze on grooves fastened to the ceiling, and used for holding the sliding panels. Biyo-bu, Folding screen. Nagamoii) Chest for holding bedding. Tansu, Press for holding clothing. Andon, A lamp resting on the ground, with movable paper frame. Hibachi, Brazier. Hibashi, Small rnetal batons. Dana, Tea tray. Tobako-bon, Box or tray containing necessaries for smokers. Tatami, Floor mat. Fuson, Wadded cover. Kaya, Mosquito net. Chigai-dana, A double tray. Makura, Pillow. Ishi-dorO) Stone lantern. Tori-i, Portico. Soroban, Abacus. Zinc, A person. Short Vocabulary. 3 1 7 Otoko, A male, a man, a servant. Onna, Woman. Hime\ Princess. Mousme, Young girl. Musko, Boy. Botchan, Baby, little child. Cha-fou, Coolie who trains jinkikahos. Okusama, Madame (term of respect). Okamisan, Wife or mother, such a one. Ototsan, Papa. Obason, Grandmamma (from 35 years). Betto, Groom. Oueki-ya, Gardener. Kosukai, Servant that runs errands (pronounced koskai). Daiku, Carpenter. Oyazi, Old woman. Kimono, Clothing. Tabi, Linen sock. Gueta, Wooden sandal. f Straw sandal. Waraja, ) Tenugui, Piece of cloth to wipe the hands on, etc. Fundoshi y Piece of cloth used instead of drawers. Katana, Sabre. Ken, Sword. Kozuka, Small blade joined to the scabbard of a sabre. Tachi, Large sabre. Wakizashi, Small sabre-dagger. Aikuchi, Poniard. Tsuba, Sabre-guard. Tsurugi, Long, two-edged spear. Naginata, Halberd. Yari t Lance. 318 SJiort Vocabulary. Gusoku, Armour. Kobuto, Casque. Sai-hai, Staff of command Tate, Shield. Ebira, Quiver. Yumi, Bow. Ya, Arrow. Abumi, Iron spurs inlaid with other metal, shape like heavy Turkish slippers, broad at the toe and turned up. Uma, Horse. Neko, Cat. Nezumi, Mouse. Suzume, Sparrow. Kitsune, Fox (pronounced kitsnt}. Hato, Dove. Inu t Dog. Uwo, Fish (living). Sakana, Fish (cooked). Skishi, Lion. Niwatori) Cock. KamOy Wild goose. S/mi, Swan. Matsu, Pine. Tsubaki y Camellia. Sakura-gi, Cherry. Ume'no kl. Plum-tree. Hana, Flower. Eda t Branch. Ha, Leaf. y To be scattered by the wind (said of flowers). tj Cryptomeria. Talchibana, Orange tree. Yen, Dollar. Sen, About a halfpenny. Short Vocabulary. 319 Kane 1 , Gold. Zeni, Copper coin. Rinn, The tenth of a halfpenny. Kanemotchi, Wealthy man. Bimmbo-ninn, Poor man. Shaku, Japanese foot about 4| to 5 inches. Sun, Tenth of the shaku. Cha-ia, Tea-house. Cha-dokoro, Place where one takes tea. Cha-ire, Tea-box. Cha-no-yu, A tea-party. Ceremony of rice. Sake', Eau-de-vie of rice. Gozen, Repast. Gohan, Cooked rice. Taberu, Eat. Mdtsuri, Religious fete. Kogo, Carrying-chair. Morimon, Gala lacquer chair, shaped like a house. Tsuzumi, Little drum with two ends, shape of an hour-glass. Biwa, Four-stringed lute-shaped like a Biwa tree leaf (as is likewise the famous lake). Sakuhatchi, Flute with five holes. Fue, Bamboo or ivory flute with seven or eight holes. Koto, Flat harp with thirteen strings. Kokiu, Violin. Samisen, Guitar with three strings, which is played with a wooden instrument. It is, says an author, the most widespread and the most noted of the instruments of Japanese music. Hitchikiri) Small hautbois with double reed. The ornamental plants which hold such a great place in Japanese decorations deserve quite special 320 Short Vocabulary. mention. We owe to M. Moxime Cornu, the learned professor of the Museum at Paris, the follow- ing nomenclature : Awo momi (Corylopsis spicata). Toubaki (Camellia). Tobira (Pitosporum Tobira). Tsurumasaki (Evonymus japonicus). Erables. Aoki (Aucuba). Kuchinashi (Gardenia). Fakuromoki (Ligustrum japonicum). Teikakatsura (Trachelospermum jasminoides). Jinchiyode (Daphne odora). Yuri (Lis). Shuro (Trachycarpus excelsus). Shurochiku (Rhapis flabelleformis). Howochiku (Bambusa Ausca). Medake (Arundinaria japonica). Take (Bambous). Kiki yo (Hatycodon grandiflorum). Hakone out sgui (Weigelia) Hi mawari (Helianthus annuus). Kiku (Chrysanthemums). Asa gao (Volubilis). Dodan (Andromeda japonica). Tsutsusi (Azalea indica). Hosen Kwa (Balsamine). Shiya ga (Iris japonica). Yama hagi (Lespedeza bicolor). Kwandzoo (Hemerocallis flava). Gibo (Funkia ovata). Yabura (Ophiopogon spicatus). Omoto (Rhodia japonica). Short Vocabulary. 