The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-09-18
SEEN At THE Orient.
The Japanese in Their Own Homes
as Observed by American
Eyes.
People Who Have no Superiors
In Many OF the
Arts.
Tho sDxgnisite Results Of Their Fine
Eandiwork ns Seen in Carving,
Ensmeiing and Embedding.
fSpecial Correspondence.1

Especial Correspondence.1
KIoTo, Japan, Aug. 29.-While Japa-
nese civilization is peculiar, 1T possesses
certain qualities that will always make it
attractive to the foreigner. This Is es-
p~ecially true of it's development in art as
represented in painting, sculpture, enamel
ing and lacquer work. Among all the
eastern nations IN a trip around the world
l nave seen nothing that compares with it.
The beginnings, as of all things Japanese
except cleanliness, may be traced to China
through Corea, but the original has been
immensely improved upon until Japan
stands alone in tho character of her pro-
ductions and the independence OF her
schools.
Pictures are before me while / write, the
mere outlines of which in their strength,
attract attention in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. There may be a disregard
of the laws Of perspective, but so faultlessly
accurate are the natural details that have
been patiently worked In that the picture
is apt to command a ~favorite place on your
wall or in your album. 1t has been tersely
said that Japanese art is great in small
things, but small in great things" The
artists are the Raphaels of birds and fishes
and insects and flowers, of bamboo stems
swaying in the breeze and fragments of
ideali2ed scenery. Upon small surfaces
their decorations are indescribably beauti-
full.
This sense Of beauty is particularly en-
phnsized in their culture Of flowers and
gardens. The whole population turns out
several times in the year for no other pur-
pose than to visit places that are noted for
certain kinds of blossoms, and no visitor
has.seen Japan at its best until he has at
tended one or more of these charming
flower festivals around which revolve the
national holiday makings Of the people.
Thus the cherry tree is cultivated not for
it's fruit, but for its blossom, and it has al
ways been to Japan what the rose is to
western nations. The chrysanthemum is
another favorite flower, and at the proper
season in Toxic one may see it worked into
all sorts of shapes-men and gods, boats,
bridges, castles, etc. The variety Is amaz-
ing.
Some of the blossoms are immense, larger
across than the span of a mans hand. Some
are like large snowballs, the petals all
smooth and turned in, one on top Of the
other. Others resemble the tousled head
of a Scotch terrier or have long flaments
stretched out like a starfish. The stran-
gest thing of all is to see five or six kinds of
various colors and sizes growing together
on the same plant-a nosegay with only
one stem. the result of judicious grating.
Of the same kind Of blossoms as many as
800 have been known to be produced on one
plant. In other cases the whole energy of
a plant is made to concentrate on a single
blossom. and the result is a marvel of
beauty, though it is only attained by the
accumulated toll of years and daily care
during the seven months that precede the
period of blossoming.
Triumphs of another kind are obtained
in the composition of bouquets, which in
Japan has been made an art, not to say a
science, in which the philosophy of color is
closely studied. SO also is the arrange
ment of the gardens, a given effect being
sought in the transplanting Of large trees
or the dwaring of others. Thus you may
see a pine tree or a maple 100 or $50 years
old not more than six inches or a foot high.
In the matter of embroidery the Japanese
again show their wond erful taste and skill
in the combination of colors. Their brocades
and painted silks and velvets possess ex.
traordinary beauty. and, strangely enough,
the best pieces are made by men and boys,
The city Of Kioto is one of the principal
headquarters of thisa artistic industry, and
a visit to Japan is incomplete unless one
has gone through the quaint little shops.
In viewing Japanese bric-a-brac in the
large cities of che United States compare.
lively few examples can be found of the
best specimens produced, for the simple rea'
son that they are either retained at home
or purchased by the tourist. For instance
the art of cloisoune enameling, which first
| Ion M -, 1r.~r1~. 1p~nu Ds,n on ~
ago, has only been brought to perfection
within the last two decades, and such is
the quality Of the work that much of it is
held at a value so great as to preclude any
but persons of wealth from the possession
of the best specimens. Nagoya, kioto anG
Toxic are the three great centers of this
species of art, but even here the few ex
amples are small and eagerly sought.
In their architecture the Japanese also
show the genius which touches perfection
in small things. The massive, spacious
and grand with which Europeans are fn
miliar seem to be beyond their mental at
titude, yet no other nation ever understood
half 30 well how to twist u spray of flow.
CTS into artistic line and introduce here and
there delightful little bits of
ton on which the eye loves to dwell.
The ordinary Japanese house is a light
framework structure without foundation
1t stands on the ground, not in it, like oul
own. The side is composed of wooden slid.
ing doors that are slowed away in boxes
during the daytime. In summer every
thing is thus opened to the outside air. Ii
winter the wood is replaced by half trans
parent slides. Paper, by the way, answers
u thousand purposes, from an umbrella OIL
u rain coat to a broom or n table napkin.
The rooms are divided from each other b,
opaque paper screens, which, being removed
turn several rooms into one. The floor O
the living rooms is covered with thick mat.
made of split bamboo closely fitted together
so us to leave no interstices. Asthese mats
are always of the same size, 6 by 8 feet, yor
measure the area of n room by the number
Of its mats. Thus you speak of n six mai
room, n ten mat room and 50 on. Furniture
is conspicuous by it's absence. There M,
no tables, chairs or washstands. Your bee
consists of quilts that are brought in Al
night and laid wherever it may he most
convenient. You sit on the iioor-henct