,transcriber's ,notes    ,obvious       
typographical errors have been silently 
corrected4 ,variations  in hyphenation  
have been standardised but all other    
spelling and  punctuation remains       
unchanged4    ,italics are represented  
thus italic4    ,each of the            
illustrations is accompanied by a       
fac-simile of the  artist's signature4  
,illustration3 ,surimono3 ,a ,crow      
,stealing a ,sword4 ,this sword is a    
famous heirloom of the ancient house of 
,genji1 described in the old   romance  
known as 8,genji ,monogatari40 ,by      
,hokusai4       ,illustration3 ,biwa1   
the ,beautiful ,lake1 so named from its 
resemblance   in form to the            
,four-stringed ,lute4 ,by ,hiroshige4   
,,impressions                           
,,of ,,ukiyo-,,ye                       
,,the ,,school ,,of                     
,,the ,,japanese ,,colour-,,print       
,,artists                               
,,by                                    
,,dora ,,amsden                         

,the things of ,heaven                  
and of ,buddha3 ,the ,life of ,men      
and ,women4                        ,from
 the ,mang-wa of ,hokusai4              
,illustration3 ,symbol                  
,,paul ,,elder ,,and ,,company          
,,san ,,francisco ,,and ,,new ,,york    
,copyright #aije                        
by ,,paul ,,elder ,,and ,,company       
,,revised ,,edition                     
,the ,tomoye ,press                     
,,to                        ,,my        
,,brother ,,and ,,best ,,friend         
,,charles ,,watson ,,jackson            
,contents4                              
,page    ,the ,rise of ,ukiyo-ye 7,the  
,floating ,world7                       
#a      ,genroku 7,the ,golden ,era of  
,romance and ,art7                      
#ac      ,the ,school of ,torii 7,the   
,printers ,branch of ,ukiyo-ye7         
#be      ,utamaro 7,le ,fondateur de    
,l'cole de la ,vie7                     
#ce      ,the ,romance of ,hokusai      
7,master of ,ukiyo-ye7                  

#dg      ,hiroshige 7,landscape ,painter
 and ,apostle of ,impressionism7        
#eg      ,analytical ,comparisons       
between the ,masters of ,ukiyo-ye       
#fi      ,hints to ,collectors of       
,ukiyo-ye ,gems                         
#gg      ,bibliography1 for ,use of     
,students                               
#gh      ,fac-similes of the ,most      
,famous ,signatures of the ,ukiyo-ye    
,artists   #hj      ,index              
#hc                                     
,illustrations4      ,hiroshige         
,i--,biwa1 the ,beautiful ,lake1 named  
after the    four-stringed ,lute        
,frontispiece      ,suzuki              
,harunobu--,an ,illustration from the   
8,occupations of    ,women0             
,opposite ,page #bb                     
,kiyonaga--,under the ,cherry ,blooms   
8   #cj      ,toyokuni--,the ,actor     
,kikugoro                               
8   #cd      ,a,utamaro--,while ,mother 
,sleeps                                 
8   #dj      ,hokusai--,two ,ladies     

8   #dh      ,hok'kei--,a ,river ,scene 
8   #eb      ,hiroshige--,wistaria      
,viewing at ,kameido                    
8   #eh      ,yeishi--,two ,ladies      
8   #gj      ,shunko--,an actor in the  
,miyako ,dance                          
8   #gb      ,kitugawa ,yeizan--,the    
,snowstorm                              
8   #gd      ,hokusai--,one of the      
,thirty-six ,views of ,mount ,fuji      
8   #gf      ,hokusai--,surimono3 ,a    
,crow ,stealing a ,sword                
,first ,fly-leaf      ,yanagawa         
,shigenobu--,the ,ride of the ,warrior  
,miura ,kenisuke                        
,last ,fly-leaf    ,footnote ,a3 ,from  
the ,happer ,collection4                
,,impressions ,,of ,,ukiyo-,,ye         
,the ,rise of ,ukiyo-ye4                
,the ,floating ,world4      ,the ,art of
 ,ukiyo-ye is a 8spiritual rendering of 
the realism and  naturalness of the     
daily life1 intercourse with nature1 and
 imaginings1  of a lively impressionable
 race1 in the full tide of a passionate 

craving for art40 ,this characterization
 of ,jarves sums up forcibly the  motive
 of the masters of ,ukiyo-ye1 the       
,popular ,school of ,japanese ,art1  so 
poetically interpreted 8,the ,floating  
,world40    ,to the ,passionate         
,pilgrim1 and devotee of nature and art1
 who has  visited the enchanted ,orient1
 it is unnecessary to prepare the way   
for  the proper understanding of        
,ukiyo-ye4 ,this joyous idealist trusts 
less  to dogma than to impressions4 8,i 
know nothing of ,art1 but ,i know what  
,i like10 is the language of sincerity1 
sincerity which does not take  a stand  
upon creed or tradition1 nor upon cut   
and dried principles  and conventions4  
,it is truly said that 8they alone can  
pretend to  fathom the depth of feeling 
and beauty in an alien art1 who         
resolutely  determine to scrutinize it  
from the point of view of an inhabitant 
of  the place of its birth40    ,to the 
born cosmopolite1 who assimilates alien 
ideas by instinct1  or the gauging power

 of his sub-conscious intelligence1 the 
feat is  easy1 but to the less          
intuitively gifted1 it is necessary to  
serve a  novitiate1 in order to         
appreciate 8a wholly recalcitrant       
element like  ,japanese ,art1 which at  
once demands attention1 and defies      
judgment upon  accepted theories40      
,these sketches are not an individual   
expression1  but an endeavour to give in
 condensed form the opinions of those   
qualified by study and research to speak
 with authority upon the form  of       
,japanese ,art1 which in its most       
concrete development the ,ukiyo-ye      
print is now claiming the attention of  
the art world4    ,the development of   
colour printing is1 however1 only the   
objective  symbol of ,ukiyo-ye1 for1 as 
our ,western oracle1 ,professor         
,fenollosa1  said1 8,the true history of
 ,ukiyo-ye1 although including prints as
 one  of its most fascinating           
diversions1 is not a history of the     
technical  art of printing1 rather an   

