Historical Sketch.
_Sculpture and Carving._--Sculpture in wood and metal is of ancient
date in Japan. Its antiquity is not, indeed, comparable to that of
ancient Egypt or Greece, but no country besides Japan can boast a living
and highly developed art that has numbered upwards of twelve centuries
of unbroken and brilliant productiveness. Setting aside rude prehistoric
essays in stone and metal, which have special interest for the
antiquary, we have examples of sculpture in wood and metal, magnificent
in conception and technique, dating from the earliest periods of what we
may term historical Japan; that is, from near the beginning of the great
Buddhist propaganda under the emperor Kimmei (540-571) and the princely
hierarch, Shotoku Taishi (573-621). Stone has never been in favour in
Japan as a material for the higher expression of the sculptor's art.
First Period.
The first historical period of glyptic art in Japan reaches from the end
of the 6th to the end of the 12th century, culminating in the work of
the great Nara sculptors, Unkei and his pupil Kwaikei. Happily, there
are still preserved in the great temples of Japan, chiefly in the
ancient capital of Nara, many noble relics of this period.
The place of honour may perhaps be conferred upon sculptures in wood,
representing the Indian Buddhists, Asangha and Vasabandhu, preserved
in the Golden Hall of Kofuku-ji, Nara. These are attributed to a
Kamakura sculptor of the 8th or 9th century, and in simple and
realistic dignity of pose and grand lines of composition are worthy of
comparison with the works of ancient Greece. With these may be named
the demon lantern-bearers, so perfect in the grotesque treatment of
the diabolical heads and the accurate anatomical forms of the sturdy
body and limbs; the colossal temple guardians of the great gate of
Todai-ji, by Unkei and Kwaikei (11th century), somewhat
conventionalized, but still bearing evidence of direct study from
nature, and inspired with intense energy of action; and the smaller
but more accurately modelled temple guardians in the Saikondo, Nara,
which almost compare with the "fighting gladiator" in their
realization of menacing strength. The "goddess of art" of
Akishino-dera, Nara, attributed to the 8th century, is the most
graceful and least conventional of female sculptures in Japan, but
infinitely remote from the feminine conception of the Greeks. The
wooden portrait of Vimalakirtti, attributed to Unkei, at Kofuku-ji,
has some of the qualities of the images of the two Indian Buddhists.
The sculptures attributed to Jocho, the founder of the Nara school,
although powerful in pose and masterly in execution, lack the truth of
observation seen in some of the earlier and later masterpieces.
The most perfect of the ancient bronzes is the great image of
Bhaicha-djyaguru in the temple of Yakushi-ji, Nara, attributed to a
Korean monk of the 7th century, named Giogi. The bronze image of the
same divinity at Horyu-ji, said to have been cast at the beginning of
the 7th century by Tori Busshi, the grandson of a Chinese immigrant,
is of good technical quality, but much inferior in design to the
former. The colossal Nara Daibutsu (Vairocana) at Todai-ji, cast in
749 by a workman of Korean descent, is the largest of the great
bronzes in Japan, but ranks far below the Yakushi-ji image in artistic
qualities. The present head, however, is a later substitute for the
original, which was destroyed by fire.
The great Nara school of sculpture in wood was founded in the early
part of the 11th century by a sculptor of Imperial descent named
Jocho, who is said to have modelled his style upon that of the Chinese
wood-carvers of the Tang dynasty; his traditions were maintained by
descendants and followers down to the beginning of the 13th century.
All the artists of this period were men of aristocratic rank and
origin, and were held distinct from the carpenter-architects of the
imposing temples which were to contain their works.
Sacred images were not the only specimens of glyptic art produced in
these six centuries; reliquaries, bells, vases, incense-burners,
candlesticks, lanterns, decorated arms and armour, and many other
objects, showing no less mastery of design and execution, have reached
us. Gold and silver had been applied to the adornment of helmets and
breastplates from the 7th century, but it was in the 12th century that
the decoration reached the high degree of elaboration shown us in the
armour of the Japanese Bayard, Yoshitsune, which is still preserved at
Kasuga, Nara.
Wooden masks employed in the ancient theatrical performances were made
from the 7th century, and offer a distinct and often grotesque phase
of wood-carving. Several families of experts have been associated with
this class of sculpture, and their designs have been carefully
preserved and imitated down to the present day.
Second Period.
The second period in Japanese glyptic art extends from the beginning of
the 13th to the early part of the 17th century. The great struggle
between the Taira and Minamoto clans had ended, but the militant spirit
was still strong, and brought work for the artists who made and
ornamented arms and armour. The Miyochins, a line that claimed ancestry
from the 7th century, were at the head of their calling, and their work
in iron breastplates and helmets, chiefly in _repoussé_, is still
unrivalled. It was not until the latter half of the 15th century that
there came into vogue the elaborate decoration of the sword, a fashion
that was to last four hundred years.
