,,books ,,for ,,collectors ,with ,frontispieces and many ,illustrations4 ,,chats ,,on ,,english ,,china4 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,furniture4 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,prints4 7,how to collect and value ,old ,engravings47 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,costume4 ,by ,g4 ,woolliscroft ,rhead4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,lace ,,and ,,needlework4 ,by ,e4 ,l4 ,lowes4 ,,chats ,,on ,,oriental ,,china4 ,by ,j4 ,f4 ,blacker4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,miniatures4 ,by ,j4 ,j4 ,foster1 ,f4,s4,a4 ,,chats ,,on ,,english ,,earthenware4 7,companion volume to ,chats on ,english ,china47 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,autographs4 ,by ,a4 ,m4 ,broadley4 ,,chats ,,on ,,pewter4 ,by ,h4 ,j4 ,l4 ,j4 ,mass1 ,m4,a4 ,,chats ,,on ,,postage ,,stamps4 ,by ,fred4 ,j4 ,melville4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,jewellery ,,and ,,trinkets4 ,by ,mac,iver ,percival4 ,,chats ,,on ,,cottage ,,and ,,farmhouse ,,furniture4 7,companion volume to ,chats on ,old ,furniture47 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,coins ,by ,fred4 ,w4 ,burgess4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,copper ,,and ,,brass4 ,by ,fred4 ,w4 ,burgess4 ,,chats ,,on ,,household ,,curios4 ,by ,fred4 ,w4 ,burgess4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,silver4 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,japanese ,,prints4 ,by ,arthur ,davison ,ficke4 ,,chats ,,on ,,military ,,curios4 ,by ,stanley ,c4 ,johnson4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,clocks ,,and ,,watches4 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,royal ,,copenhagen ,,porcelain4 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,chats ,,on ,,old ,,sheffield ,,plate4 7,companion volume to ,chats on ,old ,silver47 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,,bye ,,paths ,,of ,,curio ,,collecting4 ,by ,arthur ,hayden4 ,with ,frontispiece and #gb ,full page ,illustrations4 #is4 net4 ,,london3 ,t4 ,,fisher ,,unwin1 ,,ltd4 ,,new ,,york3 ,f4 ,a4 ,,stokes ,,company4 ,,chats ,,on ,,japanese ,,prints ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,bow-,,moon4 ,size #ae #g4 ,signed ,hiroshige1 hitsu4 ,frontispiece4 ,,chats ,,on ,,japanese ,,prints ,,by ,,arthur ,,davison ,,ficke ,,with #ef ,,illustrations ,,and ,a ,,coloured ,,frontispiece ,t4 ,,fisher ,,unwin ,,ltd ,,london3 ,,adelphi ,,terrace 99 99 99 99 99 ,first published in #aiae ,second ,impression1 #aiaf ,third ,impression1 #aiag ,fourth ,impression1 #aibb 7,all rights reserved7 99 99 99 99 99 ,,to ,,frederick ,,william ,,gookin ,,and ,,howard ,,mansfield ,,custodians1 ,,appraisers1 ,,and ,,lovers ,,of ,,beauty ,as chosen guests we may partake ,of this strange hostel's ancient wine4 ,for thirst no common drink can slake ,tapsters of lineage divine ,here pour sweet anodyne4 ,the hurly-burly of the road1 ,the turmoil of the carters' feet1 ,intrude not to this still abode ,where travellers from the world-ends meet1 ,and find the gathering sweet4 ,hence may perhaps some secret gleam ,follow along our onward way1 ,from evening feast with lords of dream1 ,as we go forth into the grey ,to-morrow's cloudy day4 ,,preface ,for assistance of many kinds in preparing this book the thanks of the author are gratefully offered to ,mr4 ,frederick ,william ,gookin1 ,mr4 ,howard ,mansfield1 ,mr4 ,william ,s4 ,spaulding1 ,mr4 ,john ,t4 ,spaulding1 ,mr4 ,judson ,d4 ,metzgar1 ,mr4 ,charles ,h4 ,chandler1 ,mr4 ,john ,stewart ,happer1 ,col4 ,henry ,appleton1 ,mrs4 ,arthur ,aldis1 ,mr4 ,ernest ,oberholtzer1 and ,mr4 ,charles ,august ,ficke4 ,though many obligations must perforce go unacknowledged1 it would be improper to fail to state indebtedness to the writings of ,von ,seidlitz1 ,bing1 ,huish1 ,anderson1 ,strange1 ,binyon1 ,gookin1 ,kurth1 ,morrison1 ,happer1 ,koechlin1 ,vignier1 ,succo1 ,field1 ,de ,goncourt1 ,okakura1 ,edmunds1 ,perzynski1 ,wright1 ,fenollosa1 and ,de ,becker4 ,many collectors have kindly allowed their prints to be used for illustration in this book4 ,that all the examples are from ,american collections is due to considerations of convenience1 not to any notion of their superiority4 ,all prints not credited to another owner are from the collection of the author4 ,the other collections from which illustrations are drawn are as follows3-- ,spaulding 7,william ,s4 and ,john ,t471 ,boston1 ,massachusetts4 ,gookin 7,frederick ,w471 ,chicago1 ,illinois4 ,mansfield 7,howard71 ,new ,york4 ,chandler 7,charles ,h471 ,evanston1 ,illinois4 ,metzgar 7,judson ,d471 ,moline1 ,illinois4 ,ainsworth 7,miss ,mary71 ,moline1 ,illinois4 ,four of the poems herein printed appeared first in ,the ,little ,review4 ,a number of the others are from the author's book ,twelve ,japanese ,painters4 ,most of the photographs here reproduced were prepared by ,mr4 ,j4 ,h4 ,paarman1 ,miss ,sarah ,g4 ,foote-,sheldon1 and ,mr4 ,j4 ,d4 ,metzgar4 ,,davenport1 ,,iowa1 ,u4,s4,a4 ,,contents ,,page ,,preface #aa ,,glossary #ai ,,chapter ,i4 ,,preliminary ,,survey #bc ,,ii4 ,,conditions ,,preceding ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,print ,,designing #dg ,,iii4 ,,the ,,first ,,period3 ,,the ,,primitives #fa ,,iv4 ,,the ,,second ,,period3 ,,the ,,early ,,polychrome ,,masters #abe ,v4 ,,the ,,third ,,period3 ,,kiyonaga ,,and ,,his ,,followers #bje ,,vi4 ,,the ,,fourth ,,period3 ,,the ,,decadence #bee ,,vii4 ,,the ,,fifth ,,period3 ,,the ,,downfall #cdg ,,viii4 ,,the ,,collector #dja ,,index #ddi ,,illustrations ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,bow-,,moon ,frontispiece ,,plate ,,page #a4 ,,moronobu3 ,a ,,pair ,,of ,,lovers #ga #b4 ,,sukenobu3 ,a ,,young ,,courtesan #gg #c4 ,,kwaigetsud3 ,,courtesan ,,arranging ,,her ,,coiffure 7,spaulding ,collection7 #ha #d4 ,,okumura ,,masanobu3 ,,courtesans ,,at ,,toilet #ic #e4 ,,okumura ,,masanobu3 ,,standing ,,woman #ig #f4 ,,okumura ,,masanobu3 ,,young ,,nobleman ,,playing ,,the ,,drum 7,chandler ,collection7 #aja #g4 ,,toyonobu3 ,,two ,,komuso1 ,,represented ,,by ,,the ,,actors ,,sanokawa ,,ichimatsu ,,and ,,onoye ,,kikugoro 7,chandler ,collection7 #aji #h4 ,,toyonobu3 ,,girl ,,opening ,,an ,,umbrella 7,metzgar ,collection7 #aac ,,toyonobu3 ,,woman ,,dressing #aac #i4 ,,kiyomitsu3 ,,the ,,actor ,,segawa ,,kikunojo ,,as ,a ,,woman ,,smoking #aag #aj4 ,,kiyomitsu3 ,,woman ,,with ,,basket ,,hat #aba ,,kiyomitsu3 ,,woman ,,coming ,,from ,,bath #aba #aa4 ,,harunobu3 ,,young ,,girl ,,in ,,wind 7,gookin ,collection7 #acg #ab4 ,,harunobu3 ,,lady ,,talking ,,with ,,fan-,,vendor 7,chandler ,collection7 #ada #ac4 ,,harunobu3 ,,girl ,,viewing ,,moon ,,and ,,blossoms 7,chandler ,collection7 #ade #ad4 ,,harunobu3 ,,courtesan ,,detaining ,a ,,passing ,,samurai #adi #ae4 ,,harunobu3 ,,shirai ,,gompachi ,,disguised ,,as ,a ,,komuso #aec ,,harunobu3 ,,girl ,,playing ,,with ,,kitten #aec #af4 ,,koriusai3 ,,mother ,,and ,,boy #afa ,,koriusai3 ,,two ,,lovers ,,in ,,the ,,fields2 ,,spring ,,cuckoo #afa #ag4 ,,koriusai3 ,,two ,,ladies #afe ,,koriusai3 ,a ,,game ,,of ,,tag #afe #ah4 ,,shigemasa3 ,,two ,,ladies #afi ,,koriusai3 ,a ,,courtesan #afi #ai4 ,,shunsho3 ,,an ,,actor ,,of ,,the ,,ishikawa ,,school ,,in ,,tragic ,r,,le #age #bj4 ,,shunsho3 ,,the ,,actor ,,nakamura ,,matsuye ,,as ,a ,,woman ,,in ,,white #agi #ba4 ,,shunsho3 ,,the ,,actor ,,nakamura ,,noshio ,,in ,,female ,r,,le 7,gookin ,collection7 #ahc #bb4 ,,buncho3 ,,courtesan ,,and ,,her ,,attendant ,,in ,,snowstorm 7,mansfield ,collection7 #ahg #bc4 ,,shunyei3 ,,an ,,actor #aia #bd4 ,,shunko3 ,,the ,,actor ,,ishikawa ,,monnosuke ,,in ,,character #aie #be4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,the ,,courtesan ,,hana-,,ji ,,with ,,attendants #baa #bf4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,lady ,,with ,,two ,,attendants 7,gookin ,collection7 #bae #bg4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,the ,,courtesan ,,shizuka ,,with ,,attendants ,,in ,,the ,,peony ,,garden ,,at ,,asakusa #bai #bh4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,two ,,women ,,and ,a ,,tea-,,house ,,waitress ,,beside ,,the ,,sumida ,,river 7,gookin ,collection7 #bbc #bi4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,yoshitsune ,,serenading ,,the ,,lady ,,jorurihime 7,spaulding ,collection7 #bbg #cj4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,geisha ,,with ,,servant ,,carrying ,,lute-,,box #bca ,,kiyonaga3 ,,woman ,,painting ,,her ,,eyebrows #bca #ca4 ,,shuncho3 ,,group ,,at ,a ,,temple ,,gate 7,mansfield ,collection7 #bce #cb4 ,,shuncho3 ,,two ,,ladies ,,under ,,umbrella #bci ,,shuncho3 ,,the ,,courtesan ,,hana-,,ji2 ,,the ,,sumida ,,river ,,seen ,,through ,,the ,,window #bci #cc4 ,,shuncho3 ,,two ,,ladies ,,in ,a ,,boat ,,on ,,the ,,sumida ,,river #bdc ,,yeisho3 ,,two ,,courtesans ,,after ,,the ,,bath #bdc #cd4 ,,kitao ,,masanobu3 ,,the ,,cuckoo 7,spaulding ,collection7 #bea #ce4 ,,yeishi3 ,,three ,,ladies ,,by ,,the ,,seashore #bfg #cf4 ,,yeishi3 ,,lady ,,with ,,tobacco-,,pipe #bga #cg4 ,,yeishi3 ,,interior ,,opening ,,on ,,to ,,the ,,seashore 7,metzgar ,collection7 #bge #ch4 ,,utamaro3 ,,okita ,,of ,,naniwaya1 ,a ,,tea-,,house ,,waitress 7,chandler ,collection7 #bhc #ci4 ,,utamaro3 ,,two ,,courtesans #bhg #dj4 ,,utamaro3 ,,woman ,,seated ,,on ,a ,,veranda #bia #da4 ,,utamaro3 ,a ,,youthful ,,prince ,,and ,,ladies #bie #db4 ,,sharaku3 ,,the ,,actor ,,arashi ,,ryuz ,,in ,,the ,r,,le ,,of ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,forty-,,seven ,,ronin 7,spaulding ,collection7 #cja #dc4 ,,sharaku3 ,,the ,,actor ,,ishikawa ,,danjuro ,,in ,,the ,r,,le ,,of ,,moronao #cji #dd4 ,,sharaku3 ,,the ,,actor ,,kosagawa ,,tsuneyo ,,as ,a ,,woman ,,in ,,the ,,drama ,,of ,,the ,,forty-,,seven ,,ronin 7,ainsworth ,collection7 #cac #de4 ,,choki3 ,,courtesan ,,and ,,attendant #cba ,,shunman3 ,,two ,,ladies ,,under ,a ,,maple-,,tree #cba #df4 ,,choki3 ,a ,,courtesan ,,and ,,her ,,lover #cbe ,,choki3 ,a ,,geisha ,,and ,,her ,,servant ,,carrying ,,lute-,,box #cbe #dg4 ,,toyokuni3 ,,ladies ,,and ,,cherry ,,blossoms ,,in ,,the ,,wind 7,metzgar ,collection7 #ccc #dh4 ,,toyohiro3 ,a ,,daimyo',s ,,kite-,,party #cda #di4 ,,hokusai3 ,,fuji1 ,,seen ,,across ,,the ,,tama ,,river1 ,,province ,,of ,,musashi #cfa #ej4 ,,hokusai3 ,,fuji1 ,,seen ,,from ,,the ,,pass ,,of ,,mishima1 ,,province ,,of ,,kahi #cfg #ea4 ,,hokusai3 ,,the ,,monkey ,,bridge2 ,,twilight ,,and ,,rising ,,moon #cga #eb4 ,,hiroshige3 ,,homing ,,geese ,,at ,,katada2 ,,twilight #cgg #ec4 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,seven ,,ri ,,ferry1 ,,kuwana1 ,,at ,,the ,,mouth ,,of ,,the ,,kiso ,,river2 ,,sunset #chc #ed4 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,village ,,of ,,the ,,fuji ,,kawa2 ,,evening ,,snow #chg #ee4 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,ommaya ,,embankment1 ,,on ,,the ,,sumida ,,river ,,at ,,asakusa2 ,,evening #cia #ef4 ,,hiroshige3 ,,bird ,,and ,,flowers #cie ,,glossary ,,beni4--,a delicate pink or red pigment of vegetable origin4 ,,beni-,,ye4--,a print in which beni is the chief colour used4 ,the term is generally employed to describe all those two-colour prints which immediately preceded the invention of polychrome printing4 ,,chuban4--,a vertical print1 size about #aa #h1 sometimes called the medium size sheet4 ,,diptych4--,a composition consisting of two sheets4 ,,gauffrage4--,printing by pressure alone1 without the use of a pigment1 producing an embossed effect on the paper4 ,,hashira-,,ye4--,a very tall narrow print1 size about #bh #e1 used to hang on the wooden pillars of a ,japanese house2 a pillar-print4 ,,hashirakake4--,see hashira-ye4 ,,hoso-,,ye4--,a small vertical print1 size about #ab #f4 ,,kakemono4--,a painting mounted on a margin of brocade2 hung by its top when in use1 and rolled up when not in use4 ,,kakemono-,,ye4--,a very tall wide print1 size about #bh #aj4 ,,key-,,block4--,the engraved wooden plate from which the black outlines of the print were produced4 ,,kira-,,ye4--,a print with mica background4 ,,koban4--,a vertical print slightly smaller than the ,chuban 7q4v474 ,,kurenai-,,ye4--,a hand-coloured print in which beni is chiefly used4 ,,mon4--,the heraldic insignia used by actors and others as coat-of-arms2 generally worn on their sleeves4 ,,nagaye4--,see hashira-ye4 ,,nishiki-,,ye4--,brocade picture--a term used at first to describe the brilliant colour-inventions of ,harunobu1 but now loosely applied to all polychrome prints4 ,,oban4--,a large vertical print1 about #ae #aj--the normal full-size upright sheet4 ,,otsu-,,ye4--,a rough broadsheet painting1 of small size1 on paper2 the precursor of the print4 ,,pentaptych4--,a composition consisting of five sheets4 ,,pillar-,,print4--,see hashira-ye4 ,,sumi4--,black ,chinese ink4 ,,sumi-,,ye4--,a print in black and white only4 ,,surimono4--,a print1 generally of small size and on thick soft paper1 intended as a festival greeting or memento of some social occasion4 ,,tan4--,a brick-red or orange colour1 consisting of red oxide of lead4 ,,tan-,,ye4--,a print in which tan is the only or chief colour used4 ,such prints1 in which the tan was applied by hand1 were among the earliest productions4 ,,triptych4--,a composition consisting of three sheets4 ,,uchiwa-,,ye4--,a print in the shape of a fan4 ,,urushi4--,lacquer4 ,,urushi-,,ye4--,a print in which lacquer is used to heighten the colour4 ,the term is generally employed to describe only the early hand-coloured prints in which lacquer1 colours1 and metallic dust were applied to the printed black outline4 ,,yokoye4--,a large horizontal print1 about #aj #ae--the normal full-size landscape sheet4 ,i ,,preliminary ,,survey ,,the ,,general ,,nature ,,of ,,japanese ,,prints ,,growth ,,of ,,interest ,,in ,,them ,,the ,,technique ,,of ,,their ,,production ,,their ,,sthetic ,,characteristics ,bring forth1 my friend1 these faded sheets ,whose charm our laboured utterance flies4 ,perhaps our later search repeats ,the groping of those scholars' eyes ,who1 ere the dawned ,renaissant day1 ,with duskd sight and doubtful hand1 ,bent o'er the pages of some grey ,greek text they could not understand2 ,drawn by the sense that there concealed ,lay key to spacious realms unknown2 ,held by the need that be revealed ,forgotten worlds to light their own4 ,,chapter ,i ,,preliminary ,,survey ,the general nature of ,japanese prints--,growth of interest in them--,the technique of their production--,their sthetic characteristics4 ,that sublimated pleasure which is the seal of all the arts reaches its purest condition when evoked by a work in which the sthetic quality is not too closely mingled with the every-day human4 ,poetry1 because of its close human ties1 is to a certain extent a corrupt art2 its medium is that base speech which we use for communicating information1 and few are the readers whose minds can absolve words from the work-a-day obligation of conveying1 first of all1 mere tidings4 ,music1 on the other hand1 employing a medium wholly sacred to its own uses1 starts with no such handicap2 its succession of notes awakens in the listener no expectation of an eventual body of facts to carry home4 ,between the two extremes lie the graphic arts4 ,these are perhaps most fortunate when they deal with material not familiar to the spectator1 for it is then that he most readily accepts them as designs and harmonies1 without looking to them for a literal record of things only too well known to him4 ,the graphic art of an alien race has therefore an initial strength of purely sthetic appeal that a native art often lacks4 ,it moves free from the demands with which unconsciously we approach the art of our own people4 ,it stands as an undiscovered world1 of which nothing can logically be expected4 ,the spectator who turns to it at all must come prepared to take it on its own terms4 ,if it allures him1 it will do so by virtue of those qualities of harmony1 rhythm1 and vision which in these strange surroundings are more perceptible to him than in the art of his own race1 where so many adventitious associations operate to distract him4 ,like a man whom ,mayfair bewilders with its fashions1 he may find that fundamental verity1 that humanity which he seeks only among the ,gipsy beggars4 ,perhaps this theory best explains the impulse that has of late led many lovers of beauty to turn to the arts of ,persia1 ,china1 and ,japan for their keenest pleasure4 ,here1 in unfamiliar environment1 the fundamental powers of design stand forth free4 ,here the beautiful is discoverable for its own sake1 liberated from the oppression of utility4 ,toward ,japan this impulse has in our own day been strongly directed4 ,the handicrafts of the ,japanese people have charmed the ,western world1 possibly to an undue extent4 ,on the other hand1 the great classical schools of ,japanese painting have unfortunately been difficult of access4 ,but between the two1 half craft and half art1 lies the ,japanese colour-print--a finer product than mere dexterous artizan work1 and more accessible than the paintings of the classic masters4 ,in the print many a ,western mind has found its clearest intimation of the universal principles of beauty4 ,during a period of a little more than a hundred years1 roughly delimited by #agdb and #aheh1 there were produced in ,japan large numbers of wood-engravings1 printed in colours2 these have of late come to occupy an almost unique place in the esteem of ,european art-lovers4 ,so great is the importance now attached to these works that the ,japanese public of earlier days1 for whose delectation they were designed1 would be astounded could they witness it4 ,just as obscure ,greek potters moulded for common use vases that are to-day treasured in the museums as paradigms of beauty1 so the coloured broadsheets1 whose immediate purpose was to give pleasure to the crowds of the ,japanese capital1 have taken in the course of years a distinguished rank among the beautiful things of all time4 ,the day is passing when the love of these sheets can be looked upon as the badge of a cult1 the secret delight of far-searching worshippers of the strange and exotic4 ,even did the collector desire1 he could not long hide this light under a bushel2 and the ,japanese print is swiftly becoming a general treasure4 ,this is proper and natural4 ,an understanding of the origin of this form of art makes its present popularity in ,europe seem like the felicitous rounding of a circle begun on the other side of the world4 ,it was in ,yedo1 the teeming capital of ,japan1 that the art of the colour-print flourished2 and the patron sought by the artists was primarily the common man4 ,no art more purely national or more definitely popular and exoterical in its inception has ever existed4 ,the subjects of the prints are alone enough to make this fact evident4 ,in them appear the forms and faces of the popular actors in their admired rles1 fashionable courtesans decked in all the splendour of their unhappy but far-famed days and nights1 legendary heroes1 dancers1 wrestlers1 and popular entertainers4 ,in the matter of landscape1 the scenes shown are the festival-crowded temples of ,yedo1 the sunlit tea-gardens and gay midnight boating-parties of the ,sumida ,river1 the great highroads of national travel1 the famous spots of popular recreation4 ,only rarely are there episodes from aristocratic life2 and the occasional occurrence of these has precisely the significance of a photograph of a royal house-party shown in a penny paper4 ,the ,yoshiwara1 as the licensed quarter of ,yedo is called1 appears in these prints more often than do the garden-parties of noble ladies2 the vulgar theatre is shown1 but not the classic ,n drama of the aristocracy2 it is a ,japanese ,montmartre1 not a ,japanese ,faubourg ,st4 ,germain1 that is revealed4 ,the artist's sense of beauty subdues these riotous pleasures of the populace to the severe demands of a beautiful pattern2 but it is a whimsical vulgar world1 a world of the people1 a world of passing gaiety1 that he portrays4 ,the purposes of these pictures were various4 ,to some extent1 says ,mr4 ,frederick ,w4 ,gookin1 they were used as advertisements4 ,incidentally they served as fashion plates4 ,some were regularly published and sold in shops4 ,others were designed expressly upon orders from patrons1 to whom the entire edition1 sometimes a very small one1 was delivered4 ,the number struck from any block or set of blocks varied widely4 ,of the more popular prints many editions were printed1 each one1 as might be expected1 inferior to those that preceded it4444 ,most of the prints were sold at the time of publication for a few sen4 ,the finer ones brought relatively higher prices1 and such prints as the great triptychs and still larger compositions by ,kiyonaga1 ,yeishi1 ,toyokuni1 ,utamaro1 and other leading artists could never have been very cheap4 ,in general1 however1 the price was small1 and they were regarded as ephemeral things4 ,many were used to ornament the small screens that served to protect kitchen fires from the wind1 and in this use were inevitably soiled and browned by smoke4 ,others1 mounted upon the sliding partitions of the houses1 perished in the fires by which the ,japanese cities have been devastated2 or1 if in houses that chanced safely to run the gauntlet of fires1 typhoons1 cloudbursts1 and other mishaps1 their colours faded1 and their surfaces were rubbed until little more than dim outlines were left4 ,the plebeian origin of the prints explains why the cultivated ,japanese have not1 as a rule1 looked upon them with much enthusiasm4 ,only now1 when the greatest print treasures have gone out of ,japan1 are a few ,japanese collectors beginning to buy back at high prices works which they allowed to leave the country for a song4 ,the admiration of ,europe and ,america has awakened them to a realization of the distinction of the prints1 in spite of the undistinguished nature of their subjects2 and the day will come when the ,japanese themselves will be the most formidable bidders at the sales of great ,western collections4 ,the interest of ,western collectors in ,japanese prints is of comparatively recent origin4 ,as late as #ahfa it was possible for a writer on ,japan to regard them with blank indifference4 ,there is a rare little book by ,captain ,sherard ,osborne1 printed in that year in ,london1 called ,japanese ,fragments4 ,it contains six hand-coloured reproductions of prints and a number of uncoloured cuts1 all from prints which ,captain ,osborne had purchased in ,japan4 ,in the following words he makes reference to ,hiroshige1 who is now generally ranked as one of the supreme landscape artists of all time3 ,even the humble artists of that land have become votaries of the beautiful1 and in such efforts as the one annexed strive to do justice to the scenery4 ,their appreciation of the picturesque is far in advance1 good souls1 of their power of pencil1 but our embryo ,turner 7i4e4 ,hiroshige7 has striven hard 444 etc4 ,in #ahfa1 perhaps1 few people would have believed it possible that to-day many serious judges might question whether any product of ,european art has ever matched the designs of these humble artists4 ,the earliest of ,european collectors was1 according to ,mr4 ,edward ,f4 ,strange1 a certain ,m4 ,isaac ,titsingh1 who died in ,paris in #ahab4 ,m4 ,titsingh had for fourteen years served the ,dutch ,east ,india ,company in ,nagasaki2 and among his effects were nine engravings printed in colours4 ,doubtless he had acquired them merely as curiosities1 without any perception of their artistic importance4 ,mr4 ,strange notes that four prints were reproduced in ,oliphant's ,account of the ,mission of ,lord ,elgin to ,china and ,japan 7#ahei72 and1 as we have seen1 ,osborne devoted some desultory attention to prints in #ahfa4 ,these are1 perhaps1 the chief evidences of early ,european interest4 ,subsequently such events as the ,international ,exhibition in ,london1 #ahfb1 the ,paris ,exposition of #ahfg and that of #ahgh1 and the ,centennial ,exhibition in ,philadelphia1 #ahgf1 served to bring a few prints to the notice of ,western amateurs4 ,particularly in ,paris was intense interest in them aroused among painters and literary men4 ,from #ahhi to #ahia1 ,s4 ,bing was bringing out in ,paris his magazine ,le ,japon ,artistique1 whose pages contain many fine reproductions of notable prints4 ,in #ahia1 ,edmond de ,goncourt issued his volume on ,utamaro4 ,other books followed rapidly4 ,in #ahie1 ,professor ,anderson issued his small but important monograph on ,japanese ,wood ,engraving4 ,in #ahif1 ,fenollosa's epoch-making catalogue1 ,masters of ,ukioye1 was published in ,new ,york1 establishing for the first time the foundations of all our present knowledge of this field1 and pronouncing judgments from which the consensus of later opinion has1 in the main1 never departed4 ,the same year brought forth de ,goncourt's ,hokusai4 ,mr4 ,strange's ,japanese ,colour ,prints appeared in #ahig4 ,in the same year1 ,von ,seidlitz issued his ,geschichte des japanischen ,farbenholzschnittes 7published in ,england as ,a ,history of ,japanese ,colour ,prints in #aijj71 which remains to-day the most comprehensive and accurate single treatise on the subject4 ,of recent years1 the growth of interest and the increase of books has been rapid4 ,eager collectors have scoured the world to bring to light new masterpieces2 ,japan has been ransacked so thoroughly that the would-be purchaser can perhaps more wisely go to ,london or ,paris or ,new ,york than to ,tokyo or ,kyoto in his search for prizes2 and the places of honour accorded these sheets in the portfolios of discriminating collectors and great museums leaves no doubt as to the esteem with which they are regarded4 ,values have been multiplied by tens and hundreds1 so that to-day the supreme rarities among prints are beyond the reach of the ordinary purchaser4 ,all this is due neither to accident nor to any strange freak of whimsical tastes4 ,it has come about because the prints are in fact artistic treasures4 ,commonplace and trivial as the subjects of most of them are1 they rise by virtue of the quality of their execution to a very high point--masterpieces of composition1 triumphs of colour1 monuments of the power of human genius to impose its sense of rhythm1 form1 and harmony on the appearances of the seen world4 ,but as is true in the case of any art1 the content of the colour-prints is not to be grasped at a first glance by the casual passer-by4 ,familiarity with the aims selected1 the conventions employed1 and the achievements possible is necessary before the specific charm of these works makes itself manifest4 ,it is the experience of most print-lovers that1 starting with perhaps a mere casual liking for a certain landscape design1 they progress gradually1 in the course of years1 to an unmeasured delight in the whole body of prints1 and eventually find in them a unique source of repose and exaltation4 ,there are certain peculiarities1 common not only to prints but to ,japanese art as a whole1 that require a special effort of the ,western mind before they become acceptable4 ,the first and most vital of these is the absence of realism4 ,throughout the course of ,asian painting1 writes ,mr4 ,laurence ,binyon1 the idea that art is the imitation of ,nature is unknown1 or known only as a despised and fugitive heresy4444 ,a ,chinese critic of the sixth century1 who was also an artist1 published a theory of sthetic principles which became a classic and received universal acceptance1 expressing as it did the deeply rooted instincts of the race4 ,in this theory1 it is rhythm that holds the paramount place2 not1 be it observed1 imitation of ,nature1 or fidelity to ,nature1 which the general instinct of the ,western races makes the root-concern of art4 ,in this theory every work of art is thought of as an incarnation of the genius of rhythm manifesting the living spirit of things with a clearer beauty and intenser power than the gross impediments of complex matter allow to be transmitted to our senses in the visible world around us4 ,a picture is conceived as a sort of apparition from a more real world of essential life4 ,it will1 therefore1 be vain to expect in ,japanese designs any production that will astonish the spectator by its life-likeness1 its fidelity to an actual scene4 ,eastern art has never attempted to compete with the work of photography4 ,its function is the function which the ,european public grants to poets but not always to painters--the seeking out of subtle and invisible relations in things1 the perception of harmonies and rhythms not heard by the common ear1 the interpretation of life in terms of a finer and more beautiful order than practical life has ever known4 ,all ,asian art has recognized for centuries the fact that vision and imagination are the faculties by which the painter as well as the poet must grapple with reality4 ,in the words of ,mr4 ,binyon once more--,it is always the essential character and genius of the element that is sought for and insisted on3 the weight and mass of water falling1 the sinuous1 swift curves of a stream evading obstacles in its way1 the burst of foam against a rock1 the toppling crest of a slowly arching billow2 and all in a rhythm of pure lines4 ,but the same principles1 the same treatment1 are applied to other subjects4 ,if it be a hermit sage in his mountain retreat1 the artist's efforts will be concentrated on the expression1 not only in the sage's features1 but in his whole form1 of the rapt intensity of contemplation2 toward this effect every line of drapery and of surrounding rock or tree will conspire1 by force of repetition or of contrast4 ,if it be a warrior in action1 the artist will ensure that we feel the tension of nerve1 the heat of blood in the muscles1 the watchfulness of the eye1 the fury of determination4 ,that birds shall be seen to be1 above all things1 winged creatures rejoicing in their flight2 that flowers shall be1 above all things1 sensitive blossoms unfolding on pliant1 up-growing stems2 that the tiger shall be an embodiment of force1 boundless in capacity for spring and fury--this is the ceaseless aim of these artists1 from which no splendour of colour1 no richness of texture1 no accident of shape diverts them4 ,the more to concentrate on this seizure of the inherent life in what they draw1 they will obliterate or ignore at will half or all of the surrounding objects with which the ,western painter feels bound to fill his background4 ,by isolation and the mere use of empty space they will give to a clump of narcissus by a rock1 or a solitary quail1 or a mallow plant quivering in the wind1 a sense of grandeur and a hint of the infinity of life4 ,this almost symbolic quality is the chief element of the pleasure to be derived from ,japanese art4 ,japanese designs are metaphors2 they depict not any object1 but remote and greater powers to which the object is related4 ,often the artist produces his effect by the exaggeration of certain aspects1 or by expressing particular qualities in the terms of some kindred thing4 ,if his subject happens to be an actor in some great and tragic rle1 he will not hesitate to prolong the lines of the drapery unconscionably1 to give the effect of solemn dignity1 slow movement1 and monumental isolation4 ,westerners may smile at the distortion of such a figure2 but they must acknowledge that an atmosphere of lofty and special destiny surrounds the form1 precisely because the artist has dared to use these devices4 ,the ,japanese artist will draw a woman as if she were a lily1 a man as if he were a tempest1 a tree as if it were a writhing snake1 a mountain as if it were a towering giant4 ,this is the very essence of poetical imagination2 and the result of it is to endow a picture with obscure suggestions and overtones of infinite power4 ,symbols of existence beyond themselves1 these designs are charged with an almost mystical command upon the emotions of the spectator4 ,western art has employed such a method comparatively little in painting4 ,in poetry it appears frequently4 ,the poet1 when he wishes to convey the impression of a beautiful woman1 does not set out her features and her stature and all the details of her aspect4 ,he tries to awaken some realization of her by a bold and fantastic leap of the imagination straight to the heart of the matter--he makes her a perfume1 a light1 a music1 a memory of goddesses4 ,the prosaic mind will never greatly care for work produced in accordance with this principle2 the conventions will seem distortions1 the imaginative generalizations will seem inaccuracies1 and the transcending of reality to shape a more universal and significant statement will appear nothing more than ineptitude in grappling with fact4 ,but to the poetical mind1 all these things will come with a unique and irresistible fascination2 and far more delightful than the novelty and interest of the scenes represented will be the manner of their representation4 ,as one enters into the spirit of these paintings and prints1 it is as if one saw the world from a new angle1 or had acquired the power to assemble into new intellectual combinations those sensory impressions which our own art has taught us to combine in a manner now grown a little dull and stereotyped4 ,japanese art has certain conventions that are highly individual4 ,some of these may trouble and repel the ,western eye4 ,for example1 the ,japanese artist draws his figures without shadows1 and makes no attempt to represent the play of light and shade over them4 ,the scene is painted as if in a clear1 cold vacuum1 where the diffusion of illumination is almost perfectly uniform4 ,in the ,japanese view1 a shadow is something ephemeral and transitory--a mere accident and illusion1 and as such unworthy of perpetuation in art4 ,the pattern of the object itself1 freed from this momentary tyranny1 should be the sole theme of the artist4 ,similarly1 high-lights or chiaroscuro are not attempted2 nor is modelling by means of these employed4 ,a universal flatness is the result--a result deliberately aimed at4 ,most of the ,european ideas of perspective are ignored in these works4 ,in accordance with the ancient ,chinese canon--based upon an imaginative and not upon a visual perception--the linear perspective of the ,japanese exactly reverses that of ,western painting4 ,in their system1 parallel lines converge as they approach the spectator4 ,different planes of distance may be suggested merely by placing the remote plane higher up in the picture2 and sometimes no attempt is made to diminish the size of the figures in the upper plane4 ,these devices may seem very nave to the ,european4 ,but in aerial perspective--the power to give to objects a colouring appropriate to their relative distance from the eye--the ,japanese indisputably employ the utmost subtlety4 ,when these artists differ from ,european custom1 it is not because of ignorance1 but because their way seems to them the more expressive--the better adapted to the creation of those peculiar impressions of beauty which are their aim4 ,the longer one examines the products of these alien theories of drawing1 the less certain one is likely to be of the superiority of our more scientific ,western conventions4 ,in all ,japanese art1 the element of pure brushwork is of greater importance than in the art of ,europe4 ,the people1 trained from childhood in the handling of the brush as a pencil for the drawing of the complex forms of written characters1 acquire a facility and accuracy unknown in other lands4 ,fine caligraphy is esteemed an art in itself4 ,and the ,japanese painter1 whose life is devoted to further exercises with the brush1 may achieve a unique degree of skill4 ,his power to sweep1 guide1 and modulate the width and intensity of his line is developed into a sixth sense4 ,he can make his brush-stroke smooth-flowing as a violin-note1 or splintered as a broken branch1 or wavering like the flow of a river1 or coldly hard and sharp as flint2 sometimes it has the edge of a knife2 at other times it dies away into imperceptible gradations2 its blacks are dazzling in their intensity1 its greys are like veils of mist4 ,the mystery of the expression of pure personality in art is nowhere more strikingly exemplified than here4 ,to the accustomed eye the line-work of the ,japanese artist is vibrant with intimate connection between hand and spirit4 ,this command of the brush1 so perfect that the passion of the artist's soul flows out through it1 is one of the vital characteristics of ,japanese painting4 ,the colour-print is one small and peculiar division of the larger field of ,japanese pictorial design2 besides being subject to the general laws of ,japanese sthetics1 it is distinguished by certain special characteristics that grow out of the nature of the technique employed4 ,of this technique1 ,mr4 ,f4 ,w4 ,gookin gives an illuminating exposition3-- ,none but the most primitive methods--or what from our point of view may seem such--were employed4 ,the most wonderful among all the prints is but a 'rubbing' or impression taken by hand from wood blocks4 ,the artist having drawn the design with the point of a brush in outline upon thin paper1 it was handed over to the engraver1 who began his part of the work by pasting the design face downward upon a flat block of wood1 usually cherry1 sawn plank-wise as in the case of the blocks used by ,european wood-engravers in the time of ,drer4 ,the paper was then carefully scraped at the back until the design showed through distinctly in every part4 ,next1 the wood was carefully cut away1 leaving the lines in relief1 care being taken to preserve faithfully every feature of the brush strokes with which the drawing was executed4 ,a number of impressions were then taken in ,chinese ink from this 'key block' and handed to the artist to fill in with colour4 ,this ingenious plan1 which is manifestly an outgrowth of the early custom of colouring the ink-prints 7sumi-7 by hand1 and which perhaps would never have been thought of had not the colour itself been an afterthought1 enabled the artist to try many experiments in colour arrangement with a minimum amount of labour4 ,the colour scheme and ornamentation of the surfaces having been determined1 the engraver made as many subsidiary blocks as were required1 the parts meant to take the colour being left raised and the rest cut away4 ,accurate register was secured by the simplest of devices4 ,a right-angled mark engraved at the lower right-hand corner of the original block1 and a straight mark in exact line with its lower arm at the left1 were repeated upon each subsequent block1 and in printing1 the sheets were laid down so that their lower and right-hand edges corresponded with the marks so made4 ,the defective register which may be observed in many prints was caused by unequal shrinking or swelling of the blocks4 ,in consequence of this1 late impressions are often inferior to the early ones1 even though printed with the same care1 and from blocks that had worn very little4 ,the alignment will usually be found to be exact upon one side of the print1 but to get further out of register as the other side is approached4 ,the printing was done on moist paper with ,chinese ink and colour applied to the blocks with flat brushes4 ,a little rice paste was usually mixed with the pigments to keep them from running1 and to increase their brightness4 ,sometimes dry rice flour was dusted over the blocks after they were charged4 ,to this method of charging the blocks much of the beauty of the result may be attributed4 ,the colour could be modified1 graded1 or changed at will1 the blocks covered entirely or partially4 ,hard1 mechanical accuracy was avoided4 ,impressions differed even when the printer's aim was uniformity4 ,sometimes in inking the 'key block1' which was usually the last one impressed1 some of the lines would fail to receive the pigment1 or would be overcharged4 ,this was especially liable to happen when the blocks were worn and the edges of the lines became rounded4 ,a little more or a little less pigment sometimes made a decided difference in the tone of the print1 and1 it may be noted1 has not infrequently determined the nature and extent of the discoloration wrought by time4 ,in printing1 a sheet of paper was laid upon the block and the printer rubbed off the impression1 using for the purpose a kind of pad called a baren4 ,this was applied to the back of the paper and manipulated with a circular movement of the hand4 ,by varying the degree of pressure the colour could be forced deep into the paper1 or left upon the outer fibres only1 so that the whiteness of those below the surface would shine through1 giving the peculiar effect of light which is seen at its best in some of the surimono 7prints designed for distribution at ,new ,year's or other particular occasion7 by ,hokusai4 ,uninked blocks were used for embossing portions of the designs4 ,the skill of the printer was a large factor in producing the best results4 ,even the brilliancy of the colour resulted largely from his manipulations of the pigments and various little tricks in their application4 ,the first impressions were not the best1 some forty or fifty having to be pulled before the blocks would take the colour properly4 ,many kinds of paper were used4 ,for the best of the old prints it was thick1 spongy in texture1 and of an almost ivory tone4 ,the finest specimens were printed under the direct personal supervision of the artists who designed them4 ,every detail was looked after with the utmost care4 ,no pains were spared in mixing the tints1 in charging the blocks1 in laying on the paper so as to secure perfect register1 in regulating the pressure so as to get the best possible impressions4 ,experiments were often tried by varying the colour schemes4 ,prints of important series1 as for example ,hokusai's famous ',thirty-six ,views of ,fuji1' are met with in widely divergent colourings4 ,the results produced by this technique1 as it was employed in the great period of the art1 have no parallel4 ,when ,drer1 in the fifteenth century1 brought wood and steel engraving to such brilliant perfection1 he determined the future history of ,european engraving1 fixing the line of greatest development in the region of black-and-white1 where1 except for sporadic excursions of debatable merit1 it has continued ever since4 ,fortunately1 in ,japan1 colour and line did not part company1 but in combination progressed toward a unique triumph4 ,a print produced by this technique is simply a sheet of paper upon which are impressed1 by means of hand-charged wood blocks1 a series of patches of colour that combine into a design4 ,in general1 each of these patches is flat and unshaded2 its edges are sharp1 definite1 bounded by a line as distinct as the line of the lead used in stained glass4 ,in the print1 as in the stained-glass window1 only major lines and important colour-masses can be shown2 thus elimination of the incidental and selection of what is vital are imperatively demanded of the designer4 ,salient curves and expressive outlines are the essential requisite4 ,one reason why these prints seem classic is that they are purged of the thousand unimportant and meaningless gradations of tone that are easy to use in a painting and impossible here4 ,singular purity and loftiness of effect is the result1 together with a certain abstract aloofness from reality that has a high sthetic value4 ,into the drawing of these few lines1 and into the construction of these few flat colour-spaces1 went all the artist's sense of proportion and rhythm1 grace and dignity1 movement and tone4 ,on the flat wall of his printed sheet he devised a pattern that should weave1 out of figures and objects1 a decorative design upon whose harmonious mosaic the eye would willingly linger4 ,there he played his music to allure and beguile and absorb the spectator4 ,like his fellow-painters of all ,asia1 the print-designer did not feel that literal accuracy greatly concerned him4 ,if the figures moved with a stately godlike grace in rhythmic procession1 what matter if they were taller or shorter than real beings8 ,if their faces were expressive of a noble calm or a sublime fury1 why ask for a detailed mirroring of a real face8 ,if the landscape was beautiful1 was it important that the real scene could never look exactly thus8 ,as an example of the curious conventions that dominate this art1 the observer will note the way in which heads are drawn by these artists4 ,with very rare exceptions1 the angle from which all the heads are seen is the same4 ,in the print1 as in the ,egyptian wall-carvings1 the head is held in a poise dictated by a traditional formula4 ,the face is turned half-way between profile and full-face2 the nose approaches but does not intersect the line of the cheek2 the outline of the nose is shown1 and also the broad sweep of the brow1 while at the same time both eyes are visible4 ,for two centuries1 with only occasional variations1 this formula for drawing the face persisted2 and in the submission to this wisely chosen type--admirably adapted as it was to exhibit most expressively the whole map of the features--is revealed something of that willingness to accept discipline1 style1 and conventionalization which in these artists went side by side with so much originality4 ,a magic world--a pure creation of the imagination in its search for beauty6 ,this convention in the drawing of the faces has much to do with the unreal quality we find there4 ,something in the repetition and uniformity of the heads produces a delicate visionary impression1 a trance-like mood--as does the rhythm of poetry or music4 ,under its spell the emotion of the spectator comes forth free from its daily bonds and preoccupations1 in the liberation that only art can give4 ,to these regions of pure sthetic experience the amateur turns with delight--not only as an escape from practical life1 but as an escape from much that is known to the ,western world as art4 ,the childish mind loves pictures that tell a story2 but the more sophisticated intelligence goes to a work of art for those elements which lie far beyond the region of episodic narration--elements that are allied to the principles of geometry1 the laws of motion1 the excursions of pure music1 the visions of religious faith4 ,though these manifestations are difficult to correlate1 they all arise from one fountainhead2 and the best of the ,japanese prints lie very close to the source of the stream4 ,,ii ,,conditions ,,preceding ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,print-,,designing3 ,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,the ,,ukioye ,,school ,,chapter ,,ii ,,conditions ,,preceding ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,print-,,designing3 ,,the ,,birth ,,of ,,the ,,ukioye ,,school ,at the outset of the seventeenth century was inaugurated the ,tokugawa ,dynasty of ,shoguns or military dictators1 by the victories of the great warrior and statesman ,iyeyasu over rival factions4 ,upon acquiring the ,shogunate--a position which had for long eclipsed the power of the ,emperor--,iyeyasu laid a wise but iron hand upon ,japan1 forcing all departments of industry1 society1 and even art into rigid forms whose pattern was laid down by his far-seeing mind4 ,the same policy guided his successors of the ,tokugawa ,dynasty2 so that during the whole period of print production ,japan was a land of gorgeous feudal splendour1 regulated by inflexible rules of conduct and manners that amounted almost to caste regulations4 ,that subtle interpreter of the ideals of the ,east1 the late ,kakuzo ,okakura1 thus analyses the state of society at that time3 ,the ,tokugawas1 he writes1 in their eagerness for consolidation and discipline1 crushed out the vital spark from art and life4444 ,in their prime of power1 the whole of society--and art was not exempt--was cast in a single mould4 ,the spirit which secluded ,japan from all foreign intercourse1 and regulated every daily routine1 from that of the daimyo to that of the lowest peasant1 narrowed and cramped artistic creativeness also4 ,the ,kano academies of painting--filled with the disciplinary instincts of ,iyeyasu--of which four were under the direct patronage of the ,shogun and sixteen under the ,tokugawa ,government1 were constituted on the plan of regular feudal tenures4 ,each academy had its hereditary lord1 who followed his profession1 and1 whether or not he was an indifferent artist1 had under him students who flocked from various parts of the country1 and who were1 in their turn1 official painters to different daimyos in the provinces4 ,after graduating at ,yedo 7,tokyo71 it was de rigueur for these students1 returning to the country1 to conduct their work there on the methods1 and according to the models given them during their instruction4 ,the students who were not vassals of daimyos were1 in a sense1 hereditary fiefs of the ,kano lords4 ,each had to pursue the course of studies laid down by ,tannyu and ,tsunenobu1 and each painted and drew certain subjects in a certain manner4 ,from this routine1 departure meant ostracism1 which would reduce the artist to the position of a common craftsman4 ,yet it would convey a wrong impression of the ,tokugawa period to suggest that bureaucratic tightness of regime was its sole or most vital characteristic4 ,the age was marked as strongly by its expansive powers as by the restraints that attempted to direct them4 ,for in this epoch1 the common people1 set apart in a class distinct from the warriors and aristocracy1 rose to a vigour and cultivation that was almost a new thing in ,japanese history4 ,it was1 writes ,fenollosa1 like the rise of the industrial classes in the free cities of ,europe in those middle centuries when the old feudal system was breaking up4 ,there1 too1 could be seen armoured lords of castles flourishing side by side with burghers and guilders4 ,it is the same duality which forms the keynote of ,tokugawa culture taken as a whole4444 ,the keynote of ,tokugawa life and art is their broad division into two main streams--the aristocratic and the plebeian4 ,these two flowed on side by side with comparatively little intermingling4 ,on the one side select companies of gentlemen and ladies congregated in gorgeous castles and yashikis1 daimyos and samurai1 exercising1 studying their own and ,china's past1 weaving martial codes of honour1 surrounding themselves with wonderful utensils of lacquer1 porcelain1 embroidery1 and cunningly wrought bronze2 and on the other side great cities like ,osaka1 ,nagoya1 ,kyoto1 and ,yedo1 swarming with manufacturers1 artizans1 and merchants1 sharing little in the castle privileges1 but devising for themselves methods of self-expression in local government1 schools1 science1 literature1 and art4 ,examining into the history of ,japanese colour-prints1 one must leave entirely aside the interesting and sometimes sublime art of the cultivated and aristocratic classes and their tradition-hallowed schools of painting4 ,the prints were solely the product of the popular school2 they were in a way allied to those delicate ,japanese handicrafts1 such as bronze and lacquer1 which are characteristically the output of the common people4 ,the ,tokugawa regime was one of national peace4 ,the country1 long disturbed by both internal and external wars1 settled down at last under the strong ,tokugawa banner to two centuries and a half of tranquillity4 ,the vital activity of this time was not diffused and scattered over the whole country1 but was chiefly centred upon one spot1 the ancient ,capital of the ,east1 ,yedo1 now called ,tokyo4 ,here1 under the dominance of the great ,iyeyasu1 the life of the empire was brought to a focus4 ,iyeyasu forced all the great nobles1 living customarily on their estates scattered throughout the empire1 to come to ,yedo and remain there in residence for at least half of each year1 in order that he might keep his hand upon them and prevent them from springing up to rival power4 ,the natural effect of this regulation was to give ,yedo a supreme importance in the realm1 and to cultivate in ,yedo the growth of every form of popular activity4 ,there1 in the metropolitan centre1 all the agencies of pleasure burst into luxurious bloom2 the tea-houses1 the theatres1 the riverside gardens1 and the ,yoshiwara or courtesans' quarter1 all took on a new and alluring splendour2 and ,yedo became the great city and the great art centre of ,japan4 ,at this time1 aristocratic art1 in the hands of the later generations of the ,kano ,school of painters1 was not only largely inaccessible to the common people1 but was also no longer in its prime4 ,the giants of the ,kano ,school were long since dead4 ,in the place of their vigorous inspiration only superficiality and formalism remained4 ,long since dead was that lofty idealistic art1 best known to us in the work of ,sesshu1 which had distinguished the preceding ,ashikaga ,period--an art which1 to quote ,mr4 ,laurence ,binyon1 deals little in human figures and has no concern with the physical beauty of men and women1 contenting itself mainly with the contemplation of wide prospects over lake and mountain1 mist and torrent1 or a spray of sensitive blossoms trembling in the air4 ,yet even though the earlier greatness of the aristocratic schools of painting was passing or had passed in this seventeenth and eighteenth century epoch1 still the authority derived by the ,kano painters from their connection with the court of the ,shogun gave them dictatorship over matters of art2 and their academy imposed its technique upon all aspirants for the favour of the aristocracy4 ,the rival school of the ,tosas1 associated closely with the court of the ,emperor in ,kyoto1 was no less careful of tradition and discipline4 ,thus the moribund art of the upper classes stood alone like a little island1 shut out from the art of the people1 unable to influence it or to be influenced by it4 ,therefore ,japan1 at the time when the popular school came into existence1 was in a curious state3 subject to a strict disciplinary system that kept the common people and the aristocracy apart2 enjoying a period of peace and a centralization of resources that gave the common people in their isolation a favourable opportunity to develop a culture of their own2 and suffering from a growing degeneracy in the classical schools of painting that might be counted on to drive at least an occasional aristocratic artist out into the ranks of the people were any interesting opportunity offered there4 ,at this juncture1 early in the seventeenth century1 there arose in ,yedo a new movement which later was to produce the colour-print4 ,this new movement was called the ,ukioye ,school4 ,the real gap between it and the older classical schools has been by many writers grossly exaggerated4 ,one might well gather from them that the ,ukioye artists were the first in all ,japanese art to draw subjects selected from real life and to paint with vivid humanism4 ,this is by no means the fact4 ,all the subjects treated by the ,ukioye painters had been at some time used by the painters of the older schools2 and certainly the usual subject of the ,kano or ,tosa painter was as real and vivid to him as were any of the themes of the popular artists to these creators4 ,each painted his customary environment--what was closest to his experience and dearest to his sthetic perceptions3 on the one hand1 traditionary and religious figures1 scenes from poetry1 reflections of ,chinese or old ,japanese art2 and on the other hand1 the pulsing life of ,yedo streets1 the tea-gardens of the ,sumida ,river1 the theatres1 and the brilliant houses of pleasure4 ,yet having suggested that the gap between the two was not immeasurable1 we may grant that it was nevertheless real4 ,ukioye concerned itself with contemporary plebeian life1 its shows and festivals and favourites of the hour1 to an extent alien to the more restrained and almost monastic tradition of the older art4 ,ukioye means ,passing-world ,picture2 there is implied in the word a reproach and an accusation of triviality4 ,it suggests values not recognized by that orthodox ,buddhistic attitude of contemplation which regards life as a show of shadows1 a region of temporal desire and illusion and misery1 a vigil to be endured only by keeping fixedly before the vision pictures of the desireless calm of ,nirvana4 ,but no such profound philosophy of despair and abnegation as this could find real root in the hearts of a lively populace like that of ,japan2 in that nation1 the lonely minds of sequestered aristocrats alone could give it more than nominal habitation4 ,the ,ukioye ,school1 since it was a popular school1 remained as unshadowed by ,buddhism as modern ,french poster-art is by ,christianity2 and the distance between the spiritual attitudes of ,giotto and ,aubrey ,beardsley is no greater than that between the attitudes of ,kanaoka and ,utamaro4 ,all that aureole of moral idealism which hallowed the classical ,japanese art was abandoned by the popular school for a frank acceptance of the joy of the world and its enthralling lures4 ,the style adopted by the new school in portraying the life of the multitude allowed itself a certain keen realism1 often tinged with humour and sometimes with mild obscenity4 ,this realism appears only occasionally1 and it is generally so completely subordinated to the decorative impulse that realism is the last word by which a ,western observer would describe it4 ,only by way of contrasting it with the idealism of the older schools can one thus classify the arbitrary attitudes1 mask-like faces1 and fanciful colour schemes of ,ukioye4 ,this arbitrariness indicates another characteristic of the new manner4 ,it was a flippant style which took nothing seriously except itself4 ,its technique departed from the sacred traditions of ,kano and ,tosa brushwork and the inheritance of ,chinese painting canons4 ,it developed a novel use of clear1 hard outline1 unrestrained sweep1 brilliantly fresh colour1 and strong contrast1 that relied on no precedent for their appeal and awakened no sanctioning echo from the classic masters4 ,not unnaturally the aristocracy were repelled by the plebeian and vulgar nature of the subjects of the new school4 ,their sensibilities were injured by the throwing overboard of traditions of style that stretched back through many centuries to the founders of the art in ,china1 and by the genuine lack of distinction in the spiritual attitude and outlook of many of these new painters4 ,the modern ,european1 