sthetic history of a peculiar kind of   
design40    ,the temptation to make use 
of one more quotation1 in concluding    
these  introductory remarks1 is         
irresistible1 for in it ,walter ,pater  
sets  his seal upon art as a legitimate 
pursuit1 no matter what form it  takes1 
though irreconcilable with preconceived 
ideas and traditions4  8,the legitimate 
contention is not of one age or school  
of art against  another1 but of all     
successive schools alike1 against the   
stupidity  which is dead to the         
substance1 and the vulgarity which is   
dead to  form40    ,as the ,popular     
,school 7,ukiyo-ye7 was the outcome of  
over a thousand  years of growth1 it is 
necessary to glance back along the      
centuries in  order to understand and   
follow the processes of its development4
    ,though the origin of painting in   
,japan is shrouded in obscurity1 and    
veiled in tradition1 there is no doubt  
that ,china and ,corea were the  direct 
sources from which she derived her art2 

whilst more indirectly  she was         
influenced by ,persia and ,india1--the  
sacred fount of oriental  art1--as of   
religion1 which ever went hand in hand4 
,in ,china1 the ,ming dynasty gave birth
 to an original style1 which for        
centuries dominated the art of ,japan2  
the sweeping calligraphic strokes  of   
,hokusai mark the sway of hereditary    
influence1 and his wood-cutters1        
trained to follow the graceful1 fluent  
lines of his purely ,japanese  work1    
were staggered by his sudden flights    
into angular realism4    ,the ,chinese  
and ,buddhist schools of art dated from 
the sixth century1  and in ,japan the   
,emperor ,heizei founded an imperial    
academy in #hjh4  ,this academy1 and the
 school of ,yamato1 founded by          
,motomitsu in the  eleventh century1 led
 up to the celebrated school of ,tosa1  
which with  ,kano1 its august and       
aristocratic rival1 held undisputed     
supremacy for  centuries1 until         
challenged by plebeian ,ukiyo-ye1 the   

school of the  common people of ,japan4 
,tosa has been characterized as the     
8manifestation of ardent faith1  through
 the purity of an ethereal style40 ,tosa
 represented the taste  of the court of 
,kyoto1 and was relegated to the service
 of the  aristocracy2 it reflected the  
esoteric mystery of ,shinto and the     
hallowed entourage of the divinely      
descended ,mikado4 ,the ceremonial  of  
the court1 its ftes and religious       
solemnities1--dances attended  by       
daimios1 in robes of state falling in   
full harmonious folds1--were  depicted  
with consummate elegance and delicacy of
 touch1 which  betrayed familiarity with
 the occult methods of ,persian         
miniature  painting4 ,the ,tosa artists 
used very fine1 pointed brushes1 and set
  off the brilliance of their colouring 
with resplendent backgrounds  in gold   
leaf1 and it is to ,tosa we owe the     
intricate designs1 almost  microscopic  
in detail1 which are to be seen upon the
 most beautiful  specimens of gold      

lacquer work2 and screens1 which for    
richness have  never been surpassed4    
,japanese ,art was ever dominated by the
 priestly hierarchy1 and also by        
temporal rulers1 and of this the school 
of ,tosa was a noted example1 as  it    
received its title from the             
painter-prince1 ,tsunetaka1 who1 besides
  being the originator of an artistic   
centre1 held the position of            
vice-governor of the province of ,tosa4 
,from its incipience1 ,tosa owed  its   
prestige to the ,mikado and his nobles1 
as later ,kano became the  official     
school of the usurping ,shoguns4 ,thus  
the religious1 political  and artistic  
history of ,japan were ever closely     
allied4 ,the ,tosa style  was combated  
by the influx of ,chinese influence1    
culminating in the  fourteenth century1 
in the rival school of ,kano4 ,the      
school of ,kano  owed its origin to     
,china4 ,at the close of the fourteenth 
century the  ,chinese ,buddhist priest1 
,josetsu1 left his own country for      

,japan1 and  bringing with him ,chinese 
tradition1 he founded a new dynasty     
whose  descendants still represent the  
most illustrious school of painting in  
,japan4 ,the ,kano school to this day   
continues to be the stronghold of       
classicism1 which in ,japan signifies   
principally adherence to ,chinese       
models1 a traditional technique1 and    
avoidance of subjects which  represent  
every-day life4 ,the ,chinese           
calligraphic stroke lay at the  root of 
the technique of ,kano1 and the         
,japanese brush owed its facility       
elementarily to the art of writing4     
,dexterous handling of the brush is     
necessary to produce these bold1        
incisive strokes1 and the signs of the  
alphabet require little expansion to    
resolve themselves into draped  forms1  
and as easily they can be decomposed    
into their abstract element4    ,walter 
,crane inculcates the wisdom of this    
method for preliminary  practice with   
the brush in his valuable study1 8,line 

and ,form10 but  the ,chinese and       
,japanese ideographs give a far wider   
scope to initial  brush work4    ,the   
early artists of ,kano reduced painting 
to an academic art1 and  destroyed      
naturalism1 until the genius of         
,masanobu1 who gave his name  to the    
school1 and still more1 that of his son1
 ,motonobu1 the real  8,kano10 grafted  
on to ,chinese models1 and monotony of  
monochrome1 a  warmth of colour and     
harmony of design which regenerated and 
revivified  the whole system4 ,kano     
yielded to ,chinese influence1 ,tosa    
combated it1  and strove for a purely   
national art1 ,ukiyo-ye bridged the     
chasm1 and  became the exponent of both 
schools1 bringing about an expansion in 
art  which could never have been        
realized by these aristocratic rivals4  
,the  vigour and force of the conquering
 ,shoguns led ,kano1 while the lustre   
of ,tosa was an emanation from the      
sanctified and veiled ,mikado4    ,the  
favourite subjects of the ,kano painters

