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 Japanese art / 
 
 3 1924 023 425 618 
 
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 PRINTED INU.S. A. 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023425618 
 
JAPANESE ART 
 
 LOUIS GONSE 
 
 Translated by IvI. P. Niclcersorx 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 BELFORD- CLARKE CO. 
 

 COPYRIGHT, lagl 
 M. P. NICKERSON 
 
 wj. S^y ^vT 
 
 ''%U.:p<^ 
 
 3^ . ^ 
 
 LINDIS PRINTING AND BlNDINQ CO. 
 
OBEST OF THE TOKUGAWA. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 HE history of painting is, in Japan more 
 than anywhere else, the history of art 
 itself. The study of its progress, its 
 developments and its changes, alone 
 can throw some light upon the history of these sec- 
 ondary arts which we call decorative arts, and enable 
 us to penetrate into the depths of Japanese taste. 
 
 Painting is the key : without it we can understand 
 nothing. Art is the result of it, and is subordinate 
 to it. If, then, we can establish, upon a secure basis, 
 the outlines of the history of painting, we shall have 
 made a decided step toward comprehending the 
 artistic genius of the Japanese, a people who charm 
 
JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 our imagination, but whom we scarcely understand, 
 and of whom we know very little. 
 
 It is in a rather exclusive manner that the latest 
 researches have been carried on by the Americans 
 and English. With their precise and 
 practical mind, these latter consider 
 that no classifications, no serious 
 chronology, can enlighten the history 
 of Japanese art outside of the study 
 of its monuments of painting. 
 
 Dr. Anderson, of London, a pro- 
 fessor in the Medical University of 
 ^^^ Tokio, who resided several years in 
 l^^j^^Hflj Japan, devoted himself to these re- 
 searches. He found in Tokio a large 
 library of Japanese books, and gath- 
 ered a fine collection of nearly two 
 thousand kakemonos,* makimonos, and painted al- 
 bums, among which one finds specimens of all the 
 different schools of painting and the principal masters. 
 This collection has been recently acquired by the 
 British Museum at a cost of $15,000. Dr. Anderson 
 is at present engaged in classifying it chronologic- 
 ally. All who are interested in the history of Japan- 
 
 BEAIi OF KUDABA 
 
 EABANABI. 
 
 *Kak6moiios are paintioga upon Bilk or paper^ elegantly framed with 
 bands of plain or figured Bta£Ea, mounted upon rich paper, and rolled upon 
 a light cylinder of soft wood. 
 
 These cylinders are finished at the ends with tips of ivory, shell, nat- 
 ural woods, or lacqner. 
 
 There are tew houses so poor as not to possess one or more of these 
 kakemonos. The owners unroll them and hang them on their walla on 
 the days they receive their friends, or when a stranger honors them with a 
 visit. A space or recess called the tokonoma is usually reserved in the 
 
PAINTING. 5 
 
 ese art wait with impatience for this collection to 
 be exposed in the rooms especially assigned to it. 
 They also await the completion o£ the great work 
 that Dr. Anderson has been preparing for several 
 years on Japanese painting, and of which the first 
 volume has just appeared. 
 
 Many kakemonos have been bought by Ameri- 
 cans. Among the collectors is Mr. FenoUosa, an 
 ardent collector, and member of the Academy of 
 Kano; he has gathered together more than five 
 thousand kakemonos, and is considered to-day, with 
 Mr. Wakai, one of the most expert connoisseurs. Mr. 
 FenoUosa has also prepared an important work on 
 the history of Japanese painting. 
 
 Finally, Dr. Gierke, of Berlin, has gathered 
 during his stay in Japan a numerous and valuable 
 collection of paintings, among which are undoubted 
 originals by some of the principal artists in Japan. 
 This collection has just been purchased by the Mu- 
 seum of Berlin, at a cost of $9,000. At the same time 
 the Japanese have become interested in these re- 
 searches. Parallel with this European movement, 
 there was established in Japan a course of studies 
 which has produced important results. Amateurs of 
 
 honsea of the middle class for the kakemonos. The silk mounting of these 
 rolls is often very luxurious, the framing showing an infinite variety of 
 design and nearly always of exquisite coloring, harmonizing with the 
 painting. A careful mounting always indicates an esteemed painting.. It 
 is in the mountings of the kakemonos that one finds examples of the most 
 beautiful and most ancient materials. Kakemonos of great price are en' 
 yeloped in a case of silk, and this is inclosed in a double box of wood. 
 The makimono is a smaller and longer scroll, which unfolds in the 
 bAnd. It is, in a way, the primitive form of the book in Japan. 
 
6 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 kakemonos, and connoisseurs of painting have al- 
 ways been numerous there. Special works, text- 
 books on the history of art, didactic treatises andcoL- 
 lections of examples abound ; and I was able, with the 
 aid of the Japanese, to gather excellent information ; 
 but no one had thought of combining together these 
 scattered documents and comparing them with the 
 originals kept in private collections or in the tem- 
 ples, with the testimony furnished by tombstone in- 
 scriptions, or by the documents contained in the 
 ancient works of the 16th and 17th centuries, in order 
 to form a complete work according to our critical 
 methods. This is the work that several learned Jap- 
 anese have undertaken, notably Mr. Wakai, organizer 
 of the Japanese section of the Exposition of 1878. 
 
 The results of these researches have been com- 
 bined in a work called Fouso Gouafou, "Notes up- 
 on Japanese Painting," not yet published, but of 
 which the manuscript itself, thanks to the careful 
 translation and scholarly notes of Mr. Hayashi, 
 has been of the greatest assistance to me. He has 
 been with me a co-worker, infinitely valuable. I here 
 express to him my heartfelt gratitude. I am also 
 indebted to Mr. Antonin Proust, who has kindly 
 intrusted me with some notes which the French Con- 
 sul to Japan sent to him — notes which in many 
 instances have enabled me to verify the exactitude 
 of the dates furnished by Mr. Wakai. I have also 
 drawn from other sources. 
 
 I will first mention the fine book of Mr. 
 Metchnikofi', "The Japanese Empire." This work^ 
 
PAINTING. 7 
 
 although it treats but indirectly of the matter, con- 
 tains some very valuable notes upon art. 
 
 Several thousand kakemonos and decorative albums 
 have passed under my notice at London, as well as 
 at Leyden,* at the Hague and at Paris. 
 
 I have copied and translated many of their signa- 
 tures. Some of the most beautiful among them 
 have been shown me by Mr. Wakai. He also, with 
 a kindness for which I shall never be able to repay 
 him, obtained from some of the principal amateurs 
 of Tokio, and sent to Europe certain works of indis- 
 putable authenticity and rarity. 
 
 I should also add that the catalogue of the collec- 
 tion of paintings formed by Dr. Gierke, methodically 
 arranged by himself and accompanied by a histori- 
 cal preface, has been of very great aid to me. 
 
 Finally, some notes and corrections have been 
 received from Mr. Fenollosa, who has taken the 
 trouble to publish at Tokio a long critical study of 
 a large work that I published two years ago.f 
 
 • The ethnological mnBeum of Leyden contains a collection of seven or 
 eight hundred kakemonos, gathered by Siebold, some of which are of the 
 first quality. 
 
 fJapanese Art, by Louis Gronse, Paris; Quantin, 1885; 2 vol. 
 
JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 II. 
 
 GROWTH OF JAPANESE PAINTING UP TO THE FOUB- 
 TEENTH CENTUBY. 
 
 The origin of painting in Japan will remain, with- 
 out doubt, enveloped in the mist of obscurity, even 
 for the Japanese. They quote the name of Inshir- 
 aga, an artist who lived at the close of the 5th cen- 
 tury ; but no work of that epoch exists in Japan. 
 
 The oldest picture that they possess was executed 
 under the Emperor Suiko, at the commencement of 
 the 8tli century. It represents the introducer of 
 Buddhism in Japan, the regent Shiotoku Daishi, 
 accompanied by two servants. It is still preserved 
 in the temple of Horiuji, near Nara. We mention 
 in the same century the names of Kudara-Kaban- 
 ari, who died in 853 ; of Minamoto-no-Nobu, son of 
 the Emperor Saga; and of Kanawaka, whom the 
 Emperor employed to paint in 837 the panels in his 
 palace. 
 
 Tradition praises also the religious paintings by 
 the hand of the illustrious apostle of Buddhism, 
 Kobo Daishi. 
 
 We cannot, with certainty, commence the his- 
 tory of Japanese painting before the time of Kos6- 
 Kanaoka, painter and poet of the Imperial Court, in 
 the 9th century. The Japanese consider him the 
 most eminent artist of that period. Mr. Wakai 
 
PAINTING. 9 
 
 thought him the grandson of Kanawaka. All we 
 know is that he worked during the 9th century, and 
 died toward the commencement of the lOfch. In the 
 fourth year of his reign, in 880, the Emperor Yosai 
 employed him to execute for the Imperial Court 
 portraits of Confucius and the nine great 
 philosophers of China. The Emperor Uda 
 (893-898) ordered from him a series 
 of pictures of the national poets and sa- 
 vants of Japan, and employed him to 
 decorate with historical paintings the 
 walls of the audience-room of his palace. 
 He painted equally well landscapes, ani- 
 mals, and Buddhist figures. He excelled 
 in drawing horses. His style was vigor- 
 ous, yet delicate. Some of his works still 
 exist, and are carefully preserved in Ja- 
 pan. They justify the high opinion that ^a^aoka. 
 the Japanese have for Kanaoka. They attribute to 
 him the picture of the god Fudo,* which is seen in 
 the temple of Dai-yo-ji, at Tokio. It is distin- 
 guished, said Mr. Eeed, by a grand vigor of outline, 
 and can be compared without disadvantage with 
 the best efforts of Italian art. Mr. Wakai possesses 
 an admirable kakemono, which he recently brought 
 to Paris, and which was at the Exposition of 
 Ancient Art, in the rue de S6ze. It is one of the 
 very rare pictures of Kanaoka, considered in 
 
 *TMs Buddhiet divinity, who reigns by terror and punishment, is always 
 represented in the midst ot flames, holding a sword with triangular point 
 in his right hand. 
 
10 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 Japan as absolutely authentic. The others are pre- 
 served in some ancient temples in Kioto, Nara, and 
 the province of Bizen. The kakemono of Mr. Wakai 
 represents the God of Benevolence, Dzijo, sitting 
 upon the symbolical lotus flower. It has the color 
 of old, faded tapestry of inexpressible softness. 
 The design has the delicacy and the sweetness of 
 certain works of Fra Angelico. This painting has no 
 Chinese characteristics; its ideal, severe yet full of 
 elegance, embraces the highest aspirations of Bud- 
 dhist art. His execution, full of delicacy, remind- 
 ing us somewhat of the old Byzantine water-colors, 
 explains to us the origin of the Tosa school. 
 
 It also furnishes the best representation of the art 
 of the 9th century, which marked the summit of 
 literary culture and religious power in Japan. 
 
 Tosai has represented Kanaoka painting a picture. 
 It is interesting to reproduce this image, whose de- 
 tails, according to the scrupulous habits of the 
 author, must have been taken from a true source. 
 
 The school of Kanaoka for a long time sus- 
 tained its reputation at the court of Kioto. The 
 two sons of the master, Aimi and Kintada, were his 
 first and best pupils. The great-grandson of Kana- 
 oka, Kos6-Hirotaka, during the reign of the Emperor 
 Itsijio (987-1012), is mentioned as a great painter 
 and distinguished poet. It is supposed he painted 
 the first picture of the Inferno. They keep in 
 the temple of Tshiorakuji, in the province of 
 Oumi, one of his compositions of an original and 
 powerful character, representing the place of the 
 
PAINTING. 11 
 
 doomed. They still qaote the name of Tam^iiji, 
 who received from the Emperor Itsijio the title of 
 " Hoghen." 
 
 Among the monuments that can be attributed to 
 this archaic period, and which show distinctly Jap- 
 anese art, imbued with Hindoo-European character- 
 istics, I will mention twelve panels, formerly in the 
 possession of Mr. Duvernet,* representing the twelve 
 divinities, corresponding to the twelve signs of the zo- 
 diac. The figure of Kuaten is particularly worthy of 
 attention. She holds in her hands the crescent of the 
 moon, which she lifts toward heaven with all the 
 mystical ardor of a virgin of the middle age. Her 
 form is exquisite, and equal in sweetness to the most 
 beautiful miniatures of India. One notices the pecu- 
 liarity of the eye, in full front position, with the face 
 in profile, certain indication of the highest antiquity. 
 The twelve panels, according to the inscriptions 
 which accompany them, are exact reproductions of 
 twelve paintings of the most ancient style, which 
 were formerly in the temple of Kunojii, in the prov- 
 ince of Suruga. In 1556' a priest of the name of 
 Buni, guardian of the temple at Nagasima, opened 
 a subscription to have these precious works, which 
 were in danger of being lost from age, copied. The 
 painter Monka, of Koum6, did the work in the same 
 year, 1556. His work, threatened in its turn, was 
 transferred to new rolls in 1818. Owing to the care- 
 lessness of the Japanese after the revolution of 
 
 ♦They have been acquired by the Museum of Leyden. 
 
12 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 1868, these proofs of the antiquity of their national 
 art fell into the hands of the Europeans. It is to 
 be regretted that those who copied these ancient 
 pictures did not also copy the date of the originals. 
 One can, however, place them about the 10th 
 century. 
 
 The 11th century furnishes us only with the 
 names of Yoriyoshi, of the family of Minamoto, and 
 of Motomitsu, founder of the school of Yamato, as 
 well as of the Tosa school, which later became the 
 official one. 
 
 In the 12th century there appeared a teacher who 
 had much influence upon the future art of Japan, 
 Toba-Sojo, creator of the style which Itcho carried to 
 its perfection at the close of the 17th century, — 
 the comic or humorous style. It is interesting 
 to notice that this inimitable style of caricature, 
 which some careless authors have fixed as being of 
 recent date in Japanese art, is on the contrary very 
 ancient. Connoisseurs give a very important place 
 to Toba-Sojo, and consider him as one of the most 
 clever and original of the artists of the ancient school. 
 His sketches,, broadly treated and with a strong 
 touch of caricature, had numerous imitators. This 
 style bas taken the name of "Tobay6." 
 
 Toba-Sojo excelled also in the painting of horses, 
 and there are quoted among the most precious works 
 of Japanese art his famous screen with twelve horses, 
 preserved for a long time in the family of Tokugawa, 
 and given by them to the present Emperor. 
 
 The Gierke collection at Berlin possesses an album 
 
PAINTING. 13 
 
 of caricatures and four rolls, which are considered 
 as authentic works of Toba. Other artists, less cel- 
 ebrated perhaps, but with talent almost equal, 
 aided to make the 12th century famous. Such are, 
 according to Mr. Fenollosa, the divine Nobuzan6, 
 Genki, Genson, Tam6yuki, Mitsunaga, Kei-on, and 
 the great colorist, Tam6-hisa. 
 
 It was also in the 12th century that the great art 
 of painting found in China its greatest development, 
 although Chinese historians speak of works much 
 earlier, even dating as far back as the 3d century be- 
 fore Christ. It is none the less true that until this 
 time Chinese art had remained almost exclusively 
 Buddhist, and had not emerged from its relative in- 
 fancy. The age that we have attributed to it is very 
 much exaggerated. It is not even proven that before 
 the 12th century the Chinese had any masters more 
 skilled than those of Japan, The birth of an origi- 
 nal and artistic style corresponds with the accession 
 of the Ming dynasty. It was the Emperor Kijo, who, 
 after having traveled through China as an artist, 
 founded a school in 1110, whose precepts have been 
 honored up to the 17th century. 
 
 During the following century the powerful family 
 of the Fujiwara produced in Japan a certain number 
 of painters of talent, such as Shinki and Takayoshi. 
 Among them is one whose name is to be especially 
 noticed, Tsun^taka, painter to the Imperial Court. 
 He was at the same time vice-governor of the prov- 
 ince of Tosa. His descendants adopted the last 
 name, which became also that of one of the two most 
 
14 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 important schools of painting in Japan. The impe- 
 rial school of Tosa, founded by Tsun^taka, exists to- 
 day. It is both a continuation of the ancient 
 imperial academy, founded by the Emperor Heizei 
 in 808, under the name of Yedokoro, of which Kan- 
 aoka was the most illustrious representative, and of 
 the school of Yamato, founded by Motomitsu. 
 
 The style of the school of Tosa occupied a place 
 of its own in Japanese art. It represented the aristo- 
 cratic taste which became fashionable at the court 
 of Kioto, and personified in some ways the official 
 style. It owed nothing to Chinese influence, and is 
 characterized by extreme care in execution, distinc- 
 tion in forms, and fine use of the brush, like the 
 miniatures of Persia, to which it has, moreover, a 
 singular likeness of style. A delicatie severity of 
 outline, little picturesque invention, an intimate and 
 correct feeling for nature, a clear, vivid and brilliant 
 coloring, a taste for water-colors, incomparable skill 
 in painting minutely inanimate objects, flowers and 
 birds, and an excessive love of detail, are the dominant 
 characteristics of this school. 
 
 The paintings of Tosa are easily discernible from 
 all others. I have seen quails, peacocks, cocks, 
 branches of cherry blossoms, bouquets of roses, 
 which would have done honor to a Flemish minia- 
 ture painter. 
 
 The artists of this school, of whom the most distin- 
 guished were as we shall see, the fourth descend- 
 ants of Tsun6taka, Fujiwara Mitsunobu (born in 
 1525), Mitsuoki, and finally Mitsuyoshi — were 
 
PAINTING. 15 
 
 especially employed in painting albums, makimonos, 
 and screens, ornamenting them with historical scenes, 
 fetes and court dances, and representing the Daimios 
 in their costumes of ceremony, costumes falling in 
 soft, harmonious folds, the splendor of which has 
 never been surpassed. They used pointed and very 
 fine brushes. They liked to employ gold leaf, whose 
 application on the background set forth the bril- 
 liancy of their coloring. The screens of the school 
 of Tosa, so much appreciated in Kioto, resemble large 
 missals witli backgrounds of gold. The most beau- 
 tiful designs for the decorating of lacquer come from 
 this school.* 
 
 The schools of Kioto are also distinguished by 
 their elegance and precision of design. The art of 
 Tedo, of more recent design, is characterized, on the 
 contrary, by its broadness, power, freedom of execu- 
 tion, and, above all, by an admirable understanding 
 of color and decorative effects. It is important to 
 remark that Kioto was, up to the 16th century, the 
 great and almost only center of art in Japan. The 
 great civilizing influence in the 13th century, pro- 
 duced by the energetic will of Toritomo, the founder 
 of the hereditary Shogunat, and the creator of the 
 large city Kamakura, reached to Kioto, and exer- 
 cised a notable influence upon the development of 
 art and letters. 
 
 The national character of painting impressed itself 
 
 *Th6 most magnificent speoimejis of the Tosa school which have come 
 to Europe are a pair of screens, in five folds, representing the grand fiStes 
 at Nagoya. These screens belong to M. Hugnes Krafft. 
 
16 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 more and more ; the principles o£ Japanese decor- 
 ation were established. 
 
 At this epoch there lived several other distin- 
 guished painters, whose names have been preserved 
 by the Japanese historians. There is first, Taka- 
 chika, of the school of Yamato, who founded the 
 important branch of Kassuga, a small village of the 
 province of Yamato, near Nara. Taka-chika and his 
 successors to the 15th century were successively 
 employed to decorate the celebrated temple of Kas- 
 suga, the paintings of which have been nearly all 
 preserved up to the present time, and are considered 
 in Japan as the most important works of the school 
 of Tosa. Then followed the Buddhist priest, Ono-no- 
 Sojo, founder of a small school which had some 
 influence, the Ono-Biu. Then Seijin, another Bud- 
 dhist priest, and Keion, court painter, who received 
 the title of " Hoghen," but was better known by the 
 name of Sumi-yoshi. They speak also of a third son 
 of Taka-chika, named Yukinaga, as having studied 
 in the studio of Kasuga, and of Takanobu, eldest 
 brother of Teika, the most renowned poet of ancient 
 Japan. It was Teika who wrote the book, "One 
 Hundred Celebrated Poets," illustrated and pub- 
 lished many times. 
 
 The annals of the 13th century mention the 82d 
 Emperor, Gotoba Tenno, as having had a most 
 remarkable talent for painting. He retired to the 
 island of Oki, and died there in 1239, after having 
 reigned from 1186 to 1198. 
 
 The reign of anarchy, which covered like a som- 
 
PAINTING. 17 
 
 ber veil the history of Japan during the 14th cen- 
 tury, influenced the arts, excepting for a short time 
 of brightness under the reign of Godaigo (1319- 
 1339) ; at the expiration of the power of Hojo, all 
 seemed to be buried in a profound barbarism. One 
 finds, however, the names of some painters who 
 should be excepted, as Takuma, whose studio had a 
 certain reputation, and Shoki, priest of Kamakura, 
 who died in 1345, and who was better known by the 
 name of Ki-Shoki. 
 
 The revival of letters and art commenced with the 
 consolidation of the power of the Ashikaga, at the 
 close of the 14th century. Yoshimitsu, and after 
 him Yoshimasa, had a most happy influence on the 
 development of the artistic tastes of the nation; 
 they were both distinguished painters. Yoshimasa 
 had studied painting in the atelier of one of the best 
 teachers of that period, Gheami. Yoshimitsu, 3d 
 Shogun of the Ashikaga, died in 1408, aged 51. 
 This date can be taken as the dawn of the most 
 brilliant expansion of art which has illustrated the 
 history of Japan. 
 
 The regency of Yoshimasa (8th Shogun of the 
 Ashikaga, died in 1489, aged 56), marked the apogee 
 of this movement, and also witnessed the birth of the 
 founders of the great national art: Meitshio, Josetsu, 
 Shiubun, Soami, the two Kanos, Sesshiu, Season and 
 many others, whose names, almost unknown in Eu- 
 rope, enjoy an immense celebrity in their own coun- 
 try. These teachers are the Masaccio, the Mantegna, 
 the Lippi, of Japanese art. Tliis art period corres- 
 
18 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 ponds also with the characteristic inTasion of 
 Chinese influence in the domain of painting. This 
 is an epoch, in all respects, worthy of our closest 
 attention. 
 
PAINTING. 19 
 
 III. 
 
 THE SUMMIT OP GBA.ND AET UNDER THE ASHIKAGA, 
 FIFTEENTH CENTUEY. 
 
 European authors are mistaken about the dates 
 they assign to the above-mentioned artists. The 
 account published by the Japanese commission at 
 the time of the Universal Exposition, 1878, con- 
 firmed them in their error. The latest researches 
 undertaken in Japan furnish us with more precise 
 and exact information. 
 
 Meitshio, the oldest of these painters, was born in 
 1351, and died in 1427. The Japanese consider 
 him as one of the leaders of their primitive national 
 style. He was a priest of Kioto, and his tastes were 
 formed by his studies in the school of Takuma. It 
 was he who painted for the first time in Japan the 
 death of Sakia. This celebrated picture, which has 
 been so much copied by later artists, still exists in 
 the temple of Tokufudji at Kioto. It measures 
 26x39 feet. The signature is very legible. If speci- 
 mens of the talent of Meitshio are rare, we at least 
 know that his talents, full of strength and power, 
 caused decided progress in Japanese art. Until 
 then the work had been confined simply to miniature. 
 The painter, who worked in water color, showed a 
 patient delicacy of both modeling and color. I 
 have said in regard to Kos6 Kanaoka, and the 
 
20 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 artists of Tosa, that Japanese painting had the 
 appearance of old Byzantine water colors. It was 
 not until after the time of Meitshio that artists com- 
 menced to try to sketch on paper with vigorous 
 strokes, a taste which originated in China, under the 
 Ming dynasty. It is especially in this that the Chi- 
 nese influence plays a leading part in the history of 
 Japanese art. Those powerful decorative improvisa- 
 tions in ink, of which the artists of Nippon knew how 
 to make such wonderful use, had their beginning in 
 the Chinese school. 
 
 The preponderance of the style of Tosa was com- 
 bated by this new art; the prestige of color yielded 
 to the school of black and white, which was soon 
 transformed into an academy, through the abuse of 
 rules and regulations 
 
 The impulse given to this movement came, for the 
 greater part, from a pupil of Meitshio, Jo-setsu, an 
 artist from China, naturalized in Japan, who mingled 
 in a clever and delicate manner the traditions of his 
 own country with those he had studied in his adopted 
 land. He was the true founder of the school of 
 Kano. His works rank nearly as high as those of 
 Meitshio. Without having exact information as to 
 the time he lived, we know that he painted during 
 the period Oyei (1394-1427). 
 
 Of his pupil Shiu-bun, whom the Japanese hab- 
 itually quote with him, and whose works they esteem 
 so highly, we know very little. He taught many 
 pupils of great talent. Among them, and of the 
 first rank, was Oguri So-tan (it is known that he 
 
PAINTING. " 21 
 
 painted in 1450), who became one o£ the most skilled 
 painters of his time, and who had the honor to be 
 the first teacher of Kario I, Soami, intendant of 
 the imperial palaces under Yoshi-masa, and Jasoku, 
 all men of great renown. Soami was not only one 
 of the painters preferred by Shogun Yoshi-masa, 
 but he was celebrated for his skill in the preparation 
 of tea. He wrote a book which, even at the present 
 time, regulates the rules for this art, placed by the 
 Japanese above all others. Shiu-bun was also the 
 teacher of the first of, the Kano, Kano-Masanobu. 
 The great dynasty of the Kano, descendants of which 
 are still living, represents the most illustrious school 
 of painting of Japan, and is not surpassed even by the 
 school of Tosa. It personifies for the learned Jap- 
 anese the classical idea of the beautiful, conceived 
 according to the principles of Chinese tradition. 
 The most remarkable artists of the 17th and 18th 
 centuries, all those who did not enroll themselves 
 with the imperial school of Tosa, or those who did 
 not belong to the popular school, agreed in some 
 points with that of Kano. By its origin and its later 
 indications, this may be considered as the official 
 school of the Shoguns, in opposition to the school of 
 Tosa, the official school of the Mikados. We should 
 add, however, that the school of Kano, so promising at 
 its commencement, was destined, by its very cleverness 
 in the handling of the brush, to reduce, little by 
 little, to precepts and formulas the most noble and 
 scholarly forms of design. It reduced painting to an 
 academic art, the character of which placed it in 
 
22 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 constant opposition to the independent naturalism, 
 entirely Japanese, of the popular school. Kano- 
 Masanobu was born in the environs of Kamakura, in 
 the early years of the 15th century. He learned the 
 elements of drawing with his father, Kagh6nobu, 
 but it was in the studio of Shiu-bun, and afterwards 
 in that of his co-worker, Oguri Sotan, that 
 Masanobu developed his talent. He died young at 
 Kioto, before the year 1500. His works are very 
 rare, even in Japan. They are distinguished by a 
 strange subdued color, masterly strokes of the brush, 
 and severe nobility of the figures. 
 
 But it was Motonobu, son and scholar of Masan- 
 obu, who was destined to carry to the highest point 
 of glory the influence of the school which his father 
 created. It is he that is meant when they say simply 
 Kano. He was born in 1475, and married at Kioto 
 the daughter of Mitsu-nobu, the most celebrated 
 teacher of the Tosa school, and the one who decided 
 its character. He received the supreme title of 
 "Hogen," and died in 1559. In an article on 
 painting in the Japanese Encyclopedia, the following 
 tribute was paid to his talent: " He was the prince 
 of Japanese and Chinese painters — almost godlike in 
 his power. He is frequently referred to as Ko-hogen, 
 or the Ancient Hogen, to distinguish him from 
 painters of after time who received the title. His 
 works appeared in China during the Ming dynasty, 
 and his glory spread throughout the empire." 
 
 His paintings are carefully preserved and held at 
 a great price in Japan, but are not excessively rare. 
 
PAINTING. 23 
 
 Some of them have been brought to Europe, and are 
 found in the British Museum, also in two or three pri- 
 vate collections. However, these specimens do not give 
 us a thorough idea of the genius of this painter; 
 neither do they fully justify his great reputation. 
 
 Motonobu was revealed to me only by the arrival 
 in Paris of four kakemonos, confided to Mr. Wakai 
 by their owners, Mr. Sano and Mr. Yamataka. I 
 imagine the Japanese art has produced nothing more 
 powerful and yet delicate than these kakemonos. 
 One of them represents a landscape with receding 
 lines, a Oorot bathed in mellowness and transparency. 
 The perspective is admirable, and the most exacting 
 eye finds nothing to criticise. The increasing and 
 decreasing of the outlines reach an extraordinary 
 fineness, and are obtained by means of great sim- 
 plicity. If Motonobu was ignorant of the laws of 
 perspective, we must acknowledge before a work so 
 perfect, that his genius triumphed over all our theo- 
 ries. Mr. Anderson has said, in regard to his man- 
 ner of painting: "The vigor of his design, the 
 complete mastery of the brush that he has shown in 
 his rendering of landscape and figures, make an 
 extraordinary impression upon the eye of a stranger." 
 
 Without having the fascinating color of the Tosa 
 school, and especially that of Mitsunobu, whose 
 talent he was able to appreciate, the coloring of Mo- 
 tonobu has however, a harmony and warmth which 
 contrasts with the habitual monochrome of color of 
 the Kano school. His dull reds, his subdued blues, 
 his powerful violets, have not been surpassed. As 
 
24 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 for his touch with the brush, it had the energy and 
 decision of the most beautiful Japanese caligraphy. 
 It is Indeed, of Motonobu's painting that one can 
 say that it was derived from caligraphy. 
 
 Is not caligraphy, with all nations, one form of 
 design, and is it not most intimately counected with 
 it? We employ the pen, an instrument rigid, thin 
 and pointed; our design is of the same style as our 
 writing The Japanese, like the Chinese, use for 
 writing, as for designing, the softest and most deli- 
 cate of utensils, the brush ; their caligraphy and their 
 design have the same power. We design as we 
 write, with the hand supported and the fingers 
 stretched out. They, on the contrary, hold in 
 writing and in designing the hand in the air, the 
 wrist immovable, the fingers bent inward, in such a 
 manner that the point of the brush touches perpen- 
 dicularly the surface of the paper. From this results 
 their astonishing softness of forms, their heaviness 
 and their thinness, and those sudden undulations which 
 are the delight of Japanese eyes. The originals of 
 the masters are recognized by the force and distinct- 
 ness of the strokes of the brush ; the copies have a 
 softness that would never deceive a connoisseur. 
 
 The subjects preferred by Motonobu were laud- 
 scapes, and also the familiar divinities of the 
 Buddhists. The seven gods, who, under the third 
 Shogun of the dynasty of Tokugawa, took the name 
 of the Gods of Happiness, were preferred by him.-|- 
 
 t The Beven gods of happiness are: Djiu-Rodjin, the old Chinese with a 
 long beard, the god of longevity, ordinarily accompanied by a white deer 
 
PAINTING. 25 
 
 The good-natured Hotei, with his saintly smile, 
 his large stomach, his heavy bearing, his naive gai- 
 ety, was for Motonobu a fertile motive. 
 
 It is the school of Kano which made fashion- 
 able these benevolent and divine protectors, which 
 Japanese humor has changed by degrees into ridi- 
 cule and grotesqueness. 
 
 At that epoch the school of Kano had assumed 
 two distinct styles: one called in Japan "guantai,'' 
 that is to say, vigorous, rude, with angular outlines, 
 according to the Chinese manner ; the other, "riu- 
 tai," delicate, soft, supple, wavy, like the undulations 
 of a river. Outside of the Chinese influence, of 
 which so much is said, there is another, •}■ to which 
 no one, except our lamented friend Edmond Duranty, 
 has accorded the attention it merited. An undeni- 
 able influence coming from Persia acted upon the 
 Japanese art, and made itself felt upon certain forms 
 of decoration and some details of ornamentation. One 
 finds evident traces of it in the designing of the figures 
 of the Tosa school, in the manner in which the dra- 
 peries are designed and in the modeling of the 
 extremities. The ancient Persian art, from which 
 
 and with a screen in his hand; Fakaroka-Djin, the god with a long head, 
 holding in his hand a knotty stick and a rolled mannscript, the god of wis- 
 dom par excellence; bis emblem is a white crane; Baikokn, the god of 
 fertility, represented npon his sacks of rice, and armed with the mallet of 
 abundance; Ebisuthe fisherman, who is also the god of good cheer, orHiruko, 
 eldest son of the creating two; Bishamon, god of war, holding a stick and a 
 pagoda; Benten, the goddess of beauty and art, holding the precious bowl, 
 or playing the biya; finally Hotei, the god with the large stomach, who is at 
 once the god of gaiety and protector of children, 
 
 tSee Gazette des Beaux-Artfi^ page IS, 2d part, number of Dec. 1. 
 
26 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 has sprung almost entirely the Hindoo art and a car- 
 tain part of the Chinese, had, in the 15th century, and 
 even earlier, a direct influence upon Japanese art. 
 The small kak6mono of Mitsu-nobu (end of 15th cen- 
 tury) shows unexceptionable traces of that influence. 
 
 Under what artistic form did the Persian influence 
 arrive in Japan? Was it by miniatures, tissues, 
 ceramics or metal work ? It would be difficult to 
 say. It is sufficient to prove its effects. Arabian 
 authors mention as early as the 11th century the 
 direct relations by sea which existed between the 
 Persian Gulf and the southern coast of Nippon. 
 It was evident in the 15th century. Later, in the 16th 
 century, the traces of this influence appeared anew. 
 This can easily be explained by the arrival of the 
 Portuguese, and by the maritime relations which 
 were established between Ormuz, Bouschir aiid 
 Macao. 
 
 When one regards attentively the architectural 
 decorations, the stuffs, lacquers and bronzes, certain 
 pieces of ceramics, notably those of Kutani, and the 
 inlaid wood of the commencement of the 17th 
 century, it is easy to recognize certain characteris- 
 tics of the Islam style. Evidences are constantly 
 forthcoming showing that Persia was the great center 
 of civilization in Asia. 
 
 At the time of the old Kano, and without mingling 
 with his school, lived an artist whom the Japanese, 
 with reason, rank among their greatest artists. The 
 painter Sesshiu, of whom we speak, was a Buddhist 
 priest. Before becoming known as an artist, he 
 
PAINTING. 
 
 27 
 
 IS time. G< 
 
 occupied a distinguished place among learned men 
 of his time. Commentators agree upon the year 
 1414 as that of his birth. The 
 Japanese attach him to no 
 school, and class him among 
 the independent painters. He 
 jl^ acquired his first ideas of paint- 
 
 ^VM^ i°g in the atelier of Josetsu. 
 "^m^r^ I'^fi vigor and originality of his 
 ^^1 designs in black and white 
 
 t gained for him a rapid celebrity. 
 His reputation reached to China, 
 and the Emperor of that country 
 made him an ofiier to undertake 
 the decorating of his palace. 
 He encountered there no com- 
 petitor of equal ability, and it 
 is said that his imperial pro- 
 tector, having asked him to trace 
 a sketch, Sesshiu plunged a 
 broom into ink, and with 
 splashes of his improvised brush 
 sketched a dragon with such 
 marvelous aspect that his re- 
 nown spread through all the country. He painted 
 there, among other things, a view of Fuji, which 
 is in existence to-day in the imperial palace at Pekin. 
 Sesshiu was somewhat influenced by Chinese art, 
 of which traces are found in his landscapes; but he 
 owed the principal part of his talent to the thorough 
 study he made of nature. Eeturning to Japan, he 
 
 SIONATUBE AND SBAIi OF 
 SEBSHIU. 
 
28 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 spent his last days in the temple of Unkokuji, (thence 
 the name of Unkoku is given to his school), in the 
 province of Suo, and died in 1506. He is held in 
 almost saintly veneration. A great number of his 
 works have been preserved to us, and some have 
 reached Europe. Sesshiu succeeded equally well in 
 painting the human figure, flowers, birds and land- 
 scapes. His motives, impregnated with the most 
 beautiful decorative sentiment, are as classical as 
 those of Kano. One can follow their metamorphoses 
 through the ulterior development of Japanese art. 
 The attitude of Shoki,* the wild expression of the 
 old Dharma,f the beautiful movement of the crane 
 flying over the sea or reposing in the midst of the 
 lotus, that we admire in the composition of the modern 
 artists, are simply borrowed from the old Sesshiu. 
 
 He worked with great rapidity, in one stroke, 
 preferring light neutral tones, warm browns, or deep 
 blacks, avoiding reds and greens. 
 
 The two most distinguished pupils of Sesshiu 
 are: Sesson (born in 1495), celebrated for his moon- 
 light scenes ; and Shiu-getsu, who accompanied Sess- 
 hiu on his voyage to China. He died about 1520. 
 He was, like Sesshiu, a Buddhist priest, and has left in 
 
 * GnaTdian of the imperial palace of China, whom they represented as 
 followed by the devil, who torments him in a thonsEmd wicked ways 
 
 tThelegendof Dharmais veryobscnre. Is he the first Bnddhist mis- 
 sionary, or the personification of the Buddhist law itself ? Is he simply a 
 sage, a kind of hermit of the class of the Arabian " marabout," said to have 
 lived nine years in a grott-) and in complete immobility? He is generally 
 represented in a crouching attitude, with naked feet, and enveloped in a 
 Crown cape, a rosary in his hand, with a fixed look and lost in a sort of wild 
 ecstacy. 
 
PAINTING. 29 
 
 the history of Japanese painting a name as renowned 
 as that of his teacher. In Japan they are held in 
 equal estimation, and their works are much sought 
 after. 
 
 A number of the paintings of Shiu-getsu are pre- 
 served in China; some of them have come to Europe. 
 
 Kano Motonobu and Sesshiu left numerous schol- 
 ars. The most celebrated are Sho-yei, son of Moto- 
 nobu, and Tpgan, who founded what we call the school 
 of Sesshiu. The Japanese still quote the names of 
 Shiotoku, Yogetsu and Tosen. 
 
 Among the great painters who made illustrious 
 the middle and the end of the 15th century, the Jap- 
 anese historians assign an eminent position to Soga 
 Sojo (born towards 1479), the son and pupil of Ja- 
 soku. They place him among those who were loyal 
 to the ancient national school. A kakemono of Sojp 
 is, in effect, a composition of a nervous style, purely 
 Japanese, without any admixture of Chinese influ- 
 ence. The execution reminds one of the Tosa school, 
 but it is more powerful ; the coloring, enameled in a 
 light water-color, is warmer and more harmonious. 
 
 The elegance of the cranes of Sojo reminds me of 
 the pictures of ancient Egypt. 
 
 During the course of the ] 6th century the history 
 of painting confined itself to the circle of Kano 
 Motonobu and Sesshiu. Among the masters, how- 
 ever, who have enjoyed a high reputation I will 
 mention Doan, Buddhist priest (born in 1572), imi- 
 tator of the style of Sesshiu ; Sanraku, Yeitoku, and 
 Soga Tshiku wan, of Kioto, great grandson of Jasoku, 
 
30 ' JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 and pupil of Sojo {circa, 1590). He was particularly 
 celebrated for his talent in painting birds of prey, 
 if I can judge by a kakemono, representing a buz- 
 zard sitting on a branch, Tshikuwan was worthy of 
 the esteem that the Japanese connoisseurs have for 
 him. Like Sojo, Tshikuwan appears to have com- 
 bined the severe and finished execution of the old 
 masters of Tosa with the expressive power of Kano. 
 The design of the bird, treated with surprising 
 strength, would be worthy the hand of Albert Durer. 
 The master of Nuremberg could not have rendered 
 a rapacious eye with more truthfulness. 
 
 As for the school of Tosa, it underwent, during 
 the 16th century, a sort of eclipse. Its renown 
 seemed to pale before the power and originality of 
 the artists I have mentioned. It did not recover its 
 splendor until the end of the century, under the 
 Shogunat, which restored the Yeyas. 
 
 The successors of the Kanos, Kano Yeitoku, grand- 
 sou of Motonobu (born in 1590; died at the age of 
 48); Kano Sanraku (1558-1635), son-in-law of 
 Yeitoku, and Kano Takanobu, eon of Yeitoku, bring 
 us to the middle of the 17th century, the most 
 brilliant period of the Tokugawa. 
 
 This time is, with the end of the 9th century, the 
 12th, the end of the 15th, and the commencement of 
 the 19th, one of the five culminating points of the 
 artistic expansion of Japan. 
 
 The entire 16th century was disturbed by the great 
 religious and political troubles, which signaled the 
 arrival of the Portuguese. 
 
PAINTING. 31 
 
 Art is the fructification of the periods of peace and 
 tranquility ; and this century, one of the most dis- 
 turbed in the history of the Japanese people, was 
 less favorable for art than the preceding one. For 
 this delicate plant, social calm is necessary. It 
 needed the reoonstitution of the central power and 
 the coming of the Yeyas to raise itself and bloom 
 anew. 
 
32 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ACCESSION OF THE TOKUGAWA THE GEEAT ARTISTS OF 
 
 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUBY BIETH OF 
 
 THE POPULAR SCHOOL. 
 
 Kano Takanobu had three sons who devoted 
 themselves to painting, and were equally distin- 
 guished. These three were in the 17th century the 
 most illustrious representatives of the Kano school, 
 which was at that time definitely placed at Yedo. 
 They were Tanyu, the oldest son, Naonobu, and 
 Yasunobu, the youngest. 
 
 Sanraku, the painter preferred by Taiko-Sama, 
 had established at Kioto a branch of the Kano 
 school, strongly impregnated with Chinese imitation. 
 This atelier, revived by Sansetsu (born in 1661), 
 adopted son of the preceding, a man of great 
 knowledge and great taste, had a very important 
 influence upon the artistic genius of the imperial 
 city, and had the honor of forming the two most 
 individualistic artists of Japan : Shiokuado and 
 Mitsuoki. Shiokuado was equally well known by 
 the name of Shojo. The genius of this master, 
 whose works are of the greatest rarity, is revealed to 
 us by a collection in two volumes (Yedo, 1804) of 
 his finest paintings. This collection, engraved in 
 
PAINTING. 33 
 
 the most marvellous manner in pale soft shades, 
 reproduces with all the illusions of fac-simile the 
 aspect of the original greys. Although Shiokuado 
 by his style belonged to the Kano school, he should 
 be classed among the independents. He had a soft- 
 ness of his own, strange and intoxicating. His 
 designs, with their receding planes, could only be 
 compared to those of Korin and Hohitzu, of whom I 
 shall speak later. He was an impressionist after 
 their style, combined with a rare and most austere 
 distinction. Shiokuado was a priest of superior 
 rank at Nara. He sojourned for some time at Yedo, 
 and died in 1639. 
 
 The last son of Takanobu, Tasunobu, better 
 known by the name of Yeishin, died in 1685, aged 
 73. He is considered at the present time one of the 
 greatest landscape painters of Japan. 
 His best pupil was Sotatsu, of the family 
 Nomura, who became later a brilliant 
 adept of the Tosa school. The paintings 
 of Sotatsu are often noticeable by an 
 ingenious mixing of gold dust and 
 Chinese ink. This process, at that time 
 new, has since then been often imi- tanto. 
 tated. 
 
 Sotatsu was the precursor of Korin, and certain 
 of his works are rivals of those of this great master. 
 He still painted in 1643. 
 
 Naonobu called himself also Kadzuma. He was 
 born in 1607. He developed his talents at the school 
 of his brother Tanyu, and became equally clever. 
 
34 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 Japanese' connoisseurs esteem even more highly his 
 talent, and consider him one of the most vigorous 
 and characteristic artists of the Kano school. 
 
 From what I know of him I have formed a high 
 opinion of his execution and style, which are at the 
 same time energetic and delicate. His works are 
 very much sought for in Japan, and some of them 
 have reached Europe. Naonobu died in 1651. 
 
