Chapter XIII: Part 13

When the mediatization of the fiefs, in 1871, terminated the local patronage hitherto extended so munificently to artists, the Japanese ceramists gradually learned that they must thenceforth depend chiefly upon the markets of Europe and America. They had to appeal, in short, to an entirely new public, and how to secure its approval was to them a perplexing problem. Having little to guide them, they often interpreted Western taste incorrectly, and impaired their own reputation in a corresponding degree. Thus, in the early years of the Meiji era, there was a period of complete prostitution. No new skill was developed, and what remained of the old was expended chiefly upon the manufacture of meretricious objects, disfigured by excess of decoration and not relieved by any excellence of technique. In spite of their artistic defects, these specimens were exported in considerable numbers by merchants in the foreign settlements, and their first cost being very low, they found a not unremunerative market. But as European and American collectors became better acquainted with the capacities of the pre-Meiji potters, the great inferiority of these new specimens was recognized, and the prices commanded by the old wares gradually appreciated. What then happened was very natural: imitations of the old wares were produced, and having been sufficiently disfigured by staining and other processes calculated to lend an air of rust and age, they were sold to ignorant persons, who laboured under the singular yet common hallucination that the points to be looked for in specimens from early kilns were, not technical excellence, decorative tastefulness and richness of colour, but dinginess, imperfections and dirt; persons who imagined, in short, that defects which they would condemn at once in new porcelains ought to be regarded as merits in old. Of course a trade of that kind, based on deception, could not have permanent success. One of the imitators of "old Satsuma" was among the first to perceive that a new line must be struck out. Yet the earliest results of his awakened perception helped to demonstrate still further the depraved spirit that had come over Japanese art. For he applied himself to manufacture wares having a close affinity with the shocking monstrosities used for sepulchral purposes in ancient Apulia, where fragments of dissected satyrs, busts of nymphs or halves of horses were considered graceful excrescences for the adornment of an amphora or a pithos. This _Makuzu_ faience, produced by the now justly celebrated Miyagawa Shozan of Ota (near Yokohama), survives in the form of vases and pots having birds, reptiles, flowers, crustacea and so forth plastered over the surface--specimens that disgrace the period of their manufacture, and represent probably the worst aberration of Japanese ceramic conception.

Adoption of Chinese Models.

A production so degraded as the early Makuzu faience could not possibly have a lengthy vogue. Miyagawa soon began to cast about for a better inspiration, and found it in the monochromes and polychromes of the Chinese _Kang-hsi_ and _Yung-cheng kilns_. The extraordinary value attaching to the incomparable red glazes of China, not only in the country of their origin but also in the United States, where collectors showed a fine instinct in this matter, seems to have suggested to Miyagawa the idea of imitation. He took for model the rich and delicate "liquid-dawn" monochrome, and succeeded in producing some specimens of considerable merit. Thenceforth his example was largely followed, and it may now be said that the tendency of many of the best Japanese ceramists is to copy Chinese _chefs-d'oeuvre_. To find them thus renewing their reputation by reverting to Chinese models, is not only another tribute to the perennial supremacy of Chinese porcelains, but also a fresh illustration of the eclectic genius of Japanese art. All the products of this new effort are porcelains proper. Seven kilns are devoted, wholly or in part, to the new wares: belonging to Miyagawa Shozan of Ota, Seifu Yohei of Kioto, Takemoto Hayata and Kato Tomojiro of Tokyo, Higuchi Haruzane of Hirado, Shida Yasukyo of Kaga and Kato Masukichi of Seto.

Seifu of Kioto.

Among the seven ceramists here enumerated, Seifu of Kioto probably
enjoys the highest reputation. If we except the ware of Satsuma, it
may be said that nearly all the fine faience of Japan was manufactured
formerly in Kioto. Nomura Ninsei, in the middle of the 17th century,
inaugurated a long era of beautiful productions with his cream-like
"fish-roe" _craquelé_ glazes, carrying rich decoration of clear and
brilliant vitrifiable enamels. It was he who gave their first really
artistic impulse to the kilns of Awata, Mizoro and Iwakura, whence so
many delightful specimens of faience issued almost without
interruption until the middle of the 19th century and continue to
issue to-day. The three Kenzan, of whom the third died in 1820;
Ebisei; the four Dohachi, of whom the fourth was still alive in 1909;
the Kagiya family, manufacturers of the celebrated Kinkozan ware;
Hozan, whose imitations of Delft faience and his _pâte-sur-pâte_
pieces with fern-scroll decoration remain incomparable; Taizan Yohei,
whose ninth descendant of the same name now produces fine specimens of
Awata ware for foreign markets; Tanzan Yoshitaro and his son Rokuro,
to whose credit stands a new departure in the form of faience having
_pâte-sur-pâte_ decoration of lace patterns, diapers and archaic
designs executed in low relief with admirable skill and minuteness;
the two Bizan, renowned for their representations of richly apparelled
figures as decorative motives; Rokubei, who studied painting under
Maruyama Okyo and followed the naturalistic style of that great
artist; Mokubei, the first really expert manufacturer of translucid
porcelain in Kioto; Shuhei, Kintei, and above all, Zengoro Hozen, the
celebrated potter of Eiraku wares--these names and many others give to
Kioto ceramics an eminence as well as an individuality which few other
wares of Japan can boast. Nor is it to be supposed that the ancient
capital now lacks great potters. Okamura Yasutaro, commonly called
Shozan, produces specimens which only a very acute connoisseur can
distinguish from the work of Nomura Ninsei; Tanzan Rokuro's half-tint
enamels and soft creamy glazes would have stood high in any epoch;
Taizan Yohei produces Awata faience not inferior to that of former
days; Kagiya Sobei worthily supports the reputation of the Kinkozan
ware; Kawamoto Eijiro has made to the order of a well-known Kioto firm
many specimens now figuring in foreign collections as old
masterpieces; and Ito Tozan succeeds in decorating faience with seven
colours _sous couverte_ (black, green, blue, russet-red, tea-brown,
purple and peach), a feat never before accomplished. It is therefore
an error to assert that Kioto has no longer a title to be called a
great ceramic centre. Seifu Yohei, however, has the special faculty of
manufacturing monochromatic and jewelled porcelain and faience, which
differ essentially from the traditional Kioto types, their models
being taken directly from China. But a sharp distinction has to be
drawn between the method of Seifu and that of the other six ceramists
mentioned above as following Chinese fashions. It is this, that
whereas the latter produce their chromatic effects by mixing the
colouring matter with the glaze, Seifu paints the biscuit with a
pigment over which he runs a translucid colourless glaze. The Kioto
artist's process is much easier than that of his rivals, and although
his monochromes are often of most pleasing delicacy and fine tone,
they do not belong to the same category of technical excellence as the
wares they imitate. From this judgment must be excepted, however, his
ivory-white and _céladon_ wares, as well as his porcelains decorated
with blue, or blue and red _sous couverte_, and with vitrifiable
enamels over the glaze. In these five varieties he is emphatically
great. It cannot be said, indeed, that his _céladon_ shows the velvety
richness of surface and tenderness of colour that distinguished the
old _Kuang-yao_ and _Lungchuan-yao_ of China, or that he has ever
essayed the moss-edged crackle of the beautiful _Ko-yao_. But his
_céladon_ certainly equals the more modern Chinese examples from the
_Kang-hsi_ and _Yung-cheng_ kilns. As for his ivory-white, it
distinctly surpasses the Chinese Ming _Chen-yao_ in every quality
except an indescribable intimacy of glaze and _pâte_ which probably
can never be obtained by either Japanese or European methods.