 were chiefly ,chinese saints  and      
philosophers1 mythological and legendary
 heroes1 represented in  various        
attitudes with backgrounds of           
conventional clouds and mists1          
interspersed with symbolical emblems4   
,many of the ,kano saints and  heroes   
bear a striking resemblance to medival  
subjects1 as they are  often represented
 rising from billowy cloud masses1 robed
 in ethereal  draperies1 and with heads 
encircled by the nimbus4    ,beneath the
 brush of ,motonobu1 formal classicism  
melted4 ,in this new  movement1 says    
,kakuzo ,okakura1 8art fled from man to 
nature1 and in the  purity of ink       
landscapes1 in the graceful spray of    
bamboos and pines1  sought and found her
 asylum40    ,space will not permit a   
glance at the personnel of the many     
schools of  ,japanese ,art4 ,a lengthy  
catalogue alone would be required to    
enumerate  the masters who inaugurated  
schools1 for if an artist developed     
exceptional talent in ,japan1 he        

immediately founded an individual       
school1 and it was incumbent upon his   
descendants for generations to  adhere  
rigidly to the principles he had        
inculcated1 so becoming slaves  to      
traditional methods4    ,during the     
anarchy of the fourteenth century art   
stagnated in ,japan1  but a revival1    
corresponding with our ,european        
,renaissance1 followed4  ,the fifteenth 
century in ,japan1 as in ,europe1 was   
essentially the  age of revival4 ,wm4   
,anderson epitomizes in one pregnant    
phrase this  working power3 8,all ages  
of healthy human prosperity are more or 
less  revivals4 ,a little study would   
probably show that the ,ptolemaic era in
  ,egypt was a renaissance of the       
,theban age1 in architecture as in other
  respects1 while the golden period of  
,augustus in ,rome was largely a  ,greek
 revival40 ,there seems ever to have    
been a reciprocal action in  ,japanese  
,art4 ,tosa1 famed for delicacy of      
touch1 minuti of detail and  brilliance 

of colour1 yielded to the black and     
white1 vigorous force of  ,kano4 ,kano  
again was modified by the glowing       
colouring introduced by  ,kano ,masanobu
 and ,motonobu4 ,later we see the varied
 palette of ,miyagawa  ,choshun efface  
the monochromic simplicity of ,moronobu1
 the ringleader  of the printers of     
,ukiyo-ye4    ,the leading light in art 
in the beginning of the fifteenth       
century was  ,cho ,densu1 the ,fra      
,angelico of ,japan1 who1 a simple monk1
 serving in a  ,kyoto temple1 must in a 
trance of religious and artistic ecstasy
 have  beheld a spectrum of fadeless    
dyes1 so wondrous were the colours he   
lavished upon the draperies of his      
saints and sages4 ,the splendour of     
this beatific vision has never faded1   
for the masters who followed in  the    
footsteps of the inspired monk          
reverently preserved the secret of      
these precious shades1 till at last1 in 
the form of the ,ukiyo-ye print1  they  
were sown broadcast1 and revolutionized 

the colour sense of the  art world4     
,it has been remarked that ,japanese    
,art of the nineteenth century is  often
 nothing but a reproduction of the works
 of the ancient great  masters1 and the 
methods and mannerisms of the fifteenth 
century  artists have ever served as    
examples for later students4 ,the glory 
of  the fifteenth century was increased 
by ,mitsunobu of ,tosa1 and above  all  
by the two great ,kano artists1         
,masanobu and his son1 ,motonobu1 who   
received the title of 8,hogen10 and is  
referred to as 8,ko ,hogen10 or the     
ancient ,hogen1 of whom it has been     
remarked1 8,he filled the air with      
luminous beams40    ,by the close of the
 fifteenth century the principles of art
 in  ,japan became definitely fixed1 as1
 almost contemporaneously1 ,giotto      
established a canon of art in ,florence1
 which he1 in turn1 had received  from  
the ,attic ,greeks1 through ,cimabue1   
and which was condensed by  ,ruskin into
 a grammar of art1 under the term 8,laws

 of ,fsole40    ,the two great schools1 
,tosa and ,kano1 flourished             
independently until  the middle of the  
eighteenth century1 when the genius of  
the popular  artists1 forming the school
 of ,ukiyo-ye1 gradually fused the      
traditions  of ,tosa and ,kano1         
absorbing the methods of these rival    
schools1--which1  differing in technique
 and motive1 were united in their proud 
disdain  of the new art which dared to  
represent the manners and customs of the
  common people4 ,harunobu and ,hokusai1
 ,kiyonaga and ,hiroshige were the      
crowning glory of all the schools1--the 
artists whose genius told the  story of 
their country1 day by day1 weaving a    
century of history into  one living     
encyclopedia1 sumptuous in form1        
kaleidoscopic in colour4    ,ukiyo-ye   
prepared ,japan for intercourse with    
other nations by  developing in the     
common people an interest in other      
countries1 in  science and foreign      
culture1 and by promoting the desire to 

travel1  through the means of           
illustrated books of varied scenes4 ,to 
,ukiyo-ye1  the ,japanese owed the      
gradual expansion of international      
consciousness1  which culminated in the 
revolution of #ahfh1--;a revolution1 the
 most  astonishing in history1          
accomplished as if by miracle2 but the  
esoteric  germ of this seemingly        
spontaneous growth of ,meiji lay in the 
atelier  of the artists of ,ukiyo-ye4   
,to trace the evolution of the ,popular 
,school in its development through      
nearly three centuries is a lengthy     
study1 of deep interest4 ,the mists  of 
uncertainty gather about the lives of   
many apostles of ,ukiyo-ye1  from the   
originator1 ,iwasa ,matahei1 to         
,hiroshige1 one of the latest           
disciples1 whose changes of style and   
diversity of signature have given  rise 
to the supposition that as many as three
 artists are entitled to  the name4     
,these mists of tradition cannot be     
altogether dispersed by  such           