 Tanyu was born in 1601, Having lost his father 
 very young, he learned the elements of painting 
 with Kano Kohi, at Yedo. He is to-day the most 
 popular of that school. His works are many, and 
 are eagerly sought for by all amateurs in Japan. 
 His masterpiece is the four lions in Chinese ink, 
 painted upon panels of wood, now in the sanctuary 
 of the great temple of Nikko. According to Japanese 
 taste, the art of painting has produced nothing more 
 surprising. 
 
 The principal door of this same temple (of Nikko) 
 is decorated with two large dragons in Chinese ink, 
 which are much praised. 
 
 There are many spurious Tanyu in Europe. I 
 will mention among the authentic paintings that I 
 saw a marvelous small moonlight scene, with two 
 persons dreaming on the terrace of a mansion 
 (belonging to Mr. Bing) ; also a person riding 
 through the snow on an ass ; and another of a sleep- 
 ing goose, done with six strokes of the brush. 
 Tanyu died in 1674 at Yedo. 
 
 He had a great influence upon his successors. His 
 taste as well as his style established a school, and 
 
PAINTING. 35 
 
 eeveral of his scholars are considered as belonging 
 in the first rank of Japanese artists. He was a great 
 connoisseur of painting, and an authority in reading 
 the signatures and seals of the ancient artists. The 
 large collection of copies of antique paintings, the 
 Tanyu-Bingua, which was undertaken under his 
 direction, and published at the close of the last cen- 
 tury by a society of amateurs, is a monument of the 
 greatest importance for the history of painting 
 before 1600. 
 
 I cannot refrain from remarking in regard to 
 Tanyu and Naonobu, the great inspiration which 
 more modern artists have found in the productions 
 of the classic art of the 17th century. What repeti- 
 tions, what variations of their works, almost always 
 enfeebled, we find in the productions of the later 
 epochs! That which charms us so much in the 
 Japanese art of the 19th century is often nothing 
 but reproduction of the works of the great ancient 
 masters. The principles of art were fixed in the 
 15th century, and the most admirable motives of 
 Japanese decoration belong to the time which the 
 greater part of European authors disdain, because 
 they do not know it. This is a point to be taken 
 into careful consideration. The great Hokusai him- 
 self has taken more than one motive from Tanyu, 
 and appropriated it to himself. 
 
 Two other artists played an important part at the 
 end of the 17th century in the development of 
 Japanese art: they were Mitsuoki, of Toso, and 
 Matahei, founder of the Ukiyo-Te Eiu. 
 
36 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 Mitsuoki is, with Mitsunobu, the most illustrious 
 master of the Tosa school. It was he who restored 
 
 ^ > the imperial ateliers , in decadence since 
 ^jTT the 16th century, and created that dec- 
 / ^"^ orative, refined, and elegant style, whose 
 ijj^ flowers, birds, and landscapes have the 
 5^^ softness of a Eaphael. It was he who was 
 the inventor of those designs of such ex- 
 MiTsuoKi. qyjsitjQ perfection in their finish, which 
 the eighteenth century lacquers of Kioto have re- 
 produced with inimitable art. 
 
 The ideal of Mitsuoki lies in the purity of the 
 lines, in the ingenious grace of the motive, rendered 
 by the brush of a miniaturist. No one has painted 
 as he did the fragility of grass. His principal 
 works are carefully preserved by the Emperor, or by 
 some of the grand families of Kioto. The tone of 
 his paintings is vivid without hardness, with har- 
 monious warmth, relieved by light applications of 
 gold, and the outlines of his designs are of an ador- 
 able elegance. 
 
 Mitsuoki, born in 1616, died in 1691. He studied 
 the elements of painting in the atelier of Sansetsu. 
 
 Iwasa Metahei, pupil of Mitsunori, of Tosa, was 
 the founder of the school called popular, in opposi- 
 tion to the noble art which disdains to represent the 
 manners and costumes of the common people. 
 Neither Tosa nor Kano compromised themselves by 
 painting subjects disdained by the aristocracy. It 
 was only under the reign of the Tokugawa that such 
 paintings became possible. Matahei was the first 
 
PAINTING. 37 
 
 painter of great talent of this school. The power 
 of his execution is not equaled. I have seen a screen 
 decorated by him, with figures of peasants treated 
 as portraits, which is certainly one of the strongest 
 productions of Japanese art. This masterpiece has 
 returned to Japan. Matahei was born in the province 
 of Etshizen towards the beginning of the 17th cen- 
 tury, but he resided from his infancy at Kioto. His 
 reputation was at its height between 1624 and 1643. 
 The date of his death is not known. He was the reputed 
 originator of the popular style called Ukiyo-ye, 
 which might be translated as painting of con- 
 temporaneous life or the realistic school. 
 
 Matahei painted the people of his time in their 
 daily costumes, the peasants, men and women of the 
 lower class, and, more than all, the courtesans, who, 
 by their luxury, elegance, and literary education, 
 played at that time a great role in the public life of 
 Japan. 
 
 This style, treated with bo much boldness, spirit, 
 and fancy by some eminent artists of the 18th and 
 19th centuries, has become, in the eyes of Europeans, 
 the characteristic expression of Japanese art. In 
 the eyes of the Japanese it belongs to an inferior 
 rank — ^good enough to satisfy the instincts of 
 the people, but unworthy of the attention of people 
 of refinement. Matahei was the ancestor of Hoku- 
 sai. His influence was considerable, and it is said 
 that the better half of the immense illustrated library 
 of Japan has come from the ateliers of his successors. 
 Up to his time the school of Tosa had not gone be- 
 
38 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 yond the painting of portraits, and these limited to 
 men of learning or high renown, persons of quality, 
 or liigh dignitaries. Historical or war paintings, 
 and those of court ceremonies, are the only repre- 
 sentations of the manners of that time. 
 
 Matahei and his scholars, on the contrary, entered 
 into the spirit of the Japanese temperament. They 
 opened to art the unlimited field of life. They were 
 the promoters of a movement of liberty and evolu- 
 tion, the importance of which only now begins to be 
 comprehended. The popular school, sprung from 
 the very life of the nation, is the true expression of 
 Japanese art, without any foreign mixture, and in 
 my eyes is the most original and complete exponent 
 of it, bringing us most intimately into the spirit of 
 Nippon. His independent program stands in op- 
 position to the classic traditions of the school 
 of Kano, as in France the naturalistic expansion of 
 the second half of this century does in comparison to 
 the authoritative teaching of the academies. 
 
 The real creator of the Ukiyo-ye, which, in the 
 modern period, took the name of the school of Uta- 
 gawa, was Hishigawa Moronobu, of Kioto, who 
 studied in the school of Matahei, and developed in 
 the common people the taste for the popular style. 
 Professor Anderson considers him as the cleverest 
 and most genial representative of this school. He 
 has sufficient reason, if I can judge from two or three 
 kakemonos that I have seen, and by a certain num- 
 ber of illustrated books which are found in the rich 
 collection of Mr. Duret. 
 
PAINTING. 39 
 
 Moronobu, Shunsho, and Hokusai are the three 
 stars of this school. The Japanese historians have 
 not been careful to preserve the dates of the artists 
 of this genre. However, the date of the birth of 
 Moronobu was about the year 1646. He was born 
 in Hodamatshi, a province of Ava; lie came very- 
 young to Yedo, where he learned at first the trade 
 of embroiderer. It is known that he worked during 
 the period Genroku, 1688 to 1704. Mr. Anderson 
 supposes that he died between 1711 and 1717. 
 
 This great artist contributed in a great degree to 
 the improvementof embroidery and the decorating of 
 silk tissues. He furnished many designs to the 
 manufacturers of stuffs, and developed in the women 
 a taste for luxurious robes. It is to him that the 
 people owe those long trailing robes with large 
 sleeves, embroidered in designs so sumptuous and 
 picturesque, the infatuation for which reached its 
 height at the commencement of the 19th century. 
 
 His associates and co-workers were Ishikawa Mit- 
 sunobu, and Mitsunaha, Morafussa, Morishighe, and 
 Morinaga. 
 
 On his side, Hanabusa Itcho, of Osaka, at one 
 time a disciple of Kano Tasunobu, propagated at 
 Yedo the realistic style of painting, adding to it all the 
 humor, all the free imagination of his genial talent. 
 Itcho maybe considered as one of the masters of the 
 humorous style. His works are to-day much sought 
 for by the Japanese. Cited among his masterpieces 
 is the Twelve Months, in the Gierke collection. The 
 motives that his brush, in light and rapid sketches, 
 
40 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 has produced, and in which are mingled the gayest 
 of colors, are found reproduced in the works of the 
 modern artists, painters, decorators, sculptors of the 
 netsuk6s, etc. No one has better rendered the art- 
 less life of the peasants, their good humor, their 
 joyous frolics; no one has treated with a greater 
 flow of spirit the Buddhist divinities, especially the 
 seven gods of happiness. His landscapes are full of 
 truth, and fine in perspective, 
 
 Hokusai owed much to him ; but it was upon Hiro- 
 shighe that the influence of Itcho was most felt. 
 Itoho belonged to the family Taga, of Osaka, where 
 he was born in 1651. When fifteen he went to Tedo. 
 It is supposed he died in 1724. 
 
 We must return to the atelier of Tanyu, which 
 was the great laboratory of the art of the Kanos. 
 The renown of Tanyu is as much due to the reputa- 
 tion of his school as to his own worth. His most 
 illustrious pupils were Toun, his son-in-laW, later his 
 adopted son (he was son of Goto Bitsuyo,^ and died 
 in 1694, aged 70 years), the Shogun Yemitsu, and 
 Morikaghe. The third Shogun of the dynasty of 
 the Tokugawa, Y6mitsu, carried to its highest point 
 the glory of that grand race, and founded the pros- 
 perity of the city of Yedo. He is known in the history 
 of art by the name of Sandai Shogun. We shall 
 see, in speaking of lacquers, that the most beautiful 
 time of this essentially national industry corresponds 
 to his reign, and that under his artistic influence it 
 reached perfection. Architecture also owes to him 
 some admirable monuments, some magnificent tem- 
 
PAINTING. 41 
 
 pies. He was born in 1603, mounted the throne 
 Shogunal in 1623, and died in 1652, regretted by all 
 of his contemporaries. He is one of the three or 
 four princes who have done most for the good of 
 the people and the progress of art. 
 
 It was he who regulated the relations with Euro- 
 peans, which were limited by many restrictive guar- 
 antees under the will of Yeyas. He decided the situa- 
 tion, arranged the privileges of the Holland factory 
 of Nagasaki, and conceded to those peaceful traders 
 the little island of Decima. 
 
 It appears that "Eemitsu was himself something of 
 a painter ; but, as I said before, it was above all by 
 his work in lacquer that his name became famous 
 among the Japanese. 
 
 The most illustrious of artists in lacquer, he, at 
 least, who has in his execution of gold relief, the 
 most style, grandeur and force, without losing any- 
 thing of the preciseness and finish which are the 
 necessary qualities of beautiful lacquers, was Koyetsu 
 contemporary of Yemitsu, who died a short time 
 before him. We shall speak of his works in the 
 chapter on lacquers. 
 
 His family name was Honnami, and the Japanese 
 speak of him by either name. He came from Kioto. 
 His birth is placed in the year 1557. He learned 
 the principles of designing in the atelier of a painter 
 named Yushio, studied later at the Tosa school, and 
 in his turn founded a school which ranked among 
 the first, and out of which came later one of the great 
 inventors of Japanese art, the painter Korin. 
 
42 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 Koyetsu is recorded as a connoisseur of merit in 
 arms and ancient blades, a science difficult and com- 
 plicated in a pountry where the work of masters in 
 armory was prized above all other. He was a 
 perfect master in caligraphy, essentially a noble art,- 
 and his renown in this "genre" equaled that of his 
 contemporary, Shiukuda. It is said that he also 
 painted with extreme delicacy, joining nobleness of 
 sentiment to elegance of execution. The date of his 
 death is supposed to be 1637. 
 
 Morikage, in a different way, was equally an 
 artist of high importance. We lack biographical 
 knowledge of him. All that is known is that his 
 family name was Hissadzumi, and that he was still 
 living during the later years of the 17th century. 
 
 His style of painting was severe and highly deco- 
 rative. Tanyu considered him his most brilliant 
 pupil. His principal glory was the introducing of 
 artistic decoration at Kutani, and to have there raised 
 the fabrication of ceramics to the summit of Japanese 
 art. He himself painted the crude pieces which the 
 baking clothed with the most beautiful enamels. 
 His works are placed by the Japanese among their 
 most precious treasures. 
 
 As for Naonobu, his best pupil was his son 
 Tsun6nobu, born 1683. Mr. Bing has in his collec- 
 tion a kakemono in dominant white, as would have 
 said Paul de Saint Victor, representing a white pea- 
 cock spreading his tail. It is an authentic chef 
 d'oeuvre of Tsunenobu. The most important and 
 most remarkable work of his in Japan is found in 
 
PAINTING. 43 
 
 one of the temples at Kioto. It is a gallery, the 
 two sides of which are ornamented with gigantic 
 chrysanthemums painted in relief, and having the 
 height of a man. The efEect of this decoration is 
 truly grand. I will also mention a crane in the 
 snow, belonging to the same amateur, which is a 
 marvel of poetical delicacy and elegant conception. 
 In regard to this, I will repeat a characteristic anec- 
 dote. Mr. Wakai, who possessed it at the time, 
 desired to submit to an European artist this chef 
 d'ceuvre of Japanese art, as also the small landscape 
 by Tanyu, of which I have spoken. I accompanied 
 him to the house of one of the most celebrated 
 painters of Paris, an enthusiastic collector of draw- 
 ings by the old masters. After having unrolled the 
 two kakemonos and examined them attentively, he 
 suspended them on the wall between a drawing by 
 Durer, a sketch by Eubens, and an admirable study 
 in oil by Eembrandt. We were all struck by the 
 manner in which Japanese art sustained the test of 
 this comparison. In spite of the difference of sub- 
 jects, of style, and manner of execution, Tsun6nobu 
 held his own by the side of Eembrandt. 
 
 Minenobu, Tshikanobu, both sons and pupils of 
 Tsun6nobu, were artists of distinction. The first 
 died in 1708. At the same time lived Ninseii, of 
 Kioto, the greatest ceramist of Japan, and one of 
 the most original painters. He died about 1660. 
 
44 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 V. 
 
 EPOCH OF GENEOKU-KOBIN. 
 
 The different arts of decoration followed, in Japan, 
 a development parallel to that of painting. The 
 close of the 17th century and the commencement of 
 the 18 th marked for some of these arts, particularly 
 of lacquer and metal work, chased or cast, a period 
 of incomparable glory. The celebrated Nengo f of 
 Genroku (1688 to 1704) should remain in the mem- 
 ory of all who are interested in Japanese art. For 
 people of taste it represents a height of perfection 
 that has never been surpassed. At Nippon they 
 speak of the time of Genroku as we speak of the 
 great century of Louis, XIV. It was the time when 
 the commercial relations of Japan with Holland 
 had fully developed. Should one see in this fact a 
 particular incentive for productive activity? It is 
 not at all doubtful in regard to the porcelain pro- 
 ductions of Hizen, the greater part of which were 
 destined for . exportation to Europe, and executed 
 according to orders. 
 
 In the domain of scientific and industrial knowl- 
 edge, it is certain that this infiltration of European 
 
 t Nengo, a period of years, corresponding to a reign or part ot a reign, 
 or the cycle of sixty years. 
 
PAINTING. 45 
 
 influence, somewhat enveloped in mystejy on each 
 side, has been considerable. From an artistic point 
 of view, it has been revealed only in a secondary 
 manner, and was in reality rather insignificant. 
 
 This epoch of Genroku is not only renowned for 
 its celebrated painters, but for eminent men in every 
 line. Then lived some celebrated poets, as Bashio, 
 Kikaku, and Lansetsu; Somin, the engraver on 
 metal; Korin, the lacquer artist; Kenzan, the cera- 
 mist; Kibun, an amateur; Ritsuo, decorator. 
 
 Tedo, greatly increased, and, after Teyas, the real 
 capital and commercial center of Japan, was not 
 exempt from this great art movement. The star of 
 Kioto paled visibly before that of Yedo. Guardian 
 of high and exquisite traditions, of refined and severe 
 elegance, she saw herself, little by little, supplanted 
 by a rival whose parvenu allurements had less of 
 distinction but more of life. 
 
 Korin, whom I have mentioned in connection with 
 lacquers, was, perhaps, the most original and per- 
 sonal of the painters of Nippon, the most Japanese 
 of Japanese. His style resembles no other, and at 
 the first glance deceives European eyes. He was in 
 decided contrast to our tastes and habits. He rep- 
 resents the height of impressionism — at least, let us 
 say the appearance of impressionism — for his execu- 
 tion is liquid, light, and smooth; his touch is aston- 
 ishingly supple, winding and tranquil. The designs 
 of Korin are always strange and unexpected, and his 
 motives, peculiar to himself and unique in Japanese 
 art, have a certain awkward naivete which sur- 
 
46 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 prises one, but which we appreciate when we regard 
 them from a Japanese aesthetic point of view, finding 
 in them an inexpressible charm and a harmoniouB 
 rhythm which fascinates the beholder. Beneath 
 appearances, often childish, is discovered a marvel- 
 ous knowledge of form, a perfect assurance of com- 
 bination, that no one else has possessed in the same 
 degree in Japanese art, and which is essentially 
 favorable to the combinations of decorative art. The 
 supple, undulating lines of form which, in his latest 
 works, soften all the angles of the design, seduce 
 you even by their strangeness. I avow sincerely 
 that the art of Korin, which, at first, somewhat 
 troubled me, gives me to-day the most refined 
 pleasure. 
 
 Korin was born at Kioto in 1661, of a common 
 
 family named Ogata. His first teacher, it is said, was 
 
 ^ Tatsunobu Kano. He afterward entered 
 
 J^X aL the Tosa school, and studied in the school 
 
 ^/ / I of lacquers founded by Koetsu, but it was 
 
 in the study of sketches by Shiokuado, 
 
 -f J|-Jk and, above all, of thepaintings of Sotatsu, 
 
 /"i^A^ *° artist with whom his execution has 
 
 the closest connection, that he found his 
 
 definite style. He quitted Kioto while 
 
 young, and went to Tedo. Much later he returned 
 
 to his native city, and died there in 1716, aged 56. 
 
 His best designs are shown in lacquer work. The 
 
 Chinese ink ran from the end of his brush like oil. 
 
 It was especially by his lacquers tliat Korin became 
 
 celebrated. His style created a school, and was the 
 
PAINTING. 
 
 47 
 
 mode during the 18th century. His faculty of 
 decorative invention has never been equaled. 
 
 His paintings, album sketches or kakemonos, 
 although rare, were,^until later years, little prized in 
 Japan. The taste of the general public, blas6 by 
 the agreeable excitement of modern productions, 
 
 misunderstood the 
 high and aristocrat- 
 ic distinction of the 
 art of Korin, which, 
 however, was es- 
 teemed by all true 
 connoisseurs. His 
 works denote his ex- 
 quisite tempera- 
 ment as a colorist; 
 from this point of 
 view alone they are 
 most curious to 
 study. Among the 
 most remarkable of his works that have come to 
 Europe, I will mention two large screens decorated 
 with immense chrysanthemums, with their white 
 flowers in relief upon a gold background. The dec- 
 orative aspect is royally magnificent. They were 
 placed at the Exposition in the Eue de S6ze, at the 
 end of the room. The peculiar shading of the gold, 
 with a slight opal tint, the whiteness of the petals, 
 the elegance and unstudied effect of the composition, 
 leaving to the golden surface all its beauty, the stems 
 bending under the weight of the flowers, the bou- 
 
 INLAID SILYEB NETSDKE. 
 DESIGNED BY KOKIN. 
 
 (CoUection of Mr. Montefiore.) 
 
48 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 quets rising in the sunlight like large butterflies, 
 unite to produce on the beholder a dazzling effect. 
 
 As for the authentic lacquers of Korin, they are 
 classed among the highest collections in Japan, and 
 bring a high price. I shall speak of them later. I 
 shall also mention, in the chapter on illustrated 
 books, his albums of designs for lacquers. 
 
 Korin had a younger brother named Kenzan (born 
 at Kioto in 1663, died at Yedo in 1743), who was a 
 most original ceramist, and, after Ninsei, the most 
 celebrated in Japan. He imitated Korin's style, 
 and his talent for painting had great resemblance to 
 that of his brother. The lacquers of Korin could 
 be placed as pendants to the faiences of Kenzan. 
 The principles of decoration are the same. 
 ~" One can say in this connection, in a general way, 
 that there are not in Japan any inferior arts. All 
 artists are at first painters, before becoming en- 
 gravers, lacquerers, or ceramists. What we call 
 minor or inferior arts form there an inseparable 
 whole with the higher arts. The result is that all 
 art, even the highest, in the domain of painting or 
 sculpture, is subordinate before all to the laws of 
 decoration applied to manners and customs of 
 life. There is not a work which has not an idea of 
 decoration, or does not serve some purpose, and it 
 is this common education, this general discipline, 
 which gives so much value to Japanese artists' work, 
 and imprints upon their productions, even in their 
 freest fantasies, that profound unity and logic which 
 so impresses all strangers. This artistic training has 
 
PAINTING. 49 
 
 produced in Japan a sort of universality of adapta- 
 tion, found among us only in exceptional lines. 
 Bit-su-wo, in another line, may be placed by the side 
 of Korin. In originality he is not less interesting. 
 He is principally celebrated for his inlaying of 
 metals on lacquer. His works of this genre, in 
 which he was the originator, are eagerly sought for 
 by Japanese connoisseurs, also by Europeans, who 
 are impressed by their strange and forcible char- 
 acter. 
 
 Eit-su-wo was also a distinguished painter. He 
 first studied in the Kano school, afterward in that 
 
 of Matahei. Some of his works are signed 
 f^^ with the name of Haritsu. He died in 
 
 1747, aged 85 years. I consider him one 
 
 of the greatest artists of Japan. 
 
 p^ Among the pupils who came from the 
 
 •^ ^ atelier of Korin, there was one whose 
 
 \ ^ talent and celebrity nearly equaled that of 
 
 HiT-su-wo. his master. This was Hohitzu. I have 
 
 already spoken of him, and shall speak 
 further in the following chapter. I have first to men- 
 tion some other very important artists, and will first 
 mention Mitsuyoshi, the most delicate and elegant 
 master of the Tosa school. He was born in 1699. 
 At seventeen years he had already obtained an honor- 
 able title, at thirty-eight he had risen to the most ele- 
 vated rank in the school, and soon became curator of 
 the Emperor's atelier of paintings. He died in 1772. 
 The schools of Kioto have produced nothing more 
 exquisitely fine than the paintings of Mitsuyoshi. 
 
50 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 They are much sought after by people of good taste 
 and by the old aristocratic families. He excelled in 
 the painting of snipe. The art of Mitsuyoshi, though 
 somewhat cold, is full of patient detail, correspond- 
 ing to the minuteness of Chinese painting on egg- 
 shell porcelain; but one cannot deny that he pos- 
 sessed the grace of classical perfection. 
 
 The modern school of Tosa was entirely devoted 
 to this kind of painting, refined by Mitsuyoshi, and 
 generalized by the teaching of his son, Mitsusada. 
 Since that epoch this school has wasted itself 
 in the painting of flowers and birds, roses of Ben • 
 gal, peonies, camellias, plum and pear trees in bloom, 
 "glycines," hydrangeas, tomtits, linnets, and paro- 
 quets, all treated in a like manner, in which artistic 
 inspiration holds but a small part. 
 
PAINTING. 51 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH OENTUEY APOGEE OP JAPANESE 
 
 DECORATION GOSHIN AND OKIO. 
 
 In the middle of the 18th century the Chinese 
 school again came into vogue, under the influence of 
 an artist from the Celestial Empire, named Namping, 
 ■who established himself in Japan about 1720. ^he 
 government of Tokugawa brought him from China, 
 and assigned him a residence in Nagasaki. 
 
 He was a man of great talent, and soon had a 
 large number of pupils. His reputation extended 
 through Japan, The Hollanders were acquainted 
 with him, and for a long time in the Netherlands, 
 whence some of his works had been imported, the 
 style of Namping was taken as the purest type of 
 Japanese art. His style was that of the good painters 
 of the Yung-Tching period: conventional landscapes, 
 without perspective, very fine and studied outlines of 
 figures, profound knowledge of flowers and birds, and 
 a brilliant coloring. 
 
 Some of the pupils of Namping acquired a high 
 reputation; for example, Yushi, who popularized 
 the style of his master, and Shosiseiki, of Yedo, 
 The latter is classed among the most esteemed artists 
 of his time. I know several of his works which are 
 
52 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 of consummate elegance. He died in 1774, aged 
 78. The Japanese still speak of Eiurikio, better 
 known by the name of Kiyen, who died in 1758. 
 
 The number of talented artists was so large at the 
 close of the 18th century that I am obliged to limit 
 my comments. 
 
 Tosen and his son Isen represented with eclat at 
 that time the school and family of Kano. Tosen 
 of Yedo, known also by the name of Genshisai, was 
 born in 1752. The Shogun honored him with the 
 title of Hohin. He died in 1808. He was the last 
 great teacher of the Kano school. Yosen was an 
 incomparable landscape painter. None could sur- 
 pass him in poetry of execution, and cleverness in 
 rendering the vanishing planes of perspective. I 
 have before my eyes a water-color on silk, 15x10 
 inches, which is a striking example of his talent. A 
 countryman, mounted on his ox, is returning home 
 on a cold winter day. The mist covers the distant 
 plain, overflowed rice-fields, and the bamboo hedges. 
 The moon throws its pale light across the thick veil 
 of mist, and the wind shakes the branches of a slen- 
 der willow. Gray tones, washed with neutral tints, 
 hardly cover the silk, but nothing could give a 
 stronger impression of sadness, solitude and silence. 
 His' son Isen worked also at Yedo. He died in 1828. 
 
 Going a little further back than Yosen, I find 
 Bunlei, one of the known masters of the Kano school, 
 who died in 1778 ; and Taigado of Kioto, painter and 
 scholar (who, like so many other artists, went to 
 reside at Yedo), both pupils of Nankai and Eiurikio. 
 
PAINTING. 53 
 
 The paintings of Taigado are among those which 
 bring the highest prices in Japan. They are strongly 
 impregnated with the Chinese influence of Namping. 
 Taigado died in 1776, aged 54. 
 
 Buson, also of Kioto, painter and poet, was cele- 
 brated for his astonishing absent-mindedness. It is 
 related that in order to admire the effects of a beau- 
 tiful moonlight, he made a hole with his lighted 
 candle in the straw roof of his house, and thus set 
 fire to a whole quarter of Kioto. This great fire is 
 still known as the fire of Buson. His works are very 
 rare; they show much humor and poetic sentiment. 
 He died in 1783, aged 68. He was the teacher of 
 the famous Goshin. 
 
 Gekkei, better known by the name of Goshin, was 
 born at Kioto in 1741, of the family Katsumora. 
 He is, with Okio, the founder of the modern and 
 independent school of Kioto, or Shijo school,-}- which 
 was distinguished from that of Yedo by its extreme 
 elegance, harmonious coloring, and by a special taste 
 for composition. The style of Goshin is purely 
 Japanese, owing nothing to the Chinese school. It 
 shows a profound study of the great masters of the 
 three preceding centuries. 
 
 The most beautiful designs of the embroiderers of 
 Kioto are taken from Goshin. His design is clear, 
 elegant, and of rare distinction. After having 
 studied with Buson, he wished to follow the teaching 
 
 tShijoiBthename of the street in Kioto where this school was estab- 
 lished. 
 
54 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 of Okio, whose reputation was already very great. 
 Okio excused himself from this homage rendered to 
 his talent by saying to him: " I can be your friend 
 but not your teacher." 
 
 Goshindied in 1811, leaving behind him a renown 
 that time has increased. He is known also by the 
 name of Yenzan. 
 
 The school of Goshin, or rather his style, has 
 given birth to a number of artists of remarkable 
 talents, who shed, in the last years of the 18th cen- 
 tury and the first years of the 19th, a new luster 
 iipon the glory of Kioto, and restored to it for a half 
 century a portion of its preceding artistic supremacy. 
 
 First of these was Torii, of the province of Inava, 
 pupil of Shosiseiki, then of Goshin. We have little 
 knowledge of this artist; but judging from a large 
 tiger in the possession of Mr. Montefiore, Torii must 
 have been one of the most eminent artists of the 
 closing years of the last century. 
 
 Powerfulness of expression and truthfulness of 
 design match the marvelous suppleness of his brush 
 and hfs soft, harmonious coloring. One does not 
 know which to admire most, the coloring of the skin, 
 so perfectly natural, the superb movement of the 
 beast, who bites his paw, or the metallic brightness 
 and clearness of the eye, bordered with its thin char- 
 acteristic line of red. 
 
 The style of the Goshin school undoubtedly ap- 
 pears to Europeans not familiar with Japanese art, 
 as the form the most seductive and accomplished 
 that their art can take. 
 
PAINTING. 55 
 
 The paintings of Seisen, of Guakurei, of Lenzan, 
 Zaitiu, Kakutei, Nangaku, Keibun, Shosizan, Mura- 
 ku, Seiki, and Hakkei, respond entirely to our 
 esthetics. No one could have used the scale of deli- 
 cate shades with more discretion, greater elegance 
 of style, delicacy of design, grace of composition, or 
 charm of coloring. 
 
 The works of these masters, especially the first 
 five, are worthy the high prices that they bring to- 
 day in Tokio. Their motives were from preference 
 taken from flowers and insects. 
 
 Shosizan, son of Shosiseiki, has painted some 
 branches of cherry blossoms, whose marvelous 
 brightness would surprise our finest water-colorists. 
 Hakkei's specialty was insects and butterflies. Len- 
 zan, known also by the name of Hishitoku, has painted 
 birds with an unsurpassed lightness of touch. It 
 seems as though the smoothness and brilliancy of 
 the plumage was woven in the silk of his kakemonos. 
 Doves painted by him on a pine branch have given 
 me delicious hours of contemplation; also some little 
 bears in the midst of snow, by Zaiohiu, whose atti- 
 tude, peculiar color of eye, and simple good-nature, 
 are exquisitely and truthfully rendered. Zaichiu 
 has also left a great reputation in Japan. His 
 family name was Hara. He died at Kioto in 1837, 
 aged 88. 
 
 I will now speak of two artists of very great 
 renown and superior merit. They are among the 
 small number of those whose names have penetrated 
 into Europe with the commerce of bric-a-brac — 
 
56 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 Okio and Sosen. The number of false Okios and 
 false Sosens is incalculable. The originals of the 
 masters are easily recognized by those who have 
 seen one; but it is necessary to be cautious; they 
 are rare and expensive, even in Japan. From an 
 instructive point of view, Okio can compare with 
 Tanyu and Sesshiu. His school, with that of Goshin, 
 was the most important of the 18th century ; it was 
 more popular than that of Goshin. His name is one 
 of the three or four which Europeans pronounce from 
 their arrival in Japan. His family name was Mar- 
 uiyama. He was born in 1732, in Kioto, where he 
 lived, and where he learned the rudiments of art with 
 Yiutshio. He died in 1795. 
 
 Okio had two very distinct styles. His oldest 
 style was taken from the old national masters. This 
 made his great reputation, which is maintained to- 
 day. He was at first decorator of the theater. Later 
 he became enamored with Namping and the Chinese 
 school. This infatuation resulted from a journey 
 which he made through Japan, when his name be- 
 came known even in the most distant cities. He 
 produced in both styles simultaneously numerous 
 and remarkable works. He advanced in the study 
 of nature further than any of his contemporaries. 
 The subjects he preferred were flowers, birds and 
 fish. His landscapes also possessed great delicacy. 
 The paintings of Okio are generally distinguished 
 by an extreme finish, with the precision of a minia- 
 turist. Some of his works show us, however, an 
 Okio, supple, large, living, and, in certain ways, re- 
 
PAINTING. 57 
 
 sembling the great masters of drawing. Okio has 
 produced much, but his authentic kakemonos are 
 very rare. There is no artist of whose works more 
 false copies exist. Among his best pupils were 
 Tetsuzan, Kouakudo, Ippo, Kioko, and Tozan. These 
 have less of elegance and charm in their motives 
 than the artists of the school of Goshin, but more of 
 energy and liberty in their designs. Tetsuzan was 
 from Osaka. He studied at first the works of Sosen, 
 whom he nearly equaled in the painting of animals ; 
 afterward, when he removed to Kioto, he studied the 
 works of Okio. His works have character and 
 personality. 
 
 Ippo of Kioto is an original and charming master. 
 He handled the Chinese ink with a suppleness and 
 prodigality which rendered him famous. He is the 
 most seductive and clever of the impressionists of 
 the modern school. He has taken from the teach- 
 ing of Okio the quintessence of freedr , which has 
 secured him a place apart among the painters of the 
 commencement of this century. He obtained the 
 truest and most natural effects by the most simple 
 means. His realism is what it should be, and is 
 rendered more agreeable by sentiment and poetry. 
 With a few strokes of the brush, he painted a crane 
 sleeping in the branches of a pine, a house buried 
 in the snow on a mountain, with the thin streak of 
 smoke fading away against the winter sky. The eye 
 asks for nothing more. 
 
 Sosen is known among us as a painter of mon- 
 keys. His name literally means "saint of monkeys," 
 
58 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 "sennin des singes.'''* He spent entire months 
 in the woods in the environs of Osaka, living 
 among the monkeys, subsisting on fruits and roots, 
 until, it is asserted, he gradually assumed the man- 
 ners, movement and almost the form of a monkey. 
 It is certain that he painted these animals with much 
 spirit and an incomparable knowledge of their habits 
 and anatomy, also that no artist has rendered them 
 with such intense life. But it is a lowering of the 
 great talent of Sosen to confine it to that specialty. 
 
 There is in the collection of Mr. Ph. Burty a 
 fish done in Chinese ink, which is marvelously 
 strong and resolute in design. In the possession of 
 Mr. Bing are two rats drawing a shell, which are of 
 charming delicacy. Owned by Mr. George Petit is 
 a deer in Chinese ink, of superb vigor. I possess 
 a hind browsing among the flowering shrubs with 
 inimitable nonchalance and youthful movement; 
 also a tiger with a feline suppleness, showing a 
 knowledge of design unsurpassed by any European 
 artist. These works suffice to class Sosen in the first 
 rank of animal painters of all times and countries. 
 
 In spite of the fertility of Sosen's brush, authen- 
 tic kakemonos by him are rare. It is necessary to 
 
 *The *'8ennins" are Buddhist saints, venerated and fabolons persons, 
 whom popular superstition places among the demi-gods. Neither their role 
 nor their character seems to be defined. There is attributed to them a benef- 
 icent influence. The word "sennin" has therefore a general significance, 
 and is applied to many personages whose strange legends have served ae 
 subjects for artists since ancient days. There are some, as the *'sennin" 
 carrying a frog on his shoulder, a *'apnnin'* mounted on a fish, or holding a 
 cap from which, in a cloud of smoke, escapes a dragon; or a gourd, whence 
 escapes a horse — ^which are f requentlj^ seen in representations of Japanese 
 art. 
 
PAINTING. 59 
 
 have seen only one, to understand the great differ- 
 ence there is between an original of an old master 
 and the numerous copies seen among European mer- 
 chants. There are in Paris a half dozen kakemonos 
 upon paper, which are indisputable. Mr. Bing pos- 
 sesses a screen representing monkeys playing amidst 
 rocks, which is in its style a ch&f d'ceuvre. The 
 force of Sosen's brush here bursts forth in all the 
 richness of the most perfect tones of Chinese ink. 
 The firmness of expression, the boldness of the exe- 
 cution of the hairy skin of these animals, the quiet 
 energy of the design, form an admirable ensemble. 
 Those who estimate Sosen as the greatest realistic 
 painter of Japan, superior as an animal painter to 
 Hokusai himself, are not far from the truth. 
 
 Sosen was born at Osaka in 1747. Mori was his 
 family name. His common name was Morikata or 
 Tshikuga; but in painting he was known by the 
 name of Mori Sosen, and toward the end of his life 
 simply as Sosen. 
 
 He studied at the school of Shijo and was directly 
 influenced by the style of Okio. He lived the great- 
 er part of his life at Osaka, where he died in 1821. 
 His renown is general in Japan. English and Amer- 
 .icans eagerly search for whatever bears the signa- 
 ture of Sosen. 
 
 Outside of the pupils of Goshin and Okio, and of 
 the artists of the popular school, four masters of 
 great talent distinguished the end of the 18th cen- 
 tury and "the commencement of the 19th. They 
 were Buncho, Ganku, Tshikuden and Ho-itsu. 
 
60 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 Tani Buncho, of Yedo, frequented at first the 
 atelier of Bunlei, afterward that of Kangen. He 
 studied also the works of Sesshiu and Tanyu. His 
 style carried to a high degree the imprint of the 
 last two masters. He became the recognized paint- 
 er for Prince Tayasu Tokugawa, the Maecenas of 
 Japanese artists. He directed the publication of 
 numerous works of history and of art, notably the 
 immense work, Shiuko-Jisshiu. He died at Tedo 
 in 1841, aged 78, 
 
 The best pupil of Buncho was Kuasan, artist and 
 writer of great merit. His style is distinguished by 
 an extreme elegance. He is placed by the Japan- 
 ese in the first rank of modern artists. His kake- 
 monos are particularly sought for by European 
 merchants. 
 
 One should mention after Buncho, Totsugen of 
 Owari, a clever painter who has created a style be- 
 tween the Tosa school and the schools of Yedo — 
 Bumpo and Kiho of Kioto, celebrated by their al- 
 bums of caricatures, and Hoiyen, who had done 
 some landscapes full of atmospheric effects, light 
 and transparency. 
 
 One can without returning to Motonobu, Gehami 
 or Tanyu, recommend the landscapes of Hoiyen to 
 those who still doubt if the Japanese practice the 
 laws of perspective. 
 
 The celebrated Ganku of Kaga, who died in 1838, 
 is mentioned with Tshikuden as a painter of flowers 
 and birds. The kakemonos of these two artists sell 
 for their weight in gold in Japan. 
 
PAINTING. 61 
 
 Tshikuden of Takeda (province of BuDgo) was 
 a pupil of a painter named Kotei. He also studied 
 the style of Buncho. Like this last master, he em- 
 ployed the Chinese ink with vigor and decision, fol- 
 lowing the principles of the high school of Kano, 
 The collection of M. Vial, pharmacist in Paris, con- 
 tains an eagle poised on a rock above the sea, an 
 admirable work by Tshikuden. The ferocious ex- 
 pression of this carnivorous bird, which seems to be 
 searching for an invisible prey, is rendered with fas- 
 cinating energy. It is to be regretted that the owner 
 of this beautiful woik has allowed the signature to 
 be cut by having it framed in European style. Tshi- 
 kuden died in 1835. 
 
 With Ho-itsu we attain the summit of all that art 
 has produced in the sense of delicacy of poetic sen- 
 timent and refinement of conception, purely Japan- 
 ese. Hohitzu is, if I may say it, the quintessence 
 of the taste of Korin, relieved by the best style of the 
 Tosa school. He belonged to the most elevated 
 ranks of the aristocracy, was son of a Daimio and 
 brother of the Prince Sakai Utano Kami. He suc- 
 ceeded Nishi Oiiguanji in the functions of grand 
 chief of the priests of the Buddhist religion. To- 
 ward the end of his life, after numerous travels 
 and a long sojourn at Kioto, he retired to one of 
 the faubourgs of Yedo, his native city. He ended 
 his days in an austere and independent retreat 
 amidst the respectful esteem of his fellow citizens. 
 Born in 1761, he died in 1828. He first studied at 
 the Kano school, then with Mitsusada, son of Mits- 
 
62 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 uyoski of Tosa, afterward with Nangaku, renowned 
 pupil of Goshin, residing at Tedo; finally he entered 
 the atelier founded by Korin and then direct- 
 ed by Kano Tusen. His works reflect that 
 which his soul possessed of high feeling and 
 poetry; but if the design of Ho-itsu is consid- 
 ered in Japan as the supreme expression of grace, 
 our European eyes have a certain difficulty in fully 
 appreciating it; and the same with the works of 
 Korin. This facile simplicity, the delight of a Jap- 
 anese eye, perplexes us, for nothing is more opposed 
 to our conventionalities and habits of thought. 
 
 Shiokuado, Sotatsu, Korin and Ho-itsu are the 
 most exquisite of impressionists. From this point 
 of view they will delight our seekers for novelty. 
 But it is the impressionism of workers accustomed 
 to all the difficulties of painting, and whose justness 
 of observation is never at fault. Ho-itsu, moreover, 
 is a colorist of delicious sensuality ; his softness, his 
 dreamy shades, fill you with a voluptuous charm. 
 All else appears heavy and common beside the light 
 and airy splendor of a water-color of Ho-itsu. His 
 motives are always of the greatest originality, and 
 will be recognized at the first glance among the in- 
 finite products of Japanese art of the beginning of 
 this century. It is to Ho-itsu that the world owes 
 the reunion and publication of the works of Korin 
 on the decorating of lacquers. He himself super- 
 intended the printing. 
 
 The seventeen volumes of notes, sketches and de- 
 signs of lacquer, collected by Yoyusai and possessed 
 
PAINTING. 63 
 
 to-day by Mr. Haviland, came partly out of hia 
 studio. This collection, brought from Japan in 1873, 
 consists of several thousand designs of the highest 
 interest. Many are copies after Korin: a certain 
 number of studies for the decorating of combs, 
 boxes and fans, bear the signature of Ho-itsu him- 
 self. 
 
64 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE POPULAR SCHOOL AT THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHT- 
 EENTH CENTUBY — THE PBECUESOKS OF HOKUSAL 
 
 After Matahei and his successor, Hishigawa Mo- 
 ronobu, I have omitted speaking of the popular 
 school. It is time to return to it before coming to 
 Hokusai. This style of design took in Japan toward 
 the end of the 18th century a predominant place. 
 'It is the strongest incarnation of Japanese genius. 
 From it alone we learn more of the manners, the 
 public and private life of the nation, than from all 
 that travelers tell us. If the Japanese of good soci- 
 ety despise to-day its common origin, for us Euro- 
 peans it is particularly attractive. 
 
 It has no need of explanation nor of comment; it 
 is human and speaks for itself. Nearly all the rep- 
 resentatives of this art have come from the lower 
 ranks. 
 
 At the commencement of the 18th century, four 
 artists cultivated with great success the popular style: 
 Miagawa Tshioshiun, Tori Kiyonobu, and Harunobu, 
 of Yedo, and Sukenobu, of Kioto. All four have de- 
 signed for engraving scenes from still life, romantic 
 figures, and portraits. The designs of Tori are full 
 of energy and nobility ; those of Miagawa are dis- 
 
STUDY or A WOMAN, BT SUKENOBU. 
 
 ("The Pretty Women of Yedo," 17S9.) 
 
66 JAPANESE AET, 
 
 tinguished by fineness and sharpness of contour; 
 those of Sukenobu are marked by flowing outlines 
 and unusual delicacy of style; while those of Haru- 
 nobu sparkle with strength and originality of color- 
 ing, grace of design, and incomparable elegance of 
 composition. Hishigawa Sukenobu, the most fertile 
 of the three, studied in the school of Yeino Kano. 
 He painted from preference the courtesans of Yoshi- 
 wara.-j* In his makimonos and albums are charm- 
 ingly depicted the occupations of Japanese women. 
 But it was by the great talent of Miagawa Tshioshiun 
 that this art became the fashion among the common 
 people. He was justly esteemed as one of the most 
 refined and pleasing artists of the 18th century. He 
 was followed by Katsugawa Shunsho. 
 
 The kakemonos of the school of Miagawa are very 
 rare, and to-day much sought after in Japan. They 
 generally represent women of the lower class or 
 courtesans. 
 