Miyagawa Shozan.

Miyagawa Shozan, or Makuzu, as he is generally called, has never
followed Seifu's example in descending from the difficult manipulation
of coloured glazes to the comparatively simple process of painted
biscuit. This comment does not refer to the use of blue and red _sous
couverte_. In that class of beautiful ware the application of pigment
to the unglazed _pâte_ is inevitable, and both Seifu and Miyagawa,
working on the same lines as their Chinese predecessors, produce
porcelains that almost rank with choice Kang-hsi specimens, though
they have not yet mastered the processes sufficiently to employ them
in the manufacture of large imposing pieces or wares of moderate
price. But in the matter of true monochromatic and polychromatic
glazes, to Shozan belongs the credit of having inaugurated Chinese
fashions, and if he has never fully succeeded in achieving _lang-yao_
(sang-de-boeuf), _chi-hung_ (liquid-dawn red), _chiang-tou-hung_
(bean-blossom red, the "peach-blow" of American collectors), or above
all _pin-kwo-tsing_ (apple-green with red bloom), his efforts to
imitate them have resulted in some very interesting pieces.

Tokyo Ceramists.

Takemoto and Kato of Tokyo entered the field subsequently to Shozan,
but followed the same models approximately. Takemoto, however, has
made a speciality of black glazes, his aim being to rival the _Sung
Chien-yao_, with its glaze of mirror-black or raven's-wing green, and
its leveret fur streaking or russet-moss dappling, the prince of all
wares in the estimation of the Japanese tea-clubs. Like Shozan, he is
still very far from his original, but, also like Shozan, he produces
highly meritorious pieces in his efforts to reach an ideal that will
probably continue to elude him for ever. Of Kato there is not much to
be said. He has not succeeded in winning great distinction, but he
manufactures some very delicate monochromes, fully deserving to be
classed among prominent evidences of the new departure. Tokyo was
never a centre of ceramic production. Even during the 300 years of its
conspicuous prosperity as the administrative capital of the Tokugawa
shoguns, it had no noted factories, doubtless owing to the absence of
any suitable potter's clay in the immediate vicinity. Its only notable
production of a ceramic character was the work of Miura Kenya
(1830-1843), who followed the methods of the celebrated Haritsu
(1688-1704) of Kioto in decorating plain or lacquered wood with
mosaics of raku faience having coloured glazes. Kenya was also a
skilled modeller of figures, and his factory in the Imado suburb
obtained a considerable reputation for work of that nature. He was
succeeded by Tozawa Benshi, an old man of over seventy in 1909, who,
using clay from Owari or Hizen, has turned out many porcelain
statuettes of great beauty. But although the capital of Japan formerly
played only an insignificant part in Japanese ceramics, modern Tokyo
has an important school of artist-artisans. Every year large
quantities of porcelain and faience are sent from the provinces to the
capital to receive surface decoration, and in wealth of design as well
as carefulness of execution the results are praiseworthy. But of the
pigments employed nothing very laudatory could be said until very
recent times. They were generally crude, of impure tone, and without
depth or brilliancy. Now, however, they have lost these defects and
entered a period of considerable excellence. Figure-subjects
constitute the chief feature of the designs. A majority of the artists
are content to copy old pictures of Buddha's sixteen disciples, the
seven gods of happiness, and other similar assemblages of mythical or
historical personages, not only because such work offers large
opportunity for the use of striking colours and the production of
meretricious effects, dear to the eye of the average Western
householder and tourist, but also because a complicated design, as
compared with a simple one, has the advantage of hiding the technical
imperfections of the ware. Of late there have happily appeared some
decorators who prefer to choose their subjects from the natural field
in which their great predecessors excelled, and there is reason to
hope that this more congenial and more pleasing style will supplant
its modern usurper. The best known factory in Tokyo for decorative
purposes is the Hyochi-en. It was established in the Fukagawa suburb
in 1875, with the immediate object of preparing specimens for the
first Tokyo exhibition held at that time. Its founders obtained a
measure of official aid, and were able to secure the services of some
good artists, among whom may be mentioned Obanawa and Shimauchi. The
porcelains of Owari and Arita naturally received most attention at the
hands of the Hyochi-en decorators, but there was scarcely one of the
principal wares of Japan upon which they did not try their skill, and
if a piece of monochromatic Minton or Sèvres came in their way, they
undertook to improve it by the addition of designs copied from old
masters or suggested by modern taste. The cachet of the Fukagawa
atelier was indiscriminately applied to all such pieces, and has
probably proved a source of confusion to collectors. Many other
factories for decoration were established from time to time in Tokyo.
Of these some still exist; others, ceasing to be profitable, have been
abandoned. On the whole, the industry may now be said to have assumed
a domestic character. In a house, presenting no distinctive features
whatsoever, one finds the decorator with a cupboard full of bowls and
vases of glazed biscuit, which he adorns, piece by piece, using the
simplest conceivable apparatus and a meagre supply of pigments.
Sometimes he fixes the decoration himself, employing for that purpose
a small kiln which stands in his back garden; sometimes he entrusts
this part of the work to a factory. As in the case of everything
Japanese, there is no pretence, no useless expenditure about the
process. Yet it is plain that this school of Tokyo decorators, though
often choosing their subjects badly, have contributed much to the
progress of the ceramic art during the past few years. Little by
little there has been developed a degree of skill which compares not
unfavourably with the work of the old masters. Table services of Owari
porcelain--the ware itself excellently manipulated and of almost
egg-shell fineness--are now decorated with floral scrolls, landscapes,
insects, birds, figure-subjects and all sorts of designs, chaste,
elaborate or quaint; and these services, representing so much artistic
labour and originality, are sold for prices that bear no due ratio to
the skill required in their manufacture.