indefatigable students as ,m4 ,louis    
,gonse1 ,professor ,fenollosa1 ,m4      
,edmond de ,goncourt1 ,wm4 ,anderson1   
,john ,s4 ,happer and many others1 but  
by their aid the methods of ,oriental   
,art are clarified and explained4       
,iwasa ,matahei1 the date of whose birth
 is given as #aegh1 is considered  to be
 the originator of the ,popular ,school4
 ,the spontaneous growth of  great      
movements and the mystery of the source 
of genius are illustrated  in the career
 of ,matahei4 ,his environment fitted   
him to follow in the  footsteps of his  
master1 ,mitsunori of ,tosa4 ,yet the   
city of ,kyoto1  veiled in mystic       
sanctity1 where religion and princely   
patronage held  art in conventional     
shackles1 gave birth to the leader of   
the ,popular  ,school4 ,still1 was not  
,kyoto1 the sacred heart of ,japan1 a   
fit cradle  for ,ukiyo-ye1 the life and 
soul of the ,japanese people8           
,matahei and his followers entered into 
the spirit of the ,japanese             

temperament1 and from the ,popular      
,school sprang liberty and a novelty  of
 horizon4 ,the aristocratic schools had 
confined themselves to  representations 
of princely pageantry1 to portraiture1  
and to ideal  pictures of mythical      
personages1 saints and sages4 ,the      
tradition  of ,china showed in all their
 landscapes1 which reflected ethereal   
vistas classically rendered1 of an alien
 land4 ,therefore ,matahei was          
contemptuously disowned by ,tosa for    
depicting scenes from the life of  his  
countrymen1 yet the technique of ,kano  
and ,tosa were the birthright  of the   
artists of ,ukiyo-ye1 an inalienable    
inheritance in form1 into  which they   
breathed the spirit of life1 thus       
revivifying an art grown  cold and      
academical1 and frosted with tradition4 
,the colouring of ,kano  had faded1     
tending continually toward monochrome1  
but the ,ukiyo-ye  painters restored the
 use of gorgeous pigments1 preserving   
the glory of  ,kano ,yeitoku1 the court 

painter to ,hideyoshi4    ,in the middle
 of the seventeenth century appeared    
,hishigawa ,moronobu1  considered by    
many to be the real founder of          
,ukiyo-ye4 ,his genius  welded with the 
new motif the use of the block for      
printing1 an  innovation which led to   
the most characteristic development in  
,ukiyo-ye art4 ,this art of printing1   
which originated in ,china and  ,corea1 
had1 until the beginning of the         
seventeenth century1 been  confined     
solely to the service of religion for   
the reproduction of  texts and images1  
but ,moronobu conceived the idea of     
using the form of  printed book         
illustration1 just coming into vogue1 as
 a channel to set  forth the life of the
 people4 ,besides painting and          
illustrating books1  he began printing  
single sheets1 occasionally adding to   
the printed  outlines dashes of colour  
from the brush1 principally in orange   
and  green4 ,these sheets1 the          
precursors of the ,ukiyo-ye prints1     

superseded  the                         
,otsu-ye1--impressionistic              
hand-paintings1 draughted hastily for   
rapid circulation4 ,the ,otsu-ye were   
sometimes richly illuminated1 the       
largest surfaces in the costumes being  
filled in with a ground of black        
lacquer1 and ornamented with layers of  
gold leaf attached by varnish4          
,moronobu acquired his technique from   
both ,tosa and ,kano1 but was           
originally a designer for the rich      
brocades and tissues woven in ,kyoto4   
,he added to this art that of           
embroidery1 and leaving ,kyoto1 took up 
this branch at the rival city ,yedo1    
where all the arts and crafts  were     
developing under the fostering care of  
the ,tokugawa ,shoguns1 the  dynasty    
with which ,ukiyo-ye art is practically 
co-extensive4 ,it was  ,hishigawa       
,moronobu who designed for his          
countrywomen their luxurious  trailing  
robes1 with enormous sleeves1 richly    
embroidered1--gorgeous  and stately     

garments which he loved to reproduce on 
paper1 with  marvellous powers of       
sweeping line4 ,as in all fashions of   
dress1 in  time the graceful lines      
became exaggerated until1 in the        
beginning of  the nineteenth century1   
they overstepped the limits of beauty1  
and  approached the realm of caricature4
 ,today1 in the modern poster1 we  see  
perpetuated the degenerate offspring of 
the genius of ,moronobu1 of  whom it is 
remarked that his enlarged compositions 
have the plasticity  of bas-reliefs4    
,an artist who greatly influenced       
,moronobu was ,tanyu1 of the ,school of 
,kano1 whose masterpiece may be seen at 
the great temple in ,kyoto1--four       
painted panels of lions1 of             
indescribable majesty4 ,m4 ,louis ,gonse
  tells us that one of ,tanyu's         
kakemonos1 belonging to a celebrated    
,french painter1 well sustains the test 
of comparison with its companion        
pictures1 in the artist's studio1 by    
,durer1 ,rembrandt and ,rubens4 ,under  

