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

Z.
First impressions are valuable. when he who
experiences them has the sensitive organization
of n poet, and much OF a poets faculty for de-
scription. We are glad, therefore, that Mr..
Hearn has succeeded in recalling his first i'm
preston of a Japanese town. lie tells us that
everything seemed elfsh, for everything. as
well as everybody. was small and queer and
mysterious: the little houses under their blue
roofs, the little shop fronts hung with blue, and
the smiling little people In their blue costumes.
AT first you only get, we are told. as you look
down u japanese street, the sense of a delight
fully odd confusion, through an interminab!c
f~iutterof flags and swaying of dark blue drapery,
all made beautiful and mysterious with lap
anese or Chinese letters. There are TO imme-
diately discernible laws of construction or deco
ration; each building seems to have = fantastic
prettiness of its own nothing is exactly like any
thing else. and all Is bewilderingly novel. Grad
ually, however, the eye begins To recognize in n
vague way some general plan in the construction
of the low, light, Queerly gabled wooden houses.
mostly implanted, with their first stories all
open to the street, and thin strips of roofing
sloping above each shop front like awnings back
TO the miniature balcony of the papcr-scrcened
second story. You begin To understand the COM
mon plan of the tiny shops. with their matted
floors well raised above the street level, and the
general perpendicular ARRANGEMENT OF sign-let-
terins, whether undulating on drapery or glim-
mering on gilded and lacquered signboards.
You observe that the same rich dark blue which
dominates in popular costumes rules also in shop
drapery. though there is {. sprinkling of other
tints, bright blue and white and red; no greens
or yellows. You note also that tho dresses Of
the laborers are inscribed with the Same wonder
fl lettering rs the shop drapcrles. As modified
for decorative purposes, these kilograms are
said TO have n speaking symmetry which no de-
sign without a meaning could possess. As
they appear on the back Of y work
mans frock, pure white on dark blue, and
large enough TO be easily read at a great dis
tance indicating some guild or company of
which the wearer is a member or employed
they give to the poor. cheap garment n facti-
tious appearance OF splendor. Finally. there
will come To you like a revelation the knowledge
that most OF the amazing piCturesqUeness of
these streets is simply due to the profusion Of
Chinese and japanese characters in white,
black, blue, or gold, decorating everything. even
the surfaces Of door posts and paper screens. II
then, for a moment, one imagineS the effect OF
English lettering substituted for the national
characters, the mere idea will give 10 whatever
aesthetic sentiment one may possess "A brutal
shock, and one will become. as Mr.. Hearn tells
us that he became, an enemy OF the ROmaji-
Kwai, the society founded for the ugly utilita-
rian purpose of introducing the use OF English
letters in writing japanese,
The curious aesthetic effect of the all-peryasiye
japanese lettering seems 10 require further ex-
PLANTATION, and the author gives il. He says that
an ideogram does not make upOn the Japanese
brain any impression similar 10 that created in
the Occidental brain by a letter or combina-
tion Of letters, the dull, inanimGte symbols Of
sound. 70 the Japanese brain, the ideOgram is
- vivid picture; Il lives. il speaks. it gesticu-
lates. The whole space Of a japanese street is
full OF such living characters figures that cry
out 10 the eye, words that smile or grimace like
faces. What such lettering is compared with
our own ~lifeless types can be understood only
by those who have lived for a considerable
period In the further East. Even the printed
characters of japanese or Chinese imported
texts give no suggestion Of the possible beauty
OF the same characters as modified for decorative
inscription, for sculptural use, OF for the COM
mOnest advertising purposes. No rigid con-
yentiOn letters the fancy OF the caligrapher or
designer; each tries TO make his character more
beautiful than any other; and generations OF
artists have been toiling with like emulation, so
that through centuries OF tireless effort and
study, the primitive hierOglyph or ideogram
has been evolved into a thing Of beauty indie
seribable. IL consists, TO be sure, only
Of q certain number Of brush strokes;
but in each stroke there Is an undiscOyerable
secret Art OF grace, proportion. impsrcepuble
curve, which actually makes II seem alive. and
bears witness that even during the lightning
HnOmsnto OF Its creation the artist felt with his