There is only one reservation to be made in speaking of the modern
decorative industry of Japan under its better aspects. In Tokyo,
Kioto, Yokohama and Kobe--in all of which places decorating ateliers
(_etsuke-dokoro_), similar to those of Tokyo, have been established in
modern times--the artists use chiefly pigments, seldom venturing to
employ vitrifiable enamels. That the results achieved with these
different materials are not comparable is a fact which every
connoisseur must admit. The glossy surface of a porcelain glaze is ill
fitted for rendering artistic effects with ordinary colours. The
proper field for the application of these is the biscuit, in which
position the covering glaze serves at once to soften and to preserve
the pigment. It can scarcely be doubted that the true instincts of the
ceramist will ultimately counsel him to confine his decoration over
the glaze to vitrifiable enamels, with which the Chinese and Japanese
potters of former times obtained such brilliant results. But to employ
enamels successfully is an achievement demanding special training and
materials not easy to procure or to prepare. The Tokyo decorators are
not likely, therefore, to change their present methods immediately.

An impetus was given to ceramic decoration by the efforts of a new
school, which owed its origin to Dr G. Wagener, an eminent German
expert formerly in the service of the Japanese government. Dr Wagener
conceived the idea of developing the art of decoration under the
glaze, as applied to faience. Faience thus decorated has always been
exceptional in Japan. Rare specimens were produced in Satsuma and
Kioto, the colour employed being chiefly blue, though brown and black
were used in very exceptional instances. The difficulty of obtaining
clear, rich tints was nearly prohibitive, and though success, when
achieved, seemed to justify the effort, this class of ware never
received much attention in Japan. By careful selection and preparation
of _pâte_, glaze and pigments, Dr Wagener proved not only that the
manufacture was reasonably feasible, but also that decoration thus
applied to pottery possesses unique delicacy and softness. Ware
manufactured by his direction at the Tokyo school of technique
(_shokkô gakkô_), under the name of _asahi-yaki_, ranks among the
interesting productions of modern Japan. The decorative colour chiefly
employed is chocolate brown, which harmonizes excellently with the
glaze. But the ware has never found favour in Japanese eyes, an
element of unpleasant garishness being imparted to it by the vitreous
appearance of the glaze, which is manufactured according to European
methods. The modern faience of Ito Tozan of Kioto, decorated with
colour under the glaze, is incomparably more artistic than the Tokyo
_asahi-yaki_, from which, nevertheless, the Kioto master doubtless
borrowed some ideas. The decorative industry in Tokyo owed much also
to the kosho-kaisha, an institution started by Wakai and Matsuo in
1873, with official assistance. Owing to the intelligent patronage of
this company, and the impetus given to the ceramic trade by its
enterprise, the style of the Tokyo _etsuke_ was much improved and the
field of their industry extended. It must be acknowledged, however,
that the Tokyo artists often devote their skill to purposes of
forgery, and that their imitations, especially of old Satsuma-yaki,
are sometimes franked by dealers whose standing should forbid such
frauds. In this context it may be mentioned that, of late years,
decoration of a remarkably microscopic character has been successfully
practised in Kioto, Osaka and Kobe, its originator being Meisan of
Osaka. Before dismissing the subject of modern Tokyo ceramics, it may
be added that Kato Tomataro, mentioned above in connexion with the
manufacture of special glazes, has also been very successful in
producing porcelains decorated with blue _sous couverte_ at his
factory in the Koishikawa suburb.

Modern Wares of Hirado.

