The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-11-04

4 10 ~ VI Nit III NaN AhNh NhNh'
bination is that which produces the enohant
ment often 20 as 10 astohish the Japanese them.
selves. Mr.. Hearn found IL not surprising. con.
siderinR the strangely personal, animate,
e~soteric aspect Of japanese lettering, that there
should be wonderful legends Of calieraphy, re-
lstlng how words written by holy experts be-
came incsrnate. and descended from their
tablets to hold converse with mankind.
~.
II is not to hear practical Ameri-
cans say. on reading Of a great FIRE in Japan:
Those people can afford fires: their houses are
go cheaply built" On this current remark the
author makes the following comments 1T IL
true he says, that the frail wooden houses OF
the common people in Japan can be cheaply ahd
quickly replaced; but that which was within
them to make them beautiful cannot, and tho
result Is that every fire Is an art tragedy. Japan,
in other words, is the land of infinite hand made
variety; machinery has not yet been able to in
troduce ssmeness and utilitarian ugliness in
cheap production, except ia response to foreign
demand for bad taste TO suit vulgar markets.:
each object made by the artist or artisan still
differs from all others, even of his own making.
Consequently. each time something beautiful
perishes by fire, IL Is n something representing
an individual idea" Happily, the art impulse
itself in this country Of confiagrations has
u Nlballl1 MT suINiNcb tdSn k'utIH-
ton OF artists. and defes the flame that
changes their labor to ashes. or mclts II to
shapelessness. Strangely significant Of the alb
sence of machine-made uniformity Is the fact
recorded by Mr.. Ilearn that of every pair ofJap-
anese wooden clogs, one makes in walking n
slightly different sound from the other, as kring
to krang: so that the echo Of the walkers steps
has an alternate rhythm Of tones. From the
clogs one naturally passes to the feet that wear
Nha.~. A-I .-, 49, ..tI, a., ANsA I-... ...-.II
and shapely the feet Of the people are. whether
bare brown feet of peasants or beautiful feet of
children wearing tiny geta, or feet Of youns girls
IN snowy tabi. The tabi, the white digitated
stocking, gives 10 = small light foot n mythology
ical aspect. the white. cleft grace of the foot of n
fauness. Clad or bare. the japanese foot has
the antique symmetry; It has not yet been dis
torted by the ~footgear which deforms the feet Of
Occidentals.
The supremely pieasurable impression made
on the foreign observer. however. is that pro-
duced by the singular gentleness OF popular
scrutiny. Everybody looks at you curiously.
but there is never anything disagreeable. much
less hostile, in the gaze: most commonly 1t Is
accompanied by a smile, or half smile. The
ultimate consequence OF all these kindly curl
Gus looks and smiles is that the stranger finds
himself thinking of fairyland. Though the
expression may seem hackneyed. there lie. 1t
stculS' u kOou Ttdsb " III unhullnllN III tnDlCB |
OF terms todescribe what 1t would be almost i'm
possible totlepict more accurately at the first es-
say. To find ones self suddenly in a world where
everything is upon n smaller and dnintier scale:
II world of lesser and seemingly ktndlier beings.
all smiling at you and seeming to wish you well;
a world where all movement is slow and soft,
and voices are husled: n world where land, life,
and sky IRE unlike all that one has known else
where-this Is truly the realization OF the dream
of a world of elves.
Why is it, asks the author, lingering on tho
elements of beautiful unlikeness, that the trees
are so lovely in Japan ? In Europe or the United
a plum or cherry tree in flower is not an
astonishing sight, but in japan it is q miracle
Of beauty so bewildering that. however much
you may have previously read about IL. the real
strikes you dumb. You see no leaves,
only one great flmy mist of petals. Is it.
asks Mr.. Hearn. that the trees have been 80
long domesticated and caressed by man in this
land of the gods that they have acquired souls.
and strive to show their gratitude, like women
beloved, by making themselves more beautiful
for mans sake? Assuredly they have mastered
mems hearts by their loveliness. like beautiful
slaves; that Is to say, Japanese hearts. Appar-
shtly, there are some foreign tourists of the
brutal class to be apprehended, since 1t has been
necessary here and there to set up in
p%criptions in English announcing that II Is for
oidden TO injure the trees.