321 Ho noki (Magnolia hypoleuca). Hakou renge (Magnolia conspicua). Tsoutsou so ka (Hisbiscus rosa sinensis). Hasu (Nelumbium speciosum). Keshi (Papaver somniferum). Keman so (Dielytra spectabilis). Satzouma Outsougui (Philadelphus coronarius). Kawa utsuki (Deutzia scabra). Ouns hama (Deutzia gracilis). Kurin so (Drunule japonica). Kasa gourouma (Clematis florida). Kibune giku (Anemone japonica). Botan (Doeonia Mautan). Skaku gahu (Doeonia albiflora). Gamawouki (Kewia japonica). Hazebana (Spersia primifolia). No ibara (Rosa multiflora). Teou chin bar a (Rosa indica). Temari kana (Hortensia). SOME PHRASES. Arimas-ka, Is there any ? Arimas-sen, There is none. Arimas, There is some. Itai, Ah ! that hurts. Dai-dyo-bu, All right. Dc'kinai, That won't do ; I don't get on Sukoshi, A little. Amari, Too much. Ike'nai, It is not proper ; forbidden. Ne san, Little one ! (to call any one to one's self). Djodann bakari. You are making game of me ; you are jesting. 21 ,22 Short Vocabulary. Ikura ? How much ? Taka'i, High, dear. Yasoui, Cheap, easy. Mudzukashi, Difficult. [/resit, Ah ! what pleasure. Shin-setsu, Amiable. Nama-iki, Plate-layer. Sharebito, Distinguished people. Baka, Imbecile. Berabo, Rabble, riff-raff. So suruto, Then, all on a sudden. Ohayd, Good-morning (morning only). Konnitchi va. Good-day. Sayonara, Adieu. Oyasoumi nasai', Good-night (lit., deign to repose). Danna ! danna ! Eh ! Sir ! Dannasan, Sir. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JAPAN. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JAPAN. THE first part of this catalogue is devoted to travellers of former times, of great celebrity, not merely on account of the curiosity attaching to them, but because their works are still authoritative on a country which so long remained closed to all exploration. In alphabetic order are arranged modern French, English, German, Dutch, and Japanese works, with the title, place, and date of publication ; a list of the learned Japanese societies, and some official documents. Specialists will no doubt detect more than one hiatus in this list, but it is not drawn up for them, and, such as it is, it may satisfy the curiosity of the amateur, in whom the reading of this book may have begotten some taste for things Japanese, if any such reader there be. 325 326 Bibliography of Japan. Moreover, not to be wanting to his title, the author has marked with an asterisk the works which may be consulted in the library of the Musee Gui- met, by applying to the librarian, the amiable and learned M. de Milloue. EARLY AUTHORS. . MARCO POLO, 1298. This celebrated traveller speaks in this wise of the inhabitants of Japan : " They are white, civilized, politically independent, happy, and idolaters. The country is so rich in gold, that the roof and the floors of the Emperor's palace have been overlaid with it to a thickness of two inches." COENRAET KRANIER, Dutchman. Gives a recital of the pomp displayed at a great fete held at the Japanese Court on the 2oth October, 1626. FRANgois CARON, Frenchman, who died in the service of the Compagnie des Indes in the seventeenth century. Beschrijvinge van het Machtigh Koninckrijcke Japan, Amsterdam, 1649. 4to. (See Bibliographical Memoir of the journals of the Dutch Navigators, edited by P. A. Tiele. Amsterdam, Frederick Muller, 1867.) FERNAND MENDEZ PINTO, whose adventurous voyages have been faithfully translated from Portuguese into French by Bernard Figuier. Paris, 1628. HENDRICK HAGENAER, head clerk of the Dutch East India Company, who set out in December, 1684, on the corvette Le Grol, and returned to Europe after meeting Francois Caron in Japan, 1636. L. TAVERNIER, Frenchman, 1679. Collection of sev- eral strange narratives and treatises. (Treatise on the cause of the persecution of the Christians in Japan.