Washington telegraph., 1853-07-20
Japan Manufactures

| Japan Manufactures.
"A correspondent of the New York Cou,,er do
EStats O'ns, gives interesting account of tb,
Japan manufactures, which are in the r Exb;b;,;o,
at .l.,, dublin We copy part his description:
ne Japan exhibition has all the attraction n
novelty, and it would he difficult to imaeine !
more complete. Last year the society of arts II
London had intended TO make in that city. col
Iecton OF the productions of India. China and Il,
pan. lhey We're promised the assistance of III,
Fast lndia Company. But as from different cir
cufnstances, this project failed, Prince Albert
that 1t should be carried out for the Dublr
hbltion. Agents went over to Holland snl
ootained from the kindness OF the king the mos
precious articles from the museums at the Hapns
ana Leyden, to be exhibited at the exposition in
Meron square. The productions of Japanese in
ouslry, snow q singular mngling of civilization and
ignorance There are certain branches of indus
try IN which the japanese have for a lone time
excelled There are others in which all proyress
seems denied them. The Japan silks and veIvets
| sent by the way of Holland would not be tbouobt
unworthy of the most skillful manufactures of iv.
| ors. BY the side of these we remark mapniticen,
skeins OF silk of various sizes. We can find moth
ing better in European industry. When we COM
pare our powerful machinery with the poor means
used IN the Japan fabrication we cannot suff;c-
Ienty admire the patience and skill in handiwork
winch has brought their productions to such per-
| fection. The japanese are unrivalled in ali ar
!
Mache. Birmingham produces some pretty tovs
OF this KIND. but Japan makes of Papier Mache a
great variety of Articles in daily use There are
at Dnbin tea cups of an original form of which
the surface Is brilliant and smooth as glass and is
not injured by the hottest water Flower vases of
plated straw, lighter than the cups of Papier
Mache, but of an equal solidity-the japan var
nlsh Is doubtless made by a process unknown in
Europe; 1t Is secret we must steal from the bar
parans.
~
Although IN general, articles of luxury do not in
Japan attain the finish of those in China the Ja-
panese lavish on fans the richest orna lnents-
1t Is different with umbrellas and parasols In
stead of covering them with silk. they make them
| OF simple strips OF folded paper, which they put
upon light frame of bamboo. The exterior of
these parasos Is most frequently black and inside
white. Everything connected with smoking is
wrought with taste. The pipes of gold or silver.
which are at the exhibition might serve as mo-
dels for European manufacturers The forms are
more varied than those OF French pipes Some
have the furnaces small that they can hardly
hold pinch of tobacco. These pipes are for the
use OF the japanese ladies. | must rot forget
some specimens of Japan tapers. They differ
from ours IN their concal FORM are painted in va
rious colors, with storied designs They are
lighted at the broadest end the point being al the
bottom. The Japanese arms do not appear very
terrible. The guns long and heavy. aid 1t
seems impossible to use them by supporting them
b.
bards resemble poignards. Near a heap of ia
panesc arms Is placed a manikin armed cqp-a-pe
Ills coat OF mail seems proof against an arrow or
stroke from a lance His black buckle of papier
mache is of antique form He wears on the
lower part of the face grotesque mask designed
to frghten the enemy.
The military music consists of gongs drums
guitars and lutes singularly constructed The Ja-
panese are not acquainted with wind instruments
The exhibition of japanese money is curious
The silver pieces are loZenge shaped. The cold
pieces are oblong with the corners rounded
Some OF these amount in value to 500 francs
kthrce hundred dollars.) Near the money are
found the books and maps. former director of
the Dutch commerce at Japan, at the end of the
last century. NJ. IItsingh. made collection of Ja-
panese geographical works. The maps sent to
Dublin by the King of the Netherlands are NOT
less curious. For long time it has been observed
IN France and England that the Japanese in atIoDt-
ing the method of graduation and projection of
which European maps had furnished taen the
model, have given curious representations uf their
own and ncighboring countries. The great map
of Japan composed in this manner is dated in III
the same. NJ. Titsingh. who is mentioned above
brought from Nanss'aEi sa~e-~i .s.IieS orit, and
it is probable that Mr.. Arrowsmith traced from it
the coasts of Japan in his celebrated map of Asia
Ihe characters for printing are of wood; the body
of the letters is cylindrical: they could not he set
IN form; each letter must be printed separately.
of the japanese devil. There ale some things in
these oriental eccentricities which surprise Eu-
ropean imagination, habitual as we are to the
symbols OF the middle ages and the inventions of
modern art. 1t is not the tail. in the japanese
devil which is the saliant part. but the head, to
see the immense proportions these islanders have
gwen to the brow and the head of their demon
one Would be tempted to imagine they had deep
intentions of symbolical philosophy. Have the
japanese advanced far enough, have they reflected
enough on human nature TO believe that the true
origin evil in depraved thought, the deviations
of the understanding n.ala gaudia n,eafis, and have
they wished by the monstrous mark of their devil
to express this idea! It's question which shall
not undertake to decide but could not help COM
municating the impression which the Japan devil
produced on me with the abnormal development
of his brow. What shall | says 1t is something
colossal and hideous, if | dared venture the COM
parison. something which recalls the exceptional
and supernatural power Of the head o. the Jupiter
OF the Greeks.