 The school of Katsugawa, which has produced a 
 large number of very clever designers and two or 
 three artists of first rank, without including Hoku- 
 sai, represents in the popular style two specialties 
 thoroughly Japanese: one, theatrical scenes and 
 actors; the other, the life and occupations of the 
 women. Shunsho, the founder of that school, worked 
 almost entirely for engraving, that is to say, for 
 books of pictures. All the collections of colored 
 prints, which are to-day the delight of the tea-houses; 
 
 t A quarter of Yedo where the tetu-houses are located. 
 
PAINTING. 67 
 
 all the fine compositions showing magnificent land- 
 scapes and sumptuous interiors; all those figures of 
 actors with heroic gestures and impassive faces, 
 behind the grinning masts, and with costumes strik- 
 ing and superb, came originally from the atelier of 
 Katsugawa, who had for a certain time the monopoly 
 of them. 
 
 At the beginning quiet, shaded only with sober 
 tones, brick-reds, faded greens, yellowish browns, 
 dull blacks, pale violets, these figures and theatrical 
 compositions have fpUowed the common law, and 
 little by little become enriched with all the resources 
 of the scale of colors. 
 
 Shunsho died about 1790. He had numerous 
 pupils, and still more numerous imitators. Among 
 the first, the most celebrated are Shiuntshio and 
 Shiunyei, both designers of rare talent. But with 
 the elder Shunsho, one of Japan's greatest artists, 
 rests the glory of the atelier of Katsugawa. He was 
 one of the greatests artists of Japan, an inventor of 
 the first rank, and a powerful colorist; he enlarged 
 the style of imagery to the height of a great art. 
 His albums of women, his figures of actors, are of 
 an incomparable elegance of design; he unites the 
 vigor of Tori with the delicate precision of Haru- 
 nobu. He finds, without effort, attitudes and ges- 
 tures full of strength and freedom, and coloring of a 
 warmth and richness of which his successors have 
 gradually lost the art. 
 
 For myself, nothing enchants or seduces me as 
 much as the colored plates of Shunsho, veritable 
 
68 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 pictures, which rival the most magnificent painting. 
 Nothing excels, to my eyes, their simplicity, full of 
 life and expression. His three chefs cfceuvre, The 
 Mirror of Beauties of the Green House (3 vols., 
 1776); The Hundred Celebrated Poets (1 vol., 
 1774) ; and Fans (3 vols., 1769), all three orna- 
 mented with colored engravings, are perhaps the 
 most beautifully illustrated books that Japan has 
 ever produced. 
 
 A brilliant circle surrounded this master. Amoiig 
 the painters of the popular school who were his con- 
 temporaries, there were three whose reputation and 
 talent rivaled his in charm of color, life, grace, and 
 elegance of design, if not in grandeur of style. 
 They were Kiyonaga, Eishi, and Toyoharu. This 
 latter, pupil of Toyoshiro, founded the branch of the 
 popular school called Utagawa. He is particularly 
 appreciated by the Japanese. If I can judge of him 
 by a series of a dozen miniatures upon silk, repre- 
 senting the interiors of theaters and tea-houses, 
 Toyoharu could have had few rivals in the popular 
 school, in the art of putting life into numerous fig- 
 ures and in grouping them together to form a scene 
 which interests us by a thousand perfected details. 
 In spite of the number of persons that the artist 
 groups together (I have counted more than seven 
 hundred figures from five to nine inches high), they 
 are of irreproachable brightness and distinctness. 
 The bold mixture of strong reds, warm greens, soft 
 violets, produces an effect of color of rare intensity. 
 From Shunsho and Toyoharu have sprung all the 
 
PAINTING. 69 
 
 great artists of the commencement of this century, 
 who have made popular art glorious and renowned. 
 
 From the atelier of Shunsho have come Shiunzan, 
 Shiunko, Shiunsei, Shiunman, Utamaro, Teisai, Ho- 
 kusai, Gakutei; that of Toyoharu has been made 
 illustrious by the great Toyokuni and by Hiroshig6. 
 We shall again meet these artists when we speak of 
 colored engravings, as it is by these they became 
 popular in Japan and renowned in Europe. 
 
 Utamaro, Teisai, and Toyokuni are fine illustrat- 
 ors and also admirable painters. They worked on 
 book decoration, but were not themselves engravers. 
 
 The popular school, addressing itself to the middle 
 class, adopted a means of diffusion both rapid and 
 inexpensive. Their designs and pictures, having 
 been placed in the hands of the engravers, have, for 
 the greater part, disappeared. 
 
 Teisai was one of the most attractive colorists of 
 this school. He was one of the first to render fash- 
 ionable a certain type of woman, in such an exagge- 
 rated manner as to shock one; but the original grace 
 of movement, the uncommon mingling of rare tones, 
 the soft and silky rendering of stuffs, all the execu- 
 tion and color of -his pictures, was of most exquisite 
 quality. Teisai became later pupil of Hokusai, and 
 took the name of Hokuba. 
 
 Toyokuni the elder is especially a painter of actors 
 and theatrical scenes. I think him, in this style of 
 painting, the most fertile, varied, expressive, and 
 vigorous artist developed by Japan. 
 
 Toyokuni, known also as an artist by the name of 
 
70 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 Ichiyosai, was son of Ashikura Gorobe. His popu- 
 lar name was Kumahatshi. He began his career as 
 a manufacturer of children's dolls, and displayed a 
 talent that became renowned through Japan. The 
 dolls were eagerly sought for as works of art. 
 Endowed with a gift for designing, Toyokuni studied 
 soon after with Toyoharu Utagawa. He signed him- 
 self Utagawa Toyokuni, and his school took the 
 name of the school of Utagawa, a most importaiit 
 branch of the popular school. 
 
 His figures of actors are extremely characteristic; 
 they are at once recognized. Toyokuni has carried 
 further than any one the power of mimetic art. His 
 immense work, if I may be allowed to say it, is an 
 encyclopedia of gestures. The works done in his 
 first style are the most remarkable. He lived all 
 his life in the Shiba quarter, at Yedo, and died Jan- 
 uary 7, 1825, aged 57. 
 
 Utamaro Kitagawa was also of Tedo. Utamaro 
 is, with Eishi, the most distinguished and most 
 gracefully feminine master of the popular school. 
 The women of Utamaro have the refined grace and 
 voluptuousness of the figures of our Fontainbleau 
 school. His compositions have a rhythmic harmony 
 whose charm is without equal. 
 
 I know certain fastidious judges who prize above 
 all the grand color compositions of Utamaro. He 
 never executed theatrical pieces, but he excelled in 
 the painting of flowers and birds. His finest chefs 
 d'oBuvre are scenes taken from the life of women of 
 Yedo. Utamaro first studied with Toriyama Meiyen, 
 
PAINTING. 71 
 
 of Kano, before devoting himself to the popular 
 school. He produced little after 1800. 
 
 Shiunman studied with Kitawo Highemasa, after- 
 ward with Shunsho. He painted with the left hand. 
 He, like Utamaro, died at the commencement of this 
 century. 
 
72 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 HOKUSAI. 
 
 Hokusai is one of the greatest painters of his na- 
 tion. From our European point of view he is at once 
 the greatest and the most genial. If one considers 
 in a general way the technical qualities which make 
 the masters, without distinction of time or country, 
 he may be placed by the side of the most eminent 
 artists of our race. He has force and variety, and 
 his brush delights in the unexpected. He has orig- 
 inality, humor, fertility ; his invention has life and 
 elegance ; he has a rare 1;aste in designing, an excel- 
 lent memory, an eye educated to the highest degree, 
 and a wonderful cleverness of hand. His work is 
 immense, of a universality that startles the imagin- 
 ation and depicts in an incomparable manner and with 
 intense reality, manners, life and nature. His works 
 are an encyclopedia of the whole country, a human 
 comedy of the people. 
 
 Hokusai belonged to the popular school, but he 
 rises above it by the richness and the personality of 
 his picturesque conceptions, by depth of sentiment 
 and a powerful sense of the comic. 
 
 He was the Rembrandt, the Callot, the Goga, and 
 the Daumier of Japan. The name of Hokusai was 
 the first name of a Japanese artist to cross the 
 
PAINTING. 73 
 
 ocean. He will soon become known in the two hemi- 
 spheres; he is so already. All who interest them- 
 selves, far or near, in art, will soon be familiar with 
 this painter, so remarkable by the all-embracing 
 circle of his talent. A talent so complete and so 
 original should belong to humanity. 
 
 It was toward him that my first researches were 
 directed. The limited amount of information that 
 it was possible to gather concerning his life and 
 works, added to that already published in some 
 English, American and French works, will, in all 
 probability, not be increased. 
 
 Hokusai was an artist of the people; he died ig- 
 nored an d even despis e d by the noble class. The 
 Japanese did not begin to notice him until they saw 
 the Europeans eagerly searching for his works. 
 The great liking for his works was exclusively a 
 plebeian fondness. His crowd of admirers came 
 from the ranks of the merchants, artisans, courtesans, 
 and frequenters of the tea-houses of Yedo. His re- 
 nown extended into the province of Owari, where 
 this master published a great part of his works, and 
 even to Osaka, but it did not pass much beyond this 
 extreme limit. 
 
 His influence, of no effect upon the high art 
 schools of Kioto, or upon the taste of the aristoc- 
 racy, has been decisive upon the popular school, 
 and still more decisive upon what may be called the 
 secondary arts: modelling in colors, carving of nets- 
 uk6s and the decorating of common objects. And this 
 influence has drawn new strength from the appreci- 
 
74 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 ation of strangers for the style of Hoknsai. To-day 
 all Japan is influenced more or less by his works. 
 Hokusai marked the last step of national art without 
 foreign influence. 
 
 "One must not think," says very truly Mr. Duret, 
 "that Hokusai appeared in Japan as a prophet open- 
 ing new ways, and greeted from all sides as a great 
 master. There was absolutely nothing of the kind. 
 Hokusai worked for his living, treading the path of 
 common life. A man of the people, he began as a 
 kind of individual artist, applying himself to repro- 
 ducing the types and scenes of every-day life, and 
 occupied, compared with the artists who were his 
 contemporaries and who cultivated the 'grand art,' 
 an inferior position, analogous to that of Lenain in 
 comparison with Lebrun and Mignard, or of Dau- 
 mier and Gavarni in comparison with the laureates 
 of the school of Kome. If, toward the close of his 
 life, he rallied around himself numerous scholars, 
 influenced a great number of artists, and gained a 
 circle of admirers, his sphere had, nevertheless, been 
 confined to the common people and the bourgeois, 
 and did not extend to the aristocratic class and the 
 court world. It is only since the judgment of Euro- 
 peans has placed him at the head of the artists of his 
 nation, that the Japanese have universally recognized 
 him as one of their great men." 
 
 Hokusai was born in 1760, in Honjo (district of 
 Katsushika), a quiet quarter of Yedo, full of gar- 
 dens and flowers, at the farther east side of the river 
 Sumida. In his infancy he was called Tokitaro 
 
76 JAPANESE ART, 
 
 Katsuskika. His father, Nakajima Is6, was the man- 
 ufacturer of metal mirrors for the house of Taikun. 
 
 His first teacher in painting was Shunsho, whose 
 lessons he absorbed with care, but without manifest- 
 ing at first any exceptional aptitude. It was through 
 Shunsho that he became attached to the popular 
 school, and thus took his first name as an artist, 
 Shunro. He afterward studied the style of several 
 of the old masters, notably Sesshiu, Tanyu and San- 
 raku, and, more than all, Itcho, with whom he was 
 in closest sympathy. The combination of these two 
 methods produced his mature style. 
 
 Up to about 1790 he remained a scholar and imi- 
 tator of Shunsho. One finds in the works of that 
 great artist all the distinctive marks of Hokusai's 
 talent at that epoch. 
 
 y/'When his reputation began to increase, Hokusai 
 changed his residence nearly every month to rid 
 himself of intruders. He also changed his name 
 many times.v/As pupil of Shunsho, he called him- 
 self Shunro. He took successively the names of 
 Sori, Tatsumasa, Sesshiu, Hokusai-Sori and simply 
 Hokusai, which latter he retained nearly all his life ; 
 then, toward 1820, the names of Taito, Man-Bojin 
 (thatis to say the character man), *Katsushikau (the 
 old man of Katsushika) litsu, Tam6ichi or Tam6- 
 kadzu (three different pronunciations of the same 
 words). At the end he added voluntarily to his 
 
 *Ancient symbolical Bign in use among the Bnddliista of Asia and Thib- 
 et. It expresBes nothingnesB, humility, and, in a senBe, fool. 
 
PAINTING. 77 
 
 name the epithet "Gwakio" (the fool of drawing). 
 He lived alternately at Nagoya, the capital of the 
 province of Owari, and at Yedo. He went to Kioto 
 and to Osaka, but only on visits. 
 
 "One can understand," remarks M. Duret, "how 
 difficult it is to collect the works of an artist who 
 not only frequently changed his name, but also his 
 signature. To this is added another difficulty, that 
 a large number of his pupils adopted portions of his 
 name, without doubt as titles of honor to designate 
 themselves and to sign their works." 
 
 The word Hokusai means "Genius of the North." 
 He represents himself by means of two Chinese 
 characters, Hoku-Sai. 
 
 The greater part of the pupils of Hokusai have 
 taken the name of Hoku as a part of their name, 
 adding to it one or two syllables. It is thus that are 
 derived the names Hokuba, Hokumei, and others. 
 
 The different names taken, dropped and retaken 
 by Hokusai, and the different manners of writing 
 them, have caused the Japanese to fall into all sorts 
 of errors. But it is above all the appropriation by 
 many of his pupils of the first part (Hoku) of his 
 name, which has been the principal cause of the 
 confusion. 
 
 I can give to-day in Japanese writing the exact 
 form, not only of the different names of Hokusai, 
 but also the names of the best known of his pupils: 
 Isai, Hokujiu, Hokuun, Hokkei, Hokuga and Teisai- 
 Hokuba. Hokusai had a talented daughter who aided 
 him in his works and who married one of his pupils, 
 
78 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 Bokusen, who became his adopted son, and who is 
 probably Hokkei himself. Hokusai had by this 
 daughter a grandson who was very ungrateful, and 
 whose evil doings had much to do with Hokusai's 
 numerous movements. 
 
 Hokusai died April 13, 1849, aged 90. He is 
 buried in the Buddhist temple of Saikioji, in the 
 street Haolii-kenji, Oho, in the Asakusa quarter, 
 Tedo. His tomb, still guarded with pious care, 
 bears an inscription telling the date of his death 
 1 %^ 8,nd his religious name, "Genyo Hokusai 
 Jp L* Shiaji Nan Shoyen, the glorious and 
 honest chevalier Hokusai." 
 »<Hokusai remained poor all his life. 
 His indefatigable productions for the 
 editors of Nagoya and of Tedo did not 
 enrich him. His paintings sold for low 
 HOKUSAI. prices because he belonged to the realis- 
 tic school and painted modern life. If he had come 
 from the Kano or Tosa school no doubt but he would 
 have been ranked superior to Goshin, Okio, or Bun- 
 sho. Until about 1800 he lived in relative obscur- 
 ity; even later, at the time of his greatest renown, 
 he was ignorant of the art of coining money by his 
 talent.»^ 
 
 It was considered a sign of little taste to hang a 
 kak6mono of Hokusai's in one's house. His sketches 
 passed into the hands of those artists who used them 
 as models, not troubling themselves to preserve 
 them. His paintings, properly speaking, have always 
 been rare, as have those of all the masters of the 
 
PAINTING. 79 
 
 popular school. He designed and painted especially 
 for engraving upon thin sheets of paper destined to 
 be pasted upon wood, and consequently destroyed 
 by the engraver's tools. To-day a painting of Ho- 
 kusai's is a great curiosity in Europe as well as in 
 Japan. 
 
 In a general way it may be said that Hokusai exe- 
 cuted his kakemonos with the greatest care, especially 
 those done in water-colors with a mixture of body- 
 color. He seems to have executed only a few, and 
 those for his friends. 
 
 I cannot enter here into a description of the paint- 
 ings of Hokusai that have come to Europe, although 
 their number is limited. It will suffice to mention 
 among his works which have given the highest and 
 most complete idea of his talent as a painter, a deli- 
 cious kakemono (belonging to M. Bing), represent- 
 ing the cowering figure of a poet; and, in the same 
 collection, a precious selection of sketches in Chinese 
 ink, prepared for the engraver; two album leaves at 
 the Berlin Museum (Gierke collection), represent- 
 ing a begging monk stealing peaches, and surprised 
 by the proprietor at the moment when he hides them 
 in his sleeves; and finally, in the collection of the 
 author, various works, among which I will mention 
 a leaf signed Hokusai Tameichi, upon which is 
 painted the head of a beggar, done in a manner 
 equaling a distemper of Botticelli ; two kak6monos, 
 one representing a young woman on the sea-shore, 
 overtaken by a snow-storm; the other, a peasant 
 woman washing linen by the border of a river ; and 
 
80 
 
 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 a collection of forty -six studies in water-colors. 
 
 These kak^mo- 
 noB and the 
 forty-six water- 
 colors came 
 from the cele- 
 brated carica- 
 turist Kiosai, 
 who acquired 
 them from the 
 heirs of the 
 master. The 
 kakemono of 
 the washerwo- 
 man is disting- 
 uished by the 
 harmony and 
 rarity of its 
 gray tones, dull 
 greens, and 
 faded rose color. 
 "There is," said 
 Mr. Paul Mantz, 
 "an association 
 of shades which 
 seem dedicated 
 to delicacy it- 
 self." 
 
 "The caresses 
 of Hokusai's 
 
 brush" is the term that suggests itself to my 
 
 WASHERWOMAN, ON THE BOBDEB OF A BITER. 
 
 (Kakfimono by Hokuaai.) 
 
PAINTING. 81 
 
 thought when I see the hair so lightly touched by 
 the soft light, the stuffs so soft and full of color, 
 the landscape bathed in a morning mist, and over 
 all the crescent moon. The treatment is of a 
 charming naivete; the composition is that of a 
 master. 
 
 But nothing equals the collection of the forty-six 
 water-colors, which are all of an extraordinary beauty. 
 Their execution belongs to Hokusai's best period, 
 between 1810 and 1840. Never has a more clever 
 hand touched paper; it is Japanese art in its highest 
 degree of exposition, of freshness, life, and origin- 
 ality. Motives of all kinds, studies of figures, ges- 
 tures and attitudes, flowers, fruits, insects, butter- 
 flies of variegated colors, animals full of vigor, fol- 
 low one another with unexpected aspects, showing 
 nature to have been studied by a most critical and 
 observing eye. Each page is a choice composition, 
 a finished work, in which one sees nothing to change: 
 here it is a grasshopper posed upon a gourd, or a 
 moth flying around a branch of hydrangea ; there it 
 is a rat devouring a piece of watermelon, or a golden 
 miller balancing itself on a crystal vase. There are 
 certain philosophical studies of his worthy of the 
 signature of Rembrandt. 
 
 Hokusai was always striving toward perfection ; 
 his powers did not know any decline. I found, in 
 regard to this, in the preface to the first edition of 
 the first volume of the " One Hundred Views of Fuji- 
 yama," a very curious note by Hokusai himself, which 
 has remained unknown to Mr. Dickins and Mr. 
 
82 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 Anderson. Translated literally it is as follows: 
 "From the age of six years I had a passion for 
 drawing the forms of objects. Toward my fifteenth 
 year I had published a number of designs ; but I am 
 dissatisfied with all that I did before I was seventy 
 years old. It was at the age of seventy -three that I 
 fully understood the true form and nature of birds, 
 fish, plants, and like things. Consequently, at the 
 age of eighty I shall have made much progress; at 
 ninety I shall arrive at the real nature of things; at 
 a hundred I shall surely reach a superior height, 
 something indefinable; and at the age of a hundred 
 and ten, be it a point or be it a line, all will be 
 alive. I demand of those who shall live as long as 
 myself to ask if I have not kept my word. 
 
 Written at the age of seventy-five by me, hitherto 
 called Hokusai, to-day known as Gwakio Kojin, the 
 old fool of designing." 
 
 The paintings of which I have spoken sufiice to 
 prove that outside of his great talent as designer 
 and illustrator, Hokusai has been one of the virtuosos 
 of the brush. His color as well as his execution has 
 incomparable force and splendor and resolution. 
 Jacquemart himself, the first of our water-colorists, 
 would sometimes be vanquished by him, who, with a 
 sort of divine instinct, has applied his methods with- 
 out ever having seen any of the works of his hand. 
 
 That which strikes me in certain pictures of Ho- 
 kusai's, and which I did not expect to find in such a 
 degree in the author of the Mangwa, is a captivating 
 elegance that intoxicates like the perfume of flowers. 
 
PAINTING. 83 
 
 Hokusai, when he designed for the engraver, was 
 concise, rapid, impulsive, often rough; but when, 
 absorbed in the contemplation of nature, he painted 
 for himself, his execution became fairy-like. It 
 seems as if his brush became inbued with life, and 
 followed in a sort of voluptuous delight the loving 
 movements of his thought. At such times Hokusai 
 had the artlessness of a tender soul lifted above the 
 noise of the world; he had the delicacy and the 
 inspired touches which come only to an imagination 
 absorbed in color, light, and truth. 
 
 Nothing in nature was strange to him ; he designed 
 equally well temples, palaces, houses, costumes, land- 
 scapes, flowers, trees, birds, fish, insects, subjects 
 pleasant or grave, real or imaginary, every-day life 
 or fashion; he was truly universal. But that which 
 above all attracted Hokusai was mankind. 
 
 The leading quality which justified his surname 
 of " old fool of designing," was the portraying of 
 life with all the vigor of reality, and in the infinite 
 variety of its manifestations; the rendering of ges- 
 ture, true, surprised, or guessed ; the play of attitude 
 and of physiognomy. Gesture is with Hokusai 
 wonderful in expression, in composition and person- 
 ality. Always and everywhere life, such was the 
 maxim of this great artist. Everywhere is care for 
 expression, the understanding of relief, an admirable 
 discernment for that which should move and charm, 
 and an inexhaustible perception of comic life. 
 
 It is by these traits that, to my eyes, he equals 
 the strongest among us; it is by these that his works 
 
84 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 rise high in the domain of esthetic Japanese art, and 
 that they establish for it a definitive formula. 
 
 Hokkei, his most distinguished pupil, is known 
 not only as an illustrator of books and designer of 
 Burimonos, but also as one of the most elegant and 
 delicate painters of the popular school. He is as the 
 moonlight to Hokusai's sun. His style approaches 
 so closely to that of his master that it is often diffi- 
 cult to distinguish their works. An eye accustomed 
 to the style of Hokusai need not be deceived. Hok- 
 kei is less nervous, less vigorous ; he has more of fem- 
 inine grace and charm, more of the seduction, per- 
 haps, but also more of mannerism. His paiatingsare 
 still more rare than those of Hokusai. M. Daret pos- 
 sesses two volumes of original sketches by Hokkei. 
 
 Although the works of Hokkei are known and 
 appreciated in Japan, his life is enveloped in mys- 
 tery. I have learned that some Japanese deny his 
 existence, and confound him with Hokusai. 
 
 A fortunate chance put me in possession of the 
 date oE his birth. I found in a copy of a volume, 
 which belonged to Hokkei himself, called " Bokn- 
 Jiuyen" (Poetry and Portraits of 120 Modern Poets), 
 and illustrated by different pupils of Shunsho and 
 Hokusai, an autographic note of the artist indicating 
 that ia 1811 he was thirty-one years old. Hokkei 
 was therefore born in 1780; his family name was 
 Hishiyoka. I have already said that there were 
 strong reasons for believing Hokkei and Bokusen, 
 the son-in-law and adopted son of Hokusai, to be 
 one person. 
 
PAINTING. 
 
 85 
 
 IX. 
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 It becomeB necessary for me to hasten. The 
 modern school of painting could furnish ample ma- 
 terial for expansion ; but I will only mention some 
 of the principal artists 
 of the 19th century. 
 
 The popular school 
 was in full sway be- 
 tween 1830 and 1840. 
 Four men occupied with 
 about equal success the 
 theater of popular art: 
 Keisai, Hiroshig6, Kun- 
 isada, and Kuniyoshi. 
 
 There were two art- 
 ists of the name of 
 Keisai. The similarity 
 of their names has been 
 to the present time 
 a cause of numerous 
 errors. 
 
 The oldest and most worthy of admiration, Keisai 
 Kitao, was son of that Kitao High6masa who aided 
 Shunsho in his work of engraving. Later he 
 changed his family name to Kuwagata, and called 
 himself Shoshin. He was born at Yedo, and studied 
 
 EmSAI KITAO. 
 
 EEIBAI TEIBEK. 
 
86 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 painting with the celebrated Buntshio. He died 
 in 1824. 
 
 He excelled in the drawing of landscapes and flow- 
 ers. His albums of sketches, engraved and pub- 
 lished between 1795 and 1810, are considered among 
 the most interesting illustrations of Japanese art. 
 His style — large, full of life, and of fine taste — 
 assigns him a high place in this branch of art. 
 
 The second, Keisaii Yeisen, was born at Tedo 
 in 1792, and died in 1848. His family name was 
 Ik6da, and his artistic name, Yoshinobn Yeisen. 
 He early devoted himself to the depiction of color, 
 and became one of the devotees to this branch of 
 art. 
 
 It is necessary to remark that the word Kei is 
 written in each of the two names with a different 
 character. Number one belonged to Keisai Kiato, 
 and number two to Keisai Yeisen. 
 
 Hiroshig6 is, after Hokusai, the most life-like 
 and inventive painter of the manners and life of the 
 people of the 19th century; he is also one of the 
 greatest landscape painters. No one in Japanese 
 art has exceeded him in knowledge of perspective ; 
 no one has portrayed landscape with so much truth. 
 In this he has no cause to be envious of European 
 artists. He is known above all as a designer of 
 figures. His views of the environs of Yedo are 
 celebrated. They teach us more of the country than 
 all of the descriptions of travelers. 
 
 His paintings, which are very rare, denote a con- 
 summate knowledge of the handling of the brush. 
 
PAINTING. 87 
 
 I know a set of five paintings in gray, lightly bright- 
 ened with gold and some touches of color, represent- 
 ing evening f^tes at Yedo, which show a marvelous 
 skill. One of these shows us the entrance to a 
 bridge where are some foreign merchants with paper 
 lanterns; another, a promenade under some trees 
 illuminated by the lights from the shops, reminding 
 us of the "Palais Koya,l Garden" of Debucourt. 
 
 Hiroshig^ Motonaga was the son of an officer of 
 the fire brigade of Tedo, named Ando. He first 
 studied painting with Binsai Okajima, then devoted 
 himself to the popular school, after having been with 
 Toyoharu TJtagawa. He lived all his life in the 
 Nakabashi quarter of Tedo, near the central bridge. 
 He died September 6, 1858, aged 72. 
 
 Kunisada, of Yedo, rapidly became the best pupil 
 of Toyokuni the First, who, in 1844, gave him his 
 name, and from that time Kunisada signed himself 
 Toyokuni II. He died in 1864, aged 79. 
 
 He worked exclusively for the popular picture 
 trade. His works are numerous, and even to-day 
 are the delight of women and children. 
 
 Kuniyoshi, also pupil of Toyokuni I, was born in 
 1796. His specialty was in designing for albums 
 scenes of military life, and the figures of soldiers. 
 He died in 1861. 
 
 The popular school is represented to-day by one 
 of the last pupils of Hokusai, the famous Kioaai, 
 whom Mr. Guimet has brought before us in a very 
 pleasant manner in his "Walks in Japan." The 
 Japanese call him their second Hokusai. Viewed 
 
88 JAPANESE ART, 
 
 from the comic side of his designs, this praise is 
 justified. 
 
 Kiosaii has a power of severe satire which is as- 
 tonishing ; his political caricatures have caused him 
 to pass a portion of his life in prison. But, for the 
 rest, he is only a weak imitation of the great master. 
 His coloring has a disagreeable sharpness; his an- 
 gular touch of the brush reveals a careless manner ; 
 his style of improvising shows nothing of the con- 
 centrated power and thoughtful technique of Katsu- 
 shika. 
 
 Clever Kiosax is, as a monkey is clever, but his 
 cleverness leaves one cold. His greatest merit, in 
 my eyes, is to have remained purely Japanese in the 
 midst of the general corruption of taste by European 
 influences. His small albums of colored engravings 
 are among the things most purely Japanese that his 
 country has sent us. 
 
 He often signs his works Shofu-Kiosai, Kiosaii, 
 "the drunken and foolish monkey." 
 
 Kiosai is now 52 years old. When he is not 
 drunk he still makes sketches, which cause as much 
 furor at Tokio as did an article of Kochefort in Paris 
 in the bright days of the "Lanterne." 
 
 He lives in a house in the midst of gardens in the 
 outskirts of the city. It was here that E6gamey, 
 with considerable difficulty, discovered him. He 
 made his portrait off-hand, and Kiosai retaliated by 
 a rough sketch very life-like, and strongly resem- 
 bling his interrogator. The two sketches have been 
 reproduced in the second volume of "Walks in 
 
PAINTING. 89 
 
 Japan," and truth compels me to say that the Japanese 
 artist was the victor in this impromptu competition. 
 The contemporaneous painter the most renowned 
 in the higher class is Z6chin, disciple of the high 
 school of Kioto. He is the last representative of 
 that noble and elegant art that was in its glory at 
 the end of the 18th century* He is very old. With 
 him will disappear all that remains of old Japan. 
 His works are always ingenious, sometimes very 
 original, and heightened by a rare poetic sentiment. 
 
90 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 X. 
 
 YOSAI. 
 
 It remains for me to speak of an artist who, in 
 certain respects, is reckoned among the greatest of 
 Japan, and who is, at least, one of the most illustri- 
 ous — the author of Zenken-kojitsu, Kikuchi Yosai. 
 
 Yosai belonged by his family to the best society 
 of Kioto. Before distinguishing himself as a painter, 
 he was already celebrated as a scholar and man of 
 letters. He had examined thoroughly the history of 
 the arts and customs of Japan. He had an encyclo- 
 pedic mind, and perhaps the finest intelligence of his 
 time. 
 
 He learned the elements of painting in the atelier 
 of the Kanos; his professor was Yenjo. He studied 
 successively the style of the different schools of 
 painting, without confining himself to any one, but 
 gradually approached that of the Tosa school. 
 
 From this study of the different schools, pursued 
 with his accustomed vigor, resulted his style of paint- 
 ing — ^an eclectic style, independent, and, at the same 
 time, strongly individual, a happy mixture of refined 
 spiritualism and scrupulous realism. A conception 
 always poetical, always unexpected ; a sort of serene 
 philosophy, an intimate acquaintance with the social 
 and human characters of his compatriots, wide and 
 hardy flight into the fields of the ideal — such is the 
 
PAIHTING. 
 
 91 
 
 combination of high qualities making up the talent 
 of Tosai. 
 
 He is, if I may be allowed the expression, the 
 painter of Japan who has put the most literature 
 into his art. The subject and the composition play 
 in each one of his works 
 a role that none of his 
 predecessors had ever 
 thought of. In this, al- 
 though all remains na- 
 tional, Yosai is the artist 
 of Japan who approaches 
 the nearest to European 
 art. 
 
 He disdained the re- 
 sources of the colorist, and 
 dsToted himself to the ex- 
 pressive qualities of de- 
 sign, to the idea, to the 
 character. 
 
 A beautiful kakemono 
 of Yosai's is a pleasure 
 more for the mind than 
 for the eye. He has never 
 left the domain of noble 
 art, but he has designed 
 the most diverse subjects. 
 
 When he went to Tokio in 1875, the Emperor re- 
 ceived him with great praise, and bestowed upon 
 him the title of " First Painter of Japan." 
 
 He died in 1878, aged ninety-one. The work of 
 
 ISHIKAVA TOSHITABn. 
 
 (After Yoaai). 
 
92 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 hia life, upon which he concentrated all his efforts, 
 and by which he will always live in the grateful 
 memory of the Japanese, is his admirable work 
 "Zenken- Kojitsu" (The Heroes and Celebrated 
 Scholars of Japan), in twenty volumes, for which 
 he furnished the text and designs. 
 
PAINTIKG. 93 
 
 XI. 
 
 If now I look backward upon the history of paint- 
 ing in Japan, naming, without order, the creative in- 
 diyidualities which all Japanese, of whatever degree, 
 should at least know, I will inscribe here, for the 
 conclusion of this chapter as for the pediment of the 
 Pantheon of Japanese art, the names of Kanaoka, 
 Toba Sojo, Meitshio, Josetsu, Mitsunobu, Kano 
 Masanobu and Kano Motonobu, Sesshiu, Kano Nao- 
 nobu, and Tanyu his brother, Tsun6nobu, Honnami 
 Kpyetsu, the great master in lacquer ; Mitsuoki, the 
 glory of Tosa ; Korin, Itchp, Okio, and Goshin, the 
 promoters of the modern style, Sosen, the incom- 
 parable animal painter ; Matahei and Moronobu, the 
 founders of the popular school ; Harunobu, Shunsho, 
 Eishin, Kiyonaga, Utamaro and Toyokuni, masters 
 in colored pictures; Hokusai, the painter of life; 
 Tosai, the grand poet, and Hiroshig6, the great 
 painter of landscapes. These mark the advance of 
 Japanese art. 
 
 Kanaoka shone during the reign of the Emperors 
 Uda and Daigo, at the height of the power of the 
 Fuziwara; he founded in the 9th century the na- 
 tional style of painting ; in historical importance, he 
 is the equal of Kano. 
 
 At the close of the 15th century art principles 
 
94 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 were fixed ; two grand streams flowed without mixing 
 to the middle of the 18th century, and nourished the 
 subsequent flowering. 
 
 All Japanese painting attached itself to one or the 
 other of these art sources — Tosa and Kano. 
 
 The imperial atelier of Tosa represents the purely 
 Japanese school without foreign mixture; that of 
 Kano belongs originally to Chinese influence and to 
 the current traditions of art design. This is the 
 school of the stroke of the brush and character in 
 small datail. 
 
 With Korin, Itcho and Okio, the principles of the 
 two schools were united in a study of nature more 
 simple, pure and ingenious ; fidelity to life tended to 
 replace force and grandeur of style. 
 
 At the same time the popular school appeared with 
 its novelty of horizons and infinite richness of mid- 
 dle grounds. 
 
 Matahei, Moronobu and Sbunsho made way for 
 Hokusai, who crowned the Japanese evolution in his 
 absolute independence of all schools, all system, all 
 conventionality. He is the last and most brilliant 
 figure of a progress of more than ten centuries; he 
 is the exuberant and exquisite product of a time of 
 profound peace, a period of incomparable refinement. 
 Aside from Yosai, who ended the line of great styl- 
 ists, henceforth all centered in Hokusai, all partook 
 of his manner and his genius. 
 
 At his death began an irreparable decadence. The 
 skill of hand is still marvelous, as one can see in the 
 famous pigeons of Settei, which belonged to the 
 
PAINTING. 95 
 
 painter Nittis ; but Japanese imitated, they no longer 
 created. 
 
 The reyolution of 1868 is the gulf which separates 
 the purely Japanese art from this hybrid art, occu- 
 pied only with the demands of exportation, and 
 which sacrifices itself to European tastes as to the 
 golden calf. Such art has nothing which appeals to 
 our eyes or our imagination. 
 
ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 I. 
 
 UR vanity leads us to think that archi- 
 tectural genius belongs exclusively to 
 the Aryan race, and, when a foreign 
 architecture, as that of the Japanese, 
 is spoken of, our first sentiment is one of mistrust. 
 I have known reliable authors to deny a priori the 
 value and even the existence of architectural art in 
 Japan. It is necessary to destroy such a prejudice. 
 
 We have a habit in France of submitting every- 
 thing to one rule. We like to criticise, and our 
 judgments abound in but, if, and for, instead of sim- 
 ply asking ourselves, Does such a 
 production respond to the genius 
 of the race, to its manners, its 
 climate, and to the nature of the 
 country that has produced it? 
 
 Because a building does not 
 resemble a Greek temple or a 
 cathedral of the middle age, it 
 does not follow that it is unworthy or ordinary. 
 
 This is the case with Japanese architecture. If 
 
 IMPEBIAL OBESTS. 
 
AECHITECTURE. 97 
 
 we consider it as Greek or Latin, it surprises and 
 disconcerts us; if, on the contrary, we take it as the 
 expression of the needs and tastes of the .inhabitants 
 of Nippon, it will appear to us in another light, and 
 not inferior to other plastic exhibits of this artistic 
 people. 
 
 This architecture has three dominant qualities: 
 logic, unity, and decorative adaptation. It fills ex- 
 actly the functions for which it is intended. It 
 harmonizes marvelously with the Japanese land- 
 scape, of which it seems to be the natural comple- 
 ment. What more is necessary? 
 
 In spite of all the borrowing the architectural art 
 of Japan has made from India and China, it is act- 
 ually the result of contingent causes which attended 
 its birth. 
 
 Two laws regulate it and imprint themselves upon 
 its general character: the almost exclusive use of 
 wood and the predominance of open spaces over 
 closed ones. The Japanese architect is first of all a 
 carpenter; his construction is the triumph of the 
 mortise. The largest as well as the humblest edi- 
 fices are of wood. Temples and houses, theaters and 
 palaces, have, so to speak, no walls. There are no 
 points of support but the posts which are united by 
 their partitions or movable frames. 
 
 Another marked characteristic is the importance 
 given to the roof, to which all the other parts are 
 made subordinate. The roof projects over the whole 
 structure. 
 
 The use of wood for building dates back to the 
 
98 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 earliest history of Japan. The small Ainos, temples 
 with their projecting roofs of straw supported by a 
 half-dozen bark-covered trunks of trees, give us an 
 approximate idea of what Japanese architecture must 
 have been at the time of the Emperor Zinmu. The 
 germ has followed its natural course of development, 
 and the little Aino sanctuary, which was hardly su- 
 perior to the Polynesian huts, has become in about 
 a thousand years the grand Shinto temple of Kas- 
 Buga, at Nara. 
 
 It is not, as one might suppose, that stone is rare 
 in Japan; but timber has always been so abundant 
 and of such excellent quality that the use of it was 
 perfectly natural. Moreover, the frequent and se- 
 vere earthquakes, together with the volcanic soil, 
 made its use preferable, as the elasticity and light- 
 ness of wooden structures alone could resist the 
 shocks which would have overthrown buildings of 
 stone. This being the case, the Japanese have 
 achieved wonderful results from the employment of 
 wood, and have reached the highest degree of 
 technical skill in its use. The kinds preferred for 
 construction belong to the Coniferae, which cover the 
 mountains of Japan, and attain in that climate colos- 
 sal dimensions; among these the most prized are the 
 varieties of pine and of cryptomeria or cypress. 
 
 The columns of the temple of Tshioin, at Kioto, 
 or of the great temple of Assaksa, at Tedo, equal 
 the masts of our largest vessels, and their perspec- 
 tive reminds one of our cathedrals. The pillars of 
 the porch of the Daibutz temple, at Nara, are of a 
 
AECHITECTUBE. 
 
 99 
 
 single piece of wood, and measure one hundred feet 
 in height and twelve in circumference. The con- 
 struction belongs 
 to the eighth cen- 
 tury. The high 
 pagodas of five 
 stories, which 
 adorn the enclo- 
 sure of some great 
 Buddhist temples, 
 are chefs d'cBuvre 
 of adjustment and 
 boldness. 
 
 Documents re- 
 lating to the his- 
 tory of Japanese 
 architecture are 
 rare ; native works 
 are almost silent 
 upon this subject. 
 The little guaran- 
 teed information 
 that has come to 
 us has been fur- 
 nished by the re- 
 searches of a few 
 European authors, 
 notably Mr. Josiah 
 Conder, professor pagoda at kikko. 
 
 of architecture in the imperial college at Tokio. 
 
 The most ancient historical tradition dates back 
 
100 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 to the first century of our era. The Japanese attri- 
 bute to the Emperor Ikum6 the founding of the 
 great temple of Is6, at Vataraye, which is even at 
 the present time the most venerated sanctuary of 
 the Shinto religion. This temple was confided to 
 the care of the Princess Yamato-Him6. It is not 
 necessary to state that nothing remains of its primi- 
 tive construction. 
 
 The temple of Assuta, on the bay of Owari, was 
 constructed, in the second century, to receive the 
 sacred sword. 
 
 A portion of the temple Uji dates, it is said, from 
 the fifth century. 
 
 In fact, positive proofs begin only with the seventh 
 century. At that epoch was founded the miya* 
 shintoiste of Mid6ra, and under the impulse of Shi- 
 oto ku-Daishi, propagator of the new religion, the 
 first Buddhist temples were constructed. All agree 
 in attributing to him the establishment of rules and 
 measures, which, ever since that epoch, have con- 
 trolled the construction of all the teras. 
 
 The t6ra ordinarily consists of a large enclosure 
 occupied by gardens and by numerous constructions, 
 
 ♦The word miya servee to designate the structures which eurronnd the 
 temples of the Shinto religion, while the word tera is applied to those of 
 the Buddhist religion. The miyas are characterized by a simple style of 
 construction, in natural wood not varnished. The sanctuaries enclose only 
 a mirror of bronze, image of the eon; idols are proscribed. The roofs are 
 very steep, of thin pine shingles beautifully oTerlapped. The word tera 
 applies, on the contrary, to the outlying religious buildings of Buddhism. 
 The temples of the teras are of painted wood, nearly always sculptured and 
 decorated with great richness; the roofs are very projecting and concave, 
 covered with tiles, having the top points well elevated, according to Chi- 
 nese style. It is the form of roof which most diBtistingnlsheB the Shinto 
 construction from the Buddhistic. 
 
ABCHITECTURE. 101 
 
 different in character, Bcattered according to the na- 
 ture of the ground. The vigorous vegetation which 
 surrounds them, and which the Japanese respect too 
 much to curtail, hinders one from embracing the 
 whole, and often makes of a Buddhist temple a ver- 
 itable labyrinth. A temple in Japan is, above all, a 
 garden, and the name "religious city" is more ap- 
 propriate than that of temple. This consideration 
 is indispensable to the right understanding of the 
 character of the architecture. 
 
 The poetry of the landscape, the beauty of the 
 trees, the picturesque rocks and water, unite to form 
 a harmonious whole. 
 
 t 
 
 It is in the midst of the most varied and charming 
 scenery that the Japanese love to see receding grad- 
 ually the porticoes like a silhouette outline, elegant 
 and ornamental,* the funeral lanterns rising one 
 above the other, the vases of bronze, the chapels 
 with their magnificent roofs, the pagodas of red lac- 
 quer, whose powerful brilliancy contrasts with the 
 surrounding evergreens. 
 
 The architecture of a temple is at the same time 
 harmonious with an ensemble, nearly always 
 of vast extent. Every architect is a Le Notre. 
 
 *These porticoes take the name of tori in the temple of Shinto worahip. 
 In lacquered wood or etone, they announce the approach to avenues, which 
 they precede. The tori« whose light springing forms are the admiration of 
 all travelers, are very simply composed of two vertical uprights inclining 
 toward each other, like a Doric gateway, and of a horizontal crosspieoe 
 lightly elevated at the two ends. 
 
 When it is in wood it is usually covered with a beautiful bright red lac- 
 quer. The large tori of the temple of Yeyas, at Nikko, called the moit 
 beautiful in Japan, is in stone and bronze. 
 
102 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 Everywhere appears love and veneration for nature. 
 
 If we contemplate these sights with an eye accus- 
 tomed to the grave symmetrical forms of flat, square 
 moldings, cornices and arches, or to the straight 
 lines of our streets and parks, we shall experience 
 at first a painful surprise. But if, laying aside the 
 souvenirs of education and the prejudices of race, 
 we give ourselves up to the enjoyment of the senses, 
 resulting from all these refinements of imagination 
 and color, from the perfect harmony of all the parts, 
 from the profound perception of the assistance which 
 nature can lend to art, if thus we contemplate these 
 sights, the impression becomes very different: the 
 esthetic law appeals. 
 