,tanyu's direction the task of          
reproducing the old masterpieces was    
undertaken4 ,the artists of ,ukiyo-ye   
were ever ready to profit by the        
teaching of all the schools2 therefore1 
properly to follow the methods  of the  
,popular ,school1 we must study the work
 of the old masters and  the subjects   
from which they derived their           
inspiration4    ,in this brief resum we 
cannot follow the fluctuations of       
,japanese  ,art through the centuries4  
,during long periods of conflict and    
bloody  internecine strife1 art         
languished2 when peace reigned1 then in 
the  seclusion of their yashikis these  
fierce and princely warriors threw  down
 their arms and surrendered themselves  
to the service of beauty and  of art4   
,nor had the dainty inmates of their    
castles languished idly  during these   
stirring times4 ,often they defended    
their honour and their  homes against   
treacherous neighbours4 ,it was a       
,japanese woman who led  her conquering 

countrymen into ,corea4 ,in the arts of 
peace the cultured  women of ,japan kept
 pace with their lovers and husbands4 ,a
 woman  revised and enlarged the        
alphabet1 and some of the most beautiful
  classic poems are ascribed to them4   
,well might the ,japanese fight         
fiercely for his altar and home1 with   
the thought of the flower-soft  hands   
that were waiting to strip him of his   
armour and stifle with  caresses the    
recollection of past conflict4 ,the     
early history of ,japan  suggests a     
comparison with ancient ,greece1 and the
 ,japanese poets might  have            
apostrophized their country1 as did     
,byron the land of his adoption3        
8,the isles of ,greece1 the isles of    
,greece6        ,where burning ,sappho  
loved and sung1    ,where grew the arts 
of war and peace1--        ,where ,delos
 rose1 and ,phbus sprung60    ,happily  
,japan1 unlike ,greece1 withstood the   
enervating influences of  luxury and the
 passionate adoration of beauty4        

,princes laboured alike  with chisel and
 with brush1 and the loftiest rulers    
disdained not the  tool of the artisan4 
,art ,industrial kissed ,grand ,art1    
which remained  virile beneath the      
sturdy benediction4 ,therefore ,japan   
lives1 unlike  ,greece1 whose beauty in 
decay called forth that saddest of      
dirges1  ending1      8',tis ,greece1   
but living ,greece no more40    ,in     
,japan1 art lightens the burden of      
labour1 utility and beauty go hand  in  
hand1 and the essential and the real    
reach upward1 and touch the  beautiful  
and the ideal4                          
,genroku4                      ,the     
,golden ,era of ,romance and ,art4      
,the ,nen-go of ,genroku1 from #afhh to 
#agjc1 was that period of  incomparable 
glory which the ,japanese revere as the 
,french do the time  of ,louis the      
,fourteenth4 ,peace had long reigned and
 art flourished  under the fostering    
care of the ,tokugawa ,shoguns4    ,then
 lived the great worker in lacquer1     

,korin1 pupil of ,sotatsu1 the  flower  
painter1 unrivalled artists who had     
absorbed the secrets of both  ,kano and 
,tosa4 ,itcho1 the grand colourist1     
flourished1 and ,kenzan1  brother of    
,korin1 the 8,exponent in pottery       
decoration of the ,korin  ,school40     
,yedo1 the new capital of the usurping  
,tokugawas1 now became the  ,mecca of   
genius1 rivalling the ancient metropolis
 ,kyoto1 for the  great ,shoguns        
encouraged art in all forms1 not        
disdaining to enroll  themselves as     
pupils to the masters in painting and   
lacquer4 ,the  greatest ruler became one
 of the greatest artists1 even assuming 
the  art title of ,sendai ,shogun4 ,in  
this age the height of perfection was   
reached in metal work1 both chased and  
cast4    8,the sword is the soul of the 
,samurai10 says the old ,japanese motto1
  therefore its decoration and adornment
 was a sacred service to which  genius  
delighted to dedicate itself4 ,in ,japan
 the greatest artists  were sometimes   

carvers and painters and workers in     
metals in one1 and  suggest comparison  
with the ,european masters of two       
centuries earlier4  ,did not ,botticelli
 take his name from the goldsmith for   
whom he worked1  and ,leonardo da ,vinci
 began his art life by 8twisting metal  
screens  for the tombs of the ,medici08 
,later we see him playing before his    
patron1 ,francesco1 in ,milan1 upon that
 weird silver harp he had himself       
constructed1 till at last1 perfected in 
art1 he projected upon canvas  the ,mona
 ,lisa1 that 8realization of strange    
thoughts and fantastic  reveries and    
exquisite passions40    ,also in ,japan1
 as in ,europe1 the genius of the nation
 was consecrated  to the dead4 ,more    
than half of ,michelangelo's life was   
devoted to the  decoration of tombs1 and
 the shrines of the ,shoguns are the    
greatest  art monuments in ,japan4      
,preoccupation with graves perhaps      
enabled the  ,japanese to face death so 
readily1 even embracing it upon the     

slightest  pretext4    ,genroku was the 
acme of the age of chivalry4 ,its tales 
of deadly duels  and fierce vendettas   
are the delight of the nation4 ,the     
history of the  ,forty-seven ,ronin     
equals any medival tale of bloodthirsty 
vengeance  and feudal devotion4 ,this   
,japanese vendetta of the seventeenth   
century  is still re-enacted upon the   
stage1 and remains the most popular     
drama  of the day1 and the actor        
designers of ,torii ever delighted in it
 as  a subject for illustration4 ,a     
brief outline of the story may be of    
interest and serve to recall its        
charming interpretation by ,mitford4    
,the cause of this famous drama of      
vendetta was the avarice of             
,kotsuki-no-,suke1 a courtier of the    
,shogun at ,yedo who might have served  
as prototype for 8,pooh ,bah10 in       
,gilbert's clever burlesque4 ,this      
pompous official was detailed to receive
 at his castle and instruct in  court   
etiquette two provincial noblemen1 to   