Higuchi of Hirado is to be classed with ceramists of the new school on
account of one ware only, namely, porcelain having translucid
decoration, the so-called "grains of rice" of American collectors,
designated _hotaru-de_ (firefly style) in Japan. That, however, is an
achievement of no small consequence, especially since it had never
previously been essayed outside China. The Hirado expert has not yet
attained technical skill equal to that of the Chinese. He cannot, like
them, cover the greater part of a specimen's surface with a lacework
of transparent decoration, exciting wonder that _pâte_ deprived so
greatly of continuity could have been manipulated without accident.
But his artistic instincts are higher than those of the Chinese, and
there is reasonable hope that in time he may excel their best works.
In other respects the Hirado factories do not produce wares nearly so
beautiful as those manufactured there between 1759 and 1840, when the
_Hirado-yaki_ stood at the head of all Japanese porcelain on account
of its pure, close-grained _pâte_, its lustrous milk-white glaze, and
the soft clear blue of its carefully executed decoration.

Ware of Owari.

The Owari potters were slow to follow the lead of Miyagawa Shozan and
Seifu Yohei. At the industrial exhibition in Kioto (1895) the first
results of their efforts were shown, attracting attention at once. In
medieval times Owari was celebrated for faience glazes of various
colours, much affected by the tea-clubs, but its staple manufacture
from the beginning of the 19th century was porcelain decorated with
blue under the glaze, the best specimens of which did not approach
their Chinese prototypes in fineness of _pâte_, purity of glaze or
richness of colour. During the first twenty-five years of the Meiji
era the Owari potters sought to compensate the technical and artistic
defects of their pieces by giving them magnificent dimensions; but at
the Tokyo industrial exhibition (1891) they were able to contribute
some specimens showing decorative, plastic and graving skill of no
mean order. Previously to that time, one of the Seto experts, Kato
Gosuke, had developed remarkable ability in the manufacture of
_céladon_, though in that field he was subsequently distanced by Seifu
of Kioto. Only lately did Owari feel the influence of the new movement
towards Chinese types. Its potters took _flambé_ glazes for models,
and their pieces possessed an air of novelty that attracted
connoisseurs. But the style was not calculated to win general
popularity, and the manufacturing processes were too easy to occupy
the attention of great potters. On a far higher level stood egg-shell
porcelain, remarkable examples of which were sent from Seto to the
Kioto industrial exhibition of 1895. Chinese potters of the Yung-lo
era (1403-1414) enriched their country with a quantity of ware to
which the name of _totai-ki_ (bodiless utensil) was given on account
of its wonderfully attenuated _pâte_. The finest specimens of this
porcelain had incised decoration, sparingly employed but adding much
to the beauty of the piece. In subsequent eras the potters of
King-te-chen did not fail to continue this remarkable manufacture, but
its only Japanese representative was a porcelain distinctly inferior
in more than one respect, namely, the egg-shell utensils of Hizen and
Hirado, some of which had finely woven basket-cases to protect their
extreme fragility. The Seto experts, however, are now making bowls,
cups and vases that rank nearly as high as the celebrated Yung-lo
totai-ki. In purity of tone and velvet-like gloss of surface there is
distinct inferiority on the side of the Japanese ware, but in thinness
of _pâte_ it supports comparison, and in profusion and beauty of
incised decoration it excels its Chinese original.

Ware of Kaga.

Latest of all to acknowledge the impulse of the new departure have
been the potters of Kaga. For many years their ware enjoyed the
credit, or discredit, of being the most lavishly decorated porcelain
in Japan. It is known to Western collectors as a product blazing with
red and gold, a very degenerate offspring of the Chinese Ming type,
which Hozen of Kioto reproduced so beautifully at the beginning of the
19th century under the name of _eiraku-yaki_. Undoubtedly the best
specimens of this _kinran-de_ (brocade) porcelain of Kaga merit praise
and admiration; but, on the whole, ware so gaudy could not long hold a
high place in public esteem. The Kaga potters ultimately appreciated
that defect. They still manufacture quantities of tea and coffee sets,
and dinner or dessert services of red-and-gold porcelain for foreign
markets; but about 1885 some of them made zealous and patient efforts
to revert to the processes that won so much fame for the old
Kutani-yaki, with its grand combinations of rich, lustrous, soft-toned
glazes. The attempt was never entirely successful, but its results
restored something of the Kaga kilns' reputation. Since 1895, again, a
totally new departure has been made by Morishita Hachizaemon, a
ceramic expert, in conjunction with Shida Yasukyo, president of the
Kaga products joint stock company (_Kaga bussan kabushiki kaisha_) and
teacher in the Kaga industrial school. The line chosen by these
ceramists is purely Chinese. Their great aim seems to be the
production of the exquisite Chinese monochromes known as
_u-kwo-tien-tsing_ (blue of the sky after rain) and _yueh-peh_
(_clair-de-lune_). But they also devote much attention to porcelains
decorated with blue or red _sous couverte_. Their work shows much
promise, but like all fine specimens of the Sino-Japanese school, the
prices are too high to attract wide custom.

Summary.

The sum of the matter is that the modern Japanese ceramist, after many efforts to cater for the taste of the Occident, evidently concludes that his best hope consists in devoting all his technical and artistic resources to reproducing the celebrated wares of China. In explanation of the fact that he did not essay this route in former times, it may be noted, first, that he had only a limited acquaintance with the wares in question; secondly, that Japanese connoisseurs never attached any value to their countrymen's imitation of Chinese porcelains so long as the originals were obtainable; thirdly, that the ceramic art of China not having fallen into its present state of decadence, the idea of competing with it did not occur to outsiders; and fourthly, that Europe and America had not developed their present keen appreciation of Chinese masterpieces. Yet it is remarkable that China, at the close of the 19th century, should have again furnished models to Japanese eclecticism.