The metal guard (_tsuba_), made of iron or precious alloy, was adorned
with engraved designs, often inlaid with gold and silver. The free end
of the hilt was crowned with a metallic cap or pommel (_kashira_), the
other extremity next the tsuba was embraced by an oval ring (_fuchi_),
and in the middle was affixed on each side a special ornament called
the _menuki_, all adapted in material and workmanship to harmonize
with the guard. The _kodzuka_, or handle of a little knife implanted
into the sheath of the short sword or dagger, was also of metal and
engraved with like care. The founder of the first great line of tsuba
and menuki artists was Goto Yujo (1440-1512), a friend of the painter
Kano Motonobu, whose designs he adopted. Many families of sword
artists sprang up at a later period, furnishing treasures for the
collector even down to the present day, and their labours reached a
level of technical mastery and refined artistic judgment almost
without parallel in the art industries of Europe. Buddhist sculpture
was by no means neglected during this period, but there are few works
that call for special notice. The most noteworthy effort was the
casting by Ono Goroyémon in 1252 of the well-known bronze image, the
Kamakura Daibutsu.
Third Period.
The third period includes the 17th, 18th and the greater part of the
19th centuries. It was the era of the artisan artist. The makers of
Buddhist images and of sword ornaments carried on their work with
undiminished industry and success, and some famous schools of the latter
arose during this period. The Buddhist sculptors, however, tended to
grow more conventional and the metal-workers more naturalistic as the
18th century began to wane. It was in connexion with architecture that
the great artisan movement began. The initiator was Hidari Jingoro
(1594-1652), at first a simple carpenter, afterwards one of the most
famous sculptors in the land of great artists. The gorgeous decoration
of the mausoleum of Iyeyasu at Nikko, and of the gateway of the Nishi
Hongwan temple at Kioto, are the most striking instances of his
handiwork or direction.
The pillars, architraves, ceilings, panels, and almost every available
part of the structure, are covered with arabesques and sculptured
figures of dragons, lions, tigers, birds, flowers, and even pictorial
compositions with landscapes and figures, deeply carved in solid or
open work--the wood sometimes plain, sometimes overlaid with pigment
and gilding, as in the panelled ceiling of the chapel of Iyeyasu in
Tokyo. The designs for these decorations, like those of the sword
ornaments, were adopted from the great schools of painting, but the
invention of the sculptor was by no means idle. From this time the
temple carvers, although still attached to the carpenters' guild, took
a place apart from the rest of their craft, and the genius of Hidari
Jingoro secured for one important section of the artisan world a
recognition like that which Hishigawa Moronobu, the painter and
book-illustrator, afterwards won for another.
A little later arose another art industry, also emanating from the
masses. The use of tobacco, which became prevalent in the 17th century,
necessitated the pouch. In order to suspend this from the girdle there
was employed a kind of button or toggle--the _netsuke_. The metallic
bowl and mouthpiece of the pipe offered a tempting surface for
embellishment, as well as the clasp of the pouch; and the netsuke, being
made of wood, ivory or other material susceptible of carving, also gave
occasion for art and ingenuity.
The engravers of pipes, pouch clasps, and the metallic discs
(_kagami-buta_) attached to certain netsuke, sprang from the same
class and were not less original. They worked, too, with a skill
little inferior to that of the Gotos, Naras, and other aristocratic
sculptors of sword ornaments, and often with a refinement which their
relative disadvantages in education and associations render especially
remarkable. The netsuke and the pipe, with all that pertained to it,
were for the commoners what the sword-hilt and guard were for the
gentry. Neither class cared to bestow jewels upon their persons, but
neither spared thought or expense in the embellishment of the object
they most loved. The final manifestation of popular glyptic art was
the _okimono_, an ornament pure and simple, in which utility was
altogether secondary in intention to decorative effect. Its
manufacture as a special branch of art work dates from the rise of the
naturalistic school of painting and the great expansion of the popular
school under the Katsugawa, but the okimono formed an occasional
amusement of the older glyptic artists. Some of the most exquisite and
most ingenious of these earlier productions, such as the magnificent
iron eagle in the South Kensington Museum, the wonderful articulated
models of crayfish, dragons, serpents, birds, that are found in many
European collections, came from the studios of the Miyochins; but
these were the play of giants, and were not made as articles of
commerce. The new artisan makers of the okimono struck out a line for
themselves, one influenced more by the naturalistic and popular
schools than by the classical art, and the quails of Kamejo, the
tortoises of Seimin, the dragons of Toun and Toryu, and in recent
years the falcons and the peacocks of Suzuki Chokichi, are the joy of
the European collector. The best of these are exquisite in
workmanship, graceful in design, often strikingly original in
conception, and usually naturalistic in ideal. They constitute a phase
of art in which Japan has few rivals.