bred of a different artistic lineage1 may regard these objections as negligible2 but he must remember that it is perhaps his own ignorance of ,japanese classics that makes him so tolerant2 and he may properly hesitate to condemn hastily the aristocratic ,japanese opinion4 ,the aristocratic opinion is readily comprehensible4 ,the ,ukioye ,school without doubt lacks that almost religious idealism by which the earlier ,japanese schools of painting attained a subtlety perhaps excessively rarefied1 an allusiveness almost too remote1 a sublimation of intangible spiritual values that very nearly reaches the vanishing-point4 ,no such serene cultivation of feeling is to be found in the ,ukioye painters4 ,great art is that before which we long to die1 says ,okakura2 and the overstrained intensity of his words conveys to the ,westerner some conception of the passionate spirituality which the cultivated ,japanese desires and finds in the works of the older painters4 ,the ,japanese connoisseur misses in ,ukioye that exaltation which1 in the creations of ,sesshu or ,yeitoku or ,kanaoka1 leads him up to heights whence he surveys mountain and lake lying like a visionary incantation before him1 or feels the giant loneliness of pines upon a snowy crest1 or enters into the ineffable spirit of the white goddess ,kwannon meditating in a measureless void of clouds and streams4 ,these things are not to be found in ,ukioye--these ultimate reaches of the ,oriental spirit2 but there is here a more human and lovable beauty1 and a power of design no less notable than that of the aristocratic masters4 ,it must be granted that the colour-prints of this school constitute the fullest and most characteristic expression ever given to the temper of the ,japanese people4 ,asia--the region of measureless1 overwhelming spaces1 innumerable lives1 and immemorial antiquity--,asia speaks in the older paintings2 but in the amiable prints1 the one voice is the defined1 circumscribed1 and beguiling voice of ,japan4 ,the colour-print constitutes almost the only purely ,japanese art1 and the only graphic record of popular ,japanese life4 ,therefore it may be regarded as the most definitely national of all the forms of expression used by the ,japanese--an art which they alone in the history of the world have brought to perfection4 ,the beginnings of the ,ukioye ,school antedated by many years the beginnings of colour-printing4 ,iwasa ,matabei1 the founder of the school1 was born in #aegh and died in #afej4 ,at first it was the aristocracy that applauded this pioneer1 who was not yet alienated from them2 then some vital element in ,matabei's manner kindled enthusiasm outside this circumscribed region and set in motion the forces which eventually resulted in a popular school of art4 ,after ,matabei1 the ,ukioye ,school did not take any immediate turn toward notable development4 ,in fact1 it is doubtful whether its importance could have been far-reaching had its activity been always1 as in its earliest days1 confined to painting4 ,it was1 however1 the destiny of the school to come into a relation with the hitherto undeveloped art of wood-engraving2 and its alliance with this popular medium increased a thousand-fold the breadth of its appeal and the force of its sway4 ,the art of wood-engraving in ,japan originated some time between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries4 ,legend associates the first use of it with the great priest ,nichiren1 who lived from #abbb to #abhb4 ,ryokin1 also a priest1 produced a woodcut which is dated #acbe4 ,no date earlier than this last can be fixed upon with any confidence4 ,the few specimens of early woodcuts that have survived are pious ,buddhistic representations of religious paintings or statues1 which were probably sold to pilgrims as mementoes of their visit to some famous shrine4 ,in artistic merit these earliest woodcuts have no interest2 their importance is entirely historical4 ,by the end of the sixteenth century the process of wood-engraving had come into use as a means of illustrating books4 ,from this time on1 mythological1 romantic1 and legendary works1 such as the ,ise ,monogatari1 were frequently so embellished4 ,most of the designs were very crude1 and the cutting of the wood blocks displayed only elementary skill4 ,these early books were in no way connected with the ,ukioye ,school1 which they in fact antedated2 they were wholly the product of the old classical tradition4 ,contemporaneously with them were produced fairly vigorous but clumsy broadsides1 representing historical scenes4 ,occasionally a few spots of coarse colour were applied by hand to these designs4 ,by the middle of the seventeenth century there began to appear illustrated books in which the rudimentary elements of artistic pictorial feeling are visible4 ,a few have a slight ,ukioye cast4 ,not until the last quarter of the century1 however1 did wood-engraving achieve the dignity of a fine art and the scope of a popular method of expression4 ,that it then did so was due to the genius of ,moronobu1 an ,ukioye painter1 the first of the great print-designers4 ,,iii ,,the ,,first ,,period3 ,,the ,,primitives ,,from ,,moronobu ,,to ,,the ,,invention ,,of ,,polychrome ,,printing 7#affj-agfd7 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,first ,,period3 ,,the ,,primitives ,,from ,,moronobu ,,to ,,the ,,invention ,,of ,,polychrome ,,printing 7#affj-agfd74 ,,general ,,characteristics4 ,the ,primitive ,period1 first of those epochs into which the history of ,japanese prints may be roughly divided1 begins about #affj with the appearance of the work of ,moronobu4 ,the period ends a century later when1 after many experiments1 the technique of the art had been developed from the black-and-white print to the full complexity of multi-colour printing4 ,the commonly accepted name of the ,primitives requires some explanation when applied to these artists lest it create the impression that we are dealing with designers in whose works are to be found the nave efforts of unsophisticated and groping minds4 ,nothing could be farther from the truth4 ,thousands of years of artistic experience and tradition lay back of these productions2 and the level of sthetic sophistication implied in them was high4 ,the word ,primitive applies to these men only in so far as they were workers in the technique of wood-engraving4 ,as producers of prints they were indeed pioneers and experimenters2 but as designers they were part of a long succession that had reached full maturity centuries earlier4 ,whether it be that a new technical form1 like an unexplored country1 tends to exclude from entrance all but bold and vigorous spirits1 or whether it be that the stimulus of difficulty and discovery inspirits the adventurer with keener powers1 these ,primitives were as a group surpassed by none of their successors in force and lofty feeling4 ,they seized the freshly available medium with an exuberance of vitality that had not yet lost itself in the deserts of a fully mastered technique4 ,these ,primitives1 says ,von ,seidlitz1 are now held in far higher esteem than formerly4 ,we recognize in them not only forerunners1 but men of heroic race1 who1 without being able to claim the highest honours paid to the gods1 still exhibit a power1 a freshness1 and a grace that are hardly met with in the same degree in later times4 ,despite the imperfections that necessarily attach to their works1 despite their lack of external correctness1 their limitations to few and generally crude materials1 and their conventionalism1 there clings to their work a charm such as belongs to the works neither of the most brilliant nor of the pronouncedly naturalistic periods4 ,for1 in the singleness of their efforts to make their drawing as expressive as possible1 without regard to any special kind of beauty or truth1 these ,primitives discover a power of idealization and a stylistic skill which1 at a later period and with increased knowledge1 are quite unthinkable4 ,to the new ,ukioye ,school these ,primitives gave the first great opening for popularity4 ,their broadsides and albums disseminated among the millions of ,yedo the product of the new and vigorous art-impulse4 ,they were the river-streams through which the lake reservoirs of ,ukioye art returned to the sea of popular life whence the waters had come4 ,fenollosa's picture of the popular life during a portion of this ,primitive ,period1 the ,genroku ,era 7#afhh-agjc71 is not without its significance in this connection4 ,this was the day when population and arts had largely been transferred to ,yedo1 and both people and samurai were becoming conscious of themselves4 ,the populace of the new great city1 already interested in the gay pleasures of the tea-houses and the dancing-girls' quarter1 were just elaborating a new organ for expression1 namely the vulgar theatre1 with plays and acting adapted to their intelligence4 ,they had just caught hold1 too1 of the device of the sensational novel4 ,now here was an army of young samurai growing up in the neighbouring squares1 who were just on the qui vive to slip out into these nests of popular fun4 ,for the time being1 freedom for both sides was in the air4 ,anybody could say or do what he pleased4 ,fashions and costumes were extravagant4 ,everybody joined good-naturedly in the street dances4 ,it was like a world of college boys out on a lark2 to speak more exactly1 it had much resemblance to the gay1 roistering1 unconscious mingling of lords and people in the ,elizabethan days of ,shakespeare1 before the duality of puritan and cavalier divided them4 ,the subjects depicted by the ,primitive artists for the pleasure of this populace are drawn from the flourishing life thus described4 ,first and foremost1 the stage is represented2 and the greatest prints of this period are1 as a rule1 the single figures of actors portrayed in their rles4 ,but social and domestic scenes also find place here2 and all the play of fashion and recreation1 the occupations and amusements of the ladies1 the boating-parties and tea-house scenes1 the street and the festival1 appear in brilliant succession4 ,in the general style of their designs the ,primitives were all controlled by one fundamental aim--that of decoration4 ,this dominating quality appears most clearly in the large actor-prints which we associate with the names of ,kwaigetsud1 ,kiyonobu1 ,masanobu1 and ,toyonobu4 ,to an extent greater than the artists of any succeeding period they eschewed minuteness of detail and accuracy of representation1 sacrificing these things for the sake of achieving broad decorative effects combined with vigorous movement4 ,a certain unique simplicity and grandeur in the spacial and linear conceptions of these men gives to the whole ,primitive ,period a ,titanic character that distinguishes it4 ,in the best works of this time the stylistic finish of the drawing is masterful4 ,it translates motion into sweeping caligraphic lines1 and creates imposing calm by the poise and balance of severe black-and-white masses4 ,just as in opera the flow of music induces in the auditor a state of semi-trance that makes him oblivious to the patent absurdities and unrealities of the action1 so in these pictures the rhythmic flow of the composition lifts the consciousness of the spectator to a plane where it ceases to take note of the incorrect report of ,nature and loses itself in the enjoyment of the noble decorative conceptions that actuate the creating hand4 ,a profound formalism dominates these works4 ,the figures are purely one-dimensional2 the picture is a flat pattern of lights and darks bounded by the sharp outline of great curves4 ,in the actor-pieces no real portraiture of the actor as an individual is essayed2 the artist's aim is rather to convey some sense of the dynamic power of the rle in which the actor appears4 ,he succeeds so well that his pictures1 though not representations of individuals1 stand as abstract symbols of grace or of power4 ,historically1 one of the chief interests in this period centres upon the notable developments in technique4 ,wood-engraving was1 as we have seen1 already known when the period opened2 but it had not yet been subjected to the purposes of the artist4 ,confined almost exclusively to crude book illustrations1 it had as little artistic significance as the cheap hand-painted sketches called otsu-ye1 which1 produced by hundreds1 were sold for the amusement of the populace4 ,with the advent of the gifted ,moronobu1 the book-illustration was transformed into an important and beautiful creation4 ,going further1 ,moronobu and his successors produced single-sheet prints of large size1 in black and white only1 that served all the purposes of paintings and were capable of being reproduced without limit4 ,these black-and-white prints were called sumi-ye 7,plate #a74 ,books and albums by him appeared at various earlier dates1 but the first of his single-sheet prints was issued about #afgj4 ,the second step in development came with the realization that the brilliant colour of the older otsu-ye could easily be imparted to the new prints4 ,so some of the sheets of ,moronobu and his contemporaries were coloured by hand with orange1 yellow1 green1 brown1 and blue1 somewhat after the manner used by the painters of the classical ,kano ,school4 ,in the actor-prints there began to appear1 shortly after #agjj1 solid masses of orange-red pigment4 ,these sheets were called tan-ye1 from the tan or red lead used in them4 ,about #agaj citrine and yellow were used in connection with the tan 7,plate #b74 ,by #agae or a little later1 beni1 a delicate red colour of vegetable origin1 was discovered1 and almost entirely replaced the cruder tan4 ,prints thus coloured were called kurenai-ye4 ,about #agbj it was found that the intensity of the colouring could be enhanced by the addition of lacquer4 ,red1 yellow1 blue1 green1 brown1 and violet were used in brilliant combination2 and their tone was heightened by painting glossy black lacquer on the black portions of the picture1 and sprinkling some of the colours with sparkling powdered gold or mother-of-pearl4 ,such prints were called urushi-ye1 or lacquer-prints 7,plate #e74 ,these various methods of hand-colouring prevailed up to about the year #agdb4 ,at this time1 a method was perfected by which two colour-blocks could be used in printing2 and the true colour-print came into existence4 ,masanobu is generally credited with being the inventor of the new technique4 ,the first colours employed were green and the red known as beni2 and from this the prints derived their common name of beni-ye 7,plate #f74 ,later many varieties of colour were tried4 ,to some print-lovers1 these two-colour prints seem unequalled in beauty4 ,about #agee a method was devised by which a third colour-block could be employed1 and blue was the colour at first selected to accompany the original green and red4 ,then blue1 red1 and yellow were used1 and other variations2 and in the hands of such men as ,toyonobu and ,kiyomitsu1 rich decorative effects resulted 7,plate #g74 ,to the end of the period hand-colouring was still occasionally used for large and important pieces such as pillar-prints2 but the old method lost ground steadily1 and the day of the polychrome-print was at hand4 ,to give in more detail the history of this period1 the strict chronological method must be abandoned2 and each of the important artists must be taken up in turn as an independent creator4 ,,moronobu4 ,hishikawa ,moronobu1 born probably in #afbe1 was the son of a famous embroiderer and textile designer who lived in the province of ,awa4 ,moronobu worked at the trade of his father during his youth1 obtaining thus a training in decorative invention that is traceable in all his later work4 ,upon the death of his father1 he came to ,yedo and took up the study of painting under the masters of the ,tosa and ,kano ,schools4 ,gradually1 however1 the ,ukioye style1 introduced by ,matabei some years before1 became his chosen province2 and from painting he turned to the designing of woodcuts for book illustrations and broadsheets4 ,later in life he became a monk2 and died probably in #afie1 though some authorities say #agad4 ,illustration3 ,,hishikawa ,,moronobu4 ,moronobu's importance in the history of ,japanese prints is twofold4 ,he inspirited the ,ukioye ,school with a new vitality2 and he turned wood-engraving into an art4 ,the ,ukioye movement1 when ,moronobu appeared1 was still indeterminate4 ,a great personality was needed to crystallize the vague tendencies then in solution4 ,this ,moronobu accomplished2 and the far-reaching effect of his work was due to the fact that he did not confine his work to painting1 but took up the hitherto unexplored field of woodcuts4 ,as we have seen in the previous chapter1 there had been produced up to ,moronobu's time no illustrated book that could lay claim to artistic value4 ,the little that had been done in this field was crude artizan work without charm4 ,now ,moronobu seized this medium and transformed it4 ,into his woodcuts he poured that powerful sense of design which he so notably possessed1 creating real pictures of striking decorative beauty4 ,these books and prints1 widely circulated1 carried to the eyes of the masses a new and delightful diversion1 spreading far and near the contagious fascination of this lively ,ukioye manner of drawing and awakening in the populace a thirst for more of these productions4 ,matabei had devised the new popular style1 but it was ,moronobu who threw open the gates of this region to the people4 ,illustration3 ,,moronobu3 ,a ,,pair ,,of ,,lovers4 ,black and white4 ,size #i #ac4 ,unsigned4 ,plate #a4 ,moronobu's first books appeared about #affj1 and from that date to the time of his retirement he brought out more than a hundred books and albums and an unknown number of broadsheets4 ,in all of these his vigorous1 genial personality and his strong sense of decoration make themselves felt4 ,such a print as the album-sheet reproduced in ,plate #a exhibits his characteristic simplicity of sweeping line1 the masterly use he makes of black and white contrasts1 and the vivid force of his rendering of movement4 ,the firm lines live2 the composition is grouped to form a harmonious picture2 a dominating sense of form has entered here to transform the chaotic raggedness of his predecessors' attempts4 ,distorted as these figures may appear to unaccustomed ,western eyes1 they have unmistakable style and their bold command of expression is the first great landmark in ,japanese print history4 ,all of ,moronobu's work was printed in black and white only1 but occasionally the sheets were roughly coloured by hand after they had been printed4 ,his designs have little detail2 as a rule the scene surrounding his main figures is barely suggested by a few lines2 and the figures themselves are hardly more than intense shorthand notations of a theme4 ,but how much life he gives them6 ,no wonder that the populace loved his work1 and that his many pupils bore away with them to their own productions the impress of his strong personality and animated style4 ,certain of ,moronobu's large single-sheet compositions 7such as the ,lady ,standing ,under a ,cherry ,tree1 in the ,buckingham ,collection1 ,chicago1 or the noble ,figure of a ,woman in the ,morse ,collection1 ,evanston71 display so fine a power of composition and so unsurpassable a mastery of rhythmic line that there can be no hesitancy in judging him1 quite apart from his historical significance1 to be an artist of the first order4 ,nothing that he ever did was undistinguished4 ,the collector will not find it easy to procure adequate specimens of this artist's work4 ,moronobu's large single sheets are unobtainable to-day2 they could never have been numerous1 and the few that have survived the vicissitudes of almost three centuries are now in the hands of museums or collectors who will never part with them4 ,even his smaller single sheets are uncommon4 ,his work is seldom signed4 ,,followers ,,of ,,moronobu4 ,the powerful impetus of ,moronobu's art communicated itself to many pupils4 ,,morofusa was the eldest son of ,moronobu2 he collaborated with his father1 and produced designs that are in exact imitation of his father's style4 ,his work comprises book illustrations and some large single sheets1 and is very rare4 ,additional pupils or contemporaries were3 ,moromasa1 ,moronaga1 ,morikuni1 ,masanojo1 ,moroshige1 ,morobei1 ,masataka1 ,osawa1 ,morotsugi1 ,moromori1 ,hishikawa ,masanobu1 ,tomofusa1 ,shimbei1 ,toshiyuki1 ,furuyama1 ,morotane1 ,ryujo1 ,hasegawa ,toun1 ,ishikawa ,riusen1 ,ishikawa ,riushu1 ,wowo1 ,kawashima ,shigenobu1 ,kichi1 ,yoshimura ,katsumasa1 and ,tsukioka ,tange4 ,many of these are obscure figures1 of whose work little is known4 ,most of them were chiefly book-illustrators4 ,illustration3 ,,nishikawa ,,sukenobu4 ,,sukenobu4 ,the name of ,nishikawa ,sukenobu brings to mind that long procession of charming girl figures which year by year came from his hand--figures whose sweet monotonous faces and delicately poised bodies move with a pure grace that is perpetually delighting4 ,lacking the powerful decorative sense of ,moronobu1 whose lead he in general followed1 and never attempting the massive blacks of the master's dashing brush-stroke1 ,sukenobu yet achieved effects that are more gracious and appealing than those of his great predecessor4 ,nothing could surpass the delicate harmony of line in such a design as the one reproduced in ,plate #b2 the willowyness of the young body1 the nave innocence of the head1 the movement and rhythm of the flowing garments1 are admirably depicted4 ,this was ,sukenobu's characteristic note2 he lingers in one's memory by virtue of it and none other2 he was the least versatile of artists4 ,he lived between the years #afga and #agea4 ,during the period of his activity his popularity must have been enormous4 ,the single-sheet prints which he produced were not many1 and only a small proportion of these have come down to us4 ,his main work was in the field of illustrated books and albums4 ,more than forty of these are known to-day4 ,they contain chiefly scenes from the lives of women and figures of young girls4 ,most of them date from #agac to #agej4 ,they constitute ,sukenobu's claim to rank as ,moronobu's most important successor in the field of book-illustration4 ,generally they are printed in black and white only2 a few are embellished with colour added by hand4 ,it is not always possible to tell whether this colouring was done when the books were published or whether it was the work of some subsequent owner of the volume4 ,the delicacy of ,sukenobu's designs1 and the absence of those peculiar mannerisms and exaggerations which characterize much of the work of this period1 serve to make him1 of all the ,primitives1 perhaps the most comprehensible and pleasing to the ,european taste4 ,to the ,japanese connoisseur he recommends himself because of the refinement of his work both in subject and in manner1 and because of a certain classic dignity that pervades it4 ,illustration3 ,,sukenobu3 ,a ,,young ,,courtesan4 ,black outlines1 with hand-colouring of pale green1 orange1 and white4 ,size #i #f4 ,unsigned4 ,plate #b4 ,the collector will do well to bear in mind that the books of ,sukenobu were frequently reprinted long after his death2 and these later impressions1 lacking the original sharpness of line and intensity of tone in the blacks1 are not desirable acquisitions4 ,the original editions of his books are still to be found occasionally4 ,his single-sheet prints are1 however1 of great rarity4 ,,kwaigetsud4 ,in the period immediately succeeding ,moronobu--the early years of the eighteenth century--the work which of all others stands out with a unique and colossal grandeur is that of ,kwaigetsud4 ,kwaigetsud has long been a puzzle to the student4 ,the original idea held by ,fenollosa and other authorities1 that all the prints signed ,kwaigetsud were by one man1 has been abandoned2 and the theory now prevails that there existed a group of artists1 headed by a dominant master named ,kwaigetsud1 and that all of these artists produced prints signed with his name together with their own4 ,the most perplexing problem has been to determine which of the print-makers was the original master and which were his disciples4 ,dr4 ,kurth confidently states that ,kwaigetsud ,norishige1 was the original master4 ,on the other hand1 ,mr4 ,arthur ,morrison has recently expressed the opinion that the original ,kwaigetsud was solely a painter1 who produced no prints whatsoever4 ,his studio name was ,kwaigetsud ,ando2 his personal name was ,okazawa ,genshichi2 he was a late contemporary of ,moronobu1 and worked in ,yedo from about #agjd to #agad1 when he was banished to the island of ,oshima in consequence of his participation in a scandal involving a gay banquet party at a theatre tea-house attended by certain ,court ladies4 ,later he was pardoned1 but did not resume his work4 ,according to this theory all the prints were the work of his followers1 who signed the name ,kwaigetsud with various additions4 ,this view is probably the correct one4 ,the names of the ,kwaigetsud group of print-designers that have so far come to light are-- ,,kwaigetsud ,,anchi 7or ,,yasutomo72 ,,kwaigetsud ,,dohan 7or ,,norishige72 ,,kwaigetsud ,,doshu 7or ,,norihide72 ,,kwaigetsud ,,doshin 7or ,,noritatsu74 ,the ,kwaigetsud work is perhaps the most powerful and imposing in the whole range of ,japanese prints4 ,the sheets1 of large size1 generally represent the single figure of a standing woman clad in flowing robes4 ,so much for the theme2 it is nothing4 ,but the treatment consists of a storm of brush-strokes whose power of movement is like that of writhing natural forces2 out of this seething whirl of lines is built up the structure of the monumental figure4 ,illustration3 ,,kwaigetsud3 ,,courtesan ,,arranging ,,her ,,coiffure4 ,black and white4 ,size #bd #ab4 ,signed ,nippon ,kigwa ,kwaigetsu ,matsuyo ,norishige4 ,spaulding ,collection4 ,plate #c4 ,the ,kwaigetsud reproduced in ,plate #c exhibits these qualities4 ,the body is merely suggested1 but with complete effectiveness1 under the great swirls of the robes4 ,the dominance of the main curves1 the vigour of the blacks1 and the importunate life that vitalizes every touch and line1 give ,kwaigetsud a place as high as the greatest contemporaries or successors4 ,all the ,kwaigetsud work was printed in black and white2 sometimes the print was hand-coloured by the application of spots of tan1 or red lead4 ,excellent full-size reproductions of several of them are obtainable4 ,with these reproductions the ordinary collector will be obliged to content himself1 for the whole number of ,kwaigetsud prints in existence can scarcely be more than a score or two4 ,they are perhaps the rarest of all prints4 ,,the ,,first ,,kiyonobu4 ,kiyonobu ,speaks4 ,the actor on his little stage ,struts with a mimic rage4 ,across my page ,my passion in his form shall tower from age to age4 ,what he so crudely dreams ,in vague and fitful gleams-- ,the crowd esteems4 ,well6 let the future judge if his or mine this seems-- ,this calm ,titanic mould ,stalking in colours bold ,fold upon fold-- ,this lord of dark1 this dream ,i dreamed of old6 ,with ,kiyonobu begins that school of painters1 the ,torii1 which was to take the initiative during the first half of the eighteenth century in developing the actor-portrait to a very high level1 and which still later was to have the honour of claiming as its head ,kiyonaga1 in whom the whole art culminated4 ,it may be convenient to list here the successive leaders of the school1 who were in their turn entitled to the name of the ,torii1 and whom we shall take up in their order4 ,torii ,i ,kiyonobu ,i 7#affd-agbi7 ,torii ,,ii ,kiyomasu 7#afgi-agfc7 ,torii ,,iii ,kiyomitsu 7#agce-aghe7 ,torii ,,iv ,kiyonaga 7#agdb-ahae7 ,torii ,v ,kiyomine 7#aghf-ahfh7 ,torii ,,vi ,kiyofusa 7#ahcb-ahib7 ,the importance of the school terminated with ,kiyonaga1 or at latest with ,kiyomine4 ,illustration3 ,,torii ,,kiyonobu4 ,kiyonobu ,i1 the founder of the ,torii line1 was born in #affd and died in #agbi4 ,it is said that he was first a resident of ,osaka1 and then of ,kyoto2 and that he finally came to ,yedo about the beginning of the gay and brilliant ,genroku ,period1 #afhh-agjc4 ,thus he must have been in ,yedo a few years before the death of ,moronobu in #agie1 and it is evident that he studied the ,moronobu style4 ,kiyonobu's father is variously reported to have been either an actor or a painter of theatrical sign-posters2 at any rate his connection with the theatre was a close one4 ,this circumstance doubtless determined the line of the son's activity in designing4 ,about #agjj ,kiyonobu produced the first single-sheet actor-print in black and white only4 ,from this it was only a step to the production of tan-ye1 which he probably invented--actor-sheets simply but brilliantly coloured by the application of orange to certain portions of the picture4 ,in this manner he issued both hoso-ye 7that is1 sheets about #ab inches high and #f inches wide7 and sheets of larger size1 perhaps the most striking being actor-portraits1 sometimes several feet in height1 which enjoyed an immense popularity4 ,by about #agae he had taken up a more delicate kind of hand-colouring known as kurenai-ye1 which some writers think he himself devised4 ,a few years later he adopted the urushi-ye technique1 increasing the number of colours and using lacquer to heighten the brilliancy of the effect4 ,kiyonobu's subjects comprised a few landscapes of no great interest1 and figures of several types4 ,his forte was the representation of actors and heroes of history4 ,his bold and gigantic style of drawing lends some probability to the story that he was1 when he first came to ,yedo1 a painter of huge theatrical sign-boards or posters for the exteriors of theatres4 ,the same manner that would be appropriate for these is found in his prints--arresting1 forceful1 highly exaggerated4 ,his designs must be regarded as establishing for all later times the general type to be used in actor-portraits4 ,this constitutes his greatest historical importance4 ,the prints which appear to be ,kiyonobu's earliest are marked by an extraordinary development of line1 handled in great sweeping strokes4 ,the brushwork is indicated with much dash and bravura1 in the manner of the painter as distinct from the print-designer4 ,a hasty glance might lead one to mistake some of these early compositions for the work of a ,kwaigetsud1 though they are1 as a rule1 more uncouth4 ,although power of line always remains one of ,kiyonobu's characteristics1 there appears in his later work a certain insistence on spaces1 a treatment of the surface of the print as if it were a placque into which were to be inlaid large flat masses of a different substance4 ,the robes are broken up into definite segments with sharp boundaries like parts of a picture puzzle1 instead of remaining a surface on which to display the splintering vigour of brush-strokes4 ,this second style is admirably adapted to the technique of wood-engraving4 ,the geometrical quality of some of ,kiyonobu's designs is striking4 ,there are several of his large tan-ye in which the whole print is nothing more than a series of great circles1 brought into relation with each other1 as part of the decoration of the drapery1 by wild and whirling brush-strokes4 ,the work of ,kiyonobu varies greatly in attractiveness4 ,some of his prints have more force than beauty2 and it requires little effort to understand the contempt of the aristocracy for these crude manifestations of the mob's taste4 ,yet even in these grosser designs ,kiyonobu realizes the power and passion of the dramatic rle which he depicts1 achieving an effect of tragic rage that is no less intense and impressive because of its lack of subtlety4 ,most of his prints suggest the shout and roar of bombast3 this is precisely what they were meant to convey4 ,but there are a few of another type1 that embody the masterful power of line of the first ,torii1 joined with a simplicity and refinement of design which his work frequently lacked1 or which1 if present1 is disguised from us by the repellent violence of the figure portrayed4 ,one must see ,kiyonobu's rarest and greatest prints in order to realize why he is regarded as so great an artist4 ,i have written of ,kiyonobu as if he presented no difficulties2 but such is not the case4 ,a stumbling-block for the student is created by the fact that there exist many two-colour prints signed ,kiyonobu4 ,it is recorded that ,kiyonobu died in #agbi1 many years before the date fixed upon by ,fenollosa and most other authorities as the date of the invention of colour-printing4 ,if we are to believe that the numerous colour-prints signed ,kiyonobu are by the first ,torii1 we must either put back the date of the invention of colour-printing to an extent that is improbable in view of other facts1 or we must abandon the recorded date of ,kiyonobu's death and regard his life as having extended well beyond the middle of the eighteenth century4 ,formerly this difficulty was not appreciated1 and all work signed ,kiyonobu was confidently attributed to the first ,torii2 but at present it is generally regarded as likely that there was a second ,kiyonobu who produced all the two-colour prints signed with that name4 ,whether he produced any hand-coloured prints is uncertain4 ,this ,kiyonobu ,,ii theory has met with scepticism in certain quarters1 and some students prefer to accept the alternative of one of the two other possible solutions of the puzzle4 ,certain differences in style between the hand-coloured and the two-colour work confirm the ,kiyonobu ,,ii theory to such an extent that ,i have felt constrained to adopt it here4 ,it may be disproved eventually1 but it is the best solution available at present4 ,i shall therefore take up ,kiyonobu ,,ii as a separate artist1 without again drawing attention to the unsettled state of the relation between him and ,kiyonobu ,i4 ,illustration3 ,,torii ,,kiyomasu4 ,,kiyomasu4 ,kiyomasu1 the second head of the ,torii ,school1 has been variously regarded as the brother or the son of the first ,torii4 ,the question of this exact relationship is a matter scarcely worth all the words that have been wasted upon it4 ,what is important is the well-known fact that the two kinsmen worked side by side in the same studio for many years producing work of precisely the same type4 ,the most experienced judges would find it impossible in some cases to distinguish between their productions4 ,kiyomasu was born about #afgi2 some authorities say #afhe2 but if it is true1 as ,von ,seidlitz states1 that there exists a play-bill by him which is dated #afic1 the earlier of the two dates is the only possible one4 ,since ,kiyonobu was born in #affd1 the theory that they were brothers is the more probable4 ,kiyomasu's chief work was done contemporaneously with ,kiyonobu's1 in black and white1 tan-ye1 and urushi-ye2 but later he produced some prints in two colours4 ,his subjects were chiefly women and actors2 he executed a few small landscapes and some fine representations of birds4 ,his work must have continued some years after #agdc1 but appears to have terminated a considerable time before his death in #agfc or #agfd4 ,a more prolific artist than the first ,torii1 ,kiyomasu was in some particulars an equally distinguished one4 ,possibly his originality was less marked in that he merely followed the actor type which had already been created by ,kiyonobu2 but in the power of his draughtsmanship1 reminding one again and again of a tempered ,kwaigetsud1 he is no secondary figure4 ,nothing can surpass the vigour of linework in some of his large figure prints--great curves made with a heavily charged brush1 expressing with notable simplicity the beauty of flowing drapery4 ,his masterpiece is undoubtedly that superb figure in black and white of the actor ,kanto ,koroku 7in the ,buckingham ,collection1 ,chicago71 drawn in the ,moronobu-,kwaigetsud manner1 which is reproduced in ,fenollosa's ,epochs of ,chinese and ,japanese ,art with the erroneous attribution of ,kiyonobu4 ,this print is a triumph4 ,nothing finer was designed by all the succeeding generations of artists4 ,,the ,,second ,,kiyonobu4 ,kiyonobu ,,ii1 who signed all his work simply ,kiyonobu1 was a son of ,kiyomasu1 and probably a nephew of ,kiyonobu ,i4 ,his whole name was ,torii ,kiyonobu ,shir4 ,he appears to have worked chiefly from about #agdj to about #agef1 the period of the predominance of the two-colour print4 ,all two-colour prints signed ,kiyonobu are by this artist and not by the first ,torii1 who died before the process was invented4 ,kiyonobu ,,ii is regarded by many collectors as the best representative of the two-colour technique4 ,his figures have a delicacy and grace that is alien to the work of his two predecessors in the ,torii ,school2 and his handling of the green and rose designs of these prints is charming4 ,the great insistent colour masses and monumental figures of his predecessors undergo a change in his hands to a more detailed division of colours and a slightening of the forms of the bodies and limbs4 ,also the old passionate vigour of brushwork disappears in the new technique--a loss that seems a grave one4 ,most writers speak of ,kiyonobu ,,ii as a two-colour artist only4 ,it is1 however1 fairly established that at least one of the urushi-ye signed ,kiyonobu is by ,kiyonobu ,,ii4 ,that he did a few three-colour prints is certain4 ,his work1 like that of all these early men1 is rare4 ,it is particularly difficult to find examples of his beni-ye that are in good condition1 since the rose-colour has in most cases entirely faded4 ,,other ,,followers ,,of ,,kiyonobu4 ,,kiyotada was one of the best known and one of the most brilliant of the numerous followers of the great ,torii pioneers4 ,he is said to have been a pupil of ,kiyonobu ,i4 ,his period of production began not far from #agae1 and ended before the invention of two-colour printing4 ,his prints are all tan-ye or urushi-ye1 some of them slightly like ,okumura ,masanobu in style4 ,certain of his hoso-ye have fascinating curves and superb colour--red1 yellow1 green1 pink1 and black1 woven together into rich combinations4 ,,kiyoshige produced very fine actor-portraits coloured by hand1 which remind one distinctly of ,kiyonobu ,i in his later period4 ,large masses of colour are used by him with powerful decorative effect2 and the geometrical designs of his textiles are sometimes striking4 ,kiyoshige's work has a strong yet graceful quality that makes him worthy of more attention than he has hitherto received4 ,he lived to produce some two-colour prints4 ,dr4 ,kurth believes him to have been the first to use the pillar-print form for actor-portraits4 ,his working period was from about #agbj to about #agei4 ,,hanegawa ,,chinch was an eccentric and interesting figure1 who1 though a pupil of ,kiyonobu ,i1 appears to have been more closely related to the ,kwaigetsud ,school than to the ,torii4 ,born about #afhj he1 by birth a ,samurai1 became a ,ronin1 and entered the studio of ,kiyonobu4 ,he was erratic1 proud1 and isolated4 ,in spite of his pressing poverty1 he worked at print-designing only when it pleased him to do so1 which was seldom2 and though he lived until #aged1 his output was small4 ,he was a poet and an aristocrat4 ,his single-sheet prints have a curious esoteric quality--strange1 stiff1 beautiful curves that are not quite like the work of any other designer4 ,chinch's work is of extraordinary rarity2 there can scarcely be more than a score of his prints in existence4 ,,hanekawa-,,wagen is represented by two prints in the ,buckingham ,collection4 ,nothing is known of him4 ,,kiyotomo1 whose work appears to fall entirely within the period of hand-coloured prints1 produced excellent actor designs1 in some of which the line-work reminds one slightly of ,kwaigetsud4 ,the influence of ,kiyomasu appears in some of his urushi-ye4 ,his prints are distinguished by their vigour and are found but seldom4 ,,sanseido ,,tanaka ,,masunobu produced hand-coloured and two-colour prints in the ,torii manner4 ,a print by him dated #agdf is known1 but most of his work precedes #agdj4 ,he is not to be confused with the ,masunobu who was ,harunobu's pupil4 ,,kiyosomo is said to have been a distinguished pupil of ,kiyonobu ,i1 influenced also by ,okumura ,masanobu4 ,other men of this period1 closely connected with the ,torii ,school1 were3 ,kiyoake1 ,kondo ,sukegoro ,kiyoharu1 ,katsukawa ,terushige1 ,nishikawa ,terunobu1 ,nishikawa ,omume1 ,fujikawa ,yoshinobu1 ,tamura ,yoshinobu1 ,tamura ,sadanobu1 ,kichikawa ,katsumasa1 ,kiyomizu ,mazunobu1 ,shimizu ,mitsunobu1 ,kondo ,kiyonobu1 ,kondo ,katsunobu1 ,kiyor1 ,tadaharu1 and ,nakaji ,sadatoshi4 ,illustration3 ,,okumura ,,masanobu3 ,,courtesans ,,at ,,toilet4 ,black and white4 #aj #ae4 ,unsigned4 ,plate #d4 ,illustration3 ,,okumura ,,masanobu4 ,,okumura ,,masanobu4 ,a ,figure4 ,garbed in flowing folds of light1 ,azure1 emerald1 rose1 and white1 ,watchest thou across the night4 ,crowned with splendour is thine head2 ,all the princes great and dead ,round thy limbs their state have shed-- ,calm1 immutable to stand1 ,gracious head and poisd hand1 ,o'er the years that flow like sand4 ,okumura ,masanobu may be termed the central figure of this period3 not only does he tower among the greatest men of the time1 but around him revolve the changes in technique1 full of far-reaching consequences1 which came into being with his invention of two-colour printing4 ,furthermore1 he takes on an additional historical importance as the founder of the ,okumura ,school1 which continued parallel with the ,torii ,school1 and whose productions are characterized by a finer development of grace and elegance than is to be found in the output of the rival line4 ,masanobu was born about #afhe1 and lived until about #agfd--;a life of very nearly eighty years1 full of varied achievements4 ,during the course of his career he used many names1 among which ,genpachi1 ,hgetsud1 ,tanchsai1 ,bunkaku1 and ,kammy are the most frequent4 ,little is known of his life except that he began as a bookseller in ,yedo4 ,he is reputed to have been a pupil of ,kiyonobu1 but ,mr4 ,arthur ,morrison believes this to be an error1 and thinks that ,masanobu was an independent artist educated in no one of the ,yedo schools4 ,whichever account may be correct1 it is at least certain that ,masanobu shows in his work few traces of resemblance to the first of the ,torii masters4 ,it is equally clear that he was early and strongly influenced by the work of ,moronobu1 who died when ,masanobu was only ten years old1 but whose designs were of course still widely known4 ,it is said that soon after #agjg ,masanobu founded a publishing establishment in connection with his book-shop1 issuing prints as well as books4 ,this must have afforded him great opportunities for experiments in technique1 and may have been no small factor in making possible the remarkable advances for which he was responsible4 ,illustration3 ,,okumura ,,masanobu3 ,,standing ,,woman4 ,black outlines1 with hand-colouring of black lacquer1 orange1 yellow1 and gold powder4 ,size #ac #f4 ,signed ,yamato no ,gwako1 ,okumura ,masanobu1 hitsu4 ,plate #e4 ,illustration3 ,h,,getsud4 ,masanobu's earliest works were book-illustrations and albums1 which closely follow the manner of ,moronobu4 ,plate #d reproduces one of these4 ,parallel with them he produced a number of tan-ye1 the large single-sheet prints in black and white1 which1 after printing1 were coloured by hand with orange pigment4 ,these probably date from before #agbj1 although exactness cannot be hoped for4 ,about #agbj he began to do work in a medium which he is said to have invented--the urushi-ye1 or lacquer-prints1 in which the lacquer gives a new richness and luminosity to the various colours4 ,an example of these appears in ,plate #e4 ,the device of heightening the effect by applying gold powder to certain portions of the design was also employed by him4 ,a play of light that is extraordinarily fascinating often marks his combinations of colours4 ,by about #agdb a new technical advance1 the most vital in the whole history of the art1 came into existence2 and ,masanobu is generally credited with its invention4 ,this was the employment of two blocks beside the black key-block to print two other colours upon the paper4 ,the importance of this step was immeasurable3 when it was taken the doom of the hand-coloured print was sealed1 and the way to still further development lay open4 ,at first the colours used by ,masanobu in his two-colour works were a delicate apple-green and the equally delicate rose called beni1 from which the name beni-ye came to be applied to all the two-colour prints of this period4 ,a print of this type appears in ,plate #f4 ,the combination of these two colours is singularly lovely1 and the fresh charm of these sheets has led some collectors to prize them as the most beautiful products of the art4 ,certainly ,masanobu's mastery of the problem of producing a rich and vivacious colour-composition by the use of only two colours is noteworthy4 ,by varying the size and shape of his colour masses1 and by a judicious use of the white of the paper and the black of the key-block1 he produces an effect of such colour-fullness that it requires a distinct effort of the mind to convince oneself that these prints are designs in two tones only1 and not full-colour prints4 ,masanobu lived long enough to produce some three-colour prints1 when these were devised about #agee1 but the effects he obtained in them were possibly less fascinating than those of his earlier process4 ,it can probably never be proven that ,masanobu was1 in fact1 the inventor of all the devices that were attributed to him--the lacquer-print1 the beni print1 the use of gold powder1 and the first actual prints in colour4 ,certainly some of them may be credited to him2 but any one familiar with the growth of hero-legends knows how a great name attracts to itself in popular report achievements that were really the fruit of scattered lesser men4 ,to the list of ,masanobu's probable inventions must be added the pillar-print1 that remarkable type1 about #d to #f inches wide and #be to #dj inches high1 which was to be an important form of design from this date on4 ,it is possible that we must also attribute to him the invention of the mica background--that silver surface of powdered mica which give a curious and beautiful tone to the figures outlined against it4 ,illustration3 ,,okumura ,,masanobu3 ,,young ,,nobleman ,,playing ,,the ,,drum4 ,printed in black1 green1 and rose4 ,size #ab #f4 ,signed ,hogetsudo ,okumura ,masanobu1 hitsu4 ,chandler ,collection4 ,plate #f4 ,of ,masanobu as a designer it is difficult to speak with moderation4 ,through his work runs that sweeping power of line which he derived from his study of ,moronobu1 and1 in addition1 an elegance and suave grace that is the expression of his innate grace of spirit4 ,the grandeur of certain others of the ,primitives is austere and harsh1 but ,masanobu is always mellow and harmonious4 ,his figures1 more finely proportioned than most of the figures of the period1 sway in easy motion--a mixture of sweetness and distinction characterizes the poised heads1 superb bodies1 and ample draperies of his women1 while every resource of compact and dignified design is expended upon the impressive figures of his men4 ,a certain large geniality1 a wide1 sunlighted warmth of conception1 runs through his work4 ,the dramatic distortions of his ,torii predecessors and contemporaries are melted in him1 as towering but uncouth icebergs melt in the sun of kindlier latitudes4 ,at times his line-work has a force that seems derived from the ,kwaigetsud tradition2 more often it is imbued with a gentler rhythm no less expressive of strength4 ,in his finest designs he achieves notable balance of line1 and a massing of colour beside which1 as ,fenollosa remarks1 even the facades of ,greek temples were possibly cold and half-charged in comparison4 ,women1 out-of-door scenes1 and a few actors1 constitute the main subjects of ,masanobu's work4 ,as a portraitist1 his few productions1 such as the well-known humorous pillar-print of the story-teller ,koshi ,shikoden1 give him rank as the greatest of his time4 ,the landscape backgrounds in some of his smaller prints are a delightful innovation1 executed with delicate power of suggesting by a few strokes the whole circle of a natural setting4 ,the quiet charm of these landscapes surrounds with an atmosphere of felicity the beautiful figures that move through them4 ,a full and brilliant life stirs in all ,masanobu's work4 ,at no other period in the history of ,ukioye was such effective use made of the patterns of draperies4 ,the elaborate fashions of the brocades worn in this day lent themselves to the decorative needs of the larger prints2 and frequently we find the figures clothed in a riot of striking textiles--flowers1 trees1 birds1 ships1 geometrical shapes--all mingled in the weave of the cloth1 and arranged by the print-designer into a combination that is tumultuous without confusion and glowing without garishness4 ,masanobu's pictures seem the overflow of his spirit's wealth2 they never have the ascetic and rarefied quality that sometimes appears in the work of even great artists4 ,masanobu's work is scarce4 ,his larger and more important prints very rarely appear outside of the great collections4 ,,pupils ,,of ,,okumura ,,masanobu4 ,,okumura ,,toshinobu1 a son of ,masanobu who died young1 was the best as well as the most famous of ,masanobu's pupils4 ,he gave promise of becoming one of the notable print-designers1 and even in his short career produced work of high quality4 ,born about #agji1 his period of production covered the years of the lacquer-prints1 and ended before #agdc4 ,his urushi-ye1 lithe in design and powerful in colouring1 constitute almost his whole known work4 ,okumura ,masafusa1 ,shuseido1 ,hanekawa ,chiucho ,motonobu1 and ,mangetsud may be mentioned as other and less important pupils of ,masanobu4 ,,nishimura ,,shigenobu4 ,nishimura ,shigenobu is an artist about whom there is great confusion4 ,he is variously called the father1 the son1 or the pupil of the better-known artist ,shigenaga3 the first of these alternatives is the most probable4 ,nothing is known of ,shigenobu's life1 and very little of his work is extant4 ,kurth says that ,shigenobu founded the ,nishimura ,school1 and worked in the manner of the earliest ,torii4 ,von ,seidlitz believes that he did some work in the ,kwaigetsud manner4 ,fenollosa dates his work #agbj-dj1 and thinks that he worked first like the ,torii1 then like ,masanobu4 ,at present it seems impossible to gather further information about this interesting artist4 ,,shigenaga4 ,nishimura ,shigenaga was at one time regarded as the inventor of the two-colour process2 but now that the weight of opinion attributes this invention to ,masanobu1 ,shigenaga remains a figure whose importance is hardly diminished4 ,he must still be regarded as perhaps the most notable master of the ,nishimura ,school1 both as a designer and as the teacher of a group of pupils whose brilliancy is equalled by the disciples of no other artist4 ,shigenaga was born in #afig and lived until #agef4 ,he used the names ,senkwad and ,magosabur as well as his own4 ,little is known of him personally1 except that he was probably the son of ,shigenobu4 ,illustration3 ,,nishimura ,,shigenaga4 ,his work began with black-and-white prints in the manner of ,kiyonobu2 these were already something of an anachronism at the date when he commenced his designing4 ,he then turned to urushi-ye1 and produced some beautiful examples4 ,about #agdb1 when the two-colour process was invented1 he made himself one of the most successful masters of it4 ,dr4 ,anderson reproduces1 as the frontispiece of his ,japanese ,wood-,engraving1 a fine example of ,shigenaga's work in this technique1 but erroneously dates it as #agbe--more than fifteen years too early4 ,shigenaga also did fine work in the three-colour process1 of which he may possibly have been the inventor4 ,his designs comprise not only women and actors1 but also landscapes1 flowers1 animals1 and birds4 ,his versatility is one of his most striking characteristics4 ,it was from the style of ,masanobu that ,shigenaga drew his most lasting stimulus2 and among his sheets we shall find many a figure worthy to stand beside his master's serene creations4 ,dr4 ,kurth calls him a faded or weakened ,masanobu2 but this term can be applied with justice to only a portion of ,shigenaga's work4 ,his productions are uneven2 part are indeed somewhat tame2 but certain of his designs rise to a high level4 ,his finest works1 which are rare1 are his figures of graceful women in the ,masanobu manner4 ,but he was no mere imitator4 ,the ,masanobu poise1 the ,masanobu flow and patterning of garments he did1 it is true1 adopt2 but with how fresh and sensitive a life does he infuse them6 ,shigenaga's pupils comprise most of the great men of the succeeding generation ,toyonobu1 ,harunobu1 ,koriusai1 ,shigemasa1 ,toyoharu1 and many others learned from him the elements of their art4 ,thus ,shigenaga may be regarded as the most important bridge between the ,primitives and the later men1 passing over to them the traditions of the older schools together with the stimulus of that fresh1 inventive1 and assimilative spirit which was peculiarly his own4 ,,pupils ,,of ,,shigenaga4 ,among the less important pupils or associates of ,shigenaga may be named the following artists3-- ,,tsunegawa ,,shigenobu produced work much like ,shigenaga's2 in the few prints of his which ,i have seen there is grace and ease1 but not great strength4 ,his work appears to have been mainly in urushi-ye4 ,mr4 ,gookin believes this name to be merely the early name of ,nishimura ,shigenobu4 ,y,,send ,,yasunobu or ,,anshin1 by whom a fine lacquer-print with strong blacks is in the ,spaulding ,collection1 may1 with some hesitancy1 be classed here4 ,mr4 ,gookin thinks this signature may be merely one of the studio names of some more famous artist4 ,,nagahide1 dated by ,strange about #agfj1 appears to belong to this group4 ,the ,harmsworth ,collection1 ,london1 contains a print by him representing famous theatrical characters depicted by geisha1 the colours partly printed and partly applied by hand4 ,,harutoshi is known to me only by one pillar-print1 in the manner of ,shigenaga's actors4 ,it is doubtful where he should be classified4 ,,akiyama ,,sadaharu1 ,,hirose ,,shigenobu1 and ,,ry,,kwado ,,ichiichido ,,shigenobu were obscure pupils of ,shigenaga4 ,,yamamoto ,,yoshinobu is said by ,fenollosa to have been a pupil of ,shigenaga1 and possibly the same as ,,komai ,,yoshinobu1 who is treated later under ,harunobu4 ,dr4 ,kurth thinks him a member of a ,yamamoto ,school1 which comprised also ,,yamamoto ,,denroku1 ,,yamamoto ,,shigenobu1 ,,yamamoto ,,shigefusa1 ,,yamamoto ,,fujinobu1 ,,yamamoto ,,shigeharu1 ,,tomikawa ,,ginsetsu also known as ,,fusanobu1 ,,yamamoto ,,maruya ,,ky,,yeimon1 ,,yamamoto ,,kuzayeimon1 and ,,yamamoto ,,rihei4 ,illustration3 ,,toyonobu3 ,,two ,,komuso1 ,,represented ,,by ,,the ,,actors ,,sanokawa ,,ichimatsu ,,and ,,onoye ,,kikugoro4 ,printed in black and three colours4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,tanjodo1 ,ishikawa ,shuha ,toyonobu ga4 ,chandler ,collection4 ,plate #g4 ,,toyonobu4 ,a ,pillar ,print4 ,o lady of the long robes1 the slow folds flowing-- ,lady of the white breast1 the dark and lofty head-- ,dwells there any wonder1 the way that thou art going-- ,or goest thou toward the dead8 ,so calm thy solemn steps1 so slow the long lines sweeping ,of garments pale and ghostly1 of limbs as grave as sleep-- ,i know not if thou1 spectre1 hast love or death in keeping1 ,or goest toward which deep4 ,thou layest thy robes aside with gesture large and flowing4 ,is it for love or sleep--is it for life or death8 ,i would my feet might follow the path that thou art going1 ,and thy breath be my breath4 ,ishikawa ,toyonobu1 who not many years ago was regarded as an artist of secondary importance1 has of late1 thanks to fresh discoveries1 come to be esteemed by competent observers as one of the giants of the line--one of those masters among the ,primitives whose dignity of composition makes all but a handful of his successors appear petty beside him4 ,illustration3 ,,ishikawa ,,toyonobu4 ,this important artist1 who sometimes signed himself ,shuha1 was1 like so many other of the better men of his time1 a pupil of ,shigenaga4 ,in his early work we find him influenced by the suave and noble figures of ,okumura ,masanobu more than by the figures of his direct master4 ,born in #agaa1 ,toyonobu lived until #aghe2 and the long space of his life thus extended beyond the period of the ,primitives and into the period of polychrome printing4 ,nevertheless his real activity terminated with the end of the ,primitive ,period4 ,his earliest work was in black-and-white or hand-coloured2 from this he passed on to two-colour prints1 a manner in which he produced many hoso-ye of flawless grace2 and then into three-colour prints1 in which his most important work was accomplished1 and whose classic master1 as ,kurth says1 he may be called4 ,between #agee and #agfd1 the great period of the three-colour print1 ,toyonobu stood almost unmatched in the field4 ,a fine example of his work appears in ,plate #g4 ,after #agfd the ascendancy of ,harunobu eclipsed ,toyonobu2 even the classic style of the older master could not match the brilliant and popular innovations of ,harunobu's brocade pictures4 ,he was therefore driven to take up the technique of full-colour printing4 ,in one print he gives us figures like those of ,koriusai2 in another he follows ,harunobu with the most complete exactness4 ,though forced to the wall1 the old giant could still fight his rivals1 and with their own weapons4 ,the works of ,toyonobu's prime--particularly his pillar-prints--produce a singular impression of lofty greatness4 ,his line-arrangements have always a magical serenity and balance1 and the repose of his compositions is equalled only by their strength4 ,in these tall figures1 where hauntingly lovely lines never degenerate into mere sweetness1 there is a combination of rigour with suavity1 of force with grace1 that makes him forever memorable4 ,his masterful precision1 and the curiously