_Lacquer._--Japan derived the art of lacquering from China (probably about the beginning of the 6th century), but she ultimately carried it far beyond Chinese conception. At first her experts confined themselves to plain black lacquer. From the early part of the 8th century they began to ornament it with dust of gold or mother-of-pearl, and throughout the Heian epoch (9th to 12th century) they added pictorial designs, though of a formal character, the chief motives being floral subjects, arabesques and scrolls. All this work was in the style known as _hira-makie_ (flat decoration); that is to say, having the decorative design in the same plane as the ground. In the days of the great dilettante Yoshimasa (1449-1490), lacquer experts devised a new style, _taka-makie_, or decoration in relief, which immensely augmented the beauty of the ware, and constituted a feature altogether special to Japan. Thus when, at the close of the 16th century, the Taiko inaugurated the fashion of lavishing all the resources of applied art on the interior decoration of castles and temples, the services of the lacquerer were employed to an extent hitherto unknown, and there resulted some magnificent work on friezes, coffered ceilings, door panels, altar-pieces and cenotaphs. This new departure reached its climax in the Tokugawa mausolea of Yedo and Nikko, which are enriched by the possession of the most splendid applications of lacquer decoration the world has ever seen, nor is it likely that anything of comparable beauty and grandeur will be again produced in the same line. Japanese connoisseurs indicate the end of the 17th century as the golden period of the art, and so deeply rooted is this belief that whenever a date has to be assigned to any specimen of exceptionally fine quality, it is unhesitatingly referred to the time of Joken-in (Tsunayoshi).

Among the many skilled artists who have practised this beautiful craft
since the first on record, Kiyohara Norisuye (c. 1169), may be
mentioned Koyetsu (1558-1637) and his pupils, who are especially noted
for their inro (medicine-cases worn as part of the costume); Kajikawa
Kinjiro (c. 1680), the founder of the great Kajikawa family, which
continued up to the 19th century; and Koma Kyuhaku (d. 1715), whose
pupils and descendants maintained his traditions for a period of equal
length. Of individual artists, perhaps the most notable is Ogata Korin
(d. 1716), whose skill was equally great in the arts of painting and
pottery. He was the eldest son of an artist named Ogato Soken, and
studied the styles of the Kano and Tosa schools successively. Among
the artists who influenced him were Kano Tsunenobu, Nomura Sotatsu and
Koyetsu. His lacquer-ware is distinguished for a bold and at times
almost eccentric impressionism, and his use of inlay is strongly
characteristic. Ritsuo (1663-1747), a pupil and contemporary of Korin,
and like him a potter and painter also, was another lacquerer of great
skill. Then followed Hanzan, the two Shiome, Yamamoto Shunsho and his
pupils, Yamada Joka and Kwanshosai Toyo (late 18th century). In the
beginning of the 19th century worked Shokwasai, who frequently
collaborated with the metal-worker Shibayama, encrusting his lacquer
with small decorations in metal by the latter.

Modern Work.

No important new developments have taken place during modern times in
Japan's lacquer manufacture. Her artists follow the old ways
faithfully; and indeed it is not easy to see how they could do better.
On the other hand, there has not been any deterioration; all the skill
of former days is still active. The contrary has been repeatedly
affirmed by foreign critics, but no one really familiar with modern
productions can entertain such a view. Lacquer-making, however, being
essentially an art and not a mere handicraft, has its eras of great
masters and its seasons of inferior execution. Men of the calibre of
Koyetsu Korin, Ritsuo, Kajikawa and Mitsutoshi must be rare in any
age, and the epoch when they flourished is justly remembered with
enthusiasm. But the Meiji era has had its Zeshin, and it had in 1909
Shirayama Fukumatsu, Kawanabe Itcho, Ogawa Shomin, Uematsu Homin,
Shibayama Soichi, Morishita Morihachi and other lesser experts, all
masters in designing and execution. Zeshin, shortly before he died,
indicated Shirayama Fukumatsu as the man upon whom his mantle should
descend, and that the judgment of this really great craftsman was
correct cannot be denied by any one who has seen the works of
Shirayama. He excels in his representations of landscapes and
waterscapes, and has succeeded in transferring to gold-lacquer panels
tender and delicate pictures of nature's softest moods--pictures that
show balance, richness, harmony and a fine sense of decorative
proportion. Kawanabe Itcho is celebrated for his representations of
flowers and foliage, and Morishita Morihachi and Asano Saburo (of
Kaga) are admirable in all styles, but especially, perhaps, in the
charming variety called _togi-dashi_ (ground down), which is
pre-eminent for its satin-like texture and for the atmosphere of
dreamy softness that pervades the decoration. The togi-dashi design,
when finely executed, seems to hang suspended in the velvety lacquer
or to float under its silky surface. The magnificent sheen and
richness of the pure _kin-makie_ (gold lacquer) are wanting, but in
their place we have inimitable tenderness and delicacy.

New Development.

The only branch of the lacquerer's art that can be said to have shown
any marked development in the Meiji era is that in which parts of the
decorative scheme consist of objects in gold, silver, shakudo,
shibuichi, iron, or, above all, ivory or mother-of-pearl. It might
indeed be inferred, from some of the essays published in Europe on the
subject of Japan's ornamental arts, that this application of ivory and
mother-of-pearl holds a place of paramount importance. Such is not the
case. Cabinets, fire-screens, plaques and boxes resplendent with gold
lacquer grounds carrying elaborate and profuse decoration of ivory and
mother-of-pearl[4] are not objects that appeal to Japanese taste. They
belong essentially to the catalogue of articles called into existence
to meet the demand of the foreign market, being, in fact, an attempt
to adapt the lacquerer's art to decorative furniture for European
houses. On the whole it is a successful attempt. The plumage of
gorgeously-hued birds, the blossoms of flowers (especially the
hydrangea), the folds of thick brocade, microscopic diapers and
arabesques, are built up with tiny fragments of iridescent shell, in
combination with silver-foil, gold-lacquer and coloured bone, the
whole producing a rich and sparkling effect. In fine specimens the
workmanship is extraordinarily minute, and every fragment of metal,
shell, ivory or bone, used to construct the decorative scheme, is
imbedded firmly in its place. But in a majority of cases the work of
building is done by means of paste and glue only, so that the result
lacks durability. The employment of mother-of-pearl to ornament
lacquer grounds dates from a period as remote as the 8th century, but
its use as a material for constructing decorative designs began in the
17th century, and was due to an expert called Shibayama, whose
descendant, Shibayama Soichi, has in recent years been associated with
the same work in Tokyo.