*) Bibliography of Japan. 327 CHARLEVOIX (P. DE), Frenchman, born 1682, finished, at Rouen, in 1736, the publication of his famous work in nine volumes : Histoire et Description du Japon* ENGELBERT KAEMPFER, German in the service of Holland. His Natural, Civil, and Ecclesiastical History of Japan, written in Butok (1727), has been translated into English by Hans Sloane, and into French at The Hague (1729) by G. Scheuchzer.* BENIOWSKI, a Pole in the service of France, took part in the work of our establishment at Madagascar, end of eighteenth century. C. P. THUNBERG, sent to Japan in 1772, by the Dutch Company, died in 1798, author of a Voyage to Japan by Way of the Cape of Good Hope, etc. Translated into French by Langles in 1796. Ueber die Japanische Nation Vorgelesen, 1874* PH. VON SIEBOLD, born at Wurzburg (1796-1866), pub- lished at Leyden, Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Neben- und Schutz-ldndern, the most important work that had been written upon Japan, as also a number of works on the botany and language of Japan.* De His- toric Naturalis in Japonia Statu . . . Dissertatio. Bataviae, 1824. 8vo. Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Century, from Recent Dutch Visitors of Japan and the German of Dr. Ph. Fr. von Siebold. London, 1841. 8vo. Geographical and Ethnographical Elucidations to the Dis- coveries of Maerten Gerritsen Vries. Translated from the Dutch by F. M. Cowan. Amsterdam, London, 1859. ISAAC TITSINGH, Dutch Ambassador in China, at the end of the last century : Narrative written by Van Braam Houckgeest. Ceremonies usitces au Japonpour les Mari- ages et Funerailles. Paris, 1819. Memoir es et Anecdotes sur la Dynastie Regnante des Djogouns, translated by Abel 328 Bibliography of Japan. Remusat. Paris, 1820. Annales des Empereurs du Japon. Paris, 1834. BRETON. Le Japon, ou M&urs, Usages et Coutumes des Habitants de cet Empire, d 'apres les Relations Rc'centes de Kriisenstern, Langsdorf, Titsingh, etc. Paris, 1818. Lettre du Roi de Portugal Don Manuel a Ferdinand, Roi de Castille. 1505. PIGAFETTA. L* Histoire du Voyage de Circumnavigation de Magellan. 1521. Jesus, Cartas que os Padres e Irmaos da Companhia de Jesus Escreverdo dos Reynos de Japdo et China aos da Mesma Companhia da India, et Europa, desde Anno 1549 ate' o de 1580. Evora, 1598. Relacion del Sucesso que tuvo nuestra Santa Fe en los Reynos del Jap on, desde el Ano 1612 el de 1615. Imperando Cubosama, por el P. LUYS PINEYRO. Ano 1617. Madrid, A. M. de Balboa. Folio. Fasciculus e Japponicus Floribus, svo adhuc Madentibur Sanguine, Composittis a P. ANTONIO FRANCISCO CARDIM. Rome, 1646. Folio. WITSEN (NICOLAS). Noord en Oost Tartarye. Am- sterdam, 1692. Folio. SALMON (T.). Hedendaagsche Historie. . .uit het En- gelsch vertaald, enz. IX. de deel Iste en Ilde Stuk. Behel- zende eene Beschryving van Japan ; benevens de bezittingen der Portugeezen en Spanjaarden in de Indien.' Ley den, 1778. 4to. FRENCH WORKS. ALBANO (L. D') (Pseud. Leon de Rosny). Le Couvent du Dragon Vert* ARDOUIN (Dr. LEON). Aper$u sur I'Histoire de la Mcdecine au Japon. Paris, 1884. Bibliography of Japan. 329 APPERT (G.) in conjunction with M. H. KINOSHITA. Ancien Japan. Paris, 1889. AUDSLEY (A.) et BOWES (J. L.). La Ceramique Japo- naise. Paris, 1877-80.* BOUSQUET (GEORGES). I. Voyage dans rinterieur du Japon. 1874. II. Une Excursion a Nikko (Revue des Deux-Mondes). 1874. III. Yezo et les Ainos (Revue des Deux-Mondes). 1874. IV. Les Mczurs, le Droit Public et Prive du Japon (Revue des Deux-Mondes). 1875. V. La Religion au Japon (Revue des Deux-Mondes) . 