The present generation is more systematically commercial in its glyptic
produce than any previous age. Millions of commercial articles in
metal-work, wood and ivory flood the European markets, and may be bought
in any street in Europe at a small price, but they offer a variety of
design and an excellence of workmanship which place them almost beyond
Western competition. Above all this, however, the Japanese sculptor is a
force in art. He is nearly as thorough as his forefathers, and maintains
the same love of all things beautiful; and if he cannot show any
epoch-making novelty, he is at any rate doing his best to support
unsurpassed the decorative traditions of the past.
Sword-making Families.
History has been eminently careful to preserve the names and records of
the men who chiselled sword furniture. The sword being regarded as the
soul of the samurai, every one who contributed to its manufacture,
whether as forger of the blade or sculptor of the furniture, was held in
high repute. The Goto family worked steadily during 14 generations, and
its 19th century representative--Goto Ichijo--will always be remembered
as one of the family's greatest experts. But there were many others
whose productions fully equalled and often excelled the best efforts of
the Goto. The following list gives the names and periods of the most
renowned families:--
(It should be noted that the division by centuries indicates the time
of a family's origin. In a great majority of cases the representatives
of each generation worked on through succeeding centuries).
_15th and 16th Centuries._
Miyochin; Goto; Umetada; Muneta; Aoki; Soami; Nakai.
_17th Century._
Kuwamura; Mizuno; Koichi; Nagayoshi;
Kuninaga; Yoshishige; Katsugi; Tsuji;
Muneyoshi; Tadahira; Shoami; Hosono;
Yokoya; Nara; Okada; Okamoto; Kinai; Akao;
Yoshioka; Hirata; Nomura; Wakabayashi; Inouye;
Yasui; Chiyo; Kaneko; Uemura; Iwamoto.
_18th Century._
Gorobei; Shoemon; Kikugawa; Yasuyama; Noda; Tamagawa; Fujita; Kikuoka;
Kizaemon; Hamano; Omori; Okamoto; Kashiwaya; Kusakari; Shichibei; Ito.
_19th Century._
Natsuo; Ishiguro; Yanagawa; Honjo; Tanaka; Okano; Kawarabayashi; Oda;
and many masters of the Omori, Hamano and Iwamoto families, as well as
the five experts, Shuraku, Temmin, Ryumin, Minjo and Minkoku.
(W. An.; F. By.)
Japanese Point of View.
There is a radical difference between the points of view of the Japanese
and the Western connoisseur in estimating the merits of sculpture in
metal. The quality of the chiselling is the first feature to which the
Japanese directs his attention; the decorative design is the prime
object of the Occidental's attention. With very rare exceptions, the
decorative motives of Japanese sword furniture were always supplied by
painters. Hence it is that the Japanese connoisseur draws a clear
distinction between the decorative design and its technical execution,
crediting the former to the pictorial artist and the latter to the
sculptor. He detects in the stroke of a chisel and the lines of a
graving tool subjective beauties which appear to be hidden from the
great majority of Western dilettanti. He estimates the rank of a
specimen by the quality of the chisel-work. The Japanese _kinzoku-shi_
(metal sculptor) uses thirty-six principal classes of chisel, each with
its distinctive name, and as most of these classes comprise from five to
ten sub-varieties, his cutting and graving tools aggregate about two
hundred and fifty.
The Field for Sculptured Decoration.
Scarcely less important in Japanese eyes than the chiselling of the
decorative design itself is the preparation of the field to which it is
applied. There used to be a strict canon with reference to this in
former times. _Namako_ (fish-roe) grounds were essential for the
mountings of swords worn on ceremonial occasions, the _ishime_
(stone-pitting) or _jimigaki_ (polished) styles being considered less
aristocratic.
Namako is obtained by punching the whole surface--except the portion
carrying the decorative design--into a texture of microscopic dots.