Processes.

In the manufacture of Japanese lacquer there are three processes. The
first is the extraction and preparation of the lac; the second, its
application; and the third, the decoration of the lacquered surface.
The lac, when taken from an incision in the trunk of the _Rhus
vernicifera_ (_urushi-no-ki_), contains approximately 70% of lac acid,
4% of gum arabic, 2% of albumen, and 24% of water. It is strained,
deprived of its moisture, and receives an admixture of gamboge,
cinnabar, acetous protoxide or some other colouring matter. The object
to be lacquered, which is generally made of thin white pine, is
subjected to singularly thorough and painstaking treatment, one of the
processes being to cover it with a layer of Japanese paper or thin
hempen cloth, which is fixed by means of a pulp of rice-paste and
lacquer. In this way the danger of warping is averted, and exudations
from the wooden surface are prevented from reaching the overlaid coats
of lacquer. Numerous operations of luting, sizing, lacquering,
polishing, drying, rubbing down, and so on, are performed by the
_nurimono-shi_, until, after many days' treatment, the object emerges
with a smooth, lustre-like dark-grey or coloured surface, and is ready
to pass into the hands of the makie-shi, or decorator. The latter is
an artist; those who have performed the preliminary operations are
merely skilled artisans. The _makie-shi_ may be said to paint a
picture on the surface of the already lacquered object. He takes for
subject a landscape, a seascape, a battle-scene, flowers, foliage,
birds, fishes, insects--in short, anything. This he sketches in
outline with a paste of white lead, and then, having filled in the
details with gold and colours, he superposes a coat of translucid
lacquer, which is finally subjected to careful polishing. If parts of
the design are to be in relief, they are built up with a putty of
black lacquer, white lead, camphor and lamp-black. In all fine
lacquers gold predominates so largely that the general impression
conveyed by the object is one of glow and richness. It is also an
inviolable rule that every part must show beautiful and highly
finished work, whether it be an external or an internal part. The
makie-shi ranks almost as high as the pictorial artist in Japanese
esteem. He frequently signs his works, and a great number of names
have been thus handed down during the past two centuries.

_Cloisonné Enamel._--Cloisonné enamel is essentially of modern development in Japan. The process was known at an early period, and was employed for the purpose of subsidiary decoration from the close of the 16th century, but not until the 19th century did Japanese experts begin to manufacture the objects known in Europe as "enamels;" that is to say, vases, plaques, censers, bowls, and so forth, having their surface covered with vitrified pastes applied either in the _champlevé_ or the _cloisonné_ style. It is necessary to insist upon this fact, because it has been stated with apparent authority that numerous specimens which began to be exported from 1865 were the outcome of industry commencing in the 16th century and reaching its point of culmination at the beginning of the 18th. There is not the slenderest ground for such a theory. The work began in 1838, and Kaji Tsunekichi of Owari was its originator. During 20 years previously to the reopening of the country in 1858, cloisonné enamelling was practised in the manner now understood by the term; when foreign merchants began to settle in Yokohama, several experts were working skilfully in Owari after the methods of Kaji Tsunekichi. Up to that time there had been little demand for enamels of large dimensions, but when the foreign market called for vases, censers, plaques and such things, no difficulty was found in supplying them. Thus, about the year 1865, there commenced an export of enamels which had no prototypes in Japan, being destined frankly for European and American collectors. From a technical point of view these specimens had much to recommend them. The base, usually of copper, was as thin as cardboard; the cloisons, exceedingly fine and delicate, were laid on with care and accuracy; the colours were even, and the designs showed artistic judgment. Two faults, however, marred the work--first, the shapes were clumsy and unpleasing, being copied from bronzes whose solidity justified forms unsuited to thin enamelled vessels; secondly, the colours, sombre and somewhat impure, lacked the glow and mellowness that give decorative superiority to the technically inferior Chinese enamels of the later Ming and early Tsing eras. Very soon, however, the artisans of Nagoya (Owari), Yokohama and Tokyo--where the art had been taken up--found that faithful and fine workmanship did not pay. The foreign merchant desired many and cheap specimens for export, rather than few and costly. There followed then a period of gradual decline, and the enamels exported to Europe showed so much inferiority that they were supposed to be the products of a widely different era and of different makers. The industry was threatened with extinction, and would certainly have dwindled to insignificant dimensions had not a few earnest artists, working in the face of many difficulties and discouragements, succeeded in striking out new lines and establishing new standards for excellence.

New Schools.

Three clearly differentiated schools now (1875) came into existence.
One, headed by Namikawa Yasuyuki of Kioto, took for its objects the
utmost delicacy and perfection of technique, richness of decoration,
purity of design and harmony of colour. The thin clumsily-shaped vases
of the Kaji school, with their uniformly distributed decoration of
diapers, scrolls and arabesques in comparatively dull colours, ceased
altogether to be produced, their place being taken by graceful
specimens, technically flawless, and carrying designs not only free
from stiffness, but also executed in colours at once rich and soft.
This school may be subdivided, Kioto representing one branch, Nagoya,
Tokyo and Yokohama the other. In the products of the Kioto branch the
decoration generally covered the whole surface of the piece; in the
products of the other branch the artist aimed rather at pictorial
effect, placing the design in a monochromatic field of low tone. It is
plain that such a method as the latter implies great command of
coloured pastes, and, indeed, no feature of the manufacture is more
conspicuous than the progress made during the period 1880-1900 in
compounding and firing vitrifiable enamels. Many excellent examples of
cloisonné enamel have been produced by each branch of this school.
There has been nothing like them in any other country, and they stand
at an immeasurable distance above the works of the early Owari school
represented by Kaji Tsunekichi and his pupils and colleagues.