1876. VI. Le Japon de nos Jours, etc. 2 vols., 8vo. Paris, 1877.* BURNOUF. La Mythologie des Japonais d'apres le Koku Si-riaku. Paris, 1875.* CHESNEAU (E.). LArt Japonais. Paris, 1869. Le Japon a Paris. Paris, 1879. COTTEAU. De Paris au Japon. Paris, 1883.* DELMAS (R. DE). Les Japonais, leur Pays et leurs Moeurs. Paris, 1885. DOUSDEBES (ALBERT). Une Vengeance Japonaise. Paris, 1886. DUBARD. Le Japon Pittoresque. Paris, 1879. La Vie en Chine et au Japon. Paris, 1882.* DUCHATEAU (Jr.). Notices sur les Amos Insulaires de Yezo, etc. Paris, 1874. Kotcho-sen-zi. Geneve, 1874. FRAISSINET (EDMOND). Le Japon. Paris.* 'S5~b FURET (LE .}.Lettres a M. L. de Rosny sur r Archipel Japonais. Paris, 1861. i8mo. FURTH (C. DE). Un Parisien en Asie, Voyage au Japon, etc. 1860.* GAUSSERON. Les Fideles Ronins. Paris, 1882. GEERTS (A. J. C.). Les Produits de la Nature Japonaise et Chinoise. 8vo. Yokohama, 1878. GONSE. L Art a r Exposition. Paris, 1879. L'Art Japonais. Paris, 1885.* 33 Bibliography of Japan. GRANDEAU. Extrait des Annales de la Science Agrono- mique Fran$aise et Etrangere, traduit d'allemand. L' Agri- culture du Japon, son Etat Actuel el son Avenir, par Shin-Kigi-Nagoi. GUIMET (EMILE). Promenades Japbnaises, illustrated by Felix Regamey. Paris, 1878. Tokio-Nikko. Paris, 1880. Le Theatre au Japon. Paris, 1886. La Mandara de Kooboo-dai-ssi* GUIZOT (G.). Le Jap on Raconte par Lawrence Oli- phant. Paris, 1875.* HOFFMANN. Notice sur les Principales Fabriques de Porcelaine du Japon (journal Asiatique). 1885.* HUMBERT. Le Japon Illustre. Paris, 1870.* JANCIGNY (Dueois DE). Japon ( Univers Pittoresque), t. xlvi. KLAPROTH (J.). Nippon o dai-itsi-ran. Annales des San-Kokf-ran-dzu-sets j Aper$u General des Trois Royaumes. Paris, 1832. Empereurs du Japon. Paris, KRAFFT (HUGUES). Souvenir de notre Tour du Monde, Paris, 1885. Au Japon ( Btilletin Soc. Ge'og. Commerciale, t. vi.). LEFEVRE PONTALIS (GERMIAN). Un Projet de Con- quete du Japon par V Angleterre et la Russie en 1776 (Annales de r Ecole des Sciences Politiques). LAPEYRERE (P. DE). Le Japon Militaire. P,aris, 1883. LEQUEUX (A.). Le Theatre Japonaise. Paris, 1889. iSmo. LINDAU (ROD.). Voyage autotir du Japon. Paris, 1864.* LOTI (PIERRE). Madame Chrysantheme. Paris, 1888. L 'Imperatrice Printemps ( Revue des Deux-Mondes), 1888. La Sainte Montague de Nikko ( Nouvelle Revue), 1888.* MAGET (DE S.). La Protestation au Japon. Paris, 1878. Dai- Nippon (Nouvelle Revue). Bibliography of Japan. 3 3 1 MENE (E.). Le Chrysantheme dans I'Art Japonais. Paris, 1886. Le Japon Artistique. Le Japan Artistique el Litter air e* METCHNIKOFF (LEON). Kotcho-sen-zi. Geneve. Kourimoto, Tei zi-no. Sur la Condition de la Fetnme au Japon. Paris, 1869. Extrait du Koziki ou Cosmogonie Japonaise. Geneve. Notice sur la Religion Nationals des Japonais^ le Culte des Kamis ou Shintoisme. Compte Rendu du Cong res des Orientalistes, 1878. L' Empire Japonais. Geneve, 1880.* MILLOUE (DE). Recherches sur les Fune'railles et en Particulier sur les Sacrifices Humains au Japon et en Chine (Bulletin de la Societe' d" Anthropologie de Lyon, 1881).* Anciens Textes Sanserifs du Japon. Leide, 1884. PAGES(L.). Histoiredela Religion Chretienne au Japon. Paris, 1869-70. Deux vol., 8vo. Dictionnaire J aponais- Fran^ais^ 1898 to 1951. Paris, 1868. La Persecution des Chretiens au Japon et V Ambassade Japonaise en Europe. Paris, 1873. Histoiredes Vingt- six Martyrs Japonais , dont la Canonisation doit avoir Lieu a Rome en 1862. Paris, 3862. Bibliographic Japonaise, ou Catalogue des Ouv rages Relatifs au Japon qui out e'te Publie's depuis le XV e Siecle jusqif ct, nos jours. Paris, 1859. 4to. PLAUCHUT (E.). Formose et I' Expedition Japonaise (Revue des Deux- Mondes, 1874).* REGAMEY (FELIX). Okoma. Paris, 1883.* REMUSAT (ABEL). Note sur la Description des lies Mou- nin-sima (Journal Asiatique, t. vii.). Melanges Asia- tiqucs. Paris, 1825-43.