 Every architectural conception in Japan is a pic- 
 ture wherein color is of as much importance as the 
 lines themselves. In this order of ideas the Jap- 
 anese have composed chefs d'ceuvre that time has 
 ornamented with unequaled beauty. 
 
 They have found the rule of art which responds 
 the best to their tastes and to their temperament. 
 
 It was in the 7th century that Tendzi-Tenno con- 
 structed his palace of Assakura, at Siga, which con- 
 tinued during several centuries the model of imperial 
 yashikis. 
 
 The temple of Horiuji, built by Shiotoku-Daishi, 
 and some other buildings at Nara, date also from 
 the 7th century. Also some px)rtions of the temple 
 on the isle of Idzuka (Idzuku-Shima), in the inte- 
 rior sea. This temple is celebrated for its rich and 
 antique treasures. 
 
AECHITECTUBE. 103 
 
 During the 8th century two emperors exerted a 
 great influence upon the progress of architectural 
 art. The Emperor Shiumun (724-749) became 
 illustrious in history by the great encouragement 
 which he gave to all branches of art, especially to 
 that of lacquer. He has the reputation of having 
 given a strong impulse to public works. It was he 
 who reared the castellated fort of Taga in the prov- 
 ince of Mutsu, the ruins of which still exist. Tosai 
 has represented him examining the plan of the fort- 
 ress. The tiles found in the debris of this fort are 
 among the most ancient ceramics of certain date 
 in Japan. 
 
 It was under the reign of Shiumun that Nara, then 
 the capital of the empire, attained its highest degree 
 of prosperity. 
 
 The door and the greater part of the sanctuary of 
 the temple of Todaiji (temple of Daibutz) at Nara 
 belong to this epoch. 
 
 Soon after the Emperor Kuanmu (782-806) con- 
 structed the imperial palace of Heianzio, at Kioto, 
 and founded the great temple of Enriakudzi, upon 
 Mount Hyeizan, considered as the Vatican of Bud- 
 dhism, in Japan. There remain of the first con- 
 struction of this temple only a few objects preserved 
 in the treasury. 
 
 Kuanmu was the great constructor of the 8th cen- 
 tury. It is to him that Nara is indebted for the 
 beautiful temple of the goddess Kuanon; also the 
 magazine for imperial treasures, and the temple Hat- 
 shiman. To the same epoch belong the temple of 
 
104 JAPANESE AHT. 
 
 To(iji, constructed by Kobo-Daishi, and some of the 
 funeral monuments of Koyazan. 
 
 In the 9th century the emperor Uda constructed 
 the palace of Gosho, which became the ordinary resi- 
 dence of the sovereign. (It was partly burnt and 
 rebuilt in the 17th century.) He had the grand 
 audience room decorated by Kanaoka. 
 
 A little before this time were constructed some of 
 the temples of Nara, notably the famous temple of 
 Kasauga, dedicated to the memory of Kamatari, the 
 fiTst of the Fuziwara. The temple of Hatshiman at 
 Kioto is, at least, equally ancient. 
 
 The best preserved and most interesting specimen 
 of this era is the temple of Obaku, at Uji, in the 
 province of Is6, founded by a priest from Annam. 
 The style is of an admirable severity, and the details, 
 of unrivaled execution, show the Hindoo influence. 
 Its arrangement shows the most perfect type of 
 ancient architecture. 
 
 - Yoritomo erected throughout the region subject 
 to his power numerous strong castles. The formid- 
 able "siros" of Z§z§, of Otsu, of Minakudji, are 
 testimonials of his power. 
 
 The 12th century is marked by the founding of 
 the city of Kamakura and the erection of its edifices. 
 The Shogun Yoritomo raised from insignificance 
 that straggling village, and made it his capital. He 
 reposes there beneath a column of granite, in the 
 midst of ruins which vegetation, little by little, is 
 covering with its green winding-sheet. 
 
 That which remains of the great temple of Hat- 
 
AECHITECTUBE. 105 
 
 shiman, erected by him to the memory of his com- 
 panions in arms, and notably the pagoda, is well 
 worthy the impression it conveys to all travelers. 
 The treasury of the temple encloses the arms of the 
 great captain, his armor, his lance and sword of cere- 
 mony. 
 
 The town of Kamakura, partly destroyed by the 
 last Ashikaga, was never rebuilt. An illustrious 
 name, a magnificent site, a gigantic bronze Buddha 
 — this is about all that now remains. At the same 
 epoch was erected , the Shinto temple of Ishiyuma, 
 still preserved. 
 
 In the 13th century Yoritsun6 erected the temple 
 of Tokufudji, at Kioto. 
 
 In the 15th century temples and princely resi- 
 dences multiplied with great rapidity in Japan. It 
 was not really until this epoch that architecture began 
 to clothe itself in the luxurious forms which charac- 
 terize the works of more modern date. 
 
 A certain number of the monuments of that period 
 have been preserved. Among the most remarkable 
 from the double point of view of history and of art, 
 we note the palace of Kinkakudji, at Kioto, erected 
 by Yoshimitsu in the first years of the 15th century, 
 in the same city. These two buildings have been 
 preserved almost intact. They are of great elegance 
 of form, and are considered by the Japanese as speci- 
 mens of national architecture in its purity. 
 
 From pihotographs it is easy to judge of their 
 beautiful proportions. The exterior decoration is 
 very simple ; the roofs, but little elevated, recall the 
 
106 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 graceful contour of the roofs of the Shinto temples. 
 All the decoration was reserved for the interior, 
 which is of extreme richness. The ceilings were 
 covered with silver plaques ; the woodwork delicately 
 carved. What yet remains is sufficient to astonish 
 and fascinate the visitor. The gardens, in the midst 
 of which are found these two architectural relics, are 
 among the most picturesque in Kioto. 
 
 There are many religious edifices of the 16th cen- 
 tury in this city. 
 
 Mr. George Bousquet, who is not suspected of 
 having any partiality for Japanese art, designates 
 them as " marvels of taste and simplicity, impressing 
 one by their antiquity, their surroundings, and beau- 
 tiful proportions." 
 
 From the 16th century also date, in part, the for- 
 midable ramparts of the citadel of Osaka.* They are 
 the work of the predecessor of the Tokugawa, the 
 illustrious Taiko-Sama (Hid6yoshi), who fixed his 
 residence in this city. These works show that in 
 case of necessity the Japanese did not hesitate to 
 employ stone constructed of crude blocks, like those 
 of the ramparts of ancient Greece. The fortress of 
 Osaka seems to defy time. Some of these monoliths 
 measure 39 feet in length by 19 feet in width, and in 
 height more than 500 cubic yards. The same 
 Hid6yoshi also constructed the palace of Himkaku, 
 and the magnificent and celebrated Shinto temple of 
 Nishihongwan-ji, at Kioto, finished in 1578. 
 
 *TM8 citadel, properly speaking, was destroyed ia the reTolationof 
 
 1868. 
 
AKCHITECTURE. 107 
 
 But the 17th century was the golden age of archi- 
 tecture in Japan. This art attained at that time n 
 technical perfection, an opulence of invention, and 
 a harmony of form which have never been surpassed. 
 
 The grand Shinto temple of Nikko, erected by 
 T^mitsu to the memory of Y6yas, and the temple of 
 Tshioin, at Kioto, both constructed by the celebrated 
 sculptor- architect, Hidari Zingoro — the grand five- 
 story pagodas at Nikko, Osaka, and Kioto, are justly 
 considered as marvels of Japanese aft at its per- 
 fection. 
 
 The colossal dimensions of the principal sanctuary 
 of Tshioin have caused it to be called by European 
 travelers the St, Peter's of Japan. 
 
 The temple of Y6yas, at Nikko, is unanimously 
 accorded the first rank. For magnificence and pres- 
 ervation it surpasses all others, even those of Kioto. 
 In artistic interest it is, indeed, the most wonderful 
 and most splendid curiosity that strangers can see. 
 
 Before these temples of wood, which have the 
 grandeur of eternal things, one should rid himself of 
 old prejudices, and be convinced that the majesty of 
 architecture consists more in form than in the mate- 
 rial employed, and that wood, in certain instances, is 
 preferable to the most beautiful stone and marble in 
 the world. Mr. Bousquet exclaims: "At the foot of 
 the temple of Gonghen-Sama, as before Notre Dame, 
 as atBourges, Eome, or Athens, the human soul feels 
 itself lifted up and also overwhelmed." 
 
 In the midst of wild nature, under the shades sev- 
 eral centuries old, and near murmuring cascades, art 
 
108 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 and history have united to deify the memory of 
 Japan's greatest man. 
 
 The three temples at Yedo, the most remarkable 
 for their beauty and richness, belong to this same 
 epoch ; they are those of Shiba, Uiy6no, and Assaka. 
 These also are due to ¥6mitsu, the great builder. 
 
 The celebrated temples of Shiba and Uiy6no have 
 been in great part destroyed, the first by fire, in 1873 ; 
 the second by the civil war, in 1868. 
 
 The one in the faubourg of Assaksa, dedicated to 
 the goddess Kuanon, still exists, and is one of the 
 beautiful ornaments of Yedo. Its gardens, much 
 frequented by the lower class, have the appearance 
 of a perpetual fair. 
 
 The t6ra of Assaksa is a point for excursions well 
 known to travelers. 
 
 For two centuries Japan has been inspired by the 
 imitation of the types created under the shogunat of 
 Y6mitsu by Hindari-Zingoro. 
 
 The history of architecture offers henceforth little 
 of interest. The more modern temples of Tokio can 
 teach nothing to those who have seen the chefs 
 d'cBuvre of Nikko and of Kioto. 
 
 To-day Japan lives on impoverished formulas. 
 Religious art is cold in death. It has given place 
 to manufactories and railroad stations. 
 
ABOHITECTUBE. 109 
 
 II. 
 
 The architectural art of Japan has two dominant 
 qualities : its intimate connection with the character 
 of the landscape, which I call its " mise-en-scene," 
 and its decoration. 
 
 It is in these two directions more even than in the 
 structure itself that the resources of Japan's genius 
 disclose themselves. That which we admire in a tiny 
 netsuk6, in a lacquer box, or in any useful object, we 
 find in the ornamentation of a temple ; there is the 
 same faithful execution, the same correct handiwork. 
 The smallest details, no matter how hidden from 
 sight, are executed with the same scrupulous care. 
 Like our admirable masters of the 13th century, the 
 Japanese artists of the best epochs judged that in a 
 work of art, however complicated, nothing was un- 
 worthy of careful attention. 
 
 Take, for example, the grand temple of Y6yas, at 
 Nikko. The artists of T^mitsu, under the direction 
 of Zingoro, have here given full sway to their over- 
 flowing imagination, and have made of it a museum 
 of art which surpasses the enchanting dreams of the 
 "Thousand and One Nights." 
 
 Built upon the declivity of a mountain, surrounded 
 by splendid vegetation, the grand temple of Nikko 
 forms a complete city, in contemplation of which the 
 imagination is stunned. 
 
110 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 Courts succeed courts, entrance after entrance ap- 
 pears, enclosure after enclosure; and each enclosure, 
 each entrance, forms by itself a picture of the high- 
 est interest. 
 
 Each court is ornamented with buildings of dif- 
 ferent forms and dimensions; elegant kiosks, airy 
 pagodas, fountains sheltered under sumptuous roofs, 
 receptacles destined to receive the sacerdotal orna- 
 ments or the sacred books, lanterns, and magnificent 
 toris. 
 
 The walls are decorated with sculptured panels 
 and friezes of marvelous execution ; the roofs, orna- 
 mented with pantiles and wood borders, with terra- 
 cotta and bronze of the purest style, repose upon 
 framework supported by brackets whose marvelously 
 wrought diaper patterns recall the beehive-like order 
 of the Arabs. 
 
 All the beams are polished and adjusted as beau- 
 tifully and perfectly as the finest cabinet work. All 
 the mortises are hold by large nails with bronze 
 heads, whose workmanship rivals that of the finest 
 goldsmiths. The greater part of the large pieces of 
 wood are held in place by metal plates of wondrous 
 workmanship. The uprights and lintels of the 
 doors are ornamented by an interlacing mass of 
 flowering branches and dragons sporting in the 
 waves. The borders of the pediments are lightened 
 by carvings in bas-relief, of most varied designs, 
 animals or persons amidst plants and flowers. The 
 lowest portions are decorated in finest " Greek key " 
 design. The cornices are ornamented with carvings 
 
Ill 
 
 PBINOIPAIi GATEWAY OF THE OBeAt TEMPI.B AT NIKKO. 
 (Scnlptured by Zingoro, 17th century.) 
 
112 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 of foliage and scroll work lightly or richly indicated, 
 according to the place they occupy. The ceilings, of 
 natural woods, are divided into separately carved 
 coffers. 
 
 Everywhere life, animation, surprises and richness 
 of decoration, all yielding to the power of the chisel, 
 and animated with the force of a generous design. 
 Nothing is overdone. We have never to fear lack 
 of proportion, heaviness, or awkwardness, with the 
 great artists of the 17th century. Each part respects 
 its work and assists it; decoration subordinates itself 
 with a tact found only in the works of Greece in its 
 best days or in the best period of our Ogival art. 
 
 A support remains a support, never losing its 
 character; the superabundant details and great rich- 
 ness of decoration are reserved for the panels, par- 
 titions and vacant places. When there is added to 
 this the harmonious tints of the pine wood, colored 
 by time, the bronzes oxydized by rain, the softened 
 golds, and the decided tones of the lacquers, which, 
 combined, lighten up the carvings and indicate their 
 lines, the mind is satisfied with the decorative force 
 of this wonderful cabinet work. 
 
 Mr. Dresser was the first to attempt a detailed 
 description of the temple of Nikko. He avowed in 
 commencing that in the presence of so many details, 
 each of which, by its excellent perfection, deserved 
 a separate study, he felt the pen must drop from his 
 fingers. 
 
 " To construct the sanctuary of the great temple," 
 says Mr. Guimet in his "Walks in Japan," "they 
 
AKOHITECTURE. 113 
 
 have excavated on the mountain side an immense 
 rectangular opening. To sustain the earth, they 
 have built three enormous Pelasgian walls of large, 
 irregular blocks. 
 
 "High above these walls rises an immense forest, 
 and thus the beholder has first a view of the gilded 
 temple, then the high walls which tower over the 
 forest of roofs, and lastly the great, tall trees, three 
 cen,turies old, which seem to reach the blue sky." 
 
 The sketches and water-colors of Mr. Conder, 
 photographs and some engravings, give one quite an 
 accurate idea of the splendor of this scene. 
 
 The richness of the Buddhist temples, even the 
 most beautiful, as those of Tshioin and of Nishi- 
 hongwanji at Kioto, are more gaudy, and the color- 
 ing more striking. At a distance, the exterior effect 
 may be more striking, but the abuse of gilding, of 
 bright colors, of varnish, and of red and black 
 lacquer, which covers everything, even to the col- 
 umns, soon wearies the beholder. 
 
 The strongly expressed form and great amplitude 
 of roof recall the Chinese style. 
 
 At Nikko, on the contrary, art is decidedly Japan- 
 ese ; the predominant influences in their ornamenta- 
 tion are those of India and of Persia. It is the 
 apotheosis of the Shinto style. 
 
 The grand temple of T^yas is the highest and 
 truest expression of the architectural art of Nippon. 
 In these high and airy pagodas of wood, Bud- 
 dhism has found its happiest expression. Nothing is 
 more beautiful in the Japanese landscape. It is the 
 
114 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 high pagodas of red lacquer, and, above all, the 
 beautiful pagoda of Kyomidzu, with its five stories, 
 which gives to the view of Kioto seen from the 
 elevated gardens of the temple Tshioin, its most 
 charming feature: a dark red spot against a back- 
 ground of emerald, shining through silvery vapors. 
 
 The official buildings are much more simple, also 
 the theaters. The wooden bridges are remarkable 
 for length, elegance, and the daring of their curves. 
 
 The palace of Gosho at Kioto, now abandoned by 
 the Emperor for the residence at Tokio, still shows 
 some very fine and ancient parts. The hall of justice 
 and the imperial apartments may be considered as 
 most excellent specimens of this style of architecture. 
 
 The grand audience hall is of remarkable sim- 
 plicity; the walls are adorned with large panels 
 decorated with landscapes and flowers; the richness 
 of decoration has been reserved for the wood ceiling 
 and the carved coffers. 
 
 The chateau of Nagoya is noted for the beauty of 
 its carvings and its ceilings. In its preservation it 
 is the most remarkable public building in Japan. 
 It was begun in 1610. Kiyomasa was the archi- 
 tect. The extremities of the superior or higher 
 ridge-pole of the principal tower were decorated with 
 two immense fish, made of sheets of gold. These 
 fish, glistening under the rays of the sun, could be 
 seen from a great distance, and were celebrated 
 throughout Japan. They belonged to a much earlier 
 epoch than the chateau. One of them was brought 
 to the Vienna Exposition in 1873. 
 
ABCHITECTUKE. 
 
 115 
 
 In conclusion I will say a few words of the Japan- 
 ese houses, or "yashikis." With the exception of a 
 
 few details, the forms are all alike. Huts, houses of 
 the middle class, aristocratic dwellings, are all built 
 upon the same plan, invariably reproducing the 
 same type. The Japanese house, always in natural 
 
116 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 wood, ha8 a neutral appearance, rather somber than 
 gay, especially when seen near the Buddhist temples, 
 painted in vermillion and ornamented with colored 
 carvings. 
 
 The principal and essential part of a Japanese 
 house is its roof. It is of straw or bamboo in the 
 villages, but always of tiles in the cities. The house 
 is commenced by first constructing the roof on the 
 ground; when finished, they place upright in the 
 ground thick, square joists, six feet apart; behind 
 these they raise another row of joists, and the space 
 between these two rows forms the veranda, three feet 
 wide, which extends around the house. The roof 
 is then raised upon these timbers, and the work of 
 the carpenter is considered finished. Then come the 
 joiners, who make along the length of the interior 
 row, openings for the slight sliding wooden screens, 
 which are their movable walls. The greater part of 
 these screens are constructed like window-frames, 
 and instead of being filled with glass, are fitted with 
 paper more or less transparent. 
 
 The interior of these houses is divided by trans- 
 verse grooves, in which they slide partitions of heavy 
 paper. These partitions can be placed or removed, 
 according as the occupants desire — several rooms or 
 one large and spacious apartment. 
 
 At the height of two or three feet from the ground, 
 upon some horizontal beams, are placed boards, cov- 
 ered at first with straw or paper, afterward with 
 those shining straw mats which take the place of 
 carpets and furniture. The ceiling is made of 
 
AKCHITECTUBE. 
 
 117 
 
 boards still thinner, and covered with paper. The 
 space between the roof and ceiling is abandoned to 
 the rats, which abound in Japanese houses. The 
 air circulates freely under the floor. 
 
 The interior decorations are very simple. The 
 Japanese understand thoroughly how to combine 
 exquisite elegance with simplicity. One or two 
 screens, some bronze vases with flowers, a small re- 
 cess called a "tokonoma," where a kakemono is hung, 
 sometimes an 6tag6re with a few choice pieces of 
 bric-a-brac, this is all. 
 
 If the master of the house is a man of taste, the 
 kakemono will bear the name of a master, and the 
 screens will be true works of art. 
 
SCULPTURE. 
 
 THE GREAT AET BBONZES — CABVED WOOD. 
 
 She origin of sculpture, like that of 
 painting in Japan, is essentially Bud- 
 dhist. This is easily explained, carving 
 having been during a long period 
 
 devoted to the representation of divinities and reli- 
 gious subjects. 
 
 We have before remarked that the primitive 
 
 Shinto religion did not allow 
 
 images, and that the temples at 
 
 that time, when the belief was yet 
 
 intact, contained only the sacred 
 
 mirrors. 
 
 The introduction of plastic art 
 
 into Japan accordingly came with 
 
 the advent of Buddhism. The 
 
 process of casting, imported from 
 
 China in the 6th century, developed in the Japanese 
 
 ORBST OF THE TAIKO. 
 
 (Flower of the kiri.) 
 
8CULPTUEE. 119 
 
 a taste for bronze work. The use of stone was but 
 accidental ; the monuments of stone, aside from some 
 Buddhist idols in the temple gardens, are very rare. 
 The nature of this material in Japan is such as to 
 render it unfit for sculpture ; and marble is there 
 unknown. The use of wood certainly preceded that 
 of metal. Some of the works, whose archaic charac- 
 ter is distinctively marked, are in wood. 
 
 "What we know from photographs indicates an art 
 in which severe realism of form is ennobled by the 
 most delicate idealism. 
 
 Dr. Anderson, in the first number of his great 
 work (^The Pictorial Arts of Japan), has reproduced 
 the figure of a child praying (7th century), which 
 shows, to a rare degree, knowledge of design and 
 perception of grace. 
 
 As early as the middle of the 7th century the 
 Emperor Kotoku had molded in bronze some statues 
 of Buddha. 
 
 The temple of Horiuji, at Nara, contains in its 
 treasury several antiquities in bronze, which belong 
 to that distant epoch. One sees there, among other 
 objects of great interest, an ewer of bronze, of ele- 
 gant form, decorated upon the body with winged 
 horses, having the shape of the antique Pegasus. 
 M. de Longp6rier has written a notice of this precious 
 monument. He does not hesitate to recognize it as 
 a Persian ewer of the time of the Sassanides, thus 
 assigning it to a time anterior to the 7th century. 
 
 Another vase of cylindrical form appears to be of 
 Greek origin. The presence of objects of the same 
 
120 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 style ana same origin among the treasures of the 
 Mikados at Nara, is another indication that the an- 
 cient sources of Japanese art are of a complex nature, 
 and that Indo-European and even Persian influences 
 enter into it, as well as those of China. 
 
 The same temple of Horiuji contains also a wooden 
 image of the son of Shotoku-Daishi, carved by this 
 great man himself, which is probably the most 
 ancient piece of sculpture of fixed date preserved in 
 Japan. In the same temple one sees other figures 
 in wood of very great antiquity. They have painted 
 eyes. Mr. Keed compares them to the celebrated 
 statues, of like material, discovered by Mariette, in 
 Egypt, and preserved in the museum of Boulaq. 
 
 The study of these monuments, not yet under- 
 taken by any European, will certainly throw much 
 light upon the origin of Japanese art. 
 
 In regard to the history of art and of civilization, 
 there are, in Japan, mines of incomparable richness, 
 yet to be investigated. The imperial treasure of 
 Nara is one of them. Collected by the emperors of 
 the 8th century, when Nara was the capital of the 
 empire, it has remained intact and such as it was at 
 the time of the emperor's removal to Kioto. 
 
 The inventory, which was made at the close of the 
 8th century, is a proof of the care with which it has 
 been constantly surrounded, and of the few losses 
 sustained during the long period of a thousand years. 
 It still occupies the building where it was originally 
 placed. This structure that I have spoken of in the 
 preceding chapter as one of the purest types of the 
 
/ijf,ii,l. 
 
 OOLOSSAIi BTATDB OP BDDDHA. 
 
 (In the Cernusohi bronze collection.) 
 
122 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 primitive Shinto architectiire, had to be restored at 
 the commencement of each cycle, an imperial edict 
 commanding that it should be religiously preserved. 
 
 Evidences of the powerfulness of the emperors of 
 Nara are seen not only in the temple's, but still more 
 in the colossal bronze statue of Buddha. This work 
 of sculpture is certainly one of the most surprising 
 in existence. It is the largest statue ever molded 
 in bronze. The Emperor Shiumun, whose name is 
 connected with all the great works of art of that age, 
 had it executed shortly after the arrival of two Bud- 
 dhist priests of great renown, who came, one from 
 southern India, and the other from Siam. It is 
 from their ideas that the design of the statue seems 
 to have been conceived. It was cast at Sitaraki, 
 province of Omi, in the year 739 of our era, the fif- 
 teenth of the reign of Shiumun. It was made by 
 means of a collection taken throughout the whole 
 empire. The first gold had just been discovered in 
 Mutsu, and tradition declares that a certain quantity 
 was added to the alloy for the statue; it was also 
 used to gild the surface. The precious metal appears 
 in the mixture, and an analysis of the alloy reveals 
 its presence in very noticeable proportions, one-half 
 per thousand, which represents (the weight of the 
 statue being given) 600 pounds of gold. 
 
 The statue was cast in several pieces. It was 
 transported to Nara in 745. It was erected by 
 soldering its pieces together on an ingenious system 
 of interior clamps. Afterward, in 753, they built 
 a grand temple for its reception, which took the name 
 
SCULPTUEE. 123 
 
 o£ Dai-butz (temple of the graod Buddha). The 
 exactitude and beauty of the work indicate to what 
 a degree of perfection the art of molding had then 
 reached. 
 
 This marvel still exists nearly intact. The head 
 alone, damaged by an earthquake in 855, and by a 
 fire in later time, was recast in the 17th century. 
 The god is seated on the symbolical lotus flower. 
 He seems lost in contemplation of the absolute. His 
 right hand is open and elevated, the left extended 
 and resting upon the knee with the palm turned out- 
 ward. The falling folds of his robe are of an ampli- 
 tude and softness which recall Grecian art. The 
 construction of the body, in grand pieces, is mag- 
 nificently conceived. The design is severely correct, 
 the gesture, almost a benediction, expresses removal 
 from all human things, forgetfulness of all that 
 might disturb the peacefulness of the soul. The 
 serenity of a fathomless revery, and a superhuman 
 majesty, envelop the figure with inexpressible grand- 
 eur. The imagination of the visitor is much more 
 struck by the tranquility and concentrated force of 
 character than by the material body. 
 
 Besides being the most ancient, this representa- 
 tion of Buddha is the most beautiful in existence. 
 The head, being more modern, the execution is some- 
 what inferior, but the rest of the statue surpasses all 
 other statues of Buddha preserved in Japan, even 
 the one at Kamakura, which, from being near Yoko- 
 hama, is much better known by Europeans. 
 
 A few figures will speak eloquently of the size. 
 
124 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 The total height of the statue, without the pedestal, 
 is 85 feet from the base to the top of its hfead. The 
 total elevation reached, by including the rays which 
 surround the head, is more than 97 feet. Standing, 
 the figure alone would reach the formidable height 
 of 136 feet. The head measures about 19 feet; the 
 eye, about 3 feet in diameter. The breast is nearly 
 23 feet thick. The nimbus without the rays is about 
 152 feet in circumference; on the nimbus are seated 
 sixteen divinities, each measuring about 10 feet. 
 The middle finger is about 6 feet in length. The 
 lotus flower has 56 petals, each one measuring 10x6^ 
 feet, which gives to the flower, as Mr, Duret says, 
 the dimensions of a circus, and makes it a small 
 journey to pass around it. Statistic amateurs have 
 even reckoned the number of curls ornamenting the 
 head, of which there appears to be 966. 
 
 Three thousand tons of charcoal are said to have 
 been used in the casting; and the total weight of 
 the metal is estimated at about 220 tons. 
 
 The analysis of the metal gives nearly the follow- 
 ing proportions in thousands: Gold, .500; zinc, 
 16.800; mercury, 1.950; copper, 980.750. 
 
 This wonderful work, which has been the admira- 
 tion of the Japanese for many centuries, suffices, I 
 think, to prove to the scornful skepticism of our 
 hypercritios that the art of Japan is not exclusively 
 an art of a near-sighted people, and that it has pro- 
 duced something besides netsuk^s. 
 
 All who have visited Nara are unanimous in their 
 admiration. "Words," says Mr. Reed, "are power- 
 
SCDLPTUEE. 125 
 
 less to express the emotion, almost terror, that one 
 feels when, entering the temple of the Dai-butz, he 
 discoTers in its shadow this colossal bronze figure. 
 It seems as if a curtain had been torn asunder to 
 disclose a supernatural personification of the great 
 Asiatic religion." 
 
 Nara is far away; but we have at Paris a repeti- 
 tion of this marvel of art of the 7th century, which 
 gives us an idea of it. In default of the colossal 
 figure, we can content ourselves with a smaller one 
 which is very satisfactory. The large bronze Bud- 
 dha, brought from M^guro by Mr. Cernuschi, dates, 
 it is said, froni the close of the 18fch century. 
 
 It reproduces the principal characteristics of the 
 work of Shiumun's time. The tone is the same ; it 
 possesses an immutable calm, a supreme elegance; 
 the head is endowed with a tender sweetness which 
 is lacking in the Dai-butz of Nara and in that of 
 Kamakura. It measures 14 feet from the base of 
 the flower to the summit of the disk, which would 
 give to the figure, if upright, a height of about 30 
 feet. It is certainly the largest piece of bronze 
 sculpture contained in a private collection. 
 
 Mr. Cernuschi has placed it with excellent taste 
 on a pedestal of open woodwork. The effect in the 
 center of the hall is grand. The abundant light 
 surrounding it reveals all its beauty. The temple 
 which sheltered this Dai-butz at M6guro, a suburb 
 of Tokio, having been destroyed, the statue was 
 abandoned and almost forgotten in the midst of the 
 gardens. An account of this wonderful acquisition 
 
126 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 is found in the " Travels of Asia" of Mr. Theodore 
 Duret. 
 
 A certain number of specimens of the sculpture 
 of the 8th and 9th centuries still exist in Japan. 
 Nara has preserved several of them. But the most 
 important are found at Kioto in the temple of Todji, 
 of the Shingon sect, which temple was constructed 
 .by the Emperor Kuanmu (782-805). 
 
 These works are by Kobo Daishi, the indefatigable 
 missionary of Buddhism. Among these works are 
 four guardians of heaven, which Mr. Keed praises 
 for the grand character of the work, and a "man- 
 dara," composed of nineteen personages, representing 
 the principal gods of Buddhism, arrayed around the 
 figure of Cakya-Mun6. A reproduction of this 
 " mandara," executed with much care by a sculptor 
 of Kioto, belongs to the Guimet museum. 
 
 Some funeral monuments of Koyazan, near Osaka, 
 are of the 9 th century. 
 
 Yosai shows us in his "Celebrated Heroes and 
 Wise Men," the Prince Guaiyouo carving a vase of 
 wood for his garden under the Emperor Seiva 
 (9th century). 
 
 I have in my collection a piece of bronze which 
 undoubtedly belongs to the same period. It is a 
 vase about seven indies high, representing the birth 
 of the three signs of the zodiac, — the ox, the tiger, 
 and the mouse, — corresponding to the first three 
 months of the year. It is formed by symbolical 
 waves embracing the curving body, which is strong- 
 ly defined. "The animals, in strong relief," says 
 
SCULPTURE. 
 
 127 
 
 M. Paul Mantz, "which decorate the sides of the 
 vase, and -which seem to detach themselves from it 
 
 like forms coming out of chaos, are 
 
 of heroic grandeur.' 
 The composition is of a greenith- 
 
 gray color and indicates a bronze 
 
 PEKPUME BTIKNEE— EIGHTEEHTH OENTUBY. 
 
 (In the bronze coUeotion of M. de HfirMia.) 
 
 of silver alloy of the finest quality. It exactly 
 resembles the Greek bronzes of archaic workman- 
 ship. The ensemble of the piece is of a most 
 
128 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 beautiful, original, and simple style, and most 
 vigorous in character ; and were it not for the sub- 
 ject the first feeling would be to declare it of Greek 
 origin. This rare and interesting model was 
 discovered in the d6bris of a burnt temple. 
 
 Still more numerous are the monuments of the 
 12th century. The grand epoch of Yoritomo has 
 left in all branches of art traces of its activity. To 
 that time belongs the great bronze bell of Kioto, 
 placed on the summit of a hill not far from the tem- 
 ple of Tshioin. Mr. Dubard has reckoned its height 
 to be 19^ feet ; its breadth, over 9 feet. It is deco- 
 rated with bronze figures in a relief of superb work- 
 manship. 
 
 Another bell weighing about thirty tons, some 
 beautiful bronze lanterns, an image of the goddess 
 Kuanon, and some vases, belonging to the art of the 
 12th century, are preserved in the temple of Dai- 
 butz, at Nara. 
 
 A third bell, still larger, but of a more recent 
 date, is in existence at Kioto, near the Dai-butz, 
 in wood. 
 
 I hasten to speak of the most important work in 
 carving that the century of Yoritomo produced, and 
 which, happily, remains intact — ^the Dai-butz of 
 Kamakura. This block of bronze nearly equals in 
 grandeur and beauty the colossal Buddha of Nara. 
 It is better preserved, although the temple which 
 sheltered it has been destroyed. The head has not 
 been recast, and has no nimbus; it is much superior 
 to the head of the Nara figure. On the contrary, 
 
SCULPTURE. 129 
 
 the pose of the body is not so fine ; the drapery is 
 less ample and lacks grace, the form is less noble, 
 and the ensemble has not so much power and orig- 
 inality. The hands, resting on the knees, are joined 
 by the thumbs. The expression, reflectiTe and al- 
 most dreamy, is more marked in this work than in 
 that at Nara. However this may be, the Dai-butz 
 of Kamakara may be considered as one of the chefs 
 (fcBUvre of art in the extreme East. 
 
 It was oast under the Shogunate of Toritomo, and 
 was erected a little after his death. It is composed, 
 like the one at Nara, of pieces soldered and held 
 together by interior clamps. 
 
 To-day the statue is surrounded by vegetation, 
 which, little by little, has enrobed its pedestal. The 
 effect which this produces in the scenery is said to 
 be wonderful. 
 
 From the close of the 12th century the art of 
 sculpture shows a slow decline. While painting 
 accomplished an upward movement, sculpture lost 
 itself in rules furnished by Buddhism, and gradual- 
 ly declined until the time when the great renais- 
 sance of the Tokugawa awakened it to new life. 
 
 The gigantic painted wood Dai-butz of Kioto is 
 a proof of the inferior state into which Japanese 
 plastic art had temporarily fallen in the middle of 
 the 16th century. It was damaged by an earth- 
 quake in 1596. Taiko-Sama, seeing its unstable 
 condition, scornfully addressed it as follows: "I 
 have placed you here, at great expense, to protect 
 my people, and you cannot protect yourself." 
 
130 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 The 17th century was the golden age of sculpture 
 in Japan. The grand works of architecture executed 
 under the reign of the third Tokugawa, Y^mitsu 
 (1623-1652), coincided with the apogee of this art. 
 
 Hidari Zingoro, the illustrious architect of the 
 grand temple at Nikko, also of the temple of Tshi- 
 oin, at Kioto, and of several other edifices executed 
 for Y6mitsu, was at the same time the greatest 
 sculptor in Japan. He was born at Fushimi, pro- 
 vince of Yamashiro, in the latter part o£ the 16th 
 century. His works are many. He worked only in 
 wood, and nothing of his, to my knowledge, has come 
 to Europe. He who has not seen the carvings of Zin- 
 goro, at Nikko, has seen nothing, is an old Japanese 
 saying. The temple erected to the memory of the 
 great Tycoon, Y6yas, by his grandson, Y^mitsu, is the 
 most complete expression of his genius, both as a 
 carver and architect. The wood yielded to his chisel 
 as though it were soft wax. A world of people, 
 flowers, birds and other decorative motives, seemed 
 to live and grow and twine themselves, like a luxur- 
 ious vegetation, around the columns, ceilings and 
 movable partitions of the sancturies, the doors and 
 walls of the garden enclosures. 
 
 The day will come when some European designer 
 will undertake the publication of the works of this 
 master constructor. Then the portfolios of our 
 museums of art and industries will be enriched by a 
 mine of studies without parallel. 
 
 Tt is at the entrance of the principal sanctuary 
 that Zingoro has mof^t lavishly displayed his won- 
 
SCULPTUBE. 131 
 
 derf ul genius. There are open wrought friezes, cov- 
 ered with outlined figures, panels decorated with 
 flowers and animals, which seem to have been 
 created by the hand of a fairy. The charm 
 of the material is added to the delicacy of the 
 execution. The pine wood, under the action of 
 air and sun, has taken the polish and beautiful 
 tones of clear bronze. Some parts are painted in 
 warm, soft, harmonious tones. 
 
 Around the exterior columns wind dragons, which 
 appear to be alive. The architraves are covered 
 with carved peach-trees in bloom, whose branches 
 start from the sides of the room, and extend above 
 the lintels. 
 
 The supports are clusters of chrysanthemums, 
 while above runs a series of horizontal friezes, one 
 above the other, each carved in open arches* The 
 first represents a procession of divinities; the next, 
 divided in panels, is charmingly ornamented with 
 plants and flowers ; the last, which supports the roof, 
 is covered with a profusion of designs, and has the 
 two extremities encased in metal of exquisite work- 
 manship. Finally, above all these decorations, and 
 in the space left by the curving of the roof, one 
 still sees persons, animals, and plants, executed with 
 a perfect understanding of the principles of archi- 
 tectural proportions. 
 
 It is on the interior of this entrance that is found 
 the famous sleeping cat of Zingoro, so perfectly 
 carved that it has been enclosed in a silver grating, 
 that no indiscreet hand might awaken it, they say. 
 
132 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 I think that they thought rather of protecting it 
 from the larceny of some unscrupulous admirer. 
 
 Moreover, they mention among the most astonish- 
 ing works of Zingoro, the carved ceilings of the 
 temple of Tshioin, at Kioto, and the grand frieze, 
 entirely in opened carved work, in the chateau of 
 Nagoya. 
 
 The magnificent gallery of carved wood, decorated 
 with dragons, of which Mr. Oernuschi has made use 
 at the end of the hall in his mansion, behind the 
 great Buddha, may be attributed to the school of 
 Zingoro. It is worthy of the master. It came from 
 one of the destroyed temples of Yedo. 
 
 The tiger in gilded wood, owned by Mme. Sarah 
 Bernhardt, which was exhibited at the Exposition in 
 the Eue de S6ze, and is now in the collection of Mr. 
 Cernuschi, belongs to the same epoch. 
 
 The bronzes of the 17th century are recognized 
 not only by their severe style, their quiet and strong 
 execution, but also bv their dull black luster. There 
 are a number of very fine ones in Parisian collec- 
 tions. One might easily count sixty, which are suf- 
 ficient to make us appreciate the skill of the bronze 
 workers of that period. 
 
 In the Japanese and Chinese museum of Mr. Cer- 
 nuschi is found the greatest number of pieces of the 
 17th century.* 
 
 *Our honorable friend, Mr. Henri Cemusohi, known throughont Prance 
 for Mb high inteiligence and generous sentimentB, has bequeathed, while 
 living, to the city of Paris, all his ooUectionB, together with the house 
 which contains them. The bronzes constitute the principal part; but there 
 are, besides, Chinese and Japanese paintings, and a series of ceramics of 
 the highest intereat. 
 
SCULPTURE. 133 
 
 Among these it is necessary to mention: two tem- 
 ple incense-burners, with four feet, in gilded bronze, 
 and bearing the crest of the Tokugawa (three mal- 
 low leaves) and the date of the casting, 1681; also 
 a sennin mounted on a tiger, of powerful character ; 
 a cat lying down, with the tips of its fur gilded; a 
 pilgrim mounted on a mule; a monumental crab; the 
 two philosophers, Hanzan and Jittoku, most life-like 
 in their embonpoint and with a most pleasing 
 expression ; a raven, some cocks, birds of prey, a 
 duck of admirable movement, a dog with wonderful 
 expression and of exceptional material. 
 
 It is in the representation of animals that the 
 Japanese bronze workers are without rivals. If they 
 may sometimes be reproached with lack of ability in 
 their treatment of the human form, more especially 
 of the hands and feet, in which the artists of Nippon 
 have never excelled, it is none the less true that in 
 their treatment of animals, sincerity of observation 
 has brought them to a state of perfection. 
 
 Count Abraham Camondo possesses a piece of the 
 greatest beauty. It is an incense-burner of dark 
 bronze with touches of gold, and represents a sphere 
 upheld by two upright monsters. Its height is about 
 thirty-nine inches. 
 
 The design of this bronze is of a quiet harmony, 
 decided and strong, reminding one of the beautiful 
 French works of the time of Louis XIV. It is, how- 
 ever, of purely Japanese style, and, according to the 
 inscription at the base, came from the temple of 
 Eiusen, and was cast at HikonS in 1673. 
 
134 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 Mr. Ph. Burty has too great appreciation for the 
 best epochs of Japanese art not to have retained in 
 his collection all the pieces of the 17th century that 
 it was possible for him to acquire. He has some 
 excellently well chosen bronzes. 
 
 Another amateur of no less refined taste, Mr. 
 Charles Haviland, shows with great pride a deer 
 lying down, whose elegance recalls that of Jean 
 Goujon. 
 
 A priest, sitting on the ground, and belonging 
 to M. Henri Bouilhet, is a piece in the best style. 
 The head of the priest can serve as an argument 
 against those who pretend that the Japanese know 
 how to model only grinning faces. They cannot re- 
 fuse to this type chosen by the artist all the qualities 
 of symmetry and nobleness that we are accustomed 
 to admire. The figure has the bearing and fullness 
 of statuary in the sense that we understand it. 
 
 The 18th century continued the work of the 17th. 
 It softened the forms; the sentiment was less severe; 
 the expression of life became predominant; the skill 
 of the tool acquired a grand liberty without becom- 
 ing excessive. It was the epoch of the lost art of 
 the inimitable wax casts. 
 
 None who visited the Exposition of Ancient Art 
 in the Eue de S6ze could fail to admire the large 
 bronze carp of M. Alphonse Hirsch. When the 
 plastic art of Japan of the 18th century is spoken 
 of, one immediately thinks of this specimen of master 
 workmanship. In this piece the large and intelli- 
 gent interpretation of nature attains to supreme 
 
A VASE IK BBONZE. 
 
 By Teijio. 
 
 (Collection of M. H. CemnscM.) 
 
136 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 beauty. The rounded fullness of the work counter- 
 feits life itself. One can imagine this bronze at 
 Bargello of Florence between a statue of Verrochio 
 and a bas-relief of Oellini. 
 
 Belonging to quite another style is the pilgrim of 
 Mr. Cernuschi, a piece of high importance. It is one of 
 the rare specimens of civil statuary which has come to 
 us from Japan, of which the number is very limited. 
 
 The person, represented of life-size, is Banku- 
 rob6, a benefactor of the people, at the age of sixty- 
 four. He is seated, with one leg hanging down; the 
 other is under the body. He holds the pilgrim's 
 staff in his hand; the eyes are of enamel. The face 
 has a calm, serious expression, almost sad. The 
 figure is treated in a large way, and strongly exe- 
 cuted. The artist has signed himself " Murata Ku- 
 nihissa, of Kioto, 1783." 
 
 The only other example of a figure of a descrip- 
 tive character belongs to the collection of Mr. Ph. 
 Burty. This is given as the portrait of a "tshiajin" 
 or president of a reunion of tea-drinkers. He is 
 seated with the legs folded, dressed in a robe with 
 ample falling folds; the head, entirely shaved, is 
 slightly turned to the right. The physiognomy is 
 that of a grave old man who is listening. The pupils 
 of the eyes are lacquered. The right hand, half 
 closed, should hold a fan. This statuette in wood is 
 about twelve inches high. The work is of extreme 
 precision and sincerity; the strong and marked 
 expression of the head would do honor to the most 
 skillful portrait painter. 
 
SCULPTURE. 137 
 
 The great metal workers of the close of the 18th 
 century and of the Bunka and Bunsei periods, dur- 
 ing which epochs Japan attained its maximum of 
 artistic productions, are better known in Europe 
 than their predecessors. 
 
 Their incomparable technical skill assured them 
 from the first days of the opening of our commercial 
 relations with them, after the revolution of 1868, an 
 amply merited repute. 
 