whom had been assigned the  onerous task
 of entertaining the ,mikado's envoy    
from ,kyoto4 ,in return  for this       
tutelage they duly sent many gifts to   
,kotsuki-no-,suke1 but  not costly      
enough to gratify the rapacity of the   
,gilbertian minister1  who day by day   
became more insufferably arrogant1 not  
having been  8sufficiently insulted40   
,then a counsellor of one of these great
 lords1 being wise in his  generation1  
and fearing for his master's safety1    
rode at midnight  to the castle of the  
greedy official1 leaving a present or   
bribe of  a thousand pieces of silver4  
,this generous donation had the desired 
effect4    8,you have come early to     
court1 my lord10 was the suave welcome  
the  unconscious nobleman received the  
next morning4 8,i shall have the  honour
 of calling your attention to several   
points of etiquette today40  ,the next  
moment the countenance of               
,kotsuki-no-,suke clouded1 and1  turning
 haughtily toward his other pupil from  

whom no largesse had been  received1 he 
cried1 8,here1 my lord of ,takumi1 be so
 good as to tie  for me the ribbon of my
 sock10 adding under his breath1 8boor  
of the  provinces40    8,stop1 my lord60
 cried ,takumi-no-,kami1 and1 drawing   
his dirk1 he flung  it at the insolent  
nobleman's head4 ,then a great tumult   
arose4 ,his  court cap had saved from   
death ,kotsuki-no-,suke1 and he fled    
from the  spot1 whilst ,takumi-no-,kami 
was arrested1 and to divert the disgrace
 of  being beheaded1 hastily performed  
hari-kiri2 his goods and castle were    
confiscated and his retainers became    
,ronin 7literally 8,wave ,men071 cast   
adrift to follow their fortunes1 roving 
at will4    ,the vendetta1 sworn to and 
carried out by these forty-seven        
faithful  servants1 is the sequel of the
 story4 ,oishi ,kuranosuki1 the chief   
of the ,ronin1 planned the scheme of    
revenge4 ,to put ,kotsuki-no-,suke  off 
his guard1 the band dispersed1 many of  
them under the disguise of  workmen     

taking service in the yashiki of their  
enemy in order to  become familiar with 
the interior of the fortification4      
,meanwhile ,kuranosuki1 to further      
mislead his enemies1 plunged into  a    
life of wild dissipation1 until         
,kotsuki-no-,suke1 hearing of his       
excesses1 relaxed his own vigilance1    
only keeping half the guard he had  at  
first appointed4 ,the wife and friends  
of ,kuranosuki were greatly  grieved at 
his loose conduct1 for he took nobody   
into his confidence4  ,even a man from  
,satsuma1 seeing him lying drunk in the 
open street1  dared to kick his body1   
muttering1 8,faithless beast1 thou      
givest  thyself up to women and wine1   
thou art unworthy of the name of a      
,samurai40    ,but ,kuranosuki endured  
the contumely1 biding his time1 and at  
last1 in  the winter of the following   
year1 when the ground was white with    
snow1  the carefully planned assault was
 successfully attempted4 ,the castle  of
 ,kotsuki-no-,suke was taken1 but what  

was the consternation of the  brave     
,ronin1 when1 after a prolonged search1 
they failed to discover  their victim6  
,in despair1 they were about to despatch
 themselves1 in  accordance with their  
severe code of honour1 when ,kuranosuki1
 pushing  aside a hanging picture1      
discovered a secret courtyard4 ,there1  
hidden  behind some sacks of charcoal1  
they found their enemy1 and dragged him 
out1 trembling with cold and terror1    
clad in his costly nightrobe of         
embroidered white satin4 ,then humbly   
kneeling1 ,oishi ,kuranosuki thus       
addressed him3 8,my lord1 we beseech you
 to perform ,seppuku 7happy  despatch74 
,i shall have the honour to act as your 
lordship's second1  and when1 with all  
humility1 ,i shall have received your   
lordship's  head1 it is my intention to 
lay it as an offering upon the grave of 
our  master1 ,asano-,takumi-no-,kami40  
,unfortunately1 the carefully planned   
programme of the ,ronin failed to       
recommend itself to ,kotsuki-no-,suke1  

and he declined their polite invitation 
to disembowel himself1  whereupon       
,kuranosuki at one stroke cut off the   
craven head1 with the  blade used by his
 master in taking his own life4    ,so  
in solemn procession the ,forty-seven   
,ronin1 bearing their enemy's  head1    
approached the ,temple of ,sengakuji1   
where they were met by the  abbot of the
 monastery1 who led them to their       
master's tomb4 ,there1  after washing in
 water1 they laid it1 thus accomplishing
 the vendetta2  then praying for decent 
burial and for masses1 they took their  
own  lives4    ,thus ended the tragic   
story1 and visitors to the temple are   
still shown  the receipt given by the   
retainers of the son of                 
,kotsuki-no-,suke for  the head of their
 lord's father1 returned to them by the 
priest of  ,sengakuji4 ,surely it is one
 of the weirdest relics to take in one's
  hand1 this memorandum1 the simple     
wording of which but adds to its        
horror3    ,item--,one head4            

,item--,one paper parcel1 and then the  
signatures of the two retainers         
beneath4    ,another manuscript is also 
shown1 in which the ,ronin addressed    
their  departed lord1 laying it upon his
 tomb4 ,it is translated thus by        
,mitford3    8,the fifteenth year of    
,genroku1 the twelfth month1 and        
fifteenth day4  ,we have come this day  
to do homage here1 forty-seven men in   
all1 from  ,oishi ,kuranosuki1 down to  
the foot soldier1 ,terasaka ,kichiyemon1
 all  cheerfully about to lay down our  
lives on your behalf4 ,we reverently    
announce this to the honoured spirit of 
our dead master4 ,on the  fourteenth day
 of the third month of last year our    
honoured master was  pleased to attack  
,kira-,kotsuki-no-,suke1 for what reason
 we know not4  ,our honoured master put 
an end to his own life1 but             
,kotsuki-no-,suke  lived4 ,although we  
fear that after the decree issued by the
 ,government1  this plot of ours will be
 displeasing to our master1 still we who