* ROSNY (DE). 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B laden over Japan. The Hague, 1852. LIEBSCHER (G.). Japans landwirthschaftliche und allgemeinwirthschaftliche Verhdltnisse. Jena, 1882. 8vo. LIVE (DE). Kive Archipel. Leide, 1879. 4to.* MEIJLAN (G. F.) ( J. H. Tobias). Japan. Voorgesteldin Schetson over de Zeden engabruiken van dat Ryk byzonder iiber dc Ingezetenender stad Nagasaky. Amsterdam, 1830. 8vo. NETTO (C.)- Papier -Schmetterlinge aus Japan. Leipzig, 1888. PEREIRA (J. M.). Los Paises del Extremo Oriente. Madrid, 1883. REIN (J. J.). Japan nachReisen und Studien. Leipzig, 1880-86. 2 vols'., 8vo.* RITTAU (J.). Topographische Carte von Japan. Berlin, 1880. Orographische und hydrographische Carte von Japan. Berlin, 1880.* SERRURIER (L.). Japanische Etiquette. Leide, 1880.* JAPANESE WORKS. FUJISHIM A (RYANUO). Le Bouddhisme Japonais : Doctrine et Histoire des Douze Grandes Sectes Bouddhiques 338 Bibliography of Japan. du Japon (Article in the Nouvelle Revue, Oct., 1888, p. 741). Paris, 1889.* LUYEMATZ (K.). The Identity of the Great Conqueror Genghis Khan with the Japanese Yoshitsune. London, MOTONO. Les Relations Exterieures du Japon et la Question de la Revision des Traites (Bulletin de la Societe ' de Geographie de Lyon, 1884).* OKOSHI. Le Japon Jadis et Adjourd'hui (Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie de Lyon, t. viii., p. 25). TOMII (A.). Le Shinto'isme, sa Mythologie, sa Moralite' ( Annales de Musee Guimet, t. x.). YMAIOZMUI (J.). De la Religion Shinto (Compte Rendu du Troisttme Cong res des Orientalistes ) . Lyon, 1878. LEARNED JAPANESE SOCIETIES. TOKIO. Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Natur- und Volker- kunde Ostasiens Mittheilungen. 4to. r lvK.\Q.TchigakoU'Ki6kat (Societe de Geographie). Journal. 8vo. TOKIO. R6magi-Kai. Socie'te' de Romanisation de r Alphabet Japonais. Romagi-Zashi. 4to.* TOKIO. Imperial University of Japan. I. College of Literature. Memoirs. 4to. II. College of Science. Memoirs. 4to. ToKio-FuTSUBAN-KwAi. Societe pour la Propagation de la Langue Fran$aise. Tokio, members Japanese and foreign. YOKOHAMA. Asiastic Society of Japan. Journal. 8vo. RIUCHI-KWAI. Socie'te des Amis des Arts, fondee pour ameliorer les conditions des artistes et proteger les oeuvres d'art. Bibliography of Japan. 339 OFFICIAL JAPANESE DOCUMENTS. BRAMSEN (W.). Japanese Chronological Tables. Tokio, 1880. Japanese education, literature, and art. Philadelphia, 1876. Annual Reports of the Minister of Education for the Seventh Year of Meidji* Notice sur la Socie'te de Langue Fran$aise de Tokio et son ecole. Tokio, 1888. The Tokio Technical School. Tokio, 1888.* TOKIO DAIGAKU. University of Tokio. The Calendar of the Departments of Laws^ Science, and Literature. Tokio, 1879-80-81. Japanese, Metric, and English Weights and Measures, etc., by Edward Kinch. Tokio, 1879. 8vo. A Classified and Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Agricultural Products Exhibited in the Sydney International Exhibition by the Imperial College of Agriculture. Tokio, 1879. Stray Notes on Kioto and its Environs. Hiogo, 1878. Lejapon a V Exposition Universelle de 1878, publie sous la direction de la commission imperiale Japonaise. Paris, 1878. An Outline of Japanese Education, Literature, and Arts, by the MOMBUSHO (Department of Education), for the Philadelphia International Exhibition of 1876, reprinted for the Paris Exhibition, 1878.