Cloisonless Enamels.

The second of the modern schools is headed by Namikawa Sosuke of
Tokyo. It is an easily traced outgrowth of the second branch of the
first school just described, for one can readily understand that from
placing the decorative design in a monochromatic field of low tone,
which is essentially a pictorial method, development would proceed in
the direction of concealing the mechanics of the art in order to
enhance the pictorial effect. Thus arose the so-called "cloisonless
enamels" (_musenjippo_). They are not always without cloisons. The
design is generally framed at the outset with a ribbon of thin metal,
precisely after the manner of ordinary cloisonné ware. But as the work
proceeds the cloisons are hidden--unless their presence is necessary
to give emphasis to the design--and the final result is a picture in
vitrified enamels.

Monochromatic Enamels.

The characteristic productions of the third among the modern schools
are monochromatic and translucid enamels. All students of the ceramic
art know that the monochrome porcelains of China owe their beauty to
the fact that the colour is in the glaze, not under it. The ceramist
finds no difficulty in applying a uniform coat of pigment to porcelain
biscuit, and covering the whole with a diaphanous glaze. The colour is
fixed and the glaze set by secondary firing at a lower temperature
than that necessary for hardening the _pâte_. Such porcelains,
however, lack the velvet-like softness and depth of tone so justly
prized in the genuine monochrome, where the glaze itself contains the
colouring matter, _pâte_ and glaze being fired simultaneously at the
same high temperature. It is apparent that a vitrified enamel may be
made to perform, in part at any rate, the function of a porcelain
glaze. Acting upon that theory, the experts of Tokyo and Nagoya have
produced many very beautiful specimens of monochrome enamel--yellow
(canary or straw), _rose du Barry_, liquid-dawn, red, aubergine
purple, green (grass or leaf), dove-grey and lapis lazuli blue. The
pieces do not quite reach the level of Chinese monochrome porcelains,
but their inferiority is not marked. The artist's great difficulty is
to hide the metal base completely. A monochrome loses much of its
attractiveness when the colour merges into a metal rim, or when the
interior of a vase is covered with crude unpolished paste. But to
spread and fix the enamel so that neither at the rim nor in the
interior shall there be any break of continuity, or any indication
that the base is copper, not porcelain, demands quite exceptional
skill.

Translucid Enamel.

The translucid enamels of the modern school are generally associated
with decorative bases. In other words, a suitable design is chiselled
in the metal base so as to be visible through the diaphanous enamel.
Very beautiful effects of broken and softened lights, combined with
depth and delicacy of colour, are thus obtained. But the decorative
designs which lend themselves to such a purpose are not numerous. A
gold base deeply chiselled in wave-diaper and overrun with a paste of
aubergine purple is the most pleasing. A still higher achievement is
to apply to the chiselled base designs executed in coloured enamels,
finally covering the whole with translucid paste. Admirable results
are thus produced; as when, through a medium of cerulean blue, bright
goldfish and blue-backed carp appear swimming in silvery waves, or
brilliantly plumaged birds seem to soar among fleecy clouds. The
artists of this school show also much skill in using enamels for the
purposes of subordinate decoration--suspending enamelled butterflies,
birds or floral sprays, among the reticulations of a silver vase
chiselled à jour; or filling with translucid enamels parts of a
decorative scheme sculptured in iron, silver, gold or shakudo.

V.--ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

Roads and Posts in Early Times.

_Communications._--From the conditions actually existing in the 8th century after the Christian era the first compilers of Japanese history inferred the conditions which might have existed in the 7th century before that era. One of their inferences was that, in the early days, communication was by water only, and that not until 549 B.C. did the most populous region of the empire--the west coast--come into possession of public roads. Six hundred years later, the local satraps are represented as having received instructions to build regular highways, and in the 3rd century the massing of troops for an over-sea expedition invested roads with new value. Nothing is yet heard, however, about posts. These evidences of civilization did not make their appearance until the first great era of Japanese reform, the Taika period (645-650), when stations were established along the principal highways, provision was made of post-horses, and a system of bells and checks was devised for distinguishing official carriers. In those days ordinary travellers were required to carry passports, nor had they any share in the benefits of the official organization, which was entirely under the control of the minister of war. Great difficulties attended the movements of private persons. Even the task of transmitting to the central government provincial taxes paid in kind had to be discharged by specially organized parties, and this journey from the north-eastern districts to the capital generally occupied three months. At the close of the 7th century the emperor Mommu is said to have enacted a law that wealthy persons living near the highways must supply rice to travellers, and in 745 an empress (Koken) directed that a stock of medical necessaries must be kept at the postal stations. Among the benevolent acts attributed to renowned Buddhist priests posterity specially remembers their efforts to encourage the building of roads and bridges. The great emperor Kwammu (782-806) was constrained to devote a space of five years to the reorganization of the whole system of post-stations. Owing to the anarchy which prevailed during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, facilities of communication disappeared almost entirely, even for men of rank a long journey involved danger of starvation or fatal exposure, and the pains and perils of travel became a household word among the people.