The first makers of namako did not aim at regularity in the
distribution of these dots; they were content to produce the effect of
millet-seed sifted haphazard over the surface. But from the 15th
century the punching of the dots in rigidly straight lines came to be
considered essential, and the difficulty involved was so great that
namako-making took its place among the highest technical achievements
of the sculptor. When it is remembered that the punching tool was
guided solely by the hand and eye, and that three or more blows of the
mallet had to be struck for every dot, some conception may be formed
of the patience and accuracy needed to produce these tiny
protuberances in perfectly straight lines, at exactly equal intervals
and of absolutely uniform size. Namako disposed in straight parallel
lines originally ranked at the head of this kind of work. But a new
kind was introduced in the 16th century. It was obtained by punching
the dots in intersecting lines, so arranged that the dots fell
uniformly into diamond-shaped groups of five each. This is called
_go-no-me-namako_, because of its resemblance to the disposition of
chequers in the Japanese game of _go_. A century later, the _daimyo
namako_ was invented, in which lines of dots alternated with lines of
polished ground. _Ishime_ may be briefly described as diapering. There
is scarcely any limit to the ingenuity and skill of the Japanese
expert in diapering a metal surface. It is not possible to enumerate
here even the principal styles of ishime, but mention may be made of
the _zara-maki_ (broad-cast), in which the surface is finely but
irregularly pitted after the manner of the face of a stone; the
_nashi-ji_ (pear-ground), in which we have a surface like the rind of
a pear; the _hari-ishime_ (needle ishime), where the indentations are
so minute that they seem to have been made with the point of a needle;
the _gama-ishime_, which is intended to imitate the skin of a toad;
the _tsuya-ishime_, produced with a chisel sharpened so that its
traces have a lustrous appearance; the _ore-kuchi_ (broken-tool), a
peculiar kind obtained with a jagged tool; and the _gozamé_, which
resembles the plaited surface of a fine straw mat.
Patina.
Great importance has always been attached by Japanese experts to the
patina of metal used for artistic chiselling. It was mainly for the
sake of their patina that value attached to the remarkable alloys
_shakudo_ (3 parts of gold to 97 of copper) and _shibuichi_ (1 part of
silver to 3 of copper). Neither metal, when it emerges from the
furnace, has any beauty, shakudo being simply dark-coloured copper and
shibuichi pale gun-metal. But after proper treatment[2] the former
develops a glossy black patina with violet sheen, and the latter shows
beautiful shades of grey with silvery lustre. Both these compounds
afford delicate, unobtrusive and effective grounds for inlaying with
gold, silver and other metals, as well as for sculpture, whether
incised or in relief. Copper, too, by patina-producing treatment, is
made to show not merely a rich golden sheen with pleasing limpidity,
but also red of various hues, from deep coral to light vermilion,
several shades of grey, and browns of numerous tones from dead-leaf to
chocolate. Even greater value has always been set upon the patina of
iron, and many secret recipes were preserved in artist families for
producing the fine, satin-like texture so much admired by all
connoisseurs.
Methods of Chiselling.
In Japan, as in Europe, three varieties of relief carving are
distinguished--_alto_ (_taka-bori_), mezzo (_chuniku-bori_) and
_basso_ (_usuniku-bori_). In the opinion of the Japanese expert, these
styles hold the same respective rank as that occupied by the three
kinds of ideographic script in caligraphy. High relief carving
corresponds to the _kaisho_, or most classical form of writing; medium
relief to the _gyosho_, or semi-cursive style; and low relief to the
_sosho_ or grass character. With regard to incised chiselling, the
commonest form is _kebori_ (hair-carving), which may be called
engraving, the lines being of uniform thickness and depth. Very
beautiful results are obtained by the kebori method, but incomparably
the finest work in the incised class is that known as
_kata-kiri-bori_. In this kind of chiselling the Japanese artist can
claim to be unique as well as unrivalled. Evidently the idea of the
great Yokoya experts, the originators of the style, was to break away
from the somewhat formal monotony of ordinary engraving, where each
line performs exactly the same function, and to convert the chisel
into an artist's brush instead of using it as a common cutting tool.
They succeeded admirably. In the kata-kiri-bori every line has its
proper value in the pictorial design, and strength and directness
become cardinal elements in the strokes of the burin just as they do
in the brushwork of the picture-painter. The same fundamental rule
applied, too, whether the field of the decoration was silk, paper or
metal. The artist's tool, be it brush or burin, must perform its task
by one effort. There must be no appearance of subsequent deepening, or
extending, or re-cutting or finishing. Kata-kiri-bori by a great
expert is a delight. One is lost in astonishment at the nervous yet
perfectly regulated force and the unerring fidelity of every trace of
the chisel. Another variety of carving much affected by artists of the
17th century, and now largely used, is called _shishi-ai-bori_ or
_niku-ai-bori_. In this style the surface of the design is not raised
above the general plane of the field, but an effect of projection is
obtained either by recessing the whole space immediately surrounding
the design, or by enclosing the latter in a scarped frame. Yet another
and very favourite method, giving beautiful results, is to model the
design on both faces of the metal so as to give a sculpture in the
round. The fashion is always accompanied by chiselling _à jour_
(_sukashi-bori_), so that the sculptured portions stand out in their
entirety.