* Catalogue de la Section Japonaise de r Exposition Universelle de Philadelphie, 1876. INDEX INDEX Acrobats, 267 Agriculture formerly held in high honour, 184 Akaza (vegetable), 190 Alloys, 89 Alphabets, (a) Kirakana, (b) Kata- kana, 14, 15, 313 America, treaty with, 19, 293 Apples, 195 Argilite (a variety of stone), 72 Arms, 92 Armourers, 88 Art, a national characteristic, 25 seq. ; hostility of the Chinese towards, 4 Artists, genius of, 21, 22 ; method of study of, 21 seq. ; list of famous, 37 seq. Avabi (shell-fish), 194 Awata faience, manufacture of, 124 A ivogiri (a wood from which char- coal is made), 78 Ayu (fish), 193 Aztiki (cereal), 188 B Bamboo, 75 Banana, 194 Barley, 187 Beer not drunk in Japan, 182 Benibiakiitan (a wood of a reddish colour), 77 Betrothals, ceremonies connected with, 248 Births, ceremonies attending, 244 Bishamon, God of War, 96 Biiva (a close-grained wood), 79 Biiva (fruit), 195 Boku Zeigo, discoverer of material used in pottery, in Books, manufacture of, 164, 165 Bread unknown in Japan, 181 Bronze, colouring of, 91 Buckwheat, 188 Buddhism, 276-9 Budget for 1891-92, 302 Cabinet-makers, 75 Carpenters, 81 ; tools used by, 82, 83 Carrots, 188 Catherine, Czarina, 293 Catholicism, causes of the failure to establish, 1 7 Ceramics, 104 ; celebrated marks of, 128 Cereals, 187-91 343 344 Index. Chamber of Representatives, 299 ; election of, 300 Chanehin (a red-coloured wood), 78 Charlevoix, Father, 16 Chasers, 88 Chesneau, Ernest, 33 Chestnut, 196 China and Japan compared as re- gards art, 3-7 Chinese dwellings, 6, 7 Chosen mugi (plant), 190 Christianity, first preached in Japan by St. Fran9ois-Xavier, 279 ; failure of the first mission, 279 ; again tolerated, 280 Christians, massacre of, 280 Citron, 198 Classification of society, 184, 185 Cloisonne enamels, 97 Cod, 194 Coffee not drunk in Japan, 182 Coinage, 302 Colouring plants, list of, 143, 144 Colours used in printing woodcuts, 175 Condiments, list of, 197, 198 Cooking utensils, 184 Cooks, extreme cleanliness of, 184 Coopers, 83 Copper, 89 ; not discovered be- fore about the eighth century, 90 Cotton, 138 Cranes trained as messengers, n Cucumber, 191 D Da'ikon (a sort of radish), 188 Dances, 267 Decorated leathers, 176, 177 Decoration of a European house, 50 seq. Designing, 170-2 Divorce usually settled without the interference of the courts, 246 Domestic employments, 240-3 Dwellings, characteristics of, 235- 40 ; liability to total destruction of, by fire, 236 Dye, colours of, 142 ; products used in the manufacture of, 142 Eau-de-vie extracted from sweet potatoes, 1 88 Edible plants, great number util- ised in Japan, 191 Education, 13, 16 Engraving (wood), 1 702 European house, decoration of, 50 seq. Europeans, first recorded appear- ance of, in 1842, 280 Exhibition at Philadelphia, 1876, Japanese work at, 21 Exports, 302 Faience, composition of, 104 ; fac- tories of, no seq, ; manufacture of, 122 Fans, tradition concerning inven- tion of, 162 ; used to denote the different classes of society, 163 Fetes, Marriage of the Stars (legend), 12 ; New Year's Day, 252; the five traditional, of Japan, 258 ; minor occasions, 258 Feudal system, abolition of, 19 ; result of abolition of, 20 Index. 345 Fictile products, list of places giv- ing names to certain, 128, 129 Firearms first imported by Portu- guese, 280 Fish, list of, 193, 194 Flag of Japan, 305 Fruits, list of, 194-6 Fudenso, 189 Fttgu (fish), 194 Fuki (vegetable), 190 Fukuoka, 138 Fuma (fish), 193 Funeral ceremonies, 250-2 Fuzi (mountain) 303 G Gesu Gombe, inventor of new method of making porcelain, 107 Glaze, preparation of, for porcelain, 116 Gobo (vegetable), 188 Goldsmiths, S8 Goldsmith's work, 97-103 Goncourt, M. E. de, 34 Gonse, M. (a French artist), 39, 47 Gorodayu Shonsui, the secret of porcelain introduced into Japan by, 106 Government, system of, 301 Goyo, 1 08 Granite, 72 Grape, 196 Gray potteries, composition of, 105 Greece (ancient) and Japan, strik- ing analogies between, 18, 19 H Haha hi&e (vegetable), 190 Hair brushes, for artistic purposes, 167, 168 ; use of, in writing, 168- 70 Hatnaguri (shell-fish), 194 Hand-screen, invention of, 163 Haricot, 188 Hayashi, M., 9 Hazel-nut, 195 Hempseed used in cooking, 198 Herring, 