towering effect which his figures produce1 as in the ,girl with the ,umbrella reproduced in ,plate #h1 serve to mark him as one of the important representatives of the grand style in design4 ,illustration3 ,,toyonobu3 ,,girl ,,opening ,,an ,,umbrella4 ,black outlines1 with hand-colouring4 ,size #bg #f4 ,signed ,tanjodo ,ishikawa ,shuha ,toyonobu zu4 ,metzgar ,collection4 ,,toyonobu3 ,,woman ,,dressing4 ,printed in black and three colours4 ,size #bg #d4 ,signed ,ishikawa ,toyonobu hitsu4 ,plate #h4 ,perhaps more than any other artist of the ,ukioye ,school1 ,toyonobu devoted himself to the drawing of the nude4 ,these rare works are among the finest of his productions1 and are so distinctly an exception to the general practice of ,japanese artists that they call for special remark4 ,certain other painters also produced a few such pictures1 but they must all be regarded as sporadic phenomena running counter to the characteristic ,japanese feeling4 ,the national temper recognizes feminine beauty in art only when clothed2 and it is due solely to the profounder perception of a few great artists that any such designs have come down to us4 ,one is moved to speculation over this curious fact1 particularly when one considers that the sight of the body1 at least among the lower classes1 must have been almost as common in ,japan at this time as it was in ,greece during the great period of ,athenian art4 ,but very different was the reaction produced upon the two races by this familiarity4 ,in the ,greeks1 it encouraged an art whose prime aim was to give expression to those harmonies and hints of perfection that lie hidden in the imperfections of each individual body2 so that we have from the ,greeks those syntheses and idealizations of the human form which still haunt us like faint memories of the gods4 ,but in the ,japanese mind1 the sense of the individual defects seems to have overpowered the impulse to creative idealism2 and the people1 as a race1 turned from the nude figure to the more easily manipulated beauties of flowing robes and gorgeous patterns1 translating ,nature into images of an alien richness1 and love into hyperboles of public splendour4 ,that part of ,nature which lay outside themselves they could indeed cope with1 as the lofty visions of landscape which they have transcribed testify2 but with a few exceptions1 such as ,toyonobu and ,kiyomitsu and ,kiyonaga1 they dared not attempt the final venture of rationalizing the uses and aspects of the body4 ,and it is because of an inadequacy whose source and root spring from this attitude that posterity will perhaps rank this art below the art of ,greece1 adjudging even the matchless subtlety and refinement of these designs to be no adequate compensation for the absence of that frank ,greek courage which attempted to clarify and ennoble the fundamental conditions of the existence of man4 ,toyonobu1 great artist that he was1 overstepped the national barrier and came very near to surpassing the finest achievements of ,greek art4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyomitsu3 ,,the ,,actor ,,segawa ,,kikunojo ,,as ,a ,,woman ,,smoking4 ,printed in black and three colours4 ,size #aa #e4 ,signed ,torii ,kiyomitsu ga4 ,plate #i4 ,,kiyomitsu4 ,pillar ,print of a ,woman4 ,a place for giant heads to take their rest ,seems her pale breast4 ,her sweeping robe trails like the cloud and wind ,storms leave behind4 ,the ice of the year1 and its ,aprilian part1 ,sleep in her heart4 ,therefore small marvel that her footsteps be ,like strides of ,destiny6 ,pillar ,print of a ,man4 ,out of spaces hazed with greyness1 out of years whose veils are grey1 ,with the slow majestic footsteps of a lord of far-away1 ,comes a form that out of glooming ,rises from some old entombing ,to confront once more the day4 ,and with splendid gesture dwarfing the confusion of our hands1 ,with his ancient calm rebuking the unrest of vain demands1 ,he with solemn footsteps slowly ,passes3 and his garments holy ,leave the scent of holy lands4 ,illustration3 ,,torii ,,kiyomitsu4 ,kiyomitsu took his place as the third great head of the ,torii line1 succeeding his father ,kiyomasu4 ,in subject and in manner1 it is the ,torii tradition that he carries on4 ,we know nothing of his life1 save that he was born in #agce and died in #aghe4 ,his work falls almost entirely within the class of two- and three-colour prints4 ,i know of only one hand-coloured print by him2 but as his dates denote1 he lived far into the period of polychrome printing1 and was a partaker in ,harunobu's experiments in colour4 ,von ,seidlitz is wrong in saying that no polychrome prints by ,kiyomitsu are known2 a few exist and are very beautiful4 ,he did little work after #agfe1 and is to be regarded as most characteristically an artist of the ,primitive ,period--in fact one of the greatest4 ,certainly between #agee and #agfd1 no one but ,toyonobu could rival him2 and these two may be ranked the supreme designers of the three-colour epoch4 ,the outstanding feature of ,kiyomitsu's work is its formalism4 ,whatever he touches is compressed to a pattern1 and rendered into bold hieroglyphics of sweeping curves4 ,his line is simple1 powerfully dominated by a circular movement that is singularly and inexplicably delightful4 ,his colours1 even while they remain only two or three in number1 never lack variety and strong decorative effect4 ,the slightness of the use which he makes of black is noteworthy2 he compensates for its absence by choosing heavy opaque colours of rich tone4 ,some authorities regard him as the first to employ a third colour-block4 ,kiyomitsu's work is markedly stylistic--even dominated by a certain mannerism2 one comes to recognize almost infallibly the formula he uses1 and to regard as an old friend that peculiar swirl of drapery1 swing of body1 and artificial poise of head which appear1 as in ,plate #i1 like an accepted convention throughout the larger number of his designs4 ,the convention is an agreeable and highly sthetic one1 based on fundamental curves of great beauty4 ,but the invariability with which he employs this formula gives ,dr4 ,kurth some excuse for regarding him as a monotonous and over-estimated artist4 ,had we only ,kiyomitsu's hoso-ye prints1 it might be possible to agree with ,dr4 ,kurth2 for these figures1 enchanting and full of elegance as they are1 certainly are dominated by a sameness of manner such as one finds in no other series of hoso-ye4 ,but the truth of ,dr4 ,kurth's depreciations must be questioned if one turns to the pillar-prints1 which constitute the real glory of ,kiyomitsu's career4 ,the two reproduced in ,plate #aj exhibit his power4 ,kiyomitsu may be regarded as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of the pillar-print shape of composition4 ,much of his finest work is in this form4 ,here his somewhat tight curves lengthen out into flowing beauty2 and the dignity always inherent in his drawing appears at its best4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyomitsu3 ,,woman ,,with ,,basket ,,hat4 ,black and three colours4 ,size #bh #d4 ,signed ,torii ,kiyomitsu ga4 ,,kiyomitsu3 ,,woman ,,coming ,,from ,,bath4 ,black and three colours4 ,size #bg #d4 ,signed ,torii ,kiyomitsu ga4 ,plate #aj4 ,kiyomitsu's rare nudes take a place close beside those of ,toyonobu4 ,they have a keen poetic charm2 and though their vigour is less marked than that of ,toyonobu's1 their grace and elegance of movement is at least as striking4 ,the collector may find it useful to remember that long after ,kiyomitsu's death1 ,kiyomine and ,kiyofusa sometimes used the great name of ,kiyomitsu as a signature to their own works4 ,only an inexperienced observer could mistake these late and decadent productions for the work of the original master4 ,,kiyohiro4 ,torii ,kiyohiro has been rated by some writers as more highly gifted than ,kiyomitsu4 ,this praise appears absurdly extravagant2 yet in disputing such a claim1 one must admit the great charm of ,kiyohiro's work4 ,he is said to have been a pupil of ,kiyonobu ,,ii2 his career runs parallel with that of ,kiyomitsu1 and he seems frequently to imitate that artist4 ,the period of his greatest prominence was between #agde and #ageh2 his work is all in two or three colours4 ,a delicate draughtsman1 his figures have marked grace of poise and firmness of design4 ,his mannerism is less stereotyped than ,kiyomitsu's2 some of his prints have great beauty1 but he never reaches certain heights which ,kiyomitsu attained4 ,prints by him are uncommon4 ,illustration3 ,,torii ,,kiyohiro4 ,,kiyotsune4 ,torii ,kiyotsune produced delicate and distinguished prints in two or three colours1 much like those of ,kiyomitsu4 ,most of his figures are characterized by a curious slenderness and exquisiteness2 but they are somewhat lacking in vigour4 ,after #agfd he fell under the influence of ,harunobu and adopted full-colour printing1 still retaining1 however1 that very individual type of face--a little scornful1 a little fastidious in expression--which marks his designs4 ,his work is rare4 ,,pupils ,,of ,,kiyomitsu ,,and ,,toyonobu4 ,among the pupils of ,kiyomitsu may be noted ,torii ,kiyosato1 ,torii ,kiyoharu1 ,morotada1 ,kiyotoshi1 ,torii ,kiyomoto1 and ,torii ,kiyohide4 ,their work was almost contemporaneous with that of the master4 ,amano ,toyonaga1 ,ishikawa ,toyomasu1 and ,ishikawa ,toyokuma were probably pupils of ,toyonobu4 ,,iv ,,the ,,second ,,period3 ,,the ,,early ,,polychrome ,,masters ,,from ,,the ,,invention ,,of ,,polychrome ,,printing ,,to ,,the ,,retirement ,,of ,,shunsho 7#agfd-hj7 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,second ,,period3 ,,the ,,early ,,polychrome ,,masters ,,from ,,the ,,invention ,,of ,,polychrome ,,printing ,,to ,,the ,,retirement ,,of ,,shunsho 7#agfd-hj7 ,the transition from primitive to sophisticated art is very like the progression of a race from its heroic youth to its elaborately gifted maturity4 ,life grows more complex1 the material riches and the machinery of living become more diversified2 but it is still to the early days that one looks for the strongest development of personality and the most daring achievement in the face of great difficulties4 ,sophistication1 in the history of an art as of a race1 brings refinements and nuances unknown to the pioneers2 but it cannot intensify and may often encumber the spiritual force and essential genius of the creators4 ,the great individuals of the earlier time developed all that was essential as far as it could be developed2 the later enlargement of scope is in the direction of the material and the accidental4 ,in the ,primitives we find the full stature of the spirit2 in the art of later days1 with all its parade of processes1 we shall hardly find more4 ,in the ,first ,period the initial impulse of print-designing manifested itself in work that was powerful and beautiful1 but of simple technique4 ,in the ,second ,period the barriers that confined the ,primitives were swept away by new possibilities of expression4 ,the three-colour prints gave place to prints in which an unlimited number of blocks could be employed2 and this enlargement of the artist's resources produced a new and splendid blossoming4 ,in this ,second ,period the art seemed to hesitate midway between the forces of the primitive inspiration1 which was one of pure and stately decoration1 and the more naturalistic forces that were making ready for the ,third ,period1 with its fuller rendering of the lights and spaces of life4 ,the presence of both groups of forces makes this ,second ,period possibly the most interesting of all4 ,the specific characteristics of the period are sharply marked4 ,they consist1 first of all1 in technical advances--the mastery of full-colour printing and the realization through this process of the marvellous colour-dreams of the great masters4 ,but beyond the technical advances there is a change in spiritual attitude2 the artist1 heretofore content to create a pure decoration1 a masterful mosaic that expressed his sthetic ideals1 now begins to adopt a more personal attitude in his treatment of the forces and spectacles of daily existence4 ,true1 he disposes these elements arbitrarily2 the picture he creates is a world of imagination2 but as compared with the ,primitives1 he tells us more of his experience and is closer to our own4 ,even his most fanciful designs bring to us some remote and abstract echo of known voices4 ,lyric joy speaks through ,harunobu1 dramatic terror through ,shunsho1 splendour through ,koriusai1 mystery through ,buncho2 and though the medium be a symbol1 and its connection with reality as remote as that of music1 yet by the vividness of the emotion evoked in us we may judge of the definiteness of the artist's motive1 and realize through colour and line an intangible human voice4 ,the stream of art history here flowed in two main channels4 ,one was the ,katsukawa ,school1 headed by ,shunsho1 which like the older ,torii ,school devoted itself chiefly to the representation of actors4 ,the other was the school of ,harunobu1 whose gracious designs of women were the most novel productions of the period4 ,a third school was founded by ,toyoharu and a fourth by ,shigemasa2 but the real importance of these two schools developed only in a later epoch4 ,during this period the great ,torii ,school may be said to have remained dormant2 it was to awaken in the ,third ,period to a new splendour in ,kiyonaga4 ,there is a passage from a contemporary record that throws light on the temper of the people and the artists at this time4 ,i have freely translated it1 with the courteous permission of ,dr4 ,julius ,kurth 7,kurth's ,harunobu1 ,r4 ,piper ,co41 ,munich71 from his ,german rendering of a unique manuscript book in his possession1 which appears to have been written by the poet ,yukura ,sanjin1 and illustrated by ,harunobu in #agfi4 ,the book is a whimsical1 devil-may-care production of the lightest sort2 but from its pages the glitter and surge and laughter of ,yedo holiday life rise with a far-away yet curiously distinct echo4 ,,an ,,extract ,,from ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,honey-,,sweetmeat ,,vendor1 ,,dohei4 ,dohei hails from ,oshu4 ,upon his head he wears a cap2 and his mouth sends up a song when in the ,capital of the ,east he vends his honey-sweetmeats4 ,his cape is of tiger-skin1 and bears a suspicious resemblance to the loin-apron of the ,devil4 ,his umbrella is of scarlet crpe1 and recalls the plumed spears of the festival-guards4 ,as his coat of arms he chose a ,devil's head and a skeleton2 upon his outer robe he wrote the sign1 ',dohei1 ,dohei4' ,while you buy his honey-sweetmeats1 he sings a song of a new style1 and ends it with the refrain1 ',dohei1 ,dohei6' ,therefore the name of ,dohei has become known everywhere4 ,even the smallest children all sing this song in chorus over and over a thousand times4 ,if he sells his honey-sweetmeats in the ,eastern part of the city1 the people in the ,western streets are furious2 if he sells them in the ,southern quarter1 the people in the ,northern streets are furious4 ,for then they want to know why he came to them so late4 ,if on the three hundred and sixty days of the year one goes1 day in and day out1 through all the eight hundred and eight streets1 one finds a tavern at every five paces2 and it is as if this city had been changed into a pond of rice-wine4 ,one cannot take ten steps without coming upon a shop in which whole mountains of rice-cakes and other confections are offered4 ,if one hears in the distance an almost heavenly music1 it is the song of a lady to the strum of a guitar4 ,if there is a rattling like peals of thunder1 it is the ox-carts on the side streets4 ,people with coiffures shaped like the leaf of the ginko-tree roll up their outer robes and jostle shoulder to shoulder4 ,ladies with girdles of spun gold and long-sleeved girlish dresses sway their hips2 and their garments1 coloured like the graining of wood1 flow as do torrents of ,spring4 ,their hats of green paper resemble a clump of trees in ,summer4 ,and as they wander along1 the hems of their robes flutter open1 and the blood-red silk linings gleam like maple foliage--though it is not yet ,autumn6 ,the festive white material of their inner robes shines like snow--though it is not yet ,winter6 ,if it were1 they would be muffled to their very noses with crpe veils4 ,they have arranged their hair as if surmounted by a cap1 like tiers of little chrysanthemums4 ,at their thighs sparkle tobacco-wallets ornamented with silver and gold4 ,the black-and-white prints of earlier days are antiquated now1 and the only thing people care for is the newly-devised gorgeousness of the ,eastern ,brocade ,pictures4 ,musical plays are no longer to be seen2 instead1 you go to the music-girls and the dancing-girls in the taverns4 ,the young people want lively entertainment1 and visit the wine-shops4 ,out of a vase in which1 according to the ancient custom1 flowers were formerly placed1 lots are now drawn to fix upon the day for a party2 while according to the fashionable arrangement of flowers in the hanging jars1 the flowers look like arrows from a bow4 ,the vendors of fritters call out1 ',celebrated ,pasties6 ,celebrated ,pasties6' and boast upon the brilliant paper signs of the just-opened booths1 ',headquarters6 ,headquarters6' ,handkerchiefs at four coppers apiece hang at the loins of the servants of ,samurais4 ,the song of the ,new ,year's dancers rings out among people who hitherto had sung only folk-songs4 ,the caligraphist studies the ,nagao style2 the poet learns by heart the poems of the ,chinese epoch1 and the minstrel the style of the ,manyo anthology4 ,to obtain new remedies for his stock the doctor draws upon the old school for all kinds of herbs1 and cures eyes and noses with them--just as pumpkins are perfected into melons4 ,often the priest of ,buddha wanders1 an object of derision1 through the streets in the darkness of night in search of a girl4 ,to be sure1 he is a very learned man2 but what leads more easily to dangerous labyrinths than love8 ,the theatres in the ,sakai ,street give performances continuously4 ,the reconstruction of the ,yoshiwara is to be finished in a few days1 and people come and go there only to drink and to sing4 ,they draw water from the floods of the ,sumida ,river1 but it will not be drained dry6 ,they view again and again the flowers of the ,asuka ,river1 but these also are without end6 ,the ,shenshuraku ,theatre enlivens the public1 and upon the ,banzairaku stage man's life is idealized4 ,so all are happy--like green firs that become thicker and thicker and put forth new needles4 ,into this crowded world of exuberant life came ,harunobu and his contemporaries--into this underworld1 if you will1 but an underworld more beautiful and sun-drenched than any known to our great ,western cities4 ,instead of the bar in the slum they had the tea-house on the river-bank2 instead of the prize-fight they had the cherry festival2 for them1 vice put on robes of a certain stately beauty2 their stage was marked by the same ennobling absence of realism that distinguished the stage of the ,greeks4 ,the holiday spirit of the hour seems more spontaneous than ours2 their hearts seem less troubled by spiritual confusions4 ,and manifestly their underworld knew beauty and brought forth an art that is now a universal human treasure2 while our underworld has been1 with the rarest of exceptions1 wholly sterile4 ,one of the most important of the underworld institutions which the prints of this period depict is the theatre4 ,though ,harunobu turned aside from it1 his great contemporary ,shunsho and the whole body of ,shunsho's followers found most of their material there4 ,the popular theatre had sprung into importance in the days of ,moronobu4 ,previous to that time1 the classic lyric drama of the aristocracy1 called the ,n1 had flourished in the secluded palaces of great nobles2 but the mob was obliged to divert itself with nothing more interesting than jugglers and street performers4 ,therefore when the theatre first came into being1 in the river-bed of ,kyoto1 it achieved great popularity2 and when later it was transferred to ,yedo1 it rose during the ,genroku ,period 7#afhh-agjc7 to a position of passionate favour4 ,it appears never to have had a very savoury moral odour2 and before long it became associated with so much corruptness that it presented a serious problem for the ,tokugawa rulers4 ,in #afdc1 as a corrective measure1 they had decreed the exclusion of female actors from the stage4 ,from this time on1 only men trod the ,japanese boards2 the female rles were taken by male actors whose skill in this impersonation is said to have been extraordinary4 ,the status of a great actor in the hearts of the people was not very different from that of a successful prize-fighter among us to-day4 ,he was a popular idol2 his movements were the subject of the eager curiosity of the gaping multitude2 but his social rank was of the lowest4 ,the prints of a later date show us pictures of actors with their gay companions on boating-parties or tea-house picnics1 surrounded by inquisitive throngs of spectators4 ,famous and greatly sought after as these actors were1 they occupied positions of even less esteem than the ,english players in the days of ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,nothing so well illustrates their ostracism from any kind of society as the words used by one of the greatest of actor-painters1 ,shunsho1 in the preface to a book of drawings representing actors3 ,to be sure1 ,i love the theatre1 and greatly enjoy being a spectator1 but ,i have no connection with the actors themselves1 and do not know them in private life4 ,even ,shunsho1 who had created the heroic designs of these men in their great rles1 dared not acknowledge himself as their familiar4 ,when they appeared on the stage1 the faces of the actors were frequently painted with startling streaks of red and white1 an effect reproduced in some of the prints4 ,the elaborate robes worn when they represented heroic figures of bygone ages formed superb material for the designs of the artists4 ,the ,japanese stage of to-day probably does not differ very much from what it was in ,shunsho's time2 and we still see on it that florid elaboration of gesture1 bombastic delivery1 and intensification of facial expression which the prints have perpetuated4 ,the actors were divided into clans or schools2 the name of a famous head of a clan would be handed down for generations from master to pupil4 ,thus there were many of the name of ,danjuro1 ,hanshiro1 and ,kikunojo in succession1 who were not related to each other by blood4 ,certain clans such as the ,kikunojo specialized exclusively in women's rles4 ,each clan had its mon or crest1 worn on the sleeve1 and each actor had a personal mon2 in the prints these generally appear4 ,in ,plate #bj1 for example1 the circle with eight crossed arrow-buts indicates the mon of ,nakamura ,matsuye2 in other prints1 the three great concentric squares of ,danjuro1 the trisected concentric circles of ,hanshiro1 or the iris within a circle of ,kikunojo 7,plate #i71 are easily identified4 ,in the hands of ,shunsho and his followers the figures of these actors were used as the material for brilliant designs4 ,for the moment1 however1 we must return to the foremost artist of this period--one who never loved the actors--,harunobu4 ,,harunobu4 ,figure of a ,girl4 ,ye winds that somewhere in the ,west-- ,in gulfs of sunset1 isles of rest-- ,rise dewy from prenatal sleep ,to strew with little waves the deep-- ,surely it is your breath that stirs ,these fluttering gauzy robes of hers6 ,come whence ye may1 ,i marvel not ,that ye are lured to seek this spot2 ,your tenuous scarcely breathd powers ,sway not the sturdier garden flowers1 ,and had unmanifest gone by ,save that she feels them visibly4 ,o little winds1 her little hands ,in time with tunes from fairy-lands ,are moving2 and her bended head ,knows nothing of the long years sped ,since heaven more near to earth was hung1 ,and gods lived1 and the world was young4 ,her inner robe of tenderest fawn ,in cool1 faint fountains of the dawn ,was dyed2 and her long outer dress ,borrows its luminous loveliness ,from some clear bowl with water filled ,in which one drop of wine was spilled4 ,peace folds her in its deeps profound2 ,her shy glance lifts not from the ground2 ,and through this garden's still retreat ,she moves with tripping silver feet ,whose trancd grace1 where'er she strays1 ,turns all the days to holy days4 ,come6 let us softly steal away4 ,for what can we1 whose hearts are grey1 ,bring to her dreaming paradise8 ,a chill shall mock her from our eyes2 ,a cloud shall dim this radiant air3 ,come6 for our world is otherwhere4 ,but ,o ye little winds that blow ,from golden islands long ago ,lost to our searching in the deep ,of dreams between the shores of sleep-- ,ye shall her happy playmates be1 ,fluttering her robes invisibly4 ,illustration3 ,,harunobu3 ,,young ,,girl ,,in ,,wind4 ,polychrome1 from eight blocks4 ,size #aa #h4 ,signed ,susuki ,harunobu ga4 ,gookin ,collection4 ,plate #aa4 ,illustration3 ,,susuki ,,harunobu4 ,the few available fragments of information about the life of ,susuki ,harunobu can be briefly stated4 ,born between #agbe and #agcj1 he lived in ,yedo all his life in a house near the river4 ,in #agfd he perfected a new and epoch-making treatment of colour-print technique1 and died in #aggj1 not much more than forty years of age4 ,we may1 where so little is known1 willingly follow ,dr4 ,kurth in his ingenious tracing of a romantic link between ,harunobu and the hamlet of ,kasamori1 whose pine-trees1 red temple-torii1 and beautiful tea-house waitress ,o-,sen haunt his work recurrently2 but we must be content to regard this as at least half fancy4 ,harunobu's direct teacher was ,shigenaga1 and he was influenced early by ,toyonobu2 but it was to ,sukenobu and ,kiyomitsu that he turned for the inspiration of those characteristic figures which he created during the six great years of his real activity4 ,harunobu's work before the year #agfd is relatively unimportant4 ,it consists of prints of actors and legendary subjects1 printed in two or three colours2 a few of his hoso-ye prints of this period have charming delicacy of line and colour1 and at least one of his actor pillar-prints is a work of notable dignity2 but upon the whole his work is not very individual4 ,any one of a dozen of ,shigenaga's pupils might have done almost as well4 ,before #agfd these men were all his equals2 after #agfd he took a step which few could keep pace with and which none could outstrip4 ,in #agfd he brought forth that synthesis of the resources of his art which was to shake the ,ukioye world4 ,whether he was the actual inventor of polychrome printing is not certain2 some authorities attribute the invention to an engraver named ,kinroku2 but it is very clear that ,harunobu was the first to seize upon and realize the possibilities of the discovery4 ,some technical hindrance1 such as the difficulty of securing perfect register from many blocks on the wet stretching sheets1 had prevented the earlier completion of the process2 and it is possible that it was a printer who discovered the simple device needed to overcome the difficulty4 ,this1 however1 is a matter of mere mechanics and has no bearing upon the question of the real glory of ,harunobu4 ,what is important is that he seized the new technique and made out of it an instrument responsive to every subtlest breath of his beauty-haunted spirit4 ,illustration3 ,,harunobu3 ,,lady ,,talking ,,with ,,fan-,,vendor4 ,polychrome4 ,size #aa #g4 ,signed ,harunobu ga4 ,chandler ,collection4 ,plate #ab4 ,the old three-colour prints had achieved fine effects by means of powerfully conceived but essentially simple mosaics of colour4 ,now ,harunobu turned the three-stringed lute into the violin1 capable of expressing the most delicate modulations of tone4 ,beginning with combinations of only four or five colours1 he gradually increased the number of blocks used4 ,it is certain that he used eight blocks on at least one #agfe calendar print4 ,in the end he had at his command a palette which1 by the use of no less than twelve or fifteen blocks1 and with the limitless number of shades obtainable by superimposing one colour upon another1 made the whole rainbow his4 ,constant experiment marked his further progress4 ,we have1 for example1 one print which he originally printed from eight blocks1 and later varied by increasing the blocks to ten1 and still later to thirteen4 ,from year to year an ever fresh succession of complex colour-harmonies emanated from his fertile brain4 ,until the invention of polychrome printing1 ,harunobu had not adequately expressed himself2 now1 having found his true instrument1 he played divinely4 ,the year #agfe was a ,jubilee year1 celebrating the nine-hundredth anniversary of the entrance of ,sugawara ,michigane1 the great statesman1 painter1 and humanist1 to the ,court of the ,emperor4 ,this circumstance1 in connection with the desire of literary men to present to their friends specimens of the new prints as ,new ,year cards1 led ,harunobu to produce a number of dated calendar-prints of this year--a fortunate occurrence which has been of great aid to students of his work4 ,the theory that these dated prints are the expression of ,harunobu's nave exultation over the new discovery is now generally discredited4 ,since the calendars are dated #agfe1 ,mr4 ,gookin's suggestion that they were probably made in the last months of #agfd seems reasonable2 and this date must therefore be regarded as marking the beginning of polychrome printing4 ,the brilliant new prints fittingly ushered in the festal year4 ,and the public was not too busy with its celebrations to take note of the change4 ,the new manner with its wealth of colour-beauty won instant popularity2 and under the name of ,brocade ,pictures of the ,eastern ,capital grew to such fame that by #agfg prints in the old style were almost driven out of the market1 and ,harunobu was unquestioned lord of ,ukioye4 ,it is not strange that in the glow of success and ambition he should have put behind him his old actor-pictures4 ,i am a ,japanese painter1 he wrote proudly2 why should ,i paint the portraits of this vulgar herd8 ,and at this moment feeling himself akin to the great classical tradition whose refined beauties had been handed down from ancient ,china mingled with the beauties of poets and sages1 he determined that he would lift from the ,ukioye ,school the stigma of vulgarity which the theatre had given it1 and invest it with some of that gentle cultivation which fills like light the old ,chinese paintings of ,ming gardens4 ,therefore he turned his energies to the depiction of another world than the theatre--the life of aristocratic ladies1 of young lovers1 of those famed beauties who in humbler station were the flowers and sunshine of the tea-house and the festival4 ,plate #ad portrays one of these4 ,his method of handling the figures--a peculiar mingling of navet and sophistication1 like that of a minstrel singing incredible enchanted legends with complete seriousness--was a new and never-recovered note in the history of ,ukioye4 ,illustration3 ,,harunobu3 ,,girl ,,viewing ,,moon ,,and ,,blossoms4 ,size #aa #h4 ,signed ,harunobu ga4 ,chandler ,collection4 ,plate #ac4 ,from this time on1 during six years1 ,harunobu produced a series of prints whose grace is unsurpassable4 ,the firm and refined strokes of his brush endowed with a fresh charm all that was lovely in the flowing draperies and serene faces of the young girls of ,japan4 ,he was the painter of youth4 ,the type which he introduced was the slender and gracious embodiment of youthful girlhood4 ,and an indescribable delicacy and purity of manner clothes as with clear light these girl-figures of his4 ,his draperies1 as in ,plate #aa1 are never drawn naturalistically1 but always with a certain conventionalization that produces folds and swirls more abstractly beautiful than a literal rendering4 ,he for the first time in colour-printing made a practice of giving to his figures a background that exhibited fully the scene of their daily lives4 ,instead of the heroic figures of the ,primitives1 stalking through space in colossal grandeur1 he drew the familiar forms of everyday existence nestling among their natural surroundings4 ,the world he pictures is1 however1 one of mortals who hardly know the burdens of mortality4 ,like the women of ,botticelli1 they seem to poise in an atmosphere of more rarefied loveliness than anything we know in reality4 ,rich as may have been the beauty of the tea-house girl1 ,o-,sen1 whom ,harunobu loved and painted1 and of the little seller of cosmetics1 ,o-,fuji1 who appears many times in his pictures1 they were but the starting-point1 the exciting agency1 from which ,harunobu passed on into a secret fanciful world of his own to evoke his dream-maidens4 ,half of the charm of these figures1 such as the one in ,plate #ab1 lies in this unreal and unhuman impression they make2 they are not ,japanese women or any women1 but living fairy-tales1 butterfly creatures out of nowhere4 ,all that is joyous and playful in the ,japanese spirit lifts them on wings of fantasy into regions of universal delight4 ,they are the most fragrant flowers of ,japanese art4 ,it follows that ,harunobu's subjects are almost always light and trivial scenes--a girl playing with a cat1 a young man and a maiden walking amiably together1 young girls engaged in some delicate occupation1 or1 as in ,plate #ac1 pausing in pensive reverie4 ,a gentle joy pervades most of them1 or at least a gravity so light that it is nearer joy than melancholy4 ,harunobu does not handle these scenes with any especial insight into life2 they are not windows through which we may look and see the human souls of the people he portrays4 ,they are nothing more than gay1 pleasing moments--records of fortunate hours--froth and foam over the real deeps of life4 ,illustration3 ,,harunobu3 ,,courtesan ,,detaining ,a ,,passing ,,samurai4 ,size #aa #h4 ,signed ,harunobu ga4 ,plate #ad4 ,yet as the spectator allows the pure and delicate atmosphere of one of these creations to enter his spirit1 he gradually becomes aware that not this trivial scene1 not this light episode1 was ,harunobu's real theme2 his real theme was the great harmonics of colour and line4 ,out of colour and line his immeasurable genius evoked lofty improvisations4 ,he dedicated the fervour of his passion and his vision to the creation of these orchestrations of tone1 these modulated arabesques of contour4 ,beyond his cheerful groups1 beyond his felicitous arrangements1 lies the history of his prodigious essay to impose his sense of beauty upon one section of chaos4 ,kurth is quite right when he calls him the great virtuoso of colour4 ,most of ,harunobu's prints are of small size1 almost square4 ,in this form his refinement found its most perfect expression4 ,if we would see an aspect of ,harunobu that is of more impressive proportions1 and realize that scope as well as daintiness was in him1 we must turn to certain rare pillar-prints which were done chiefly in the years immediately preceding his untimely death4 ,here dignity combines with grace1 and an exalted sweep of composition adds nobility to that exquisite colour which here no less than in his small prints finds place4 ,two of these pillar-prints1 reproduced in ,plate #ae1 may serve to illustrate this last phase of ,harunobu's greatest triumph4 ,the first print is a soft grey and lavender study of a girl4 ,within the long1 narrow space1 against a background of cool unbroken grey1 rises the figure1 whose bent1 pensive head looks down at the ball she is dangling before a cat at her feet4 ,her hair1 a mass of strong black against the clear grey background1 is drawn in a conventionalized manner that is perhaps the noblest formula ever devised for the painting of hair--as pure of line as a ,greek helmet4 ,drooping from her slender shoulders fall robes whose slow curves seem moulded by the touch of faint and gentle airs that breathe around her4 ,the long drapery is interwoven with hints of mauve melting into rose--more like ghosts of the palette than colours--and touches of translucent salmon and amber and grey are repeated like an arabesque of lights down the folds4 ,the folds sweep in great restful curves like those of vines hanging in festoons from summer branches4 ,at the girl's girdle a strong note of dull green strikes like a bass chord across the composition2 and smaller spots of the same colour carry this motive diminishingly down to the bottom of the picture4 ,it is a sentiment1 an emotion1 a dream--as much an abstraction as a musical composition4 ,in the lines of the dress1 in the poise of the head1 in the limpid tones of the whole picture1 is secreted the dwelling-place of a peace1 a solemnity1 an awe never to be forgotten4 ,it is reminiscent of the grandeur of the ,primitives1 but more etherialized2 and there lingers about it still1 persisting from earlier times1 the penumbra of that hierarchal purity and spirituality peculiar to archaic art4 ,like those strange and memorable archaic statues of the ,priestesses in the ,museum of the ,akropolis at ,athens1 like the frescoes of ,giotto at ,assisi1 it holds the secret of an untainted beauty that is lost to later artists4 ,illustration3 ,,harunobu3 ,,shirai ,,gompachi ,,disguised ,,as ,a ,,komuso4 ,size #bg #d4 ,signed ,susuki ,harunobu ga4 ,,harunobu3 ,,girl ,,playing ,,with ,,kitten4 ,size #bf #d4 ,signed ,susuki ,harunobu ga4 ,plate #ae4 ,the second pillar-print is one which1 following the opinion of ,professor ,fenollosa and ,mr4 ,gookin1 may be regarded as one of the supreme triumphs of ,harunobu's career1 and one of the greatest prints we know4 ,it represents ,shirai ,gompachi1 the white-robed lover of the beautiful ,komurasaki1 wandering in disguise with the basket-hat and flute of a komuso or dishonoured ,samurai4 ,there is no background2 against the clear white paper the long lines of the tall figure flow in curves of jet black and purple-grey1 with here and there lights of orange and white4 ,by a simplicity of selection that is more than ,greek1 ,harunobu has woven from these few curves an effect that is like an incantation4 ,it has in it the power to reach into the secret storehouses of the spectator's emotion and awaken echoes from those intimations of eternal perfection which haunt every heart4 ,fenollosa writes3 ,there is something unearthly about its line themes1 orchestrated in black and ghost-tints1 which lifts one to the infinities of ,beethoven's purest melodies4 ,the dreamy clarinet-player seems to droop and melt away into regions of sublimity where no earthly ear shall follow his dying chords4 ,thus indeed we are glad at last to have ,harunobu pass1 transfigured1 from our vision4 ,pillar ,print by ,harunobu4 ,from an infinite distance1 the ghostly music6 ,few and slender the tones1 of delicate silver1 ,as stars are broidered on the veil of evening4444 ,he passes by1 the flute and the dreaming player-- ,slow are his steps1 his eyes are gravely downcast2 ,his pale robes sway in long folds with his passing4 ,out of the infinite distance1 a ghostly music ,returns--in slender tones of delicate silver1 ,as stars are broidered on the veil of evening4 ,certain puzzles for the collector and student arise in connection with ,harunobu4 ,this is the first knotty point4 ,shiba ,kokan1 a contemporary artist who outlived ,harunobu by forty-eight years1 is obscurely connected with ,harunobu's work4 ,look out when you buy ,harunobu prints6 he writes in his memoirs1 published long after his death4 ,a great portion of the most popular ones are skilfully forged1 and the forger was ,i1 ,shiba ,kokan6 ,this warning holds good to-day1 and in many cases no one can say with confidence whether certain sheets are by ,shiba ,kokan or ,harunobu4 ,kokan claims1 in particular1 to have been the author of those with transparent draperies1 those done in the ,chinese manner1 and those in which snow on bamboos is rendered by embossing without outline blocks4 ,all these and other characteristic beauties of ,harunobu's work he would annex1 and it is doubtful if we shall ever know whether he is the greatest liar or the greatest forger in history4 ,probably his statements must be regarded as partly true4 ,until we know1 however1 every print signed ,harunobu is suspect2 for if ,shiba ,kokan could deceive the public of that day1 we shall not be likely to detect his forgeries4 ,there is only one consolation for the collector3 if the prints of ,shiba ,kokan1 signed ,harunobu1 are as beautiful as those of ,harunobu1 then not the collector is the sufferer1 but only the unfortunate person who tries to write an accurate account of this hopeless entanglement4 ,other forgers1 contemporaneous or slightly later1 probably took advantage of ,harunobu's popularity3 coarse reprints from recut blocks turn up frequently in the market2 and1 worst of all1 very fine modern forgeries and imitations of his work abound4 ,these last two classes are the only ones that need cause the collector anxiety2 they should of course be guarded against with the utmost care1 for they are quite worthless4 ,their impure and muddy colours generally betray them to the practised eye4 ,no means of detecting them is safe for the inexperienced amateur except a minute comparison with an unquestioned original impression of the same print4 ,on the other hand1 the contemporaneous forgeries1 if beautiful1 are no inconsiderable treasures4 ,illustration3 ,,kyosen4 ,the name ,kyosen furnishes another puzzle4 ,it is signed to prints unmistakably by ,harunobu1 to prints unmistakably not by him1 and to prints which he also signs4 ,the solution seems to be that ,kyosen is simply the name of the printer or engraver who did work for ,harunobu and for other designers4 ,kyosen himself sometimes designed prints1 but in such cases he signed distinctly as artist4 ,the signature ,kyosen does not1 therefore1 indicate a separate artist1 and its presence on ,harunobu's prints need not cause doubts as to ,harunobu's authorship4 ,senga1 a printer1 and ,takahashi ,gyokushi and ,takahashi ,rosen1 engravers1 also signed certain of ,harunobu's prints4 ,a further difficulty arises in the relation of ,harunobu to ,koriusai1 an artist whom we shall soon treat by himself4 ,at times his work comes so close to ,harunobu's style that earlier authorities believed his name to be merely a later signature of ,harunobu4 ,this position is now entirely discredited1 and it is agreed that ,koriusai was a distinct person1 a friend and successor of ,harunobu4 ,but it is not so sure that ,koriusai may not have signed certain of his own designs with ,harunobu's name after ,harunobu's death2 the striking resemblances of some such sheets to ,koriusai's work makes one unwilling to regard the relation between the two as settled4 ,in the case of certain unsigned prints1 it is impossible to determine with assurance which of the two was the creator4 ,as a rule1 however1 the colour-schemes of the two are totally different1 ,koriusai running characteristically to schemes in which blue and orange are dominant4 ,dr4 ,kurth seems to think it barely possible that prints signed ,koriu may be by ,harunobu2 but this theory is untenable1 both because the internal evidence of the prints is against it1 several of ,koriusai's most characteristic prints being thus signed1 and because of the difficulty of believing that ,harunobu1 the greatest of living ,ukioye artists1 should at the height of his fame have signed to his work the name of a younger and less noted contemporary4 ,those prints in the ,harunobu manner which are unsigned and unsealed also offer perplexities1 since we must look entirely to internal evidence to discover whether they are by ,harunobu4 ,harunobu's work is among the most highly prized in the whole list4 ,the great collections have many of his prints1 but in the market one finds the fine ones to be limited in number4 ,in his case1 even more than in the case of other artists1 perfect condition is a vital requirement4 ,for1 in the process of fading1 his prints lose that delicate colour-orchestration which is their supreme glory4 ,the same changes in tone that would hardly detract from the beauty of a fine ,kiyomitsu might easily rob a fine ,harunobu of most of its significance4 ,if one has once seen the copies in such collections as that of ,mr4 ,frederick ,w4 ,gookin1 of ,chicago1 ,mr4 ,charles ,h4 ,chandler1 of ,evanston1 ,messrs4 ,william ,s4 ,spaulding and ,john ,t4 ,spaulding1 of ,boston1 or ,mr4 ,howard ,mansfield of ,new ,york1 one loses all interest in the battered riff-raff of the dealers' counters4 ,,koriusai4 ,koriusai speaks4 ,let whoso will take sheets as wide ,as some great wrestler's mountain-back ,space cannot hide ,his lack4 ,take thou the panel1 being strong4 ',tis as a girl's arm fashioned right-- ,as slender and divinely long ,and white4 ,that tall and narrow icy space ,gives scope for all the brush beseems4 ,and who shall ask a wider place ,for dreams8 ,it is an isle amid the tide-- ,a chink wherethrough shines one lone star-- ,a cell where calms of heaven hide ,afar4 ,one chosen curve of beauty wooed ,from out the harsh chaotic world ,shall there in solitude ,be furled4 ,the narrow door shall be so strait ,life cannot vex1 with troubled din1 ,beauty1 beyond that secret gate ,shut in4 ,lo6 ,i will draw two lovers there1 ,alone amid their ,april hours1 ,with lines as drooping and as fair ,as flowers4 ,i will make ,spring to circle them ,like a faint aureole of delight4 ,their luminous youth and joy shall stem ,the night4 ,and men shall say3 ,behold6 he chose1 ,from ,time's wild welter round him strown1 ,this hour2 and paid for its repose ,his own4 ,koriusai's life is shrouded in those mists prevalent in the cases of most ,ukioye artists4 ,it is known that he was a ,samurai1 or feudal retainer of knightly rank2 upon the death of his master1 ,tsuchiya1 he became1 as was the custom1 a ronin--that is1 a retainer without a lord--and established himself near the picturesque ,ryogoku ,bridge in ,yedo as a painter4 ,he originally used the name ,haruhiro4 ,shigenaga was his first teacher1 ,harunobu his second2 his work can safely be dated between #aggj and #agha4 ,by the end of this period ,kiyonaga was beginning to advance achievements that eclipsed ,koriusai's4 ,as ,fenollosa points out1 it was ,koriusai's misfortune to collide with ,harunobu at the beginning and with ,kiyonaga at the end of his career2 could we obliterate those two1 we might think of ,koriusai as the most beautiful ,ukioye designer4 ,illustration3 ,,koriusai3 ,,mother ,,and ,,boy4 ,size #bh #d4 ,signed ,koriu ga4 ,,koriusai3 ,,two ,,lovers ,,in ,,the ,,fields--,,spring ,,cuckoo4 ,size #bg #d4 ,signed ,koriusai ga4 ,plate #af4 ,koriusai was already working in ,harunobu's manner at the time of the master's death2 and afterward he continued ,harunobu's experiments4 ,his characteristic device in colour is the predominance of a strong orange pigment1 based on lead1 which when originally applied had the utmost brilliance1 but which now is frequently changed by chemical decomposition into a rich mottled black4 ,combining this orange with a blue of his own devising1 he obtained novel and striking effects4 ,illustration3 ,,koriusai4 ,koriusai's small prints have often a beauty almost equal to ,harunobu's1 but they lack individuality of invention4 ,they never surpass the triumphs of the older master in this form4 ,koriusai seldom can catch ,harunobu's perfect grace and repose1 his luminous atmosphere and subtle colour4 ,but in his large sheets he produced a few compositions whose elaborate magnificence is a new and individual achievement4 ,the styles in hair-dressing which came into vogue at this time were no small element in enabling him to create his stately figures2 the wide lines of the coiffure1 more solid and massive than in ,harunobu's day1 lent itself admirably to strong decorative treatment4 ,in a series of large sheets called ,designs of ,spring ,greenery1 each picture representing an ,oiran and her two or more young attendants1 some of the prints are disfigured by the heaviness of the faces2 but others1 from which this exaggeration is absent1 are of almost unparalleled splendour in colour1 even though somewhat monotonous in their repetitions4 ,one of this type1 in the ,morse ,collection1 ,evanston 7described at ,no4 #aee of ,fenollosa's ,ketcham ,catalogue7 is surely one of the greatest prints in the world4 ,some of ,koriusai's designs of birds and other animals1 occasionally printed with mica backgrounds1 are admirable compositions4 ,but ,koriusai's distinctive glory lies in the sphere of pillar-prints1 of which five are reproduced in ,plates #af1 #ag1 and #ah4 ,this form of composition is one of the most interesting and exacting to be found in the art of any race2 the tall sheet1 generally about #bh inches high and only #e inches wide1 furnishes a mere ribbon of space that taxes all the resources of a designer4 ,it is like a ,greek frieze placed on end2 but whereas the frieze gives space for a multitude of processional figures1 and is essentially a stage for the depiction of a social pageant1 this slim panel demands the exclusion of all but a few significant lines4 ,in this particular it is the finest of art-forms4 ,it exacts the quintessence of selection--one narrow glimpse of some cross-section of life4 ,its limitations are like those of the lyric1 requiring a concentrated and finely chosen vision4 ,illustration3 ,,koriusai3 ,,two ,,ladies4 ,size #bi #e4 ,signed ,koriu ga4 ,,koriusai3 ,a ,,game ,,of ,,tag4 ,size #bf #e4 ,signed ,koriusai ga4 ,plate #ag4 ,the shape was first devised by ,okumura ,masanobu as a modification of the wider and shorter sheets commonly used by the ,primitives for their large pictures4 ,as is often the case in the evolution of a fine art-form1 it was not ,masanobu's mere whim1 but structural exigencies1 that prompted the invention1 the need being to provide long narrow pictures that could be hung upon the square wooden pillar of the ,japanese house4 ,kiyomitsu and ,toyonobu used this shape admirably2 and the final and most perfect form for its dimensions was fixed and brought into general use by ,harunobu4 ,it became a favourite shape among the greatest of the later artists2 and no small number of their supreme achievements are in this form4 ,to the modern ,european eye1 no other seems so distinctively characteristic of the special ,japanese genius4 ,pillar-prints are almost invariably works of the first importance--pices de rsistance1 deliberate and studied productions1 representing the best effort and highest powers of the artist4 ,for they were intended to be mounted and rolled1 like kakemono2 and the artist could therefore foresee for them a degree of attention that he could hardly expect in the case of the loose square sheets4 ,the peculiar shape is in itself so interesting and beautiful1 and so ringing a challenge to the powers of the designer1 that in many cases the best work of the artist is to be found only in this form4 ,pillar-prints are to-day far rarer than prints of the square variety4 ,they were probably produced in editions of smaller numbers than the square prints2 and1 further1 the use to which they were put as hanging pictures exposed them to hazardous vicissitudes and generally resulted in eventual destruction4 ,koriusai's variations on the limited themes whose treatment is possible in this narrow space display daring1 originality1 and power of concentrated selection4 ,he is the supreme master of the pillar-print2 no one else has produced so many fine ones1 and practically all his finest work is in this form4 ,the infinite variety of his designs and the fertility of his invention make a series of his pillar-prints one of the most absorbing features of a fine collection4 ,in one print 7,plate #ag71 he dashes the intense black line of a screen down through the middle of his picture and sets the delicate eddies of a child's and a young girl's garments playing around its base4 ,in a second 7,plate #ah71 a girl in robes of gorgeous colour stands like a calm peacock1 with glowing orange combs alight in her hair2 while in a third 7,plate #af71 the whole space waves and sings with the forms of grasses1 a flying cuckoo1 and a maiden carried in the arms of her lover through fields of spring4 ,and in a fourth 7,plate #ag71 he draws the figures of two women1 one behind and a little above the other1 the one in the background luminous with soft neutral tints1 the one in the foreground robed in a black whose intensity cuts sharply through the otherwise monotonous sweetness of the picture4 ,to the grace of ,harunobu1 ,koriusai has here added a vigour all his own1 and a richness surpassing that of his teacher4 ,to-day ,koriusai's small prints are rather rare1 as are also the birds and the large-size sheets4 ,his pillar-prints1 which are his greatest works1 were produced in such numbers that1 contrary to the rule that applies to the pillar-prints of all other designers1 a good many of them have survived4 ,it is still possible to secure examples that are among the foremost of all print treasures4 ,illustration3 ,,shigemasa3 ,,two ,,ladies4 ,size #bh #e4 ,unsigned4 ,,koriusai3 ,a ,,courtesan4 ,size #bg #d4 ,signed ,koriusai ga4 ,plate #ah4 ,,other ,,followers ,,of ,,harunobu4 ,,susuki ,,harushige is reported to have been the son and pupil of ,harunobu4 ,the few prints of his that are known have a grace of line that might well be a son's heritage1 if such things were inheritable4 ,the unholy rascal ,shiba ,kokan alleges that this name was one which he himself used1 as well as ,harunobu's2 it is reported1 on the other hand1 that it is merely ,koriusai's early name4 ,it is probable that ,kokan's statement must be believed4 ,illustration3 ,,harushige4 ,,shiba ,,kokan has already been mentioned as the forger of ,harunobu's work4 ,his ability needs no further recommendation when we admit that we cannot with certainty tell his prints from ,harunobu's4 ,this is his chief title to fame4 ,he was born in #agdg and died in #ahah4 ,during his life he signed many names to his work and attempted many manners4 ,from the ,dutch at ,nagasaki he learned something of the rules of ,european perspective1 and tried1 in the eighties1 with success but without much beauty1 to carry them over into ,japanese art4 ,in addition1 he introduced shadows into some of his compositions--a device alien to the whole spirit of ,chinese and ,japanese painting4 ,he was the first ,japanese artist to attempt copper-plate engraving4 ,queer renderings of ,european scenes by him remain to us4 ,in a hundred different spheres of art1 invention1 and speculation he tried his hand4 ,his intellectual curiosity in every field reminds one of ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,he remains one of the most interesting and puzzling figures of his time--an adventurer1 a restless experimenter1 a forger and a man of extraordinary though chaotic genius4 ,a poem written when he was dying has a curious vibrancy3 ,kokan now dies1 for he is very old2 to the passing world he leaves a picture of the world that passes4 ,,komai ,,yoshinobu did work in the style of ,harunobu during the seventies4 ,he furnishes another example of the obscurity that covers so much of ,japanese print history2 for it is not known whether he was an independent artist1 or identical with ,yamamoto ,yoshinobu1 who produced two-colour prints in the fifties1 or worse yet1 an early signature of ,koriusai4 ,the first theory is the most probable4 ,his work is rare1 beautiful in colour1 and well worthy of further research4 ,illustration3 ,,masunobu4 ,,masunobu1 the second of that name1 whose work1 in clear1 delicate colour and charming arrangement1 generally follows ,harunobu's closely1 is also not definitely located4 ,he appears to have been originally a pupil of ,shigenobu and ,shigenaga4 ,most writers erroneously regard him as the same man who1 under the name of ,sanseido ,tanaka ,masunobu1 produced two-colour prints in the forties1 and hand coloured prints still earlier4 ,one of the ,second ,masunobu's pillar-prints1 representing a girl with an open umbrella jumping from a balcony to meet a waiting lover1 has a unique and most charming individuality of poise and colouring4 ,his pillar-prints1 of which about ten are known1 are particularly fine4 ,,ujimasa1 ,,kamegaki ,,ho,,riu1 ,,muranobu1 ,,tachibana ,,minko1 ,,banto1 ,,chiryu1 ,,ryushi1 ,,kisen1 and ,,suiyo are rare men who worked contemporaneously with ,harunobu4 ,the ,hayashi ,catalogue also names ,,shoha1 ,,soan1 ,,sogiku1 ,,kogan and ,,seiko4 ,,kuninobu is an artist of extreme rarity1 whose few surviving prints show distinction of line1 based on the ,harunobu manner4 ,his work1 done about #agge1 stands out from the work of ,harunobu's horde of followers2 he was evidently a noteworthy artist1 of whom one wishes we knew more4 ,,fujinobu worked in the manner of ,harunobu in the early seventies4 ,his output was small1 and little of his work survives4 ,it may be that he was the same individual as ,yamamoto ,fujinobu1 who has already been mentioned as ,shigenaga's pupil4 ,,komatsuken is a name signed to certain calendar-prints for the year #agfe4 ,the style is greatly like ,harunobu's4 ,his name may also be read ,shoshoken4 ,mr4 ,gookin thinks him to be identical with ,fusanobu1 who has been previously mentioned4 ,,harutsugu and ,,susuki ,,haruji1 said by some to be the same person1 produced a few pleasing prints about #aggj4 ,,shunsho4 ,portrait of an ,actor in ,tragic ,rle4 ,his soul is a sword2 ,his sword with the spirit's breath ,is bathed of its terrible lord1 ,in whose eyes is death4 ,and the massive control1 ,and the lighted implacable eye ,leash a fierce and exalted soul ,of dark destiny4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,with the strength of the hills-- ,kiso's iron mountains of snow-- ,he waits3 time brings and fulfills ,the hour for the blow4 ,he waits2 and the white ,full robes round his shoulders sway1 ,with woof of pale orange alight1 ,pale green1 pale grey4 ,like a falcon1 flown ,to bleak mid-regions of sky1 ,he poises4 ,one image alone ,holds his sinister eye-- ,a vision1 a prey ,towards which he shall soon be hurled-- ,and his fury shall darken the day1 ,and his joy1 the world4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,a music enfolds him ,like the thunders that are