 Seimin, Toun, Teijio, Keisai, Jiuguiku, Somin, 
 Seifa, Tokusai, and the Nakoshi, to cite only the 
 most famous, appeared on the European 
 market with works of overwhelming supe- 
 riority for our metal workers. These 
 works obtained large prices, when more 
 ancient pieces, some of them very valua- 
 ble, found with difficulty modest collectors, 
 men of letters or artists, as purchasers. 
 It was at this time that Mr. Cernuschi seimen. 
 gave the first impulse to Japanese 
 collecting by coming to Paris with his magnificent 
 collection of bronzes, which he exhibited at the 
 Champs-Elys^es palace. 
 
 Great was the surprise of the public to see the 
 diverse compositions of the Japanese bronzes, these 
 wonderful specimens of the skill of metal working 
 and casting. Mr. Barbedienne and Mr. Christ ofle 
 studied with avidity these brillant novelties, and 
 tried to discover the secret of these fabrications of 
 the bronze-workers of the extreme East. 
 
 The first in date, as he had already worked at the 
 
 s 
 
138 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 close of the 18th century, and the most clever of 
 these artists, was Seimin, the Michael Angelo of tur- 
 tles. To sufficicently praise these marvelous fac- 
 similes of living nature that Seimin has signed with 
 his name would be impossible. All who are more 
 or less interested in Japanese art have had occasion 
 to admire these turtle chefs d'ceuvre of this master. 
 Those who have not seen a turtle of Seimin's cannot 
 know how far imitation of nature can be carried. It 
 has been said that such a rendering of nature can be 
 produced only by molding upon the natural object 
 itself. This assertion will not bear examination, for 
 the Japanese until recently were ignorant of the art 
 of taking casts from the life. These bronzes, in 
 which Seimin has caught with astonishing handi- 
 work the movements, attitudes, and expressions of 
 these innocent animals, are simply obtained by the 
 use of the thumb, the stiletto, and the chisel, model- 
 ing the wax. Seimin has also wrought vases and 
 incense-burners. 
 
 I will say, in passing, that the bronzes of Seimin 
 have become very rare in the market. The turtles 
 which come to us at the present time are simply 
 mediocre and fraudulent copies, or simply molded 
 from copies. 
 
 The grand collection of Mr. Cernuschi, to which 
 it is necessary to turn whenever it is a question of 
 bronzes, furnishes us a chef d'ceuvre of Toun, *' the 
 creator of soft bronze," as M. Edmond de Toncourt 
 happily designates him. The piece is an incense - 
 burner of spherical form, surrounded by a gigantic 
 
SCULPTDEE. 139 
 
 dragon standing upright, with open mouth, the whole 
 body vibrating from the superb writhing of the 
 muscles, Toun is celebrated for his .dragons and 
 fantastic animals, as Seimin is for his turtles. 
 
 The bronzes intended for practical or domestic use 
 consisted principally of flower-stands, perfume- 
 burners and bouquet-holders. The most astonishing 
 works were the temple vases. Many times has this 
 fertility of invention been spoken of, the richness of 
 form which never betrays heaviness or poor taste; 
 the marvelous bronze, the curves and forms, which 
 charm the eye as an Ionian rhythm does the ear. 
 
 The methods of casting are the same in Japan as 
 with us, and are based upon the same principles: a 
 model in wax, a mold in potter's earth. The Japan- 
 ese have neither secrets nor tricks that we have not 
 already utilized. What places them beyond com- 
 petition is conscientious workmanship, respect and 
 love for their work, as well as great skill of hand. 
 
 Our friend Mr. Falize affirms, with all his authority 
 on similar matters, that there is notin the world a work- 
 man to be compared with a Japanese metal worker. 
 
 "He is not only a graver, an inlayer," says he, 
 "whose precise tool decorates minute objects; he is 
 not that short-sighted workman, as a critic among 
 our friends has defined him, more wittily than justly, 
 but a powerful artist, who molds with firmness the 
 grandest figures, and throws them into bronze irith 
 more assurance than a Cellini, a Keller, or a Thi6- 
 bauli Have we a metal-founder capable of molding 
 pieces equal to the incense-burners of Count Abra- 
 
140 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 ham Camondo, or of Mr. Cernuscbi? These are, one 
 will say, tricks of the trade, and Garnier, head molder 
 of Barbedienne, has surpassed them. No; that 
 which I admire is not the difficulties of details con- 
 quered, the clear lines of the waves, the claws of the 
 monsters, nor all the delicate finish of these bronzes ; 
 it is the respect for the model, the absence of re- 
 touches, the fidelity of the bronze in reproducing 
 the wax model. We understand wax molding better 
 in theory than in practice. It is only by a thorough 
 understanding between the sculptor who molds and 
 the founder who casts that this admirable art could be 
 resuscitated. It is thus that the expression given by 
 the artist to the soft material is preserved, the touch 
 of the finger being to the wax what the pencil is to 
 the paper. 
 
 " The chisel which cuts the marble, the tool that 
 works the bronze, are instruments of second hand, 
 which destroy or change the thought of the master. 
 Had they only the merit of knowing how to replace 
 by the fluid metal the wax model, the bronze-workers 
 of Japan would remain superior to ours." 
 
 Sach are the words of Mr. Falize. 
 
 The contemporary art of Japan would claim from 
 me a much lower appreciation. All the great skill 
 of hand does not move me if applied only to produce 
 conceptions without life or originality. My admi- 
 ration for Japanese sculpture does not extend much 
 beyond 1850, the time when the grand art of metal 
 working, as understood by the master founders of 
 the 18th century, disappeared. 
 
SOULPTUEE. 141 
 
 II. 
 
 MASKS. 
 
 One of the most characteristic and remarkable 
 forms of Japanese art is undoubtedly the carving of 
 masks. The employment of masks in religious cere- 
 monies, in the court fetes, and in theatrical perform- 
 ances, dates back to a very early period. 
 
 The treasury of the temple of Idzuku-Shima, so 
 rich in various objects of art, yet retains some wooden 
 masks, carved and lacquered, of the 9th, 11th and 
 12th centuries. One of them has the date 1173. 
 
 These masks, of a strange and energetic character, 
 show us what a degree of skill in rendering the 
 human face the carvers of the time of Yoritomo had 
 attained. Only a master can express in a few essen- 
 tial outlines the character of a physiognomy. 
 
 The carver, with a truly Japanese conscientious- 
 ness, has reproduced the worm-holes which have 
 perforated these venerable pieces, in wood. 
 
 The masks of these remote periods are carefully 
 preserved in the temples of Japan. There are some 
 admirable examples at Kioto and Nara. A usage, 
 common both in Greece and Japan, was the employ- 
 ment of masks in the theaters. Like the Greeks, 
 the Japanese have accented the tragic or comic per- 
 sonages in their scenes by a mask placed over the 
 face. These masks were in lacquered or painted 
 wood, imitating the natural colors for the roles of 
 
142 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 men or women ; the beard and eyebrows were often 
 imitated by the use of horse-hair. The masks of 
 gods, of spirits, or of devils, were adorned with con- 
 ventional colors, most often with black, red, green, 
 or gold. Holes were made for the eyes, mouth, and 
 nostrils. Silk strings tied the maeks to the head of 
 the actor, and the clothing, falling from the borders 
 of the mask, rendered the illusion, at a little distance, 
 complete. . 
 
 The carving of masks reached its highest develop- 
 ment at the commencement of the 17th century. An 
 artist named D6m6-Jioman, of the family of D6m6, 
 mask sculptors, became particularly celebrated as a 
 carver of masks. The types he created have remained 
 popular. 
 
 When the usage of masks in theaters was discon- 
 tinued, at the close of the 17th century, his works 
 served as models for the carvers of netsuk6Si The 
 more modern theatrical masks date back to this 
 period. There are no later ones. Those which 
 come to-day from Japan are, for the greater part, 
 frightful copies made for exportation. 
 
 Several years ago a large number of good and 
 ancient examples arrived in Paris, and were sold at 
 very low prices. People did not realize that these 
 old masks were no longer carved, and that, for many 
 reasons, they bore the value of veritable objects of art. 
 
 These masks of the 17th century, although they 
 confine themselves to certain consecrated expressions, 
 express the most varied emotions. Laughter and 
 anger are sometimes rendered with, extraordinary 
 
SCULPTURE. 
 
 143 
 
 intensity. The series of vices is most amusing. 
 The formidable nose, the squinting eyes, the de- 
 formed mouth, the wrinkles, and horrible grimaces, 
 express the ferocity and beastliness of man. 
 
 Udzum6 shows us the heavy, fat cheeks, and the 
 everlasting good-humor; he represents the noble 
 Daimio with his pale and 
 languishing features, the 
 young girl with her " smile 
 like a plum-tree in bloom," 
 according to the charming 
 flower language of the 
 Japanese; or he pictures 
 for us the old poetess 
 Komati, who died of hun- 
 ger and misery in the 
 midst of a marsh, after 
 having been the most 
 beautiful and most envied 
 woman in Japan. In the 
 mask she still displays to our view the hideousness 
 of her lean, withered visage. 
 
 What freedom of chisel in these carvings ! What 
 knowledge of modeling ! Take one of these masks, 
 give it to a Japanese, telling him to put it on, drap- 
 ing himself in the national costume, and you will be 
 astonished, as I have repeatedly been, to see how 
 very human it becomes. Think, also, of the illusions 
 of a theatrical scene, the distance, the gestures and 
 movements of the actors, and you cannot but admire 
 the instinct for effect possessed by these carvers of 
 
 SMALL MASK.— BY NOBIAKA. 
 
 (Collection of Mr. Gonse.) 
 
144 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 masks. I know one that expresses calm and resigned 
 suffering. It is as beautiful as a head of Christ, 
 sorrowful as a Mantegne. I could speak of many- 
 other examples of this branch of carving, in which a 
 high degree of art is found. 
 
 The beautiful masks of the theater were as care- 
 fully guarded by their possessor as the violins of 
 Stradivarius are by us. They were enclosed in 
 lacquer boxes, and wrapped in coverings of double 
 silk, tufted, and often of great richness. As the 
 refinement of the Japanese extends to the smallest 
 details, the silks employed were in harmony with 
 the masks themselves. 
 
 It is in the coverings of the masks, in the linings 
 of the lacquer boxes, in the sword sheaths, and in 
 the framing of kakemonos, that one encounters the 
 loveliest and rarest specimens of ancient Japanese 
 silks. 
 
SCULPTURE. 145 
 
 III. 
 
 NETSUKES. 
 
 Netsuk^s are small trinkets, which, fastened to a 
 silk cord, serve to attadi to the girdle or sash, the 
 medicine box, the tobacco p^nqh, and the pipe- case. 
 
 There are no objects of art in which the Japanese 
 have given more liberty to their inventive taste and 
 to their imagination. 
 
 Among the bric-a-brac imported to Europe after 
 the revolution of 1868, they were the first to gain 
 popular favor, and in a short time to become cele- 
 brated among us. 
 
 Nothing is more charming, delicate and surpris- 
 ing. They constitute a world of infinitely small 
 things, whose boundless variety surpasses imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 It is now nearly impossible to find fine netsuk6s; 
 there are no more in Japan; the finest are to day to 
 be found in European collections. 
 
 The artists of Nippon made netsuk^s of all ma- 
 terials and of all forms. There are netsuk^s in lac- 
 quer, in coral, in enamel, in porcelain, and in chased 
 metal; oftener they are in carved wood or ivory. 
 When they are in metal they are generally in form 
 of buttons, surrounded by a rim of bone or ivory. 
 
146 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 The greatest artists have not disdained occasion- 
 ally to sign a netsuk6. I have seen some by Kitsuo 
 and by Korin. However, when these small objects 
 were in great demand their execution was monopo- 
 lized by a line of artisans, among whom were some 
 true masters. There are mentioned families who 
 devoted themselves, from generation to generation, 
 to the carving of netsuk^s. I will, further on, notice 
 some specialists who acquired a legitimate renown in 
 this branch. 
 
 I shall speak particularly of the wood and the 
 ivory netsuk^s. 
 
 The taste for artistic netsuk^s manifested itself 
 toward the end of the 17th century. Up to that 
 time the articles worn at the waist were attached by 
 buttons, more or less coarse in form. 
 
 The first netsuk6s having an artistic character are 
 relatively of modern date. They were first made in 
 carved wood, painted or lacquered. They weie all 
 made at Nara, which, for a long time, remained the 
 center of their production. The workmen of Uji, 
 near Nara, were renowned. That province had, from 
 ancient times, a monopoly of wood- work. 
 
 The most ancient netsuk6 that I know is in painted 
 wood. It has the signature of a celebrated artist, 
 Shiuzan, of Nara. It was brought from Kioto with 
 four other netsuk^s of the same style of workman- 
 ship, and by the same artist. It measures about 3^ 
 inches in height, and represents some sennins, and 
 the warriors Kuanghu and Shoki. I think they 
 may be considered about two hundred years old. 
 
SCULPTURE. 147 
 
 They are somewhat coarse, but of a powerful and 
 original style, difficult to find in more modern works. 
 
 Netsuk6s in wood preceded those in ivory, and 
 have always been superior to them in workmanship, 
 wood being softer and capable of a finer finish. The 
 grained wood that the Japanese chose for this pur- 
 pose has a close homogeneous grain throughout, 
 which allowed the carvers to give to their work the 
 appearance of metal finish. The heart of a cherry 
 tree has the qualities of fine bronze. 
 
 The fine old authentic netsuk6s, those small chefs 
 d'ceuvre polished to the highest perfection, which 
 collectors in America, Europe, and Japan eagerly 
 purchase at golden prices, are nearly all in the 
 " tsough6 " wood, mellowed by time to a warm 
 brown color. I place some of the netsuk^s in wood 
 among the most delicate wonders that Japanese art 
 has produced. Some of them by their minuteness 
 in size belong to high art. 
 
 One of our confreres has not hesitated to com- 
 pare these expressive little figures to those of 
 Tanagra, in terra-cotta. I interpret his thought in the 
 sense that the naive and sincere rendering of nature 
 appears to him to have been carried to the same 
 high degree by the two peoples. 
 
 Following different roads, still, thanks to a com- 
 mon line of feeling which unites them — respect for 
 the truth — the Greeks and Japanese sometimes 
 encountered each other in very striking analogies. 
 
 The drapery, gestures, movement of the limbs, 
 and the play of the features, in certain Japanese 
 
148 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 netsuk6s, representing human beings, would certain- 
 ly have been admired by the exquisite artisans of 
 Attica. 
 
 Mr. Eayet had in his Tanagra collection five or 
 six comic figures of foreign merchants and mendi- 
 cants, modeled in a spirit worthy of Nippon. 
 
 One can, with more reason, and without any con- 
 tradiction, extend the comparison to the ivories, the 
 carved wood, and all the familiar plastic art of our 
 middle age. Here the similitude is sometimes com- 
 plete. Nothing more resembles the images in our 
 cathedrals than certain Japanese carvings. There 
 is sometimes a striking family resemblance, which 
 cannot escape the eye of those who thoroughly ob- 
 serve such matters. I could quote many grotesque 
 little figures in netsuk6s, which, if enlarged, would 
 make superb gargoyles. And if, from representa- 
 tions of the hiiman figure, one descends to those of 
 animals and plants, the similitude becomes even 
 more striking. In reality, the two arts flow from 
 the same sources — passionate love of nature, and the 
 constant subordination of detail to the logic of the 
 whole. It would be a most interesting study to try 
 to ascertain what intimate relations exist between 
 the French art of the 13th century and the best 
 epochs of Japanese art. 
 
 But I will return to the carving of netsuk6s. One 
 of the most appreciated artists in Japan at the com- 
 mencement of the 18th century was Riuk§i, whose 
 works are, unfortunately, very rare in Europe. One 
 could hardly mention three or four signed by him. 
 
SCULPTURE. 149 
 
 His execution is most skillful ; his style betrays a 
 little of the Chinese influence. 
 
 Toward the middle of the ISthcentury the ateliers 
 of Nara were at the height of prosperity; those 
 of Kioto and Yedo had started, and were endeavor- 
 ing, without disadvantage, to rival those of the 
 ancient city. 
 
 At this moment there appeared at Nara a master 
 whose work had much influence upon the industry 
 of netsuk^s — Mivathe First. His works are highly 
 estimated and compare with the best very justly, 
 for if there have been workers equally skillful, there 
 have been none who have united to such a degree 
 as he, originality of invention, breadth and propriety 
 of style and concentrated force of expression. 
 
 Words cannot express the pleasure derived from 
 a beautiful netsukfi of Miva. It is a delight to han- 
 dle one, with its lines so strong and yet so soft and 
 supple. 
 
 To my knowledge he has carved only persons or 
 animals in wood. There can be found a half- 
 dozen scattered among the collections of Paris. The 
 most remarkable represents a peasant covered 
 with a robe of straw and a big hat, crouching on 
 the watch, seeming to wait for an invisible prey. It 
 is a chef d'cBuvre of life of wonderful dramatic 
 expression. The mastery of the chisel here defies 
 all comparison. The face of the peasant, distorted 
 by concentrated anger, the suppleness of the body, 
 seeming to almost disappear as it grovels upon the 
 ground, are wonderful. I also attribute to Miva the 
 
150 
 
 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 H.Su.i^aul 
 
 SNAIL— BY TADATOSHI. 
 
 (OoUection of Mr. S. Bing.) 
 
 First an admirable netsuk6 in the collection o£ Mr. 
 Auguste Dreyfus; it is in painted wood, and rep- 
 resents the old Komati seated, with her wallet by 
 her side- The painting, worn by long contact with 
 
 the robe of the 
 wearer, has taken 
 a charming soft- 
 ness of color. The 
 form of this little 
 figure, 2|^ inches 
 high, has all the 
 fullness of nature 
 itself. It is im- 
 possible to put 
 more grandeur of 
 style or more skillful designing into so small a 
 space. This old hag, image of misery and decrepi-: 
 tude, could tempt the graver of Mr. Gaillard. 
 
 It is from the atelier of Miva that most of the 
 carvers of wood and ivorynetsuk6s have come. Miva 
 the Second and Miva the Third also had great talent. 
 In taking up the signatures of the pieces to be 
 found in Paris, I am able to mention the most dis- 
 tinguished artists of the last half of the 18th cen- 
 tury, belonging to the ateliers of Tedo and Kioto. 
 They are : Minko, Norikadzu, Ikko, Gambun, Bo- 
 kusai, Minkoku, Masatoshi, Tomiharu, Sensai, Mas- 
 anao, Shiomin, Tomoitshi, Tadatoslii, Rioshio, Eio- 
 min (who must not be confounded with the skillful 
 chaser of the 19th century) and Mitsushigh^, who 
 all worked principally in wood; Kuaiguioku, who 
 
SCUI.PTUEE. 151 
 
 worked equally well in amber, ebony, and coral; 
 Sessai, Kisui, Toun, Hid^masa, Tomotada, Masatsan§, 
 Masafussa, Tomotshika, Jiuguioku, Masakadzu, who 
 preferred to carve in ivory. Ikko, Gambun, and 
 Kisui distinguished themselves by their inlaid work. 
 
 In the later period, from 1810 to 1860, shone the 
 names of Ikkuan, Noirsan6, Ittan, Anrakusait, Masat- 
 sugu, Shibayama (celebrated for his marquetry 
 work and inlaying on hard wood. He founded the 
 school of Shibayama). 
 
 It would necessitate a long chapter to enter into 
 all the details of the works signed by these excellent 
 artists. Each one was known by some specialty in 
 which he excelled. 
 
 Itshimin carved ruminating animals; Anrakusai, 
 sennins; Tadatoshi, snails; Ikkuan, mice; Minkoku, 
 Sensai, Masanao, Bokusai, have signed some admir- 
 able little figures; Nobuyoki excelled in groups and 
 in scenes of several figures ; Noriaki and Noritami 
 carved in wood and ivory, small masks full of spirit 
 and satire, which rivaled the best creations of the 
 D6m63. 
 
 Among a lower grade of artists, who are not sim- 
 ply workmen, the specialties are still more striking. 
 Certain workers devoted themselves to the execution 
 of one subject, or to the copying of a celebrated 
 netsuk^. These repetitions are easily recognized by 
 the hardness of the work. Many of the netsuk^s of 
 the last forty years are borrowed from the albums 
 of Hokusai. 
 
 The most humble motives were available for the 
 
152 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 carver of netsuk^s. Tiie godrf , philosophers, histor- 
 ical scenes, comic anecdotes, flowers, plants, birds, 
 insects, reptiles, all were interesting to him, and fur- 
 nished a pretext for creating something new and 
 piquant. The carver's imagination and spirit seem 
 never at fault; his hand had docility and patience 
 without equal Time was nothing to him; he would 
 employ six months or a year, if necessary, to satis- 
 factorily and lovingly finish his work. No nerves, 
 a tranquil perseverance that nothing could disturb; 
 conscientious and honest workmanship by the artisan 
 of past times, often attached to the service of some 
 princely house, himself and family lodged in a cot- 
 tage, with a little garden that he enjoyed and culti- 
 vated at his leisure, having neither wants nor 
 ambitions, living in tlie worship of his art and in the 
 contemplation of nature — herein lies the secret of 
 the miracles of Japanese art, which astonishes our 
 rushing civilization. This social condition suffices 
 to explain all. 
 
 The number of artists truly independent, raising 
 themselves above their class, traveling, establishing 
 schools, extending their name beyond their province, 
 has always been a small minority, outside the noble 
 art of painting, which was cultivated by the higher 
 classes. This is why history is silent concerning all 
 these deserving artists of the secondary arts. There 
 is no biographical information about the embroider- 
 ers, chasers, carvers of netsuk6s, or even of lacquer 
 workers, who were of higher rank. 
 
 We should hardly know their names, had not the 
 
SCULPTURE. 153 
 
 Japanese artist always taken care to sign his name 
 to his work, sometimes to date it, marking the year 
 of the '"neDgo" in which it was finished. 
 
 The reading of the signatures, tiie inscriptions, 
 and the seals, is, in most eases, the only sure, and 
 often the only, information to be had. 
 
 I have said that netsuk^s in wood are more 
 esteemed in Japan than those in ivory, because the 
 material is finer and softer to carve; but there are 
 some ivories as precious as wood. The frightful 
 groups, made to appear old by being steeped in tea, 
 which have flooded the market in these days, are 
 all modern work and destined for the shop. Neo- 
 phyte amateurs should beware and not allow them- 
 selves to be deceived by their charming but deceitful 
 appearance. However, some of the modern artists 
 have made, for the Japanese, some groups which are 
 admirable netsuk6s, but they are rare. 
 
 As M. Ed. de Goncourt has justly said in his 
 "House of an Artist," at the time of the careful 
 carving of netsuk^s, the Japanese ivory workers 
 employed the most beautiful ivory; that transparent, 
 milky ivory which takes with time that beautiful 
 luster, that soft yellow, that warm pale tint, which 
 must not be confounded with the yellow of modern 
 netsuk6s, made from the most inferior quality of 
 elephant's tusks, the tusk of the moose, and even 
 from fish bones. 
 
 The Japanese carve no more netsuk^s for them- 
 selves, Europeanism having done away with their 
 use. All that are executed to-day are for exports- 
 
154 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 tion. The work, when finished, is mediocre and 
 lifeless. The design is always wretchedly poor. 
 
 Fine ancient ivories are recognized not only by 
 their charming execution, but by their beautiful 
 ivory color, mellowed by time, and by the light 
 marks on the edges produced by the rubbing of the 
 sash. 
 
SCULPTURE. 155 
 
 IV. 
 
 P1PE-0A8EB. — VAEIOUS OBJECTS. 
 
 The style of wrought pipe-cases has developed 
 much like that of netsuk^s. There are few objects 
 upon which Japanese artists have spent more care 
 and taste. They take the form of a tube, furnished 
 at its upper extremity with a ring or hook, through 
 which passes the silk cord of the netsuk^. They are in 
 wood, often in bamboo, inlaid, engraved, or carved, 
 sometimes in deer's horn, ivory, ebony, or lacquer; 
 sometimes, but rarely, in metal. 
 
 The most ancient bear the signatures of Eiukei, 
 of Hanzan, and of Ikko. I have seen none by Rit- 
 suo; two or three, in American collections, have 
 been mentioned to me. 
 
 Ikko, whose talent has been celebrated by M. de 
 Gtoncourt, is, together with Hanzen, the best pupil 
 of Bitsuo. I know of about a dozen pipe-cases 
 signed with his name. They are all in bamboo, 
 engraved and inlaid with white or tinted ivory, 
 mother-of-pearl, coral, and ebony. The effects of 
 the many-colored decoration on the white surface of 
 the bamboo are most charming, and peculiar to 
 Ikko. He derives a surprising effect from the 
 u'lion of low and high relief. Inlaid work is his 
 
156 
 
 JAPANESE ABT 
 
 rj-' 
 
 AOASK.BYEIOSAI 
 
 glory. The collection of M. de Gon- 
 court shows in this style a case iii bam- 
 boo, with the round contour flattened, 
 covered with dragon -flies in flight, 
 which is the king of all pipe-cases, 
 either past, present, or future. 
 
 One cannot imagine a finer or more 
 marvelous play of colors, or anything 
 more sumptuous than this decoration, 
 half in low relief, half in high, enriched 
 witli enamel, mother-of-pearl, and color- 
 ed iv )ry ; "with depressions, perspective 
 distances of the second plane, obtained 
 by means of carved dragon-flies in con- 
 trast with dragon-flies in high relief, 
 in enamel and mother-of-pearl." 
 
 On another Ikko has scattered some 
 grotesque figures of actors; in these 
 the ivory, colored greeu and polished, 
 furnishes reliefs and colors of charm- 
 ing brightness. Elsewhere he i-epre- 
 sents rabbits in the furze, by moonlight, 
 or a monkey climbing a tree to eat the 
 "kaki" fruit, or tortoises playing on the 
 sand, or a line of carp swimming in 
 the water. 
 
 Ikko is a poet: his compositions have 
 the freshness of observations drawn 
 from nature. He shows the power of 
 his master, Ritsuo. 
 
 Guiokuiyei, pupil of Korin, was a 
 
■■9 
 
 PIPE OASES IN IVOBY, EBONY AND CABTED WOOD. 
 
 (Collection of Mr. Gonse.) 
 
158 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 rival of Ikko. There is a pipe-case in bamboo, 
 signed by him, ornamented with a procession of 
 pilgrims carved iii low relief. One could hardly 
 find anything more original and independent. 
 
 Gambun has carved a case in ebony, imitating a 
 straw mat, on which a' golden lizard is pursuing 
 some ants, wrought in silver. This chef d'oBuvre of 
 ingenuity and still makes us acquainted with one of 
 ihe most famous of artists. By the care with which 
 he dated some of bis works we know that he lived 
 in the last half of the 18th century. On another 
 pipe-case, in the collection of the author, he has 
 taken the pains to add: "Made at the age of 68 
 years." 
 
 Gambun is the artist of ants; he describes all 
 their exploits, understands their manners and the 
 structure of their hills like no one else. The pieces 
 of Gambun are very much sought after by amateurs. 
 The high prices they attain are justified by the 
 masterly execution it has pleased the artist to bestow 
 upon them. His optical illusions are wonderful. 
 
 We are shown, in the Hirsch collection, anetsuk6 
 on which is carved a group of mushrooms, mouldy, 
 dry, ribbed by the worms and ants, over which runs 
 the slimy saliva of a snail. It is of unsurpassed 
 realism; the ants, about one-sixteenth of an inch 
 long, seem alive. Gambun can imitate an old, 
 worm-eaten board, the bark of a tree inhabited by 
 insects, or fruit abandoned to ants, and his micro- 
 scopic imitations retain a fidelity and truthfulness 
 rarely found in works of this kind. 
 
SCULPTURE. 159 
 
 We find on many of the pipe- cases in ivory and in 
 bone the signatures of the good netsuk^ carvers. 
 The artists of Nippon have shown their great power 
 of adaptation in the decoration of these inartistic 
 forms. I do not know wherein their power shows 
 itself to greater advantage. 
 
 What a variety of subjects! Here it is the cone 
 of the Fuziyama standing out from the deep black 
 of the ebony, a silver dragon entwined about the 
 green ivory; there, a threatening tiger hidden be- 
 hind a bamboo thicket, or Shoki, contemplating with 
 despair the reflection in the water of the devil's 
 head, which forms the ring of the pipe-case; again, 
 it is a cicada plunging into the heart of a rose; a 
 dragon-fly alighted upon a fisher's line; a willow 
 trunk shaped into a grotesque personage; a dead 
 bird falling across Ihe sun's disk (used as a back- 
 ground) ; stakes on the border of the sea; a crab 
 issuing from a hole in a rock ; or an eagle perched 
 on the branch of a pine, ready to pounce upon birds 
 hidden in its hollow. 
 
 Other objects of domestic usage belong to the 
 noble art of carving. Cabinets, portable chapels, 
 trays, tea and perfume boxes, panels in applique, 
 smoking apparatus, writing boxes, ink-bottles for 
 the sash, brush-holders, " sak 6 " bottles, tobacco- 
 pouches, hand-rests, medicine-boxes, bouquet-hold- 
 ers, have all been wrought by artists of the highest 
 merit. To study these various objects would re- 
 quire too much time. I can simply mention them. 
 
 Without speaking of Ritsuo, whom I rank among 
 
BOUQUET HOIiSEB IN WOOD.— BY MINKOKn.— (EIGHTEENTH OENTUBY.) 
 
 (Colleotton of Mr. GonBe.) 
 
SCULPTUBE. 161 
 
 lacquer- workers, Gambun especially distinguishes 
 himself with his ants. Minkoku and Masafnssa 
 have also signed some admirable pieces. 
 
 We should also consider one of the most remark- 
 able manifestations of Japanese art, wherein the 
 genius of Nippon, particularly as regards human 
 expression, has shown the most life and humor — 
 ceramics. The tiny rustic figures of Shinno, Go6- 
 mon, Ogataum, Shiyuh6i, Baku, and Dohatshi, 
 certain things from Bizen and Takatori, certain 
 enamelled earthenware from Haghi and Owari, 
 belong, in their most essential characteristics, to the 
 plastic art. 
 
THE ART OF CHASING AND METAL 
 WORK. 
 
 I. 
 
 ARMUE. 
 
 I HE work of chasing on metals is one of 
 the branches of art in which the Japan- 
 ese have highly distinguished them- 
 selves by their superior handiwork. It 
 is indisputably in this and in ceramics that Euro- 
 peans have the most to learn. 
 
 Chasing, forging, and hammered iron-work have 
 
 preceded other metal 
 work. Artistic iron- 
 work was, during 
 many centuries, ex- 
 clusively reserved for 
 arms and armor. A 
 people so war-like 
 and chivalrous would 
 attribute an almost 
 divine character to 
 the employment of 
 iron, which is con- 
 sidered, according to 
 Japanese ideas, the noble metal par excellence. 
 
 NKTSXJKfi IN METAL. 
 
 (Collection of Mr. Gonse.) 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOEK. 163 
 
 The sacred sword given by the Goddess of the 
 Sun to her grandson, Ninighi, is preserved in the 
 temple of Assuta. This ancient iron weapon is the 
 palladium of Japanese nationality. The temple 
 treasuries, notably the imperial treasury of Todaiji 
 at Nara, contain armors dating certainly from the 
 period of Shiumun, but information upon this sub- 
 ject is too vague to be thoroughly relied upon. We 
 may attribute to those distant periods certain forms 
 of helmets, very simple, and of the style of those 
 preserved in the Artillery Museum at Paris. Some 
 of these helmets were brought to France during the 
 18th century, and are of great interest. The 
 pyramidal contour of some of them is certainly of 
 Indo-European source. 
 
 They are in lacquered iron, and the absence of 
 ornaments makes their lines appear more clear. In 
 seeing them, we cannot fail to recognize their 
 resemblance to the archaic helmets of Greece. It is 
 to be lamented that we have no information regard- 
 ing their origin and date. One cf them in iron 
 plates, covered with a lacquer of aventurine gold, 
 coming from the ancient cabinet of the king, dates 
 back to the thirteenth century, at least. The 
 description of the treasures in the temple of Idzuku- 
 Shima mentions and reproduces some armor and 
 helmets of the eleventh, the twelfth and the thir- 
 teenth centuries. 
 
 In fact, the history of war costumes commences 
 only with Yoritomo. The great struggles and the 
 warlike spirit of the Tairas and the Minamotos 
 
164 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 caused important progress to be made in this direc- 
 tion. The development of the military class caused 
 the development of engines of defense and attack. 
 At that time the equipment of a warrior was 
 restricted to certain essential forms, which did not 
 alter afterward, except in details. The helmet alone 
 preserves a certain independence of form. 
 
 One of the most beautiful helmets that I can 
 speak of is in the collection of Mr. Bing, and 
 belongs to the twelfth century. It is in iron and 
 ornamented with dragons in relief. Although the 
 iron is corroded, it is an example of a powerful 
 style. Some of the arms that belonged to the great 
 Shogun are preserved in the treasury of the temple 
 of Hatshiman, at Kamakura. 
 
 Under the reign of Toritomo there was founded 
 at Kamakura the celebrated house of Mio-chin, 
 which lasted to the eighteenth century and produced 
 the most skillful and most renowned artists of iron 
 armor. The most beautiful breastplates came from 
 this workshop. The works of the first Mio-chin are 
 most carefully guarded in Japan, either in the 
 emperor's palace or in those of the great princely 
 families. 
 
 This house devoted itself entirely to iron work. 
 Articulated pieces were one of its specialties, in 
 which this house displayed inimitable skill. Made 
 entirely with the hammer and without soldering, this 
 work was something marvelous. Tlie most remark- 
 able example that has come to Europe and one of 
 the most important wrought by this family of 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOKK. 
 
 165 
 
 artists, is an eagle of life size in hammered iron, to 
 be found in the Kensington Museum in London. 
 He is poised on a rock, the wings unfolded, feathers 
 
 bristling, as if ready to 
 dart upon his prey. All 
 the feathers are sepa- 
 rated, and joined one 
 above the other. This 
 work in iron is full of 
 expression and charac- 
 ter. A more surprising 
 example of difficulties overcome could not be found, 
 
 E.LMoNTtnJf'' 
 lEOK HELMET.— (XVITH OENTUBT.) 
 
 (Collection of Mr. E. L. Montefiore.) 
 
166 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 Mr. Mitford, who purchased it in Japan soon after 
 the revolution o£ 1868, sold it to the Museum for the 
 moderate sum of five thousand dollars. This eagle, 
 belonging to the close of the sixteenth century or 
 the commencement of the seventeenth, bears the 
 signature of Mio-chiu Mun6haru. 
 
 During the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries arms were character- 
 ized by a strong and hardy style, like those of our 
 middle age. 
 
 The finest armor and breastplates, inlaid with the 
 most elegant damaskeen work, belong to the time of 
 Taiko-Sama. Everything relating to the art of war 
 interested this man of strong character. The construc- 
 tor of the ramparts of Osaka was the greatest amateur 
 of beautiful arms of his time. We have in Europe 
 two very rare pieces of his — two suits of armor pre- 
 served in the royal armory of Madrid. They belong 
 to the type which preceded lighter armor, of which 
 I shall speak further on. The workmanship is 
 superb; the style severe and grand. The iron breast- 
 plate, the mask, the arm pieces, gauntlets, and leg 
 coverings, all are admirably fitted to the form, and 
 imitate its shape with wonderful truthfulness. The 
 plates of the neck-piece, the shoulder-pieces and 
 those of the thigh are decorated with the coat-of-arms 
 of the seven branched " kiri," and chrysanthemums 
 with sixteen petals, alternated regularly with each 
 other, which combination formed the imperial crest 
 during the time of Taiko-Sama. According to 
 information furnished me by Count de Valencia, 
 
CHASING AND METAL WORK. 167 
 
 keeper of the armory , the chrysanthemums are in 
 gold on a background of aventurine enamel. 
 
 These magnificent pieces may be considered as the 
 most ancient Japanese objects which have reached 
 Europe. They figured in the inventory of Philip 
 IV. A tradition, not denied, discloses that they 
 were given to Philip II. by the Japanese 
 embassy, which, leaving Japan February 22, 1583, 
 arrived at Lisbon August 10, 1584, and proceeded 
 from that place to Madrid and thence to Bome. This 
 embassy brought rich presents and was received by 
 Philip II. himself. 
 
 •These suits of arinor, of imperial origin, were a 
 souvenir worthy of Hjdeyoshi. . I do not see other- 
 wise how objects of this nature- and value would have 
 been allowed to leave Japan! 
 
 The classic form of the armor, with its breast- 
 plate of hammered iron, its square shoulder-pieces, 
 its peculiar leg and arm-pieces, dates from the 
 eleventh century, but the finely finished armor, 
 in elegant lacquered iron -plate, hardly dates back 
 beyond thp close of the sixteenth century. The 
 breastplates of the daimios were sometimes of great 
 richness, with damaskeened and engraved ornamenta- 
 tion, with decorative figures and subjects in round 
 boss, hammered and chased, making them works of 
 art of the highest value. The epaulets, of lapped 
 pieces, allowed great liberty for the movements of 
 the arm. Appendages wrought in the same manner, 
 with iron plates and silken braid, covered the hips 
 like a sort of crinoline. 
 
168 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 From the time of Yoritomo, the greater part of 
 the helmets were accompanied by a movable neck- 
 piece of the same work. The legs and arms were 
 protected by plain pieces, which were sometimes 
 ornamented, and always covered with a coat of mail, 
 the whole forming a supple and resisting whole, 
 upon which the Japanese blades had less effect than 
 upon the massive breast- plates. 
 
 The value of a suit of war armor consisted above 
 all in the quality of the iron, which, made thin by 
 hammering, acquired at the same time a marvelous 
 hardness. The free movement of the iron plates, 
 the net- work of the coat- of- mail, the silk fastenings, 
 the linings of some textile stuff, were combined in a 
 manner to resist, more surely than our strongest 
 breast-plates could have done, the powerful force of 
 offensive arms. The face was protected by an iron 
 mask, over which fell the visor of the helmet. 
 
 Hid6yoshi, at the close of his life, had introduced 
 the comfortable and light armor invented by 
 Matsunaga Hissahid6. These armors, in very 
 thin lacquered iron plates, were, from the time of 
 Y6yas, almost the only ones in use. The small 
 arms were the lance, the pike, the hatchet, arrows 
 and swords, the temper of which has never been 
 equaled. 
 
 The fine armor of the seventeenth century, 
 belonging to our museum of artillery, came from 
 the cabinet of the king. 
 
 A large collection of Japanese helmets is found 
 in the possession of Count Monbel, former attache 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOBK. 169 
 
 to the French embassy at Yokohama. He acquired 
 the whole collection from an old European resident. 
 This rare collection, methodically arranged before 
 Japan was opened to strangers, contains very beauti- 
 f ul examples, notably two helmets of Miochin, and a 
 series of Corean helmets, trophies of the great 
 expedition into Corea, directed by Taiko- Sama him- 
 self, at the close of the sixteenth century (1592). 
 
 One of the helmets in the collection of Mr. Monte- 
 fiore is certainly one of the most beautiful pieces 
 of the time of Y6yas. It is formed by three large 
 mallow leaves combined (crest of the Tokugawa), 
 and is signed " Nagatsan6 Masanori of Etshizen." 
 
 The province of Etshizen, rich, like that of Bizen, 
 in iron mines, has always been noted for its excel- 
 lent iron works. Another helmet of this collection 
 is decorated with six united lines, forming rays. 
 It is very ancient, and probably belongs to the lat- 
 ter part of the sixteenth century. The form of these 
 two helmets is well conceived; they furnish us with 
 two remarkable examples of the ingenuity of Japan- 
 ese taste at this great epoch. There are, indeed, 
 few branches of art ,in which the Japanese have 
 shown more imagination than in the designs of their 
 helmets. 
 
 There exists an ancient treatise on the form of 
 helmets, printed in Japan at the close of the seven- 
 teenth century, which gives us an approximate idea 
 of the extraordinary wealth of design displayed by 
 Japanese armor makers. 
 
170 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 II. 
 
 8W0BD BLADES. 
 
 • Up to the time of the revolution of 1868, the 
 most beautiful object of art was, in the eyes of a 
 true Japanese, his sword blade. I have eaid that 
 the sacred sword of Amat6rassu, preserved in the 
 temple of Assuta, was the speaking emblem of the 
 history of Japan. The Japanese have .always 
 attached the greatest importance to the quality and 
 perfection of this weapon ; consequently no profes- 
 sion was more esteemed and respected than that of 
 the forging of sword blades, and it was not rare to 
 see nobles devoting themselves to this profession 
 and therein acquiring great skill. 
 
 The Japanese blades are incomparably the finest 
 in the world. The Damascus blades and those of 
 Toledo, so far as temper of the steel is concerned, 
 are like children's toys when compared with the 
 finest Japanese blades. The Japanese sword is a 
 terrible weapon. A blade of medium size, well 
 tempered, should with one stroke cleave in twain a 
 man's head. An ancient sword blade, made by a 
 master of renown, would, without difficulty, cut in 
 two one of our infantry swords ( "coupe choux" ). 
 
 Fabulous prices have been paid for some swords, 
 which is explained by the long months of work nee- 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOBK. 171 
 
 essary to bring to perfection the hammering and 
 tempering of the steel, and often with uncertainty 
 of the result. 
 
 Pieces have been seen, having the signature of a 
 celebrated maker, that brought a thousand dollars. 
 The last Tycoon, according to Mr. Dubard, offered 
 to our minister plenipotentiary a blade preserved in 
 a plain scabbard of white wood, which was estimated 
 by a Yokohama merchant to be worth more than 
 fourteen hundred dollars. 
 
 The Japanese sword personifies the highest senti- 
 ment of courage and honor. It serves the noble 
 uses of war, and it is also used in the execution of 
 capital punishment ; it avenges injuries received, and 
 effaces, in the blood of " hari-kari," the remorse of a 
 troubled conscience. 
 
 The etiquette of the sword is as complex as 
 solemn. To touch the scabbard of another person 
 with your own is a grave offense against etiquette. 
 Turning the scabbard in the sash as if to draw the 
 sword is equivalent to provocation. Placing the 
 sword on the floor in a room and pushing with the 
 foot, the hilt in the direction of another person, is a 
 mortal insult. It is not polite to take the sword 
 from its scabbard in the presence of others williout 
 first asking permission of each one. To enter the 
 house of a friend with a sword is a breach of friend- 
 ship. Those who are in a position to have a servant 
 follow them, should leave their sword in his charge, 
 at the entrance of the house, or, if they are without 
 a follower, the sword should be left at the door 
 
172 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 before entering. It is the duty of the host's ser- 
 vants to take the sword, not with the hand, but with 
 a silk handkerchief, used only for such occasions, 
 and place it on a sword rest, which should be found 
 in the place of honor, near the invited guest; the 
 sword is also treated with all the honor and polite- 
 ness due to its possessor. 
 
 The large sword, if one carries two, should be 
 taken from the sash in the scabbard and placed at 
 the right of its possessor, because, thus placed, it 
 cannot be used. It should never be placed at the 
 left side, except there is danger of an immediate 
 attack. To exhibit a naked sword is a grave offense, 
 unless one desires to show a fine blade to one's 
 friends. It is not customary to ask to see a sword 
 unless it is a blade of great value, when the request 
 would flatter the pride of the possessor. In such a 
 case they present the weapon by the outer edge, 
 the sharp side turned away, the handle turned to 
 the left. The questioner should touch the liandle 
 only with a piece of silk, which every one i3 accus- 
 tomed to carry in his pocket, or with a piece of fine 
 paper. The blade should be drawn slowly from its 
 sheath and admired little by little. It should never 
 be wholly drawn out, unless the possessor insists 
 upon it. In this case it should be taken out with an 
 embarrassed air, and held aloof from the other 
 persons present. After having admired it, it is 
 necessary to wipe it carefully with a special piece of 
 linen; it is then replaced in the scabbard and 
 returned to its possessor. 
 