Inlaying.
Inlaying with gold or silver was among the early forms of decoration
in Japan. The skill developed in modern times is at least equal to
anything which the past can show, and the results produced are much
more imposing. There are two principal kinds of inlaying: the first
called _hon-zogan_ (true inlaying), the second _nunome-zogan_
(linen-mesh inlaying). As to the former, the Japanese method does not
differ from that seen in the beautiful iron censers and vases inlaid
with gold which the Chinese produced from the _Süen-te_ era
(1426-1436). In the surface of the metal the workman cuts grooves
wider at the base than at the top, and then hammers into them gold or
silver wire. Such a process presents no remarkable features, except
that it has been carried by the Japanese to an extraordinary degree of
elaborateness. The nunome-zogan is more interesting. Suppose, for
example, that the artist desires to produce an inlaid diaper. His
first business is to chisel the surface in lines forming the basic
pattern of the design. Thus, for a diamond-petal diaper the chisel is
carried across the face of the metal horizontally, tracing a number of
parallel bands divided at fixed intervals by ribs which are obtained
by merely straightening the chisel and striking it a heavy blow. The
same process is then repeated in another direction, so that the new
bands cross the old at an angle adapted to the nature of the design.
Several independent chisellings may be necessary before the lines of
the diaper emerge clearly, but throughout the whole operation no
measurement of any kind is taken, the artist being guided entirely by
his hand and eye. The metal is then heated, not to redness, but
sufficiently to develop a certain degree of softness, and the workman,
taking a very thin sheet of gold (or silver), hammers portions of it
into the salient points of the design. In ordinary cases this is the
sixth process. The seventh is to hammer gold into the outlines of the
diaper; the eighth, to hammer it into the pattern filling the spaces
between the lines, and the ninth and tenth to complete the details. Of
course the more intricate the design the more numerous the processes.
It is scarcely possible to imagine a higher effort of hand and eye
than this _nunome-zogan_ displays, for while intricacy and
elaborateness are carried to the very extreme, absolute mechanical
accuracy is obtained. Sometimes in the same design we see gold of
three different hues, obtained by varying the alloy. A third kind of
inlaying, peculiar to Japan, is _sumi-zogan_ (ink-inlaying), so called
because the inlaid design gives the impression of having been painted
with Indian ink beneath the transparent surface of the metal. The
difference between this process and ordinary inlaying is that for
_sumi-zogan_ the design to be inlaid is fully chiselled out of an
independent block of metal with sides sloping so as to be broader at
the base than at the top. The object which is to receive the
decoration is then channelled in dimensions corresponding to those of
the design block, and the latter having been fixed in the channels,
the surface is ground and polished until an intimate union is obtained
between the inlaid design and the metal forming its field. Very
beautiful effects are thus produced, for the design seems to have
grown up to the surface of the metal field rather than to have been
planted in it. Shibuichi inlaid with shakudo used to be the commonest
combination of metals in this class of decoration, and the objects
usually depicted were bamboos, crows, wild-fowl under the moon, peony
sprays and so forth.
Wood-grained Grounds.
A variety of decoration much practised by early experts, and carried
to a high degree of excellence in modern times, is _mokume-ji_
(wood-grained ground). The process in this case is to take a thin
plate of metal and beat it into another plate of similar metal, so
that the two, though welded together, retain their separate forms. The
mass, while still hot, is coated with _hena-tsuchi_ (a kind of marl)
and rolled in straw ash, in which state it is roasted over a charcoal
fire raised to glowing heat with the bellows. The clay having been
removed, another plate of the same metal is beaten in, and the same
process is repeated. This is done several times, the number depending
on the quality of graining that the expert desires to produce. The
manifold plate is then heavily punched from one side, so that the
opposite face protrudes in broken blisters, which are then hammered
down until each becomes a centre of wave propagation. In fine work the
apex of the blister is ground off before the final hammering. Iron was
the metal used exclusively for work of this kind down to the 16th
century, but various metals began thenceforth to be combined. Perhaps
the choicest variety is gold graining in a shakudo field. By repeated
hammering and polishing the expert obtains such control of the
wood-grain pattern that its sinuosities and eddies seem to have
developed symmetry without losing anything of their fantastic grace.
There are other methods of producing _mokume-ji_.
Modern and Ancient Skill.