poured ,across heaven2 it holds him ,with the song of the sword4 ,it enthrals1 it inspires1 ,and its zenith shall be ,lightning of unleashed desires ,crashing along the sea4 ,illustration3 ,,shunsho3 ,,an ,,actor ,,of ,,the ,,ishikawa ,,school ,,in ,,tragic ,r,,le4 ,size #ab #f4 ,signed ,shunsho ga4 ,plate #ai4 ,those actor-types which ,harunobu and his school so scornfully cast aside became the chosen speciality of the greatest of his rivals and contemporaries1 ,katsukawa ,shunsho4 ,as one examines sheet after sheet of ,shunsho's theatrical prints1 ,harunobu's contemptuous words concerning this vulgar herd1 the actors1 lose their significance2 for here pass in gorgeous procession a series of lofty1 intense1 and unforgettable figures charged with the quintessence of heroic force4 ,illustration3 ,,katsukawa ,,shunsho4 ,the designer of these prints was born in #agbf and died about #agib--some authorities say #agij4 ,his period of greatest activity covered the years #agfe to #aghj1 thus including the working periods of both ,harunobu and ,koriusai1 and ending as ,koriusai's did when in the eighties ,kiyonaga's star rose blindingly4 ,he lived for a while at the house of his publisher1 ,hayashi2 sometimes in his early work he used in place of a signature a seal shaped like a small covered jar with handles1 on which ,hayashi's name is inscribed4 ,the legend is that he was too poor to own a seal in the early days of his struggle and so borrowed that of his landlord6 ,shunsho had no antecedent teachers among the print-designers4 ,he sprang instead from a school of painters who did not design for prints4 ,these1 headed by ,choshun and his son ,katsukawa ,shunsui1 had since #agjj been producing rich paintings of women in elaborate drapery4 ,the ,buckingham ,collection contains one print by ,shunsui1 but it is an almost unique rarity4 ,shunsho1 by a curious shift in the stream of art history1 not only took up prints1 but even took up the department of prints least in line with the tendencies of his own school1 the department of actor-representation1 which was the speciality of ,kiyomitsu and the old ,torii ,school1 and which ,harunobu's popular innovations had almost driven out of fashion4 ,to this work ,shunsho brought the new technique of ,harunobu and great native individuality2 and with the fresh armament of full colour he defended magnificently the threatened stronghold of actor-prints4 ,his popularity became enormous4 ,he grew quickly to the stature of one of the great and far-reaching powers in ,ukioye history4 ,side by side with ,harunobu1 he in his separate field executed year by year actor-portraits which by their vigour of line and brilliancy of colour-combination take a place as high as that held by the works of his rival4 ,no contrast could be more striking than that between them4 ,the one is all grace1 the other all force2 the one loves to linger in quiet gardens1 the other drags us up to the icy heights of tragic crisis4 ,shunsho's sense of dramatic composition was keen2 and1 as we see in ,plate #ai1 his ferocious actor-faces peer out with a vivid menace1 his tense actor-limbs shake with a concentrated and imprisoned fury not the less impressive because of its intentional exaggeration4 ,they have not ,harunobu's unreality of perfect grace1 but the utterly different super-reality of magnified passion4 ,in repose they are like statues2 in action they have the vigour of those natural forces--waves1 river currents1 storms of thunder--which1 as in the ,shunsho print reproduced on the cover of this volume1,transcriber's ,note3 ,the edition used to produce this etext did not include this print on the cover4 so often form their backgrounds4 ,illustration3 ,,shunsho3 ,,the ,,actor ,,nakamura ,,matsuye ,,as ,a ,,woman ,,in ,,white4 ,size #aa #e4 ,unsigned4 ,plate #bj4 ,shunsho's figures of women--or rather his figures of men acting the parts of women1 according to the invariable custom of the ,japanese stage at this time--are less violent1 but often as tense4 ,two of these appear in ,plates #bj and #ba4 ,in long sweeping robes of brilliant dye they move with the step of a ,clytemnestra1 or poise in strange attitudes of arrested motion not unworthy of an ,antigone4 ,all his figures are dynamic--the storehouses of volcanic forces whose existence he suggests by restless line-conflicts4 ,shunsho's predecessors in actor representation had never equalled the intensity of these figures and faces4 ,shunsho tears the heart out of a rle and holds it up for us to see4 ,he gives the passion of the actor such expression as would have been impossible to ,kiyonobu1 twisting the face into a distorted and grandiose mask beside which the faces of the ,primitives seem wooden and meaningless4 ,the spectator whose sthetic sense embraces only a love of tranquillity will find no beauty in these disturbing faces and forms--unless perhaps the beauty of pure colour is enough to beguile him4 ,it may well do this2 few things have power to bring a richer sense of sthetic satisfaction than a succession of fine ,shunshos1 in each one of which a new colour-arrangement unfolds new harmonies4 ,shunsho's work includes a very great number of actor-prints in the narrow upright hoso-ye form and a few large square prints4 ,he also issued a series of small illustrations for the ,ise ,monogatari1 an old romantic chronicle which furnished many favourite subjects to the artists4 ,these are quiet in design and soft in colour2 to them the eye may turn for rest if wearied by the straining actors4 ,in collaboration with ,shigemasa he produced a set of ten small prints representing sericulture1 which have considerable charm4 ,in #aggf the same pair of artists brought out a series of book-illustrations called ,mirror of the ,beauties of the ,green ,houses1 representing groups of courtesans occupied with the various activities of daily life--in the street1 the house1 the garden1 and the temple4 ,this book has been called the most beautiful ever produced in ,japan2 when one examines its chief rival1 ,the ,mirror of the ,beautiful ,women of the ,yoshiwara1 by ,kitao ,masanobu1 one need have no hesitancy in giving ,shunsho's and ,shigemasa's the first place4 ,this means1 very probably1 the first place among the illustrated books of the world4 ,its pages1 printed in rose1 purple1 brown1 yellow1 and grey1 are rich and delicate4 ,sheets from all these books are often found mounted as separate prints4 ,shunsho's few known pillar-prints are generally magnificent4 ,illustration3 ,,shunsho3 ,,the ,,actor ,,nakamura ,,noshio ,,in ,,female ,r,,le4 ,size #ab #f4 ,signed ,shunsho ga4 ,gookin ,collection4 ,plate #ba4 ,because of his enormous productiveness1 ,shunsho's work in hoso-ye form is common1 frequently in fine condition4 ,most of the hoso-ye prints were originally issued in joined groups of three2 the groups are seldom found intact now4 ,the grace of his women has made them more generally popular than his impressive men1 and they are consequently harder to obtain4 ,it must be noted that ,shunsho's work is uneven1 and that the majority of the pieces offered are either tame and uninteresting examples of pot-boiling or caricatures that lack the intensity which lifts certain of the artist's most grotesque figures to tragic heights4 ,the matchless ,shunsho collection of ,mr4 ,frederick ,w4 ,gookin is full of such prints as rarely come into the market to-day4 ,occasionally the more distinguished ones are met with2 and they are treasures which the practised collector eagerly seizes4 ,fortunately print dealers are not1 as a rule1 conscious of the greatness of the difference1 and they will frequently offer side by side a print that is merely one of ,shunsho's commonest pieces of hack-work and a print that is one of the glories of the ,ukioye ,school4 ,on such occasions the collector has the pleasure of profiting by his own discrimination4 ,shunsho's large square prints and pillar-prints are of extreme rarity4 ,,buncho4 ,connected by association with the school of ,shunsho1 yet lifted by his originality to a place quite apart from it1 is the artist ,ippitsusai ,buncho4 ,his master1 a certain ,ishikawa ,kogen 7or ,yukimoto7 of the classical ,kano ,school1 seems to have meant little to him2 from the beginning of his production1 about #agfe1 ,shunsho's and ,harunobu's influence chiefly guided him4 ,he and ,shunsho jointly published in #aggj three volumes of actor-portraits enclosed in fans4 ,little is known of his life except that he was originally a ,samurai2 he is said to have turned from his original master to the ,ukioye ,school and to have led a life of dissipation until eventually his friends persuaded him to abandon such things and procured for him the honorary title of ,hokyo4 ,after this1 we hear nothing of him4 ,he died in #agif4 ,illustration3 ,,ippitsusai ,,buncho4 ,buncho's work attracts the observer with a charm different from that of any other ,ukioye artist4 ,a curious mannerism in his way of drawing faces and a fascinating perverse grace in the attitudes of his figures mark his prints4 ,practically all his work is in the hoso-ye form4 ,his subjects are chiefly young male actors in the rles of women4 ,harunobu's influence1 manifest in ,plate #bb1 brought him grace but not sweetness4 ,there is an astringent quality in his work that prevents it from ever being serene4 ,his figures1 whose line-work is the apotheosis of suavity and studied refinement1 are arched into slightly strained and tortured attitudes2 complex forces seem to dominate them like unseen winds2 consuming or delicate passions move obscurely through their limbs and faces4 ,their heads poise at unnatural angles as if consciously turning their indifferent eyes from the spectacle of common things toward a secret and hypnotizing world of their own4 ,these alien beings haunt one2 it seems as if they had some mystery to reveal1 some disturbing wonder to communicate could one but make them speak4 ,illustration3 ,,buncho3 ,,courtesan ,,and ,,her ,,attendant ,,in ,,snowstorm4 ,size #ab #e4 ,signed ,ippitsusai ,buncho ga4 ,mansfield ,collection4 ,plate #bb4 ,part of ,buncho's strangeness lies in the fact that he seeks for his figures not a human but an abstract and geometrical grace4 ,his famous print1 often reproduced1 of the actor ,segawa ,kikunojo as a lady in white carrying an orange umbrella beneath a willow-tree1 is a study in the harmonics of pure line2 to this end every other element of representation has been sacrificed4 ,line exists here not merely to bound a form but for its own inherent beauty4 ,buncho is the greatest of all masters of the geometry of lines and spaces2 these have1 as he arranges them1 the inevitability and clarity of a mathematical demonstration4 ,his use of colour is equally notable and strange4 ,by employing tints that are almost discords he produces arresting and fascinating effects4 ,his combinations of orange and slaty grey1 or dull red and slaty blue and pale yellow1 or pink and purple1 have an uncanny vibrancy that makes them stand out in one's memory4 ,buncho's strangeness has a further aspect4 ,there is in him an intangible spiritual abnormality4 ,i am led to localize this in his portraits of the actor ,segawa ,kikunojo1 and to imagine a curious relation between the two4 ,some of his portraits of this actor are the flower of his work4 ,in them appears a passionately rarefied beauty2 they have an unusual pitch1 like the overstrained vibration of violin strings stirred by some heavy blow4 ,segawa ,kikunojo was the foremost woman-impersonator of his time4 ,his grace in such rles is attested by prints from the hands of many artists2 but none rise to the unearthly beauty of ,buncho's4 ,even if we knew nothing of the life of the ,japanese stage at this time1 or of the custom of actors like ,segawa ,kikunojo to dress and live like women when off the stage1 we might still be put on inquiry by the peculiar ethereal quality of some of these portraits4 ,for art whose initial impulse lies in morbid regions often flies into regions of the most disembodied spirituality for expression4 ,flowers of the morass frequently have a pale delicacy that is alien to the flowers of the field4 ,it is1 however1 with a confession of fancifulness that ,i reconstruct the following story to account for ,buncho4 ,he1 a ,samurai1 was driven by keen artistic sensibility to the study of painting under a classical master4 ,from this studio he was lured by the glitter and glamour of ,ukioye into the world of prints and actors1 and sank into a slough of dissipation above which gleamed the balefully beautiful star of ,segawa ,kikunojo4 ,haunted by a perverse susceptibility1 his tense-strung nerves vibrated at that morbid touch into notes of such disembodied sweetness as the world has scarcely known elsewhere2 and at last he passed into retirement and death1 still the puppet of a disturbing illusion4 ,he was an unbalanced temperament1 a dreamer of keen and attenuated beauty that has nothing in common with the normal wholesome life of earth4 ,illustration3 ,,shunyei3 ,,an ,,actor4 ,grey background4 ,size #ad #i4 ,signed ,shunyei ga4 ,plate #bc4 ,his prints are exceedingly rare2 many a good collection possesses not a single fine specimen of his work4 ,i had never seen or heard of a pillar-print by him until very recently2 but lately an interesting one has been found in ,japan4 ,,shunyei4 ,illustration3 ,,shunyei4 ,shunsho's vigorous style had many followers1 among whom ,shunyei is commonly regarded as the most important4 ,he was born in #agfg1 and lived until #ahai4 ,his teacher ,shunsho's manner dominated his work from his earliest years1 though some late sheets exist in which he followed ,kiyonaga4 ,it is believed that originally he used the name ,shunjo2 fine work is extant with that signature4 ,he had many pupils1 and was himself an able painter2 but his ordinary work is largely derivative4 ,at times1 however1 his hoso-ye actor-prints achieve an effect of great power by the use of large masses of colour4 ,he had a certain sharpness of observation--a certain knack of catching in his portraits the peculiarities of his models1 that produces an effect less dignified but more vivid than ,shunsho's4 ,a sense of humour glimmers through his rendering of some of these keenly drawn and intimately characterized actor-faces4 ,unmistakable as may be the features of a ,danjuro or a ,hanshiro drawn by ,shunsho1 one nevertheless feels that the personality of the actor has been largely dominated by ,shunsho's supreme interest in the passion or terror of the rle2 and though he pictured the face of the actor1 the spirit which he sought was wholly the spirit of the part4 ,shunyei1 on the other hand1 often managed to retain the idiosyncrasies of the sitter and his peculiar spiritual flavour2 and though his works are not often as beautiful as ,shunsho's1 they are frequently more human4 ,on the whole1 we may say that ,shunsho created generalized types1 ,shunyei reproduced observed individuals4 ,shunyei produced1 besides the actors in hoso-ye form by which he is best known1 a few large heads and full-length portraits of actors marked by a strength of drawing and a breadth of characterization different from his usual work4 ,one of these is reproduced in ,plate #bc4 ,on a grey background1 this powerfully designed figure stands out with gigantic simplicity in masses of dull colour4 ,the prints of this rare type are perhaps ,shunyei's best4 ,beside them must rank the large actor-heads1 interesting to the collector because of their relation to the work of another great artist1 ,sharaku4 ,it is still uncertain whether ,sharaku or ,shunyei was the inventor of this type of large bust-portrait4 ,dr4 ,kurth assumes1 for the greater glory of ,sharaku1 that he was the precursor2 but the question cannot be regarded as settled4 ,illustration3 ,,shunko3 ,,the ,,actor ,,ishikawa ,,monnosuke ,,in ,,character4 ,size #ac #f4 ,unsigned1 but stamped with ,jar ,seal4 ,plate #bd4 ,,shunko4 ,the equal of ,shunyei among ,shunsho's other pupils is to be found in ,katsukawa ,shunko4 ,he was the spiritual image of his master1 except that he had not his master's full command of terror4 ,his figures1 as in ,plate #bd1 poise or sway with gentler emotions2 as a rule1 they are agreeable rather than impressive4 ,one comes to recognize him frequently by the peculiar suavity of his designs4 ,it is true that he sometimes approaches very near to ,shunsho's power2 but this is less characteristic and less interesting than his quieter manner4 ,it is unnecessary to treat of him at great length1 for most of his work is of a type whose main qualities have been treated fully under ,shunsho4 ,it is not known when ,shunko was born2 he died in #ahbg4 ,illustration3 ,,shunko4 ,it may be noted that he sometimes sealed his prints instead of signing them1 using a jar-shaped seal much like that which ,shunsho had made famous4 ,in the ,spaulding ,collection1 ,boston1 is a remarkable full-size triptych by ,shunko1 representing a party of actors picnicking in the country4 ,the style shows it to be greatly influenced by ,kiyonaga2 and the whole composition of this beautiful piece is different from most of ,shunsho's work4 ,,other ,,followers ,,of ,,shunsho ,,and ,,his ,,school4 ,,shunri was another pupil of ,shunsho2 he appears to have been a competent designer1 but no great figure4 ,,shuntoku1 ,,shunki1 ,,shunkaku1 ,,shoyu1 ,,shunyen1 ,,shunken1 and ,,shunkyoku may be described in the same words4 ,each has perhaps produced a few beautiful works1 but their originality is not marked4 ,,rantokusai ,,shundo1 a gifted pupil of ,shunsho1 has left work so rare that one cannot make any very definite statement about him4 ,his few known prints are admirable4 ,one suspects that this signature is merely the early name of some well-known artist4 ,,shunsei1 ,,shunrin1 ,,sobai1 and ,,shunkio are later artists2 their importance is small4 ,,shuntei1 owing partly to illness and partly to systematic indulgence in drink 7,strange71 and partly to complete lack of natural distinction1 produced nothing of interest2 and his coarse battle-scenes may be classed with the crude work characteristic of a later period4 ,he worked chiefly between #ahjj and #ahbj4 ,,kincho ,,sekiga is said to have been a pupil of ,buncho4 ,,shunko ,,ii was a pupil of ,shunyei4 ,his name is written in different characters from that of the first ,shunko4 ,,kichosai ,,shunko also produced actor-prints4 ,,yumisho was a very rare pupil who adopted ,kiyonaga's style in line-work4 ,the same may be said of ,,yenshi1 some of whose work is very beautiful2 he appears to have come much under the influence of ,yeishi4 ,several of his triptychs are fine4 ,,toyoharu4 ,utagawa ,toyoharu is a strangely equivocal figure in print history2 his fame is great1 but no surviving print of his1 so far as ,i have been able to ascertain1 is of a quality to justify fully his reputation4 ,born in #agcc1 he studied with ,shigenaga and probably with ,toyonobu1 produced a limited number of prints in the sixties and seventies1 withdrew from prints to painting when ,kiyonaga's new style grew to splendour1 and died in #ahad4 ,he is said to have been a sensitive and delicately strung individual who shrank from competition and worked obscurely4 ,his best-known work is a series of twelve designs for the various months done in collaboration with ,shunsho and ,shigemasa2 each print is divided diagonally into two scenes--a device of unfortunate and ingenious ugliness4 ,the figures1 however1 have a certain delicate grace4 ,his pillar-prints1 which are rare1 have considerable beauty4 ,illustration3 ,,utagawa ,,toyoharu4 ,toyoharu has been called a greater artist than ,shunsho4 ,it may be true1 yet ,i am inclined to regard this view either as the result of his painting and not his print-designing1 or as part of a great ,toyoharu myth1 for which the later success of his pupils is responsible4 ,certain it is that of his surviving prints few are noteworthy1 and that he was greater as a painter and teacher than as a print-designer4 ,we shall remember him more as the instructor of ,toyokuni and ,toyohiro and as the precursor of ,hiroshige than for any of his own prints that remain to us4 ,as a figure-painter1 he is known as the founder of the ,utagawa ,school4 ,as a landscape-painter1 he made successful use of ,european perspective1 which he probably learned from ,dutch engravings1 and was perhaps the first ,ukioye print-artist to return to the habit of the older schools and treat landscape not as a mere setting but as a thing by itself4 ,his scenes are too stiff and too crowded with petty details to lay any real claim to beauty4 ,he used as the dominant note in many of them the orange colour so dear to ,koriusai2 but no pigment can well be imagined that is less fitted for landscape-rendering4 ,yet the historical importance of these prints is great2 for they are1 so to speak1 the grandparents of the marvellous landscapes of ,hiroshige4 ,,utagawa ,,toyonobu is believed by some authorities to have been merely ,toyoharu's early name2 others think him identical with ,ishikawa ,toyonobu2 and still others regard him as an independent artist who was a pupil of ,ishikawa ,toyonobu1 his greater namesake4 ,the few prints we have by him--,i know of less than half a dozen--are not sufficient to enable one to form an opinion as to this4 ,,toyomaru and ,,toyohisa were among ,toyoharu's pupils4 ,,shigemasa4 ,illustration3 ,,kitao ,,shigemasa4 ,kitao ,shigemasa may be called the great chameleon of the ,ukioye ,school3 a discriminating chameleon1 who chose only the greatest artists of each decade from whom to take his changing hue4 ,as ,m4 ,raymond ,koechlin expresses it1 it was his destiny to reflect in his art the art of the most original of his contemporaries4 ,born about #agdj1 he lived until #ahai4 ,his teacher was ,shigenaga2 this master died not long after ,shigemasa commenced work with him4 ,thus ,shigemasa began painting early enough to be influenced by the last of the ,primitives2 and his first prints1 dating from about #agfd1 are graceful three-colour renderings of actor-themes in the manner of ,kiyomitsu1 and more brutal ones in the manner of ,kiyomasu4 ,with the rise of ,harunobu and the perfection of polychrome printing1 ,shigemasa turned to that style2 later he followed ,koriusai1 in whose manner he produced some wonderfully beautiful large sheets of women and some fine pillar-prints4 ,still later he followed the style of ,shunsho4 ,together with this artist he produced in #aghf a set of ten small sheets representing the various stages of sericulture1 in which he surpasses his collaborator4 ,the same two artists had earlier collaborated1 in #aggf1 to produce the famous illustrated book ,mirror of the ,beauties of the ,green ,houses4 ,these illustrations are not signed2 but comparing them with ,shigemasa's portion of the sericulture series1 which are signed separately by the two artists1 we may well believe that a large part of the peculiar grace of the ,green ,houses is ,shigemasa's and not ,shunsho's contribution4 ,with ,shunsho and ,toyoharu1 he collaborated in a series of designs for the twelve months1 of which ,i have already spoken under ,toyoharu4 ,like so many other artists of this period1 ,shigemasa gradually withdrew from work in the eighties before the blaze of ,kiyonaga's glory4 ,kiyonaga himself was perhaps influenced by the older artist4 ,shigemasa's draughtsmanship is the one quality that marks him through all his changes2 from first to last1 it is superb4 ,with a fine firmness and ease he produces1 as in ,plate #ah1 designs in which restraint combines with great expressiveness4 ,his faces have repose and distinction2 his draperies are drawn with notable simplicity and dignity2 his cool and quiet colour is admirable4 ,through all his styles runs a fastidious delicacy of feeling1 and what ,fenollosa terms an even mastery4 ,he never attempted the impossible or strained towards the unattainable2 all his work has the stamp of a calmly working1 reserved1 confident artist4 ,the deliberate1 flawless craftsmanship of his works places him beside the greatest4 ,considering the length of his career1 he produced surprisingly little work2 important prints by him are now rarer than those of any other artist of this period4 ,his pillar-prints1 which are particularly fine1 have been for many years proverbially few4 ,as a rule only his earlier prints are signed4 ,his surimono are1 however1 generally signed with the brush-name ,kosuisai4 ,sheets from his numerous books are often mounted as separate prints4 ,collectors differ in their opinions as to whether it is advisable thus to take to pieces the sheets of a bound volume1 such as the ,green ,houses4 ,any such act1 in dealing with art treasures1 should be approached only after careful consideration2 but it seems in this case a desirable method of preserving and exhibiting what are1 after all1 wholly separate pictures4 ,v ,,the ,,third ,,period3 ,,kiyonaga ,,and ,,his ,,followers ,,from ,,the ,,maturity ,,of ,,kiyonaga ,,to ,,his ,,retirement 7#aghj-agij7 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,third ,,period3 ,,kiyonaga ,,and ,,his ,,followers ,,from ,,the ,,maturity ,,of ,,kiyonaga ,,to ,,his ,,retirement 7#aghj-agij74 ,with the fully developed and complex technique which had been brought to perfection by the time of ,harunobu's death1 the colour-print took on a new richness of expression and reached its culmination in the ,third ,period4 ,generalizations attempting to define the difference between the work of this and the preceding periods are perilous2 but we shall perhaps not be venturing too dangerously if we summarize the change of attitude as a step toward naturalism combined with a deepening of ideal significance4 ,in the period of the ,primitives the artistic impulse was almost wholly one of decoration--an attempt to express in line and colour the great themes of design that stirred within the brain of the artist4 ,the ,primitives were inspired by what ,von ,seidlitz calls the desire of presenting single characteristic motives of movement4 ,their creations had no relation to observed fact or to an exact rendering of ,nature2 they were the shadows of lofty dreams of form projected by the luminous spirit of the artist against the wall of space4 ,the designs of the ,second ,period1 though hardly more realistic than those of the ,first1 were nevertheless nearer life4 ,the delights and passions of real men1 even though fancifully regarded1 coloured the conception of the artist as he approached his work2 so that we find in ,harunobu the exquisite joys1 in ,shunsho the terrific revolts1 and in ,buncho the super-sensible longings of the heart4 ,yet it is all symbolistic1 all fictional1 and nothing real is portrayed2 the sharply limited world of these prints is a world of imagination from which no paths of communication open to regions of everyday4 ,the perception of these artists did not enter into and interpret the seen earth2 absorbed in the creation of a personal dream1 it imposed its arbitrary categories upon objects from without1 and had little respect for their intrinsic beauty4 ,with magic incantations1 the designer shattered the forms of the real world to bits and whimsically remoulded them nearer to the heart's desire4 ,this attitude--a mixture of adolescence1 playfulness1 and vision--may be described by the phrase navely imaginative4 ,the decorative impulse of the ,primitives and the navely imaginative impulse of the ,early ,polychrome masters changed in the ,third ,period to a different variety of inspiration--the naturalistic and interpretive4 ,by naturalistic and interpretive1 ,i mean the attempt to seize a number of detached elements of observed life and weave them into a design that reports not only the idiosyncrasies of the artist1 but also some sense of the deep nature of the elements themselves4 ,the artists of this period1 while mastering the decorative impulse of the ,primitives and the imaginative freedom of the ,early ,polychrome masters1 found reality more interesting and more worthy of faithful attention than did their predecessors4 ,buncho flew off at a tangent to life on the wings of geometrical design1 but ,shuncho lingers observant among beautiful women in quiet gardens3 ,harunobu abandoned the real world for his harmonious dreams of colour1 but ,kiyonaga weaves into harmonies the perfect forms which his creative imagination evokes from the imperfect forms of actual men4 ,the earlier artists had hinted at landscape backgrounds2 this period was the first to go farther and relate the landscape pictorially and spacially to the figures4 ,the world of these designs is no longer the world of a lovely but private dream2 we seem to enter a region as wide and free as life itself1 inhabited by groups of superb and gracious figures that are as unforgettable as the ,greek gods4 ,this period may be regarded as one of those few moments of equilibrium in the history of art when the spiritual dominance of the artist and the claims of real fact meet in a perfect balance4 ,toward one extreme lies fancifulness2 toward the other extreme1 realism2 and in the centre1 this narrow isle of quiet where the two forces join in harmony4 ,since man lives neither by bread alone nor by dreams alone1 the moments when he reconciles the claims of his visions with the facts he must face are the high peaks in his history4 ,mind and matter1 hope and experience1 longing and limitation1 for an instant combine in a reconciliation that interprets and ennobles his environment4 ,this is art's maturity1 its fine and perfect flower4 ,all these things are implicit in the prints of ,kiyonaga prime4 ,he who can take pleasure in the ,hermes of ,praxiteles or the ,fte ,champtre of ,giorgione will not find the meaning of ,kiyonaga's noble figures hard to read4 ,in examining the work of ,kiyonaga and his contemporaries1 it will be impossible to ignore the fact that during this and the succeeding period the foremost artists found the chief themes for their designs among the ,oiran1 or courtesans of the ,yoshiwara4 ,nor can we omit some consideration of the curious position of these women4 ,such an inquiry has not the unpleasant features that a similar inquiry would have were the scene ,europe4 ,in the ,japan of the late eighteenth century the typical ,oiran was no creature of the mire1 but a cultivated and splendid figure whose mental charm was as great as her physical attractiveness4 ,the poet and the painter1 the student and the young aristocrat1 found in her no unworthy companion2 and as she strides glowing through the designs of ,kiyonaga or ,shuncho she seems rather a beloved of the gods than a mistress of men4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,the ,,courtesan ,,hana-,,ji ,,with ,,attendants4 ,one of a ,series ,designs of ,spring ,greenery4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,plate #be4 ,the ,yoshiwara or licensed quarter of ,yedo was established in #afad as part of the general ,tokugawa regime of orderliness and control3 even by that date the authorities had tired of the cruel and ugly chaos that prevails in these matters to-day in our cities4 ,the name of the quarter was derived from the fact that it was located in the midst of an ancient yoshiwara or rush-moor4 ,in #afeg1 after a fire that demolished all the buildings1 the quarter was moved to a site half a mile north of the great ,asakusa temple in the north-east outskirts of the city1 where it remains to this day4 ,within this moated and walled enclosure about a quarter of a mile square1 to which access was obtained through one great gate1 stood orderly rows of large houses crowded close together4 ,the front of each house was latticed2 behind the bars appeared the splendidly clad inmates4 ,these were of many grades and ranks2 it is1 as a rule1 the highest class only that are represented in the prints4 ,the high-class ,oiran was a notable personage4 ,her state was like that of a princess4 ,attendant upon her were customarily two small girls1 called ,kamuro1 who acted as lady's-maids2 and one or two older girls1 called ,shinzo1 whose duties were those of a kind of maid-of-honour4 ,her attire1 of a gorgeousness wholly different from the costume of the ordinary woman1 bedecks her in many of the prints with truly royal splendour4 ,poets sang of her2 artists painted her2 the common people talked of her with the same frank and admiring interest that our populace bestows upon theatrical favourites4 ,moralless though her life was1 it was not in any external sense degraded2 she stood in the position in which have stood all the great courtesans of history4 ,the names of the more famous among the ,oiran have come down to us wrapped in glowing tradition4 ,hana-gi of the ,house of gi-ya1 the most beautiful and deeply loved courtesan of her time1 moves immortal through the designs of ,kiyonaga1 ,shuncho1 ,yeishi1 ,utamaro1 and their contemporaries4 ,she was a pupil of the poet ,tk ,genrin1 and ranked as a distinguished artist in both ,chinese and ,japanese verse4 ,at one time1 obeying the dictates of a profound attachment1 she dared all perils and fled from the ,yoshiwara with her lover4 ,these facts1 together with the filial piety for which she was renowned1 doubtless augmented her romantic fame4 ,of her beauty and lordly carriage the prints leave us no doubt4 ,again and again we find lavished upon her well-beloved figure all the resources of the greatest artists4 ,in ,plate #be she is the leading figure1 with her attendants grouped around her2 in ,plate #cb she stands beside a latticed window opening on to the ,sumida ,river1 alone and meditative4 ,it is necessary for any one who would understand the art of the period to put aside preconceived notions and realize that these courtesan-portraits are not representations of low gutter creatures1 but that they portray women of the highest degree of intellectual refinement who were in real life much like the cultivated hetair of ancient ,athens1 the companions1 friends1 and beloveds of ,pericles and ,plato4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,lady ,,with ,,two ,,attendants4 ,one of a ,series ,brocades of the ,east4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,gookin ,collection4 ,plate #bf4 ,and as one examines the few records which ,japanese writers have given to the ,western world1 the conviction grows ever stronger that at this time1 when the free and romantic love of men and women was a thing alien to the businesslike ,japanese marriage system1 the one region where love as we understand it might flourish--the one region where might arise those desperate attachments of heart for heart which we regard as heroic--was the isolated enclosure of the ,yoshiwara4 ,there no shrewd parents arranged the unwilling1 blind match2 there the hampered spirits of that day found freedom1 however perilous2 and there alone men and women1 though surrounded by an atmosphere of sordid corruption1 faced death as did the ,tristram and ,iseult of our legends1 in the service of a passion more precious than life itself4444 ,for the ,oiran could turn lover4 ,,kiyonaga4 ,festival ,scene4 ,what gods are these1 reborn from gracious days ,to fill our gardens with diviner mould ,than therein dwelling8 ,what bright race of old ,revisits here one hour our mortal ways8 ,serene1 dispassionate1 with lordly gaze ,they move through this clear afternoon of gold1 ,equal to life and all its deeps may hold1 ,calm1 spacious masters of the glimmering maze4 ,what gods are these8 or godlike men8 whom earth ,suffices1 in a wisdom just and high ,that not repines the boundaries of its birth ,but fills its destined measure utterly-- ,finding in mortal sweetness perfect worth1 ,not yet grown homesick for the wastes of sky4 ,the reader will perhaps have noted how many artists of the preceding period withdrew toward the close of their careers from the field to which a new conqueror had come4 ,this universal victor was ,kiyonaga4 ,no other ,ukioye artist ever so dominated his period4 ,all earlier print-designers were gradually driven into retirement by his colossal success1 and the majority of his contemporaries adopted his style4 ,in him all previously developed resources met2 after him began that long decline which led through intermediate stages of such hauntingly lovely decadence to the final death of the art4 ,the ,torii ,school now awoke from its quiescence1 and for the second and final time assumed the dominance it had in the days of ,kiyonobu4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga4 ,little is known of ,kiyonaga's life4 ,born in #agdb1 he worked as a young man for a bookseller in ,yedo4 ,he studied painting under ,kiyomitsu1 became the fourth head of the ,torii ,school1 produced the most important portion of his work between #aggg and #agij1 and not long after #agij retired from any large amount of further print-designing4 ,his death occurred in #ahae4 ,though ,kiyonaga was a pupil of ,kiyomitsu1 little of that artist's influence is visible in his work4 ,it is true that his earliest sheets1 actors in hoso-ye form1 are precisely like ,kiyomitsu's2 but he appears to have abandoned this style very quickly1 and most of his early actor-prints resemble ,shunsho's more than his master's4 ,in certain of his early works ,harunobu's influence is evident2 and the long-dead ,moronobu's manner of line-work sometimes appears4 ,from ,masanobu he perhaps inherited the grand carriage of his women4 ,later1 ,shigemasa's style influenced him1 and ,koriusai had a marked effect upon his development4 ,he absorbed inspiration from all these artists1 gathering to himself the best in the heritage of the past1 and then struck out with a boldness that is never bizarre1 an originality that is never affected1 into his own natural and masterful manner4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,the ,,courtesan ,,shizuka ,,with ,,attendants ,,in ,,the ,,peony ,,garden ,,at ,,asakusa4 ,left-hand sheet of a triptych4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,plate #bg4 ,by about #aggg he had developed his distinctive style4 ,its most obvious characteristic lies in the new quality of the figures he depicts4 ,his types perhaps grew out of those of ,koriusai2 but he combined with ,koriusai's richness a monumental quality to find the equal of which we must go back to the ,primitives4 ,it is his union of the pre-,harunobu dignity with the ,harunobu grace and colour1 in a superb and easy synthesis of his own--a truly grand style--that has made him by common consent the foremost ,ukioye artist4 ,the type of figure which ,kiyonaga created is expressive of a more stable equilibrium of spiritual forces than any seen before4 ,it embodies a normality of attitude characteristic of the great culminating periods of art4 ,the primitive artist expresses himself in figures whose mannerisms and constraint suggest the limitations of his technique2 the decadent artist1 as we shall see later1 pours his visions into figures of a slender langour and relaxation that parallel his own weariness and satiety2 but the artist of the prime draws large-limbed1 wholesome1 magnificently normal figures as the symbols of his magnificently normal mind4 ,these figures of ,kiyonaga's mature period are unforgettable creations4 ,tall and strong1 moving with the unconscious and stately grace of superb animals1 they carry the suggestion of a spiritual structure even more glorious than the structure of their bodies2 and one looks upon them with a sentiment not unlike awe1 as upon princesses of some land of the gods4 ,kiyonaga's perfect drawing1 operating through a naturalistic yet highly imaginative convention1 ennobles the forms he portrays as did the convention of the ,greek sculptors2 and he comes nearer to the ,greek sentiment toward the nude than does any other ,japanese artist except ,toyonobu4 ,his nudes themselves are not what ,i now refer to1 but rather to that sense of bodily presence1 that consciousness of the limbs beneath the draperies1 which1 as in ,plate #bh1 one finds recurrently in his pictures4 ,he keeps his draperies simple1 denying himself the gorgeous brocades of birds and flowers which ,koriusai used so richly4 ,the garments he draws are beautiful2 but he does not lose in their ornamentation the lines of the splendidly proportioned body beneath2 muscles contract and limbs move under the fine folds2 and our sense of the textiles is dominated by our sense of the organism within4 ,the movements1 gestures1 and attitudes of these figures are tranquil and strong2 their forms are never melting or seductive1 but always touched with a fine rigour4 ,in one notable diptych1 where a group of women and a seated man are gathered on the terrace of a tea-house overlooking the seashore1 vigour of spiritual sanity and refinement of pictorial composition touch the highest point reached in the whole course of the art4 ,the harmonies of this particular design1 ,the ,terrace by the ,sea1 embody the best and most characteristic powers of ,kiyonaga4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,two ,,women ,,and ,a ,,tea-,,house ,,waitress ,,beside ,,the ,,sumida ,,river4 ,one sheet of a triptych4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,gookin ,collection4 ,plate #bh4 ,we have never seen in bodily presence such people as ,kiyonaga's4 ,yet1 as ,turner is reported to have said of his sunset1 don't you wish you had8 ,these figures are serene1 supernatural1 ,olympian2 fictional1 just as ,harunobu's are but differing from his in that they interpret possible development and portray the human ideal1 and do not lie apart from reality in a region of private vision4 ,kiyonaga saw1 as the greatest artists of mature epochs have always seen1 that the fictions of personal fancy are not so interesting or so beautiful as imaginative renderings of reality4 ,in so far as he respected reality he was a realist4 ,yet he was never the dupe of that realism which attempts to report photographically4 ,in his renderings fact took a harmonious place alongside of those idealizations which were personal to him4 ,kiyonaga saw ,nature with clear eyes1 and on the solid foundation of observed fact he reared the noble structure of his vision of life--a vision in which the world is peopled by a race such as the human race ought to be4 ,this was ,kiyonaga's primary contribution to ,ukioye art4 ,consequent upon it he introduced certain important innovations4 ,we have seen how ,harunobu1 dreaming in colour and pushing to the farthest limits the refinements of technique in colour-printing1 produced miniature jewelled improvisations that have never been equalled4 ,harunobu customarily elaborated every portion of his sheet with these inlayings of beautiful tones1 enriching his figures with gauffrage and tinting his backgrounds of sky and water4 ,he resembled a worker in enamels who must cover every inch of his surface with luminous hues4 ,but just as ,harunobu toward the end of his life felt these effects to be only partially adequate1 and turned to the larger world of pillar-prints--so from the beginning ,kiyonaga found this jewelled delicacy to be incompatible with the scope that was the need of his specific genius4 ,he discarded all those lovely tricks of the engraver and the printer which had been almost an end in themselves to ,harunobu4 ,he abstained from giving to his backgrounds ,harunobu's exquisite neutral tones1 feeling that they could only suffer by the addition of tint4 ,he was no colour-dreamer1 but a great harmonist of lines and spaces2 and the lofty skies and wide horizons that create distance behind his figures attest his wisdom4 ,similarly he was unable to content himself with the flawless grace of line that ,harunobu and ,buncho had mastered4 ,either from the powerful and massive brush-strokes of ,moronobu or from the even more expressive brushwork of ,shigemasa1 he derived a style that is one of his chief glories4 ,no use of line was ever more virile than his4 ,the brush seems to vibrate in his hand2 the strokes are instinct with life along every fraction of their length2 the line narrows1 widens1 swirls1 breaks1 and flows in perfect response to the will of the mind behind it4 ,so individual is ,kiyonaga's touch that it would be possible for an expert to attribute to him a print of which only one square inch survived4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,yoshitsune ,,serenading ,,the ,,lady ,,jorurihime4 ,a triptych4 ,each sheet size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,spaulding ,collection4 ,plate #bi4 ,it is characteristic of ,kiyonaga's style that he did not confine himself to the small square sheets used by ,harunobu and the small oblong hoso-ye used by ,shunsho4 ,his most important work is in the form of the large full-size sheets which he adopted from ,koriusai4 ,in these he rose to a height unparalleled in ,ukioye2 and ,m4 ,koechlin is quite right in esteeming ,kiyonaga's sense of elaborate composition1 here so impressively displayed1 as his chief grandeur4 ,in the series of large sheets without backgrounds1 ,designs of ,spring ,greenery1 one of which is reproduced in ,plate #be--,kiyonaga produced work not very different from that of his collaborator ,koriusai4 ,only in certain sheets is there a harmonious grasp of the full possibilities of pictorial composition4 ,but proceeding to other series1 the gap widens4 ,in the series ,present ,day ,beauties of the ,yoshiwara1 he advanced to his own unique field4 ,possibly he touched the supreme height in the great group ,brocades of the ,customs of the ,east1 which includes such well-known prints as the two saltwater carriers on the seashore1 the three singers at the bath1 the two ladies conversing with a flower-vendor1 and the print reproduced in ,plate #bf4 ,from these prints ,kiyonaga proceeded to still further combinations1 devising compositions in which two1 three1 or even five sheets unite into one wide design4 ,for the triptych we have ,kiyonaga to thank4 ,the triptych was not1 it is true1 literally ,kiyonaga's invention2 many artists in the ,first and ,second ,periods had produced hoso-ye sheets in sets of three that could be joined together to form one picture4 ,in fact1 each set of three was originally one sheet printed from one set of blocks2 and it was convenience and economy rather than the idea of producing any real three-piece composition that led to the production of these sets4 ,the prints were almost always conceived as separate pictures2 they seldom gain by juxtaposition1 and frequently suffer by it4 ,far other was the impulse that led ,kiyonaga to his diptych and triptych compositions4 ,the great triptych of the ,disembarkment1 the diptych of the ,night ,expedition1 the ,serenade triptych reproduced in ,plate #bi1 and the whole series of diptychs called ,twelve ,months of the ,south1 to which belongs the marvellous ,terrace by the ,sea1 are all dominated by an indigenous rhythm of line and colour4 ,these designs have not ,shunsho's startling force1 nor ,harunobu's minutely detailed grace1 nor ,koriusai's richness2 all these elements ,kiyonaga sacrifices for a broader sweep and a more unified pictorial quality4 ,his designs co-ordinate the elements of line1 colour1 figures1 and landscape into total impressions of such large harmony as we have not seen before and shall hardly see again4 ,to over-estimate the genius that produced the grouping of his best work is impossible2 to realize it fully requires careful analysis1 so unobtrusive and inevitable are its effects4 ,illustration3 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,geisha ,,with ,,servant ,,carrying ,,lute-,,box4 ,size #bg #d4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,,kiyonaga3 ,,woman ,,painting ,,her ,,eyebrows4 ,size #bg #f4 ,signed ,kiyonaga ga4 ,plate #cj4 ,kiyonaga's greatest works are these triptychs and diptychs in which he depicts the holiday life of his ,olympian figures4 ,even single sheets from them are treasures2 for though they combine into still greater compositions1 each one1 as we may see in ,plate #bg1 or in any one of the sheets of ,plate #bi1 is a perfect unit that can stand alone4 ,his pillar-prints1 of which two appear in ,plate #cj1 are ranked among the foremost works in this form4 ,eventually ,kiyonaga's finest manner passed4 ,though the vigour of his brush-strokes remained1 his figures began to take on an exaggerated length and slimness characteristic of the coming decadence4 ,therefore his retirement from print-designing1 a little after #agij1 was not1 as in the case of ,harunobu's untimely death1 an irreparable loss4 ,his greatest work was finished4 ,why he retired is not known2 the various speculations on the subject are not very enlightening4 ,though the finest ,kiyonaga prints rarely come into the market nowadays1 the less important examples of his work are by no means impossible to obtain4 ,his smaller prints1 and his pillar-prints in particular1 are among the most attractive acquisitions remaining for the collector4 ,the large single sheets1 if fine impressions and in fine condition1 are among the foremost of the collector's treasures4 ,the great triptychs are almost unprocurable1 except in poor condition4 ,the collector must patiently await his opportunity4 ,there is probably not a single ,kiyonaga obtainable anywhere to-day that is of the quality of that unique group of marvellously printed masterpieces which once belonged to ,fenollosa1 and which is now one of the glories of the ,spaulding ,collection in ,boston4 ,similarly1 the ,mansfield ,collection in ,new ,york and the ,buckingham ,collection in ,chicago contain ,kiyonagas which are the result of long years of search and which could not be duplicated in all the markets of the world combined4 ,,pupils ,,of ,,kiyonaga4 ,,torii ,,kiyomasa was the son of ,kiyonaga4 ,his work1 produced between #ahaj and #ahbe1 is without special distinction4 ,among the minor pupils may be named ,kiyotsugi1 ,kiyohisa1 ,kiyokatsu1 ,kiyotei1 ,kiyotoki1 ,kiyoyuki1 ,kiyohide ,,ii1 ,kiyotsune ,,ii4 ,every artist of the day was influenced by ,kiyonaga2 among those difficult to classify otherwise may be named the following men3-- ,,sanch1 who worked in the neighbourhood of #aghj1 produced prints somewhat in the manner of ,shuncho4 ,delicacy rather than strength distinguished him in the few examples of his work ,i have seen4 ,,harumitsu is an artist whose work is known to me only by one pillar-print in my collection4 ,fenollosa1 who once owned the print1 noted on the margin of it3 ,a rare man4 ,name may be also read ,shunk1 but not the same as the pupil of ,shunsho4 ,a follower of ,kiyonaga4 ,and this is all the information ,i have been able to obtain about him4 ,it is possible that he is the same as ,shunko ,,ii4 ,illustration3 ,,shuncho3 ,,group ,,at ,a ,,temple ,,gate4 ,a diptych4 ,each sheet size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,shuncho ga4 ,mansfield ,collection4 ,plate #ca4 ,,shuncho4 ,your lovely ladies shall not fade ,though ,yedo's moated walls be laid ,level with dust1 and night-owls brood ,over the city's solitude4 ,far be the coming of that day6 ,yet that it comes not1 who shall say8 ,who knows how long the halls shall stand ,of your once-golden wonderland8 ,perhaps shall ,nikko crumble down1 ,its carvings worn1 its glow turned brown ,through many winters4 ,on that hill ,where great ,ieyasu's brazen will ,in brazen tomb now takes its rest1 ,perhaps the eagle's young shall nest4 ,kyoto's gardens cannot last4 ,at ,kamakura1 where the vast ,form of the ,buddha fronts the sea1 ,a waste of waves may someday be4444 ,ah1 stale and flat the warning bell ,whose melancholy accents tell ,impermanence to hearts that guess ,time's undiscovered loveliness4 ,a fairer ,yedo shall arise2 ,a richer ,nikko praise the skies2 ,ieyasus mightier than of old ,shall cast the world in wiser mould2 ,fresh gardens shall be spread2 new faith ,shall spring when ,buddha is a wraith-- ,and more puissant hands than yours ,shall paint anew life's ancient lures4 ,yet when he comes who shall surpass ,your beauty that so matchless was1 ,a joy shall light him through your eyes1 ,a flame shall from your embers rise1 ,your gentle art shall make him wise ,in mastery of melodies4 ,and though your wreath in dust be laid1 ,your lovely ladies shall not fade6 ,nothing is known of the life or personality of ,katsukawa ,shuncho4 ,his name and certain peculiarities of his drawing indicate unmistakably that he began his career as a pupil of ,shunsho2 but he soon fell under the influence of ,kiyonaga and became that artist's most notable follower4 ,his main work lies between the years #agge and #ahjj2 it is thought that he stopped designing prints before the latter year1 though he is said to have lived until after #ahba4 ,his designs1 one of which appears in ,plate #ca1 comprise chiefly figures of women1 drawn with extraordinary grace of line and softness of colouring4 ,illustration3 ,,shuncho4 ,except in a few early actor-prints1 ,shuncho had only one manner--that which we have come to call the middle ,kiyonaga style4 ,it was early in his career that he threw off the harsh dominance of ,shunsho4 ,m4 ,raymond ,koechlin points out that had he remained under that influence he would without doubt have been lost in the banal horde of designers of actor-prints who spiritlessly followed that great artist4 ,for there was nothing in common between the rugged masterful genius of ,shunsho and the luminous grace of his pupil4 ,kiyonaga's style1 however1 ,shuncho could adopt and utilize to express his own peculiar and mild sense of beauty1 with a perfection that makes him stand out unique among ,kiyonaga's disciples4 ,other pupils of ,kiyonaga followed the master for a longer or shorter while2 but all the others sooner or later developed styles of their own or copied the styles of other leaders--often eccentric and decadent leaders1 far inferior to him whom they had abandoned4 ,but ,shuncho1 having adopted the ,kiyonaga manner at its noblest1 when the proportions in the drawing of the figure were most natural and dignified1 never departed from it except to make it slightly less naturalistic1 in accordance with what he had learned from his first master ,shunsho4 ,that this was so manifests ,shuncho's purity of feeling1 and also reveals his strange lack of desire to experiment in new manners4 ,no artist so great as ,shuncho has ever been so little endowed with initiative and invention4 ,i fancy that he marks the point in the development of the ,ukioye ,school where1 after the progressive force of ,kiyonaga had spent itself1 the art stands still for a brief moment of perfect balance before it begins to take its course down the long slope of the decline4 ,illustration3 ,,shuncho3 ,,two ,,ladies ,,under ,,umbrella4 ,size #ag #d4 ,signed ,shuncho ga4 ,,shuncho3 ,,the ,,courtesan ,,hana-,,ji--,,the ,,sumida ,,river ,,seen ,,through ,,the ,,window4 ,size #bg #e4 ,signed ,shuncho ga4 ,plate #cb4 ,in many respects like ,kiyonaga1 ,shuncho can hardly be regarded as second even to his master1 except in originality4 ,he lacked ,kiyonaga's great creative imagination--an imagination which brought into being the ,olympian style4 ,but his gifts enabled him to assimilate this style perfectly and turn it to his own slightly different uses4 ,his sense of composition is rather undistinguished when compared with ,kiyonaga's2 but the delicacy of his drawing1 the restrained harmonies of his colour1 and the clean vitality of his line have a beauty that we could ill afford to sacrifice even for ,kiyonaga's strength4 ,kiyonaga brings down the gods in all their noble dignity to walk the earth in calm magnificence2 but ,shuncho leads us into a secret heaven where the loveliest and most flower-like of the gods have remained behind4 ,his is a softer beauty1 touched with remote half-lights1 vibrant with faint wistfulness2 his superb women turn in mid-joy as though far and grave music had suddenly drifted to their hearing2 their perfection passes over into the region where beauty becomes sadness4 ,no women in the whole range of ,japanese art so haunt one's memory as do his2 no beauty seems at the same time so flawless and so charged with the burden of transitoriness4 ,one cannot but feel that where ,kiyonaga's healthy vision saw only the happiness and brilliance and splendour of the forms that swept by him in the mortal procession1 ,shuncho saw also the ghostly fleetness of their passing and the melancholy of their radiance sunset-bound2 and around his figures this sense throws a quiet tender light1 a suggestion of brooding and caressing sweetness4 ,illustration3 ,,shuncho3 ,,two ,,ladies ,,in ,a ,,boat ,,on ,,the ,,sumida ,,river4 ,size #bf #d4 ,unsigned4 ,,yeisho3 ,,two ,,courtesans ,,after ,,the ,,bath4 ,size #be #e4 ,signed ,yeisho ga4 ,plate #cc4 ,in his finest prints the softly luminous colour and the gently sweeping lines of his ladies move sometimes through the palely glowing rooms of palaces1 but more often through sunlit fields and gardens and blossoming groves--regions of delight and cloudless skies1 scenes of eternal happiness4 ,his colour-schemes in these natural settings are artfully contrived to produce1 through the limited agency of flat tints1 an impression of crystal-clear atmosphere around and behind the figures4 ,in both his triptychs and his pillar-prints there often stretches away this delicate world of hills or seashore or river-bank that plays no small part in the incantation of beauty4 ,his pillar-prints1 of which three are reproduced in ,plates #cb and #cc1 are especially fine2 ,i sometimes think that here he surpasses ,kiyonaga4 ,and yet there is about all his work a strange impersonality1 an absence of any note that brings to our notice ,shuncho himself1 the observer and recorder4 ,he is detached even from his own most perfect work4 ,compare him with ,harunobu or ,sharaku or ,utamaro1 and observe how invisible he is--how his designs have a transparency that absolutely conceals him4 ,in historical importance and in originality ,shuncho is secondary to ,kiyonaga2 in absolute beauty his work deserves a place beside that of the master4 ,as a colourist--his most distinguished rle--he was perhaps the greater of the two4 ,the collector may be interested to note that practically all ,shuncho's work is printed with the utmost sharpness and refinement2 poor impressions of his prints are almost unknown4 ,in this particular he is in striking contrast to many of his contemporaries2 and one may perhaps trace his care to the training of ,shunsho1 of whose work also ,i have seldom seen a really poor impression4 ,shuncho's work is unfortunately not common2 finely preserved copies are scarcer than ,kiyonaga's4 ,,shunzan4 ,katsukawa ,shunzan was a little-known artist who worked from about #agge to about #ahaj4 ,he was first1 as his name would suggest1 a pupil of ,shunsho2 in his rare early prints in hoso-ye form he produced actors in the manner of that school with considerable charm of line1 but without great vigour4 ,even in these early pieces ,shunzan's leaning towards sweetness and suavity suggests that he was not at home in the ,shunsho manner2 and it is not strange to find that he later turned to ,kiyonaga1 under whose powerful influence he produced his best-known work--beautiful ladies in robes of splendour4 ,he generally copied the ,kiyonaga type of figure closely1 but a little stiffly2 and he was not often master of those harmonies of arrangement and grouping which distinguished his teacher4 ,but occasionally his colour is very rich and glowing4 ,illustration3 ,,shunzan4 ,either he produced little or else time has been even less than normally kind to his work1 for few prints by him survive4 ,,shunman4 ,kubo ,shunman was one of those singular artists who fascinate us almost as much by mystery as by beauty4 ,living from #ageg to #ahbj1 or1 as some authorities say1 to #ahbi1 he was at one time a pupil of ,shigemasa2 but he later turned to ,kiyonaga as his final and most important teacher4 ,from ,kiyonaga he learned the rudiments of his style2 yet on the whole his work resembles ,kiyonaga very little4 ,an individual touch dominates all his compositions4 ,he may be called the symphonist of greys2 for a large part of his most notable production is done in modulated shades of this colour1 heightened and made luminous here and there by carefully calculated touches of green1 yellow1 red1 or violet4 ,his figures are drawn in a manner less solid than ,kiyonaga's2 as in ,plate #de1 the lines seem tormented and strained into arabesques of peculiar and restless beauty4 ,the harmony of his colour is kept by this sharp intensity of line-work from sinking into mere sweetness and flatness4 ,illustration3 ,,kubo ,,shunman4 ,these figures of ,shunman1 sketched with the curious uneasiness of line of which ,i speak1 stand before backgrounds of equal strangeness4 ,the landscapes seem instinct with an obscure life2 the ,talking ,oak of ,dodona was never more haunted than are they4 ,his great six-sheet composition1 ,the ,six ,tamagawa1 is positively disturbing in the feeling of supernatural forces that it awakens4 ,as ,fenollosa says3 ,everything he does has a strange touch4 ,the ,kiyonaga face becomes distorted with a sort of divine frenzy2 trees grope about with their branch-tips like sentient beings2 flowers seem to exhale unknown perfumes1 and the waters of his streams writhe and glide with a sort of reptilian fascination4 ,or1 as ,mr4 ,arthur ,morrison puts it3 ,there is a touch of fantasy in most of his published designs1 as well as in some of his original pictures--an atmosphere as of some strange country where the trees1 the rocks1 the flowers1 and the streams are alive with human senses and mysterious communion4 ,for reasons not wholly clear1 the work of ,shunman is received by the ,japanese connoisseurs with more favour than that of most ,ukioye artists4 ,some obscure quality of restraint and imagination relates him to the older classical schools in a way that makes him acceptable to their aristocratic exclusiveness of taste4 ,shunman's best prints are so rare as to be beyond the dreams of the ordinary collector4 ,his complete ,tamagawa is a work for which all the great collectors in the world compete4 ,his smaller prints and book-illustrations are1 however1 procurable2 and his surimono are excellent and fairly numerous4 ,his pillar-prints1 of which only three or four designs are known to me1 are remarkably fine4 ,,kitao ,,masanobu4 ,two ,women4 ,what floors have ye trod8 ,what sky-paven places have opened their halls to your eyes8 ,what light was yours1 through summerward spaces watching the swallow that flies8 ,what holy silence has touched your faces--what hush of paradise8 ,i think that he died of a longing unspoken who dreamed you to walk in our ways4 ,the wheel at the cistern1 the pitcher is broken3 ye wot not that dust decays-- ,ye1 torn from the heart of the dreamer as token to dreamers of other days4 ,kitao ,masanobu was another of the pupils of ,shigemasa who marched eventually beneath the banner of ,kiyonaga1 though he retained to the last much of his first master's manner4 ,born in #agfa1 he lived until #ahaf4 ,his occupations besides painting were various3 he kept a tobacco-shop1 and was best known in his own day under the literary name of ,kyden1 for his highly popular novels and comic poems4 ,he produced very few prints1 but those few are of distinguished quality1 all of them probably the product of his early years1 before he reached the age of thirty4 ,at least one of these1 reproduced in ,plate #ca1 is an unsurpassable triumph4 ,his resemblance to his first master is so marked that it is not always possible at first glance to distinguish his prints from those of ,shigemasa4 ,in fact there is a certain unsigned pillar-print1 representing the two lovers ,komurasaki and ,gompachi1 which is still of doubtful authorship1 some authorities attributing it to ,shigemasa1 while others assign it to ,masanobu4 ,illustration3 ,,masanobu 7,,kitao74 ,possibly ,kitao ,masanobu is most widely known for his elaborate illustrated book1 ,celebrated ,women of the ,tea ,houses and their ,handwritings4 ,this volume was published about #aghj2 ,i have already referred to it in dealing with the great illustrated book of ,shunsho and ,shigemasa4 ,it consists of seven large double-page illustrations in many colours1 and is a highly praised work1 sheets of which are often mounted as separate prints4 ,it appears to me1 however1 to have been overrated2 and my impression is that in these designs elaborateness has smothered composition and richness has obliterated beauty4 ,kitao ,masanobu's single-sheet prints are lamentably few1 as are also his pillar-prints2 but from those that remain to us it is possible to rank ,masanobu as an artist second to only the very greatest4 ,spirituality is a clumsy word to use in describing work so definitely embodied as this2 yet none other conveys the sense of his peculiar and grave harmony4 ,the mature beauty of his work carries us back to the perfection of ,shigemasa4 ,the collector will search long before he finds an important print by this artist to add to his collection4 ,,masayoshi4 ,kitao ,masayoshi1 who frequently signed himself ,keisai or ,shosin1 was a curious and original designer1 who lived from #agfa to #ahbd4 ,though a pupil of ,shigemasa1 he appears to have drawn a large part of his inspiration from a source outside the ,ukioye movement--the ,kano ,school of painting1 in which the classical traditions still flourished4 ,in his main period1 contemporaneous with ,kiyonaga1 his work was little influenced by the great master4 ,his designs are marked chiefly by the vividness of his observation of flowers1 animals1 and landscape1 and by his technical skill in recording them4 ,his books of sketches are his best-known works--drawings in a manner new to wood-engraving2 he seldom employs any key-block1 but leaves the main body of his colour in broad impressionistic sweeps of the brush without definite boundary4 ,he approached ,nature somewhat as did ,hokusai in later days1 with a sharp perception and infinite interest4 ,his work lies aside from the main current of ,ukioye history--an interesting backwater that comes more properly within the region of classical painting than within that of prints4 ,illustration3 ,,kitao ,,masanobu3 ,,the ,,cuckoo4 ,size #ae #bb4 ,signed ,masanobu ga4 ,spaulding ,collection4 ,plate #cd4 ,single-sheet prints by ,masayoshi are very rare4 ,his book-sheets are somewhat more frequently met with4 ,,vi ,,the ,,fourth ,,period3 ,,the ,,decadence ,,from ,,the ,,retirement ,,of ,,kiyonaga ,,to ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,utamaro 7#agij-ahjf7 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,fourth ,,period3 ,,the ,,decadence ,,from ,,the ,,retirement ,,of ,,kiyonaga ,,to ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,utamaro 7#agij-ahjf7 ,the change that confronts us as we turn from the period of ,kiyonaga to that of ,utamaro1 ,yeishi1 and ,toyokuni is one whose significance is not at first sight wholly clear4 ,we find the sound and classic figures of ,kiyonaga gradually replaced by new and fascinating types--slender drooping bodies1 wonderfully piled coiffures1 elaborately brocaded robes2 and the virile drawing of the earlier master gives way to the sinuous curves and arresting plasticity of the new designers4 ,the favourite types of this time are almost as unreal as those of the ,primitives1 but they convey a totally different feeling2 on the one hand1 in their curious perverted way1 they are far more realistic than the ,primitives ever dreamed of being2 and on the other hand1 they seem the products of minds weary of reality1 who turn to the phantasies of the not wholly normal spirit for their ideals and their consolations4 ,it must not be supposed1 however1 that the transition to this style of the ,decadence was a sudden one4 ,the painters who had most perfectly assimilated the style of ,kiyonaga were the very ones who1 in this period1 turned to the depiction of figures in which every line betrays the weariness of the hour and its craving for novelty4 ,the apex of creative energy in this art had been reached and the inevitable decline was under way4 ,of the forces that produced this decline we have comparatively little knowledge4 ,fenollosa's account of the social conditions of the period throws some light upon the problem4 ,it was1 he says1 a period of crisis in ,tokugawa affairs4 ,the cleavage between the aristocratic and the plebeian strata of ,japanese life1 which had become placidly conscious of itself in the days of ,genroku1 now threatened a moral1 a social1 if not a political disruption4 ,the new factors of popular education--art1 prints1 illustrated books1 the theatre1 novels1 contact with the ,dutch at ,nagasaki--all had stimulated the spirit of inquiry and of unrest which had penetrated back in investigation to the facts of the ,shogun's usurpation2 which wrote new1 popular histories of the national life2 which gave plays and novels a semi-political aim4 ,this deeper wave of self-consciousness on the part of the people was met by the authorities with sterner repressions4 ,the better elements that might have drifted into improving the popular standards in pleasure and art were driven out by a strict censorship4 ,there was thus a sort of natural1 or unnatural1 selection which tended to isolate and give prominence to the coarser side of the popular feeling4 ,if the issue were squarely made between ,confucius and rank demoralization1 there was little resource for the commoner but to choose the latter4 ,thus there arose a sort of alliance between the theatre and the houses of pleasure on the one hand1 and the disaffected among the literary and political agitators upon the other4 ,men1 great men who sowed the seeds of the revolution which ripened in #ahfh1 had to flee for asylum1 not to ,buddhist temples1 but to the labyrinths of the ,yoshiwara1 where1 in the care of a romantic love lavished upon them by its then highly cultivated hetair1 they could print and disperse1 from their hidden presses1 seditious tracts which set the heart of the nation on fire4 ,it was not the ideals of a ripe self-consciousness1 such as ,kiyonaga had attempted2 it was a struggle of living desires against outworn conventions and hopeless tyrannies4 ,hence1 the two phases of a new ,ukioye art--its pressure outward toward fuller scientific realisms1 and its frank recreations in the vulgarities of its surroundings4 ,in addition to the restlessness growing out of such political conditions1 we should remember that it is not the nature of the human race to be satisfied even with perfection for very long4 ,kiyonaga1 with all his placid beauty1 could not forever suffice men who felt themselves to be living as passionately modern lives as we do to-day4 ,change was required to keep them interested2 and since the idealization of sound vitality could hardly be pushed farther than ,kiyonaga had taken it1 the obvious path for the artist lay in the direction of fantastic variations on the old theme and in the idealization of the erotic phantoms evoked by uneasy weariness4 ,new refinements had to be introduced2 new emotions had to be stirred2 and the unending search for novelty led in due time to strained efforts1 perverted mannerisms1 and distorted outlooks upon life4 ,so much for that part of the decadence which was due merely to the desire for change4 ,but there was another element of even more definite operation4 ,it is fairly clear that part of the fatal development resulted from that slow drift toward realism which we have seen growing1 period by period1 since the days of the ,primitives4 ,the age of ,harunobu1 with its new technical resources1 had abandoned pure decoration and aspired to put into its designs something of the flavour of life4 ,the age of ,kiyonaga1 with its complete mastery of technique1 had projected into its designs its observation of real beings--drawn with a fine idealization1 but nevertheless based on a deep fidelity to concrete forms4 ,the age of ,utamaro had a choice of only two steps left to take if it were to advance to any new position--a step in the direction of still closer fidelity to nature1 or a step in the direction of complete revolt from naturalism into regions of wild phantasy4 ,characteristically1 it took both6 ,particular instances will show this4 ,utamaro and ,sharaku recorded the peculiarities of real things with a sharpness of observation and an accuracy of rendering that the earlier artists had never approached4 ,and at the same time they used these sharply mastered details of nature as mere brick and mortar out of which to construct fantastic edifices of the most unbridled imagination4 ,because they were geniuses1 they did this and created masterpieces2 but they left to later times and lesser artists only the sterile heritage of a deadening realism which they had found it convenient to employ1 but to which they themselves had never been truly subject4 ,at the beginning of this period ,yeishi1 ,choki1 ,sharaku1 and the young ,utamaro produced work that ranks quite as high in beauty as that of preceding days4 ,yeishi's visionary figures of women1 drawn with a disembodied and fragile grace1 are in their way matchless things1 whose only fault is their lack of virile strength4 ,choki's finest works are wholly beyond praise4 ,sharaku1 the supreme master of actor-portraits and one of the great artists of the world1 created designs of stupendous power2 if there is any trace of decadence in him it is not weakness but brutality4 ,utamaro1 in his earlier years at least1 was as wholesome as ,kiyonaga2 and even when1 in later times1 he turned to figures that have about them an indescribable atmosphere of languor and decline1 he made of them designs that are to many people the most beautiful productions of the whole school4 ,in all of these men1 technical power and sense of composition were of unimpaired vigour4 ,why1 then it may be asked1 should we speak of the decadence8 ,the answer lies partly in the fact that these productions1 as a rule1 express in their languid or overstrained figures tendencies of emotional super-refinement and nervous tension that impress every beholder with a sense of disintegration1 and partly in the history of later days4 ,for the moment1 the rivalry between the great men of the period was so keen as to sustain what was1 after all1 the dying effort of their art4 ,the successes of each one spurred the others on to new types and new feverish devices1 feeding thus the flames of the desire for novelty among the people4 ,but the end was at hand4 ,by #ahjj1 in the later work of ,utamaro1 in most of the work of ,toyokuni1 and in practically all the work of their followers1 genuine artistic weakness appeared1 sensationalism took the place of vigour1 garishness supplanted harmony1 and crude emotions1 crude drawing1 crude colour became the common feature4 ,the ancient sense of style gave way to a desire to push pictorial effects beyond their legitimate boundary1 and the edge of the abyss was in sight4 ,but before that moment came there remained sixteen years in the productions of which we shall find beauties less sane and sound than those of ,kiyonaga1 but nevertheless perpetually delighting4 ,,hosoda ,,yeishi4 ,portrait of a ,woman4 ,out of the silence of dead years ,your slender presence seems to move-- ,a fragrance that no time outwears-- ,a perilous messenger of love4 ,from far your wistful beauty brings ,a wonder that no lips may speak-- ,a music dumb save as it clings ,about your shadowy throat and cheek4 ,longing is round you like that haze ,of luminous and tender glow ,which memory in the later days ,gives vanished days of long ago4 ,and he who sees you must retrace ,all sweetness that his life has known1 ,and with the vision of your face ,link some lost vision of his own4 ,the long curves of your saffron dress-- ,the outline of your delicate mould-- ,your strange unearthly slenderness ,seem like a wraith's that strayed of old ,out of some region where abide ,fortunate spirits without stain1 ,where nothing lovely is denied1 ,and pain is only beauty's pain4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,strange6 that in life you were a thing ,common to many for delight1 ,thrall to the revelries that fling ,their gleam across the fevered night-- ,a holy image in the grasp ,of pagans careless to adore2 ,a pearl secreted in the clasp ,of oozy weeds on some lost shore4 ,my thought shrinks back from what ,i see1 ,and wanders dumb in poisoned air-- ,then leaps1 inexplicably free1 ,remembering that you were fair6 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,belovd were you in your prime ,by one1 of all1 who came as guest1-- ,a wastrel strange1 whose gaze could climb ,to where your beauty lit the west4 ,one1--in whose secret heart there moved ,some far and unforgotten stir ,of ancient1 holy beauties loved1-- ,here paused1 a sudden worshipper4 ,methinks he moved in dusks apart ,through that profound and trembling hour ,when you within his doubting heart ,touched all the desert into flower4 ,and where you rose a world's delight1 ,for him the dark veils from you fell1-- ,as earthly clouds from star-strewn night ,withdraw1 and leave a miracle4 ,not ,oiran then1 but maid2 remote ,from tyrant powers of waste desire4 ,who drew these hands1 this slender throat1 ,saw you 'mid skaken winds of fire4 ,you were a shape of wonder1 set ,to crown the seeking of his days4 ,for you his lonely eyes were wet2 ,with you his soul walked shrouded ways4 ,and though the burning night might keep ,you servient to some lord's carouse1 ,for him you rose from such a deep ,with maiden dawn-light on your brows4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,pale ,autumn with ethereal glow ,hovered your delicate figure near2 ,and ever round you whispered low ,her voices1 and the dying year4 ,a year--a day--and then the leaves ,purpureal1 ashen1 umber1 red1 ,wove for you both through waning eves ,a gorgeous carpet gloomward spread4 ,and with that waning1 you had gone1 ,through changes that love fears to trace-- ,no later lover could have known ,your wistful and alluring face-- ,your music1 quivering in thin air1 ,had fled with life that filled your veins-- ,but he for whom you were so fair ,dreamed2 and the troubled dream remains4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,time1 that is swift to smite and rend ,the common things that spring from earth1 ,dares not so surely set an end ,to shapes of visionary birth4 ,there often his destroying touch ,lingers as with a lulled caress1 ,adding1 to that which has so much1 ,an alien ghostly loveliness4 ,so shall your beauty1 crescent1 pass ,from me through many a later hand1 ,each year more luminous than it was-- ,o ,april out of ,sunset ,land6 ,the career of ,hosoda ,yeishi as a print-designer began about #aghj at the time when ,kiyonaga was in full sway1 and lasted until shortly after the beginning of the nineteenth century--a date when ,kiyonaga had for some years been in retirement4 ,thus in ,yeishi perhaps more fully than in any other artist except ,utamaro may be observed the crucial transition from the period of ,kiyonaga to the period of complete decline4 ,illustration3 ,,yeishi4 ,yeishi was originally a noble of high rank who studied under ,kano ,yeisen1 the court painter2 and not even in the last years of his career1 when vulgarizing influences were dominant1 did he lose the refinement and aristocratic delicacy that are his most striking characteristics4 ,shortly before he became a ,ukioye painter he had been attached to the household of the ,shogun ,iyeharu4 ,it is not difficult to imagine the horror of ,yeishi's early circle of associates when he threw over conventionality and station1 and plunged into the vie de ,bohme of a popular painter4 ,this youth1 remarks ,fenollosa1 doubtless shocked all his friends in tiring of the solemn old ,chinese poets who had been gliding about in impossible landscapes since ,tanyu first labelled them1 and of the semi-serious1 long-headed old gods who gave knowing winks to their turtles and storks1 and in running off to such abominable haunts of the cow-headed ,buddhist ,satan as ,danjuro's theatre-pit1 fragrant with the odours of saki and raw fish1 or the lantern-hung balconies of merry damsels on the river-boats4 ,but the elegant court gentleman was not destined to sink in the maelstrom4 ,to this underworld he brought his own subtlety of vision and evoked from it figures of unfading beauty4 ,at the outset ,kiyonaga was his guide--a guide perhaps too blindly followed4 ,certainly ,yeishi's first productions1 superb as they were1 cannot be called his most characteristic4 ,plate #ce is an example4 ,they are wholly in the ,kiyonaga manner except that they have a touch of fragility and delicacy that is alien to ,kiyonaga4 ,the proportions of the figures are the same1 but ,yeishi's curves are less naturalistic2 they seem the product of one whose hungry visions lapped like waves against the shore of reality1 shaping it into contours determined by their own demands4 ,the feeling of repose which ,mr4 ,strange notes is not repose at all but weariness4 ,at first the perfect poise of these forms may deceive us2 but as we advance along the calendar of ,yeishi's work we find it pervaded by a spirit less serene1 more high-strung1 more drugged with beauty than was ,kiyonaga's4 ,illustration3 ,,yeishi3 ,,three ,,ladies ,,by ,,the ,,seashore4 ,one sheet of a triptych4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,yeishi ga4 ,plate #ce4 ,in what we may call ,yeishi's second style1 he gives the peculiarities of his nature full expression4 ,the tall slender figures cease to recall ,kiyonaga's2 the robust vigour goes out of them2 they become impalpable1 wistful creatures1 hovering before us with slow grace1 moving by us in grave procession4 ,these beautiful women are like creatures seen in a dream2 they have the solemnity and aloofness of priestesses intent on the performance of secret rites4 ,their long robes sweep in stately pageant2 their delicate heads bend in exquisite weariness4 ,fenollosa strangely speaks of the keenness of ,yeishi's characterizations1 and says that1 with no idealizations to trouble him1 he put down what he saw as frankly as a young reporter4 ,this is a surprising misinterpretation4 ,yeishi was perhaps more notably a visionary than any other ,ukioye artist2 he was haunted by supersensible intimations1 perverted by a search for unearthly beauty4 ,a fascinating painter6 ,he has not the brilliancy and versatility of ,utamaro2 but the taste is hard to please which finds monotony in his series of perfections4 ,in his second period--his most individual and powerful--he produced compositions that are hardly inferior to ,kiyonaga's4 ,yeishi may be regarded as one of the few designers who perfectly mastered the triptych form4 ,his arrangements are simpler than ,kiyonaga's but no less beautiful4 ,a notable series depicting various polite occupations from the life of ,prince ,genji are so harmonious in design1 so lovely in colour1 and so instinct with spiritual refinement as to rank among his finest works4 ,in some of these triptychs ,yeishi introduces his interesting colour-invention--a scheme of grey1 yellow1 violet1 blue1 and black1 which he handles superbly4 ,among his other triptychs1 ,the ,treasure ,ship is especially notable4 ,in this print1 a barge whose prow is shaped like the head and breast of the mythical ,hoho bird seems adrift on a river of peace2 its wonderful freight--nine noble ladies engaged in the refined entertainments of paintings1 games1 and poetry--express the nostalgia of ,watteau's figures and the line-beauty of ,botticelli's4 ,the repose of heaven is upon them1 and the delicate satiety of heavenly beings4 ,yeishi was one of the few painters besides ,shunman who successfully managed grey as a dominant tone4 ,in certain of his prints he produced notable results in this manner1 using a style in which lights of yellow and purple are arranged with beautiful effect4 ,sometimes1 though rarely1 he omitted them altogether1 as in ,plate #cg1 and contented himself with modulations of pure grey that are the last word in subtlety4 ,illustration3 ,,yeishi3 ,,lady ,,with ,,tobacco-,,pipe4 ,yellow background4 ,size ,transcriber's note3 ,dimension missing in original4 #aj4 ,signed ,yeishi ga4 ,plate #cf4 ,he produced a considerable number of notable full-size sheets depicting single figures of women seated or kneeling1 engaged in gracious occupations such as flower-arrangement4 ,some of these are without background2 others have backgrounds of pale grey wash2 while still others1 perhaps the finest of all1 stand out against luminous yellow grounds4 ,one of these appears in ,plate #cf4 ,in these prints is displayed ,yeishi's power to draw exquisitely the long sweeping curves of draperies2 and the strangely pensive1 hieratic quality of his faces is at its best4 ,their charm lies not in the brushwork1 which is never as free and bold as ,kiyonaga's1 but in the sentiment of remote beauty of which these haunting curves are such pure symbols4 ,he also produced a number of groups of courtesans on parade1 with little or no background1 after the fashion inaugurated by ,koriusai and ,kiyonaga4 ,these appear stiff beside ,kiyonaga's2 but they have nevertheless great charm of line and colour4 ,his album of the ,thirty-six ,poetesses1 about #ahjj1 is a series of fantastic and gorgeous colour-dreams4 ,his series of standing women against chocolate or silver backgrounds rises in colour to the level of ,sharaku4 ,yeishi could not1 however1 escape the influence of the growing decadence4 ,the public taste at the end of the eighteenth century was debased by a craving for gaudy eccentricities4 ,utamaro led in the rush to gratify this craving2 and even the aristocratic ,yeishi was unable to resist the general decline4 ,therefore toward the end of his career as a print-designer his work greatly altered4 ,his figures grew very tall and willowy2 their necks became so exaggeratedly thin that they seem unable to support the great pile of the coiffure2 an attenuated snakyness distinguishes their lines2 and the curves of their garments are distorted into the most fantastic folds and swirls4 ,it was in this period that ,yeishi produced most of his large bust-portraits on yellow or mica grounds2 in these he followed the lead of ,utamaro1 who had influenced him considerably during his whole career4 ,the noble and grave faces of his earlier days became wooden and distorted2 and when ,yeishi at last stopped print-designing and returned to the life of society and painting from which he had been so long a renegade1 the loss was not a great one2 for the degradation of the age's taste had engulfed him--as1 indeed1 it did all his contemporaries4 ,yeishi's ordinary work is not particularly rare4 ,even his slightest prints have so much charm that they may be highly recommended to the attention of the modest collector4 ,yeishi's important works are of great scarcity4 ,his figures on yellow or mica ground1 his grey prints1 his large heads1 and his pillar-prints are quite as difficult to obtain as any of the prints of this or the preceding period2 his best triptychs are extraordinarily hard to procure4 ,illustration3 ,,yeishi3 ,,interior ,,opening ,,on ,,to ,,the ,,seashore4 ,left-hand sheet of a triptych4 ,printed in several tones of grey4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,yeishi ga4 ,metzgar ,collection4 ,plate #cg4 ,,yeisho4 ,of ,yeishi's many pupils1 ,shokosai ,yeisho stands out as the most important4 ,nothing is known of him except that his work was done toward the end of the eighteenth century4 ,illustration3 ,,yeisho4 ,yeisho may be regarded as the veritable shadow of ,yeishi4 ,he wholly adopted his master's style2 but he was not able to impart to his figures that reserved aristocratic poise which was ,yeishi's distinguishing mark4 ,instead1 ,yeisho's figures not infrequently have a certain very pleasing and plausible elegance1 fuller and rounder than his master's4 ,his curves sweep more assertively and less subtly2 and his decorative effects are often superb even though not particularly complex4 ,he too passed from the manner of ,kiyonaga into that of ,utamaro2 but his middle period is his most characteristic4 ,in this he produced many fascinating single sheets of seated or kneeling women1 several admirable pillar-prints1 as in ,plate #cc1 some large bust-portraits that are perhaps his finest works1 and a number of triptychs4 ,these last1 as a rule1 lack the element that is the real glory of the triptych--a broadly grasped correlation of complex elements into one great harmonious composition4 ,yeisho's triptychs are merely three sheets placed side by side with only a rudimentary attempt at unification4 ,but so completely attractive are the separate figures and the great sweeping curves of his best work that these triptychs are nevertheless delightful productions--more striking than many a subtler composition4 ,they have1 however1 a stereotyped quality that makes one unwilling to take ,yeisho very seriously as an artist4 ,his curves sweep splendidly1 but they are dominated by a formula4 ,yeisho's works are not common2 they are far rarer than ,yeishi's4 ,yeisho may serve to illustrate the difficulty of appraising these artists4 ,i had hardly written the foregoing estimate of ,yeisho when ,i received as a gift from a friend a large bust-portrait of a woman by ,yeisho which is so unexpectedly magnificent and so much finer than any work of ,yeisho's ,i had ever seen that my previous opinion had to be modified4 ,in subtlety of line and delicacy of colour this head is at least equal to ,utamaro's finest works in the same manner2 it utterly contradicts my previous impression of ,yeisho's stereotyped quality4 ,now1 what has happened to me in the case of ,yeisho is happening to students of ,japanese prints every day2 and not until the last secreted treasure is brought to light and made known can we be confident that we are even approximately right in the ranks which we assign to the various designers4 ,,other ,,pupils ,,of ,,yeishi4 ,yeishi's vigour1 barely sufficient to create his own exquisite works1 could not transmit itself to any very vital body of pupils4 ,though his disciples were many1 no one of them achieved independent renown2 the seeds of life were not in the teacher4 ,out of a large number1 the following pupils may be named as the most important3-- ,,ichirakutei ,,yeisui1 of whom nothing is known1 inherited from his master an elegance of line that is often pleasing4 ,he cannot1 however1 be regarded as an important or original artist4 ,his large bust-portraits1 with charming piquant faces1 are his best-known works4 ,his prints are rare but not especially sought after4 ,,gokyo1 an interesting artist who probably died young1 worked in the same manner as ,yeishi4 ,his prints1 soft and pleasing in colour1 are very rare indeed2 the few known examples of his work have a distinction worthy of more attention than they have hitherto received4 ,had he lived he might have given the school of ,yeishi a fresh fame4 ,,yeiri1 of whom not much is known1 sometimes signed himself ,yeishi's pupil ,yeiri4 ,he is to be distinguished from the almost contemporaneous ,rekisenti ,yeiri4 ,the latter worked more in the style of ,utamaro2 his work is rare1 and his finest prints are beautiful and valuable4 ,it was ,yeishi's pupil ,yeiri who created that rare and astonishing portrait of ,kitao ,masanobu which must take a place beside the most brilliant portraiture of any time or land4 ,,yeishin is known only by half a dozen prints2 these1 though attractive1 are not as greatly prized as their scarcity might lead one to expect4 ,,chotensai ,,yeiju is a slightly stiff and not very interesting disciple whose work is rare4 ,,yeicho also is notable chiefly for his rarity4 ,,yeiru followed his master with little originality4 ,,yeiki and ,s,,raku are later unimportant pupils who followed ,utamaro also4 ,,utamaro4 ,portrait of a ,woman4 ,in robes like clouds of sunset rolled ,about the dying sun1 ,in splendid vesture of purple and gold ,that a thousand toiling days have spun ,for thee1 ,o imperial one6-- ,with the cunning pomp of the later years1 ,with their pride and glory and stress1 ,thou risest2 and thy calm forehead bears ,these like a crown2 but thy frail mouth wears ,all of their weariness4 ,thou art one of the great who mayest stand ,where ,cleopatra stood3 ,aspasia1 ,rhodope1 at each hand2 ,and even the proud tempestuous mood ,of ,sappho shall rule thy blood4 ,thy throat1 in its slender whiteness bare1 ,seems powerless to sustain ,the gorgeous tower of thy gold-decked hair-- ,like a lily's stem which the autumn air ,maketh to shrink and wane4 ,more haunting music1 more luring love ,round thy sinuous form hold sway ,than the daughters of earth have knowledge of ,for thou art the daughter of fading day1 ,touched with all hope's decay4 ,and the subtle languor1 the prismic glow ,of a ripeness overpast ,burns through the wonderful curving flow ,of thy garments2 and they who love thee know ,a loathing at the last4 ,for they are the lovers of living things-- ,stars1 sunlight1 morning's breath2 ,but thou1 for all that thy beauty brings ,such songs as the summer scattereth-- ,thou art of the ,house of ,death4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,but there was one in thy golden day ,who saw thy poppied bloom1 ,and loved not thee but the heart's decay ,that filled thee1 and clasped it to be alway ,his chosen and seald doom4 ,he who this living portrait wrought1 ,outlasting time's control1 ,a dark and bitter nectar sought ,welling from poisoned streams that roll ,through deserts of the soul4 ,ah1 dreamer6 come at last where dreams ,can serve no more thy need1 ,who hast by such bright silver streams ,walked with thy soul that now earth seems ,a waste where love must bleed-- ,thou whom such matchless beauty filled ,of visions frail and lone1 ,for thee all passion now is stilled2 ,thy heart1 denied the life it willed1 ,desireth rather none4 ,and thee allure no verdant blooms ,that with fresh joy suspire2 ,but blossoms touched with coming glooms1 ,and weariness1 and spent desire1 ,draw to thy spirit nigher4 ,wherefore is nothing in thy sight ,propitious save it be ,brushed with the wings of hovering night1 ,worn with the shadow of delight1 ,sad with satiety4 ,for thou hast enmity toward all ,the servants of life's breath2 ,one mistress holdeth thee in thrall1 ,and them thou lovest who her call ,answer2 and she is ,death4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,now ,death thy ruined city's streets ,walketh1 a grisly queen4 ,and there her sacred horror greets ,him who invades these waste retreats1 ,her sacrosanct demesne-- ,in robes like clouds at sunset rolled ,about the dying sun1 ,in splendid vestments of purple and gold ,that a thousand perished years have spun ,for her1 the ,imperial ,one4 ,utamaro1 the central and in some ways the most fascinating figure of this period1 has been from the first a great favourite in the esteem of ,european collectors4 ,his graceful1 sinuous women are the images that come most readily to the minds of many people at the mention of ,japanese prints4 ,in his own time and land his popularity was equalled by that of no other artist4 ,illustration3 ,,utamaro4 ,it was by his portraits of women that ,utamaro won his great fame4 ,passing outside the influence of ,kiyonaga1 he developed in his designs of the last decade of the nineteenth century his characteristic feminine type4 ,her strange and languid beauty1 the drooping lines of her robes1 her unnatural slenderness and willowiness1 are the emanations of ,utamaro's feverish mind2 as her creator he ranks as the most brilliant1 the most sophisticated1 and the most poetical designer of his time4 ,his life was spent in alternation between his workshop and the haunts of the ,yoshiwara1 whose beautiful inhabitants he immortalized in prints that are the ultimate expression of the mortal body's longing for a more than mortal perfection of happiness4 ,wearied of every common pleasure1 he created these visions in whose disembodied1 morbid loveliness his overwrought desires found consolation4 ,illustration3 ,,utamaro3 ,,okita ,,of ,,naniwaya1 ,a ,,tea-,,house ,,waitress4 ,mica background4 ,size #ab #i4 ,signed ,utamaro1 hitsu4 ,chandler ,collection4 ,plate #ch4 ,utamaro was born in #agec in the province of ,musachi4 ,early in life he went to ,yedo and there studied under the noted ,kano painter and book-illustrator ,toriyama ,sekiyen1 whom some authorities say was his father4 ,almost from the beginning of his career he lived with the famous publisher ,tsutaya1 who issued his prints2 and this relation continued up to the date of ,tsutaya's death in #agig4 ,in ,utamaro's early work1 which began with an illustrated book in #aggf1 the influence of ,kiyonaga was strong4 ,shunsho's and ,kitao ,masanobu's characteristics are sometimes also visible1 but ,kiyonaga's style is the dominating one4 ,some of his early work is signed ,toyoaki4 ,in #aghj the first important product of ,utamaro's career saw the light--his famous ,gifts of the ,ebb-,tide--a book of exquisitely conceived and delicately printed representations of shells and rocks on the seashore4 ,the effort of a trained conchologist to produce accurate descriptive drawings of these objects could hardly achieve a more scrupulous fidelity than do these pages1 which have in addition an sthetic charm of a high order4 ,the same characteristic appears in his celebrated ,insect ,book of #aghh4 ,these two works1 dominated by a scientific realism that was new to ,ukioye1 may serve as an indication of the growth of that naturalistic spirit whose effect upon the stylistic ideals of the art was later to be so destructive4 ,in the decade between #aghj and #agij ,utamaro produced many additional books4 ,notable among them are the ,customs of ,new ,year's ,day 7#aghf71 ,the ,mad ,full ,moon1 a series of lovely moonlight landscapes in monochrome 7#aghi71 and ,the ,silver ,world1 a series of delicate snow scenes 7#agij74 ,the single-sheet prints which he issued during this decade are exceedingly beautiful works of a type that the inexperienced eye would never recognize as ,utamaro's4 ,the figures are like those of ,kiyonaga's prime1 but drawn with a slenderness of line and restlessness of poise that strikes a different and shriller note4 ,his work of this period may be distinguished by the fact that the signature is written in a squarer1 more compact1 and more formal manner than the sprawling1 cursive signature of his later days4 ,the two long1 tail-like lines of the later signature1 by which even the casual tourist learns to recognize ,utamaro's name1 are wholly absent4 ,with #agij begins the classic period of ,utamaro's work4 ,this was the year of ,kiyonaga's retirement and1 according to some authorities1 of ,shunsho's death4 ,with the two giants of the older generation gone1 ,utamaro was left to compete for leadership with ,yeishi1 ,shuncho1 ,choki1 ,toyokuni1 and the lesser men4 ,during the decade from #agij to #ahjj ,utamaro was1 except for the isolated figure of ,sharaku1 outstandingly the most versatile and brilliant among them4 ,all were profoundly influenced by him1 and he had not a few imitators who attempted to profit by his popularity4 ,illustration3 ,,utamaro3 ,,two ,,courtesans4 ,one of a ,series ,beautiful ,women compared with the ,fifty-three ,stations of the ,tokaido ,road4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,utamaro1 hitsu4 ,plate #ci4 ,during this last decade of the nineteenth century ,utamaro produced the greatest of his works4 ,among these must be counted the remarkable series of half-length figures on silver backgrounds1 for which no admiration can be too extreme4 ,one of them appears in ,plate #ch4 ,the type of face which ,utamaro drew in these prints differs from the ,kiyonaga type2 it has something of the girlishness of ,harunobu or ,sukenobu--wholesome1 rounded1 with eyes that are large and not narrowed to slits as in his later years1 and with coiffure of modest proportions4 ,it resembles the type characteristic of ,choki at this time4 ,these charming figures1 drawn with subtle precision1 stand against their dull silver backgrounds in colours whose few and soft tones produce an effect so harmonious as to almost justify ,von ,seidlitz in calling ,utamaro the first colourist of his nation4 ,the prints of this class are as rare as they are beautiful4 ,the collector who is familiar with nothing but the later work of the artist can have only an imperfect conception of the greatness of ,utamaro4 ,they constitute the purest and most tranquil of his productions1 and perhaps the high point of his genius4 ,this #agij decade1 when ,utamaro was at the zenith of his powers1 saw many triumphs besides the silver-portraits4 ,he was incessantly busy with experiments of every kind2 pushed by the keen competition of ,yeishi1 ,choki1 and the others1 he laboured incessantly for new effects and passed on to new manners4 ,plates #ci and #da are examples4 ,discarding the type of head that had appeared in the silver-portraits1 he devised that more restless1 haunting type by which we best know him4 ,the ethereal and supple bodies1 the slender necks1 the slightly strained poses1 all indicate the nervous hyper-sthetic tension of the hour4 ,toward the end of the decade his peculiarities grew even more marked4 ,the necks of his figures became incredibly slender2 the bodies took on unnatural length2 a snaky languor pervaded them4 ,one print1 his famous ,woman ,seated on the ,edge of a ,veranda1 reproduced in ,plate #dj1 may serve as representative of them all4 ,the drawing of the draperies and of the figure beneath them is studied with extraordinary fidelity2 in fact1 so human and real a figure is hardly to be found in the work of any preceding artist4 ,but on the other hand1 ,utamaro has used his keen realistic power merely as a scaffolding1 and has proceeded to build up on it a work that goes over almost into the region of symbolism4 ,in the slender delicacy of this figure1 the splendid black of her elaborate coiffure1 the drooping fragility of her body1 the sensuous grace and refinement1 the languor and exhaustion--in all these speak the super-sensible gropings and hungers of ,utamaro himself4 ,out of a living woman he created his disturbing symbol of the impossible desires that are no less subtle or painful because they are born of the flesh4 ,with nerves keyed beyond the healthy pitch1 he dreamed this melody whose strange minor chords alone could stir the satiated spirit4 ,he caught and idealized the lines and colours of mortal weariness4 ,illustration3 ,,utamaro3 ,,woman ,,seated ,,on ,a ,,veranda4 ,size #ac #h4 ,signed ,utamaro1 hitsu4 ,plate #dj4 ,woman1 says ,von ,seidlitz1 had always played a prominent part in the popular art of the country1 but now ,utamaro placed one type of the sex in the absolute centre of all attention--the type1 namely1 of the courtesan initiated into all the refinements of mental culture as well as of bodily enchantment1 and then playing in the life of ,japan such a part as she must have played in ,hellas during the golden age of ,greek civilization4 ,for expressing the inexpressible1 the simple rendering of nature did not suffice2 the figures must needs be lengthened to give the impression of supernatural beings2 they must have a pliancy enabling them to express vividly the tenderest as well as the most intense emotions of the soul2 lastly1 they must be endowed with a wholly peculiar and therefore affected language for uttering the wholly peculiar sensations that filled them4444 ,it is true that soon after he yielded to the general tendency of his age 444 and gradually insisted on these attributes to exaggeration1 even to impossibility1 while his fame of having been the first to give such morbid inclinations completely satisfactory and therefore unsurpassable expression is a title of somewhat doubtful value1 even if in any case a high historical significance cannot be denied it4 ,nevertheless1 we must not forget that within this domain of the hyper-sthetic ,utamaro was the creator of a most original and individual style4 ,nay1 if we could only admit the morbid and exaggerated to be as fit subject-matter for art as the healthy and sane1 we must grant that this style is one of altogether enchanting originality1 and that1 however dangerous might be its immediate influence upon the spectator1 and particularly upon possible successors1 it does none the less lift us beyond the cramping limits of reality1 and is therefore not wanting in idealism of a kind4 ,but weary as seems the spiritual content of these end-of-the-century designs of ,utamaro's1 there is no lack of brilliant vigour in their composition4 ,the great triptychs--such as the ,night ,festival on the ,banks of the ,sumida ,river1 or the ,firefly ,catchers1 or the ,persimmon ,pickers--stand among the finest prints we know4 ,in colour1 rhythm of line1 and dramatic quality of composition they are triumphs4 ,there is a startling beauty in even those extraordinary bust-portraits in which the enormous coiffure1 minute neck1 slips of eyes1 and dot of a mouth1 carry exaggeration to a bizarre and delirious extreme4 ,not long after #ahjj the pressure of work brought upon him by his great popularity1 together with the effects of a none too well spent life in the ,yoshiwara1 combined to strain his powers unduly4 ,his work no longer kept its earlier freshness2 his exaggerations became coarser2 his invention grew less fertile4 ,he began to rely on the assistance of his pupils1 as we know from his ,book of the ,green ,houses 7#ahjd71 in which several collaborated with him4 ,doubtless many an ,utamaro print of this time is their work4 ,in the year #ahjd came the final catastrophe4 ,consequent upon the publication of the well-known triptych representing the ancient ,shogun ,hideyoshi entertaining his five concubines in the eastern quarter of the capital1 the ruling ,shogun ,iyenari took umbrage at the salacious disrespect to his ancestor and the delicately implied allusion to himself1 and ,utamaro was thrown into prison for his offence4 ,there he remained1 it is said1 for a year2 when he emerged1 it was with impaired health and a broken spirit4 ,illustration3 ,,utamaro3 ,a ,,youthful ,,prince ,,and ,,ladies4 ,left-hand sheet of a triptych4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,utamaro1 hitsu4 ,plate #da4 ,his productions after this time were not comparable with his earlier work4 ,in the year #ahjf he died1 and with him died the great days of the ,japanese print4 ,in this rapid survey it has been impossible to do justice to the many-sided powers of this great designer4 ,his beautiful landscapes1 his fine animal pictures1 the tender and whimsical mother-and-child and domestic scenes he produced1 have all had to be ignored in favour of his central achievements--his unparalleled designs of the courtesan of the ,yoshiwara in her weary glory4 ,certainly no more varied and distinguished talent than his illumines the roll of ,ukioye artists4 ,beside his perpetually fresh invention even the great ,kiyonaga seems stereotyped and academic4 ,to-day the poorer examples of ,utamaro's work are still readily procurable4 ,his greatest works are rare4 ,certain of his triptychs1 his silver half-length portraits1 and his large heads on mica backgrounds1 are very uncommon4 ,but with patience and judgment the collector may still obtain now and then a fine specimen of ,utamaro's work4 ,but some care is necessary4 ,even during ,utamaro's life his work was forged by unscrupulous persons who hoped to reap the benefit of his popularity2 and his pupils1 under his direction1 produced an unknown quantity of work signed with his name4 ,after his death1 from about #ahjh to #ahbj1 the ,second ,utamaro worked in the manner of his predecessor1 issuing work that cannot with certainty be distinguished from the late work of the master4 ,besides these perils there is the fact that ,utamaro's prints have been well reproduced in recent years2 and reproductions are sometimes put forward as originals by ignorant or dishonest dealers4 ,considerable familiarity with authentic examples of ,utamaro's best work1 or expert advice1 can alone protect the would-be purchaser4 ,,pupils ,,and ,,followers ,,of ,,utamaro4 ,though ,utamaro's influence upon his contemporaries was incalculably great1 he left behind him a body of pupils who were almost without exception rather insignificant artists4 ,with cruder colour and composition1 they carried still farther the vulgarities of ,utamaro's declining period4 ,among them may be mentioned the following men3-- ,,utamaro ,,ii1 whose original name was ,koikawa ,shuncho or ,harumachi1 was a pupil of ,sekiyen2 he married ,utamaro's widow1 and from about #ahjh to #ahbj continued to produce prints in the debased ,utamaro manner4 ,dr4 ,kurth believes he must be distinguished from another ,koikawa ,shuncho whose family name was ,kurahashi1 and who died in #aghi4 ,the whole matter is by no means clear4 ,,banki and ,,shikimaro were among the best of this group4 ,particularly the former1 before ,utamaro's death1 produced some fine work4 ,,tamagawa ,,shucho was a rare pupil of ,utamaro who worked about #agij to #ahaj4 ,,kikumaro ,i 7who also called himself ,,kitagawa ,,tsukimaro71 ,,kikumaro ,,ii1 ,,tanimoto ,,tsukimaro1 ,,takemaro1 ,,toyomaro1 ,,yukimaro ,i1 ,,yukimaro ,,ii1 ,,yoshimaro ,i 7also called ,,kitao ,,shigemasa ,,iii71 ,,yoshimaro ,,ii1 ,,rekesenti ,,sogaku1 ,,goshichi1 ,,hidemaro1 ,,mitemaro1 ,,minemaro1 ,,kitamaro1 ,,michimaro1 ,,toshimaro1 ,,hanamaro1 ,,isomaro1 ,,ashimaro1 ,,kanamaro1 ,,kunimaro1 ,,yoshimune1 ,,yoshitora1 ,,yoshitsuya1 ,,yoshiki1 ,,yoshimori1 ,,yoshitoshi1 ,,yoshikata1 ,,yencho1 ,,yumiaki1 ,,hokokujin ,,fuyo1 ,,chikanobu1 ,,shintoku1 ,,shunkiosai1 ,,hisanobu1 ,,soraku1 ,,senka1 ,,ryukoku1 ,,sekkyo1 ,,sekicho1 ,,sekiho1 ,,sekijo may all be classed as late followers1 fellow-pupils1 or rivals of ,utamaro4 ,,bunro1 some of whose work is fine1 was a rare imitator of ,utamaro4 ,he worked chiefly about #ahjj to #ahaj4 ,,sharaku4 ,dramatic ,portrait4 ,whence art thou come1 ,tall figure clasping to thy tragic breast ,thy orange robe1 a flame amid the gloom-- ,by what wild doom ,art thou forever onward--onward pressed8 ,a wreath is on thy brow1 ,a crown of leafage from some lonely haunt ,where might ,medea's shade brood ministrant4 ,thy shoulders bow ,beneath what fearful weight1 what need1 what vow8 ,a leopard fierce-- ,a ghost that wanders down the wandering wind-- ,a fury tracking toward some shaken mind-- ,where shall ,i find ,the divination that thy veil shall pierce8 ,how shall ,i wrest ,from thee the secret of thy lofty doom-- ,from what wild gulf of midnight thou dost come ,who1 with clutched breast1 ,stalkest forever onward--onward pressed8 ,few people approach ,sharaku's work for the first time without regarding him as a repulsive charlatan1 the creator of perversely and senselessly ugly portraits whose cross-eyes1 impossible mouths1 and snaky gestures have not the slightest claim to be called art4 ,at first these strange pictures may even seem mirth-provoking to the spectator--a view of them which he will remember in later years with almost incredulous wonder4 ,to overcome one's original feeling of repulsion may take a long time2 but to every serious student of ,japanese prints there comes at last a day when he sees these portraits with different eyes2 and suddenly the consciousness is born in him that ,sharaku stands on the highest level of genius1 in a greatness unique1 sublime1 and appalling4 ,illustration3 ,,toshiusai ,,sharaku4 ,toshiusai ,sharaku is a figure more shadowy than most1 even in this region of shadows4 ,the wilful neglect of a public that hated him has folded him in a mystery deeper than the mere accidental obscurations of time4 ,of his birth and death we know absolutely nothing1 nor of the name of his teacher1 if he had one4 ,the resemblance between his work and that of ,shunyei cannot be fully explained until we know more accurately their relative dates4 ,kiyonaga's noble drawing certainly affected his style4 ,the influence of ,shunsho upon his colour-schemes is fairly obvious2 but we do not know whether this was due to personal contact1 or only to familiarity with ,shunsho's work4 ,the one indisputable fact about ,sharaku is that he was originally a ,n-performer in the troupe of the ,daimyo of ,awa4 ,the ,japanese authorities state that he worked at print-designing only one or two years1 somewhere between #agij and #agie4 ,dr4 ,kurth1 in his stimulating but somewhat too imaginative volume1 ,sharaku1 believes that the evidence justifies us in fixing ,sharaku's working period as a much longer time--#aghg to #agie2 but he cannot be said to have wholly proved his case4 ,whether or not these dates are accurate1 we may at least say that ,sharaku's years of activity lay chiefly within the early part of the last decade of the eighteenth century4 ,illustration3 ,,sharaku3 ,,the ,,actor ,,arashi ,,ryuz ,,in ,,the ,r,,le ,,of ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,forty-,,seven ,,ronin4 ,silver background4 ,size #ad #aj4 ,signed ,toshiusai ,shakaru ga4 ,spaulding ,collection4 ,plate #db4 ,sharaku's work consisted entirely of startlingly powerful and ironic portraits of actors1 some in the form of large bust-portraits1 some in the form of full-length figures of hoso-ye size1 and a few large sheets each containing two full-length figures4 ,their savage intensity is arresting and unforgettable2 it at once drives one to consider what manner of man could have created them4 ,sharaku was1 as we have said1 professionally a member of the ,n-troupe of the ,daimyo of ,awa4 ,this fact is of far-reaching significance4 ,the ,n was a highly developed and aristocratic form of lyrical drama1 based upon ancient and classical legends2 it was full of a poetry and allusiveness that made it incomprehensible to the populace1 who1 indeed1 had no opportunity to see it2 it was as much the exclusive concern of the cultured aristocracy as the private revival of a ,greek tragedy is with us to-day4 ,in brocaded costumes1 perhaps the treasured reliques of centuries ago1 the ,n-dancer appeared upon his empty stage before a hushed audience of nobles--his face masked1 as were the faces of the ,greek actors1 his voice lifted to an unnatural pitch of vibrant chaunting2 and with stately motions1 elaborately devised steps1 and stereotyped gestures1 he intoned the rolling strophes of the drama's long and hallowed strain4 ,a complex formalism pervaded every word and step2 in no art-form with which ,i am familiar is an accepted convention1 a totally unrealistic medium1 so rigidly adhered to as in these ,n-plays4 ,the ,n-actors were a caste utterly apart from the actors of the common stage4 ,they were the protgs and associates of great nobles who would not1 save incognito1 appear in the presence of the common actor4 ,the gap between the two classes of actors was as great as that between ,sir ,johnston ,forbes-,robertson and a juggler at a fair--one1 the inheritor of a distinguished literary tradition1 the interpreter of our classic dramatic heritage2 the other1 a crude beguiler of the populace1 with station no higher than the pedlar4 ,caste-feeling may very well have been rather harsh between the haughty ,n-performers and their despised and ostracized brothers of the gutter4 ,as we have noted1 the ,n-dancer wore a mask2 these masks are creations of the greatest interest4 ,they are carved out of wood1 frequently with a skill that makes them striking works of art4 ,it is impossible to convey in words the remarkable degree of characterization which they express4 ,the smooth guilelessness of the young girl1 the deep wrinkles of the old man1 the leer of the rascal1 the savagery of the villain1 are all in their turn summarized in these haunting representations whose simplicity of outline is matched only by their intensity of effect4 ,nature seems to speak in them--but a heightened nature1 stripped of all incidentals2 the very essence of the character of the rle is revealed to our eyes the instant the actor1 wearing his impressive and vivid mask1 steps upon the stage4 ,bearing these things in mind1 we may follow ,dr4 ,kurth 7,sharaku1 ,mnchen1 #aiaj7 in his imaginative summary of the probable effects of the calling of a ,n-dancer upon the mind and art of ,sharaku3-- ,picture a richly endowed painter--at first only dimly conscious of his powers--as in a mystery-play he treads the consecrated stage in the sacred precincts of a temple of ,tokushima or in the shadow of the cryptomerias and firs of the ,hachisuka castle--a fantastic mask covering his features1 other masked spectres before his eyes--surrounded by the atmosphere of the occult tradition of ancient and lofty dramatic art--while1 in the depths of his soul's abysses1 chained ,titans would storm up to the outer world1 and confused pictures of his future creations hover before his spirit1 444 and we shall realize that this man1 as a painter1 