CHASING AND METAL WORK. 173 
 
 The Bmall sword is retained at the girdle, and it 
 is only on occasions of a prolonged visit that the 
 host and his visitor place them at their side. 
 Women have neither the right nor the custom of 
 carrying swords, unless they are traveling alone. 
 In case of fire, the ladies of the palace often place 
 arms in their sashes. 
 
 A weil-educated Japanese should be able to tell 
 the age and quality of a sword blade from a simple 
 examination of its temper. Difference in the tempejr 
 produces great variety of appearances, with the 
 lines straight or waving. The undulations, which 
 are somewhat large and regular, are highly prized ; 
 but when the steel shows very clear lines of dull, 
 soft aspect, it is most valuable in the eyes of a 
 Japanese connoisseur. We must acknowledge that 
 even in the profane eyes of a European, certain 
 swords, by their harmonious curves, their polish 
 and their purity, have the charm of a veritable 
 work of art. The care given to these swords has 
 preserved to them, during many centuries, the im- 
 maculate brightness of a mirror. One sees antique 
 sword blades whose " fusee " (the end of the blade, 
 which is inserted into the handle) is eaten by rust 
 and perforated with holes, showing traces of succes- 
 sive mountings, but whose edge, from the handle to 
 the point, is as sharp and bright as when it came 
 from the forge. Nearly all swords of value are 
 signed, often dated. The signature is always 
 engraved upon the "fusee" while hot; exceptional 
 pieces are ornamented with low relief chasings. 
 
174 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 done with the burin when the iron was cold. One 
 wonders how, on a material like the steel of the 
 Japanese sword blades, it was possible to chase, 
 often even to cut through, designs which have the 
 roundness and softness of wax. The subjects are 
 generally dragons interlaced or biting a lance, vari- 
 ous devices, crests, or simply flutings; but I have 
 seen figures of divinities, Fudo, Kuanon, or Dharma, 
 cut with freedom and surprising vigor, decorating 
 the blades very elegantly. Upon some very rich 
 arms the subject was not only chased, but also 
 damaskeened in gold and silver. 
 
 The antique form of war swords was straight, 
 lance-liko, and with both edges sharpened. During 
 the great feudal struggles, they frequently had 
 swords which could be used with either hand. With 
 increased civilization, these side-arms gradually 
 almost passed away. The sword used in the cere- 
 mony of " hari-kari " is of medium size, between the 
 large sword and the dagger. 
 
 " Hari-kari" is the national mode of suicide adopted 
 by the people of the noble class who have voluntarily 
 resolved to end their lives, or who have been con- 
 demned to death for some misdeed, not of a character 
 to cause the loss of their rank or military degradation. 
 "Hari-kari" was, in earlier times, a moral institution, 
 whose practice, although singularly cruel, contributed 
 more than anything else to preserve military virtue. 
 
 Under the ancient regim6 in Japan, all men 
 carrying a sword had to be ready at any moment 
 to sacrifice their lives by performing " hari-kari," 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOBK. 175 
 
 To-day this custom, like many others, has fallen into 
 disuse. Moreover, the carrying of swords has been 
 prohibited since 1868. The army is now equipped 
 in European manner, carrying the bayonet and gun. 
 
 The sword blades of the province of Bizen have 
 always enjoyed a merited reputation. This province 
 is the richest of Japan in iron and coal mines. 
 Tamato, Yamashiro and Etahizen have, with Bizen, 
 produced the most renowned artists. 
 
 From the time of Shiumun, the making of sword 
 blades attained a high degree of perfection. Ama- 
 kuni, of Tamato, who lived in the eighth century, 
 left a celebrated name. Shinsoku, of Bizen, was 
 iron worker to the Emperor Heizei (commencement 
 of the ninth century). Some of his swords were 
 in the "Exposition Eetrospective," of Tokio. 
 
 Ohara San6mori lived in the middle of the ninth 
 century. His arms are among the most famous, 
 and their perfection has never been surpassed. 
 Mun^tshika, of Kioto, was the great master of the 
 tenth century. In the eleventh century lived Yos- 
 hiy6, of the same province as Mun6tshika; he also 
 made armor of great beauty. The Emperor Gotoba, 
 at the close of the twelfth century, was such a great 
 amateur of swords that he engaged for Lis personal 
 use twelve renowned metal workers, one for each 
 month of the year. 
 
 In the thirteenth century we find the names of 
 Yoshimitsu, Kuniyuki, and above all, Kunitoshi, 
 whose signature is found on one of the precious 
 blades in the temple of Idzuku-Shima; during the 
 
176 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 fourteenth century, the names of Masamune, one of 
 the very best artists, Kaniuji, Okan6mitsu; in the 
 fifteenth and sixteeenth centuries, the names of 
 Kan^sada, of Kan^sane and of Tujiwara Ujifussa 
 (three men much renowned), and finally Um6tada 
 Miojiu, whom the Shogun Ashikaga Toshiharu 
 called to Kioto in 1546 to attach to his court. 
 
 From the sixteenth century the city of Ossaf un6, 
 in the province of Bizen, became the most important 
 centre for the manufacture of blades. Harumitsu, 
 Suk6sada, Kiyomidzu, and others equally appre 
 ciated, exercised their talents in that place. Tasutsugu 
 left a great reputation as special furnisher to Sandal 
 Shogun (Y^mitsu). 
 
 Prom the eighteenth century the iron forgers 
 have no history; in this time of peace, arms were 
 only an object of luxury, but sometimes of very 
 great luxury, as is proved by the beautiful sword 
 blades of Naotan6. 
 
 The most precious sword blades are preserved in 
 the temples. The temple of Idzuku-Shima possesses 
 an admirable collection. The swords of Yoritomo 
 are in the temple of Hatshiman, at Kamakura; 
 and those of Y6yas, in the great temple at Nikko. 
 There are beautiful arms and some choice sword 
 blades in certain Parisian collections. 
 
 The most remarkable blade belongs to Mr. Monte- 
 fiore, and has the illustrioas signature of San6mori. 
 In spite of its great antiquity, it is in a state of per- 
 fect preservation. 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOEK. 177 
 
 III. 
 
 SWORD MOUNTINGS. 
 
 The blade is, in Japanese eyes, the principal part 
 of the sword. It is easy to understand that with 
 European amateurs the mounting is the essential 
 part. At all times the Japanese have paid the 
 greatest attention to the mounting of their swords. 
 Under the reign of Yoritomo, which was the golden 
 age of weapons, the mounting was still plain and 
 simple ; it began to become truly artistic only at the 
 close of the fifteenth century; it followed, step by 
 step, the progress of metal chasing. The introduc- 
 tion of colored metals, incrustations and inlaid work 
 into the workmanship of small objects, and the 
 usage of luxurious mountings, coincide. It was not 
 until the close of the eighteenth century and the com- 
 mencement of the nineteenth, that appeared those 
 sword mountings whose elegance and richness are 
 for us a subject of astonishment. The ornamenta- 
 tion of arms became, little by little, veritable gold- 
 smith's work. Until the close of the fifteenth 
 century, iron and gilded bronze was almost esclu- 
 sively used in mountings. Chasing upon iron, 
 incrustation and damaskeened gold work wer© not 
 employed until the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 
178 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 turies. Silver and gold were used in exceptional 
 cafies, but iron held the place of honor so long as 
 the military and feudal spirit ruled in Japan. 
 
 It is only quite recently that soft metals have 
 been in fashion. They were, for a long time, dis- 
 dained by men of the noble class. At the time of 
 the revolution of 1868, effeminacy was complete. 
 No mounting was too rich — no work too elegant. 
 
 It is very rare to find a fine weapon in its primi- 
 tive mounting. Nearly all the ancient sword blades 
 have been remounted in the course of the last one 
 hundred and fifty years, according to the taste of 
 the time. Often they have been remounted several 
 times; the numerous holes seen in the fusee of the 
 sword, serving to fix it into the handle, are proofs 
 of it. 
 
 The following are the parts of Japanese sword 
 mountings: A metal piece called by collectors 
 the sword^ end ; a straight hilt, in which is inserted 
 the fusee of the blade. The hilt is generally of 
 wood, covered with fish skin of coarse grain, and 
 this is covered with strands of silk braid, crossing 
 one another. It is often decorated with small bits 
 of chased metal, called "m6nukis." A metal ring 
 finishes the end of the hilt. A guard, generally 
 round in form, projects beyond the hilt. The scab- 
 bard is more commonly in lacquered wood (plain 
 black lacquer, without ornamentation, is much ap- 
 preciated) ; the end is generally ornamented with 
 metal work, often finely chased and corresponding to 
 the ornamented end of the hilt, On one side of the 
 
CHASING AND METAL WORK. 179 
 
 scabbard is found a metal ring or hook, to hold the 
 silken braid which is attached to the girdle. %jae 
 fus6e of the blade is firmly adjusted in the hilt and 
 held there by a small wooden peg, which retains in 
 place all the pieces of the hilt. If this peg is re- 
 moved, the different pieces of the hilt fall apart. 
 The interior of the scabbard is of wood, in which 
 the blade of the sword is held as in a groove. The 
 sharp edge of the sword glides into this groove 
 without touching, which explains why the edge of 
 their blades is perfectly preserved. The swords are 
 very light, easily managed and very graceful in form. 
 Although appearing like playthings, they are terri- 
 ble weapons, and possess remarkable solidity. 
 
 The daggers differ from the swords only in hav- 
 ing no guards. It is in the mounting of daggers 
 that the Japanese artists have shown the most taste 
 and invention. The variety of materials and colors 
 employed in the construction of the scabbards 
 merits a separate study. 
 
 Whether the scabbards are in lacquer, natural 
 wood or metal, their composition is always interest- 
 ing. One sometimes sees a small metal rod on each 
 side of the sheath; these rods are the "koghai," 
 two little pins joined together; they are more an 
 ornament than anything else; the Japanese them- 
 selves cannot define their use. According to cir- 
 cumstances, they might be planted in the dead body 
 of an enemy, to possess it, or might serve for the eat- 
 ing of rice. They are, in any case, a souvenir of an 
 ancient style of sword mounting. 
 
180 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 The same is true of the "kodzukas," or small 
 steel knives, whose temper and work are often as 
 fine as those of the swords. Their handles are also 
 often as richly chased as the sword guards. Tlie 
 "kodzukas " are fastened in the sides of the scab- 
 bard, and a sword may be furnished with two of 
 them. 
 
 From an artistic point of view, the sword guard 
 is the most important piece of the sword belong- 
 ings. Its history is that of metal chasing itself. 
 It is in sword guards that one finds the most perfect 
 workmanship of the most celebrated metal chasers. 
 
 Until the close of the fourteenth century, the art 
 of metal chasing remained rudimentary. It pro- 
 gressed more slowly than the other industries. The 
 specimens of sword guards that I have seen ante- 
 rior to this epoch appeared to me heavy. They 
 were of forged iron, whose relief work was obtained 
 by use of the hammer. Although the execution 
 was indistinct, the design was often original and 
 powerful. 
 
 In Mr. Ph. Burty's collection are some very old 
 iron guards, of beautiful character, which recall the 
 strong reliefs on the medals of the time of Pisa- 
 nello. It is certain that the epoch in which the first 
 Mio-chins made their iron breastplates, must have 
 already produced sword guards of merit. But I 
 know nothing which dates authentically back to 
 Toritomo. Indeed, metal chasers were, at first, only 
 makers of sword blades. 
 
 Among artistic chasers, the most ancient name I 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOBK. 181 
 
 can find is that of Kanaiy6, who worked at the close 
 of the fourteenth century. His name is still es- 
 teemed by Japanese amateurs. He was the fcst to 
 attempt the incrustation of gold and silver on iron, 
 and the methods inaugurated by Kanaiy6 continued 
 through the fifteenth century. Eed and yellow 
 bronze were employed with gold and silver in 
 inorusted work and in cloisonn6, which works show 
 skill, and sometimes great elegance. At this time 
 open metal work became more common. 
 
 Under Taiko-Sama, at the close of the sixteenth 
 century, the art of iron work rapidly progressed. 
 The ateliers of Osaka developed greatly. There 
 appeared simultaneously fine gold damaskeened 
 work and the application of translucent enamels. 
 An artist by the name of Kunishiro was one of the 
 first to distinguish himself in this last style of work, 
 which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
 turies, produced in Japan some veritable marvels. 
 
 Workmen of this branch know the difficulties 
 that the incrustation of translucent enamel presents. 
 To cloisonn6 the enamel direct upon the iron has 
 been many iimes attempted, but Japanese artists, as 
 well as European workers, have never succeeded. 
 It is necessary to place between the iron and the 
 enamel a thin partition of gold, and even then the 
 work is extremely difficult. The Chinese, who are 
 the greatest cloisonn6 workers in the world, have 
 rarely tried to cloisonne upon iron. The Japanese 
 are the only ones who have obtained a true and per- 
 fect translucency of enamel. The bevelled gold of 
 
182 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 the setting obtained, under their hand, such fine- 
 neBB^that it almost disappeared from view. The 
 surfaiie of the enamel remained equal and clear; 
 the intensity of the tones rivalled that of precious 
 stones. 
 
 Three metal workers apparently had, at the close 
 of the sixteenth century, considerable influence on 
 the progress of the delicate work destined for sword 
 mountings; they were: Kinai, of Etshizen, Shink- 
 odo and Nobuiye. Naturally their works are very 
 much sought for by Japanese amateurs. 
 X"^^ No one beside Um6tada, of whom I shall 
 / jC^ ^peak hereafter, has brought to iron work 
 a fuller or freer execution, or a more 
 ,^ ^ ■> original conception. I know certain sword 
 L-r guards of Kinai's, which produce the im- 
 pression of a work moulded in wax. I 
 know some large lobsters, in open wrought 
 iron, signed by Kinai, which are so life- 
 like and natural that one can hardly real- 
 "'"'""""' ize the difficulties overcome by the artist. 
 The great difficulty is not in producing the open 
 work, in the microscopic details of the model, whose 
 fineness astonishes us, but in preserving, in a metal 
 which can be wrought only slowly and by little 
 strokes, the appearance of a sketch freely executed, 
 and in attaining, by patient efforts, freedom and 
 power in the result. 
 
 One can, in thought, enlarge these lobsters. 
 They are themselves of monumental proportions; 
 but the appearance is so true to life that one sees 
 
 ^ 
 
tiHASlNfl AND METAL WOBK. 
 
 18S 
 
 them, as it werej of natural size. It seems as if the 
 artist had modeled them with his thumb in clay. 
 
 Shinkodo has signed a sword guard not less 
 remarkable. It represents a Japanese seated, 
 
 OPEK WBOUGHT IKOH SWOBD GUARD.— (SIXTBKNTH OBNTCBT.) 
 (CoUeotion of Mr. Ph. Bnrty.) 
 
 absorbed in reading an open makimono, whose scroll 
 forms the curve of the guard. 
 
 Nobuiy6 has his signature on the beautiful guard 
 
184 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 in the Vial collection, representing the sea waves ; it 
 is incrusted with silver. The intwined serpent in 
 the collection of Mr. Montefiore also bears the name 
 of Nobuiy6. 
 
 The seventeenth century marks the apogee of 
 iron work, as it marks also that of many other 
 branches of art. The name of TJm^tada throws 
 upon this period all the splendor of his genial talent. 
 
 One must not confound this UmStada, who was 
 from the province of Owari, with Um6tada Miojiu, 
 of Tamashiro, a maker of sword blades. Um^tada 
 the chaser signed his work with the plum flower 
 (um6) and the character " tada." Of all metal 
 work in Japan, his is most sought for. He was 
 born in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and 
 worked during the "nengo" of Kuanyei (1624- 
 1643). Two most perfect examples of his style, 
 celebrated throughout Japan, having the signature 
 of this great artist, are now found in a Parisian 
 collection. 
 
 On one of these pieces dragon-flies, with the 
 fierce look of creatures of the night, are engraved 
 in low relief; they decorate the two sides, and ex- 
 tend upon the outside border, which is ornamented 
 with a beautiful Greek design. 
 
 The plum-tree flower is inlaid with gold above 
 the signature. 
 
 On the other piece Um6tada has expressed, with 
 wonderful art, a sketch in the style of Y^yas. It 
 represents a horse at liberty on the prairie, his 
 mane flowing in the wind. 
 
CHASING AND METAL WORK. 185 
 
 The illusion of the painting is rendered by open 
 work upon metal of varying thickness. 
 
 Two qualities are found united in Um6tada: fin- 
 ished skill in execution and originality of style. 
 His works are so original that they are easily recog- 
 nized among all others. His taste was for work of 
 a quiet and manly character. He excelled in the 
 chasing of iron without incrustations. He employed 
 metal of extraordinary hardness. When one strikes 
 one of Um^tada's sword guards, holding it at the 
 end of the finger, it sounds like a crystal bell. 
 
 I will here remark that fine iron sword guards 
 are distinguished by the purity of their sound. 
 The more ancient a guard is, the more clear and 
 high is its sound. This quality of sound results 
 from the perfect state of homogeneity and density 
 of the metal, resulting from continued hammering 
 before the work of chasing began. 
 
 The metal workers of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries understood this increased difl&culty, 
 resulting from working upon a material frequently 
 harder than steel. It required the greatest skill of 
 hand and facility of tool to produce those low and 
 high reliefs, whose mobility and softness are almost 
 miraculous. 
 
 The work was done on cold iron, by little strokes 
 of the burin, a pointed tool or small chisel, and the 
 hammer. 
 
 In general, the age of a guard can be recognized 
 by the quality of its sound. The guards of the 
 eighteenth century have a less clear and vibrating 
 
186 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 sound than those of the seventeenth; the work was 
 more hastily done. I will add that the quality of 
 sound is only valuable when the guards are plain 
 and without incrustations or soldering, which would 
 alter the resonance. 
 
 Iron sword guards were the fashion during the 
 seventeenth century and the first part of the eight- 
 eenth. Gradually incrustations, in low or high 
 relief, became more frequent, nearly always in gold 
 or silver. At the close of the seventeenth century 
 began the development of the charming damaskeen 
 work upon iron, the greater part of this work being 
 executed at Aetsu, on the borders of Lake Biva, 
 while the incrustations in translucent enamels were 
 done at Yedo. There are guards ornamented with 
 designs in damaskeen work which rival the work of 
 the Arabs. The finest pieces have the signature of 
 Ossashiro. The incrustations in gold threads of 
 different colors in the iron, are of the greatest deli- 
 cacy. I would recommend a study of these mag- 
 nificent objects to all European collectors of arms. 
 
 Among the renowned masters who devoted them- 
 selves to iron jvorking at the close of the seven- 
 teenth century and commencement of the eighteenth, 
 I will mention Tusan, Mitsitoshi, Takuti, Tomokata, 
 Yeijiu, Masayoshi (who must not be confounded 
 with the Masayoshi of the nineteenth century), 
 Mototaka, Tsuneiyo, Hid6kuni, Tomoyoshi, Kan6- 
 nori, Nori Jiomei and Tomoyuki. 
 
 The most illustrious artist of that period was 
 doubtless Somin, whose chasings upon silver are as 
 
CHASING AND METAL WORK. 187 
 
 much sought after as chasings iipon iron of Uni6- 
 tada. Somin, who must not be confounded with 
 Somin, the chaser and iron forger of the nineteenth 
 century, worked principally for the imperial court. 
 None of his important works have left Japan. It 
 would be difficult to find more than two or three 
 small pieces in Paris collections. Somin died in 
 1717. 
 
 From the beginning of the eighteenth century 
 there appeared in sword mountings a mixture of 
 alloys, and the use of soft metals: the " shibuichi," 
 the"shakudo," the red and yellow bronzes.* Butwe 
 must say that the Japanese have always esteemed 
 
 *The "ehakado" is a bronze of gold, and the " shibuichi," of silver; 
 but, in each of these alloys, the proportion of the precious metal varies, 
 according to the color desired by the artist. The " shakudo " of high stand- 
 ard becomes covered by oxidation, with a film of beautiful, rich violet, 
 bordering on blue, and will take the polish of a mirror. 
 
 The " shibuichi " is of a silvery gray, very fine in quality. In the first 
 of these alloys," the proportion of gold may vary from three per cent, to 
 twenty. In the second, the silver may reach thirty, forty and even fifty per 
 cent. 
 
 The " shakudo" has this strange property: after having lost its surface 
 color of blue, by continued rubbing, it resumes it on being left exposed 
 to the air. Chemical analysis also reveals the presence of. tin, zine, silver,- 
 lead, iron and arsenic, in small quantities. 
 
 These two alloys are excellently adapted to the work of inlaying. Noth- 
 ing can be more rich -looking than the***6hakudo " in relief of gold and sil- 
 ver. Tt is a superb metal, the employment of which belongs exclusively to 
 Japan. The inlaying is done on the cold metal, without soldering, by the 
 hammer, in hollow places, whose edges slightly recede ; the inlaid metal 
 remains fixed like the filling in a tooth; the form of the reliefs is produced 
 in the body of the metal by the burin and the polisher. In well executed 
 work it is impossible to distinguish the line of union between the metals, 
 even with a magnifying-glass. The skill of the joining is marvelous. 
 
 Usually gold and silver were reserved for representing flesh, flowers 
 and, in general, for light parts. Gold, in itself, has many colors. There 
 is in gold a series of greens, yellows and reds, of which the Japanese make 
 most marvelous use. 
 
 The incrustations are added either hot or cold. 
 
188 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 more highly iron work. In their eyes the employ- 
 ment of soft metals constituted a decadence, by rea- 
 son of the facility with which they were worked by 
 the tools of the metal worker. I share this opinion, 
 admitting, however, that these combinations of 
 metals lent themselves more easily than iron to the 
 arms of luxury and of parade, and furnished to the 
 ingenuity of the metal workers of Nippon, and par- 
 ticularly to those of Yedo, resources from which 
 have resulted new, beautiful and most delicate 
 effects in coloring, as well as in picturesqueness of 
 subjects. 
 
 The guard makers of the latter part of the eight- 
 eenth century and commencement of the nineteenth, 
 carried the work of inlaying and the use of colored 
 metals to the highest degree of refinement. Iron, 
 however, was not abandoned. The artists liked to 
 combine it with other metals, sometimes as an 
 accessory, sometimes as the principal metal. At 
 times iron formed the background, and the differ- 
 ent metals served for the relief and inlaid work. 
 At other times the iron was worked in design, and 
 chased into the surface of bronze, of silver and 
 even of gold. One can imagine the infinite variety 
 afforded by these combinations. 
 
 Later, indeed, the demand for these colored 
 metals gave birth to surprising skill. The chasing 
 of metal gradually became like a rich painting. I 
 cannot follow its development without passing the 
 limit I have assigned to it, I will simply mention 
 the names of some of the great virtuosos whose 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOEK. 189 
 
 works have acquired great value. One of 
 the most clever masters of the last half of the 
 eighteenth century was certainly Konkuan, -of 
 Osaka, who made himself famous by his tiny mon- 
 keys. He is the Sosen of metal work. There are, 
 in the Paris collections, three or four guards signed 
 by him which are marvelous. One of them, in "sha- 
 kudo," inlaid with gold and silver, represents an 
 eagle attacking a family of monkeys in the hollow 
 of a tree. Another, in iron, is decorated with a 
 group, in "shibuichi," chased in high relief, a 
 mother-monkey licking its little one. This bears, 
 with the signature, the date of 1783. 
 
 Not less skillful were Mitsuhiro, Mitsuoki and 
 Toshinaga, the leaders in yellow bronze at the close 
 of the eighteenth century. These three artists of 
 Kioto devoted themselves to guards inlaid with flow- 
 ers or animals, in high relief, wrought in this beau- 
 tiful clear metal. Toshinaga preferred to depict 
 cranes. Mitsuoki was an incomparable graver. 
 Mitsuhiro was the bard of autumn nights; his com- 
 positions representing moonlight, rabbits playing in 
 the grass, or cranes sleeping among the reeds, show 
 wonderful delicacy, poetry and elegance. 
 
 Shindzui and Kiuo are, in my eyes, still greater. 
 Their decorative sentiment has sometimes an extra- 
 ordinary wealth and fullness. They continue, in a 
 way, the traditions of the great artists of the seven- 
 teenth century. They have, in a high degree, the 
 art of sacrificing certain details in order to strength- 
 en the character of the ensemble. 
 
190 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 It is necessary to place by itself the atelier of the 
 Gotos, of Tedo, for whose work I have not the same 
 admiration as the Japanese. Mr. Burty has suc- 
 ceeded in getting together a very interesting series 
 of specimens by the principal artists of this family 
 of metal-workers, who were from Kioto, and whose 
 genealogy he will some day give us. The Gotos 
 employed, almost exclusively, gold and the" "shaku- 
 do" — gold for the reliefs, aiid "shakudb" for the 
 background. They chose the rough backgrounds, 
 fluted or hammered, whose execution is considered 
 very difficult. But their decorations are monoto- 
 nous and restricted, somewhat like the Chinese; their 
 invention is poor. The most celebrated among 
 them was Goto Stijio (nineteenth century). His 
 works are of very great value in Japan. 
 
 What admirable masters shine at the close of the 
 eighteenth century ! What names and what works it 
 would be necessary to cite and to describe, if one 
 were to attempt to present a monography of metal 
 work! The humblest artisan, in the midst of this 
 universal flowering of art, was superior, in the tech- 
 nical use of metals, to any one we could oppose to 
 him in all Europe. How many artists of the first 
 rank are revealed to us only by a single piece, but 
 one which suffices to class him as a master! When 
 we see the signatures of the guard-makers, imagina- 
 tion is confounded at the thought of all that Japan 
 must have produced during that half century of un- 
 equalled prosperity. From 1780 to 1840 art pros- 
 pered, and creative activity approached the wonderful. 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOEK. 191 
 
 Tomoyoshi, Nagatsun^, Masanori, FussemaBa 
 Takanori, Mun^mitsu, Johi, Mun6nori, Kadzunori, 
 Seidzui, Toshihiro, Tomonobu, T6rutsugu, Masayo- 
 shi, Teikan, Kadzutomo, Masatosune, Masafussa, Os- 
 satsuD6, Goshidid6, Goshitsugu, Moritshika, Gasu- 
 yuki, Gasutshika, Haruakira, Ekijio, Nobuyoshi, 
 Toshimasa,Hirosada, Katsuki andNatsuo, during that 
 period, practiced the art of chiselling with consum- 
 nmte skill. Seidzui and Gasutshika are the most 
 popular of these artists, on account of the fecundity of 
 their productions. Natsuo still lives. He is the last of 
 the metal chasers of the old school, but he produces 
 no more. His works are extremely prized at Tokio, 
 where they sell for their weight in gold* 
 
 The kodzukas are, as I have said, the small 
 knives, attached to one or both sides of the sword 
 scabbard. The handle of the kodziika is as inter- 
 esting as the other parts of the sword mounting. 
 The. same artists wrought the guards and the kodzu- 
 kas, employed the same metals and like processes; 
 the form alone differs. In the garniture of a care- 
 fully preserved swofd, whose belongings have not 
 been changed, all the pieces are generally signed 
 by the same artist. The kodzuka is one of the 
 most important ornaments of a sword ; it often sur- 
 passes the guard in fineness and elegance of work- 
 manship. 
 
 All that I have said applies as well to the ring 
 and end of the sword. The signatures found en- 
 graved upon the kodzukas are generally the same 
 as thoge on the guards. I have, however, found on 
 
192 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 two kodzukas, that I consider most remarkable for 
 execution and originality, the names of Kushi (sev- 
 enteenth century) and of Sojo (eighteenth century) 
 which names I have not seen on any guard. 
 
 One of the handsomest kodzukas that I can men- 
 tion bears the signature of Mitsuoki. It is in yel- 
 low bronze, with no inlaid work, and represents a 
 tiger on the bank of a stream. This kodzuka is a 
 marvel of life, naturalness and fineness. 
 
 It was before this little piece, in which the 
 strokes of the graver, close pressed together, full of 
 supple grace and vigor, portray, like a pencil, the 
 tawny skin of the tiger, that Mr. Falize declared 
 that no European artist could produce, even in ten 
 years, its fac simile. I speak here of the execution 
 only. If one considers the taste, the ingenuity, the 
 marvelous perception of decoration, employed by the 
 Japanese artist, admiration becomes doubly great. 
 
 Whether it is a subject with human figures, or 
 merely a simple design of ornamentation, all is 
 done with the same excellence; owing to an admira- 
 ble understanding of proportion, nothing appears 
 meagre. 
 
 One soon wearies of the technical skill possessed 
 by the Japanese, so greatly does it seem among 
 them a gift of nature ; but one constantly experi- 
 ences new pleasure in the study of the decoration. 
 What tact, what grace! How perfectly the two 
 sides balance ! For, very often, the design em- 
 braces both the front and back of the object, and 
 gives the same interest to each. Occasionally it even 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOEK. 
 
 193 
 
 extendB over both the large and the small sword. 
 Shoki may be seen on the guard of the large sword, 
 pursuing the devil, who is hiding on the guard of 
 the little sword. On the one Komati appears 
 young and resplendent in beauty; while on the 
 
 SWOBD OUARD IN BED BBONZE.— (BY TEBUTSUQU.) 
 
 (Collection of Mr. Montefiore.) 
 
 other, she is old and bent by age. The study of 
 this art in detail would embrace the infinite. 
 
 The principal side of a guard is always turned 
 toward the hilt. The under-side is often of great 
 simplicity; a crab, a fly, a stalk of rice, a pine 
 branch, a tuft of reeds, a shell, either in low or 
 high relief, enables the Japanese chaser to interest 
 
194 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 the attention. One cannot refrain from associating 
 some of these designs, expressive of masterly fear- 
 lessness, with the reverse side of Greek medals, in 
 which the symbolical designs, taken from flowers or 
 animals, have the same decorative character. 
 
 SWORD GUAKD IN SHAKUDO BRONZE.— (BY NAQAYDKI.) 
 
 (Colleotion of Mr. Alp. Hirsch.) 
 
 The m6nukis, or inlaid work, which ornament 
 either the hilt or the scabbard of the sword, form a 
 distinct part in the mounting of swords. Special 
 artists chased the menukis, which, on luxurious 
 arms, are in massive gold or silver. However, 
 Konkuan, Goto Stijio, and other masters in guard 
 and kodzuka decoration, have executed some superb 
 m$nukis. The virtuosos of highest excellence have 
 
CHASING AND METAL WOEK. 195 
 
 exercised their talent in m^nukis, and have created 
 of them a specialty; we find their names on the 
 slides and the netsuk§s in metal. Certain minute 
 masterpieces, perfect in their fineness, bear the 
 names of Tomotoshi, Shiuraku, Temmin, Shiomin 
 and Takushinsai. 
 
 Without the revolution of 1868, we should not 
 have known these admirable specimens of chasing, 
 executed for the nobles. Even that social over- 
 throw would not alone have sufficed to throw into 
 circulation such valuable relics; it was brought 
 about by the complete discredit, in Japanese eyes, 
 of the national arms, which resulted from the inter- 
 diction by law of sword carrying, and the creation 
 of a regular army equipped in European style. 
 
196 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 IV. 
 
 KANEMONOS, METAL NET8UKES, SLIDES, PIPES, 
 VAEIOUS OBJE|TS ENAMELS. 
 
 Kan6mono8 are the fastenings of purses or tobacco 
 pouches. The Japanese metal workers of the last 
 one hundred and fiftj years have displayed great 
 elegance in the work and ornamentation of these 
 little appendages, which are sometimes in wood or 
 inlaid iTory, but generally in metal. In the eight- 
 eenth century Konkuan and Kikukava particularly 
 distinguished themselves in this line of art. 
 
 Netsuk6s, or metal buttons, occupy the first rank 
 in delicate chased work. It is in the ornamental 
 work on swords and m6nukis, or in the netsuk6s, as 
 well as in the slides which serve to hold the chords 
 of the "inros" (medicine boxes), that one sees these 
 small chefs (Tceuvre, in which the fineness of the tool 
 used and the richness of the material employed, reach 
 the marvelous. The names of the same artists are 
 found in the two series ; among the most celebrated 
 are Bhiuraku, Temmin and Shiomin, whose inlaid 
 and engraved work is without equal. 
 
 The first two of these artists should be placed 
 apart as unique masters in their style of work. The 
 buttons in chiselled gold, in incrusted " shakudo," 
 or in " shibuichi," executed by Shiuraku, cannot be 
 described. It is necessary to hold them in the hand, 
 
CHASING AND METAL WORK. 197 
 
 and to examine them with a strong magnifying glass, 
 to appreciate the fineness of the work, the mordant, the 
 clear outline, the certainty and freedom shown in 
 the design of these precious little pieces of jewelry. 
 
 Temmin is still more wonderful ; his designs show 
 more individual conception, and his works are more 
 rare. He has some combinations of intaglio and 
 relief, which give to certain of his works a particu- 
 lar charm of their own. 
 
 A most exquisite example of his style is seen in 
 a gold button, framed in ebony, representing a dancer 
 of the imperial court with butterfly wings. This 
 is found in one of the Parisian collections. The 
 head alone is in high relief ; the purity and harmony 
 of the lines form a type of beauty that even Greece 
 would not have disowned. What other human hand 
 has ever put into the small space of about an inch 
 so complete and natural an expression of life ? 
 Temmin was from Kioto, and lived at the close of 
 the eighteenth century and commencement of the 
 nineteenth. 
 
 I will add that the netsuk6 mountings in ivory, 
 wood or horn are most choice, and by the beauty 
 of their shading add to the loveliness of the chasing. 
 Ebony and ivory set forth the warm tones of the 
 gold. Sometimes these mountings are delicately 
 pierced on the edges, and encase with their wonder- 
 ful workmanship the plaque of metal. The mount- 
 ings of fans of luxury, especially fans of war — for no 
 true Japanese ever travels without his fan — are in 
 chased metal. The little pipe, whose bowl holds 
 
198 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 hardly enough for a dozen whiffs, and which the 
 Japanese smokers, men and women, light every 
 moment, are in metal, and almost always in silver. 
 They furnish very rich examples of metal chasing. 
 
 What more can I say ? The uses of metal are 
 unlimited. The Japanese chasers have executed 
 admirable tea-pots, inkstands, ointment boxes, per- 
 fume burners, teaspoons, hairpins, sash clasps, "sak6" 
 cups in engraved silver, brush boxes, toys and orna- 
 mental musical instruments, also in silver; the series 
 continues with paper-weights, trays, tobacco boxes 
 and pendent vases ; over all they have thrown grace, 
 imagination and the inexhaustible wonders of their 
 dexterity. 
 
 It is in these diverse objects that one finds the 
 best examples of their cloisonne enamel. But the 
 Japanese have done but little in cloisonn6. This 
 grand and difficult art is the glory of China. 
 Although the process was introduced into Japan as 
 early as the fifteenth century, the Japanese never 
 cultivated it with any great success. Their large 
 pieces in cloisonn6 enamel have not the rich colors 
 of those of China. The handsomest piece that I 
 know belongs to the Cabinet in Dresden: it is in 
 heavy and dull tones, dark brown and green predom- 
 inating. It is a fountain, which appears to date 
 from about the commencement of the eighteenth 
 century. The only branch of enamelling upon 
 metals in which the Japanese have shown a real 
 superiority, is that of translucent enamelling upon 
 a gold background. 
 

 LACQUER 
 
 THE MANUFAOTUKE. 
 
 [ T has been said, with considerable reason, 
 that lacquer is the most perfect object 
 produced by the hand of man ; it is, at 
 least, the most delicate. 
 Through long centuries to the present day, its 
 manufacture has been the glory of the Japanese. 
 It forms a national industry, especially belonging 
 to Japan, and for which the Japanese 
 are indebted to no one. The singu- 
 larity of the process, the finish of 
 the handiwork, the beauty and rich- 
 ness of the materials, make of lacquer 
 something apart from all else in the 
 artistic manifestations of the far East. 
 
 The lacquers of Japan enjoy a universal celebrity. 
 They are the most wonderful productions that can 
 
 PC 
 
 ■2^ 1 bbn* 
 
 k 
 
 
 BEAIi OF BITSnO. 
 
200 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 gratify the eye of a collector. The word '"lacquer" 
 means the varnish itself (ki-urushi), which is em- 
 ployed in the execution of the work. This gum is 
 the sap of the Ehus Vernicifera, the lacquer tree of 
 Japan, and belonging to the Cashen family. This 
 tree attains, in six or seven years, a height of twenty- 
 two to twenty-six feet. When the tree has reached 
 maturity, the gum is extracted by making horizontal 
 incisions into the tree, having first removed all 
 inequalities of the bark. The sap which exudes is 
 caught in bamboo or wooden bowls; afterward 
 exposed to the sun and stirred with a large iron spat- 
 ula, to free it by evaporation from its excess of water. 
 The best sap is gathered between the end of July 
 and the middle of September. The places consid- 
 ered the .finest for its production are : first, Yashiro,- 
 in the province of Tamato, and then Aetsu and Tuku- 
 shima, in the province of Ivashiro, and Nanbu, in 
 the province of Rikushiu. The collection of this 
 gum, which is a corrosive substance, is not without 
 danger, and necessitates great precaution. 
 
 The lacquer is employed pure, without other pre- 
 paration, or filtered, or with various materials added 
 to it, such as sulphate of iron, "to-nidzu" (the 
 water collected from whetstones on which steel tools 
 employed for tobacco cutting have been sharpened, 
 is called to-nidzu), fine oil and pumice stone powder. 
 Lacquer in its pure state is termed ki-urushi, and 
 takes the name of seshime-urushi when it is filtered, 
 and of ro-urushi when it contains sulphate of iron 
 and some to-nidzu. The su-urushi is a mixture of 
 
LACQUEE. 
 
 201 
 
 ki-nrushi and vermilion, or red oxide of iron. The 
 employment of these varnishes for lacquering 
 pieces with that beautiful, brilliant and almost 
 metallic covering that 
 we admire, requires 
 many and varied pro- 
 cesses for a satisfact- 
 ory completion. Full 
 details can be found 
 in the report of the 
 Japanese commis- 
 sioners at the Univer- 
 sal Exposition of 
 1878. The article was 
 written from a tech- 
 nical standpoint by 
 Mr. Ma^da. I will 
 simply indicate the 
 principal steps in the 
 process, through 
 which every piece of 
 lacquer, even if un- 
 decorated, must pass. 
 The different pieces 
 of wood composing 
 the object to be var- 
 nished are shaped and 
 fitted together. In small pieces the thin plates of 
 wood sometimes attain the lightness and thinness 
 of a sheet of paper. The lacquer worker carefully 
 smooths the surface and protects all the joints; 
 
 BOX IN FOBM OF QUITAB. 
 
 (Collection of Mme. L. Cafaen.) 
 
202 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 then he applies a coat of seshime-urushi and the 
 article is placed in the damp-press (muro) for 
 twelve hours. This is simply preparing the surface 
 of the wood, which is afterward covered with a pasty 
 mass, composed of finely chopped hemp or rice starch, 
 enough being left above the surface to admit of 
 rubbing down. It then goes again to the damp-press 
 and is subsequently covered with another different 
 preparation, and with successive ones, to the extent 
 of three or more, returning to the damp-press after 
 each application, and is finally ground down with 
 white whetstone until the surface is smooth and even. 
 
 The next process is to cover the article with 
 hempen cloth (neno) to prevent the wood from 
 shrinking and to hold the joinings firmly together. 
 The foundation thus established, it is given a coat 
 of lacquer, which is polished with a varnish contain- 
 ing very fine whetstone powder. After this, with a 
 fine brush, is put on as a sort of underneath prepa- 
 ration, either a covering of Chinese ink or of ver- 
 milion, gamboge, or red Benigara powder. The arti- 
 cle is then lacquered and polished many times with 
 charcoal powder moistened with water, and each time 
 dried in a dark and slightly damp closet. Over all 
 is then passed a coat of common lacquer, which is 
 immediately dried. When dry, it is covered for the 
 last time with Yoshino lacquer of superior quality 
 and of the greatest possible purity. The piece 
 again goes to the drying closet and receives its last 
 polish, often many months after it was commenced. 
 
 This is the simplest process of making choice 
 
LACQUEft. 203 
 
 laquer without ornamentation. It is upon this 
 foundation that the decorations are placed, the first 
 difficulties being now increased by others equally 
 great in the execution upon it of designs, either 
 smooth or in relief. In this work, time is the most 
 important factor. The several dryings demand 
 weeks and often months, and the finishing of certain 
 pieces often requires years. 
 
 One wonders at the extreme solidity of these 
 objects, apparently so fragile; their wonderful 
 durability seems inexplicable, and their lightness 
 approaches the miraculous. The quality and unalter- 
 ableness of lacquer depends in great measure upon 
 the conditions of the drying process and the care 
 bestowed upon it. The slowness of fabrication 
 justifies the high price that the lacquer of Japan 
 has always maintained. 
 
 At the present time the process is much more 
 rapid. European orders have done away with the 
 old ideas. As a result, modern lacquer has only 
 the appearance of solidity. The steamer " The Nile," 
 which foundered near Yokohama in 1874, had on 
 board the boxes containing objects, of art sent by 
 Japan to the Vienna Exposition, which remained 
 at the bottom of the sea more than a year. When 
 they were brought up, to the great surprise of every- 
 one, the ancient pieces of lacquer, in spite of their 
 long immersion, had remained uninjured, while the 
 modern laquer of Kioto and Tedo was completely 
 - destroyed. Nothing is more durable, in spite of its 
 apparent fragility, than a fine old Japanese lacquer. 
 
204 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 The quality of the materials enables a connoisseur 
 to estimate the workmanship of a piece. For us 
 Europeans, whose eyes are less finely skilled, it is 
 the decorations, the richness of colors, the distinction 
 of form, which establish the value of these foreign 
 marvels. Black lacquer, brilliant and limpid as a 
 mirror, is the highest ambition of the Japanese 
 lacquer maker. We are beginning to appreciate its 
 merits, but until lately it was the gold lacquer, or 
 gold designs, which infatuated amateurs. 
 
 Gold lacquer has for its base gold powder of 
 different colors incorporated into the varnish. There 
 are two varieties of gold lacquer, sometimes used 
 together on the same object; one for smooth designs, 
 the other for relief. 
 
 Flat designs are produced by a series of minute 
 operations. The artist traces with a brush and ink 
 on a thin tough paper, the design he wishes to repro- 
 duce in lacquer; then with a fine brush charged 
 with lacquer, he goes over the ink lines on the 
 reverse side of the paper, the lacquer for this pur- 
 pose being heated over a slow charcoal fire. The 
 side covered with the lacquer is laid on the article 
 and gently rubbed with a bamboo spatula ; on remov- 
 ing the paper the outlines are found transferred to 
 the article; it is then gently rubbed with a silk bag 
 filled with finely powdered whetstone, to bring out 
 the transfer. The design is then, by the aid of a small 
 tube (tsutsu), or a brush made of horse hair or 
 deer hair, covered with gold dust ; afterward lightly 
 lacquered and put in the damp-press to dry; the 
 
LACQUEE. 205 
 
 surface is then rubbed down with charcoal dust. 
 These various operations are repeated until the 
 smallest details of the design have the desired clear- 
 ness and polish. 
 
 This kind of lacquer is much prized; it is called 
 rubbed lacquer. Its production demands care and 
 particular lightness of hand. It is unnecessary to 
 add that the designs treated with gold of different 
 tones should be executed part by part, and with the 
 greatest care. 
 