It has been frequently asserted by Western critics that the year (1876)
which witnessed the abolition of sword-wearing in Japan, witnessed also
the end of her artistic metal-work. That is a great mistake. The art has
merely developed new phases in modern times. Not only are its masters as
skilled now as they were in the days of the Goto, the Nara, the Yokoya
and the Yanagawa celebrities, but also their productions must be called
greater in many respects and more interesting than those of their
renowned predecessors. They no longer devote themselves to the
manufacture of sword ornaments, but work rather at vases, censers,
statuettes, plaques, boxes and other objects of a serviceable or
ornamental nature. All the processes described above are practised by
them with full success, and they have added others quite as remarkable.
Of these, one of the most interesting is called _kiribame_
(insertion). The decorative design having been completely chiselled in
the round, is then fixed in a field of a different metal, in which a
design of exactly similar outline has been cut out. The result is that
the picture has no blank reverse. For example, on the surface of a
shibuichi box-lid we see the backs of a flock of geese chiselled in
silver, and when the lid is opened, their breasts and the under-sides
of their pinions appear. The difficulty of such work is plain.
Microscopic accuracy has to be attained in cutting out the space for
the insertion of the design, and while the latter must be soldered
firmly in its place, not the slightest trace of solder or the least
sign of junction must be discernible between the metal of the inserted
picture and that of the field in which it is inserted. Suzuki Gensuke
is the inventor of this method. He belongs to a class of experts
called _uchimono-shi_ (hammerers) who perform preparatory work for
glyptic artists in metal. The skill of these men is often wonderful.
Using the hammer only, some of them can beat out an intricate shape as
truly and delicately as a sculptor could carve it with his chisels.
Ohori Masatoshi, an uchimono-shi of Aizu (d. 1897), made a silver
cake-box in the form of a sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum. The shapes
of the body and lid corresponded so intimately that, whereas the lid
could be slipped on easily and smoothly without any attempt to adjust
its curves to those of the body, it always fitted so closely that the
box could be lifted by grasping the lid only. Another feat of his was
to apply a lining of silver to a shakudo box by shaping and hammering
only, the fit being so perfect that the lining clung like paper to
every part of the box. Suzuki Gensuke and Hirata Soko are scarcely
less expert. The latter once exhibited in Tokyo a silver game-cock
with soft plumage and surface modelling of the most delicate
character. It had been made by means of the hammer only. Suzuki's
kiribame process is not to be confounded with the _kiribame-zogan_
(inserted inlaying) of Toyoda Koko, also a modern artist. The gist of
the latter method is that a design chiselled _à jour_ has its outlines
veneered with other metal which serves to emphasize them. Thus, having
pierced a spray of flowers in a thin sheet of shibuichi, the artist
fits a slender rim of gold, silver or shakudo to the petals, leaves
and stalks, so that an effect is produced of transparent blossoms
outlined in gold, silver or purple. Another modern achievement--also
due to Suzuki Gensuke--is _maze-gane_ (mixed metals). It is a singular
conception, and the results obtained depend largely on chance.
Shibuichi and shakudo are melted separately, and when they have cooled
just enough not to mingle too intimately, they are cast into a bar
which is subsequently beaten flat. The plate thus obtained shows
accidental clouding, or massing of dark tones, and these patches are
taken as the basis of a pictorial design to which final character is
given by inlaying with gold and silver, and by kata-kiri sculpture.
Such pictures partake largely of the impressionist character, but they
attain much beauty in the hands of the Japanese artist with his
extensive _répertoire_ of suggestive symbols. A process resembling
maze-gane, but less fortuitous, is _shibuichi-doshi_ (combined
shibuichi), which involves beating together two kinds of shibuichi and
then adding a third variety, after which the details of the picture
are worked in as in the case of maze-gane. The charm of these methods
is that certain parts of the decorative design seem to float, not on
the surface of the metal, but actually within it, an admirable effect
of depth and atmosphere being thus produced. Mention must also be made
of an extraordinarily elaborate and troublesome process invented by
Kajima Ippu, a great artist of the present day. It is called
_togi-dashi-zogan_ (ground-out inlaying). In this exquisite and
ingenious kind of work the design appears to be growing up from the
depths of the metal, and a delightful impression of atmosphere and
water is obtained. All these processes, as well as that of _repoussé_,
in which the Japanese have excelled from a remote period, are now
practised with the greatest skill in Tokyo, Kioto, Osaka and Kanazawa.
At the art exhibitions held twice a year in the principal cities there
may be seen specimens of statuettes, alcove ornaments, and household
utensils which show that the Japanese worker in metals stands more
indisputably than ever at the head of the world's artists in that
field. The Occident does not yet appear to have full realized the
existence of such talent in Japan; partly perhaps because its displays
in former times were limited chiefly to sword-furniture, possessing
little interest for the average European or American; and partly
because the Japanese have not yet learned to adapt their skill to
foreign requirements. They confine themselves at present to decorating
plaques, boxes and cases for cigars or cigarettes, and an occasional
tea or coffee service; but the whole domain of salvers,
dessert-services, race-cups and so on remains virtually unexplored.