must become a dramaturgist4 ,and if we summon to our vision the gorgeous stretches of ,awa--its chasmy mountains with the forests rustling around them--its picturesque sea-lapped beaches--its sun-drenched groves of oak--its glowing scarlet maples--the brilliant flowers of its ,spring--the evergreens of its ,winter--then we shall realize that this man1 as a painter1 must become a colour-dreamer4 ,brooding spirit that he was1 he1 an ,edipus1 approached venturously to the ,sphinx of passion that peers forth from the faces of men4 ,uncanny powers lurked in the grotesque furrows and demoniac grimaces of his ,n-masks1 but nothing little or shallow--nay1 in spite of all grotesqueness1 only the significant and symbolic4 ,and then he looked down from his buskined height upon the popular actors--bombastic barn-stormers--greasy low-comedians--louts from nowhere1 as the illustrious ,harunobu had called them--performers who brought before their gaping audience not1 as did he1 august things in strangely wonderful guise1 but often things far too human in strutting stage-pomp4 ,he looked upon them1 a guild not only despised but sometimes even outlawed--a guild that stood on the same plane as the idiotic profession of the wrestler1--a class whose vulgar faces could not hide their swaggering gutter-vanity and their cringing lust for applause behind even the red paint of the ferocious warrior-rle or the corpse-coloured rice-powder used when aping women4 ,and if we see him thus1 we shall understand that this man1 as a painter of actors1 must eventually become a pitiless satirist4 ,it was therefore with the colossal and tragic gestures of the ,n-dance in his soul1 the distorted and monumental intensity of the ,n-masks in his eyes1 and the contempt and irony of the ,n-performer for the common actor in his heart1 that ,sharaku1 coming to ,yedo1 took up his terrible brush to depict the ,yedo actors as he saw them4 ,the resulting series of portraits is surely one of the supreme examples of graphic characterization and devastating contempt that the world has ever seen4 ,in the earlier portion of ,sharaku's work1 among which are his large portraits on yellow backgrounds1 the originality of the man is already striking enough2 but his acid qualities are hardly at their fullest development4 ,certain of his hoso-ye prints must belong to this first period2 in these1 after the manner of ,shunsho1 he devoted his attention chiefly to the attaining of a powerful dramatic rendering of the rle he was depicting4 ,strutting ,daimyo1 beguiling woman1 ferocious warrior1 shrewd peasant--he made each part move with the vigour and force of the seen stage4 ,shunsho was never more impressive2 and here1 in addition1 there is in every design a strange distortion of line1 a disturbing abnormality of pose1 that makes one realize that no mere copyist of ,shunsho is at hand4 ,then1 beginning with an astounding series of twenty-four portraits with mica backgrounds 7,plates #db1 #dc1 #dd7 representing actors in the play of the ,forty-seven ,ronin1 ,sharaku's mood changes4 ,he ceases to remind one at all of ,shunsho2 it is rather the scrutinizing individual characterization of ,shunyei that he recalls4 ,but ,shunyei never reached the point to which ,sharaku is now coming4 ,the dramatic force1 the histrionic illusion of his pictures abates no jot2 but beyond it1 disturbing lights and movements are lurking4 ,the mighty rle towers like a shadow before us in its full dramatic sweep2 but from the depths of the shadow peers with stealthy glance the indwelling personality of the actor--like a jackal's eyes seen suddenly in a king's tomb4 ,this contradiction--this complex of two utterly antagonistic forces--is one of the miracles of ,sharaku's genius3 it is an antinomy which he resolves sufficiently to produce an equilibrium1 but not enough to take from these portraits the insoluble mystery of two spirits1 the tangle of two meanings1 the explosive and inscrutable life that makes them unforgettable4 ,thus the sweeping rhetoric of the stately rle and the sudden naturalistic cry of the discovered actor's soul meet in a discord unique1 subtly calculated1 magnificent1 and harrowing4 ,sharaku pierced deep into the hearts of his sitters to grasp the weak1 the grotesque1 the pathetic1 the tragic2 he appraised the lust1 the horror1 the vacuity that was there1 and these qualities he dragged out to the light through the avenues by which he had entered--through the eyes1 the lips1 the hands--tearing these gates into terrible and distorted breaches eloquent of the booty that had been forced through them4 ,no portraits so blasting as his have ever been created by another2 no other hand has so devastatingly shattered the conventional contours of faces to reshape them into the awful images of their own hidden potentialities4 ,illustration3 ,,sharaku3 ,,the ,,actor ,,ishikawa ,,danjuro 7,,yebizo7 ,,as ,,the ,,daimyo ,,ko ,,no ,,moronao ,,in ,,the ,,drama ,,of ,,the ,,forty-,,seven ,,ronin4 ,size #ad #aj4 ,silver background4 ,signed ,toshiusai ,sharaku ga4 ,plate #dc4 ,to call ,sharaku a realist is a silly1 untruthful attempt to muffle in words forces that one does not understand4 ,he was hardly more a realist than ,kiyonaga4 ,he saw in the spectacle before him certain elements of beauty and terror2 he selected and moulded them into his cunningly devised designs2 and the result was as much a creation of the visionary mind--a true idealism--as the pictures of the fairy-tale-telling ,harunobu4 ,it is no mere realism1 but an insidious dissection and a mordant reconstruction1 that is so striking in these works4 ,the most savage efforts of modern caricature are child's play beside ,sharaku's disintegrating analysis and his satanic reassembling of features4 ,he does to the face and its concealed passions what ,michael ,angelo's anatomical figure does to the nerves and muscles--revealing appallingly the secrets of structure and the machinery of power4 ,yet1 in spite of all the distortions and exaggerations and displacements1 ,sharaku's satyrical faces live4 ,they have an unnatural and monstrous life--like the life of ,gothic gargoyles and fabulous animals1 whose parts are brought together into an incredible yet organic creation4 ,looking upon them1 one realizes that for ,sharaku beauty meant not sweetness or grace1 but vitality--the clench and rending of the earthquake forces of life4 ,he sought no harmonies of sentiment like those of ,harunobu2 he plunged wholly into a maelstrom of powers whose magnificent surge and flow was to him the sole end and the sole consolation4 ,he drew no courtesans1 no scenes from the daily life of the people1 no festivals1 no tea-house gardens by the river2 but with a baleful concentration he1 the proud master of the esoteric ,n drama1 kept his eyes fixed unswervingly upon the pathetic mimes of the vulgar stage--outcasts1 common lumps strutting for an hour of glory in gorgeous robes and heroic rles before a gaping populace4 ,how one longs for one more work from ,sharaku's hands--a portrait of himself1 seated in the stalls1 watching the play at its height6 ,one can almost imagine the peering eyes1 the tight lips1 the hidden hands4444 ,so far ,i have spoken chiefly of the large heads of ,sharaku4 ,but it must not be forgotten that he produced a number of designs in hoso-ye form that are the very flower of his work4 ,kurth places certain of these early in ,sharaku's career2 he is1 perhaps1 wrong in this1 for many of those which he thus dates give evidence of an art so mature and masterful that they must be at least contemporaneous with the ,ronin ,series4 ,such are the print of ,arashi ,ryz as an aged noble in robe of black with violet girdle1 and the print of ,segawa ,kikusabr in robe of olive and purple holding an open fan4 ,in the finest of these hoso-ye the dramatic force of the composition is so subtle that the element of caricature takes a subordinate place4 ,a lyric mood pervades them4 ,it is impossible to contemplate these figures without a sense1 not merely of the irony and contempt which they sometimes embody1 but also of the tragic heights on which they move4 ,lofty conflicts1 desperate destinies1 immense strainings toward desired goals1 immense despairs before impassable barriers--these are some of the emotions that confront us here4 ,the echo of the tragedy of the ,greeks is around them2 their gestures seem the shadows of titanic cataclysms4 ,kiyonaga gave us the gods2 ,sharaku gives us those who fought against the gods4 ,if it were my fortune to choose1 out of the tens of thousands of prints that ,i have seen1 one print which could alone be saved from some impending universal destruction1 ,i am not sure whether ,i would take ,harunobu's flawless ,flute ,player1 or ,kiyonaga's serene ,terrace by the ,sea1 or that terrible print of ,sharaku's1 illustrated in both ,kurth and the catalogue of the exhibition at the ,muse des ,arts ,dcoratifs1 in which the orange-robed figure of ,nakayama ,tomisabr stalks by with an intensity of passion that makes one's flesh creep--a vibrancy of line1 colour1 and emotion that seems the apogee of beauty and terror4 ,illustration3 ,,sharaku3 ,,the ,,actor ,,kosagawa ,,tsuneyo ,,as ,a ,,woman ,,in ,,the ,,drama ,,of ,,the ,,forty-,,seven ,,ronin4 ,silver background4 ,size #ad #aj4 ,signed ,toshiusai ,sharaku ga4 ,ainsworth ,collection4 ,plate #dd4 ,the hoso-ye prints have1 upon the whole1 more poise and serenity than the busts2 and they will perhaps be judged--in a hundred years1 when the excitement of the discovery of ,sharaku is over--to be among his greatest works4 ,when they occur in triptychs1 as probably all were originally designed to do1 they constitute more harmonious and dramatic units than any of ,shunsho's actor-triptychs4 ,the finest1 and latest in order of production1 are generally those without background2 in these1 isolated and sublime against an empty universe of yellow tint1 rise the supreme evocations of ,sharaku's genius4 ,great distinction of composition marks all of ,sharaku's work4 ,both the hoso-ye and the large bust-portraits are drawn with classic simplicity of lines and masses4 ,nothing short of certain of the ,primitives can approach them4 ,every superfluous ornament is omitted2 as in ,plate #dc1 each line is cut down to its meagrest possible limit4 ,but the expressiveness of the drawing is unsurpassable2 and the sthetic effect of the direct composition grows with every repeated sight4 ,these strange heads against the dark glimmering backgrounds seem ,titans rooted in the void2 they loom upon one's vision enormously2 they are overwhelming with the spiritual greatness of their creator4 ,in spite of all the disturbing unquietness of their conflicts1 they are charged with a monumental equilibrium of design1 sealed with an exalted peace of conception1 poised as for eternity with the repose of measureless space and time around them4 ,at first sight1 one would imagine these portraits to be impossibly restless things to live with2 but greater familiarity proves them to be like the ,sibyls of the ,sistine ,chapel--vast and enduring figures1 whose large passion does not obliterate the fundamental tranquillity of their conception4 ,the colour which ,sharaku employs is of a unique quality3 sombre1 with lurid lights2 heavy and opaque2 nightmare colours1 leashed into miraculous and incredible harmony2 things of infernal and dusky splendour2 tragic colours1 ,kurth calls them4 ,the dark mica backgrounds1 which ,sharaku is said1 without much proof1 to have invented1 heighten to a remarkable degree his colour effects4 ,words and reproductions are alike powerless to convey any sense of them2 they hold in store an impressive sensation for him who has not yet seen them4 ,with them ,sharaku takes first rank as a colourist4 ,toward the end of his brief career1 his portraits became almost too terrible in their savage and tragic irony4 ,in the large double-portraits ,sharaku tears the mask of humanity aside and shows the very beast4 ,yet to call even these most extreme of his productions caricatures is to obscure a subtle spiritual essence by a crude word4 ,they are exactly as comic as the ravings of ,lear1 as mirth-provoking as the laments of ,shylock4 ,they are not the light mocking of a scoffer or a comedian1 but the appalling and tortured sneer of a man whose vision of men is coloured by his desire for the gods4 ,because he did not represent reality1 but on the contrary painted unnatural figures1 the public became hostile toward him4444 ,his figures were too realistic4444 ,he was a bungler in art4444 ,from these conflicting criticisms1 found in various ,japanese authorities1 we may gather with what comprehension the public of that day accepted the final work of the great painter2 and we may conjecture what neglect and hatred forced him into a never-broken retirement4 ,dr4 ,kurth is of the opinion that1 after the year #agie1 ,sharaku still continued to produce secretly a few prints under the assumed name of ,kabukid ,yenky1 and attempted under this disguise to win back the popularity of his prime4 ,this is an alluring but somewhat fantastic theory1 which neither the documentary nor the internal evidence of ,yenky's work adequately supports4 ,other authorities believe ,yenky to have been an independent artist who was a pupil of ,sharaku4 ,his work strangely resembles that of ,kunimasa ,i4 ,at the present time it cannot be said that the question is wholly settled2 but it would be rash to accept ,kurth's theory at its face value4 ,in conclusion1 let us grant that ,sharaku is not for every one4 ,one cannot quarrel with a person who says1 ,i understand ,sharaku2 ,i see the measureless depths of his tragic irony1 the unique splendour of his colour1 the perfect mastery of his composition4 ,but ,i do not like him4 ,i prefer ,kiyonaga1 just as ,i prefer the stately beauty of ,keats to the troubled profundity of ,blake4 ,such a position is comprehensible and impregnable4 ,but he who finds ,sharaku merely grotesque or absurd or repellent should return to the portraits for further study2 he has not yet reached the immortal heart of ,sharaku's work1 and he is missing a memorable experience4 ,exact comparisons are profitless2 but most students of ,japanese prints have at certain times turned from the work of ,sharaku with the deep conviction that this man was the greatest genius of them all4 ,sharaku's output was not large1 and his work is now of the utmost rarity4 ,the ,parisian collectors long ago recognized ,sharaku's greatness1 and at a time when ,fenollosa was proclaiming ,sharaku as an arch-purveyor of vulgarities1 and ,strange was grudgingly describing him in seven lines as an artist of great power but little grace1 the collectors of ,paris had already acquired such ,sharaku treasures as are now a lavish and deserved reward for their foresight4 ,perhaps the only collection of ,sharaku prints that can rival those of ,paris is the notable ,spaulding ,collection of ,boston1 which takes high rank4 ,,choki4 ,a ,silver ,print4 ,the sky1 a plate of darkened steel1 ,weighs on the far rim of the sea1 ,save where the lifted glooms reveal ,the last edge of the sun burned free4 ,blood-red1 it drops departingly4 ,and in the nightmare or the hour1 ,against the terrible sea and sky1 ,a woman's figure--a strange flower-- ,lingers4 ,her wearied1 curious eye ,watches the burning world go by4 ,though ,choki is probably not to be counted as one of the few supremely great artists of the ,ukioye ,school1 his fame has been steadily increasing during the last twenty years2 and whereas he once held an insignificant place in the esteem of amateurs1 he has of late been regarded with an interest and admiration that at times seem almost more than his deserts4 ,mr4 ,strange calls him the most graceful of all the figure-designers of his time1 and ,kurth does not hesitate to deal with him as mit einem ,riesengroszen4 ,i note in ,kurth a tendency to exalt an artist because of his proficiency in technical processes1 to an extent that ,i cannot assent to2 ,choki was superb1 but hardly ,titanic4 ,it would be difficult to characterize him more justly than in the words of ,m4 ,koechlin1 ,le plus curieux des petits matres4 ,this description certainly does not err on the side of over-enthusiasm2 perhaps these are rather lukewarm words to apply to a grace so exquisite1 a precision so sharp1 and a spiritual appeal so strangely alluring as that of ,choki4 ,illustration3 ,,choki4 ,absolutely nothing is known of ,yeishsai ,choki's life2 it is believed that he was a pupil of ,sekiyen1 who also taught ,utamaro4 ,the ,japanese authorities are inexplicably silent about him4 ,internal evidence1 however1 tells us that his work lies between the years #aghe and #ahje4 ,his earliest designs are strongly after the manner of ,kiyonaga1 whose feminine types he at first adopted almost literally4 ,these he modified somewhat a little later when he came under the influence of ,yeishi1 whose slender and delicate figures led him away from the robust ones of ,kiyonaga4 ,one of ,choki's pillar-prints1 illustrated in ,plate #de1 marks an interesting transition stage4 ,the face and figure seem at first sight almost purely of the ,kiyonaga variety1 but on closer examination differences appear2 and most striking of all is the fact that the colour-scheme is that peculiar combination of yellow1 grey1 violet1 blue1 and black which was distinctive of some of ,yeishi's finest work4 ,the influence of ,sharaku on ,choki was at some time very strong1 though the precise date is almost impossible to determine4 ,so great was ,choki's admiration for this master that later1 when he had arrived at his own distinctive manner1 he produced a pillar-print of a girl holding a fan on which appears ,sharaku's famous design of ,the ,man with the ,pipe4 ,but ,choki followed no one else as badly as he did ,sharaku2 though he appears to have learned things that were of great value to him later1 his immediate imitations of the great ironist reduced the superb effects of the latter to the level of caricatures and dissipated the effect of concentrated force which marks his work4 ,utamaro proved a more congenial influence2 and in ,choki's earlier prints there are many traces of the grace1 though not of the versatility1 of that artist4 ,illustration3 ,,choki3 ,,courtesan ,,and ,,attendant4 ,size #bf #d4 ,signed ,choki ga4 ,,shunman3 ,,two ,,ladies ,,under ,a ,,maple-,,tree4 ,size #bd #e4 ,signed ,kubo ,shunman ga4 ,plate #de4 ,about #agij there came out of this series of imitations a curious blended type1 which finally became ,choki's distinctive own4 ,this type is a composite of ,kiyonaga1 ,yeishi1 and ,sharaku1 but ultimately unlike any of them in its effect4 ,the lower part of the face is prominent2 the neck is elongated and wonderfully delicate2 about the eyes there is a narrowing that is unusual4 ,these figures of ,choki's are distinguished by a precision in drawing so sharp as to be almost an affectation1 and by a grace half of whose unique fascination is produced by some strangeness of gesture1 some keenness of characterization1 or some unusual angle of vision4 ,few examples of ,choki's work in this manner survive2 but they are sufficient to lift his reputation from that of a copyist to that of a notable creator of women's portraits4 ,woman was his great theme4 ,er hat ihrem ,liebreiz das ,hohelied der ,japanischen ,malerei berhaupt gesungen1 says ,kurth1 in a burst of enthusiasm for these subtle designs4 ,his most striking works in this manner1 and perhaps the greatest of all his works1 are undoubtedly his half-length figures on mica or silver backgrounds4 ,of the fascination of these rare prints it is impossible to gain any idea from a reproduction4 ,they rise into the world of the miraculous2 they are pure incantations4 ,such sheets as the famous ,fireflies1 or the two women smoking by the river1 or the falling-snow scene1 or the sunset by the sea1 have a beauty as unique as it is haunting4 ,the colours1 dull in tone1 produce against the metallic sheen of the silver backgrounds unparalleled arrangements that are positively disturbing in their super-refinement4 ,choki's blue and silver and red tones seem to pass over into a region where dwell things inexpressible by ordinary pigments4 ,the most sophisticated amateur shivers before some of these colour-harmonies4 ,choki's characteristic prints are never restful1 but always exciting and vibrant2 they are dominated by some hidden instability of equilibrium that reacts on one's nerves like a drug4 ,their beauty has a certain madness in it1 or at least a note of strain and disquietude4 ,thus in the end1 for all his imitative efforts1 ,choki stands1 as did ,sharaku1 in solitary isolation and impenetrable mystery4 ,illustration3 ,,choki3 ,a ,,courtesan ,,and ,,her ,,lover4 ,size #bd #d4 ,signed ,shiko1 hitsu4 ,,choki3 ,a ,,geisha ,,and ,,her ,,servant ,,carrying ,,lute-,,box4 ,size #bd #e4 ,signed ,shiko1 hitsu4 ,plate #df4 ,for reasons unknown to us1 ,choki late in his activity changed his signature to ,shiko and produced under this name a small number of prints regarding the quality of which opinions differ4 ,they are all in the manner of ,utamaro's later style1 and so little resemble the work signed ,choki that one has to use a distinct effort to restrain one's incredulity1 in the face of pretty clear evidence that the two names were used by a single artist4 ,easily first among these prints are a few splendid pillar-prints2 one of these1 the two singers with the black box1 illustrated in ,plate #df1 seems to me almost the finest pillar-print post-dating #agie that ,i have ever seen4 ,of this form ,choki was a consummate master4 ,but ,m4 ,koechlin regards these ,shiko prints as mere imitations of ,utamaro's period of decadence1 and rejoices in the fact that they are so rare4 ,mr4 ,arthur ,morrison1 on the other hand1 who points out correctly that ,shiko is ,choki's late1 not his early name 7a matter on which most writers have inexplicably gone astray7 feels that the ,shiko sheets are1 in the best instances1 of more elegance and distinction than anything produced under the ,choki signature4 ,i should hardly like to agree with either view1 but am content to put the ,shiko pillar-prints and the ,choki silver-prints side by side1 and regard them as the supreme examples of the double talent of this puzzling genius4 ,illustration3 ,,shiko4 ,all of ,choki's work is of great rarity2 that signed ,shiko is possibly even rarer than that signed ,choki4 ,rarest and most highly treasured of all are his silver-prints2 the ordinary collector will probably never have an opportunity to obtain one4 ,,nagahide ,,ii and ,,ichirakusai ,,nagamatsu 7,,ch,,sh7 may be mentioned as followers of ,choki4 ,the fact that we do not know of more disciples of so brilliant a designer is another one of the inexplicable things that surround him4 ,,toyokuni4 ,the ,pupil of ,toyokuni4 ,i walk the crowded ,yedo streets1 ,and everywhere one question greets ,my passing1 as the strollers say-- ,how goes the ,master's work to-day8 ,we saw him sketching hard last night ,at ,ryogoku1 where the bright ,trails of the rockets lit the air4 ,you should have seen the ladies there6 ,all the most famous of the town ,in gorgeous robes walked up and down ,the long bridge-span1 well-knowing he ,was there to draw them gorgeously4 ,i'm sure he'll give us something fine-- ,dark splendid figures1 lights ashine1 ,a great procession of our best ,and costliest ,oiran1 with the ,west ,burning behind them4 ,when it's done1 ,pray1 of the copies1 save me one4 ,yes1 ,i am pupil to the great4 ,how well he bears his famous state6 ,with what superbness he fulfills ,the multitude's delighted wills1 ,giving them1 at their eager call1 ,each play and feast and festival ,drawn with a rich magnificence3 ,and they come flocking with their pence ,to buy his sheets whose supple power ,captures the plaudits of the hour-- ,till even ,utamaro's eyes ,turn1 kindled with swift jealousies4 ,strange6 that before this crowded shrine ,one voice is lacking1 and that mine-- ,i1 learner in his lordly house-- ,i1 on whose cold1 unwilling brows ,the lights of his strong glory burn1 ,blinding my heart that needs must yearn ,far from the measure of his state-- ,i1 liegeman to another fate4 ,would that some blindness came on me ,that ,i might cease one hour to see1 ,for all his high1 ambitious will1 ,his is a peasant's nature still4444 ,what utter madness that my thought ,weighs him--,i who am less than naught6 ,where he walks boldly1 there ,i creep4 ,where his assured long brush-strokes sweep ,unhesitant1 there ,i falter1 strain ,with agony--perhaps in vain-- ,for some more subtly curving line1 ,some musical poising of design ,that shall at last1 at last express ,my frailer glimpse of loveliness4 ,and yet1 for all his facile art1 ,i hug my impotence to my heart4 ,for there are things his marching mind ,in steady labours day by day ,with all its sight shall never find1 ,with all its craft can never say4 ,there are lights along the dusky street ,that his bold eyes have never caught2 ,there are tones more luminous1 more sweet ,than any that his hopes have sought4 ,there are torturing lines that curve and fall ,like dying echoes musical1 ,or twine and lave and bend and roll1 ,in labyrinths to lure my soul4 ,his ladies sumptuous and rare ,move princess-like in proud design ,of glowing loveliness3 but where ,his bannered pomps and pageants shine1 ,i feel a stiller1 rarer peace1 ,a cadence breathless1 slender1 lone4 ,and where his facile brush-strokes cease ,begins the realm that is my own4 ,i wander lonely by fields and streams4 ,i lie in wait for lingering dreams ,that brood1 a tender-lighted haze ,down the wide space of ending days-- ,a secret thrill that hovering flies ,round some tall form1 some wistful eyes1 ,some thin branch where the ,spring is green-- ,a whisper heard1 a light half-seen ,by lonely wanderers abroad ,in crowded streets or solitude ,of hills--to haunt with dim unrest ,the empty chambers of the breast4 ,perhaps some day a heart shall come1 ,like me half-blind1 like me half-dumb1 ,like me contentless with the clear ,sunlighted beauties men hold dear4 ,perhaps he will more greatly prize ,my faltered whispers from afar ,than all the ,master's pageantries ,and confident pomp and press and jar4 ,yet1 well or ill1 how shall ,i change ,the measure doled1 the nature given8 ,mine is the thirst for far and strange ,echoes of a forgotten heaven4 ,i listen for the ghosts of sound2 ,remote1 ,i watch life's eager stream2 ,through wastes afar1 through gulfs profound1 ,i1 ,toyohiro1 seek my dream4 ,utagawa ,toyokuni was born in #agfh1 and early began his apprenticeship as a pupil of ,toyoharu4 ,from this master he learned the rules of ,european perspective--a device which he soon abandoned for the true ,japanese convention4 ,he may have studied under ,shunyei for a short time4 ,though he was later to become a fertile producer of actor-prints1 he inaugurated his work with the figures of women4 ,his first works imitate the type of face and figure made famous by ,shunsho's and ,shigemasa's book1 ,mirror of the ,beautiful ,women of the ,yoshiwara4 ,before #agij he gave up this type for one copied from ,kiyonaga1 who was at this time at the height of his fame4 ,but ,toyokuni was no such draughtsman as ,kiyonaga1 and his figures in this manner are generally poorly drawn and awkward4 ,at this time he frequently adopted colour-schemes from ,shunman4 ,after ,kiyonaga's retirement ,toyokuni began to use the delicate type made popular by the rising genius of ,choki2 but after a short interval he went over to ,utamaro1 who was then coming into supreme mastery4 ,illustration3 ,,toyokuni4 ,up to #agia1 therefore 7according to ,friedrich ,succo1 ,toyokuni und ,seine ,zeit1 ,mnchen1 #aiac71 ,toyokuni was exclusively a painter of women4 ,but when in the early nineties the colossal ,sharaku brought out his revolutionary actor-portraits1 ,toyokuni abandoned his old field and adopted1 to the extent that a smaller man could1 the themes and eventually the manner of this great genius4 ,at first ,sharaku appears to have been an awakener rather than a guide to ,toyokuni2 for we find that it was to ,shunsho's style that ,toyokuni first looked for a model4 ,but when ,sharaku's great series of the ,ronin bust-portraits appeared1 ,toyokuni at once responded to them as the strongest influence of his whole life and produced a number of similar portraits in a manner that captures all the eccentricities but little of the strength or insight of ,sharaku4 ,a more successful series1 also definitely inspired by ,sharaku's ,ronin busts1 was a set of full-length ,ronin figures which ,toyokuni then brought out4 ,these tall monumental designs1 with striking masses of black and deep colour against grey or mica backgrounds1 are perhaps the finest actors in the whole long list of this artist's work4 ,though they never surpass ,shunsho's or ,sharaku's supreme creations1 they are powerful conceptions1 and constitute some basis for the claim of ,toyokuni's admirers that he was the third-greatest of the actor-painters4 ,when1 about #agid1 ,sharaku's career came to a sudden and tragic close1 ,toyokuni turned back from actors to women4 ,once more he followed ,utamaro in the selection of his type1 and with greater success than heretofore4 ,to this period belongs the really splendid triptych1 ,the ,journey of ,narahira1 representing a man on horseback and six attendants1 admirably spaced1 at the foot of ,fuji4 ,in this period also must be placed the series of pillar-prints of unusual width and shortness1 very richly printed1 representing courtesans and actors together4 ,the print of this series which shows ,ichikawa ,kmaz pushing back a reed blind to surprise a half-clothed courtesan is a very fine work4 ,these1 and other productions of this time1 justify us in calling this decade the best period of ,toyokuni's activity4 ,illustration3 ,,toyokuni3 ,,ladies ,,and ,,cherry ,,blossoms ,,in ,,the ,,wind4 ,right-hand sheet of a triptych4 ,size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,toyokuni ga4 ,metzgar ,collection4 ,plate #dg4 ,but before #ahjj ,toyokuni had followed ,utamaro in that artist's adoption of the thin necks1 enormous coiffures1 and distorted bodies which not even ,utamaro was always able to handle beautifully4 ,toyokuni's success was far inferior4 ,the over-ripeness of the type required all ,utamaro's subtlety to make it attractive or significant2 and ,toyokuni was by no means subtle4 ,therefore it was no loss when he returned to actor-prints shortly thereafter4 ,one print of this1 his second actor-period--the savage portrait of ,matsumoto ,kshir1 reproduced by ,succo--is notable and fine4 ,but on the whole his second period shows ,toyokuni as only slightly more original than in the ,sharaku period4 ,in his portraits of women at this time he sometimes leaned a little toward the ,yeishi type1 with ,yeishi's stiffness but without his distinction4 ,many books1 from these as well as from other years1 bear witness to his industry2 he was a veritable geyser of prints of every sort4 ,in #ahjd ,toyokuni was obscurely involved in trouble with the authorities over some of his historical prints4 ,this was the time when ,utamaro also suffered at their hands4 ,in #ahjf ,utamaro died2 and ,toyokuni1 who had so long leaned on the greater painter for his stimulus and inspiration1 went to pieces like a house of cards4 ,without a rival to emulate1 he was nothing2 and we see him1 a tragic figure--indisputably the most famous master then living1 who had survived the great days when he had competed with ,kiyonaga1 ,yeishi1 and ,utamaro for popular favour--now alone in a glory which he could not sustain--a master bereft of those conditions which had once enabled him to produce almost-masterpieces4 ,from this time on his work steadily deteriorated4 ,the raw and over-complicated colours of his designs of women made a melancholy contrast to the ,narahira triptych4 ,he abandoned woman-portraiture about #ahaj4 ,his actors continued--a mere outworn formula--awkward1 angular creations1 with senselessly crossed eyes1 twisted necks1 wry mouths--the veriest parody on those devices which had once been employed by ,sharaku for a sublime end4 ,toyokuni died in #ahbe1 a man who had outlived himself4 ,toyokuni's production had been enormous4 ,the contemporaneous popularity indicated by this is hard to understand unless we remember his frequent shiftings of style and realize that at every moment he was ready to throw off his old manner and adopt that of whatever artist most strongly appealed to the taste of the hour4 ,he was the most imitative of all artists4 ,what the mob wanted he gave them unreservedly1 losing his own integrity thereby4 ,toyokuni seems to have been without real individuality or individual view-point4 ,he was devoid of either illusions or insight2 and the true artist must have the one or the other passionately4 ,he drew his women without enthusiasm and without tenderness4 ,he conceived his actors without the white-heat of real artistic creation4 ,there is something rasping about the greater part of his work2 it seems full of sound and fury1 signifying nothing4 ,it is rhetoric1 not the profound and tragic poetry of ,sharaku1 nor the subtle and decadent lyric strain of ,utamaro4 ,rarely did he make an authentic attempt to capture the beauty or wonder or terror of life as he himself saw it4 ,it is always the vision of other men that he is reporting1 not his own4 ,he had no vision4 ,so long as he could attach himself to some productive master1 catching that master's feeling and style to a certain extent1 he produced creditable works4 ,but when the support was withdrawn he seemed powerless to take another step along that road4 ,kiyonaga's retirement1 ,sharaku's downfall1 ,utamaro's death--each in turn cut short ,toyokuni's prosperous career in the footsteps of these masters4 ,when left to himself he had only one thing to revert to--the typical ,toyokuni actor at its worst1 a thing of common ugliness4 ,no fame has tarnished more than his with the passing of time4 ,as ,sharaku's has brightened1 his has dimmed4 ,once he was esteemed the greatest living print-designer2 now ,i find that many students feel a sense of surprise when occasionally1 out of the thousands of ,toyokuni's prints1 one appears that is really distinguished4 ,it must1 however1 be admitted that at certain times ,toyokuni's native brilliancy enabled him to create prints that are not surpassed by any of his contemporaries4 ,he did more poor work than any other artist of his time2 but such triptychs as the ,ryogoku ,fireworks1 in the ,kiyonaga manner1 the ,bath ,house1 in which shadows appear on the wall1 the ,fan ,shop1 and the ,ladies and ,cherry-blossoms in the ,wind1 are beyond criticism4 ,the best ,toyokuni prints are very rare2 the common ones are to be found plentifully in every print-shop4 ,his few finest triptychs1 such as the ,narahira1 or the ,ladies and ,cherry-blossoms in the ,wind1 of which one sheet appears in ,plate #dg1 are among the collector's important treasures4 ,the beginner should be warned that there were1 in all1 at least five men who at various times bore the name ,toyokuni4 ,no one of the successors of the first ,toyokuni ever produced work comparable with the finest work of ,toyokuni ,i2 but it is a matter of great difficulty1 not yet by any means wholly clear1 to distinguish between the late inferior work of ,toyokuni ,i and the work of several of the succeeding ,toyokunis4 ,one simple indication may be of service to the inexperienced collector3 ,if the ,toyokuni signature is in a red oval or cartouch1 it is not by the first master4 ,this statement cannot1 however1 be reversed1 for the later ,toyokunis often signed without the cartouch4 ,,toyohiro4 ,a ,group of ,ladies4 ,o careless passer--,o look deep6 ,these forms from near the sea of sleep ,come hither2 on each forehead gleams ,the phosphorescent spray of dreams4 ,they have sailed in from lonely seas ,cloaked in a haze of mysteries2 ,and hither by a lord are led ,who snared them1 pale himself with dread1 ,upon the very shores of sleep4 ,o careless passer-by1 look deep6 ,utagawa ,toyohiro1 sometimes also called ,ichiriusai1 was born in #aggc2 he was a brother1 fellow-student1 and probably pupil of ,toyokuni4 ,it is well known that about #ahjj these two artists collaborated to some extent4 ,toyohiro's own chief work--landscapes1 book-illustrations not unlike ,hokusai's1 and figures of women--was done between #agie and #ahbj2 he died in the year #ahbh4 ,illustration3 ,,toyohiro4 ,fate has been unkind to him in associating him with a man tremendously more productive and incomparably more popular in his own day than himself4 ,even to the present time1 the reputation of ,toyokuni still overshadows that of his brother4 ,but the close student of ,toyohiro's work will probably come to the conclusion that this present difference in fame is due less to difference in merit than to the fact that ,toyokuni was enormously prolific1 while ,toyohiro's work was scanty4 ,the contemporaneous popularity may be ascribed to the ability of ,toyokuni to shift and veer with every change in the public taste1 while ,toyohiro was unable or unwilling to move with these fluctuating winds4 ,it is reported that a serious breach occurred between the brothers because of ,toyohiro's refusal to produce actor-prints as the popular taste demanded4 ,his work is1 however1 coming to be recognized as of a quality at least equal to his brother's1 and in some respects finer and more truly the expression of a rare sense of beauty4 ,we may conjecture that ,toyohiro inherited two things from his first teacher ,toyoharu4 ,one was a leaning toward landscape drawing4 ,the other was a certain distinction and shy aloofness that marked the older master4 ,all ,toyohiro's work has an aristocratic touch1 a fine subtlety of curve and colour1 that contrast markedly with the frequently blaring compositions of ,toyokuni4 ,he seldom drew actors or courtesans2 most of his figures are ladies of birth and breeding4 ,the beautiful spots of black which are important elements in the majority of his compositions are handled with a keen sense of contrast that not even ,kiyonaga's surpassed4 ,his brushwork is firm and delicate1 but not so sparkling with vitality as that of some of his predecessors4 ,his colours are soft1 his figures wonderfully graceful2 the impression he produces upon one is that of a subtle and beauty-hungry spirit1 detached from the mob by a refinement beyond their comprehension1 driven on by a consuming passion1 devoted to the quest of a perfection he was able to project but not to realize4 ,in style1 he draws considerably upon ,toyokuni's early ,utamaro manner2 but in spirit he is nearer to ,yeishi and ,utamaro himself1 both of whom must have influenced him somewhat4 ,not even the work of ,yeishi is so saturated with the wistfulness for beauty1 the sense of vanishing loveliness1 the homesickness for regions of otherwhere4 ,one of his triptychs1 the ,daimyo's ,kite ,party1 reproduced in ,plate #dh1 so embodies these qualities that it is worthy of special attention4 ,illustration3 ,,toyohiro3 ,a ,,daimyo',s ,,kite-,,party4 ,triptych4 ,each sheet size #ae #aj4 ,signed ,toyohiro ga4 ,plate #dh4 ,in a landscape of green hills1 where a circle of low slopes encloses a space of level ground1 stands1 on the rising edge of that natural amphitheatre1 a group of noble ladies and children in the soft brightness of festal attire--richly decorated pink1 black1 white1 translucent heliotrope4 ,below and behind them boys are manuvring a kite1 and older men direct briskly4 ,the ladies for whom this simple and charming pastime is arranged do not seem wholly intent upon it4 ,their tall slender figures move as if in abstraction1 an isolated group in the foreground4 ,one grey cherry-tree1 with gnarled branches etched against a clear sky1 stands in their midst1 bare except for the pink of earliest blossoms2 and the pale green of the more distant encircling hills is here and there touched with the same luminous flowers4 ,across this landscape the slender figures move in slow procession4 ,their robes sway about them slowly4 ,these sweeping draperies1 which ,harunobu would have charged with peace and solemnity1 are here touched with the tension of more unquiet curves1 restless1 troubled with some element of torture in their beauty4 ,these are the lines of the branch and of the wave1 bent by the strain of hidden and conflicting forces4 ,the clear festive brightness of pink cherry-blossoms with the light of spring shining through them serves but to accentuate the faint melancholy of the trailing figures on whom lies a wistfulness that no spring can satisfy4 ,they linger1 exquisitely aimless2 beautiful1 and weary for a yet-unattained beauty2 happy1 but grave with the shadow of fleeting happiness2 sad1 though reconciled by the knowledge that beauty is half sadness4 ,they have walked with expectant steps to the edge of the world2 and now they pace1 delicately wondering1 not far from the abyss where there is nothing4 ,autumn will always be to them cold and unkindred2 yet in the flush of the spring their thoughts will turn toward death and autumn4 ,one cannot imagine them wholly joyous4 ,they seem haunted by a nostalgia for remote delights1 unearthly music1 secret and dimly remembered gardens4 ,strange1 late1 exotic flowers are these1 whom a pensiveness not known to simpler and sturdier natures disturbs with futile dreams4 ,a similar feeling is so often repeated in ,toyohiro's work that ,i venture to regard it as the keynote of his genius4 ,toyohiro's landscapes are without notable beauty4 ,he had a habit of cutting across the middle of his picture with wide streaks of white mist--an unpleasant device adopted to produce the effect of distance4 ,he is1 however1 an historical link of great importance between his master1 ,toyoharu1 and his pupil1 ,hiroshige1 the greatest of all landscape painters4 ,as a conduit of landscape painting at a time when the ,ukioye ,school was little given to this as a separate study1 ,toyohiro's work in this field may well engage our attention2 but one suspects that it is the fame of his great pupil's landscapes rather than the intrinsic merit of his own that has given his their prominence4 ,toyohiro produced a few pillar-prints of birds which have great distinction2 an almost classic feeling marks some of them4 ,toyohiro's prints are not numerous2 ,toyokuni's outnumber his twenty to one4 ,his pillar-prints are very rare2 his triptychs are generally notable4 ,it is necessary to add1 however1 that poor impressions of his work1 printed in poor colours1 are more common than any other kind4 ,,vii ,,the ,,fifth ,,period3 ,,the ,,downfall ,,from ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,utamaro ,,to ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,hiroshige 7#ahjf-aheh7 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,fifth ,,period3 ,,the ,,downfall ,,from ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,utamaro ,,to ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,hiroshige 7#ahjf-aheh7 ,when ,utamaro died1 in #ahjf1 the great days of the figure-print were ended4 ,there were to be no more ,harunobus or ,kiyonagas or ,sharakus--only a horde of little men whose work retained few traces of the earlier greatness4 ,and our serious interest in the art as a whole must end here4 ,were it not for the superb renaissance of landscape which this period includes1 side by side with the decay of figure-designing1 it would be my choice to mark this date as the end of our history4 ,the causes of the degradation of prints in this period appear to have been of several natures4 ,for one1 the accidents that regulate the birth of geniuses operated unkindly1 and few artists of first-rate talent came to take the places of the dead masters4 ,further1 the colour-print had gone somewhat out of fashion among its original public1 and the people who now bought were chiefly of a lower and more ignorant class than the purchasers of ,kiyonaga's day4 ,to the less exacting but eager demands of this class the publishers catered with coarser designs1 cruder colours1 and more careless printing4 ,now1 in literal truth1 the print-designer was the artisan2 and amid the vast flood of commonplace productions of the time it is difficult to search out those few works that have a claim to beauty4 ,it is probable that a general loss in refinement of taste marked the epoch and was reflected in the prints4 ,the uncouth flaring designs of the textiles1 the gross overladen coiffures1 the excess of decoration that lay like a blight over all the instruments of life at this time1 naturally had their influence upon the standards of the artist4 ,furthermore1 the movement toward realism here reached its climax4 ,dominated by ,hokusai's earlier work1 the artists abandoned the old traditional devotion to stylistic restraint and went madly in chase of a distorted kind of literal truth that had no relation to beauty4 ,men who were too impotent to create visions nobly and too dull to observe reality keenly attempted to conceal their double weakness by a double evasion--spoiling what claim their work had to idealistic imagination by touches of crude realism1 and ruining it as realism by the most grotesque aberrations of fancy4 ,in the sphere of erotic prints this was characteristically and repellently manifest4 ,certain examples of this type1 produced in the first quarter of the nineteenth century1 surpass in grossness even the most studied of ,european specimens4 ,in landscape alone has the period something of the highest charm to offer us4 ,,the ,,school ,,of ,,toyokuni4 ,as we have seen1 ,toyokuni's career ended anything but brilliantly4 ,unfortunately his numerous followers appear to have been influenced more by his final work than by the production of his better days4 ,i do not regard it as profitable to wade1 as some writers have done1 through this wearying period of degenerate production and tabulate every fact obtainable about every insignificant artist with the same care that one would bestow upon ,kiyonaga4 ,i shall therefore be content to note down only the most salient features of this epoch of disintegration4 ,following ,toyokuni1 at least four men used the name made famous by him4 ,the first of these1 ,toyokuni ,,ii1 was that same ,toyokuni ,gosotei of whom we shall treat under the heading of ,landscape4 ,his use of the name ,toyokuni appears to have been between the years #ahbe and #ahce4 ,toyokuni ,,iii was better known as ,kunisada ,i2 for though he was born in #aghf and lived until #ahfe1 he did not adopt the name of ,toyokuni until about #ahdd4 ,he added to our confusion by the fact that he signed himself ,toyokuni or ,toyokuni ,,ii1 never recognizing the claims of the real ,toyokuni ,,ii to the name4 ,most frequently ,kunisada's ,toyokuni signature is enclosed in a long red cartouch1 a device never used by ,toyokuni ,i4 ,this very undistinguished artist was one of the most prolific producers of the school4 ,all that meaningless complexity of design1 coarseness of colour1 and carelessness of printing which we associate with the final ruin of the art of colour-prints finds full expression in him4 ,every tourist returning from ,japan brings back dozens of crudely coloured prints by him or by the members of his school1 under the misapprehension that these are the famous and valuable ,japanese prints of which he has vaguely heard4 ,the only figure work of ,kunisada's that ,i am able to recall with any pleasure is his really notable ,memorial ,portrait of ,hiroshige1 a dignified and impressive print4 ,the few landscapes he produced are of much greater beauty than his figures1 and one is inclined to wish that he had done more in this field and less in the other4 ,illustration3 ,,kunisada4 ,,toyokuni ,,iv was also known as ,kunisada ,,ii and as ,kunimasa ,,ii4 ,born #ahcc1 he died #ahhj4 ,his prints1 largely executed in cheap analine colours1 set one's teeth on edge with some of the most shrieking discords that ,i have ever encountered4 ,there exists an unfortunate collector who proudly brought back from ,japan one hundred and nineteen triptychs by this artist4 ,,toyokuni ,v was also called ,kunisada ,,iii and ,kunimasa ,,iii4 ,his work was worthless4 ,,kunimasa ,i 7#aggb-ahaj7 was an exceedingly able pupil of ,toyokuni1 who was influenced by ,sharaku4 ,some of his work is very fine2 he stands out as one of the few notable designers of this group4 ,,kuninaga1 who died in #ahjd1 was a rare pupil of ,toyokuni4 ,his work is pleasant1 though it has no great distinction2 but it is far more attractive than the work of most of these men1 for the reason that he had the good luck to die before the period of general disintegration began4 ,the ,spaulding ,collection contains a fine diptych by him1 in black and several shades of yellow1 in the early style of ,toyokuni4 ,,kunimitsu was also an early pupil of ,toyokuni4 ,his work is agreeable but not notable4 ,from the vast number of minor followers of the ,toyokuni tradition1 ,i select the following as the most common3 ,,kuniyasu ,i1 ,,kuniyasu ,,ii1 ,,toyokiyo1 ,,toyohiro ,,ii1 ,,kunifusa1 ,,kunihiro1 ,,kunitane1 ,,kunikatsu1 ,,kunihisa1 ,,kunitera1 ,,kuniteru1 ,,kunikane ,i1 ,,kunikane ,,ii1 ,,kunitaka1 ,,kunimune1 ,,kunihiko1 ,,kunitoki1 ,,kuniyuki1 ,,kunitsuma1 ,,kunikiyo1 ,,kunihana1 ,,kunitohisa1 ,,kunimichi ,i1 ,,kunimichi ,,ii1 ,,kuniao ,i1 ,,kuniao ,,ii1 ,,kunitora1 ,,kunitaki1 ,,kunitsugi ,i1 ,,kunitsugi ,,ii1 ,,kunitada1 ,,kuninobu ,,ii1 ,,kuniaki1 ,,kiyokuni1 ,,kunimaru ,i1 ,,kunimaru ,,ii1 ,,kunichika1 ,,chikashige1 ,,yoshitaki1 ,,yoshitsuru1 ,,yoshiume1 ,,yoshitsuna1 ,,yoshisato1 ,,yoshifuji1 ,,yoshikage1 ,,yoshikuni1 ,,yoshichika1 ,,yoshikazu1 ,,yoshiharu1 ,,shunbeni1 ,,yoshitomi1 ,,yoshifusa1 ,,sugakudo1 ,,sencho1 ,,tominobu4 ,,chikamaro is said to be identical with ,,kiosai1 whose work sometimes resembles ,hokusai's4 ,born in #ahca1 he died very late in the century4 ,he was a vigorous designer--perhaps the best of all the later men4 ,his crow pictures are famous4 ,illustration3 ,,kikugawa ,,yeizan4 ,,kikugawa ,,yeizan1 a prolific and undistinguished designer of the first quarter of the century1 was a late rival and imitator of ,utamaro4 ,he eventually sank even to imitating ,kunisada4 ,the flowing draperies of some of his prints of women are at first sight attractive to eyes not accustomed to the finest works in this field2 but the complete banality of ,yeizan's powers becomes manifest on more prolonged acquaintance1 and any trace of charm disappears4 ,,followers ,,of ,,the ,,torii ,,school4 ,here may be mentioned those artists in whom the once-great ,torii ,school came to its inglorious end4 ,,kiyomine1 the fifth head of the school1 sometimes signed himself ,kiyomitsu2 his work is easily distinguishable from that of the first ,kiyomitsu4 ,he studied under ,kiyonaga1 and later adopted a style somewhat like that of ,toyokuni4 ,his work is graceful1 but not distinguished4 ,prints by him are rather rare4 ,he died in #ahfh4 ,,kiyofusa1 who died as late as #ahib1 was the sixth ,torii4 ,he also called himself ,kiyomitsu ,,iii and ,kiyosada ,,ii4 ,other late members of this school were3 ,,kiyomoto ,,ii1 ,,kiyoyasu1 ,,kiyotada ,,ii1 ,,kiyotada ,,iii1 ,,kiyosada ,i4 ,,the ,,osaka ,,school4 ,in the first half of the nineteenth century there grew into importance in the city of ,osaka a group of designers who constituted an exception to the statement made earlier in this book--that the art of colour-printing was exclusively a ,yedo art4 ,hokusai is known to have visited ,osaka in #ahah2 and possibly it was his influence that encouraged the movement4 ,at any rate1 a large number of the ,osaka group were pupils of ,hokusai or followers of his manner4 ,the school thus entered into real activity at a date when the art was far gone in its decline2 and its designs produced no arresting effect4 ,most of the work of these men is crude4 ,yet when we look at the products of the second quarter of the century in ,yedo1 we may very possibly feel that the ,osaka output was at least no worse4 ,it included chiefly theatrical portraits1 all done with a peculiar hardness of line and cold brilliance of colour1 and printed as a rule very skilfully4 ,these by no means approach the works of ,shunsho1 ,shunyei1 and ,sharaku1 after which they were obviously patterned1 nor even the works of ,toyokuni2 but the hard treatment so characteristic of them gives a certain dignity of effect which ,kunisada's flowing and formless earthquakes of draperies generally lack4 ,the school does not call for elaborate treatment2 the following men may be mentioned as among the best known3 ,,hokushu1 ,,hasegawa ,,sadanobu1 ,,sadakage1 ,,kagetoshi1 ,,sadafusa1 ,,sadatora1 ,,sadamasa1 ,,sadamasu1 ,,sadahiro1 ,,sadayoshi1 ,,ashikuni1 ,,ashiyuki1 ,,hirosada1 ,,shunshi1 ,,horai ,,shunsho ,,ii1 ,,hokumio1 ,,hanzan1 ,,yoshiiku1 and ,,ranko4 ,others will be mentioned later as pupils of ,hokusai or as landscape-painters4 ,,the ,,renaissance ,,of ,,landscape4 ,like a beautiful island in the midst of a sea of wrecks1 the landscape prints of the first half of the nineteenth century stand apart from the general debasement of print-designing4 ,the great days of the figure-print were over2 but now1 into an art filled with the second-rate followers of ,utamaro and ,toyokuni1 came the fresh and brilliant landscape genius of ,hokusai and ,hiroshige4 ,their work did not share in the general decline2 it must be regarded as a new shoot sent up by the roots of a tree whose main trunk had already fallen into irreparable decay4 ,landscape-prints were not a new thing2 ,utamaro and ,toyohiro had already produced fine work of this nature1 and interesting examples are to be found as we look backward through the work of ,toyoharu1 ,shigemasa1 ,kiyonobu1 and ,masanobu--back1 in fact1 almost to the beginning of the art4 ,but these earlier landscapes were1 upon the whole1 of subordinate importance2 beside the figure-prints of the earlier masters1 they seem crude and rudimentary4 ,previous to ,hokusai and ,hiroshige1 they were chiefly of topographical1 not of sthetic1 intention and interest4 ,in the nineteenth century their importance became paramount4 ,japanese colour-prints devoted to landscape1 writes ,mr4 ,strange1 form a class apart in the art of the world4 ,there is nothing else like them2 neither in the highly idealistic and often lovely abstractions of the aristocratic painters of ,japan1 nor in the more imitative and1 it must be said1 more meaningless transcripts from nature1 of ,european artists4 ,the colour-print1 as executed by the best men of the ,japanese popular school1 occupies an intermediate place2 perhaps thus furnishing a reason why we ,westerners so easily appreciate it4 ,its imagery and sentiment are elementary in the eyes of the native critics of ,japanese high art4 ,its attempts at realism are in his eyes mere evidence of vulgarity4 ,on the other hand these very qualities endear it to us4 ,we can understand the first1 without the long training in symbolism which is the essential of refinement to an educated man of the extreme ,east4 ,and the other characteristic forms1 in our eyes1 a leading recommendation4 ,in short1 the landscapes of artists such as ,hiroshige approach more nearly to our own standards1 and are thus more easily acceptable to us than anything else in the pictorial arts of ,china and ,japan2 while they have all the fascination of a strange technique1 a bold and undaunted convention1 and a superb excellence of composition not too remote in principle from our own4 ,,hokusai4 ,because thou wast marvellous of eye1 magic of fancy1 lithe of hand1 ,because thou didst play o'er many a gulf where common mortals dizzy stand1 ,because no thing in earth or sky escaped the pryings of thine art1 ,i call thee1 who wast master of all1 the master with the monkey's heart4 ,where in the street the drunkards roll--where in the ring the wrestlers sway1 ,where rustics pound the harvest rice1 or fishers sail1 or abbots pray1 ,in rocky gorge1 or lowland field1 or winter heights of mountain air1 ,wherever man or beast or bird or flower finds place--yea1 everywhere ,thou standest1 as ,i fancy1 rapt in the live play of mass and line1 ,curiously noting every poise2 and in that ugly head of thine ,storing it with unsated fierce passion for life's minutest part1 ,some day to use infallibly--,o master with the monkey's heart6 ,where ,kanazawa's thundering shores behold the mounded waters rave1 ,and ,fuji looms above the plain1 and the plain slopes to meet the wave1 ,there didst thou from the trembling sands unleash thy soul in sudden flight ,to soar above the whirling waste with awe and wonder and delight4 ,thou sawest the giant tumult poured2 each slope and chasm of cloven brine ,called thee2 and from the scattered rout one vision did thy sight divine1 ,one heaven-affronting whelming wave in which all common waves have part-- ,a billow from the wrath of ,god--,o monkey with a master's heart6 ,what mind shall span thee8 ,who shall praise or blame thy world-embracing sight ,whose harvest was each rock and wraith1 each form of loathing or of light8 ,though we should puzzle all our days1 we could not know thee as thou art1 ,nor where the seer of vision ends1 nor where begins the monkey's heart4 ,until rather recently ,hokusai was1 for ,european spectators1 as isolated and commanding a figure in the domain of ,japanese art as ,fuji is in the ,japanese landscape4 ,he was regarded as the one culminating and all-inclusive genius among ,japanese painters and print-designers4 ,at precisely the same time1 he was esteemed by ,japanese connoisseurs to be a prolific but vulgar artisan1 whose mere craftsman-dexterity could not compensate for his lack of lofty feeling and poetic vision4 ,it is not necessary to quarrel with either of these views4 ,almost every student of ,hokusai passes through three stages4 ,at first1 he is overwhelmed by ,hokusai's technical skill and imaginative brilliance1 and regards him as unrivalled4 ,deeper experience brings him the conviction that much of this magical dexterity is somewhat in the nature of a juggler's antics in a vaudeville1 and that his first burst of enthusiasm was not wholly warranted4 ,then1 finally1 he comes to perceive that there are qualities in ,hokusai's work which1 in spite of so much that is vulgar1 justly entitle this artist to his high fame4 ,illustration3 ,,hokusai4 ,one classes ,hokusai as a landscape-artist2 yet his work was by no means confined