 have  eaten of your food could not     
without blushing repeat the verse1      
#8,thou  shalt not live under the same  
heaven nor tread the same earth with the
  enemy of thy father or lord1' nor     
could we have dared to leave hell and   
present ourselves before you in         
paradise1 unless we had carried out the 
vengeance which you began4 ,every day   
that we waited seemed as three  autumns 
to us4 ,verily we have trodden the snow 
for one day1 nay for two  days1 and have
 tasted food but once4 ,the old and     
decrepit1 the sick and  ailing1 have    
come forth gladly to lay down their     
lives4 ,having taken  counsel together  
last night1 we have escorted my lord1   
,kotsuki-no-,suke1  hither to your tomb4
 ,this dirk by which our honoured lord  
set great  store last year1 and         
entrusted to our care1 we now bring     
back4 ,if your  noble spirit be now     
present before this tomb1 we pray you as
 a sign to  take the dirk1 and striking 
the head of your enemy with it a second 

time to dispel your hatred forever4     
,this is the respectful statement of    
forty-seven men40    ,there were        
forty-seven ,ronin4 ,why1 then1 do      
forty-eight tomb-stones  stand beneath  
the cedars at ,sengakuji8 ,truly the    
answer has caused  tears to fall from   
the eyes of many a visiting pilgrim1 for
 the  forty-eighth tomb holds the body  
of the ,satsuma man1 who in an agony of 
grief and remorse ended his life1 and   
was buried beside the hero1 whose  body 
he had scornfully trampled upon in the  
streets of sacred ,kyoto4    ,this      
history of the ,forty-seven ,ronin is an
 epitome of ,japanese ethics1  for in it
 is exemplified their feudal devotion1  
their severe code  of honour1 their     
distorted vision of duty and fealty to a
 superior1  justifying the most lawless 
acts4 ,thus the conduct of ,kuranosuki  
during  his wild year of reckless       
abandonment1 in which he threw off all  
moral  restraint in order to deceive his
 enemy1 breaking the heart of his       

faithful and devoted wife1 was          
considered by his countrymen meritorious
  and a proof of his devotion4 ,the     
,ukiyo-ye artists1 who loved to take    
for models the beautiful denizens of the
 8,under ,world10 chose this  obsession 
of ,kuranosuki as the subject for many  
of their illustrations1  so that at a   
first glance the series might almost be 
mistaken for  scenes from the life of   
the ,yoshiwara4    ,here and there1     
however1 we come across the ,ronin      
engaged in terrific  conflict with      
,kotsuki-no-,suke's retainers4 ,cruel   
and bloodthirsty are  the blades of     
their relentless katanas1 which once    
unsheathed must be  slaked in human     
blood1 and their garments1 slashed into 
stiletto-like  points of inky blackness1
 forming a chevaux de frise round their 
fierce faces1 seem scintillant with the 
spirit of vendetta4    ,in examining the
 sets of impressions1 illustrating the  
popular story1  it is hard to give      
preference to any special artist3 to    

choose  between the ,utamaro-like       
violets and greens of ,yeisen2 the rich 
dark tints and fine backgrounds of      
,kunisada2 the delicately massed  detail
 of ,toyokuni1 unlike the usual boldness
 of his style1 and the  varied          
sword-play of the versatile ,hiroshige1 
set in a frosted1 snowy  landscape4     
,hokusai1 who abjured theatrical        
subjects after breaking away  from the  
tutelage of ,shunsho1 published a series
 of prints illustrating  the famous     
vendetta1 but as his great-grandfather  
had been a retainer  of                 
,kotsuki-no-,suke1 losing his life      
during the midnight attack1 the  story  
formed part of his ancestral history4   
,the series is signed ,kako1  and the   
sweeping lines and contours of the      
female figures show the  ,kiyonaga      
influence4 ,yellow preponderates1       
outlining the buildings and  long       
interior vistas1 and the impressions are
 framed with a singular  convention of  
,hokusai at that period1 drifting cloud 

effects in  delicate pink4 ,utamaro also
 illustrated the story1 substituting for
 the  ,ronin the forms of women1 a      
favourite conceit of the artist of      
beauty4    ,this digression in favour of
 the masters of the ,popular ,school has
  carried us over a hundred years1 and  
we must return to the close of  the     
seventeenth century4 ,moronobu          
illustrated the carnival of ,genroku1   
but toward the end of the century1 under
 the domination of a ,shogun  who       
combined the qualities of extravagance  
and profligacy with the  delirious      
superstition of a ,louis the ,eleventh1 
a period of unbridled  license set in4  
,the military men1 who were the nation's
 models1  forgot their fine traditions  
and fell from their estate1 so that the 
latter manners and customs of ,genroku  
became a by-word4 ,then followed  a     
puritanical reaction4 ,under the eighth 
,shogun1 the knights were  restricted   
from attending the theatre1 just coming 
into favour1 and the  looser haunts of  

pleasure were strictly under ban4 ,the  
,ukiyo-ye print1  being the medium for  
illustrating these joys and pleasures1  
forbidden  to the great1 but still      
indulged in by the people1 was strictly 
condemned1 and to this day the          
aristocracy of ,japan accord but        
grudging  and unwilling recognition to  
the merits of the masters of ,ukiyo-ye1 
the  old caste prejudice still blinding 
their artistic sense4    ,at this stage 
,ukiyo-ye broke into rival schools1 the 
founders of both  belonging to the      
academy of ,hishigawa ,moronobu4 ,the   
leader of the  first1 the school of     
painting1 was ,miyagawa ,choshun1 who in
 order to  preserve aristocratic        
patronage and praise1 eschewed the use  
of the  printing-block1 still taking his
 subjects from the 8floating world10    
and so being in one sense at unity with 
the other branch1 that of  printing     
founded by ,kiyonobu1 the first master  
of the great ,torii  ,school4 ,as the   
,print artists are our subject matter we

