, 1882-04-29
The Antiquity Of Printing.

At the last meeting of the Asia.ic So
ciety of japan, Mr f Satow read pa
per son the Early History of Printing
in Japan." The art OF printing Oh wood
Ell blocks In China seems to be due to &C
cident of some one trying to obtain fac
simile OF an inscription Of 4 stone monu-
ment. in the first instance by the process
OF rubbing with eoloring matter over the
paper, and subsequently, by covering the
stone with India INK, placing the paper
against it and rubbing 1t was probably
long before the plan OF engraving COM
position for the express purpose OF taking
copies was thought of. In 10, 4 d.,
the text of the classics was cut on tablets
which were erected outside the university,
and Of these impressions were taken,
some OF which are said 10 be in existence.
Printing from wooden blocks seems 10 be
no older than the end Of the sixth century.
/ II was not until the tenth century was
well advanced that printed books became
common. In Japan the earliest example
Of block printing dates from the middle Of
the eighth century. Before that stone in
scriptions and seals with engraved char
acters were in use. The early japanese
prints were chiefly reproductions OF the
Chinese Buddhists and classical works,
the absence of native literature appar-
emily retarding the adoption of the art Of
prlntins. The first really national work
printed in Japan WAS the q Ni-hon-g'," at
the very end of the sixteenth century.
Printed slips containing Dharani out OF
the Buddhist Scripture were distributed
throughout Japan to the number OF ,OOO,-
000 in 766-110; these were apparently
printed frul cast, copper or bronze blocks
| rather than from wooden ones. The en-
Iiest japanese printed books were Of
considerably later date of those which
! have come down to modern times ; the
oldest was printed about 1900. Printing
| received great impulse from the expedI-
uions of HideyOshi against Korea, when a
number OF books were brought back hy
the yic.ors, and the Japanese learned
what had been achieved by people whom
they had considered vastly their interiors.
! Among these Were sUme books printed
with movable type, a eontrlvance which
seems to have found immediate favor
with the japanese, for nearly ali the
books produced for the next 80 or 40 years
were printed "iJh movable type. The
use of movable type was said to date IN
/ China from the middle Of the eleventh
century, but the author had not been able
to corrobcrate this statement. Movable
copper type was used iii Korea at the be-
ginning Of the fifteenth century, and even
earlier; indeed, one book so printed ap-
peared to date from the year 1917 and
1924. And even if it were after ali not
SO old as il seemed to be, there were 9th
ers dating unquestionably anterior to the
date of invention of printing by movable
type in Europe The invention reached
Japan from Korea, aud there was a dis
tinction mentioned OF Korean types pro-
duced by casting and molding about 1920
4. d. Although illustrated books were
extremely common in more recent Japan
ese literature, the earliest Dlr. Satow
knew bore the da.e 1910. Previous to
this, however, there were woodcuis on a
large scale representing the popular gods,
and 10 some Of these very great age was
attributed. One Of them dated from 1ol7,
and another WAS engrvei by Nichi-Ten,
who died in I2S2.-Iie AthsBaun.