to landscape4 ,he pictured1 as ,m4 ,thodore ,duret wrote1 everything to be seen by the eye or invented by the brain of a ,japanese4 ,his ,mangwa1 that vast twelve-volume collection of drawings1 includes sketches of a whole world of varied scenes and objects and people4 ,the bulk of his production was colossal--dozens of designs a day throughout most of his eighty-nine years6 ,his figures are drawn with a swift and sure realism that is generally tinged with humour and often with vulgarity4 ,his vigorous power of observing and recording faces and attitudes is almost unparalleled4 ,fantasy1 whimsical conceits1 irony1 grotesqueness animate them2 always they have superabundant life4 ,the play of his brush is miraculous4 ,his landscapes are his greatest works4 ,in the best of these he shakes off his trifling mood1 and1 as in ,plate #ea1 creates designs whose stark brilliance and originality of composition is unsurpassed4 ,and at least once1 in the noblest of his prints--the rare and monumental series of ,the ,imagery of the ,poets--he achieves a high seriousness that will always be impressive4 ,illustration3 ,,hokusai3 ,,fuji1 ,,seen ,,across ,,the ,,tama ,,river1 ,,province ,,of ,,musashi4 ,one of the ,series ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji4 ,size #aj #ae4 ,signed ,hokusai ,i-itsu1 hitsu4 ,plate #di4 ,hokusai was born in #agfj1 the son of a mirror-maker4 ,he lived to the age of eighty-nine years--a long life1 crowded with privation that wins our sympathy1 and with incessant devotion to his art4 ,when in his seventies1 he said3 ,ever since the age of six years ,i have felt the impulse to draw the forms of objects4 ,up to the age of fifty years ,i made a great number of drawings2 but ,i am dissatisfied with everything that ,i created prior to my seventieth year4 ,at the age of seventy-three ,i1 for the first time1 began to grasp the true forms and nature of birds1 fishes1 and plants4 ,it follows that at the age of eighty ,i shall have made still greater progress2 at ninety ,i shall be able to create all objects2 at a hundred ,i shall certainly have attained to still higher1 unimaginable power2 and when ,i finally reach my one hundred and tenth year1 every line1 every dot will live with an intense life4 ,i invite those who are going to live as long as ,i to convince themselves whether ,i shall keep my word4 ,written at the age of seventy-five years by me1 formerly ,hokusai1 now called the ,old ,man ,mad with ,painting4 ,his dying words were3 ,if the gods had given me only ten years more--only five years more--,i could have become a really great painter6 ,hokusai's education began as an apprentice to a wood-engraver1 a valuable experience for his later career4 ,at the age of eighteen he entered the studio of ,shunsho and adopted the name of ,shunro4 ,under this name he produced actors in the orthodox ,shunsho manner and melodramatic illustrations for the popular romances of the day4 ,about #aghf a quarrel with ,shunsho1 due to the pupil's insubordination1 led to ,hokusai's expulsion1 and he thereupon launched out for himself1 to begin his long life of poverty and madly enthusiastic labour4 ,his work may be divided roughly into three periods4 ,in the first he followed the traditions of ,shunsho1 ,shunyei1 ,utamaro1 and others of his contemporaries1 with great skill but no special originality4 ,his countless book-illustrations of this time were all conceived with lively fancy and vigour2 but perhaps the finest works of this1 his conventional period1 are the very wide prints and surimono in which1 against a delicately suggested landscape1 move extraordinarily graceful women's figures not unlike those of ,utamaro4 ,already he was a master of drawing2 but he kept incessantly at his studies under many teachers1 learning1 among other things1 ,european perspective from ,shiba ,kokan4 ,his work was done in this and the following periods under a dozen different names1 of which ,sori1 ,kako1 ,shunro1 and ,taito are the most important4 ,in #ahab began his second or realistic period1 with the publication of the first book of his fifteen-volume series of drawings1 the ,mangwa4 ,in this epoch he turned from the styles of his predecessors and launched into a hitherto unknown journalistic realism4 ,with a lively sense of the comic and the burlesque1 and an insatiable interest in the homeliest details of life1 he threw overboard all formal stylistic quality and set sail on a riotous voyage of naturalistic discovery4 ,the ,mangwa1 which may serve as a type of his whole production in this realistic period1 is praised sometimes as his greatest work4 ,in it we shall find not only his most striking tours-de-force as a draughtsman but also the key to his weakness4 ,all existence thrilled him as it did ,walt ,whitman2 and each object on which he turned his eyes stirred him with the desire to record it in his pages4 ,day after day he worked like a madman1 throwing off his sketches of man1 beast1 and phantom1 of rock1 river1 and sea1 in endless profusion and with inexhaustible ingenuity4 ,and though we grant our admiration to the enthusiasm1 sharp vision1 and clever draughtsmanship of these sheets1 we may still find in this undiscriminating passion a quality incompatible with the highest reaches of artistic greatness4 ,there is something vulgar1 childish1 under-developed in the mental attitude revealed2 it seems a coarse greed for all experience1 unlighted by the power to judge and reject1 or by any consciousness of the ranks and hierarchies of beauty4 ,it is a vast and dull enthusiasm2 a celebration of the victory of the will to live over the will to perfect2 a triumph of meaningless sensation over the just judgments of the discriminating mind4 ,all shapes seem equally interesting and beautiful to it--all smells equally sweet4 ,as ,pater writes of ,balzac--a man who was in many ways not unlike ,hokusai--this artist had an excess of curiosity--curiosity not duly tempered with the desire of beauty4 ,i can never look through the ,mangwa without a sense of distressing chaos and a longing for the purer beauties which more finely organized artists have evoked from the heterogeneous welter of the seen world4 ,but just this welter is at this time ,hokusai's theme4 ,a debauch of sketches1 ,fenollosa calls it4 ,in this work ,hokusai stands beside ,harunobu exactly as ,whitman stands beside ,keats--a more interesting mind but a far less perfect artist4 ,hokusai is incomparable1 writes the commentator who furnished the introduction to one of his books4 ,while all his predecessors were more or less slaves to classical tradition and inherited rules1 he alone emancipated his brush from all such fetters1 and drew according to the dictates of his heart4 ,true3 and this was his curse4 ,no man has ever lived with heart profound and subtle enough for such emancipation4 ,nor have the supreme artists ever attempted it4 ,in ,hokusai's case this upstart-abandoning of all tradition was an error from which he was able later to retrieve himself2 but so great was the impression produced by his vulgarities on the mob that even to this day popular ,japanese art has remained under the cloud of it4 ,hokusai himself did recover4 ,in his third period1 the stylistic one1 the greatness that was in him transcended his petty interest in the trivial idiosyncrasies of seen things1 and he created those visions which constitute his lasting glory4 ,between #ahbc and #ahcj he issued those series1 ,the ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji1 ,the ,bridges1 ,the ,waterfalls1 ,the ,loocho ,islands1 and ,the ,imagery of the ,poets1 in which we hail him as master4 ,no longer the dupe of realism1 he brings us his dreams4 ,the ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji stands as one of his two greatest works4 ,here1 in the forty-six plates that constitute the main series and the supplement1 the same motive is treated recurrently1 but with infinite variety4 ,he depicts ,fuji1 the sacred mountain1 in storm and calm1 in mist and sunlight--sometimes dominating the colossally empty frame of the design1 sometimes receding to a mere speck in the distance2 and around the noble peak beat the waves of the sea and the foam of the clouds and the restless stream of human life1 in a great epic of infinite diversity and profound unity4 ,illustration3 ,,hokusai3 ,,fuji1 ,,seen ,,from ,,the ,,pass ,,of ,,mishima1 ,,province ,,of ,,kahi4 ,one of the ,series ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji4 ,size #aj #ae4 ,signed ,saki no ,hokusai ,i-itsu1 hitsu4 ,plate #ej4 ,in this series his trivial realism is forgotten1 or employed only in just subordination4 ,throwing aside his earlier vulgar absorption in the minuti of existence1 he concentrated his vision on one conception1 one chosen impression1 so sharply and personally seen that he evoked a new style in landscape4 ,much it borrowed from tradition2 but the flavour was ,hokusai's4 ,these designs are1 primarily1 magnificent studies in linear composition4 ,the great sweep of ,fuji's slope is related to the rhythm of every other line in the picture4 ,and the line-dominance is preserved by the use of the simplest and most original of colour-schemes--green1 blue1 and brown--broadly laid on in large masses4 ,a highly decorative quality and great boldness are the result4 ,the justly famous ,wave belongs to this series4 ,here for the first time in our survey of the prints do we find elemental fury depicted with grandiose eloquence4 ,in the majestic composition of the ,great ,tree 7,plate #ej7 the calm sublimity of nature and the infinitely minute1 vermin-like aspect of man is superbly expressed4 ,in the ,tama ,river 7,plate #di7 ,hokusai gives us a sweep of wave and shore1 mist and mountain1 that his great predecessors1 the landscape-painters of ,sung days in ,china1 might have envied4 ,in all these prints he relates man and nature to each other with a vividness and dramatic power foreign to his great rival ,hiroshige4 ,the world which ,hokusai pictures in this series is not the real world1 but ,hokusai's highly personal translation of it into terms of superb imagination4 ,a thousand memory-stored impressions combine to make the sharp composite of each design2 and it is to use the term in its technical ,platonic sense1 the ,idea of the scene that he flashes before us4 ,herein lies the abnormal vitality that emanates from these pictures4 ,we feel1 says ,mr4 ,binyon1 that the world holds more wonders than we dreamed of1 sources of power and exhilaration which ,hokusai has revealed1 and which we may go and discover for ourselves4 ,hokusai's other great work was a series of ten upright prints of very large size1 ,the ,imagery of the ,poets4 ,it returns in feeling1 though not in technique1 to the style of the classic masters2 and remains1 because of its high seriousness of mood and its sweeping magnificence of composition1 at the very top of all ,hokusai's work4 ,of all his thousands of designs1 the one that is supreme is probably the print of this set which depicts the famous ,chinese poet ,li ,peh beside the chasm and cascade of ,luh4 ,even his latest years were crowded with continued efforts4 ,in #ahdi1 at the age of eighty-nine years1 he died4 ,fine and well-preserved ,hokusai prints are not common4 ,his ,poets and really brilliant impressions of his ,thirty-six ,fuji are very rare1 particularly the former4 ,poor impressions of the latter are numerous4 ,practically all of ,hokusai's most famous prints have been reproduced1 and the collector must be on his guard against these worthless sheets4 ,one of the best-known judges in ,europe was recently deceived by a fraudulent set of the ,poets4 ,hokusai's fine bird-and-flower designs and his large early surimono are rare2 as also are good copies of his famous books1 the ,mangwa and the ,one ,hundred ,views of ,fuji4 ,numerous late blurred impressions of these are extant1 and should be avoided4 ,his other books are not uncommon4 ,illustration3 ,,hokusai3 ,,the ,,monkey ,,bridge--,,twilight ,,and ,,rising ,,moon4 ,size #ad #f4 ,signed ,hokusai ga4 ,plate #ea4 ,,pupils ,,and ,,followers ,,of ,,hokusai4 ,hokusai had many pupils2 no one of them equalled the landscape work of the master1 though several of them produced designs of great interest4 ,as a body they were distinguished for their matchless work in the field of surimono4 ,the surimono was a type of print not sold in the market2 it was made upon special order of private individuals for use as a festival-greeting1 an invitation1 a congratulatory memorial1 or an announcement4 ,its size was generally small1 about five or six inches square2 printed on very soft thick paper1 it displayed the utmost complexity of the technique of colour-printing4 ,the number of blocks was lavishly multiplied2 the most subtle gradations of colour were contrived2 and the effect was heightened by every variety of gauffrage1 gold1 silver1 and bronze powders1 and mother-of-pearl dust4 ,yet in spite of all this effort1 the surimono is1 in the opinion of many collectors1 not as a rule very important as a work of art4 ,in the ordinary surimono the medium employed has outstripped the motive expressed1 and what should have been the means has become the sole end4 ,nevertheless they are unrivalled as specimens of workmanship and printing1 and the best of them are highly treasured4 ,some of ,hokusai's pupils excelled their master in this form4 ,illustration3 ,,gakutei4 ,,gakutei1 who also signed himself ,gogaku1 produced perhaps the finest surimono of any that we know4 ,his work in this field was voluminous and distinguished4 ,he also issued a few exceedingly decorative landscapes4 ,,hokkei stands beside ,gakutei as a brilliant producer of surimono1 closely in the manner of ,hokusai4 ,some of his landscapes1 printed in blue and green1 have a curious charm and individuality4 ,,hokuju produced landscapes in a strange semi-,european style1 with angular mountains and unusual cloud effects4 ,illustration3 ,,hokkei4 ,,yanagawa ,,shigenobu1 the son-in-law of ,hokusai1 copied his master closely2 some of his work has great charm4 ,according to some authorities he is the same person to whom ,hokusai gave his discarded name1 ,,katsushika ,,taito4 ,certain prints signed ,taito are still somewhat in doubt1 notably the well-known leaping fish and the moon-and-bridge scene1 both from the ,harimaze ,han2 ,mr4 ,happer has brought forward evidence that these are by ,taito1 but many authorities still hold to the idea that they are the work of ,hokusai under his early name4 ,among the numberless ,hokusai pupils may be named3 ,,hokuba1 ,,hokuga1 ,,niho1 ,,shigeyama1 ,,gokei1 ,,shinsai1 ,,isai1 ,,hokuun1 ,,hokuyei1 ,,hokutei1 ,,hokutai1 ,,hokusui1 ,,taigaku1 ,,renshi1 ,,juzan1 ,,yasumichi1 ,,bokusen1 ,,keiju1 ,,ryusai1 ,,gangakusai1 ,,keiri1 ,,hokuyo4 ,,hiroshige4 ,as merchantmen from ,eastern ,isles ,in caravels of purple came1 ,with freight that alien heart beguiles1 ,incense and cloths of woven flame1 ,so down the gulfs of elder time ,thy glorious pinions bear to me ,mad treasure from the unknown clime ,of worlds beyond the ,western ,sea4 ,now in my bay the sails are furled4 ,but ,i1 who guess their native skies1 ,henceforth must roam that golden world1 ,where strange winds whisper and strange scents rise4-- ,immortal ,fuji's snowy crown-- ,wide seas with sky of amethyst-- ,a street where torrents thunder down-- ,branches that toss against the mist-- ,smooth hills and hill-girt plains where run ,streams through the rice-fields steeped in heat-- ,pines gnarled above a sunken sun-- ,cold heights where cloud and mountain meet4 ,now visions enter to my breast ,that from thy passion won their birth1 ,when like a bride in radiance dressed ,before thee glowed the summers of earth4 ,what magic gave thee to behold ,this fairness1 secret from our sight1 ,where morning walks the world in gold1 ,or seas turn grey with coming night8 ,for thee1 as when the ,south ,winds blow4 ,lands burst to bloom4 ,on every shore ,where beauty dwells thou didst bestow ,a perilous mortal beauty more4 ,twilight and morn on ,biwa's breast-- ,harima's sands and lordly pines-- ,white ,hira-mountain's winter crest-- ,the low red dusk round ,yedo shrines-- ,the moon beneath the ,monkey ,bridge-- ,the ,poisoned ,river's brooding gloom-- ,rose-dawn on some ,tokaido ridge-- ,pale water-worlds of lotus bloom4 ,our toiling race is with the day ,wearied1 and restless with the night1-- ,unpausing1 on its tombward way1 ,for fear or wonder or delight1-- ,unwatchful1 mid the sombre things ,that mesh us in a vain employ1 ,for peace that half of heaven brings1 ,for beauty that is wholly joy4 ,lover for whom the world was wide6 ,down lighted pathways thou didst move1 ,where hills and seas and cities hide ,so much for weary men to love4-- ,the mist of cherry-trees in spring-- ,ships sleeping on some bright lagoon-- ,a swallow's dusky sweeping wing-- ,steep ,ishiyama's autumn moon-- ,the changing marvels of faint rain-- ,the foam that hides the torrent's stream-- ,the eagle o'er the snowy plain-- ,sea-twilights haunted as a dream4 ,speaking1 thou laidst thy brush aside-- ,on a long journey ,i repair-- ,regions beyond the ,western ,tide-- ,to view the wonderful landscapes there4 ,yet1 at ,adzuma1 loosed from all ,thy mortal bonds1 made free to roam1 ,methinks thou couldst not break the thral ,that held thee to thy human home4 ,surely no heaven could harbour thee1 ,nor other world of keener bliss1 ,who didst with such deep constancy ,worship the loveliness of this4 ,moon-flooded throngs in ,yedo streets-- ,dawn quickened travellers on their road-- ,lone ocean-fronting hill retreats-- ,an ,oiran's perilous-sweet abode-- ,a mighty ,buddha by the sea ,where all the wondering pilgrims meet-- ,immortal ,fuji1 changelessly ,watching the world around her feet4 ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige3 ,,homing ,,geese ,,at ,,katada--,,twilight4 ,one of the ,series ,eight ,famous ,views of ,lake ,biwa4 ,size #i #ac4 ,signed ,hiroshige ga4 ,plate #eb4 ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige4 ,hiroshige takes rank by unanimous consent as the foremost landscape artist produced by the ,ukioye ,school4 ,his prints1 known to every one1 have been more greatly admired in ,western lands than the prints of any other artist except ,hokusai4 ,hokusai's main concern was with the fundamental architecture of landscape2 he outlined the structure of mountains1 rocks1 rivers1 waves1 and bridges with a hard and brilliant sharpness2 but ,hiroshige1 less rigid in his treatment1 seems chiefly intent upon the more delicate and transitory appearances of cloud and mist1 rain and snow1 sunrise and dusk1 that give to a landscape at each moment so much of its specific character4 ,these atmospheric effects of his are justly famous4 ,few landscape painters of any race have succeeded in rendering so finely the mood of a scene4 ,no one can be insensible to the delicate peace and sweetness of a twilight like that of ,plate #eb1 or the vigorous life of wide sea spaces in ,plate #ec1 or the heavy hush of nightfall over the snow-covered village of ,plate #ed4 ,even more impressive are the luminous and solemn dusk on the ,sumida ,river 7,plate #ee7 and the mystery of the print called ,the ,bow-,moon which appears as the frontispiece4 ,the ,bow-,moon4 ,where the torrent leaps and falls1 ,and the hanging cliffs look down1 ,cloven grey and ruddy walls ,each with ragged forest-crown1 ,there across the chasmd deep ,spans a gossamer bridge on high2 ,and below1 from gulfs of sleep1 ,mounts the ,bow-,moon up the sky4 ,blue dusk1 thickening whence she rose4 ,her abysses veils2 above ,moves she into twilight's close ,as faint strains of music move4 ,on the eastern slope her feet1 ,white1 in trancd ecstasy1 ,climb1 a ghost of heaven so sweet ,that the spent day cannot die4 ,walled by crags on either side ,glimmers forth her figure wan1 ,straying like some lonely bride ,through the halls of ,kubla ,khan4 ,pilgrim of the riven deep6 ,whereso'er thy lover lie1 ,sleep to him is troubled sleep ,while his ,bow-,moon haunts the sky4 ,hiroshige's great strength lay in his genius for strikingly effective composition1 and in the skill with which he adapted his designs to the limitations of the colour-print technique4 ,he reduced the pictured scene to a few simple elements of a highly decorative character1 and managed to make them so symbolic and suggestive that we do not miss the multitude of details which he purposely omits4 ,a strongly dominant unity of impression is the result4 ,his finest designs convey a sense of personal feeling that even the ,barbizon artists at their best do not surpass4 ,with the limited resources of the wood block1 he achieved subtle renderings of distance1 aerial perspective1 atmosphere1 and light2 and the poetic quality of his designs has endeared him to generations of print-lovers in a way more personal than is the case with any other artist4 ,his work will stand beside the ,liber ,studiorum of ,turner2 it remains perhaps the most complete and magnificent landscape record that any land has ever had4 ,one curious characteristic of these prints at once strikes the ,western eye--the use of a band of dark colour along the top of the picture1 which is shaded gradually down into the clear white of the lower sky4 ,this convention serves several purposes4 ,it provides a mass to balance the colour at the bottom of the design1 bringing the whole sheet into the picture and not leaving the upper portion as a mere margin above the landscape proper4 ,it also creates depth and atmosphere1 setting the brightest part of the design1 the middle1 back into the frame created by the upper and lower masses4 ,and finally1 it renders with peculiar accuracy the effect of gradual vanishing which we actually experience as we look at a landscape3 in our visual field1 the sky does not end in a sharp line1 but blurs and darkens at the upper edge of the space that our eyes survey4 ,hiroshige's bird and flower designs are works of extraordinary freshness and loveliness2 a unique and idyllic charm emanates from them1 and as compositions they take high rank 7,plate #ef74 ,alilt against the emerald sky1 ,a tiny violet songster swings1 ,clutching a branch1 in ecstasy ,of light and height and skiey things4 ,singing1 he swings2 and swinging1 ,i ,for once am showered with joy of wings4 ,keen and pure1 of a magic power1 ,thy rapture stirs what was never stirred4 ,thou hast brought to earth a cloudland dower1 ,the joy of the small sweet singing bird4 ,all time is richer for thy hour ,of delicate music1 gravely heard4 ,does the iris droop beneath the heat8 ,its weariness finds voice in thee4 ,does the pheasant run with snow-clogged feet8 ,winter is theirs who thy vision see4 ,is summer's glow to the swallow sweet8 ,thou hast captured its summer eternally4 ,each thou hast wrought as a lyric note ,pure with one mood of sky and trees ,and flowers1 and tiny lives that float ,or dart or poise in world of these4 ,the painter's hand1 the thrush's throat-- ,which masters best these melodies8 ,gusty rain through the tree-tops blown ,and a bird that scuds where the grey gusts hiss-- ,sapphire wings and a golden crown ,flung skyward in unconscious bliss-- ,no rare enchanted bird has known ,as thou hast known the savour of this6 ,and winning it1 thou hast cast aside ,thy native bonds of mortal birth1 ,flinging the spirit-pinions wide ,above this world of weary worth1 ,to float and poise and skyward ride ,with those whose realm is not the earth-- ,the peacock in his proud repose-- ,wild geese that rush across the moon-- ,the little sleepy owl that knows ,the wind-among-the-tree-tops tune-- ,the kingfisher that darts and glows ,over the reeds of the lagoon-- ,the flower-lured humming-bird that weaves ,spirals more delicate than they-- ,sanderlings that on moonlit eves ,over the wave-crest swoop and play-- ,the crane that shores of sunset leaves ,for sunset skies of far away4 ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,seven ,,ri ,,ferry1 ,,kuwana1 ,,at ,,the ,,mouth ,,of ,,the ,,kiso ,,river--,,sunset4 ,one of the ,series ,the ,fifty-three ,post ,stations of the ,tokaido ,road4 ,size #i #ad4 ,signed ,hiroshige ga4 ,plate #ec4 ,hiroshige was born in #agif1 just as the great period of figure-designing was drawing to its close4 ,as a youth he attempted to gain entrance to the studio of ,toyokuni2 but the fortunate fact that there was no room for him forced him to enter the studio of the less popular but more subtly gifted ,toyohiro4 ,here he studied landscape1 a branch in which he was destined far to outstrip his master4 ,that delicate genius which was ,toyohiro's cannot but have produced its effect upon the pupil2 and it pleases one to fancy that it is some echo of ,toyohiro's inarticulate refinement of feeling that gains at last full expression in some of ,hiroshige's most beautiful landscapes4 ,in #ahbh ,toyohiro died2 and ,hiroshige became independent4 ,his earliest works probably antedate this time a little2 they consist of a few figures of women and actors1 and two very fine horizontal landscape series4 ,these were the ,toto ,meisho1 or earliest series of ,yedo views1 distinguished by curious long red clouds in each plate2 and the ,honcho ,meisho1 a group of views of the main island of ,japan4 ,particularly the first of these sets contains work of great beauty4 ,shortly after #ahcj ,hiroshige found occasion to travel from ,yedo1 the northern capital1 to ,kyoto1 the southern capital1 along the great post-road which he has immortalized--the ,tokaido4 ,there resulted his series of horizontal plates1 ,the ,fifty-three ,stations of the ,tokaido1 completed about #ahcd4 ,this remains his best-known and unsurpassed work4 ,plate #ec is from this series4 ,each picture records with unfailing vividness and originality some famous scene along the crowded national highway4 ,for reasons unknown to us1 ,hiroshige prepared new designs for some of the plates after the original publication of the series2 and these variation-plates are of great interest to collectors4 ,of the many series that followed1 only the most important can be named here4 ,all are of horizontal shape unless otherwise designated4 ,naniwa ,meisho1 ten views of ,osaka--chiefly crowded wharf and market scenes4 ,kyoto ,meisho1 ten views of ,kyoto2 a varied and delightful series containing many fine prints4 ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,village ,,of ,,fuji ,,kawa--,,evening ,,snow4 ,one of the ,vertical ,tokaido ,series4 ,size #ac #i4 ,signed ,hiroshige ga4 ,plate #ed4 ,omi ,hakkei1 the ,eight ,famous ,views of ,lake ,biwa2 the most poetic and possibly the greatest of his works 7,plate #eb74 ,kanazawa ,hakkei1 the ,eight ,famous ,views of the ,inlet of ,kanazawa2 distinguished by a fine simplicity of composition4 ,yedo ,kinko ,hakkei1 the ,eight ,famous ,views of ,yedo2 a series of masterpieces1 of great rarity4 ,chiushingura1 sixteen scenes from the story of the ,forty-seven ,ronin2 fine dramatic compositions1 with powerful blacks and greys predominating4 ,toto ,meisho and ,yedo ,meisho1 names under which more than fifty different series of ,yedo views were issued by different publishers4 ,these sets include many masterpieces4 ,nihon ,minato ,tsukushi1 ten views of the ,harbours of ,japan4 ,toto ,meisho1 a series of narrow upright panels of ,yedo2 several are very distinguished4 ,mu ,tamagawa1 views of the ,six ,tama ,rivers4 ,series of ,fishes4 ,kwa ,cho1 upright panels of birds and flowers1 some on full-sized sheets1 others very narrow2 uneven in quality1 some being masterpieces 7,plate #ef74 ,fan ,prints1 with landscapes or bird designs4 ,in the year #ahdb began the so-called ,prohibition ,period of twelve years1 when the sale of actor and courtesan prints was forbidden4 ,the effect of this was to redouble the demand for landscape prints2 and ,hiroshige was called upon to supply it4 ,this he did by issuing1 among others1 the following sets3-- ,tokaido ,series1 published by ,maruzei2 next best to the ,great ,tokaido ,series of #ahcd4 ,tokaido ,series1 published by ,yesaki2 slightly smaller than the ,great ,series2 when well-printed1 which is rare1 they take a very high place4 ,tokaido ,series1 published by ,sanoki1 half-plate size2 including many charming designs4 ,kisokaido1 the ,sixty-nine ,stations of the ,kisokaido ,road between ,yedo and ,kyoto2 a series in which ,keisai ,yeisen collaborated1 producing twenty-three of the seventy plates4 ,many of the plates are uninteresting2 but a quarter of them are superb4 ,the set was reprinted at least twice in inferior editions4 ,in this1 which we may call the ,kisokaido ,period of ,hiroshige's work1 he abandoned to a certain extent the delicate drawing of his ,great ,tokaido and ,yedo ,period and employed larger unbroken colour masses1 aiming at broader effects4 ,in the fifties1 ,hiroshige abandoned almost entirely the horizontal or lateral prints of his earlier days and adopted the upright shape4 ,in this form he produced the following series1 as well as others not named3-- ,upright ,tokaido1 published by ,tsutaya1 #ahee2 a fine series when well printed1 but the late editions were crude in colour 7,plate #ed74 ,views of the ,sixty-nine ,provinces1 #ahef2 the rare first edition1 which is much the finer1 is distinguished by having five seals on the face of each plate4 ,it contains a great deal of uninteresting work1 but also ten or fifteen masterpieces4 ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige3 ,,the ,,ommaya ,,embankment1 ,,on ,,the ,,sumida ,,river ,,at ,,asakusa--,,evening4 ,one of the ,series ,the ,hundred ,views of ,yedo4 ,size #ac #i4 ,signed ,hiroshige ga4 ,plate #ee4 ,three ,triptychs4--,the ,rapids of ,awa ,no ,naruto1 ,moonlight ,view of ,kanazawa1 and ,snow ,mountains on the ,kiso ,highway1 all dated #aheg1 and all magnificent4 ,two ,kakemono-ye1 very large--the ,monkey ,bridge and the ,snow ,gorge of the ,fuji ,river1 things of matchless impressiveness4 ,the ,one ,hundred ,views of ,yedo1 #aheh2 #aai plates1 including1 besides much rubbish1 #be masterpieces 7,plate #ee74 ,the ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji1 #ahei2 inferior1 upon the whole1 to his earlier work4 ,there are in existence very few well-printed copies4 ,in the last two or three of these series it is more than probable that ,hiroshige was assisted by his pupil ,hiroshige ,,ii4 ,the finest plates in all these later series are equal to the master's most splendid earlier designs2 but certain of the plates are of so banal a character that it is impossible to believe them to be from the great man's hand4 ,doubtless the distinction between the work of the two artists cannot always be drawn with certainty2 but as a general rule we may regard the work as that of ,hiroshige ,,ii if we find the figures stiff and wooden1 if the composition is lacking in any central unity1 or if some large ugly object is thrust into the foreground with the hope of thus putting the background into its proper relative place4 ,at this period less care was taken with the printing1 and the majority of prints from these later series are miserable impressions that libel ,hiroshige's powers4 ,when well printed they can be very fine indeed2 but the poor copies outnumber the good a hundred to one4 ,in the year #aheh1 just after the publication of the ,one ,hundred ,views of ,yedo1 ,hiroshige died4 ,he did not live to see the plates for his ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji completed4 ,one of the collector's treasures is a striking memorial portrait by ,kunisada that was issued shortly after ,hiroshige's death4 ,the old man is represented with a finely shaped head1 powerful1 quiet features1 and eyes as piercing as an eagle's4 ,the number of ,hiroshige's different designs runs into at least three or four thousand1 not counting his illustrated books2 and there must be in existence a hundred thousand prints by him4 ,his work is almost as plentiful as that of all the other artists taken together4 ,in spite of this great abundance1 the collector finds it difficult to-day to obtain many really fine prints by him4 ,the prints usually offered are either in bad condition1 or they are careless impressions produced without proper attention to the difficult problem of printing4 ,the rush occasioned by ,hiroshige's popularity naturally led to slighted work4 ,even in these poor copies a certain fascination of design generally appears2 but it is only in the carefully printed copies1 where the register is accurate and the colours are delicately graded1 luminous1 and soft1 that the full beauty of ,hiroshige's conception is made clear4 ,familiarity with the finer impressions forever spoils the attentive observer's taste for the crude ordinary copies4 ,the task of the collector of ,hiroshige's work to-day resolves itself into a search for these rare and precious early prints4 ,the collector should lose no opportunity to compare different copies of the same print2 only thus can he educate his eyes sufficiently to appreciate the vast difference between fine and inferior examples4 ,the difference1 once grasped1 is unforgettable4 ,illustration3 ,,hiroshige3 ,,bird ,,and ,,flowers4 ,size #ae #g4 ,signed ,hiroshige1 hitsu4 ,plate #ef4 ,the reader who desires detailed information as to the long list of ,hiroshige's work is referred to the ,sale ,catalogue of the ,collection of ,john ,stewart ,happer 7,sotheby1 ,wilkinson1 and ,hodge1 ,london71 which is the present foundation for any real study of the subject4 ,a valuable article on seal-dates by ,major ,j4 ,j4 ,o',brien ,sexton1 in the ,international ,studio for ,may1 #aiac1 should also be consulted by the student4 ,,the ,,second ,,hiroshige4 ,,hiroshige ,,ii1 born #ahbf1 was the adopted son of the great ,hiroshige2 as we have seen1 he probably assisted in some of the master's last work4 ,after ,hiroshige's death the pupil assumed the master's name1 previous to that he had been known as ,ichiusai ,shigenobu4 ,he is not to be confused with ,yanagawa ,shigenobu1 ,hokusai's pupil4 ,it was once thought that ,hiroshige ,,ii produced all the upright prints signed ,hiroshige4 ,mr4 ,happer has once for all discredited this idea1 and it is no longer held by any one4 ,some of the work of ,hiroshige ,,ii is very good2 upon the accidental destruction of one of the plates of the ,one ,hundred ,yedo ,series1 he produced a new design that is admirable4 ,but he lacked originality1 and at his best merely trod in the footsteps of his master4 ,most of his designs are flat and uninspired4 ,about #ahfe he fell into disgrace1 and moved to ,yokohama1 where he gave up his name1 and is said to have worked henceforth under the name of ,hirochika ,,ii4 ,he died in #ahfi4 ,there was also a ,hiroshige ,,iii1 who died in #ahif--;a wholly commonplace and unimportant artist1 who assumed the great name about #ahfe4 ,,followers ,,and ,,contemporaries ,,of ,,hiroshige4 ,,keisai ,,yeisen1 who collaborated with ,hiroshige in the ,kisokaido ,series1 was born in #agia and died in #ahea4 ,he produced many figure-prints1 following ,yeizan1 in the debased style of his contemporaries4 ,his landscapes1 however1 are his most interesting work4 ,many of these follow ,hiroshige tamely2 but a few1 in the older ,kano manner1 are surprising and splendid designs4 ,one of these1 a rare sheet depicting a bridge and mountains in moonlight1 in kakamono-ye form1 must be regarded as a masterpiece4 ,his ordinary work is rather undistinguished4 ,illustration3 ,,yeisen4 ,,gosotei ,,toyokuni produced1 besides some unimportant actor-prints1 a few fine landscapes in a very hard1 sharp style4 ,chief among these is a ,tamagawa ,series1 each plate of which has a large purple panel at the top4 ,the artist's original name was ,toyoshige4 ,born in #aggg1 he became the adopted son of ,toyokuni ,i2 after ,toyokuni's death in #ahbe1 he married ,toyokuni's widow and called himself ,toyokuni ,,ii1 a title which ,kunisada also claimed4 ,,utagawa ,,kuniyoshi1 born in #agih1 was the best pupil of ,toyokuni ,i1 and an artist of more power than most of his contemporaries4 ,his figures sometimes have dramatic force of a rather fine kind2 but the majority of them are crude4 ,his landscapes are his greatest claim to fame4 ,among them are some of extraordinary quality4 ,they have hardly been sufficiently appreciated as yet by collectors4 ,kuniyoshi died in #ahfa4 ,illustration3 ,,kuniyoshi4 ,,katsukawa ,,shunsen1 a pupil of ,shunyei1 produced1 besides ordinary figure-prints1 a few graceful landscapes1 chiefly in tones of green and rose4 ,,hasegawa ,,sadanobu1 who has been mentioned under the ,osaka ,school1 was an arrant imitator of ,hiroshige4 ,the ,hayashi ,catalogue1 page #bcf1 reproduces a print of his that is nothing more than a replica of one of ,hiroshige's ,sixty-nine ,province ,series2 and the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum ,catalogue1 ,plate ,,xlvi1 shows a ,lake ,biwa print that copies ,hiroshige's half-plate ,omi ,hakkei almost line for line4 ,,sadahide and ,,yoshiyuki1 both ,osaka artists1 may be mentioned among the unimportant landscape designers of the second half of the nineteenth century4 ,to-day the old art of the colour-print is completely dead4 ,but an entirely new school has produced some pleasing though weak designs of birds1 flowers1 and landscapes2 and some attractive illustrated books have also been issued4 ,the larger part of such work bears the obvious stamp of having been produced for the tourist and the foreign market1 and has not a trace of that vigour and integrity which marked the prints of the great masters1 whose inspiration sprang from and spoke to the heart of the ,japanese people4 ,european influence has produced a bad effect upon the style of these modern prints2 and the weak colour used tends toward prettiness rather than toward beauty4 ,it is idle to hope that real vitality will ever return to animate this lost art4 ,,viii ,,the ,,collector ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,collector ,the field of ,japanese prints is so wide1 and the cost of different classes of prints is so various1 that almost any taste and almost any pocket-book can find appropriate material for collection4 ,a print-lover who is prepared to invest considerable sums of money1 running perhaps into many thousand pounds1 will naturally seek only important examples from the hands of the most renowned designers4 ,a great collection must in the first place contain representative specimens of the distinctive manners of the notable men in each period2 and in addition a great collector will wish to acquire considerable numbers of the supreme treasures--large-size ,primitives1 ,harunobu pillar-prints1 ,kiyonaga triptychs1 ,utamaro silver-prints1 ,sharaku portraits1 matchless impressions of ,hiroshige landscapes1 and the like4 ,but even the modest collector who is able to expend only a few pounds a year can1 with patience1 secure beautiful and desirable pieces4 ,it would be vain for him to imagine that he can have things of the first importance and rarity2 but he may confidently expect to obtain delightful minor examples of the work of even great artists1 at prices that are within any one's reach4 ,a ,yeishi triptych will cost from ten to eighty pounds1 but a charming small sheet by ,yeishi can perhaps be bought for two4 ,the pleasure which the collector obtains from his collection is not necessarily proportionate to the amount of his expenditure2 and the intelligent lover of beauty can derive lasting satisfaction from his carefully selected but inexpensive little group of ,hiroshige landscapes1 ,shunsho actors1 ,harunobu book-illustrations1 and similar works4 ,when1 however1 the owner of some such sheets finds his ambition is growing with his interest1 he needs to be somewhat cautious in his effort to extend his collection4 ,a few charming minor prints are a highly desirable possession2 a large collection of them is not4 ,it is easy for the lover of prints who has begun modestly to go on year after year with increasing enthusiasm1 piling up numbers of cheap mediocre sheets2 and in the end1 after having spent enough money to purchase ten great ,kiyonagas1 he finds himself the owner of a numerous but undistinguished collection in which there is not a single print of the first rank1 nor a single one that will compel the admiration of the connoisseur4 ,it is interesting to have a few prints of each type and period as examples1 even though they are not notable works2 but when the collector has a moderate number he will be wise to cease his miscellaneous buying and husband his resources for the occasional purchase of a masterpiece4 ,more pleasure is to be found in acquiring two or three fine sheets a year than from the wholesale acquisition of hundreds of insignificant works4 ,it is1 however1 well to define one's limits carefully4 ,if one is not able to expend from ten to a hundred pounds on a single print1 one must dismiss from one's mind the idea of owning an important ,kiyonaga2 for that is the lowest sum at which one can hope to get it even with luck4 ,if an expenditure of thirty to eighty pounds is impossible1 one must put aside all idea of a ,sharaku4 ,but lesser treasures at lower prices are to be had2 let the collector only remember to take care that he gets the best things he can afford even though his purchases be few1 rather than allow himself to be tempted into buying a great many of a cheaper kind4 ,remarkable opportunities to acquire fine prints at low prices sometimes occur1 but they are rare4 ,certain prints may come up for sale only once in a collector's lifetime4 ,these exceptional examples must be seized when they are offered2 one of the characteristics of a great collector is the ability to make these swift and often expensive decisions4 ,he must know the available supply of prints and the probability of having another chance to get this particular sheet2 if he estimates such a recurrence as improbable1 and if he esteems the print a masterpiece1 he must take it at any price he can afford to pay4 ,it is1 after all is said1 the masterpieces that bring the unwaning satisfaction4 ,most collectors find that the few supreme treasures of their collections give them more pleasure than all their other prints put together4 ,therefore it is well for the inexperienced collector to bear in mind that quality1 not quantity1 will prove his most profitable aim4 ,for it is one of the delightful characteristics of collecting that the collector's perception is likely to grow continuously in fineness2 and the acquisitions of his earlier years may fail to satisfy his more educated taste of later days4 ,this will sometimes be true of even the prints he once loved best2 and much more is it likely to apply to those which he bought merely because they were cheap or would increase the bulk of his collection4 ,discrimination is the life-blood of collecting4 ,he who collects everything collects nothing2 he is the owner of a scrap-heap or a second-hand shop1 not of an ordered series of specimens that illustrate historical or artistic ideas4 ,the true collector would rather have ten selected prints than the whole mass of prints now in existence1 if in the latter case he had to keep them all4 ,many a collection has been improved both in monetary value and in power to give pleasure by merely throwing out of it the second-rate things it contained4 ,the collector1 as a rule1 sets out in the beginning with little knowledge and with no very definite notion of what he intends to collect4 ,if he is to profit by his efforts or is to end by having an interesting group of possessions1 he must before long define for himself the idea of a collection and the conception which his own is to express4 ,he may decide to obtain at least one representative example of the work of every important artist2 or he may prefer to specialize1 and assemble all that he can of the works of a single man or a single period4 ,a certain well-known collector has selected ,harunobu and ,shunsho as his special objects of interest1 and has brought together a notable and illuminating series of specimens of their work4 ,another has chosen ,hiroshige1 and after many years of effort he can display to the student a fine copy of almost every important print by that artist4 ,a third has especially sought the works of ,kiyonaga2 while a fourth has pursued the less costly but very interesting aim of bringing together the sheets of ,kuniyoshi4 ,another is devoted to surimono2 still another1 to pillar-prints4 ,the possible list of specialities is inexhaustible4 ,narrow and exclusive specialization is1 however1 uncommon among amateurs of ,japanese prints2 and even the specialist tries to have in his collection a few representative examples of all important types4 ,the inexperienced collector may find himself confused1 amid so many unfamiliar names1 and fail to separate in his mind the notable artists from those of secondary interest4 ,a little study of the following list will perhaps be of assistance4 ,it contains thirty-two names1 selected from the three or four hundred mentioned in this book2 each one in the list is important1 and a collection that contained even one fine example by each of these designers would represent very fairly the whole scope of the art4 ,in fact1 the beginner will not go far astray if at the outset he confines his purchases to the work of the men here listed2 he will at least be saved from the danger of accumulating the productions of unnoteworthy designers4 ,the names preceded by two stars are the ten outstanding figures whose historical and artistic importance makes it imperative that they be adequately represented in any self-respecting collection4 ,thirteen more names1 preceded by one star1 are of next conspicuousness4 ,a collection containing a really brilliant example by each of these thirty-two men would cost from three hundred to three thousand pounds to bring together1 depending upon the quality and importance of the prints selected4 ,list of ,principal ,artists4 99 ,buncho 99 ,choki 9999 ,harunobu 9999 ,hiroshige ,i 9999 ,hokusai 99 ,kiyomasu 99 ,kiyomitsu ,i 9999 ,kiyonaga 99 ,kiyonobu ,i 99 ,kiyonobu ,,ii 9999 ,koriusai 99 ,kwaigetsud ,masanobu 7,kitao7 9999 ,masanobu 7,okumura7 9999 ,moronobu 9999 ,sharaku 99 ,shigemasa 99 ,shigenaga 99 ,shuncho ,shunko 7,katsukawa7 ,shunman 9999 ,shunsho ,shunyei ,sukenobu ,toshinobu ,toyoharu ,toyohiro 99 ,toyokuni ,i 99 ,toyonobu 7,ishikawa7 9999 ,utamaro ,i 99 ,yeishi ,collecting is to a certain extent creative2 for the picture of the art of ,japanese prints that a collection presents is almost as definitely an expression of a personal interpretation as is a book on the subject4 ,what the collectors treasure will be preserved2 what they reject will doubtless perish as valueless4 ,one of the collector's joys is the sense that he is laying by immeasurable riches for posterity4 ,much remains for us still to learn from ,japanese prints2 and any sheet in a collection may prove to be the key that will some day unlock doors leading to treasure-chambers4 ,both historically and sthetically1 the field of ,japanese prints still offers many undiscovered regions to the explorer4 ,by making available the material for such investigations1 the collector performs a valuable service4 ,the collector's own satisfaction is not dependent upon the fact of possession4 ,to seek1 to desire ardently1 is not to covet2 and the most eager collectors are the very ones who most thoroughly enjoy a beautiful print owned by another4 ,possession is an accident2 but enjoyment is a form of genius4 ,collecting at its best is very far from mere acquisitiveness2 it may become one of the most humanistic of occupations1 seeking to illustrate1 by the assembling of significant reliques1 the march of the human spirit in its quest of beauty1 and the aspirations that were its guide4 ,to discover1 preserve1 relate1 and criticize these memorials is the rational aim of the collector4 ,the joy of pursuit which he experiences is a crude but delightful one2 and discovery has the triumphant sweetness of all successful effort4 ,the act of restoring and preserving is a pious service to the future1 and a delicate handicraft4 ,to arrange examples in accurate relation to each other1 and illustrate a conception of complex history by means of concrete specimens1 is a constructive task that involves detailed knowledge and wide vision4 ,and finally1 the attempt to appraise the spiritual values of the parts and the whole may be an illuminating achievement1 relating all this material to the general stream of cultural development and to the history of the race4 ,the best way to study an art of the past is to collect examples of it4 ,the collector's historical sense is trained and his discriminative powers are sharpened by his activities4 ,as his education progresses1 his chief interest is in works of an ever higher quality4 ,he attempts always to acquire the best1 and his knowledge of what is best is always widening4 ,his is the task of judging between degrees of perfection4 ,it differs not so very widely from that desperate search for an ideal fulfilment which is the curse1 the inspiration1 and the one abiding joy of the artist4 ,the artist's sense of triumph in an achievement must be only momentary2 if he continues long to regard his creation as admirable1 he has reached the stagnation of his powers and the end of his career2 he must ever hate to-day what he created yesterday1 in order that he may be driven on to produce a still finer thing to-morrow4 ,the collector1 also1 must eventually abandon his present position and move forward2 and1 tragic to confess1 perhaps his ultimate triumph comes on that day when the field he long has loved ceases to suffice his growing sense of beauty1 and he sends his collection under the hammer1 having mastered it and passed beyond it4 ,for every collector must in the end transcend his collection1 unless he is to perish in it as in some fatal ,saragossa ,sea4 ,a collection is a life-estate only1 and the important question confronts every collector as to what disposition shall be made of his possessions after his death4 ,my personal feeling is strongly against the bequest of such a collection to a public institution4 ,these prints are inherently suited to private exhibition and not to public display4 ,they must be kept in portfolios1 not hung up in galleries1 or they fade4 ,they must be examined closely and at leisure2 the spectator should be able1 seated at ease1 to study them as he holds them in his hand4 ,to walk through a gallery of prints is only a slight pleasure2 to sit in the library of the collector and inspect and discuss the same prints one by one is a great delight4 ,further1 they require a degree of care that they would not receive in the public institutions4 ,the prints in most public collections are repaired1 mounted1 and handled with a carelessness that horrifies the collector4 ,that painstaking skill in restoring1 preserving1 and mounting to the best advantage1 which means so much for the ultimate effect of a print1 is seldom1 if ever1 exercised except by the private owner4 ,it may be said that if these treasures are in private hands1 the public is deprived of them4 ,this is untrue4 ,the great body of the public would pass them by in a gallery1 for this is not a spectacular or obtrusive art like sculpture4 ,on the other hand1 any person who gives evidence of a reasonable degree of interest can not only obtain free and willing access to all the private collections with which ,i am familiar1 but he may have at his disposal the services of the owner of the collection to explain1 interpret1 and guide4 ,there are at present scores of highly trained men1 of such cultivation as the museums cannot afford to employ except in the highest positions1 who are spending weeks and months out of every year in this unpaid work of serving the public2 while in the great public collections the ordinary inquirer is left adrift to find his way as best he can through the chaos of an improperly arranged exhibit4 ,in the public collections the prints are of service or pleasure to almost nobody2 while in the private collections their service and pleasure to the owner and his friends is great1 and the same opportunities are easily opened to any one who is qualified to profit by them4 ,therefore it seems better that1 upon the death of a collector1 his prints should be sold2 in order that1 as ,edmond de ,goncourt directed in the case of his collection1 those treasures which have been so great and so personal a delight to the owner may pass on into the hands of such others as will find in them the same satisfaction4 ,my wish is1 he wrote in his will1 that my drawings1 my prints1 my curios1 my books--in a word those things of art which have been the joy of my life--shall not be consigned to the cold tomb of a museum1 and subjected to the stupid glance of the careless passer-by2 but ,i require that they shall all be dispersed under the hammer of the auctioneer1 so that the pleasure which the acquiring of each one of them has given me shall be given again1 in each case1 to some inheritor of my own taste4 ,,considerations ,,governing ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,,prints4 ,a variety of elements must be weighed in the mind of the collector whenever he decides for or against the purchase of a particular specimen to add to his collection4 ,,the ,,artist4--,in the first place1 the authorship of the print is an important consideration4 ,if the designer is a very great man like ,kiyonaga1 or a very rare one like ,kitao ,masanobu1 or both combined like ,shigemasa1 these facts must be given weight4 ,other things being equal1 a print by an important leader such as ,utamaro is more desirable than one by a less original follower such as ,banki4 ,a ,kiyonaga is a little preferable to an equally beautiful ,shuncho1 because of ,kiyonaga's prime historical importance4 ,the work of certain other men is prized by collectors because of its scarcity2 ,chincho1 for example1 would be only moderately valued were it not for the extraordinary rarity of his designs4 ,when rarity combines with greatness1 as in the case of ,kwaigetsud1 ,moronobu1 ,buncho1 and ,sharaku1 the desirability of the artist's work is naturally doubled in the eyes of the collector4 ,a print sometimes derives an unusual interest from the fact that it is of a kind seldom produced by the particular artist who designed it4 ,harunobu and ,kiyonaga actor-prints are exceptional things1 dating from the early years of these men's careers4 ,on the other hand1 the silver-prints of ,utamaro1 the triptychs of ,kiyonaga1 and the yellow-background prints of ,yeishi are desirable for the opposite reason2 they represent famous and characteristic aspects of the work of their respective creators4 ,,the ,,quality ,,of ,,the ,,design4--,the impression produced upon the sthetic sense of the collector is the most vital of all the elements that determine his choice4 ,the composition1 the drawing1 the total beauty of the design1 will in each individual case have their importance2 and upon the collector's estimate of these qualities will depend his desire to own the print4 ,there are some dull and uninteresting designs by even the most gifted men--work without charm or life4 ,shunsho was a great sinner in this respect2 so also were ,utamaro and ,toyokuni4 ,on the other hand1 men of secondary importance produced occasional triumphs2 a ,yeisho or a ,yenshi is sometimes found in which the most brilliant qualities of composition appear4 ,each print must be appraised on its own merits4 ,the collector generally passes by all designs in which clumsiness or awkwardness is evident1 and waits patiently for those in which the force1 or grace1 or dignity of the composition proclaims the masterpiece4 ,kiyonaga's ,terrace by the ,sea1 ,sharaku's portrait of the ,daimyo ,moronao1 ,hokusai's ,red ,mountain1 and ,utamaro's ,firefly ,catchers are examples of that unsurpassable quality which no experienced collector willingly lets escape him4 ,,the ,,quality ,,of ,,the ,,impression4--,different copies of the same print differ enormously in quality4 ,the finest design is of little avail if the work of the printer has not been judicious4 ,among early prints1 before ,utamaro1 really bad impressions are not very common1 although especially fine and brilliant ones are hard to obtain4 ,later1 particularly in the work of ,hiroshige1 the poor ones much outnumber the good4 ,in a good impression the lines are all sharp and clean3 where the hair meets the temples1 every brush-stroke is clearly defined4 ,the blacks are rich and heavy1 not sooty or streaked4 ,the colours must be in perfect register2 that is1 each must exactly fill its allotted space without overlapping and without ragged edges4 ,prints in which these defects occur are either careless impressions or late impressions from worn blocks4 ,whichever be the explanation1 they are not desirable2 the discriminating collector does not care to acquire any but perfectly printed sheets4 ,all the skill and devotion of the printer was needed to make the resulting product a just interpretation of the conception of the designer2 in a bad impression the beauty of the design is ruined4 ,prior to the nineteenth century it was the usual practice to give each colour-block a uniform coat of pigment2 thus each separate colour impressed on the paper was completely flat and unshaded4 ,in ,hiroshige's time1 however1 the pigment was often partially wiped from portions of the block1 so that in the resulting print the colour shades gradually into the uncoloured white of the paper4 ,many of ,hiroshige's prints derive a considerable portion of their beauty from the subtlety of these gradations4 ,there are no such things as signed artist's proofs among ,japanese prints2 but there is a class of prints that corresponds to them4 ,they are not labelled2 nothing distinguishes them from the ordinary copies except the extreme beauty of the printing4 ,these rare impressions were probably early ones made under the eye of the artist4 ,the sharpness of the lines1 the harmony of the colours1 and the delicacy of gradation in any shaded portions are of a perfection lacking in the ordinary copies4 ,it took much care and time1 and was therefore expensive1 to produce such work2 and probably the majority of purchasers were unwilling to pay the additional price entailed by this degree of attention4 ,the few existing copies of this character are exceptionally prized by the collector to-day4 ,the colour-schemes used in printing various copies of the same print often differ widely1 and