193 Hiba (a dark-coloured wood), 77 Higashi Jima, inventor of new method of making porcelains, 107 Hirado, a province of Japan, noted for its beautiful white porcelain figures, 109 Hokusa'i, a famous Japanese ar- tist of the seventeenth century, 39-43 Honey, 199 Hongandzi, temple of, 36 House, European, decoration of, 50-57. House of Peers, constitution of, 299 Icho ( Ginkgo bilobaj, 78 Imari porcelain, manufacture of, 114 Imo (vegetable), 188 Imports, 302 Inari (a god who aids the armourers), 96 Indian ink, process used in manu- facture of, 165 Indigo (plant), 144 ; method of preparing, for artistic uses, 145, 146 Ingras, M., 22 Inspiration of Japanese artists, 99 346 Index. Ippio (a theatrical artist), 60 Iron, 89 Ishiraga, earliest Japanese artist of whom any known record ex- ists, 39 Isu (a brown-red wood), 80 Isunenobu, M., a famous Japanese artist, 47 Ivory, use of, in sculpture, 34 seq. J Japan and ancient Greece, striking analogies between, 18, 19 Japan and China compared in regard to art, 3-7 Jinen jo (a tubercle), 188 Joiners, 81, 83 Junsa'i (vegetable), 189 K Kaki (fruit), 196 Kaki (a very hard wood), 79 Kagosima, bombardment of, 294 Kakiyemon, 107 Kampfer, Herr, 16 Kashu (a tubercle), 188 Katasse (temple of), 80 Katsuwo (fish), 193 Kaya (a white wood), 78 Kay a (fruit), 195 Kioto, 98 Kiosai', a famous modern painter, 43,44 Kirin, 136 Kishu, Prince, 108 Kito (noted for its crepons), 138 Kiyomidzu, 108 Koi (fish), 193 Kudzu (plant), 190 Kuri (chestnut-tree), 78 Kurivai (vegetable), 189 Kutani porcelain, manufacture of, 117 Kuwa (mulberry tree), 78 Lacquer, 147-56 ; consisting of, 147 ; manufacture of, 148, 149 ; varieties of, 148, 149 ; method of application in decorative work, 149-55 Lead, 89 Leathers (decorated), 176, 177 ; colours used in decorating, 177 Legendary personages, list of, 306 Legends, marriage of the stars, 12 ; concerning tea, 199 ; concern- ing tosso, 210 Lettuce, 189 Lilies, use of, as food, 189 Limestone, 72 List of sovereigns. 305 Loom (silk), setting up of, 140 Loti, Pierre, 48 Lotos, 1 88 Luzuki (fish), 193 M Maize, 188 Manufacture, processes of, 69 seq. Marine plants, list of, used for food, 191-3 Marionettes, invention of, 260 Marriage of the Stars (legend), 12 Marriage, usually arranged by the parents, 245 ; functions of the nakodo (witness) in connection with, 245, 246 ; marriage portion and presents, 247 ; adoption of the bridegroom by the bride's Index. 347 parents in the absence of a son, 247 ; nuptial ceremonies, 248-50 Massacre of Christians, 280 Mayedo, Prince, no Measures, table of, 303 Melon, 191 Metal-forgers, 88 Metals, 88-103 Midori no Sato (" hill of fresh ver- dure "), name given to Japanese house and ground near Ver- sailles, 215 ; description of , 216- 231 Midwifery practised by both sexes, 243 Millet, 1 88 Mino, porcelain of, 106 Mioga (vegetable), 190 Mitsu ba (vegetable)., 189 Monetary system, 302 Moulding of porcelain, 120 Mount Fuzi, 303 ; legend of, 304 Mushrooms, varieties of, 197, 198 N Nakodo (a sort of sponsor to the contracting parties in marriage), 245, 246 ; honourable position of, 246 Naniako (fish), 193 Nara, miracle at, 259 Nasu (vegetable), 190 Natural products, 69 seq. Natusme (fruit), 195 New Year's Day, ceremonies at- tending the celebration of, 252-7 Nuptial ceremonies, 248-50 O Oils, 198, 199 Oliphant, Lawrence, 15 Onion, 190 Opium almost unknown in Japan, 214 Orange, 196 Osaka, noted for its artistic ob- jects, 98 Ovens, construction of, used in the manufacture of ceramics, 123 Owari, porcelains of, 105 Paper, early use of, 157 ; varieties of, 157, 158 ; method of manufac- turing, 158-60; variety of uses for, 160-2 Peach, 195 Peers, House of, 299 Perry, Gommodore, 293 Philadelphia, Exhibition of 1876, Japanese work at, 21 Plants, marine, list of, used for food, 191-3 Plum, 195 Poetry connected with popular