Only within the past few years have stores been established in the
foreign settlements for the sale of silver utensils, and already the
workmanship on these objects displays palpable signs of the
deterioration which all branches of Japanese art have undergone in the
attempt to cater for foreign taste. In a general sense the European or
American connoisseur is much less exacting than the Japanese. Broad
effects of richness and splendour captivate the former, whereas the
latter looks for delicacy of finish, accuracy of detail and, above
all, evidences of artistic competence. It is nothing to a Japanese
that a vase should be covered with profuse decoration of flowers and
foliage: he requires that every blossom and every leaf shall be
instinct with vitality, and the comparative costliness of fine
workmanship does not influence his choice. But if the Japanese
sculptor adopted such standards in working for foreign patrons, his
market would be reduced to very narrow dimensions. He therefore adapts
himself to his circumstances, and, using the mould rather than the
chisel, produces specimens which snow tawdry handsomeness and are
attractively cheap. It must be admitted, however, that even though
foreign appreciative faculty were sufficiently educated, the Japanese
artist in metals would still labour under the great difficulty of
devising shapes to take the place of those which Europe and America
have learned to consider classical.
Bronze Casting.
Bronze is called by the Japanese _kara-kane_, a term signifying "Chinese
metal" and showing clearly the source from which knowledge of the alloy
was obtained. It is a copper-lead-tin compound, the proportions of its
constituents varying from 72 to 88% of copper, from 4 to 20% of lead and
from 2 to 8% of tin. There are also present small quantities of arsenic
and antimony, and zinc is found generally as a mere trace, but sometimes
reaching to 6%. Gold is supposed to have found a place in ancient
bronzes, but its presence has never been detected by analysis, and of
silver not more than 2% seems to have been admitted at any time. Mr W.
Gowland has shown that, whatever may have been the practice of Japanese
bronze makers in ancient and medieval eras, their successors in later
days deliberately introduced arsenic and antimony into the compound in
order to harden the bronze without impairing its fusibility, so that it
might take a sharper impression of the mould. Japanese bronze is well
suited for castings, not only because of its low melting-point, great
fluidity and capacity for taking sharp impressions, but also because it
has a particularly smooth surface and readily develops a fine patina.
One variety deserves special mention. It is a golden yellow bronze,
called _sentoku_--this being the Japanese pronunciation of _Suen-te_,
the era of the Ming dynasty of China when this compound was invented.
Copper, tin, lead and zinc, mixed in various proportions by different
experts, are the ingredients, and the beautiful golden hues and glossy
texture of the surface are obtained by patina-producing processes, in
which branch of metal-work the Japanese show altogether unique skill.
From the time when they began to cast bronze statues, Japanese experts
understood how to employ a hollow, removable core round which the
metal was run in a skin just thick enough for strength without waste
of material; and they also understood the use of wax for modelling
purposes. In ordinary circumstances, a casting thus obtained took the
form of a shell without any break of continuity. But for very large
castings the process had to be modified. The great image of Lochana
Buddha at Nara, for example, would measure 138 ft. in height were it
standing erect, and its weight is about 550 tons. The colossal Amida
at Kamakura has a height only 3 ft. less. It would have been scarcely
possible to cast such statues in one piece _in situ_, or, if cast
elsewhere, to transport them and elevate them on their pedestals. The
plan pursued was to build them up gradually in their places by
casting segment after segment. Thus, for the Nara Daibutsu, the mould
was constructed in a series of steps ascending 12 in. at a time, until
the head and neck were reached, which, of course, had to be cast in
one shell, 12 ft. high.
The term "parlour bronzes" serves to designate objects for domestic
use, as flower-vases, incense-burners and alcove ornaments.
