The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01
ny JOSEPH I. G. CLARKE.

Nh - "a eefah soob cNoiS III
r. upon the observant traveller as
something to be considered on
broader lines than in Europe.
II cannot. o early note, be limited
TO our ordinary conception Of a pic
ture or a statue. to painting and
sculpture, but 1t must include beauty
Of form and execution In a dozen diff
fering media and half a hundred an
plicatlons.
The artisan, you find, often includes
the artist, for c~rcativeness Is a badge
OF his calling. He is the artistic en-
envy Of things in pairs. He is the
uncompromising foe Of sameness, as
nature is, even in things that appear
the same. The Japanese em~broiderer
introduces tints in shading beyond the
reach Of the painter In oils.
The ordinary examples Of the fine
arts that one meets In the homes of
Japan are the pictorial scroll or kake-
mono, with n picture above three feet
long and half the width that hangs
in the place OF honor. in a recess
called the tokonoma. and possibly a
bronze or pottery s~tatuette standing
on a low pedestal in the same recess
A fine vase of metal or porcelain
chastely decorated and holding a single
flower. or else a wonderfully decorated
sword often takes the place Of the
%statuette.
Whatever II may be. 1t is there to
be Judged on its merits free OF all
competition with others Of its kind.
for the good lady Of the house. though
she owns never so many pictured
scrolls or statuettes or vases. will only
exhibit one of a kind at a time. No
walls hung with scores of pictures or
shelves, or an array OF pedestals
about the rooms enter into the scheme
OF domestic decoration In japan. In
some Of the w%ealthiest homes. par
ticularly those of noblemen who have
travelled abroad. a western parlor"
may be found furnished sumptuously
in European style, and on whose walls
hang oil paintings in gold frames
bought in the course of residence in
European capitals. These are excep-
t!onal.
Hence II is that the first glance at
japanese art in pictures is apt to be
disappointing. And so also with sculp!
ture. The examples one sees at the
Buddhist temples have naturally an
~tiquarian interest n are most Curl
Gus and instructive. but they are not
q the life ahout one. We look at them
with the same apartness as the Amer
can Protestant from the back coun-
try looks upon the religious pictures
by the thousands in European cathe-
drals and picture galleries-angels
only dreamed Of. saints with names
never heard of, a Virgin Mary never
p~oetized in his mind Christian as
they may be, these pictures are
scarcely less alien to his eyes than
them there Venuses and Apollos an
SIGH heather gods" in mutilated mar
bic or renaissance nva that vie
Will the saint wherever he goes in
southern Europe.
In Japan. however, as l have said,
a light soon breaks on you and a
world Of art new to your perceptions
arises before you. ON no one was
this more profoundly impressed than
on the late Lafcadio Hearn. He fairly
bathed in the light Of his discovery.
From the first hour of his arrival
In Japan he found It's instance in the
common street signs with their ORR
entail ideographs. their individuality
OF execution, each sign the expression
OF an artistic personality, each sign
with its individual touch. His en-
thusiasm is delightful, even though
one cannot wholly share It. Anyway
1t points to the truth.
A land where every one car write
and no one uses a pen Is the begin
ming. Instead OF the restriction as
among US of writing from the sup
ported wrist one literally paints from
the free elbow with the fiuent brush
in the orient. Hence come delicacy
and force at will and an appreciation
Of suggestive lines and forms utterly
unknown to us OF the West.
II may well he that this quality
makes more for the minute than for
the majestic, but 1t is intimate and
OF our lives and Is a wonderful open
ing Of the inner door Of art. II fur
nishes a guide and a key to intri-
cacy If design. Its Anal influence on
the larger features OF art would be
n most interesting study.
When one of the West looks first
m a Japanese garden conditions are
presented which may strike one as
expressing beauty in color. form or
contrast-the beauty is felt, some
times aCutely, To the man. woman
or hid Of Japan It IS in addition full
q! sharp delights from satisfied and
acCentIated lines and shadings and
harmpnios imperceptible to us. These
supercNccllcrces have grown In the
japanese MAD with its growth.
Few Japanese perhaps could explain
them, because they have become in
s'ln'tiy" rather than consciously ac-
CURED. The Japanese Joy In the color,
'orm and design Of a small bit OF
decorated porcelain, In an engraved
or udmascened netsuke. In a carved
S'a'c1. VI reality h. jov 10 ~ pro-
portion 10 his art education n the
cultivated delicacy OF his art percep-