games, n Poets, annual assembly of, n Polo, Marco, 304 Pomegranate, 196 Pompadour, Madame de, 63 Poppy-seeds used in cooking, 198 Population, 301 Porcelain, composition of, 105 ; manufacture of, 114 Porcelains, Japanese and Chinese, compared, 104 Portuguese, cotton-seed imported anew by, in the year 1550, 138 ; probably first Europeans to visit Japan, 280 ; narrative of their endeavours in 1685 to regain the Index. favour of the Japanese, 281- 2Q3 Potatoes not cultivated in Japan, 181 Potteries (gray), composition of, 105 Pottery, 104 Prestidigitators, 267 Printing woodcuts, method of, 172-6 ; colours used in, 174 Products used in the manufacture of dyes, 142 Public debt, 303 Pumpkin, 191 Quince, 195 R Raku faience, manufacture of, 126 Religion, represented by Shintoism and Buddhism, 268 ; list of dei- ties, 268-78 Representatives, Chamber of, 299 Rice, 184-7 ; importance of, 186 ; method of growing, 186 Rice straw, variety of uses for, 186 Rioki kiku (plant), 190 Risampei, 106 Russia, attempt of, to open nego- tiations, 293 Rye, 187 S Sakai, steam factory at, for the manufacture of cloth, 138 Sake' (liqueur], manufacture of, 182, 208-10 Sake (fish), 193 Sand-stones, 74 Sans ho (plant), 198 Sansyo (a very soft wood), 78 Sawara (a very dark wood), 77 Saza (fish), 194 Schinchiu (yellow copper), 90 Schistose chlorites, 72 Schools, 13, 14 Sculpture, development of, by re- ligious ideas, 33, 34 Seido (green copper), 90 Servants, good behaviour guaran- teed by employment bureaus, 240 ; salaries paid to, 240 Seto, porcelains of, 105 Shido (violet copper), 90 Shintoism, 268-76 Shir a uwo (fish), 193 Shoes (wooden), makers of, 82, 83 Sidako (fish), 193 Silk, reeling and scouring, 139 Silkworm raising, 130 Simonoseki, bombardment of, 294 Slate, 74 Society, classification of, 184, 185 Somet-suke (porcelain), 106 Sovereigns, list of, 305 Spices, list of, 197, 198 Starch extracted from sweet pota- to, 188 Stone, 71 Straw, variety of uses for, 186, 187 Sweet potatoes, 188 System of government, 301 J 93 Take (bamboo), 78 Take (fish), 193 Index. 349 Tea, the only thing drunk with meals, 182 ; legend concerning, 199 ; first introduced into Japan by Esei, in the year 1200, 200 ; ceremonial use of, for the strengthening of friendship, 201-5 ; utensils used in connec- tion with the ceremony, 202, 203 ; method of sowing, gather- ing, and preparing, 205-8 Temple of Katasse, 80 Temple of Yemitsu at Nikko, 155, 156 Textile fabrics, 130 Theatre placards, description of, 59 Theatres, decoration of, 260 Theatrical representations, 259- 68 ; preceded by ceremonial dance, 259 Titsing, Herr, 16 Tobacco, originally imported from Portugal, 211 ; species of, 212 ; cultivation and preparation of, 212, 213 Tokuzayemon, decorated porcelain first introduced into Japan by, 107 Tools used in working in wood, 81 seq. Tosso (beverage), 210; legend connected with, 210, 211 Tsuku imo (a tubercle), 188 Turtle, 194 U Udo (black copper), 90 Udo (vegetable), 189 Uni (fish), 193 Vegetables, 187-191 Viollet-le-Duc, 23 W Walnut, 195 Warabi (vegetable), 190 Weights, 303 Wheat, 187 Wine not used in Japan, 182 Wood, 75 ; list of species for the most part peculiar to Japan, 77- 80 Wood-carving, 81 ; tools used in, 81, 82 Woodcuts, method of printing, 172-6 Wood-engraving, 170-2 Wooden shoes, 84, 85 Wrestlers, 265, 266 Writing, positions assumed in, 168-70 Xavier, Francis, 17, 279, 281 Yemitsu, temple of, at Nikko, 155, 156 Yoshidoya revives the pottery in- dustry in the year 1800, no Z Zemmai (vegetable), 190 Zingoro Riozen, inventor of a beautiful variety of porcelain, 107 THIS 14 DAY USE AN RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. . x* v TH IS WILL RENEWALS ONLY TEL. NO. 642-3405 DAY This book is due on the last date stamped below* or OVER on the date to which renewed. 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