there is considerable difference in desirability on this ground alone4 ,some of ,hiroshige's prints are found in monochromes of blue or of grey--some of ,hokusai's are in bluish green4 ,these rare and beautiful variations from the normal are highly valued4 ,on the other hand1 the late prints of ,hiroshige are generally printed in raucous greens and reds and purples that are an offence to the eye2 and only rarely do we find copies of them in which a soft and harmonious colour scheme reveals the intention of the artist4 ,this explains why certain prints from the ,one ,hundred ,views of ,yedo sometimes bring fifteen or twenty pounds apiece1 though multitudes of ordinary copies of the identical print can be purchased for a few shillings each4 ,badly coloured examples of ,hiroshige's work are plentiful and of little value2 harmonious and subtly modulated ones are things of unsurpassable beauty1 and almost as rare as ,kiyonagas4 ,the collector of ,hiroshige prints will scrutinize a specimen with the utmost care to determine whether the colour scheme is harmonious1 and whether the pigments have been applied in the delicately graded luminous manner that ,hiroshige intended4 ,if he finds that the various tones are harsh in quality1 or are printed in crude1 unshaded masses1 he will reject the sheet4 ,considerable familiarity with really fine impressions is the only safeguard in this matter4 ,the beginner is only too ready to be led astray by the charm of the design1 not realizing how much this same design is enhanced if given the expression of appropriate printing2 and he is very likely to find himself loaded down with worthless impressions1 the very sight of which is repugnant to him after he has become familiar with fine copies of the same prints4 ,poor copies are worth nothing2 but choice ones are never really dear at any price4 ,in this matter more than in any other a fine collection differs from a poor one1 and it is in this that the discriminating collector has his best chance to match his judgment against that of the dealer4 ,sometimes one can for a few shillings select from a pile of worthless ,hiroshiges a notable impression that is worth twenty times the sum asked for it4 ,a generally accepted classification of prints from the point of view of the quality of the impression would be convenient4 ,there are to-day no recognized terms by which to describe the various grades4 ,i therefore suggest a division into four groups with the following terminology3-- 7a7 ,artist's ,impression4--,such a print as might have been produced under the eye of the artist himself--every line clear and sharp1 every colour delicate and perfectly registered2 the total effect exceptionally luminous and harmonious2 no possible subtlety of technique left to be desired4 7b7 ,fine ,impression4--,a clear1 perfect impression such as a careful printer would normally turn out at his best1 but without that inspired fineness in every detail which distinguishes ,class 7a74 7c7 ,good ,impression4--,such a print as would pass muster with the ordinary buyer of that day--good1 but not especially fine2 clear1 but not notably sharp2 pleasantly enough coloured1 but not distinguished in colour scheme4 ,very slight defects of register or of gradation will not exclude a print from this class4 7d7 ,late ,impression4--,one in which serious defects appear1 such as bad register1 raw colour1 blurred definition1 or any other real error4 ,,condition4--,the state of preservation is one of the most important elements that the collector has to consider4 ,collectors of ,japanese prints do not as a rule pay much attention to questions of margin1 but they very properly insist that the effects of time and wear shall not be such as to obliterate or diminish the original beauty of the work itself4 ,the print must not be cut down in size1 and its face must be unmarred4 ,stains1 creases1 tears1 abrasions1 discolorations and fading are all defects of a serious nature4 ,only experience can enable one to judge whether a certain print is of such rarity that one must waive requirements as to condition and accept a defective copy4 ,in the case of the ,primitives1 flawless examples are so few that one must needs be content with prints that show decidedly the effect of time4 ,the same is true of pillar-prints4 ,on the other hand1 there is no reason why one should ever purchase a damaged ,hiroshige1 unless it be an exceptional rarity like the ,monkey ,bridge4 ,on the whole1 the experience of collectors is that in every case of doubt the faulty print should be rejected4 ,for as one sees a print repeatedly one's consciousness of the defect increases1 and gradually the flaw becomes more obvious to one's observation than anything else in the print4 ,in many cases prints that are in undamaged condition have nevertheless acquired with age a peculiar deadness that may not be perceptible to the careless eye4 ,if such a print is placed beside a perfectly fresh one1 the difference is at once apparent4 ,in the first case1 though the surface is unmarred1 there is a slight yellowing of the fibres of the paper that prevents their sending out that vibrating luminosity which is a distinctive beauty in the immaculate copy4 ,this absence of luminous quality is so common that ,i mention it less to caution the collector against it than to bid him be on his guard to seize the few luminous prints that are offered him4 ,it is against the really brown prints that the novice should be warned4 ,the difference in market value between a chocolate coloured copy and a brilliantly white copy is enormous1 amounting in some cases to a thousand per cent4 ,brilliant copies are excessively rare2 and since they are the only ones desired by the great collectors1 they bring record prices4 ,the whole question of condition is one of personal taste2 collectors are by no means agreed about it4 ,european collectors have been1 as a rule1 less insistent upon condition than have the ,japanese and ,americans4 ,there are collectors--though they grow fewer daily--who positively prefer faded and toned prints1 because of their softness4 ,this view is an ill-advised one4 ,i do not say that1 if one can have none other1 the damaged prints may not give one pleasure and intimations of the original beauty that was theirs2 but ,i do affirm that such prints are but makeshifts1 and that their market value is1 and always will be1 very slight4 ,when ,i began collecting many years ago in ,japan1 ,i purchased a number of ,hokusai prints that were much blackened by exposure4 ,i thought at the time that any trace of the work of so famous a master was worth treasuring4 ,but ,i have found that my purchase was quite valueless1 not only from the commercial point of view1 but also from the artistic1 since they do not represent the work of ,hokusai with the slightest approach to adequacy4 ,perfect condition conveys to us perfectly the artist's conception2 anything else obliterates or modifies his design4 ,though the beauty of faded or damaged prints is often indisputable1 and though some prints are so saturated with beauty that a certain charm remains as long as any trace of the printing is visible1 yet these wrecks and fragments are not the desirable specimens4 ,the slight softening of the colours that almost always comes with age is perhaps not detrimental2 but when the luminosity of the colours and the brilliant whiteness of the paper is gone1 an irreparable loss has been suffered4 ,for the white spaces and the reflective effect of the white fibres under the coloured spaces were integral and vital elements in the artist's design2 and one cannot say that this is not injured when the paper has been turned to a dingy brown4 ,further1 it is almost childish to prefer the time-changed colours to the fresh ones4 ,for surely1 if these prints have any value at all1 it is not the kind of value that beautifully weather-marked pebbles have3 their significance lies in whatsoever spiritual values their designers put into them4 ,they are not curiosities of nature1 but monuments erected by the human spirit in its search for beauty4 ,we go very far astray when we admire what is in fact lamentable disintegration4 ,to delight in the faded tone of a print is like delighting in the cracks of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,the matter can be made clearer if we become specific4 ,a certain blue of ,harunobu's changes1 with exposure1 to yellow2 and the yellow sky or river that results is anything but what the designer intended4 ,a certain white of ,hiroshige's oxidizes into black2 the effect is unfortunate as1 for instance in prints where we now see black snowflakes4 ,the rich orange beloved of ,koriusai and ,shunsho1 and the delicate pink used by ,harunobu1 ,kiyonaga1 and ,shuncho1 are transformed in the course of time into rusty black2 then in the place of the luminous rooms intended when the artist planned his composition1 we see dingy mottled caverns of mud4 ,the brilliant early purple turns brown2 the still earlier rose colour vanishes entirely4 ,after all these changes1 how is it possible to prefer the faded print to the fresh one8 ,the resulting accidental effects may happen to be beautiful1 but they have a destructive influence upon those elements which alone make the prints worthy of our serious attention as works of art4 ,the only marvel is that they do not more completely ruin the beauty of the artist's work4 ,the chemical disintegrations of which ,i speak are sometimes so great that they are very misleading to the uninformed4 ,a writer in the ,london ,times of ,november #f1 #aiac1 reviewing the exhibition at the ,albert and ,victoria ,museum1 discovers an amazing mare's nest4 ,one colour alone ,harunobu neglects in common with all his predecessors and contemporaries1 he says4 ,it remained for the artists of the nineteenth century to discover the possibilities of blue--a curious and hitherto unnoted omission4 ,indeed1 the omission had not been previously noted--for the simple reason that it does not exist4 ,harunobu used blue a great deal1 almost always in depicting water or sky2 ,shunsho used it repeatedly for sky1 water1 and draperies in the ,ise ,monogatari1 and as a solid background in certain hoso-ye actor-prints of which two1 in their startling pristine brilliancy1 are in the ,gookin ,collection2 ,koriusai used blue frequently in combination with his famous orange4 ,but the blue used by the early artists1 particularly that of ,harunobu and ,shunsho1 was the most unstable of colours1 and it is rare to find it unaltered by time4 ,generally it has turned to a delicate grey or yellow that is very beautiful1 but very far from what the artist meant it to be4 ,a systematic classification of the various conditions in which a print may be found will perhaps put the matter clearly before the beginner3-- #a4 ,publisher's ,state4--,without the slightest evidence of any change since the hour it was printed2 colours unaltered2 paper absolutely new and sparkling4 #b4 ,collector's ,state4--,as a print might be after a few years in the possession of a careful purchaser2 perfect1 except for having been mounted or washed1 or except for slight chemical change in the colours due to time only and not to damage2 paper white and clear4 #c4 ,good ,state4--,marred only by minor defects that would be unnoticeable to casual observation--small worm-holes1 slight tears or creases1 moderate fading of colours1 or slightly rubbed surface2 paper toned but not brown4 #d4 ,ordinary ,state4--,still retaining its chief beauty in spite of noticeable injury by tears1 small stains1 worn or faded colours1 or other damage2 paper somewhat browned by exposure4 #e4 ,defective ,state4--,such injuries or colour changes as deprive the print of its significance as a thing of beauty2 paper browned or stained4 ,,rarity4--,the rarity of a print may be a factor in determining whether or not it should be purchased4 ,not only does rarity affect monetary value1 but it sometimes indicates to the collector that this is perhaps the only opportunity he will ever have to acquire this particular design4 ,the rain scene from ,hiroshige's ,yedo ,kinko ,hakkei has a higher value than the equally beautiful rain scene from the ,one ,hundred ,yedo ,series1 for the simple reason that copies of the former are very few1 and that many collectors desire it because of its beauty4 ,there is1 however1 a danger into which many collectors fall1 of esteeming rarity as a precious element per se4 ,rarity alone1 detached from other elements of value or interest1 is perhaps the most ridiculous element that the human race has ever chosen to esteem4 ,,associations4--,certain prints have an historical value that makes them particularly interesting to the collector4 ,for example1 there is the well-known triptych by ,utamaro which1 because of its portrayal of one of the ,shoguns in scandalous surroundings1 was the cause of the imprisonment and death of the artist4 ,also there is the famous memorial portrait of ,hiroshige by ,kunisada1 which is an especially desirable possession because of its associations and because the subject is the great landscape painter4 ,dated prints are of interest by reason of the light they may throw on uncertain points in ,ukioye history4 ,prints that have belonged to famous collectors1 ,hayashi1 ,wakai1 ,fenollosa1 and others1 derive a double interest from that fact2 the association is interesting1 and the previous possession by a discriminating collector confirms the present owner's estimate of the high quality of the print4 ,it should not1 however1 be forgotten that enterprising ,japanese dealers recognize this fact4 ,a small red stamp can be made in ,japan for about two shillings2 and a considerable number of prints now bearing the ,wakai and ,hayashi seals never formed a part of these collections4 ,,prices4--,the subject of prices is one so complex and indeterminate that one writes of it only with hesitancy4 ,that which seems excessive to one collector will be willingly paid by another4 ,no stable standard exists2 ,i have had equally good copies of certain ,hiroshige prints offered me at prices as various as #ajs4 and #aj4 ,in discussing the matter1 one can give nothing more than an individual impression of the normal and usual figures at which prints change hands to-day4 ,experience is the only means by which a collector can equip himself on this subject4 ,he will acquaint himself with the prices asked by dealers and the prices at which other collectors have obtained their specimens2 and from these1 together with a careful study of auction sale catalogues1 he forms his judgment4 ,auction prices are likely1 however1 to be misleading unless one sees the prints sold2 for the fact that a certain print brought only #c at ,sotheby's is no indication that another copy of the same print may not be worth the #cj asked for it4 ,variations in condition and quality of impression make vast differences in value4 ,an ,artist's ,impression of ,hiroshige's famous ,tokaido print1 ,rain on ,shono ,pass1 might bring #bj2 a ,fine ,impression would perhaps sell for half that2 a ,good ,impression would be worth about #d2 while a ,late ,impression would bring less than #b4 ,similarly a ,kiyonaga might vary from #dj to #d on this account4 ,in the matter of condition there would be parallel differences4 ,a rare ,kiyonaga or ,utamaro triptych might vary as follows3 ,publisher's ,state1 #bjj2 ,collector's ,state1 #ajj2 ,good ,state1 #fj2 ,ordinary ,state1 #cj2 ,defective ,state1 #e4 ,a great ,sharaku might1 in the same way1 be priced at #ajj1 #gj1 #ej1 #bj1 and #c2 and a ,harunobu at #fj1 #ej1 #bj1 #h1 and #c4 ,pillar-prints in perfect preservation are rare2 therefore the differences would be even greater2 in the case of an exceptional ,koriusai1 perhaps #cj1 #ae1 #aj1 #c1 #a4 ,the following very rough generalizations may suggest something to the inexperienced collector4 ,small ,primitive sheets in fair condition can seldom be obtained for less than #e to #ae2 the rare large sheets and ,pillar-prints generally bring #bj to #ajj4 ,these are minimum prices2 for special treasures such as ,kwaigetsud1 prices may rise to several hundred pounds4 ,harunobu's work in perfect condition brings from #bj to #ajj4 ,shunsho actors are sometimes to be had very cheap1 for a pound or two2 but the finest designs will bring from #aj to #bj4 ,buncho is rare2 one may expect to pay at least #ae to #dj for a fine example4 ,shunyei and ,shunko are about the same in price as ,shunsho4 ,a good ,shigemasa is worth #bj to #ej4 ,kiyonaga is expensive2 an attractive small sheet by him will cost #e to #ae2 a fine large sheet1 #ae to #dj2 a triptych brings scores or hundreds4 ,shuncho and the other ,kiyonaga followers are only a little less costly4 ,a notable ,sharaku is rarely obtainable for less than #dj to #hj4 ,shunman brings almost as much1 as also does ,kitao ,masanobu4 ,small or unimportant sheets by ,yeishi1 ,yeisho1 ,utamaro1 ,choki1 ,toyokuni1 and ,toyohiro can be had for a pound or two4 ,from this level1 prices go up to several hundred pounds1 which has been paid for ,utamaro's ,awabi ,shell-,divers4 ,triptychs1 silver-prints1 and large heads by these men are especially expensive1 rising from #bj to much larger sums4 ,two to five pounds will buy a fair ,hokusai2 #bj or more may be asked for an unusually fine one1 and certain rare treasures bring much more than that4 ,prices for ,hiroshige prints vary so with the quality of the impression that generalizations are impossible4 ,it can only be said that the purchaser who gets a ,hiroshige of the highest quality for #e is fortunate4 ,on the other hand1 it must be stated that fine ,hiroshige prints are often obtainable for considerably lower prices than this4 ,all these prices apply to the best prints in good condition4 ,dealers frequently ask unreasonably high sums for second-rate designs or defective copies2 in such cases the collector should refuse to be made a victim4 ,experience alone can dictate to a collector what prices he may prudently pay4 ,in the most uniformly fine private collection ,i know--a collection comprising only one hundred and fifty prints1 but each one a treasure--there are few1 if any1 sheets that cost less than #e1 and many that cost #bj to #dj4 ,their value ten years from now may very possibly be ten times those prices1 so admirable has been the taste of this particular amateur in selecting beautifully preserved masterpieces4 ,these figures need not terrify the beginner whose means are limited4 ,specimens of great beauty may still be brought together with a small expenditure of money1 if accompanied by a large expenditure of taste and judgment4 ,for example1 the book-sheets of ,harunobu called ,serio ,bijin ,awase1 the sheets of ,shunsho's ,ise ,monogatari1 the later upright prints of ,hiroshige1 the pillar-prints of ,koriusai--all of them works of admirable quality--may sometimes be obtained with only a small outlay4 ,their intrinsic proportionate worth1 and the certainty of their advancing in value1 are almost as great as in the case of those rarer treasures of ,masanobu1 ,kiyonaga1 and ,sharaku which have been largely pre-empted by the great collections1 and which are now almost prohibitive in price4 ,yet it would not be a kindness to hold out to the novice the hope that1 with the expenditure of a few shillings1 he can form an important collection4 ,such a hope is a mistaken one4 ,great discretion is necessary to obtain at a moderate price prints worth having at all4 ,the cheap prints are generally either the late and crude ones1 or the badly damaged ones4 ,both of these classes lack the one raison d'tre of collecting--beauty4 ,it is true that1 as ,i have said1 a really fine ,hiroshige may still sometimes be picked up for a song1 but such opportunities are rare2 they must be waited for a long time1 and must be seized with instant determination when they come4 ,the collector who is not well informed is more than likely to find1 after a short period of triumph over his bargain1 that his copy is a late and poor impression1 and that even the beauty of composition will not permanently satisfy him in the absence of fine and appropriate printing4 ,in this connection it should be remembered that while the finest prints are generally more valuable than their cost1 the second-rate prints are generally worth nothing whatsoever4 ,if one has adequate experience1 one can well hunt for these opportunities of which ,i speak4 ,or if one is unable to pay the normal prices for fine works1 one is obliged to lie in wait for them4 ,the average collector will1 however1 find that in the course of years he gains more by paying normal prices to high-class dealers for the best prints than by seeking in the byways for dubious bargains of speculative quality4 ,it is true that the prices set upon the finest prints are at present high4 ,recent years have seen an enormous advance in values4 ,for example1 ,i have known #cjj to be asked for a copy of the ,monkey ,bridge2 #fj for a superb copy of the ,kiso ,snow ,mountains ,triptych2 and several other prints by ,hiroshige have changed hands at #fj apiece4 ,these prices of course applied only to remarkably1 and perhaps uniquely1 fine copies4 ,in the last edition of his volume1 ,japan and its ,arts1 ,mr4 ,marcus ,b4 ,huish remarks that prints have risen to extravagant prices--prices sober-minded people consider altogether beyond their worth4 ,this is a matter of individual opinion4 ,a good ,hiroshige at #e1 or a ,kiyonaga at #bj will seem to many people less extravagant than a proof mezzotint by ,smith from ,reynold's ,mrs4 ,carnac at seven hundred guineas1 or ,rembrandt's etching of ,jan ,six at #c1jjj4 ,in fairness to ,mr4 ,huish1 however1 we must continue the quotation4 ,but these prices1 he says1 have been paid by the ,directors of ,museums and other astute persons who do not expend the limited means at their disposal unless they feel well assured that they 7the prints7 will in the future be either unobtainable or at enhanced prices4 ,this is quite true4 ,there is no indication that the values of ,japanese prints will ever be lower than they are to-day2 on the contrary1 they have been rising swiftly and steadily for twenty years1 and great advances in value may be expected4 ,to these advances many forces are already contributing4 ,every year a certain number of prints are accidentally destroyed1 decreasing the total available supply4 ,no further supplies of large numbers can be expected from ,japan1 which has been ransacked with all the thoroughness of skilled searchers armed with the lure of high prices4 ,in fact1 prices in ,japan to-day are probably higher than prices in ,london2 at least1 higher prices are asked for inferior prints4 ,the finest prints bring about the same price everywhere4 ,each year the great museums of the world acquire by purchase or bequest prints which are thus forever removed from the market4 ,each year the number of persons who appreciate prints is growing2 and there is a continual increase in the number of wealthy collectors who can and will pay almost any price to obtain what they desire4 ,one may be prepared to look back1 in twenty years1 with mingled amazement and regret as he contemplates what will then seem the absurdly low prices asked for the greatest treasures to-day4 ,therefore1 without serious doubt1 the prudent collector will not suffer because of his present acquisitions4 ,it should1 however1 always be borne in mind that the very finest prints--those which seem most expensive to-day--are the ones that will rise most rapidly in value as time passes4 ,poor impressions1 soiled copies1 and second-rate compositions will never be very rare2 but the supremely fine sheets--scarce enough now--will grow scarcer with every year4 ,nevertheless1 collecting as an investment is not advocated4 ,if the collector is not moved by the delight he gets from the sthetic qualities of the prints1 he had far better leave them entirely alone4 ,nothing but the passion of real enthusiasm and perception will enable him to select the best works2 and without this selection his prints are not likely to be of much ultimate value4 ,when1 however1 the collector makes his acquisitions out of pure love for their beauty1 it is right and prudent that he should consider their value in later years4 ,such a collector need have no fear2 what was to him a delight and a dissipation will probably in the end prove to his heirs an investment of profit4 ,,forgeries4 ,the collector must be constantly on his guard against reprints1 forgeries1 and reproductions4 ,these are not as common as some writers believe2 but they exist4 ,reprints are impressions made at a time so long after the original edition that they have not the original colouring4 ,the register of such prints is generally faulty1 and the lines are not sharp4 ,so long as the blocks are in existence these reprints are possible4 ,early reprints are merely late editions of the originals1 and are not objectionable if the blocks have not become worn2 but late ones are undesirable4 ,a print made to-day from the original blocks of ,harunobu1 did they exist1 would have no value4 ,forgeries are works produced in the style and over the signature of some famous artist4 ,since they have no prototype among the artist's real works1 they present difficulties of their own2 there is no genuine copy of the same print with which to compare them4 ,they are very rare2 their chief occurrence is in the cases of ,harunobu and ,utamaro4 ,reproductions are prints made from new blocks cut in imitation of the original ones4 ,for unknown reasons a second edition of certain prints sometimes was made very shortly after the first1 from re-cut blocks4 ,these prints have no necessary difference in beauty or value from those of the first edition4 ,but such cases are few4 ,far commoner are the reproductions proper--most of them copies made within the last twenty-five years1 sometimes with fraudulent intent1 and sometimes merely as honest commercial copies4 ,in either case1 they may be used fraudulently by a present owner4 ,the ordinary modern reproduction is not difficult to detect4 ,it is generally on a harder1 brittler paper than a genuine print4 ,the feeling of the paper between one's fingers is more like that of our wrapping-paper than like that of the old soft papers used by the ,ukioye artists4 ,its surface is compact and glassy1 not spongy and pliant4 ,it has a starchy stiffness1 and lacks the soft1 luminous tone of the genuine4 ,generally the lines of the block are clumsily cut1 lacking the grace and strength of the original2 and a careful and minute comparison with an original impression of the same print will invariably show difference in small details of the lines4 ,even the ,japanese are not skilful enough to cut a new block precisely like the old one4 ,the colours of a reproduction constitute perhaps the most definite danger signal4 ,they are1 as a rule1 flat and dead1 lacking the soft brilliancy of the old colours4 ,very seldom are they graded with care--a repellent harshness marks them4 ,particularly does the blue lack the life and depth of the genuine blue2 and the red and yellow are likely to be staring4 ,freshness and perfect preservation are never1 in the absence of other signs1 to be regarded as evidence of recent production4 ,conversely1 it is only the merest bungler who regards worm-holes or faded1 browned1 and damaged condition as any evidence of age4 ,the ,japanese use tea-leaves and various other devices to give this time-worn appearance to the most flagrant reproductions4 ,for all ,i know1 they may have trained worms to eat holes4 ,these damaged1 tea-soaked prints would be almost worthless even if they were genuine4 ,the stray tourist in ,japan1 however1 customarily accumulates a large number of these soiled tatters1 fearing to touch the fresh-looking copies4 ,and the ,japanese willingly calm his fears by soaking and soiling their reprints4 ,there are1 however1 a few reproductions of so fine a quality that detection is extremely difficult4 ,these are the sheets over which experts shake their heads and go away muttering1 to return for councils and deliberations and sometimes total disagreement4 ,there exists in an ,american collection a certain ,kiyonaga print which half a dozen experts believe to be a modern fraud1 though another half-dozen are prepared to defend its authenticity until ,judgment ,day4 ,work of this quality is expensive to produce1 and the price asked for it is therefore always high4 ,certain specific reproductions are to be guarded against4 ,many fraudulent copies of ,hiroshige's ,monkey ,bridge and ,kiso ,snow ,gorge are on the market2 all those ,i have ever seen are so poor in colour and so different in line-details that it seems incredible that anyone should be deceived4 ,several of the ,tokaido ,set have been imitated1 rather poorly2 and also some of the ,birds and ,flowers4 ,quite recently1 there has appeared a remarkable ,lake ,biwa set1 produced with such beauty and skill that several of the greatest authorities in the world were at first deceived by it4 ,hokusai's ,imagery of the ,poets1 ,waterfalls1 ,thirty-six ,views of ,fuji1 and ,loocho ,islands1 have been reprinted2 the colours and the lines are a little imperfect2 and no one who uses care need be misled by them4 ,they are1 however1 good enough to be dangerous to the beginner4 ,utamaro's most famous works1 particularly the ,awabi ,shell-,divers triptych1 have been reprinted fairly well4 ,perilous imitations of several of the ,primitives are extant2 the stiff paper is almost the only means of detection4 ,sharaku has been reprinted dangerously well2 one lately discovered fraudulent print of his sold for a high price at ,sotheby's some years ago1 and subsequently passed unquestioned through the hands of a dozen ,english and ,american experts1 until finally an accidental comparison of it with a genuine sheet revealed points of difference4 ,another copy of this same reproduction remains to this day as the treasured possession of a well-known ,english collection4 ,possibly the most dangerous of all forgeries and reprints are those of ,harunobu's small square prints1 for they have sometimes been produced with notable skill4 ,even the greatest experts have been deceived by them4 ,fenollosa1 at ,no4 #aca of the ,ketcham ,catalogue1 describes in the most glowing terms1 as the central point of all ,ukioye1 a print which its present owner has found to be a reproduction1 not thirty years old1 and has discarded from his collection4 ,the reputable dealers1 often men of much experience1 never offer reproductions for sale1 though they1 like any one else1 may occasionally be deceived by the finest of the fraudulent ones4 ,they use their best skill to protect their customers1 and the protection is generally efficient4 ,if1 however1 a dealer is unwilling to give assurance in writing that the print is genuine1 or if his stock contains more than the two or three reproductions accountable for on the ground of bad judgment1 he should be avoided as untrustworthy4 ,the experienced collector1 who has seen and handled tens of thousands of prints1 becomes accustomed to the texture of the various papers1 the tones of the various colours1 and the contours of line-cutting4 ,his familiarity produces in him a sixth sense which is his instinctive guide in the detection of frauds4 ,later investigation may define his original impression and prove it to have been correct2 but in the first instance he relies on intuition4 ,the less experienced collector has no such guide2 and he should realize that he has not1 and not try to evolve one from his inner consciousness4 ,nothing is more ludicrous than to see such a person in a print-shop in ,japan4 ,he turns over pile after pile of prints1 selecting those which his judgment tells him are really old4 ,what he generally means is1 really dirty4 ,advice from bystanders is not often welcomed by him1 and the only peaceable thing one can do is to leave him to his own curious devices4 ,there is a certain malicious pleasure to be obtained in going through the piles such a collector has discarded1 and selecting from them1 as one sometimes can1 a flawlessly preserved copy of some fine print which he passed by as too fresh-looking to be anything but fraudulent4 ,but when he returns to his hotel at night and exhibits triumphantly the treasures he has garnered during the day1 it would be a hard heart that could do anything but keep silent and weep inwardly4 ,the sixth sense can be relied on only if one has had much experience4 ,if one is inexperienced1 the safe way is to ask expert advice4 ,for the experienced collector ,i venture to suggest only one maxim4 ,if vaguely suspicious of a print1 but unable to tell exactly why1 discard the print4 ,your whole accumulated experience is indefinably expressing itself in your suspicion2 and nine times out of ten it is right4 ,,care ,,of ,a ,,collection4 ,when a print is once properly prepared and mounted1 it needs no further care except protection from injury4 ,prolonged exposure to sunlight is not desirable1 since fading may result2 dampness is to be guarded against because of the danger of mildew1 a terrible foe2 care in handling must be exercised1 so that the print be not rubbed1 creased1 or torn4 ,but if these elementary precautions are employed1 the print will take care of itself4 ,it may be worth while for the benefit of the beginner to trace the steps that are taken by a collector between the time when he becomes the owner of a new print and the time when he puts it away in his portfolios as an established part of his collection4 ,the first step is to examine the print with care and ascertain what1 if any1 processes are necessary to prepare it for mounting4 ,if the condition of the sheet is flawless1 nothing is required4 ,if its condition is in one way or another defective1 it is the task of the collector to determine whether any operation within his command can remedy the defect1 and to decide how he will accomplish his end4 ,this is perhaps a proper place to caution the inexperienced1 and in some cases even the experienced collector1 against acts of vandalism4 ,to cut down1 colour1 or otherwise mutilate a print1 is one of those unforgivable offences which often demonstrate conclusively how easy it is for a fool to destroy in five minutes the achievement of a genius's lifetime4 ,one well-known collector1 now dead1 boiled his ,harunobus in paraffin to give them lustre2 another painted branches into the pillar-prints of ,koriusai2 another cut down the size of his ,hiroshiges1 leaving only those portions that particularly pleased him4 ,if the feelings of later collectors have any potency in heaven1 these men are now in hell4 ,not only is any attempt to improve upon the artist's work a contemptible piece of presumption1 but even the mere effort to repair damages inflicted by time may be an unwise venture4 ,frequently such injuries could be remedied by an expert were it not that some preceding bungler1 with the best intentions in the world1 has1 out of sheer inexperience1 made the injuries irreparable4 ,for example1 if a print comes into the expert's hands untouched he can literally slice off a microscopic layer of the paper and thus remove a bad surface-spot2 but if the paper has been tampered with by ignorant attempts to erase1 he is helpless4 ,tears1 stains1 abrasions1 and chemical decomposition may yield to skilful treatment2 but unless one knows with the utmost exactitude what he expects to accomplish and how he intends to proceed at every step1 he had best leave the matter strictly alone1 or entrust it to other hands4 ,if the collector will remember that1 though he is the present owner of his prints1 he is not the final owner1 he will be impelled to move with caution in his handling of them4 ,long after he is dead and forgotten1 generations of lovers of beauty will treasure the sheets he once owned1 and he will deserve their reproaches or their thanks according to the respect he has shown for these works4 ,he is custodian for posterity1 and his trust is one worthy of careful thought4 ,he cannot do better than bear constantly in mind what should be the golden rule for collectors in all fields3 ,make no repairs1 institute no changes1 that cannot be altered2 never do anything to a work of art that cannot be undone by its next owner4 ,trim no margins2 it is easy to mat them4 ,do not try to make more decent the objectionable rendering of a nude2 sell the print to some one who does not find this rendering objectionable4 ,if the colour has faded out1 do not try to paint it in2 possibly some one else may find the mere black-and-white composition beautiful1 and he may prefer to see even the faded work of ,kiyonaga rather than ,kiyonaga plus the improvizations of a doubtless less illustrious designer4 ,no one needs such cautions as little as do the few experts whose experience renders them competent to attempt what are almost capital operations4 ,they are1 of all collectors1 the most reluctant to essay any manipulation whatsoever4 ,to witness the repeated examinations and deliberations which the competent workman expends on so simple a question as whether or not a certain black spot shall be restored to its original orange hue is to learn a serious lesson4 ,the first of the steps to be taken in improving the condition of a print will generally be washing4 ,if a print is badly wrinkled or creased1 or if it appears to have dust and dirt on its surface1 a bath is the best possible thing for it4 ,a perfectly fresh print should never be washed2 nothing is to be gained by it1 and much may be lost4 ,for in many cases a little of the colour will come out in the course of the process1 and the brilliance of the print will suffer slightly4 ,certain prints should be washed only if it is absolutely necessary4 ,harunobu prints with transparent red in them1 ,shuncho's that have purple1 and any print that contains a delicate pigment known to collectors as surimono blue1 should be kept out of water if possible4 ,these colours are not fast1 and they are likely to go down in tone1 or even run over into the adjoining parts of the print4 ,the yellows and greens are as a rule unchanging1 but a large number of the other colours are subject to modification1 particularly in the work of the ,kiyonaga and ,utamaro ,periods4 ,the prints of ,hiroshige and ,hokusai generally undergo no change4 ,prints with silver backgrounds should not be washed1 and pillar-prints that consist of two joined sheets of paper should be kept in water only long enough to become wet through2 longer immersions will cause the sheets to separate1 and necessitate troublesome work in rejoining them4 ,the process of washing is simple4 ,a large vessel--a prosaic bath-tub is as good as anything--is filled with luke-warm water1 and the print is put in and allowed to soak for a few minutes4 ,if another sheet of paper has been pasted on the back of the print1 this is carefully peeled off after the paste has become thoroughly wet4 ,adhering daubs of paste may be rubbed off with the fingers4 ,sometimes a very brown and dirty print can be cleaned a little by spreading it out while wet on a sheet of glass and applying a solution of some good washing-soap4 ,such a proceeding should be resorted to only in case of extreme dirtiness2 and prolonged soaking in clear water should follow4 ,when the washing is finished1 the print is lifted from the water and allowed to drain for a few seconds1 and is then carefully spread face downwards on a fresh sheet of heavy unglazed cardboard of the kind known as blank4 ,by means of a large damp brush or a delicately handled cloth1 the back of the print is smoothed out so that it lies perfectly flat and even4 ,another sheet of cardboard is then placed on top of it1 and the two sheets1 with the print between them1 are put away under heavy weights1 such as two or three portfolios1 and allowed to remain untouched for twenty-four hours or more4 ,a good deal of dirt1 and unfortunately a little colour1 will generally soak out of the print and into the cardboard4 ,when dry1 the print peels neatly away from the cardboard1 with its surface freshened and smoothed1 sometimes almost remade4 ,thin1 worn1 or disintegrated prints are difficult to handle during these processes2 when wet1 they tear like damp cigarette-paper4 ,sometimes prints that have been damaged and skilfully mended will float away in two or three pieces upon immersion4 ,these and other possible troubles make it advisable that the inexperienced collector venture not too boldly in trying experiments4 ,at least let him begin on prints of no value4 ,after the print is dry1 worm-holes or tears can be mended either by patching or inlaying4 ,generally it is best to dampen the paper before attempting this4 ,the simplest form of repair is to paste back of the hole a small piece of paper of the same colour as the print4 ,a collector will have on hand a number of worthless damaged prints of various shades1 out of which he cuts pieces for this purpose4 ,inlaying is more difficult2 it involves either inserting a piece of paper cut to match the hole exactly1 or inserting loose paper-pulp which is moulded to fill the hole4 ,both processes require more skill than the average collector can master1 and are best left to the expert4 ,stains and spots present difficult problems4 ,some are superficial1 and can be gradually sliced off with a very sharp thin knife--an operation that will invariably result in the ruin of the print if tried by a novice4 ,minute knowledge of the behaviour of the curious fibrous ,japanese paper is necessary for success2 the expert generally works under a glass1 and prays continuously while he works4 ,stains that have soaked deeply into the paper are almost hopeless4 ,mildew discoloration is ineradicable4 ,grease-spots sometimes yield to ether1 benzine1 or other common solvents4 ,the use of these is1 however1 a desperate remedy2 they may spoil the print even if they remove the spot4 ,certain chemical changes in the pigments can be reversed1 and the original colour restored4 ,the blackening of tan1 that orange pigment used by ,koriusai and many other artists1 can be removed and the original brilliance brought back4 ,the same is true of a certain white that blackens with time4 ,the processes employed are1 however1 easily capable of misuse2 and the few persons who know the methods prefer not to make them public4 ,if a portion of a print is missing1 due to a tear or to the ravages of moths1 it is legitimate and desirable to tint the paper that is used to fill in the hole so that it matches its surroundings4 ,water-colours and a fine brush are employed4 ,but on no account should the surface of the print itself be painted2 if the colour has worn off in spots1 any attempt to restore it will merely increase the damage still further4 ,a very thin print1 or one that has been torn in several places1 is best treated by pasting on the back of it while damp a dampened sheet of thin1 tough ,japanese paper4 ,the operation1 simple as it sounds1 is difficult and requires practice to produce a smooth result4 ,some collectors paste down the four edges of their prints on thin sheets of cardboard to preserve their flatness4 ,the practice is an undesirable one2 it prevents any examination of the back of the print2 and does not achieve its end1 since the print and the mount expand and contract differently1 and wrinkles are almost sure to appear eventually4 ,the better practice is to apply a mere touch of paste to the two upper corners of the print1 and affix these lightly to the mount4 ,over this is then placed a mat1 with a hole cut to fit the print exactly1 covering and holding down the print's edges1 and protecting it from abrasions4 ,the size of the mount and mat is determined by individual taste2 #c or #d inches margin would seem to be the minimum desirable4 ,after many experiments ,i have adopted #bb #ae inches as the size for my own collection4 ,mr4 ,gookin prefers #be #af2 but he also finds #bc #ae satisfactory if the economy of space is any object4 ,as to thickness1 tastes also differ2 the mount should be at least thick enough not to bend much with ordinarily careful handling4 ,heavy ,japanese ,vellum makes the best mats2 it is expensive1 but it greatly enhances the appearance of the prints4 ,for triptychs and pillar-prints1 a much larger and heavier mount is required than in the case of ordinary sheets4 ,if the collector has only a few of the former1 he may prefer to mount the three sheets separately1 for convenience in storing1 and place the three mounts side by side only when exhibiting them4 ,if the two end sheets are mounted so that they come very close to the right and to the left-hand edges of their respective mounts1 the effect of the three assembled is by no means bad2 and the ease of handling them is an advantage4 ,only the most perfectly matched triptychs can in any case dispense with the necessity of narrow strips left in the mat to cover the junction-edges of the sheets4 ,some collectors have card-catalogues in which they keep all information relating to each print4 ,others use the bottom of the mount under the mat for that purpose4 ,for a large collection the former is preferable2 for a small one1 the latter4 ,the mounted prints are best kept in portfolios or ,solander-boxes1 laid flat on shelves and protected from dust as much as possible4 ,within the portfolio or box1 the arrangement that is most useful is the chronological one4 ,there have been in the past several collections1 such as the ,hayashi and ,wakai1 whose owners felt it to be appropriate that they stamp their private seals upon the face of each print held by them4 ,it is useless to comment upon the wisdom or unwisdom of their course2 for the thing is done1 and many a fine print is now indelibly branded with these insignia4 ,but it may be pointed out that the present practice of reputable collectors does not sanction such acts4 ,should any collector who happens to read these lines contemplate thus immortalizing himself1 ,i suggest that he seriously consider whether even one small seal is not a disturbing factor when injected into a design so subtly calculated as the finest prints4 ,further1 if one collector may so stamp his prints1 all others surely have a similar privilege2 and if the habit became universal1 what would be the appearance of a print which1 in the next two hundred years1 should pass--as a print might easily pass--through the hands of twenty collectors8 ,and lastly1 is there not a certain betrayal of petty conceit when the mere temporary owner of a great work of art judges the fact of his brief ownership to be of such importance that future generations must be told of it2 and so places his own emblem beside that of the creator of the print--beside the name of the immortal ,kiyonaga or ,sharaku8 ,,conclusion4 ,the day is coming--perhaps it is already here--when the ,japanese ,print will become the spiritual possession of a wider circle than that limited group of collectors who have been devoted to it in the past4 ,alien though this art is1 it has power to penetrate to regions of the mind which ,western art too often leaves unvisited4 ,much is said unwisely about the elevating and educative power of art4 ,the man in the street has come to believe that the elevating force resides in the theme which a work of art presents--that a picture of ,galahad riding for the ,grail is a lofty thing1 and that a picture of the wings of the theatre during a ballet is a base one4 ,hence has arisen that unspeakably childish modern school of middle-class painters whose pictures with a story--generally a sentimental or edifying story--are the terror of the art-lover4 ,after them1 no wonder that even the ,cubists came as a relief4 ,as every artist knows1 the elevating power that resides in the mere subject of a picture has at best no more force than a moral maxim2 the mind may assent to it1 but the heart is unmoved4 ,the same may be said in the case of a poem4 ,the glory of poetry is not that it furnishes elevated sentiments in rhyme for public speakers to quote1 but that it embodies music and thought combined in so fitly proportioned and expressive a structure that the reader carries away with him a certain acquaintance with perfection and a lasting desire for ideal beauty in everything4 ,thus it is only through its power to cultivate the spectator's sense of form that art may be called elevating4 ,close familiarity with the productions of great artists gradually develops in the spectator an understanding of proportion1 harmony1 and conscious design1 evoking in him the ability to perceive and even create order and freedom4 ,because of the fact that the best ,japanese prints are so superb an expression of the sense of form1 they may be rated high as cultural agents4 ,in them the eye finds little or no distraction occasioned by mere subject4 ,here speak the pure elements of artistic creation1 liberated from combination with elements of accidental and personal charm4 ,they contain the quintessence of all those harmonious and significant qualities which men desire of life4 ,he who really takes them into his consciousness will be repelled by disorder1 dullness1 and indeterminateness all his days4 ,and probably the world will be saved by its hatred of these things4 ,therefore the ,japanese print cannot be regarded as primarily a pattern for future designers of wood-engraving2 it appears to have a far wider and deeper office to perform4 ,,index ,,index ,actors1 #acd1 #cjd1 #cjf ,anchi1 see ,kwaigetsud ,ando1 see ,kwaigetsud ,anshin1 see ,yasunobu ,ashikuni1 #cef ,ashimaro1 #bii ,ashiyuki1 #cef ,banki1 #bih ,banto1 #agc ,bokusen1 #cge ,buddhism1 #ee ,,buncho1 #ahe1 #bji1 #dbf ,bunkaku1 see ,okumura ,masanobu ,bunro1 #bii ,chikamaro1 see ,kiosai ,chikanobu1 #bii ,chikashige1 #cec ,chincho1 #ia ,chiryu1 #agc ,,choki1 #cai1 #dbg ,chsh1 see ,nagamatsu ,condition1 #dah ,courtesan1 see ,yoshiwara ,denroku1 #ajh ,dohan1 see ,kwaigetsud ,doshin1 see ,kwaigetsud ,doshu1 see ,kwaigetsud ,forgeries1 #dcb ,fujinobu1 #ajh1 #agc ,furuyama1 #ge ,fusanobu1 #ajh ,fuyo1 #bii ,gakutei1 #cgd ,gangakusai1 #cge ,genpachi1 see ,okumura ,masanobu ,genroku ,era1 #fe1 #acd ,genshichi1 #hj ,ginsetsu1 see ,fusanobu ,gogaku1 see ,gakutei ,gokei1 #cge ,gokyo1 #bgh ,goshichi1 #bii ,gosotei1 #cea1 #cih ,gyokushi1 #aeg ,hanamaro1 #bii ,hanzan1 #cef ,haruhiro1 see ,koriusai ,haruji1 #agc ,harumachi1 see ,utamaro ,,ii ,harumitsu1 #bcd ,harunobu1 #abi1 #acf1 #bjh1 #dbb1 #dbf ,harushige1 #aga ,harutoshi1 #ajh ,harutsugu1 #agc ,hasegawa ,toun1 #ge ,hidemaro1 #bii ,hirosada1 #cef ,,hiroshige ,i1 #ceg1 #cge1 #dae1 #dbf ,hiroshige ,,ii1 #cig ,hiroshige ,,iii1 #cih ,hisanobu1 #bii ,hgetsud1 see ,okumura ,masanobu ,hokkei1 #cgd ,hokuba1 #cge ,hokuga1 #cge ,hokuju1 #cgd ,hokumio1 #cef ,,hokusai1 #beh1 #cgi1 #dbg ,hokushu1 #cef ,hokusui1 #cge ,hokutai1 #cge ,hokutei1 #cge ,hoku-un1 #cge ,hokuyei1 #cge ,hokuyo1 #cge ,hriu1 #agc ,isai1 #cge ,ise ,monogatari1 #ef1 #ahb ,isomaro1 #bii ,iyeyasu1 #di ,juzan1 #cge ,kagetoshi1 #cef ,kako1 see ,hokusai ,kammy1 see ,okumura ,masanobu ,kanamaro1 #bii ,kano ,school1 #ej1 #eb1 #ed ,katsukawa ,school1 #abi ,katsumasa 7,kichikawa71 #ie ,katsumasa 7,yoshimura71 #ge ,katsunobu1 #ie ,keiju1 #cge ,keisai1 see ,masayoshi ,keri1 #cge ,kichi1 #ge ,kikumaro ,i1 #bih ,kikumaro ,,ii1 #bih ,kiosai1 #cec ,kisen1 #agc ,kitamaro1 #bii ,kiyoaki1 #ib ,kiyofusa1 #hd1 #abc1 #ced ,kiyoharu 7,torii71 #abd ,kiyoharu 7,kondo ,sukegoro71 #ib ,kiyohide 7,torii71 #abd ,kiyohide ,,ii1 #bcd ,kiyohiro1 #abc ,kiyohisa1 #bcd ,kiyokatsu1 #bcd ,kiyokuni1 #cec ,kiyomasa1 #bcd ,,kiyomasu1 #hd1 #hh ,kiyomine1 #hd1 #abc1 #ced ,,kiyomitsu1 #hd1 #aaf ,kiyomitsu ,,ii1 see ,kiyomine ,kiyomitsu ,,iii1 see ,kiyofusa ,kiyomoto 7,torii71 #abd ,kiyomoto ,,ii1 #cee ,,kiyonaga1 #hd1 #bag1 #bda1 #bei1 #dje1 #dbf ,,kiyonobu ,i1 #hc ,,kiyonobu ,,ii1 #hg1 #ij ,kiyonobu 7,kondo71 #ie ,kiyor1 #ie ,kiyosada ,i1 #cee ,kiyosada ,,ii1 #ced ,kiyosato1 #abd ,kiyoshige1 #ia ,kiyosomo1 #ib ,kiyotada ,i1 #ia ,kiyotada ,,ii1 #cee ,kiyotada ,,iii1 #cee ,kiyotomo1 #ib ,kiyotei1 #bcd ,kiyotoki1 #bcd ,kiyotoshi1 #abd ,kiyotsugi1 #bcd ,kiyotsune 7,torii71 #abd ,kiyotsune ,,ii1 #bcd ,kiyoyasu1 #cee ,kiyoyuki1 #bcd ,kogan1 #agc ,kokan1 see ,shiba ,kokan ,komatsuken1 #agc ,,koriusai1 #aeg1 #aei ,kuniaki1 #cec ,kuniao ,i1 #cec ,kuniao ,,ii1 #cec ,kunichika1 #cec ,kunifusa1 #cec ,kunihana1 #cec ,kunihiko1 #cec ,kunikane ,i1 #cec ,kunikane ,,ii1 #cec ,kunihiro1 #cec ,kunihisa1 #cec ,kunikatsu1 #cec ,kunikiyo1 #cec ,kunimaro1 #bii ,kunimaru ,i1 #cec ,kunimaru ,,ii1 #cec ,kunimasa ,i1 #cah1 #ceb ,kunimasa ,,ii1 see ,kunisada ,,ii ,kunimasa ,,iii1 see ,kunisada ,,iii ,kunimichi ,i1 #cec ,kunimichi ,,ii1 #cec ,kunimitsu1 #cec ,kunimune1 #cec ,kuninaga1 #cec ,kuninobu ,i1 #agc ,kuninobu ,,ii1 #cec ,kunisada ,i1 #cea ,kunisada ,,ii1 #ceb ,kunisada ,,iii1 #ceb ,kunitada1 #cec ,kunitaka1 #cec ,kunitohisa1 #cec ,kunitaki1 #cec ,kunitane1 #cec ,kunitera1 #cec ,kuniteru1 #cec ,kunitoki1 #cec ,kunitora1 #cec ,kunitsugi ,i1 #cec ,kunitsugi ,,ii1 #cec ,kunitsuma1 #cec ,kuniyasu ,i1 #cec ,kuniyasu ,,ii1 #cii ,kuniyoshi1 #cge ,kuniyuki1 #cec ,kuzayeimon1 #ajh ,,kwaigetsud1 #gi ,kyden1 see ,kitao ,masanobu ,kyosen1 #aeg ,kyuyeimon1 #ajh ,landscape1 #cef ,magosaburo1 see ,shigenaga ,mangetsud1 #aje ,masafusa1 #aje ,masanobu 7,hishikawa71 #ge ,,masanobu 7,kitao71 #bdh1 #dbg ,,masanobu 7,okumura71 #ie ,masanojo1 #ge ,masataka1 #ge ,masayoshi1 #bej ,masks1 #cjd ,masunobu 7,tanaka71 #ib1 #agc ,masunobu ,,ii1 #ib1 #agb ,matabei1 #eh1 #gc ,mazunobu1 #ie ,michimaro1 #bii ,minemaro1 #bii ,minko1 #agc ,mitemaro1 #bii ,mitsunobu1 #ie ,morikuni1 #ge ,morobei1 #ge ,morofusa1 #ge ,moromasa1 #ge ,moromori1 #ge ,moronaga1 #ge ,,moronobu1 #fi ,moroshige1 #ge ,morotada1 #abd ,morotane1 #ge ,morotsugi1 #ge ,motonobu1 #aje ,muranobu1 #agc ,nagahide ,i1 #ajh ,nagahide ,,ii1 #cbh ,nagamatsu1 #cbh ,nagayoshi1 see ,choki ,nichiren1 #eh ,niho1 #cge ,nishimura ,school1 #aje ,n ,drama1 #cjc ,norihide1 see ,kwaigetsud ,norishige1 see ,kwaigetsud ,noritatsu1 see ,kwaigetsud ,nudes1 #aae1 #abc1 #bbb ,oiran1 see ,yoshiwara ,omume1 #ib ,osaka ,school1 #cee ,osawa1 #ge ,otsu-ye1 #fg ,pillar ,prints1 #ajj1 #abc1 #aea1 #afd1 #bcc ,primitives1 #fc1 #abg1 #bjg1 #dbf ,polychrome1 #adj ,printing1 #dj1 #dad ,prices1 #dbe ,ranko1 #cef ,renshi1 #cge ,rihei1 #ajh ,riusen1 #ge ,riushu1 #ge ,rosen1 #aeg ,ryokin1 #eh ,ryujo1 #ge ,ryukoku1 #bii ,ryusai1 #cge ,ryushi1 #agc ,sadafusa1 #cef ,sadaharu1 #ajh ,sadahide1 #djj ,sadahiro1 #cef ,sadakage1 #cef ,sadamasa1 #cef ,sadamasu1 #cef ,sadanobu 7,hasegawa71 #cef1 #cii ,sadanobu 7,tamura71 #ib ,sadatora1 #cef ,sadatoshi1 #ie ,sadayoshi1 #cef ,sanch1 #bcd ,seiko1 #agc ,sekicho1 #bii ,sekiga1 #aih ,sekiho1 #bii ,sekijo1 #bii ,sekiyen1 #bhe1 #cbj ,sekkyo1 #bii ,sencho1 #cec ,senga1 #aeg ,senka1 #bii ,senkwado1 see ,shigenaga ,,sharaku1 #aid1 #bfj1 #bii1 #cbc1 #dje1 #dbf ,shiba ,kokan1 #aef1 #aga ,shigefusa1 #ajh ,shigeharu1 #ajh ,,shigemasa1 #ahb1 #aii1 #bja1 #dbf ,shigemasa ,,iii1 see ,yoshimaro ,i ,,shigenaga1 #aje ,shigenobu 7,hirose71 #ajh ,shigenobu 7,ichiusai71 see ,hiroshige ,,ii ,shigenobu 7,kawashima71 #ge ,shigenobu 7,nishimura71 #aje1 #ajg ,shigenobu 7,rykwado ,ichiichido71 #ajh ,shigenobu 7,tsunegawa71 #ajg ,shigenobu 7,yamamoto71 #ajh ,shigenobu 7,yanagawa71 #big1 #cgd ,shigeyama1 #cge ,shiko1 see ,choki ,shoha1 #agc ,shoshin1 see ,masayoshi ,shikimaro1 #bih ,shiro1 see ,kiyonobu ,,ii ,shoyu1 #aih ,shimbei1 #ge ,shinsai1 #cge ,shintoku1 #bii ,shoshoken1 see ,komatsuken ,shucho1 #bih ,shuha1 see ,ishikawa ,toyonobu ,,shuncho 7,katsukawa71 #bcg1 #dbg ,shuncho 7,koikawa71 see ,utamaro ,,ii ,shunbeni1 #cec ,shundo1 #aih ,shunkaku1 #aih ,shunken1#aih ,shunki1 #aih ,shunkio1 #aih ,shunkiosai1 #bii ,shunjo1 see ,shunyei ,shunk 7,harumitsu71 see ,harumitsu ,,shunko 7,katsukawa71 #aig1 #dbf ,shunko ,,ii1 #aih1 #bcd ,shunko 7,kichosai71 #aih ,shunkyoku1 #aih ,shunri1 #aih ,surimono1 #cgc ,shunrin1 #aih ,,shunman1 #bdf1 #dbg ,shunro1 see ,hokusai ,shunshi1 #cef ,shunsei1 #aih ,shuntei1 #aih ,shunsen1 #cii ,,shunsho 7,katsukawa71 #acd1 #agd1 #ahf1 #aic1 #aii1 #bja1 #bjh1 #dbf ,shunsho ,,ii1 #cef ,shunsui1 #agg ,shuntoku1 #aih ,,shunyei1 #aic1 #cjj1 #dbf ,shunyen1 #aih ,shunzan1 #bde ,shuseido1 #aje ,soan1 #agc ,sobai1 #aih ,sogaku1 #bii ,sogiku1 #agc ,soraku1 #bgi1 #bii ,sori1 see ,hokusai ,sugakudo1 #cec ,suiyo1 #agc ,,sukenobu1 #ge ,tadeharu1 #ie ,taigaku1 #cge ,taito1 see ,hokusai and ,yanagawa ,shigenobu ,takahashi1 see ,rosen ,takemaro1 #bih ,tanchosai1 see ,okumura ,masanobu ,tange1 #ge ,terunobu1 #ib ,terushige1 #ib ,theatre1 #acc1 also see ,actors ,toban1 see ,kwaigetsud ,tojin1 see ,kwaigetsud ,tokugawa ,dynasty1 #di ,tominobu1 #cec ,tomofusa1 #ge ,torii ,school1 #hd ,tosa ,school1 #ec ,toshimaro1 #bii ,toshinobu1 #ajd ,toshiyuki1 #ge ,tosh1 see ,kwaigetsud ,,toyoharu1 #aii1 #bjj ,toun1 #ge ,,toyohiro ,i1 #cbj1 #cch1 #dbg ,toyohiro ,,ii1 #cec ,toyohisa1 #bja ,toyokiyo1 #cec ,,toyokuni ,i1 #cbh1 #cci1 #dbg ,toyokuni ,,ii1 see ,gosotei ,toyokuni ,,iii1 see ,kunisada ,i ,toyokuni ,,iv1 see ,kunisada ,,ii ,toyokuni ,v1 see ,kunisada ,,iii ,toyokuma1 #abd ,toyomaro1 #bih ,toyomaru1 #bja ,toyomasu1 #abd ,toyonaga1 #abd ,,toyonobu 7,ishikawa71 #ajh1 #bjj ,toyonobu 7,utagawa71 #bjj ,toyoshige1 see ,gosotei ,triptych1 #bcj ,tsukimaro 7,kitagawa71 see ,kikumaro ,i ,tsukimaro 7,tanimoto71 #bih ,tsukioka ,tange1 #ge ,ujimasa1 #agc ,ukioye ,school1 #ed1 #fe1 #gj ,,utamaro1 #beg1 #bfj1 #bgi1 #dbf ,utamaro ,,ii1 #bih ,utagawa ,school1 #bjj ,wagen1 #ib ,wowo1 #ge ,yamamoto ,school1 #ajh ,yasumichi1 #cge ,yasunobu1 #ajg ,yasutomo1 see ,kwaigetsud ,yeicho1 #bgi ,yeiju1 #bgi ,yeiki1 #bgi ,yeiri 7,rekisenti71 #bgi ,yeiri 7,yeishi's ,pupil71 #bgi ,yeiru1 #bgi ,yeisen1 #cih ,,yeishi1 #bfb1 #djd1 #dbg ,yeishin1 #bgi ,,yeisho1 #bgd1 #dbg ,yeisui1 #bgh ,yeizan1 #ced ,yencho1 #bii ,yenky1 #cag ,yenshi1 #aii ,yoshichika1 #cec ,yoshifuji1 #cec ,yoshifusa1 #cec ,yoshikata1 #bii ,yoshiharu1 #cec ,yoshikage1 #cec ,yoshiku1 #cef ,yoshiki1 #bii ,yoshikazu1 #cec ,yoshikuni1 #cec ,yoshimaro ,i1 #bih ,yoshimaro ,,ii1 #bih ,yoshimori1 #bii ,yoshimune1 #bii ,yoshisato1 #cec ,yoshinobu 7,fujikawa71 #ib ,yoshinobu 7,komai71 #agb1 #ajh ,yoshinobu 7,tamura71 #ib ,yoshinobu 7,yamomoto71 #ajh1 #agb ,yoshitaki1 #cec ,yoshitomi1 #cec ,yoshitora1 #bii ,yoshitoshi1 #bii ,yoshitsuna1 #cec ,yoshitsuru1 #cec ,yoshitsuya1 #bii ,yoshiyuki1 #djj ,yoshiume1 #cec ,yoshiwara1 #baj1 #bei1 #bhb1 #bij ,yumiaki1 #bii ,yukimaro ,i1 #bih ,yukimaro ,,ii1 #bih ,yumisho1 #aih 99 99 99 99 99 ,,printed ,,in ,,great ,,britain ,,by ,,unwin ,,brothers1 ,,limited ,,printers1 ,,london ,,and ,,woking