Bronze-casters began to turn their attention to these objects about
the middle of the 17th century. The art of casting bronze reached its
culmination in the hands of a group of great experts--Seimin, Toun,
Masatune, Teijo, Somin, Keisai, Takusai, Gido, Zenryusai and
Hotokusai--who flourished during the second half of the 18th century
and the first half of the 19th. Many brilliant specimens of these
men's work survive, their general features being that the motives are
naturalistic, that the quality of the metal is exceptionally fine,
that in addition to beautifully clear casting obtained by highly
skilled use of the _cera-perduta_ process, the chisel was employed to
impart delicacy and finish to the design, and that modelling in high
relief is most successfully introduced. But it is a mistake to assert,
as many have asserted, that after the era of the above ten
masters--the latest of whom, Somin, ceased to work in 1871--no bronzes
comparable with theirs were cast. Between 1875 and 1879 some of the
finest bronzes ever produced in Japan were turned out by a group of
experts working under the business name of Sanseisha. Started by two
brothers, Oshima Katsujiro (art-name Joun) and Oshima Yasutaro
(art-name Shokaku), this association secured the services of a number
of skilled chisellers of sword-furniture, who had lost their
occupation by the abandonment of sword-wearing. Nothing could surpass
the delicacy of the works executed at the Sanseisha's atelier in
Tokyo, but unfortunately such productions were above the standard of
the customers for whom they were intended. Foreign buyers, who alone
stood in the market at that time, failed to distinguish the fine and
costly bronzes of Joun, Shokaku and their colleagues from cheap
imitations which soon began to compete with them, so that ultimately
the Sanseisha had to be closed. This page in the modern history of
Japan's bronzes needs little alteration to be true of her applied art
in general. Foreign demand has shown so little discrimination that
experts, finding it impossible to obtain adequate remuneration for
first-class work, have been obliged to abandon the field altogether,
or to lower their standard to the level of general appreciation, or by
forgery to cater for the perverted taste which attaches unreasoning
value to age. Joun has produced, and is thoroughly capable of
producing, bronzes at least equal to the best of Seimin's
masterpieces, yet he has often been induced to put Seimin's name on
objects for the sake of attracting buyers who attach more value to
cachet than to quality. If to the names of Joun and his brilliant
pupil Ryuki we add those of Suzuki Chokichi, Okazaki Sessei, Hasegawa
Kumazo, Kanaya Gorosaburo and Jomi Eisuke, we have a group of modern
bronze-casters who unquestionably surpass the ten experts beginning
with Seimin and ending with Somin. Okazaki Sessei has successfully
achieved the casting of huge panels carrying designs in high relief;
and whether there is question of patina or of workmanship, Jomi Eisuke
has never been surpassed.
Occidental influence has been felt, of course, in the field of modern
bronze-casting. At a school of art officially established in Tokyo in
1873 under the direction of Italian teachers--a school which owed its
signal failure partly to the incompetence and intemperate behaviour of
some of its foreign professors, and partly to a strong renaissance of
pure Japanese classicism--one of the few accomplishments successfully
taught was that of modelling in plaster and chiselling in marble after
Occidental methods. Marble statues are out of place in the wooden
buildings as well as in the parks of Japan, and even plaster busts or
groups, though less incongruous perhaps, have not yet found favour.
Hence the skill undoubtedly possessed by several graduates of the
defunct art school has to be devoted chiefly to a subordinate purpose,
namely, the fashioning of models for metal-casters. To this
combination of modellers in European style and metal-workers of such
force as Suzuki and Okazaki, Japan owes various memorial bronzes and
effigies which are gradually finding a place in her parks, her
museums, her shrines or her private houses. There is here little
departure from the well-trodden paths of Europe. Studies in drapery,
prancing steeds, ideal poses, heads with fragments of torsos attached
(in extreme violation of true art), crouching beasts of prey--all the
stereotyped styles are reproduced. The imitation is excellent.
Carving in Wood and Ivory.
Among the artists of early times it is often difficult to distinguish
between the carver of wood and the caster of bronze. The latter
sometimes made his own models in wax, sometimes chiselled them in wood,
and sometimes had recourse to a specialist in wood-carving. The group of
splendid sculptors in wood that graced the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries
left names never to be forgotten, but undoubtedly many other artists of
scarcely less force regarded bronze-casting as their principal business.
Thus the story of wood-carving is very difficult to trace. Even in the
field of architectural decoration for interiors, tradition tells us
scarcely anything about the masters who carved such magnificent works as
those seen in the Kioto temples, the Tokugawa mausolea, and some of the
old castles. There are, however, no modern developments of such work to
be noted. The ability of former times exists and is exercised in the old
way, though the field for its employment has been greatly narrowed.
[Illustration: PLATE V. SCULPTURE
FIG. 11.--VAJRA MALLA. By Unkei (13th century).
FIG. 12.--STATUE OF ASANGA (12th century, artist unknown).
FIG. 13.--STATUES OF BUDDHA AMI'TABHA AND TWO BODHISATTVAS (7th
century).]
[Illustration: PLATE VI. METAL WORK AND LACQUER
FIG 14.--DOOR OF BRONZE LANTERN IN THE TODAI TEMPLE (8th century).
FIG. 15.--BRONZE DUCK INCENSE BURNER (15th century). British Museum.
FIG. 16.--BRONZE MIRROR (12th to 13th century).