Chapter XV: Aesthetic Characteristics

The wide development of the æsthetic sense in Japan--Japanese æsthetic development is unbalanced--The sense of smell--Painting--Japanese art pays slight attention to the human form--Sociological interpretation--The nude in Japanese art--Relation to the social order--Art and immorality--Caricature--Fondness for the abnormal in nature--Abnormal stones--Tosa cocks--Æsthetics of speech--The æsthetic sense and the use of personal pronouns--Deficiency of the æsthetic development in regard to speech--Sociological explanations--Close relation of æsthetics and conduct--Sociological explanation for the wide development of the æsthetic sense--The classes lived in close proximity--The spirit of dependence and imitation--Universality of culture more apparent than real--Defects of æsthetic taste--Defective etiquette--How accounted for--Old and new conditions--"Western taste debasing Japanese art"--Illustration of aboriginal æsthetic defects--Colored photographs--Æsthetic defects of popular shrines--The æsthetics of music--Experience of the Hawaiian people--Literary æsthetic development--Aston quoted--Architectural æsthetic development--Æsthetic development is sociological rather than biological, 170