Yoritomo, the founder of feudalism at the close of the 12th century,
was too great a statesman to underestimate the value of roads and
posts. The highway between his stronghold, Kamakura, and the imperial
city, Kioto, began in his time to develop features which ultimately
entitled it to be called one of the finest roads in the world. But
after Yoritomo's death the land became once more an armed camp, in
which the rival barons discouraged travel beyond the limits of their
own domains. Not until the Tokugawa family obtained military control
of the whole empire (1603), and, fixing its capital at Yedo, required
the feudal chiefs to reside there every second year, did the problem
of roads and post-stations force itself once more on official
attention. Regulations were now strictly enforced, fixing the number
of horses and carriers available at each station, the loads to be
carried by them and their charges, as well as the transport services
that each feudal chief was entitled to demand and the fees he had to
pay in return. Tolerable hostelries now came into existence, but they
furnished only shelter, fuel and the coarsest kind of food. By
degrees, however, the progresses of the feudal chiefs to and from
Yedo, which at first were simple and economical, developed features of
competitive magnificence, and the importance of good roads and
suitable accommodation received increased attention. This found
expression in practice in 1663. A system more elaborate than anything
antecedent was then introduced under the name of "flying transport."
Three kinds of couriers operated. The first class were in the direct
employment of the shogunate. They carried official messages between
Yedo and Osaka--a distance of 348 miles--in four days by means of a
well organized system of relays. The second class maintained
communications between the fiefs and the Tokugawa court as well as
their own families in Yedo, for in the alternate years of a
feudatory's compulsory residence in that city his family had to live
there. The third class were maintained by a syndicate of 13 merchants
as a private enterprise for transmitting letters between the three
great cities of Kioto, Osaka and Yedo and intervening places. This
syndicate did not undertake to deliver a letter direct to an
addressee. The method pursued was to expose letters and parcels at
fixed places in the vicinity of their destination, leaving the
addressees to discover for themselves that such things had arrived.
Imperfect as this system was, it represented a great advance from the
conditions in medieval times.

The Tokaido.

The Nakasendoo.

The Oshukaido.

The nation does not seem to have appreciated the deficiencies of the
syndicate's service, supplemented as it was by a network of waterways
which greatly increased the facilities for transport. After the
cessation of civil wars under the sway of the Tokugawa, the building
and improvement of roads went on steadily. It is not too much to say,
indeed, that when Japan opened her doors to foreigners in the middle
of the 19th century, she possessed a system of roads some of which
bore striking testimony to her medieval greatness. The most remarkable
was the Tokaido (eastern-seaway), so called because it ran eastward
along the coast from Kioto. This great highway, 345 m. long, connected
Osaka and Kioto with Yedo. The date of its construction is not
recorded, but it certainly underwent signal improvement in the 12th
and 13th centuries, and during the two and a half centuries of
Tokugawa sway in Yedo. A wide, well-made and well-kept avenue, it was
lined throughout the greater part of its length by giant pine-trees,
rendering it the most picturesque highway in the world. Iyeyasu, the
founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns, directed that his body
should be interred at Nikko, a place of exceptional beauty,
consecrated eight hundred years previously. This meant an extension of
the Tokaido (under a different name) nearly a hundred miles northward,
for the magnificent shrines erected then at Nikko and the periodical
ceremonies thenceforth performed there demanded a correspondingly fine
avenue of approach. The original Tokaido was taken for model, and Yedo
and Nikko were joined by a highway flanked by rows of cryptomeria.
Second only to the Tokaido is the Nakasendo (mid-mountain road), which
also was constructed to join Kioto with Yedo, but follows an inland
course through the provinces of Yamashiro, Omi, Mino, Shinshu, Kotzuke
and Musashi. Its length is 340 m., and though not flanked by trees or
possessing so good a bed as the Tokaido, it is nevertheless a
sufficiently remarkable highway. A third road, the Oshukaido runs
northward from Yedo (now Tokyo) to Aomori on the extreme north of the
main island, a distance of 445 m., and several lesser highways give
access to other regions.

Modern Superintendence of Roads.

The question of road superintendence received early attention from the government of the restoration. At a general assembly of local prefects held at Tokyo in June 1875 it was decided to classify the different roads throughout the empire, and to determine the several sources from which the sums necessary for their maintenance and repair should be drawn. After several days' discussion all roads were eventually ranged under one or other of the following heads:--

I. National roads, consisting of--

Class 1. Roads leading from Tokyo to the various treaty ports.

Class 2. Roads leading from Tokyo to the ancestral shrines in the
province of Ise, and also to the cities or to military stations.

Class 3. Roads leading from Tokyo to the prefectural offices, and
those forming the lines of connexion between cities and military
stations.

II. Prefectural roads, consisting of--

Class 1. Roads connecting different prefectures, or leading from
military stations to their outposts.

Class 2. Roads connecting the head offices of cities and prefectures
with their branch offices.

Class 3. Roads connecting noted localities with the chief town of
such neighbourhoods, or leading to seaports convenient of access.

III. Village roads, consisting of--

Class 1. Roads passing through several localities in succession, or
merely leading from one locality to another.

Class 2. Roads specially constructed for the convenience of
irrigation, pasturage, mines, factories, &c., in accordance with
measures determined by the people of the locality.

Class 3. Roads constructed for the benefit of Shinto shrines,
Buddhist temples, or to facilitate the cultivation of rice-fields
and arable land.

Of the above three headings, it was decided that all national roads should be maintained at the national expense, the regulations for their up-keep being entrusted to the care of the prefectures along the line of route, and the cost incurred being paid from the Imperial treasury. Prefectural roads are maintained by a joint contribution from the government and from the particular prefecture, each paying one-half of the sum needed. Village roads, being for the convenience of local districts alone, are maintained at the expense of such districts under the general supervision of the corresponding prefecture. The width of national roads was determined at 42 ft. for class 1, 36 ft. for class 2, and 30 ft. for class 3; the prefectural roads were to be from 24 to 30 ft., and the dimensions of the village roads were optional, according to the necessity of the case.

Vehicles.

The Jinrikisha.