 For designs in relief, the artist arranges his draw- 
 ing usually in the same manner as for smooth 
 designs; the parts of the drawing which are intended 
 to be in high relief, he covers with successive coats 
 of lacquer, mixed with red oxide of iron and fine 
 powdered charcoal. The lacquer is applied with a 
 brush, and it is very difficult to preserve the purity 
 and curves of the lines. Lacquer being a thick 
 gummy substance, it is necessary to hold firmly with 
 the left hand the brush, which is filled with the 
 lacquer, and to present to it the design, turning 
 the object with the right hand. When there is a 
 fault, it is necessary to remove with soap all that has 
 been applied. When the reliefs have obtained the 
 necessary thickness, gold dust is applied with a pufE 
 or tube. This gold is generally superimposed over a 
 coating of silver powder in the lacquer. All these 
 operations are intermixed with endless polishings 
 and dryings, varying in number according to the 
 effect the artist wishes to obtain. 
 
 The outlines of the design are made clear and fine 
 
206 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 with the greatest care. It is particularly by the 
 faultless nicety and clearness of the edges of the 
 relief, that pieces of superior execution are recog- 
 nized. Tbe slightest unevenness, an almost imper- 
 ceptible trembling in the lines, is a cause of 
 depreciation in the eyes of the Japanese. 
 
 A fine piece of lacquer should be able to bear, in 
 its minutest details, the severest scrutiny of a mag- 
 nifying glass and still preserve the look of a metallic 
 substance formed in a solid piece. To appreciate a 
 beautiful piece of gold lacquer, it is necessary to 
 take into consideration the warm, soft, deep color of 
 the golden shades. Modern lacquer shows false 
 reflections and coppery shades when exposed to a 
 stong light. However clever the lacquer makers of 
 to-day may be in their execution, they cannot attain 
 the sharpness and clear cutting of lines which char- 
 acterized the work of their ancestors. 
 
 What has been said already covers the great lines 
 of lacquer manufacture. But it is easily conceived 
 that in an art which never repeats itself, into which 
 each artist introduces his own individuality, taste 
 and invention, the details of the process vary con- 
 stantly. All combinations have been tried, all 
 materials employed, and all colors introduced into 
 the work by the ancient lacquer workers. The scale 
 of effects is of a richness and variety almost beyond 
 imagination. Lacquer in green gold, red gold and 
 yellow gold, used separately or together, or melted 
 into one; lacquer of bronze, of tin, of lead, of iron, 
 of silver ; the red and the green lacquer ; and, above 
 
LACQUEE. 207 
 
 all, the beautiful red lacquer — all join in the most 
 powerful and most delicate harmony. Variety in 
 lacquer is limitless. 
 
 One of the most surprising resources of this art 
 is incrustation inlayings in mother-of-pearl, ivory, 
 shell; thin plaques of metal, grains,- scales, pellets 
 and spangles of gold are used as mosaic, stippled 
 over the surface regularly or as if by hazard. 
 When the gold pellets are very numerous, pressed 
 close together and condensed like crystals of candied 
 sugar, or fine, like shining bits of mica, the lacquer 
 bears the name of aventurine. Aventurine lacquer 
 holds a most important place in lacquer work. It is 
 generally used for decorating the interior and bottom 
 of boxes; it is sometimes employed in the back- 
 ground of the design. Gold lacquer in relief on an 
 aventurine background is principally found on work 
 of an important character. The regular or mosaic 
 arrangement of gold grains in lacquer is a work 
 which is highly prized and extremely difficult to 
 obtain. It has been practiced only at the highest 
 epochs of the art, and by the most renowned artists. 
 This mosaic work is composed of gold pellets placed 
 one by one in the thick fresh lacquer ; it is then 
 polished and made smooth with rubbing powder. 
 There is no work demanding more time, patience 
 and steadiness of hand. But what an appearance 
 does it not give to objects thus decorated? This 
 mosaic lacquer is a supreme delight to the eye 
 as well as to the touch. It gives to the hand the 
 sensation of old morocco with a soft velvety grain. 
 
208 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 After the two great families of black and gold 
 lacquer, flat or in relief, comes lacquer prepared 
 with vermilion or red oxide of iron. Some amateurs 
 prefer these to all others. They are more resonant, 
 more sumptuous, if that be possible. Bed Japanese 
 lacquer is something unique; its intensity of color 
 is not equalled by any other color artificially pro- 
 duced. Celebrated masters have devoted themselves 
 almost exclusively to red lacquer, and liave produced 
 in this line incomparable marvels. 
 
 I will add that black lacquers take by age an 
 amber transparency, the primitive color becoming 
 the beautiful brown of burnt sienna. 
 
LACQUER. 209 
 
 II. 
 
 HISTORY OF LACQUEE. 
 
 The manufacture of lacquer is the result, not 
 of foreign importation, but of successive experi- 
 ments and also choice of best methods. In date, it 
 is the first of Japanese industries. Native chroni- 
 cles consider it sufficient to say that its origin is 
 lost in the night of antiquity. Without going so 
 far into the past as these obscure traditions, and 
 even no farther than the report of the Japanese 
 commission to the Universal Exposition of 1878, 
 which report, it should be said, contains gross errors, 
 it is beyond doubt that its history does extend 
 to a great antiquity, and that, as early as the sev- 
 enth century of our era, the Japanese produced 
 objects in lacquer of a certain merit, which shows 
 that the use of varnish was already known. Some 
 lacquer boxes, intended to hold prayer-books, and 
 dating from that early period, are most carefully 
 preserved in the imperial treasury of the temple of 
 Todaiji, at Nara. 
 
 In the year 880 the philosopher Shihei published 
 a book entitled " Engishiki," in which he incident- 
 ally mentions red and gold lacquer. 
 
 At the beginning of the tenth century an officer 
 by the name of Minamoto no Juin brought out the 
 "Utsubo Monogatari," in which he praised the gold. 
 
210 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 lacquer and the lacquer known by the name of 
 "Nashidji" (lacquer of an orange yellow sprinkled 
 with gold pellets). He added that this lacquer was 
 produced by very renowned workmen, without giv- 
 ing us their names or the place of manufacture. In 
 980 a woman, the celebrated author of the " Genji 
 Monogatari," Murasaki Sbikibu, described clearly a 
 new kind of lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl. 
 Information drawn from reliable sources, and 
 recently obtained from Japan, shows that at the time 
 of the Emperor Shiumun, that is to say as early as 
 the eighth century, the art of lacquer-making had 
 reached a high degree of perfection. This assertion, 
 which must astonish some of ourreaders, is confirmed 
 by the unanimous testimony of Japanese and Euro- 
 peans who visited the treasure of Todaiji at the time 
 of its public exhibition, in 1875. 
 
 There is, it would seem, nothing more admirable 
 than the lacquer pieces of this epoch ; incense boxes 
 decorated with religious subjects, and objects of 
 religious usage, which are preserved in the temple, in 
 a condition of faultless freshness by the priests 
 appointed for that purpose. Until the end of the ninth 
 century, and even to the commencement of the tenth, 
 the art of lacquer-making continued to progress. 
 The epoch of Kanaoka, a time of most brilliant 
 civilization, corresponds, in the eyes of the Japan- 
 ese, to the highest development of this noble indus- 
 try. These productions resemble those of the reign 
 of Shiumun, but are still more perfect. Already 
 the makers understood the use of powdered ver- 
 
LACQUER. 211 
 
 milion and iron oxides mixed with the varnish. 
 Reliefs were not then in use; but aventurine gold 
 was employed with consummate skill. All lacquers, 
 previous to the tenth century, were plain. The 
 beauty of the designs was shown in the purity and 
 delicacy of the outlines. 
 
 To my knowledge but one piece of the time of 
 Shiumun has reached Europe. It is a little, flat, 
 round box, in brown lacquer, set in a slender ring 
 of tin, and decorated, on its upper face, with the 
 figure of the Goddess of Literature, Monjiu; the 
 head encircled with a nimbus, holding in her hand 
 book and sceptre. This figure, which strikingly 
 recalls the style of Kanaoka, is in smooth gold lac- 
 quer for the flesh, in brown lacquer for the hair and 
 outlines, and in aventurine lacquer of different 
 shades for the clothing, designed by gradations of 
 inconceivable tenuity. The design is encircled 
 with a line of great delicacy. The warm brown of 
 the background is of black lacquer browned by 
 time. The shades of the dull gold and the aven- 
 turine gold are so harmoniously blended that any 
 other lacquer piece would suffer by being placed 
 beside the wonderful intensity of their color. 
 
 To this period of great perfection, constituting 
 the first age of lacquer, succeeded a complete deca- 
 dence. This beautiful industry suffered in the 
 great political disturbances which distinguished the ' 
 age of iron of the Tairas and the Minamotos. At 
 the time when Yoritomo founded Kamakura, the 
 process of lacquer-making was almost forgotten. 
 
212 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 The lost art had to be regained, step by step. The 
 great Shogun lent all his power to its re-establish- 
 ment. His wife, Massago, had a passionate admira- 
 tion for objects in lacquer. Two or three pieces 
 which have reached Europe show us the state of 
 inferiority into which the art of lacquering had 
 fallen at the end of the eleventh century. At first 
 the pieces of Shiumun were awkwardly copied; the 
 designs were still borrowed from Buddhist art; 
 later the individuality of the artists asserted itself. 
 The first attempts at lacquer relief appeared, and 
 also inlaid work, roughly done. At length an art 
 of strong character, its execution a little free, 
 developed under the name of the school of Kama- 
 kura. 
 
 Some truly admirable pieces were executed at the 
 beginning of the thirteenth century, for the queen 
 Massago. 
 
 While this evolution of art was progressing at 
 Kamakura, during the course of the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries, a like renaissance developed at 
 Kioto. The Ashikagas gave a powerful impulse to 
 the lacquer industry. Under Toshimasa it again 
 shone forth with renewed splendor. The lacquer 
 work of Yoshimasa's time was of incomparable 
 beauty. 
 
 If the fineness and elegance of the grand imperial 
 epoch were not entirely regained, at least the pro- 
 ductions of the last half of the fifteenth century 
 were distinguished by the nobleness of style, 
 and the force and originality of execution. 
 
LAOQUEE. '213 
 
 Pavings aiid mosaic of gold and silver in thick 
 grains, the incrustations in plain metal, introduced a 
 great variety into its manufacture. At the same 
 time silver and vermilion lacquer enriched the scale 
 of colors. Lacquers in relief made great progress, 
 and even approached perfection. 
 
 The Japanese esteem, above all, the lacquer of 
 Yoshimasa's time. Certainly at no epoch has the 
 work been more conscientious. The iine lacquer of 
 that period is of indestructible solidity. It is 
 recognized not only by the character of the decora- 
 tion, which is nearly always borrowed from the 
 school of Kano, but also by the process of manu- 
 facture. The gold mosaic, much used in the back- 
 ground, was still rough ; the polishing by stone did 
 not entirely smooth away the roughness; the grains 
 of gold, encased in the varnish, projected beyond 
 the surface. These points are important in deciding 
 the age of a lacquer piece. 
 
 This part of lacquer work is the most difficult 
 and tedious, as each grain of gold must be polished 
 separately before being placed in the lacquer by the 
 aid of minute pincers. 
 
 In the middle of the seventeenth century the 
 covering of lacquer with gold pellets attained its 
 highest degree of perfection, the surfaces having 
 become perfectly smooth to the touch. In the eight- 
 eenth century this magnificent but costly process 
 was almost entirely abandoned. 
 
 Five or six beautiful -pieces of Yoshimasa's time 
 are carefully preserved in Parisian collections. 
 
214 
 
 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 One of the most remark- 
 able is a round box in 
 green gold lacquer, or- 
 namented with gold and 
 silver mosaic, imitating 
 on the exterior the tra- 
 ditional decora- 
 tion of metallic 
 mirrors. On the 
 inside of the 
 cover, which 
 represents the glass of 
 the mirror, is seen the 
 figure of a blind musi- 
 cian, in court costume, 
 playing the "biva." 
 This figure, in polished 
 lacquer, made to appear 
 sunken by the employ- 
 ment of different colors, 
 stands out on a light 
 vermilion background 
 of silver lacquer, and 
 imitates admirably 
 an image seen re- 
 flected on the sur- 
 face of a mirror. 
 No lacquer artist's 
 name, previous to 
 the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, has reached 
 
LAOQtIEft. 215 
 
 us; uo piece mentioned as bearing a signature. 
 The illustrious name of Koetsu casts its splendor 
 over the last part of the sixteenth century. I have 
 already spoken of him in the chapter on painting. 
 But it was especially as a lacquer artist that her 
 made himself celebrated. His influence had a de- 
 cided effect upon the development of this industry. 
 Most of the excellent lacquer-makers of the seven- 
 teenth century came from his atelier or school. He 
 enlarged the style of his predecessors and raised it 
 to the level of a great art. 
 
 He first executed compositiono which are true 
 paintings. His designs in high relief show a 
 breadth of conception and a fineness of execution 
 which have never been surpassed. It is needless to 
 say that his works are of extreme rarity. 
 
 In the collection of Mme. Louis Cahen is a 
 round box, decorated on the under side with two 
 persons on horse-back, in relief lacquer-work of 
 different shades. This magnificent piece, according 
 to the opinion of Japanese connoisseurs, shows all 
 the signs of Koetsu's manner. It much resembles 
 an ink- box which has the signature and seal of the 
 master. This chef cfoeuvre, in mirror-like black 
 lacquer, belongs to another Parisian collector; it is 
 decorated with a " Lakan," and two children sleep- 
 ing near a tiger, in high relief and gold lacquer. 
 
 Koetsu has expressed in an admirable manner the 
 restfulnessof midnight sleep. This work, seen through 
 a glass, shows wonderful precision and softness. 
 From the time of Y6yas the taste for objects in 
 
216 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 lacquer spread through Japan, and lacquer was 
 applied to all the uses of life. They lacquered the 
 columns, doors and altars of Buddhist temples, the 
 interiors of palaces, bridges, "norimons" (carrying 
 chairs), carriages of ceremony, 6tag6re8, cabinets, 
 chests, sword and bouquet holders, saddles, stirrups, 
 stools, trays, letter boxes, cake boxes, combs, and 
 so on. 
 
 Shiunshio, called from Kioto by the Shogun, 
 founded the school of Yedo, which was distinguish- 
 ed from the first by a more liberal comprehension 
 of decoration and greater liberty of methods. The 
 atelier of this eminent artist was, in the middle of 
 the eighteenth century, still in existence. The third 
 Shogun, Temitsu, brought to its highest point the 
 development of lacquer-work. Under his creative 
 influence the ateliers of Yedo rivalled those of 
 Kioto. The lacquer, said to belong to the epoch of 
 the Sandai Shogun, has retained the favor of connois- 
 seurs. It justly commands the highest prices. The 
 execution is of irreproachable quality, and may, up 
 to a certain point, be compared to the chefs cfceuvre 
 of Toshimasa's time. It has the supreme elegance 
 which characterizes that refined epoch. 
 
 At this time the name of Shimidzu Yuho was 
 prominent. A little later Kohi, of Kioto, and then 
 Yos6i, of Nagasaki, distinguished themselves by 
 the originality of their works. The first named 
 worked only for the Emperor. He is celebrated 
 for his black lacquer, decorated with the finest and 
 most glittering inlaid-work in mother-of-pearl. 
 
LACQUEE. 217 
 
 Yo86i imported into Japan the carved red lacquer, 
 
 INBO IN QOLD LAOQUEB, WITH INOBITaTATIONB OF SHELI;. -BY HANZAN. 
 
 (Collection of Mr. S. Bing.) 
 
 called Pekin lacquer, the fabrication of which he 
 carried to such a high degree of perfection as to be 
 
218 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 considered the inventor of it. His fine, clear reds, 
 and his soft work, have no resemblance whatever to 
 the frightful products of China. 
 
 The epoch of Genruka (close of the seventeenth 
 and commencement of the eighteenth century) is 
 made renowned by two masters who are considered 
 among the most original and eminent in Japan — 
 Korin and Eitsuo. Both of these employed and 
 associated such personal methods that they may be 
 said to have revolutionized the art of lacquer. 
 
 Korin has shown in the decoration and execution 
 of his lacquer all his originality of genius, all the 
 independence of his fancy. He broke through the 
 old routine, in which the ateliers of Kioto vegetated 
 under the almost exclusive influence of the Tosa 
 school. 
 
 The action of Korin upon decorative art was all- 
 powerful. With his brother Kenzan, who was his 
 devoted follower, he freed the ceramic schools of 
 Kioto from all subjection to Chinese rules, and fin- 
 ished the work of emancipation inaugurated by 
 Ninsei. By his lacquer-work, in which he showed 
 himself a worker of the first order, he commanded 
 the admiration of those of his fellow citizens who 
 had rebelled at the strangeness of his painting. 
 The Japanese still speak of " the gold of Korin," 
 so peculiar were the tones of his gold lacquer, 
 which showed a deep, powerful and equal color, a 
 little dull, of concentrated warmth, and full of feel- 
 ing. His works seem to be wrought in a block of 
 gold. The lacquer ran from his brush like a thin, 
 
LACQUEE. 219 
 
 soft fluid. His decorations are handled in large 
 masses, with certain parts treated with extraordinary 
 audacity. He used incrustations of mother-of-pearl, 
 silver, lead and tin, to produce wonder- 
 ful effects. With tin and lead, produc- 
 ing a gray effect, in fine layers or in 
 heavy relief, he obtained the vanishing 
 planes of perspective and a depth of 
 background, of which, it is true, he had 
 found examples among the ancient 
 artists, but which he alone brought to 
 perfection. 
 
 Among the rare authentic pieces 
 which have come to Paris, I will notice "^ j ^ 
 particularly an inkstand in gold lac- T Jt* 
 quer, entirely decorated with flowers of ^ 
 
 the "kiku" in mother-of-pearl and 
 lacquer of lead and silver. This beau- 
 tiful piece is signed by Korin, in gold 
 lacquer relief in full characters. "There 
 is shown in this work," says Mr. Paul 
 Mantz, " a composition which reveals a 
 decoration of high order, a certainty in kokin. 
 the handiwork, a perfection in the technique, which 
 may well render the most skillful jewelers jealous. 
 When the light plays upon this piece with its chang- 
 ing iridescence, it is an unequalled delight for the 
 eyes." 
 
 Kitsuo, of Tedo,* was less a lacquer artist than 
 
 *He was not bom at Yedo, bnt he lived there a greater part of his life, 
 in the quarter of Hondjo. 
 
 
 
220 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 an inlayer, although he occasionally showed him- 
 self a very skillful artist in lacquer, as is shown by 
 the curious and rare medicine-box belonging to Mr. 
 Burty; it is perfectly executed, entirely in silver 
 lacquer, and has the invaluable advantage of being 
 signed by the artist, and dated with the "nengo" 
 Kioho II (1726). But it is his inlaid work on lac- 
 quer and his large decorative pieces which have 
 rendered him celebrated among amateurs of the 
 two worlds, and has thrown a particular luster upon 
 the capital of the Shoguns. Even an unlearned 
 Japanese knows the works of Eitsuo. They have a 
 most decided character, and are entirely Japanese. 
 The processes of execution are so original, the inven- 
 tion BO frank and personal, that it is not necessary 
 to be a scholar in art to be struck by such work. 
 Eitsuo made movable panels, cake-boxes, cabinets, 
 toilet articles for women, bottle-cases, trays, 6tag6res 
 and medicine-boxes. His ingenuity exercised itself 
 upon the most diverse forms; his taste elevated 
 objects destined for the most common uses. 
 
 Eitsuo was an independent; he belonged to no 
 school or style. Among all the styles of inlaying, 
 he preferred ceramic inlaying upon lacquer. In 
 this branch of art he created marvels, which no 
 other artist, either before or after him, has equalled. 
 Eitsuo never repeated himself. Every object that 
 came from his hand was a complete work, even to 
 its smallest detail. His style is something strange, 
 unexpected, severe. His work commands admira- 
 tion for the difficulties overcome, and his coloring 
 
LACQUER. 221 
 
 enchants the eye by the austerity and vigor of the 
 colors employed. Collections in Paris and America 
 possess a large number of pieces of great beauty 
 by Eitsuo. The last pupil of Eitsi^o, and his rival 
 in the work of inlaid lacquer, was Hanzan. He 
 made admirable medicine-boxes in dull gold lac- 
 quer, richly inlaid. Eitsuo accorded him the privi- 
 lege to use, after himself, his seal. One recognizes 
 the pieces of Hanzan by their delicacy (almost 
 weakness), by their great elegance, and also by their 
 more modern style. The school of the Koma, of 
 Tedo, founded by Koma Kiuhaku, also enjoyed a 
 great renown at the close of the seventeenth century 
 and commencement of the eighteenth. The works 
 of Koma Kuansai, a master of the first order, are 
 among the most exquisite ever produced in lacquers. 
 The perfection of his aventurine lacquer is cele- 
 brated. It is of matchless purity and quality. He 
 excelled in polished lacquer, and in half-relief 
 on a vermilion background. His atelier, like that 
 of Shiunshio, produced pupils who shone during 
 the whole of the eighteenth century. The atelier 
 of the Kadjikava, of Yedo, whose origin dates back to 
 the end of the seventeenth century (a Kadj kava was 
 called to the court of the Tokugawa by the fourth 
 Shogun, and attached to his person) equalled in rep- 
 utation that of the Koma. The Kadjikava made 
 themselves celebrated by their " inros."* All that 
 
 *Tlie "inros" are the little boxes attached to the girdle, consisting of 
 one or of several small boxes, closely joined together, called by us medicine- 
 boxes, but which, in reality, are perfume-boxes. There are few objects on 
 which the Japanese have displayed with more profusion the treasures of 
 their decorative invention. 
 
222 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 came from this excellent atelier was of faultless exe- 
 cution. The aventurine interiors of the "inros" 
 of Kadjikava, with their large, rich pellets of gold, 
 are highly appreciated by connoisseurs. The atelier 
 of the Kiyokava family, and especially that of the 
 Shiomi, acquired an equal reputation. The names 
 of lacquer- workers become more and more numerous 
 as we approach the end of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Hodzui, Joka or Jokasai (the "sai" meaning "house 
 of"), Masatsugu, Kuanshio, Toshihid^, and Toyo, 
 were very distinguished masters in lacquer. 
 
 These names bring us to Yoyusai,who opened with 
 6clat the nineteenth century, and to Zeishin, who was 
 the last of the original masters in lacquer. Lac- 
 quer has followed the evolution common to all forms 
 of art. It proceeded from simplicity and strength 
 to delicacy and complicated work, and attained to the 
 classic perfection of the seventeenth century. From 
 the manly conceptions of Toshimasa's time, the taste, 
 little by little, became degraded to feminine frippery 
 and to the extreme refinements of Ihe close of the 
 eighteenth century — adorable , I allow, but as unlike 
 that early lacquer as with us would be a clock of the 
 age of Louis XVI compared with a relic of Saint 
 Louis. However, each epoch has some good, and 
 everything a reason for existing. I admire as much 
 as any one the ravishing and fragile chefs d'ceuvre 
 which have come from the gifted ha,nd8 of Jap- 
 anese artists of the eighteenth century. The pref- 
 erence that I have manifested, in accordance with 
 the Japanese ideas, for the more ancient work, does 
 Dot diminish the merits of modern art. 
 
STUFFS, TAPE8TEY, EMBEOIDEKY. 
 
 HE weaving of silks has, for a very long 
 time, been one of the glories of Japan- 
 ese industry. One can easily con- 
 ceive the role that silk stuffs has played 
 among a people who have always had a passion for 
 sumptuous robes, and in a country where the neces- 
 sary material is abundant and of superior quality. 
 From the sixteenth century the renown of Japanese 
 silks has reached Europe. Court robes were among 
 the gifts brought by the great embassy of 1584. At 
 that time the Japanese had nothing to learn in the 
 art of weaving ; they had full knowledge of the tech- 
 nical methods. 
 
 It is not at all doubtful that the process of manu- 
 facture was imported from China. It is, perhaps, in 
 this handicraft that the early influence of the Oeleg- 
 
224 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 tials is most indisputable. At the ancient court, 
 during the period which preceded the accession of 
 Toritomo, it was the fashion to wear Chinese stuffs. 
 
 In all ages the city of Kioto has been the centre 
 of this industry, which Japanese authors agree in 
 regarding as already in a flourshing condition in 
 the thirteenth century. Amateurs preserve with 
 religious care the smallest fragment belonging to 
 that ancient epoch. In Japan ancient stuffs are 
 most rare and most sought for. They are guarded 
 as a most precious witness of the artistic genius of 
 the nation, because their perishable nature made 
 them more liable to destruction. The most cele- 
 brated and precious collection of Japan is that 
 of the princes of Kaga. A great portion of it was 
 collected by the first prince of Kaga, Ma6da Toshiy6. 
 The treasury of that powerful family is the richest 
 private collection in existence to-day. Some years 
 ago their stuffs were exposed, when the monument 
 erected to the memory of Toshiy^ was inaugurated. 
 
 The luxury of the aristocracy was extreme, and 
 the greatest luxury was that of silk robes. During 
 the feudal times, the most beautiful belonged to the 
 men. Whether plain or ornamented with designs, 
 they affected magnificent forms, with long folds, 
 somewhat stiff, with frequent divisions. The sashes 
 rivalled the robes in splendor From the seventeenth 
 century, the robes of the women became the richest 
 and most ornamented. 
 
 Severe rules regulated the style of the clothing 
 of all classes and of all ranks. Up to the time of 
 
TISSUES. ' 225 
 
 the revolution, laws of a rigid etiquette determined 
 for the imperial court, or Shiogunale, and also for 
 the princes' courts, the form and even the color of 
 the costumes. All was arranged, even to the min- 
 utest details. An educated Japanese easily recog- 
 nizes the age and source of an ancient ceremonial 
 robe, by simply examining its decorations and colors. 
 
 I possess a red and white silk figured damask robe, 
 thickly covered with the chrysanthemum coat of- 
 arms, which proves, as well as the two colors, that it 
 belonged to the court of the Hojo, and dates from 
 the middle of the fourteenth century, This piece, 
 of a simple and severe style, shows to what a high 
 degree of perfection the weaving of silk stuffs Lad 
 already attained. The designs, worked in gold or in 
 colors into the woof, had at first a regular and 
 geometrical character — as heraldic signs, Greek pat- 
 terns, rose work, palms, interlaced designs, generally 
 of small size. In the fifteenth century greater ele- 
 gance was introduced. Persian influence appeared 
 more in their stuffs than in any other branch of art, 
 and Arabesque designs, foliage with a floral base, 
 formed new and elegant patterns. 
 
 In the sixteenth century the designs broadened 
 and became puiely Japanese. 
 
 I also have in my possession a grand robe of the 
 Shogun, decorated with the coat-of-arms of Kiri on 
 a sky-blue and rose background; this background 
 is ornamented with gold thread, which shows the 
 luxurious tastes of that epoch; the designs, were 
 worked in afterward. A lady's robe of the court 
 
226 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 of Kioto is in gros-grain, figured with peonies, roses, 
 violets and butterflies. The decoration, in the Tosa 
 style, shows a most charming harmony. 
 
 But it was in the seventeenth century, at the court 
 of Yedo, that costumes attained their greatest gor- 
 geousness and magnificence. The process of silk 
 manufacture then reached its farthest limit. In my 
 view, the epoch of Y6mitsu is the most beautiful 
 period of silk industry. 
 
 The eighteenth century excelled in the decoration 
 of stuffs. The refinement of design became extreme. 
 Crapes and light silks were preferred to heavy 
 materials. The intervention of the painters of the 
 popular school changed the style of the decoration 
 of stuffs. We have seen Moronobu, and afterward 
 Suk6nobu and Goshin, furnishing designs for the 
 work shops of Kioto; later Toyokuni and Hukusai 
 himself were the inspirers of the style of Yedo. 
 Kano Yusen also worked much on the decoration of 
 robes. Fantasies, richness and elegance, especially 
 in costumes of women, were carried to an unheard-of 
 degree. It sufiices to glance through the large 
 illustrated books of the school of Katsukawa, which 
 are a repository of the costumes of that period, to 
 understand the boundless desire of the women, at 
 the close of the eighteenth century, for luxurious 
 stuffs. 
 
 The theatrical robes, habitually of coarser execu- 
 tion, were a reflection of this exuberance of inven- 
 tion. Veritable pictures were to be seen on them, 
 landscapes, rivers, animals of all kinds, fish, crusta- 
 
TISSUES. 227 
 
 oeans, gigantic spiders, ducks sailing along a stream, 
 clouds of dragon flies, cranes in flight, sunsets, snow 
 and rain effects, and all the flora of Japan. One 
 sees on these robes the most delicate variations of 
 light and shade, contrasting in the most striking 
 manner with the loud effects of brilliant light. The 
 rarest and most unexpected tones, improbable shades, 
 and fanciful harmonies, all played on the pallet of 
 the embroiderer as on that of a water-color artist. 
 A robe of that sort is like a brilliant display of fire- 
 works. 
 
 In all these stuffs, from the austere court brocades 
 of the middle age, to the cheap brocades designed 
 by Kunisada for the elegantes of Toshiwara, color 
 was always the principal element. One cannot suf- 
 ficiently admire the happy instinct of the Japanese, 
 which enabled them to so well understand the role 
 of clothing — its decoration, design, form, as intended 
 for all conditions of life. In this line they are the 
 first color artists of the world. 
 
 An important branch of silk weaving has been 
 the tapestries. As Mr. Alfred Darcal remarked to 
 me, it is not a question of a fabric more or less 
 similar to our European tapestries, but of veritable 
 Gobelin work, of very careful execution. I have not 
 been able to inform myself whether the processes of 
 its manufacture were imported by the Portuguese 
 or the Dutch. The Japanese claim that the origin 
 of their tapestries was Chinese. All that I know is, 
 that they were fabricated at Kioto at the end of the 
 sixteenth century. Taiko Sama executed for Ma6da 
 
228 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 ToBhiy6 a large tapestry panel, now in the possession 
 of the prince of Kaga. Count Monbel has told 
 me that he saw in Japan, either in the temples or 
 in private possession, some European tapestries of 
 the seventeenth century. 
 
 For the rest, the production of the Kioto work- 
 shops was very limited. The specimens of this 
 industry are very rare and hardly known in Europe. 
 In all that I have seen, the decoration is purely 
 Japanese, without any trace of foreign influence. 
 These various pieces are distinguished by a soft 
 and deep color of charming delicacy. 
 
 It is, however, in embroidery that the artists of 
 Kioto have merit.ed their unrivalled renown. To-day 
 everyone knows the Japanese " fukusas," * those 
 adorable silk pictures, whose perfection of execution 
 is marvelous, and whose decoration is heightened by 
 the wonderful resources of the colorist. It is almost 
 superfluous to praise them. Among all the mani- 
 festations of Japanese art, their embroideries are the 
 most popular in Europe. From the moment these 
 fragile treasures were first shown by merchants of 
 specialties, they have been the object of an almost ex- 
 cessive infatuation. True amateurs have framed them 
 as carefully as valuable pictures. Unfortunately 
 many of these embroideries have been used to 
 fashion cushions and screens, and thus doomed to 
 
 *The " fakuaa " is a piece of square Bluff, more or lees rich according to 
 the rank and fortune of its possessor, used to envelope the gift one ■wishes 
 to bestow, or the note, -which is enclosed in a little box of lacquer. It is 
 understood that the "fukusa " is to be restored to the sender. This is the 
 acknowledgment of the reception of the gift. 
 
TISSUES. 229 
 
 certain destruction. To day only modern produc- 
 tions reach us, whose richness does not compensate 
 for the mediocre decoration. 
 
 The "fukusas" were, with the robes, the principal 
 part of the trousseau of a Japanese woman of rank. 
 Very remaikable ones were embroidered as early as 
 the seventeenth century. I will mention a crane on 
 a red background, flying over the sea, as a precious 
 example of these ancient works. The design is of 
 Yuho, and recalls the style of Tanyu. In this piece 
 may be seen the early use of splashes of gold powder, 
 which modern artists have tried, with poor success, 
 to imitate. Another piece, of the same epoch, is 
 still more remarkable ; it represents a forest of pine 
 branches, in gold, standing out in relief from the 
 sun's disk, which forms a red background shaded 
 by golden clouds. It would be difficult to imagine 
 a design with an effect more poetically strange and 
 grand, or a more beautiful golden tone. The genius 
 of Japanese decoration appears here in all its 
 splendor. The most perfect "fukusas" belong to 
 the last half of the eighteenth century. 
 
 I cannot describe the execution of these works in 
 silk. It is necessary to see them, to hold them in 
 the hand, in order to appreciate all their wonderful- 
 ness. Flowers, birds, and fish are wrought upon 
 them BO naturally as to produce the most perfect 
 illusion. The reflection and play of light on the 
 plumage, the shining of scales in the water, the 
 moist freshness of the plants, are represented as 
 with a brush. The superior and unique quality of 
 
230 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 these silk pictures makes of them masterpieces of 
 tissue manufacture, executed, step by step, with all 
 the carefulness of the embroiderer's art, retaining 
 the apparent freedom of a painted sketch, and keep- 
 ing, at the same time, the closest union with the 
 great art of design, emulating it, and surpassing it 
 in the rendering of picturesque effects. 
 
 The Japanese "fukusa," placed under glass and 
 framed, is the most sumptuous ornament that a 
 refined taste can place in an interior. The back- 
 ground holds an important place in the charm of 
 these embroideries. In it the Japanese employ the 
 rarest shades of color. It would be necessary to 
 create a special vocabulary to designate them. There 
 are tones that belong only to the "fukusas," and 
 which are unknown to our European dyers. 
 
 Before being embroidered, the design is traced 
 with a brush upon the silk, and the rare signatures 
 that one meets are those of the artists. This custom 
 shows that certain "fukusas" are the work of cele- 
 brated masters. The Paris collections contain the 
 most beautiful "fukusas" in the world. Among 
 representative pieces is the large carp swimming up 
 a stream, on a brown background. It belongs to 
 Mr. Alph. Hirsch. The "fukusas" of the nineteenth 
 century are especially admirable in their finished 
 execution. The famous pigeons of M. de Goucourt, 
 which belong to this epoch, form the most perfect 
 realization of pictorial illusion. 
 
§m 
 
 ms 
 
 KAOA OBEST. 
 
 CERAMICS. 
 
 I. 
 
 HE art of ceramics, among all the arts oi 
 Japan, has remained until lately the 
 least known to Europeans; however 
 much interest had been shown in that 
 direction, the most erroneous ideas were current. 
 Long before the first timid essays of Albert 
 Jacquemart, long 
 dissertations had 
 been written on the 
 history and manu- 
 facture of ceram- 
 ics. From the 
 eighteenth centu- 
 ry, collectors of 
 Chinese porcelain 
 eagerly gathered 
 what, in the language of commerce, were called " the 
 old Japanese qualities." But having taken a false 
 
232 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 track for the origin, it seemed that the critics became 
 inextricably entangled in their own errors. The 
 opening of Japan after the revolution of 1868, the 
 intercourse brought about by the grand expositions 
 of Paris, Vienna, and Philadelphia, the perseverance 
 of two or three collectors, were needed to partially 
 disclose the history of ceramic art. 
 
 It would be impossible to suificiently praise the 
 initiative spirit of independent research brought to 
 the study of this art by Mr. Franks, of England, 
 Mr. Morse, of America, and especially by Mr. Bing 
 and Mr. Hayashi, of France. It is to the excellent 
 director of the British Museum, Mr. Franks, that 
 Kensington otves its interesting collection of Japan- 
 ese pottery, as well as the excellent catalogue which 
 accompanies it. 
 
 Mr. Morse, director of the Peabody Academy of 
 Sciences at Salem, Mass., having been sent on an 
 official mission to Japan, devoted himself at once to 
 a profound study of the history of ceramic centers, 
 and formed a scientific collection of several thousand 
 pieces. 
 
 But it is to Mr. Bing, the great Parisian importer 
 of Japanese objects, a most learned and distinguished 
 collector, to the exactness of his methods, to his 
 patient investigations, begun at Paris as early as 1878, 
 pursued in Japan, and continued by the formation 
 of one of the finest and most interesting collections 
 possible to be seen, that we owe the first reliable 
 information on this subject. 
 
 Thanks to him, it may now be said that the history 
 
OEEAMICS. 
 
 233 
 
 of Japanese ceramic art is known; the ground-work, 
 at least, is marked out solidly ; the details can be 
 readily worked out; the essential lines will not be 
 altered. 
 
 The study of questions concerning the history and 
 classification of the ceramic productions of Japan 
 
 ABCHAio POTTERY. (Collection of Mr. S. Bing.) 
 
 would require details not fitting the nature or scope 
 of this volume. I shall content myself with a 
 hurried sketch of the subject, and will recommend 
 to those specially interested in the subject, the fine 
 and complete study of Mr. Bing, which I have pub- 
 lished entire in my large work.* 
 
 As I have before said, Japanese potteries occupy 
 
 * "VArt Japonais" by M. Loais Gonse, Paris. 
 
234 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 in the ceramic art of nations one of the first places, 
 if not the first. 
 
 I say potteries with intention, for it is principally 
 by their productions in clay, on which the enamels 
 produce the most vivid effects, that the artists of 
 Nippon have shown their superiority. It may be 
 said, in a general way, that hard porcelain in Japan 
 ranks secondary in relation to the soft paste, the 
 faience ware, and pottery. The kaolin or porcelain- 
 clay productions of the Japanese, so perfect as to 
 seem at times a complete success of the baking pro- 
 cess, are, indeed, but an imitation, more or less 
 adroit, of the admirable porcelains of China. The 
 Chinese are the porcelain-makers of the world, the 
 unquestioned masters of kaolin. The Japanese are 
 without rivals as makers of pottery. 
 
 With the Chinese, interest in the decoration often 
 yields to the beauty of material and excellence of 
 execution ; with the Japanese, on the contrary, deco- 
 ration always remains the principal aim. The pic- 
 turesque conception, the effect that can be produced 
 by the transparency and the brightness of enamelled 
 glazing, is what concerns the Japanese potter. A 
 marvelous instinct has taught the Japanese that 
 pottery, with its forms, its resources, its infinite 
 capabilities, offers an incomparable field for the play 
 of their imagination. Ignorance of this funda- 
 mental character of the ceramic art of Nippon has 
 been the most serious hindrance for Europeans in 
 the study of its history. In no other line has there 
 been a greater mass of prejudices to uproot; it has 
 
CERAMICS. 235 
 
 been necessary from the beginning to oppose, on 
 nearly all points, the current opinions. 
 
 Those pieces of Japanese porcelain, the delight 
 of our fathers, those plates and vases from the 
 manufactories of Imari and Arita, decorated in blue, 
 or red and gold, all those wares designated old 
 Hizen, with which the Dutch flooded Europe in the 
 course of the seventeenth century, were, in the eyes 
 of real Japanese, only second-rate productions, 
 intended for the export trade. Until later years the 
 real ceramics of Japan — what I should be willing to 
 call the national ceramics — remained utterly unknown 
 to Europeans. At rare intervals a few pieces from 
 Kiota, known to collectors as "old spotted," had 
 come among lacquer exportations. The centers of 
 ceramic art, known to Europeans, are the least 
 interesting, least considered by the people of Japan, 
 and least imprinted with their personal character. 
 
 It is sufficient to say that the vast collections of 
 Leyden, of the Hague, of Dresden, where the Hizen 
 pieces are counted by thousands, do not expose to 
 sight a single piece from Kutani, from Kioto, 
 Satsuma, Bizen, or Owari; that is to say, not a 
 single piece which illustrates the originality of the 
 Japanese taste in ceramic material. Although this 
 seems incredible, it is a fact. 
 
 A foreigner, ignorant of Eouen, Nevers, Moustiers, 
 and the soft paste of Sevres, would be in similar 
 ignorance concerning France. 
 
 The worst is that these false ideas offer the resist- 
 ance of the most tenacious prejudices. Many years 
 
236 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 will still be necessary to convince amateurs and 
 merchants of the old school that their empirical 
 admiration has no valne from a Japanese point of 
 view. 
 
CEBAMIOS. 237 
 
 II 
 
 The art of Japanese ceramics is divided int Vwo 
 very distinct branches — porcelain and pottery. The 
 principal center of porcelain fabrication is the 
 province of Hizen, where are found important 
 deposits of kaolin, especially around the mountain 
 of Karatzu, from which the primitive ceramics of 
 that province took their name. The pieces of 
 Karatzu, dating back to the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth centuries, which I have been able to see, were 
 of a barbaric character, and were uniformly covered 
 with a gray enamel, coarse, thick, and always 
 crackled, after the manner of Corean pottery, of 
 which they were only an imitation. 
 
 A potter named Gorodayu Shonsui, about 1520, 
 brought from China the principles of porcelain 
 fabrication. The village which grew up around his 
 first kiln took the name of Arita. Every evidence 
 goes to show that the pieces coming from Shonsui's 
 hands were weak copies of Chinese porcelain, prob- 
 ably of small dimensions, and in blue and white. 
 
 His two pupils, Goroshitshi and Gorohatshi, were 
 more clever. The pieces that I have seen, notably a 
 bowl, decorated with foliage, in Persian style, in 
 blue on a gray background, finely crackled, show 
 the progress of the manufacture, which was already 
 at its height at the close of the seventeenth century. 
 
238 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 Kakiy^mon had introduced in 1G47, at Imari, the 
 art of decorating porcelain with vitrifiable colors, 
 relieved with gold. The Dutch, established at 
 Nagasaki, gave a lively impulse to the new manu- 
 facture. The exportation increased rapidly, and 
 created an almost inexhaustible source of riches for 
 the prince of Hizen. The town of Imari became 
 the principal manufacturing place, and Europe was 
 literally flooded with its products. 
 
 The fine pieces of Imari rival in their execution 
 the works of Chinese ceramists. The decoration is, 
 however, somewhat monotonous. They are, indeed, 
 works in which, with rare exceptions, the personal 
 invention of the artist does not appear. The best 
 known type of decoration is with chrysanthemums 
 and peonies, in blue, red, and gold. This style has 
 been classed by Albert Jacquemart under the name 
 of "The chrysanthemum-peony family." These 
 pieces have a commercial value, but show little 
 originality of invention. The Delf products in Hol- 
 land were an imitation of the general characteristics 
 of these Japanese wares. Another style, created by 
 Kakiy^mon, is of a more delicate character. The 
 soft, creamy white of the enamel ranks first in 
 importance. The decoration, done with a slow fire 
 (the muffle fire), ordinarily consists of small flowers, 
 sparingly employed, elegant birds, or flowery meads, 
 which the fineness of the glazing brings out with 
 exquisite beauty. The paste is of the finest grain. 
 It is from studying this type that have sprung the 
 products of Saxony and Chantilly. Pieces of this 
 
CERAMICS. 239 
 
 kind have always been sought for by the Japanese 
 aristocracy. 
 
 During the eighteenth century the same province 
 gave birth to the porcelain centers of Okavadji, 
 Hirato, and Mikavadji. The last two were exclusively 
 devoted to the production of works in pure white, 
 without decoration, or else in blue and white. Fine 
 pieces of Hirato are much esteemed. Their white 
 enamel has, however, never attained the incompar- 
 able softness of the old Chinese white. On the other 
 hand, the Hirato productions are superior to the 
 Chinese, by the excellence of taste, and variety and 
 elegance of form. The perfume-burners, in the 
 forms of birds, pigeons, ducks, mandarins, etc., are 
 objects worthy of a place in the choicest collections. 
 
 Many other provinces have tried to produce 
 porcelain ; and some pieces of great interest have 
 issued from the workshops of Kutani and Kioto. 
 But it is only in the ceramic centers of Hizen that 
 the production attained a complete and continued 
 development. 
 
240 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 III. 
 
 It is certain that the origin of Japanese pottery 
 is of very great antiquity. Japanese authors gen- 
 erally admit that the antique Corean productions of 
 Shiraki, of Kudara, and of Koma, served as the first 
 models for native productions. On the other hand, 
 it is not less certain that these primitive potteries of 
 Japan retained during many centuries a barbaric 
 and unfinished character, resembling somevirhat the 
 archaic potteries of the Troad or of Mexico. In 
 the fifth century kilns were established in several 
 provinces ; but it was not until the seventh century 
 that any decided results were noticeable. 
 
 A Buddhist priest named Ghioghi, coming from 
 Corea, and renowned for laying the foundation of 
 the temple of Todaiji, where are still preserved the 
 ancient treasures of the Emperors of Nara, gave a 
 great impulse to ceramic industry. He is said to 
 have invented the potter's wheel. A number of 
 pieces executed under his direction are still in exist- 
 ence among the temple treasures, and give us an 
 idea of the progress realized. A knowledge of the 
 process of enamelling was not developed in Japan 
 until the ninth century. The first enameled pieces, 
 called Seidji, covered with a neutral green, remind 
 one of the ancient sea-green pieces, the celadons. 
 From that time direct Chinese influence is observa- 
 
CEEAMICS. 241 
 
 . ble. A notable fact is that the development and 
 progress of ceramic art in Japan coincided exactly 
 with the introduction and use of tea. The necessity 
 of having proper jars for preserving the tea excited 
 the potters to active experiments. It is to a potter 
 named Toshiro, of the village of Seto, in the prov- 
 ince of Owari, that the first tea-jars, called "tshia- 
 
 ■ jire," are due. These are small jars of beautiful, 
 thick, colored enamels with ivory stoppers, which 
 Japanese amateurs carefully preserve in silk cover- 
 ings and double boxes. Tashiro came from China at 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century. His works, 
 eagerly sought by collectors, justify their reputation 
 by the remarkable fineness of their paste as well as 
 by their warm and harmonious glazing. The imme- 
 diate successor of Toshiro was Tojiro. 
 
 In fact, all Japanese pottery originally came from 
 the ateliers of Seto. From this comes the accepted 
 term of Setomono (an object of Seto) to designate 
 ceramics in general. The products of Seto led the 
 ceramic industry up to the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century, when Ninsei, an artist of great talent, 
 appeared, who became the creator of the national 
 ceramics, and who to-day remains the greatest 
 ceramic artist that Japan has produced. The name 
 of Ninsei is of the first importance in the history of 
 Japanese art. Three elements were combined in 
 him — Chinese, Corean, and Japanese; and from this 
 union there came an original art, in a word, the 
 national art. An admirable logic, powerful inven- 
 tion, and an exquisite refinement of taste pervades 
 
242 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 all the work of Ninsei. He not only perfected and 
 created the technical processes, but he gradually 
 freed himself from the formulas of Chinese deco- 
 rations, and framed the great laws of ornamentation 
 in accordance with the genius of Japan. In short, 
 he devised the fundamental forms of objects so per- 
 fectly in accord with their purpose that they have 
 remained in current use. 
 
 The worts of Ninsei are marked by a popular 
 style, and overflow with charming and inexhaustible 
 fancies. His researches opened to his successors 
 the unlimited field of color obtainable by virtifiablo 
 material. Ninsei came from Kioto. The date of 
 his birth, as I have before said, is not exactly known, 
 but it may be assigned to the last quarter of the 
 sixteenth century. He worked during all the first 
 part of the seventeenth century, and died about 1660. 
 Before devoting himself to ceramics, he had already 
 acquired great renown as a painter. He travelled 
 through the different provinces of Japan, and visited 
 the principal ceramic centres; but it was at Kioto 
 that he established himself and placed his kilns in 
 the suburbs of Kiyomidza, Avata, Midzoro, Sei- 
 gandji, Otava, etc. ; the principal kilns are yet in 
 existence to perpetuate his traditions. It is to Ninsei 
 and Ninsei alone that belongs the glory of having 
 made the ancient capital the most brilliant and ener- 
 getic center of ceramic art. 
 
 The works of Ninsei are most varied. It seems 
 as if each piece coming from his hand were the 
 result of a particular invention and a close study 
 
CEEAMICS. 243 
 
 into its manufacture. His most popular works are 
 those of a pale red or yellow pottery, finely crackled, 
 and decorated with flowers, mostly in blue and green 
 enamels heightened with gold. This work, which is 
 pursued to the present time in the suburbs of Kioto, 
 principally at Avata, Kijomidzu, and Iwakura, is 
 known by the generic name of "Old Kioto." There 
 is no other ceramic work that I prefer to this. The 
 ancient Persian faience appears to be its only rival 
 in harmony and spirit. Authentic works of this 
 ceramist are of extreme rarity. One must be care- 
 ful not to confound with them all the pieces of later 
 date which bear his seal, and which are only pro- 
 ductions of his atelier. The ancient pieces are 
 recognized by the fineness of the paste, the clearness 
 and softness of the lines, the warm transparency of 
 the glazing, and the opalescent reflections of the 
 enamels. The teachings of Ninsei had moct remark- 
 able results. Two artists of great renown, Kinko- 
 zan and Kenzan, made Kioto illustrious at the end 
 of the seventeenth century. 
 
 The style created by Kinkozan is very remarkable. 
 It is a biscuit (twice baked) almost black, of very 
 fine grain, and very homogeneous, which serves as a 
 background for enamels in regular designs and in 
 strong relief, generally in dark blue carefully 
 mingled with yellow, white and green. Ogata Ken- 
 zan, who lived from 1663 to 1743, was the younger 
 brother and pupil of the celebrated lacquer- maker, 
 Korin. His works are distinguished by extraordi- 
 nary liberty of ornamentation in great masses, and of 
 
244 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 strong tone, the emerald surfaces furnishing great 
 brilliancy. These works show well all that can be 
 done in simplifying decoration. With Kenzan this 
 apparent naivete is only profound cleverness. His 
 beautiful pieces would rival in the eyes of an ama- 
 teur those of Ninsei. His originality of form, of 
 processes, of design, is not less 
 grand. His sense of coloring is 
 even superior. For great richness 
 and brilliant and harmonious 
 enameling, he is without equal. 
 The material of Kenzan's pieces is 
 ordinarily coarse, and more or less 
 KENZAN. light and brittle, consequently very 
 
 inferior to that of Ninsei. Their 
 value lies in the magnificent covering with which 
 the artist clothes the material. The originals are 
 at once distinguished by the transparency and fine- 
 ness of the enamels, which no copyist has equalled. 
 Toward the end of his life Kenzan removed to 
 Yedo, where he established the kiln of Imado. 
 
 As Mr. Bing has justly said, this fabrication offers 
 beauty of a different order, and constitutes a very 
 decided evolution in the researches for effects of 
 color. Instead of neutral backgrounds on which 
 played formerly his brilliant sketches, they now be- 
 came bright glazings of very vitreous composition, 
 heightening the vigorous freedom of the coloring. 
 Parisian collections possess beautiful and numer- 
 ous specimens of the different styles of Kenzan. 
 The history of the manufactures of Kioto gives 
 
CEEAMICS. 
 
 245 
 
 laterthe names of Ogata 
 Shiuhei, who dislin- 
 guished himself in the 
 modeling of small stat- 
 uettes, full of life and 
 character ; Mokubei and 
 Kokubei, skillful in 
 minute pieces, as per- 
 fume or ointment boxes 
 in the form of animals ; 
 Dohatshi, and, last of 
 all, Yeiraku, the most 
 astonishing imitator 
 that ceramic art has pro- 
 duced. He was indeed 
 almost perfect in the 
 practice of his art. His 
 bowls for preparing tea 
 are wonderful in their 
 ingenious decoration 
 and technical perfec- 
 tion. He was the last 
 of the great ceramists 
 whose works are worthy 
 of exciting the admira- 
 tion of collectors. 
 
 Among the fabrica- 
 tions thathave remained 
 uninfluenced by Ninsei 
 and Kenzan may be 
 mentioned the pottery of Eaku with its monochro- 
 
 SAKE BOTTLE, Ilf SATSTTMA. 
 
 (Collection of Mr. S. Bing.) 
 
246 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 matic covering, favoring generally red or orange, 
 and using very brittle paste; and the small figures 
 in terra-cotta of Ikakura-Goemon, which are the 
 Tanagra objects of Japan, The only factory outside 
 of Hizen which in ancient times produced porcelain, 
 was that of Kaga. The center of this industry, 
 founded in the middle of the seventeenth century by 
 a potter named Goto Saitshiro, who had learned the 
 secrets of the fabrication at Arita, was founded in a 
 locality named Kutani. But its productions have 
 never had a commercial character like those of Arita; 
 they were designed for the Prince of Kaga for the 
 Shogun, or for certain renowned "Tshiajins." This 
 explains their great rarity and the high price that 
 they have always held. They merit in all respects 
 their celebrity. An artist of tho Kano school, 
 named Morikage, created artistic decoration at 
 Kutani, and freed it from archaic imitation. 
 
 At the close of the seventeenth century the pro- 
 ductions had reached a definite character, from 
 which they never departed. The style is well 
 known ; its beauty consists almost exclusively in the 
 admirable and powerful manner in which its three 
 tones of enamels are employed — green, yellow and 
 violet. The beautiful Kutani pieces have a thick 
 and transluoid covering, vying in brilliancy with 
 precious stones. The association of the three colors, 
 whose intensity is heightened by the transparency 
 of the glazing, produces upon the eye a voluptuous 
 sensation, equal in some works to certain pieces of 
 old Kioto. The vivid colors of China almost pale 
 
OEBAMICS. 247 
 
 by the side of choice Kutani work. But of all the 
 branches of Japanese ceramic art, the most cele- 
 brated is perhaps the faience of Satsuma; it is the 
 best known among Europeans, owing to imitation 
 or redecorated pieces at Tokio, which have inun- 
 dated our markets under the false name of 
 Satsuma. All those large vases and gigantic flower- 
 stands, overloaded with gold relief, have for a long 
 time been taken for authentic Satsuma. At first, mer- 
 chants enriched themselves with this easy commerce, 
 by selling for a thousand francs in Paris what cost 
 them fifty in Yokohama. The secret has been so 
 well guarded that even to-day many people allow 
 themselves to be deceived. The pieces which come 
 from Tokio are, at least, very brilliant, and lend 
 themselves with marvelous adaptability to our fur- 
 nishings. The best are made at Satsuma and deco- 
 rated at Kioto, and these sustain a certain value. 
 
 One can rest assured that all the pieces coming 
 from the princely factory of Satsuma are of small 
 dimensions. One of the best known is an incense- 
 burner in the form of a cat, executed about 1780, 
 and given by the Prince of Satsuma to the Princess 
 Tayasu-Tokugawa, and since acquired and brought 
 to Paris by Mr. Wakaii. 
 
 This classic specimen of Satsuma shows, as all the 
 pieces do, made for the use of the Daimios and Sho- 
 guns, a paste very dense and of great fineness ; the 
 glaze plays between creamy white and the golden 
 tones of old ivory. Upon this soft and harmonious 
 background, lightly crackled, stand out in bold 
 
248 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 relief the decorations, in enamel of soft and 
 shadowy colors, in the midst of which shine soft 
 gold tones with a most delightful effect. According 
 to Mr. Bing, old Satsuma approaches nearer to jew- 
 elry than to ceramics. 
 
 This artistic pottery owes its origin to an expedi- 
 tion which the famous Taiko-Hid6yoshi made into 
 Corea. It was Prince Shimadzu-Toshihissa who 
 brought from that country in 1598 seventeen work- 
 men with their families, and established them in the 
 village of Naeshirogava. At first they were content 
 to copy the Corean productions, with their gray 
 glaze ornamented with regular designs in black or 
 brown. From the commencement of the eighteenth 
 century dates that delicate faience which has become 
 BO renowned under the name of Satsuma, the first 
 decorations of which were done by workmen called 
 from Kioto. 
 
 Outside of these types, the kilns of the provinces 
 essayed some monochrome pieces, which present no 
 decoration but the exquisite color of their glaze. 
 These unusual products are of the greatest beauty 
 and rarity. Among the other centers founded by 
 the Corean workmen of 1598, or due to their influ- 
 ence, I will mention the potteries of Yastsuhiro, 
 Agano, Takatori, Odo, Haghi, Idzumo, Tamba, and 
 Zeze, each of which, in its special line, has produced 
 remarkable specimens. The works of Owari, illus- 
 trated by the antique potteries of Seto, had gradu- 
 ally fallen into decadence ; but we see them for a 
 short time renew their activity in the seventeeutii 
 
CEKAMICS. 249 
 
 century, under the influence of two eminent artists, 
 Shinno and Oribei. Their works present a character 
 of grandeur and remarkable simplicity. Shinno 
 modeled some statuettes decorated with hard-baked 
 enamelp, which prove his profound knowledge of 
 sculpture. The grays of Bizen are individual pro- 
 ductions, and their special characteristics belong to^ 
 none of the types previously described. Their 
 origin is purely Japanese, with no trace of foreign 
 influence, and apparently dates from the earliest 
 times. The fine produtions of this princely manu- 
 facture, above all those of the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries, are particularly appreciated 
 by European amateurs. 
 
 The baking of the paste of Bizen pottery is done 
 at a very high degree of heat, which gives a beauti- 
 ful reddish brown to the paste, and, owing to the 
 fusion of the vitreous parts, bestows upon it a kind 
 of metallic luster. The Bizen pieces have no other 
 decoration; they are generally human figures or 
 animals, modeled with remarkable power. The 
 center of this manufacture has been established for 
 centuries at Imbe. 
 
 It is necessary to add to the list of these principal 
 places of manufacture the names of some less an- 
 cient or less important ones: these are Soma (prov- 
 ince of Ivaki), Akahada (province of Yamato), 
 Minato (province of Idzumi) and Avadji, illustrated 
 in the last quarter of the eighteenth century by a 
 clever and ingenious artist named Mimpeii. 
 
 Some potters have exercised their art quite inde- 
 
250 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 pendently, and established kilns which disappeared 
 with them. . Such was the old Banko, pupil of Ken- 
 zan, who established himself at Kuana, in the prov- 
 ince of Is6, and who produced some masterly pieces, 
 full of originality, and worthy to compete with those 
 of his master. Such also was the lacquer painter 
 Ritsuo, whose incrustations of faience upon lacquer 
 are considered the most precious and rare among 
 the productions of Japanese art. There was also 
 Koren, the modeler in clay, whose works, full of life, 
 are much esteemed by Europeans. Toshiro, Goro- 
 dayu, Shonsui, Kakiyemon, Ninsei, Shinno, Kenzan, 
 Banko, Kinhozan, Yeiraku, Mimpeii, are the names 
 most important to remember, and which are at the 
 head of the history of Japanese ceramics. 
 
 Modern productions are only more or less clever 
 imitations of the types created by these great artists. 
 The technical skill is always great; and the elegant 
 potteries of Kioto, Kutani, Satsuma, and Imari are 
 proofs of it. The modern manufactories provide 
 commerce with charming works, exceptionally cheap 
 compared with ours, but nothing is created or in- 
 vented worthy of being compared to the works of 
 art of the highest epoch. 
 
WOOD ENGRAVING. 
 
 ITS ORIGIN. HOKUSAI AND HIS WOEK. 
 
 I HE Japanese owe their knowledge of 
 wood prints to the Chinese, who prac- 
 ticed from time immemorial engraving 
 in relief upon wooden blocks. Although 
 we have many reasons for believing that the art of 
 engraving and wood-printing of characters and 
 pictures was imported into Japan more than a 
 thousand years ago, positive proofs of this fact are 
 wanting. At present, it is impossible to go beyond 
 the fifteenth century. The most ancient works orna- 
 mented with wood-cuts are Buddhist books. It is 
 certain that engraving is the latest of all Japanese 
 arts. It was necessary, particularly for illustrated 
 books, that wood-engravers should appear together 
 with designers, but it was only after many attempts 
 that the art of wood engraving attained to perfection. 
 The rare illustrated books of the sixteenth century 
 that I have seen are coarse in execution, and abso- 
 lutely Chinese in style. One of the first works 
 having a real xylographic importance dates from 
 the middle of the seventeenth century, and was 
 printed at Kioto; it is a collection in ten large vol- 
 
252 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 umes of specimens of ancient designs and writings. 
 The shape of the blocks employed shows already a 
 certain cleverness; the art had freed itself from the 
 bondage of archaism. The first appearance of col- 
 ored pictures is established by some books of crude 
 appearance, especially by two volumes of a certain 
 Hik6 Monogatari, printed about 1600 (collection of 
 Mr. Duret), and by a small square shaped volume, 
 which can be found preserved in the cabinet of man- 
 uscripts in the National Library of Paris, and which 
 formerly belonged to an ancient collection. It is a 
 collection of stories, entitled "Ura Shima''; it has 
 the signature of the possessor, with the date 1653. 
 It is therefore anterior to that date. Mr. Hayashi 
 assigns it to the end of the sixteenth century. It 
 would then be a very precious relic. The print, on 
 a thick and badly manufactured paper, is coarse; 
 the coloring, childish and flat, as in our ancient 
 playing cards. 
 
 However it may be with these archaic and timid 
 attempts, Japanese wood-cutting was of no import- 
 ance before the close of the seventeenth and begin- 
 ning of the eighteenth century. The first center 
 of this art was at Kioto: an illustrated encyclopedia 
 published at Kioto in 1661 deserves some attention. 
 
 But from the beginning of the eighteenth century 
 the progress in xylography was very noticeable; the 
 taste for pictures increased; clever wood-cutters 
 began to interpret the designs of the masters of the 
 popular school. The wood-cuts of Hishigawa Moro- 
 nobu's designs, which are unfortunately very rare, 
 
WOOD ENGRAYING. 253 
 
 show true skill in the cutting of the wood and in 
 the rendering of the design, the workmen probably 
 working under the immediate direction of the artist. 
 The books illustrated by Moronobu are true pro- 
 ductions of art, showing plainly the vigor and imag- 
 ination of this great master. From 1683 Moronobu 
 illustrated successfully the poetry of Kikaku and 
 Lansetsu. 
 
 I have in my collection a volume whose wood-cuts 
 are very remarkable ; it bears the date of 1684. The 
 figures are natural and full of expression. It is an 
 illustrated description of the agricultural scenes and 
 of the occupations in the province of Yamato. One 
 of the latest productions of Moronobu has the date 
 of 1697. 
 
 The city of Tedo deserves the honor of the 
 sudden and brilliant movement which began with 
 Moronobu, and was continued by Okamura Masa- 
 nobu, and especially by Torii Kiyonobu (1688- 
 1786). 
 
 These two masters, in Japanese opinion, divided 
 the honor of being the first to attempt color prints 
 that were worthy of the name. They were really 
 the inventors of color prints. Their coloring is of 
 extreme simplicity, and always obtained by the 
 super-position of impressions. Torn Kiyomasu, and, 
 above all, Torii Kiyomideu, a designer of original 
 talent, pursued with success the same course, and 
 prepared the way for the real creator of colored 
 prints, Susuki Harunobu. 
 
 Harunobu, of Yedo, was a pupil of Nishimura 
 
254 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 High^naga. He devoted himself to engraving in 
 colors after the publication of a calendar which was 
 very favorably received. His reply, when asked to 
 portray actors, was: "I am Tamato yeshi (painter 
 of the customs of Japan), and I will never descend 
 to the role of kavara mono," an expression of con- 
 tempt for the painters of actors. 
 
 In the year 1760 a great Shinto fete occurred at 
 Yedo, when Harunobu published a series of colored 
 prints, which had an immense success, and testified 
 to the progress that the art, yet in its infancy, had 
 already realized, under the impulse of this eminent 
 artist. 
 
 In 1769, one year before his death, he published 
 the portraits of four dancers of remarkable beauty, 
 who had been selected to figure in a f6te given in 
 the temple of Ten j in at Yushima. The colored 
 prints of Harunobu are marvels of elegance, natur- 
 alness, and ingenious and poetic grace. They have 
 a fascinating harmony which delights the eye. His 
 compositions are of great originality and freshness, 
 and his designs are full of life. His figures of 
 women have an inimitable charm. 
 
 After the works of Moronobu, I will cite among 
 the most remarkable specimens of xylography in 
 black, during the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, several large albums treating of the costumes 
 and occupations of women, one of the most interesting 
 of them being that of the " Portraits of the Women 
 of Japan," by Hishikawa Suk^nobu; also several 
 very curious works engraved after designs of the 
 
WOOD ENGBAVING. 255 
 
 Tosa Bchool — poetry, romance, itineranes of the 
 provinces (there are rare and precious Bpecimets of 
 this sort of work in the library at Leyden* ) ; some 
 albums of industrial designs and collections of copies 
 after the designs of the great ancient masters, the 
 most important of which are the Tehon te-Kagami 
 (1720), and the Guashi Kuaiyo (1745). In the 
 middle of the eighteenth century pictorial art was 
 fully developed. In 1769, 1774 and 1776 some 
 magnificent examples of polychromic engraving suc- 
 ceeded one another. The scale of tones employed 
 remained simple ; the colors were of most remark- 
 able intensity, although without perspective. The 
 fiery reds, the vivid greens, the coppery yellows, are 
 of a quality to which more modern art has never 
 been able to attain. The works coming from the 
 
 *ThiB collection, which contains more than 3,000 Japanese volnmee, of 
 which a large number are illustrated, is made up, in the main, from the 
 collections of Blomhoff, Overmeer, Fissher, Hoftman, and Curtius, agents 
 from Holland, or the Low Countries, to Decima, and also from the more 
 important collection of Siebold. 
 
 The Baron Siebold (born at Wurtzbnrg in 1796, and who died at Monich 
 in 1866) , ia celebrated for his works on Japan. His great works are too well 
 known to need to recall them. That which most entitled him to the grati- 
 tude of the Japanese was his vast collection of books, which he gathered 
 together during his two visits to Japan (1823-1830 and 1859). He showed 
 himself to be an ardent and well-informed book-collector. At that time in 
 Japan the most beautiful books could be acquired at low prices. It was the 
 time when Hokusai published his chefs d^ceuvre. Siebold bought them iu 
 all the freshness of their novelty. One can easily perceive that the library 
 of Leyden contains to-day one of the most beautiful and precious collec- 
 tions of illustrated Japanese books in existence. The books of Leyden are 
 in a state of preservation impossible to be found elsewhere. Siebold pub- 
 lished in Latin an analytical catalogue of his Japanese library^ under the 
 title: ^^Catal'ogus Librorum et Manuscriptorom qui in Museo Hagano Sex- 
 vantur " (Leyden, 1845). 
 
256 JAPANESE AKT. 
 
 studio of Shunsho are among the most noble and 
 most manly creations of pictorial art, even of all 
 Japanese art. 
 
 One could see at the Exposition Rue de Sfeze a 
 series of these grand compositions in which are 
 unfolded, with opulent diversity, scenes of the life 
 of the women of Yedo, in landscapes often full 
 of grandeur and truth. One cannot describe the 
 beauty, harmony, and variety of these IBgures, 
 illumined in all the powerful tones of old tapestries. 
 I know some expert collectors who value above all 
 else these grand wood-cuts of the Shunsho school. 
 They are, probably, with the compositions of Haro- 
 nobu and Kiyonaga, the most noble, life-like, and 
 elegant that the art of design has produced in 
 Japan. 
 
 There are cited among the most finished and 
 most important works of Shunsho the three volumes 
 of "Theater Fans" (Yedo, 1769), three volumes of 
 the "Mirror of the Beauties of the Green Man- 
 sion" (Yedo, 1776), executed in connection with 
 Kitao High^masa, and the illustrated book of the 
 "Hundred Poets" (Yedo, 1774), in which this great 
 master, as he said in the preface, has endeavored to 
 give each personage the exact costume and character 
 of his epoch. 
 
 It is to Shunsho and his co-workers, Kiyonaga, 
 Buntshio (who must not be confounded with Bunt- 
 shio of the Kano school), Eishi, Toyoshiro, Koriu- 
 sai, Shiunyei, and Utamaro, that honor is due for 
 the great advance in Japanese art printing. 
 
WOOD ENGRAVING. 257 
 
 Hokusai, whose fertile genius was to confer upon 
 this art new power of expansion, was the pupil 
 and successor of Shunsho, and the most brilliant 
 star of the atelier of Katsukawa. In the same style, 
 but inferior to the works of Shunsho, I will mention 
 two rare volumes ornamented with grand composi- 
 tions in color: the one, published by Toyofussa, in 
 1774; the other, engraved after the designs of 
 Toriyama Sekiyen, in 1772. About the same time 
 two centers of production, each having an individual 
 character, were developed at Osaka and Nagoya. 
 
 Kiyonaga was an original and powerful master; 
 his compositions were distinguished from all others 
 by their life, movement, relief, and bold combina- 
 tions of color. Eishi has rendered the Japanese 
 woman in her most refined elegance ; the coloring 
 has the freshness of a flower-garden. A sentiment 
 of beauty and of sirnplicity in form and drapings 
 marks the work of Utamaro. No artist of the 
 popular school is more capable of seducing Euro- 
 pean eyes. 
 
 It will not be amiss, since I have mentioned the 
 name of this first celebrated center of pictorial art, 
 to speak of the processes of wood engraving in 
 Japan. All Japanese "wood engravings, whether in 
 black or in colors, are cut upon wood, usually on the 
 heart wood of the cherry tree. The designer and 
 the engraver are almost always two different artists. 
 Hokusai had his own engravers, whom he held in 
 great esteem. They were more or less skillful, 
 which is easy to be seen in looking over the master'e 
 
258 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 works. The designer traced his design upon-ihin 
 transparent paper, which the engraver glued upon 
 the surface of the wood and which he engraved by 
 following the indications of the artist; his interpre- 
 tation of the artist's idea could sometimes be very 
 independent. This was the most simple method of 
 printing in black. For color printing, they pro- 
 ceeded somewhat after the manner of our chromo- 
 lithographists with the successive impressions. After 
 having drawn the outline, they took an impression 
 of it in black upon a sheet of thin paper, which, in 
 its turn, was glued upon a block of wood. The first 
 color was then engraved, and the operation repeated 
 for each shade. 
 
 The Japanese engravers were, and still are, of 
 incomparable skill. Cherry wood, tender, supple, 
 and resistant, lends itself readily to the finest and 
 most delicate work, and is equally suited to heavier 
 drawings. The engraver's work alone was nothing 
 in comparison to the minute care given to the 
 impressions. It is from the technical side of the 
 impressions that Japanese wood engraving appeals 
 to workers in the same line as an object of art with- 
 out rival. In works of luxury the nature of the 
 paper, thick and almost pulpy, the choice inks (only 
 Chinese ink is used), the quality of the water-colors, 
 all are objects of the scrupulous care of the Japanese 
 workman. Certain colored wood-cuts have the 
 charm, freshness, and softness of the most brilliant 
 water-colors. They reach a line of illusion impos- 
 sible to conceive without having seen them. 
 
WOOD ENGRAVING. 259 
 
 The impression is made by the hand and by 
 rubbing, as in our charcoal sketches or smoke-proofs. 
 The arrangement, which is sometimes repeated for 
 ten, twelve, and fifteen different colors, is of a clear- 
 ness and perfection which makes the best work of 
 our chromo-lithographists appear coarse. The dif- 
 ferent colors join and complete one another with 
 such accuracy that it is impossible, even with a 
 magnifying glass, to trace the connection. The 
 Japanese engraver, always preserving his delicate 
 skill of hand, reaches, by very simple and almost 
 primitive means, tones that are faded and soft, or 
 bold and clear; he expresses a play of color and a 
 gaiety that would seem to be possible only to the 
 brush. Of all the miracles of Japanese art this is, 
 perhaps, the most surprising. 
 
 But I will return to Hokusal. His work and his 
 personality dominated to such an extent the history 
 of Japanese art in the nineteenth century, and con- 
 sequently that of wood engraving, that it becomes 
 necessary to stop and speak of him. We have seen 
 him as a painter originating in the atelier of Shunsho. 
 His first attempts at wood-cuts were very timid, and 
 it is often rather difficult when they are not signed 
 to distinguish them from those of his master, whose 
 manner they recall. Did he engrave at the com- 
 mencement of his career? It is possible, but we 
 have no proof of it. It is not doubtful that from 
 1780, at the age of twenty, he designed colored illus- 
 trations and furnished the pictures for popular 
 novels. Mr. Hayashi informed me of a small volume 
 
260 JAPANESE ABT. 
 
 illustrated with religious scenes, signed with his 
 first youthful name, Tokitaro. The volume contains 
 sixteen leaves, vigorously but rather roughly 
 designed. Certain attitudes of persons, certain 
 expressive traits, are different from the manner of 
 Shunsho, and reveal to an attentive eye the strong 
 hand of the future Hokusai. Some small colored 
 wood-cuts, called "surimonos," preserved in a valu- 
 able collection of ancient prints belonging to Mr. 
 Duret, bear the signature of Hokusai and the dates 
 of 1787 and 1789. 
 
 It is not uninteresting to introduce a paragraph 
 to define this Japanese word "surimono." The 
 small sheets designed or engraved by the members 
 of art societies, by poets, or tea-drinkers, are called 
 "surimonos." The popularity of these societies 
 spread, especially at Yedo, toward the end of the 
 eighteenth century and the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth. At the return of the new year, the members 
 of these societies had generally the habit of offering 
 to one another some gift. It was also in good style 
 to compose some design illustrating the occasion, 
 which they had engraved, and a limited number of 
 proofs taken. These proofs, called "surimonos," 
 perpetuated among the members of these societies 
 the remembrance of their periodical reunions. The 
 "surimonos" are the most marvelous wood cuts that 
 one can imagine. The delicate figuring, the tones 
 of gold, silver, bronze, and tin heighten the general 
 effect. Some Japanese amateurs have gathered 
 these proofs and formed of them art collections. 
 
WOOD ENGRAVING. 261 
 
 There are a half-dozen of these collections, contain- 
 ing some hundreds of proofs, found in Parisian col- 
 lections. I can testify, after having studied them, 
 that there are very few repetitions; the proofs must 
 have been restricted to a very small number. 
 
 The "surimonos" are, with the lacquers and 
 embroideries, the most seducing marvels of Japanese 
 art, and those, above all others, which astonish even 
 the most indifferent. The difficulties overcome are 
 so evident that, without any comparison with our 
 similar productions, the most obstinate will accede 
 all the merit due them. The subjects of these 
 prints, with most refined skill, showed boundless 
 imagination; it seems as if the Japanese fancy 
 therein delighted in perfect liberty. It is an essay 
 among people of taste, of grace, wit, poetic senti- 
 ment, and ingenuity. The greater part of the 
 motives which decorate these gifts are enriched with 
 verses in harmony with the subject engraved. Kyoden, 
 the great poet, has not disdained to design some 
 "surimonos," and to enrich them with the little 
 verselets of the day. One of them that I have under 
 my eyes is accompanied with these words: 
 
 " The flower of the plum-tree for perfume, 
 The song of the nightingale for the ear, 
 The fruit of the ' kaki ' for the taete; 
 These are the wishes I send thee for the year 1796." 
 
 Hokusai abandoned himself with delight to this 
 recreative occupation during his youth, and even to 
 about 1820, when he produced some admirable ones 
 under the name of Taito. He must have designed a 
 
262 JAPANESE AET. 
 
 considerable number of " surimonos," as I have seen 
 in Parisian collections alone several hundred. He 
 certainly executed from orders. Many of these 
 "surimonos," and those of the most admirable style 
 and execution, bear the date of the famous year 
 1804, the first of a cycle, during which all Japan 
 seemed to keep gala day. But the chefs (FcBUvre 
 of this style are indisputably the large cuts which 
 the artist executed as programs of the shows of the 
 time. The wood-cuts of various dates, mostly signed 
 Sori, and Hokusai Sori, are, in my estimation, 
 together with the sheets of the Tshiashin Guafu, the 
 most marvelous productions of this artist 
 
 Hokusai worked first for one of the most important 
 editors of the time, Teirakuya Toshiro, of Nagoya, 
 who had at the same time a branch house at Yedo. 
 The greater portion of Hokusai's works, except a 
 few volumes published at Osaka, were edited by that 
 great house, the Hachette of Japan, still in existence 
 to-day at Nagoya. It is one of the descendants of 
 Toshiro who has published the modern impressions 
 of the Mangua. Yeirakuya Toshiro was the first 
 editor of the works of Korin, Keisai-Yeisen, 
 Bumpo, etc. 
 
 Among the most interesting of the early works of 
 Hokusai, of which, unfortunately, the greater part is 
 unknown, may be mentioned the volume of land- 
 scapes and figures (Yehon Eiobitsu) in forty sheets, 
 which he, in connection with the painter Eiu-Kosai, 
 published at the house of Toshiro about 1795. 
 
 In 1799 Hokusai was at the height of production. 
 
WOOD ENQBAVlNa. 26S 
 
 He brought out in four years the three Beries of 
 ohromo-xylographic views of Yedo and its environs 
 (Tedo, 1799, 1800, 1802 V These dates are import- 
 ant, and we have taken them from some first copies. 
 They would suffice, without other proofs, to demon- 
 strate, contrary to the current opinion of European 
 amateurs, that Hokusai had already distinguished 
 himself by works of a high order quite a time before 
 the appearance of the first volume of the Mangua. 
 The Yama Matayama (first series) and, above all, 
 the Toto Shokei Itshiran (second series, a little less 
 rare than the first), count among the most brilliant 
 manifestations of the genius of Hokusai. The third 
 series (Adzuma Assobi), almost entirely composed 
 of landscapes, is not as well done, and is less inter- 
 esting. Encouraged by the success that these 
 admirable pictures of Japanese life obtained in 
 Yedo, he soon published a fourth series, the Adzuma 
 Meisho, which is of charming delicacy. The color- 
 ing of the first impressions is in strange taste — 
 yellow golds, faded greens, fiery reds, join in a 
 strange play of colors. 
 
 The editor assembled together these various 
 series, and published a new set of impressions, very 
 carefulUy done on thick paper, in 1815. A last 
 impression of these proofs, in special covers, was 
 published toward 1840. They are easily recog- 
 nized by the attributes of Daikoku, engraved in 
 blue, with which Hokusai ornamented them. The 
 idea of publishing certain small books of designs 
 for the use of his pupils, for the popular schools 
 
264 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 and for artieans, appears to have originated -with 
 Hokusai about 1810. At this time his name was 
 already known to the inhabitants of Tedo. He had 
 at his disposition an excellent editor, and choice 
 engravers. The fourteen volumes of the Mangua, 
 or "Collection of Ten Thousand Sketches," appeared 
 separately in the space of forty years. The first 
 book appeared, not in 1810, as is generally sup- 
 posed, but in 1814; the preface which accompanies 
 the first impressions bears the date of 1812. The 
 editor, Katano Toshiro of Nagoya, son of Yeira- 
 kuya, said in the appendix of the fifteenth volume 
 (supplement), published several years ago with 
 what remained of the sketches not used, that the 
 first volume was published in 1814, The first 
 volume, at first admirably engraved, was some time 
 after retouched in a very bad manner. The new 
 edition, without text, is much less rare than the first. 
 One recognizes the first from the title being en- 
 graved and repeated on each page. The execution 
 of the subjects is of remarkable fineness and sur- 
 prising lightness. It may be supposed that the 
 wood, being rather soft, could furnish only a limited 
 number of copies. The thirteenth and fourteenth 
 volumes, interrupted by the death of Hokusai, and 
 of Teirakuya, occurring soon after, did not appear 
 until 1849 and 1851. The first volumes were partly 
 engraved by that excellent wood engraver Tamekiti, 
 who was succeeded by Tegava Santaro. The im- 
 mense success which the first volume achieved 
 determined Hokusai to continue. He published in 
 
WOOD ENQEAYING. 265 
 
 quick succession the second, third and fourth toI- 
 umes ; for the fifth, he already had some pupils to 
 aid him: Bokusen, Hokuon, and Utamasa, at Nagoya, 
 whom he designated as "co-workers and pupils of 
 Owari," and Hokkei, at Tedo. The eighth volume 
 appeared in 1819, and the master signed it Katsu- 
 shika Taito, 
 
 After the tenth volume the publication proceeded 
 more slowly. In 1830, at the time when Siebold 
 returned to Europe from Japan, the eleventh and 
 twelfth volumes, which are among the most remark- 
 able, had not appeared. This is explained by the 
 extraordinary multiplicity of Hokusai's publications 
 from 1820 to the time of his death, and the demands 
 that assailed him from all parts. After 1820 were 
 published the expensive editions under his direction, 
 at Tedo, by the booksellers associated with the house 
 of Nagoya. Among the last, one of the most cele- 
 brated is entitled "Fugaku Yakukei," "The Hun- 
 dred Yiews of Fuziyama," three volumes in black 
 and gray, which appeared successively in 1834, 
 1835 and 1836. The engraving of the first two 
 volumes was executed by Yegava Tamekiti, the 
 principal engraver of the Mangua; and the third 
 volume by his successor, Yegava Santaro. 
 
 The earliest impression of the first two volumes 
 is very rare; it shows a marvelous clearness. It 
 may be recognized by its rose-colored cover in bro- 
 caded designs and decorated with a small peacock 
 feather in blue. There is also a later impression in 
 black and dark rose, which is equally rare. The 
 
266 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 first impressions of the books of the Mangua are 
 recognized by the thickness of the paper ; the beauty 
 of the wood-cuts, in two and three gray tones, black 
 and dark rose; the extreme sharpness of outlines, 
 which have all the vigor of Hokusai's designs; and 
 by the lightness of the half tints. Some trial 
 examples have been made in a single color of rose 
 or black. The first impression of the twelfth vol- 
 ume shows only black, without color. These im- 
 pressions are of extreme rarity even in Japan, where 
 usage, lack of care, and fires have nearly destroyed 
 them. A complete series, in good order, of the 
 fourteen volumes, is at present almost impossible to 
 be found. There are few graphic productions which 
 offer so much of interest and variety. 
 
 It is almost impossible to find any of the works 
 of Hokusai, even his latest, in the first copy. A 
 complete set would be the glory of any cabinet of 
 wood-cuts or engravings, and could be placed by the 
 side of a Eembrandt collection as the greatest curi- 
 osity of iconography. But it nowhere exists, unless, 
 perhaps, in the public library at Tokio, enriched 
 like ours by legal additions. One of the choicest 
 collections of Hokusai's published illustrations 
 which exists in Europe is that of the library of the 
 Academy at Leyden, formed by Siebold. Even this 
 collection does not go beyond 1830, and even up to 
 that date is quite incomplete. It does not contain 
 more than twenty-five different books; but all are of 
 the greatest beauty, first impressions, and in a per- 
 fect state of preservation. 
 
WOOD ENGRAVING. 267 
 
 If all the different collections, public and private, 
 which have been formed in London and Paris, were 
 united, it would be far from being a complete set of 
 the works of Hokusai. The work done by this won- 
 derful man almost surpasses belief. There does not 
 exist in the history of art another example of such 
 versatility and industry. I do not speak of ordinary 
 fortuity; I speak of an originality always strong, 
 personal, grand; of an activity always alert; an im- 
 agination ardent for the new and for the truth. The 
 number of works illustrated by Hokusai considera- 
 bly exceeds a hundred, while the number of volumes 
 reached, at least, five hundred. I estimate that the 
 number of motives and compositions of all kinds 
 cut from the designs of Hokusai exceeds thirty 
 thousand. 
 
 The variety of the subjects is not less astonishing. 
 Hokusai illustrated books of all kinds — romances 
 (some of which had forty, fifty, and even ninety 
 volumes), poetry, humorous books, comic albums, 
 accounts of travel, descriptions of particular places, 
 or country views, treatises on education and instruc- 
 tion, and so on ; he also designed covers for books, 
 theatre placards, and even composed an amatory 
 series, as did many other artists of the popular 
 school. He created a world in which everything 
 was animated with intense life. His works are a 
 complete picture of Japan, a veritable cyclopedia 
 expressive and picturesque. 
 
 I have given in my large work on " Japanese Art" 
 a description of Hokusai's works, as complete as 
 
268 JAPANESE ART. 
 
 patient and careful researches enabled me to make. 
 The list already reaches the more than respectable 
 size of ninety-four numbers. Since then I haye 
 increased the number by half a dozen works, and I 
 trust to still increase it, with the knowledge that it 
 will still be incomplete. 
 
 After Hokusaii, I must speak of those virtuosos in 
 colored prints, who followed in his footsteps. First 
 come his pupils, the Hokuba, Hokujiu, the Hokumei, 
 who designed curious theatre albums, nearly all 
 published at Osaka; next Hokkei, the greatest 
 among them, who has left considerable work, full of 
 elegance and charm, and who was the most versatile 
 and skillful of the surimonists. I will mention 
 among the works of Hokkei only the most charac- 
 teristic— " Fifty Satirical Poets," and the "Fifty 
 Celebrated Poetesses," two volumes of most refined 
 grace; and the small Mangua in one volume in 
 black. I should also speak of all those masters who, 
 by the side of the star of Katsushika, have yet been 
 able to shine by their own light: the two Keisai, 
 Hiroshighe, Henzan, Shighenobu, Takekiyo, Yeizan, 
 Gakutei, Kua-Setsu, Tosai, Shinko, Kiho, Eumpo, 
 and all his comic school, merit more than a simple 
 mention. I should, finally, in going farther back, 
 speak of the works of the pupils and followers of 
 Shunsho, the Shiunzan, the Shiuntshio, the Shiunko, 
 the Shinsai, the Shiunman, and others. The works 
 of Hohitzu, the editor of Korin, and all the products 
 of this fertile school of the old Toyokuni, wbosa 
 strong color prints, imitated by the Kunisada aa i 
 
WOOD ENGEAVING. 
 
 the Kuniyoshi, have been the delight of Japan dur- 
 ing fifty years, are equally worthy of attention ; but 
 I fear to weary the patience of the readers who have 
 kindly followed me to the close of my journey 
 through the arts of Nippon. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 I. PAȣ. 
 
 Introdnotion _ __ 3 
 
 II. 
 Growth of Japanese Fainting up to the Fonrteenth Century 8 
 
 III. 
 The Summit of Grand Art under the Ashikaga, Fifteenth Century. 19 
 
 IV. , 
 Accession of the Tokugawa, the Great Artists of the Seventeenth Cen- 
 tury — Birth of the Popular School 82 
 
 V. 
 Epoch of Genroku — Korin __ ___ 44 
 
 VI. 
 The Eighteenth Century— Apogee of Japanese Decoration— Goshin and 
 Okio..„ : __.. 51 
 
 VII. 
 The Popular School at the Close of the Eighteenth Century— The Pre- 
 cursors of Hokueai. 64 
 
 VIII. 
 Hoknsai 72 
 
 IX. 
 The Ninteenth Century ._. 85 
 
 X. 
 Yosai 90 
 
 XI. 
 Resume _ 93 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 I. 
 
 Historical View 96 
 
 II. 
 General Principles.; „ , , , , 109 
 
INDEX. 
 
 SCULPTURE. 
 I. 
 
 The Great Art— Bronzes— Carved Wood — — 118 
 
 II. 
 Masks - - - 1*1 
 
 III. 
 Netsnkes - - 1*5 
 
 IV. 
 Pipe-Cases — Various Objects 155 
 
 THE ART OF CHASING AND METAL WORK. 
 I. 
 
 Armor 162 
 
 II. 
 Sword Blades _.._ 170 
 
 III. 
 Sword Mountings _ _ 177 
 
 IV. 
 
 Kanemonos, Metal Netsukes, Slides, Pipes, Various Objects — Enamels.. 196 
 
 LACQUER. 
 
 I. 
 
 The Manufacture _ 199 
 
 II. 
 History of Lacquer 209 
 
 TISSUES. 
 I. 
 
 Stuffs— Tapestry— Embroidery _ 223 
 
 CERAMICS. 
 
 Introduction ._ 231 
 
 II. 
 Porcelain _ 287 
 
 III. 
 Pottery __ _ _ __ 240 
 
 WOOD ENGRAVING. 
 I. 
 
 Its Origin— Hokusai and His Work , 251