 cannot follow  the other branch of     
,ukiyo-ye1 founded by ,miyagawa         
,choshun1 but leaving  the atelier of   
the painters1 we must devote ourselves  
to the fortunes  of the ,torii ,school1 
the laboratory of the ,ukiyo-ye print1  
working  parallel with the pictorial    
school for the first half of the        
eighteenth  century4    ,the first      
sheets of ,kiyonobu 7about #agaj71 the  
founder of the ,torii  ,school1 were    
printed in ink from a single block4     
,part of the edition  would be issued in
 this uncoloured form1 the rest being   
coloured by  hand4 ,the colours most    
used were olive and orange1 these prints
 being  called ,tan-ye1 whilst those in 
ink were named ,sumi-ye4 ,urishi-ye     
7lacquer pictures71 was the generic term
 for hand-painted prints4  ,beni-ye     
7literally red pictures71 followed the  
,urishi-ye4 ,they were  printed in two  
tones1 rose and pale green1 enforced by 
black1 a harmony  exquisite in delicacy4
 ,the use of the multiple colour blocks 

gave rise  to the title ,nishiki-ye1 or 
brocade paintings4 ,the national mania  
for  the stage induced ,kiyonobu and his
 followers to take for their subjects   
popular actors1 and the theatrical      
poster may be said to date from the     
decade following ,genroku4    ,later in 
the century the process of              
colour-printing by the substitution  of 
blocks for flat colours was gradually   
evolved1 and to no special  artist or   
engraver can the credit be given1 for   
all contributed to its  development1    
though the genius of ,suzuki ,harunobu  
drew to a focus in  #agfe the           
achievements of his brother artists1 and
 it was he who solved  the problem of   
uniting the skill of the engraver with  
the full palette  of ,miyagawa ,choshun 
and his follower ,shunsui1 thus uniting 
the two  branches of ,ukiyo-ye art4     
,the ,popular ,school1 however1 is bound
 up with print development4  ,japanese  
book illustration and single-sheet      
printing revolutionized the  world's    

art4 ,the great connoisseurs of colour  
tell us that nowhere else  is anything  
like it1 so rich and so full1 that a    
print comes to have  every quality of a 
complete painting4    ,the other leaders
 of the ,torii ,school were ,torii      
,kiyomasu and ,okumura  ,masanobu1      
namesake of the great founder of ,kano1 
who must not be  confounded with the    
later artist of the same name1 belonging
 to the  school of ,kitao4 ,masanobu    
deserves special mention1 for his style 
being  chiefly pictorial1 and his       
subjects not confined to the stage1 he  
formed a link between the painter's     
atelier and his own4     ,illustration3 
,an illustration from 8,the ,occupations
 of ,women40 ,by   ,suzuki ,harunobu1   
who1 though a worker in prints1 styled  
himself   8,yamato ,yeshi10 the title   
assigned to the great court painters4   
,he realized that book prints rather    
than actor prints ought to be the  most 
potent force of ,ukiyo-ye4    ,shigenaga
 followed in the footsteps of ,masanobu1

 but his fame is  eclipsed by that of   
his great pupil ,harunobu1 whose genius 
was  displayed not only by the          
introduction of new colours upon the    
printing-block1 but by his schemes of   
arrangement1 juxtaposition of  shades1  
and marvellous handling of the areas    
between the printed  outlines4 ,this    
restriction of measured spaces does not 
cramp the  painter's individuality and  
sweep of brush2 rather1 they set him    
free  to concentrate his genius upon    
blended harmonies1 and interwoven       
schemes of colour1 and to surrender     
himself to the intoxication of the      
palette4    ,suzuki ,harunobu           
revolutionized the status of the        
,popular ,school1  pronouncing this     
dictum1 8,though ,i am a worker in      
prints ,i shall  hereafter style myself 
#8,yamato ,yeishi1'0 the title assumed  
by the  ancient court painters4 ,a      
national painter he declared himself1   
let  him deny who dare1 working through 
the new medium of the despised and      

ostracized ,ukiyo-ye print from which he
 determined to remove the stigma  of    
vulgarity4    ,now we see a strange     
transposition in the aims of the popular
 artists4  ,harunobu1 though a pupil of 
,shigenaga1 the printer1 took for his   
models  the subjects of the painter     
,shunsui1 successor to ,miyagawa        
,choshun1 and  by rejecting stage       
motives discarded the ,torii tradition4 
,from ,shunsui1  ,harunobu borrowed the 
ineffable grace and refinement which    
breathe from  the forms of his women1   
from the painter he stole colour        
harmonies and  designs with landscape   
backgrounds1 which the ,torii ,school   
had hitherto  ignored4 ,the introduction
 of genre painting1 though attributed by
  ,walter ,pater to ,giorgione1 applies 
equally to the work of ,harunobu  and   
his follower ,koriusai4 8,he is the     
inventor of genre1 of those  easily     
movable pictures which serve neither for
 uses of devotion nor  of allegorical or
 historical teaching3 little groups of  

real men and  women1 amid congruous     
furniture or landscape1 morsels of      
actual life1  conversation or music or  
play1 refined upon and idealized till   
they  come to seem like glimpses of life
 from afar4 ,people may move those      
spaces of cunningly blent colour readily
 and take them with them where  they go1
 like a poem in manuscript1 or a musical
 instrument1 to be used  at will as a   
means of self-education1 stimulus or    
solace1 coming like  an animated        
presence into one's cabinet1 and like   
persons live with us  for a day or a    
lifetime40 ,must not such an influence  
have descended  upon ,whistler when1    
saturated with the atmosphere of        
,hiroshige1 he  imagined that most      
beautiful of his 8,nocturnes0 described 
by ,theodore  ,child as 8a vision in    
form and colour1 in luminous air1 a     
,japanese  fancy realized on the banks  
of the gray ,thames08                   
,the ,school of ,torii4                 
,the ,printers' ,branch of ,ukiyo-ye4   

,the ,torii ,school was pre-eminently   
the exponent of the drama4 ,it  was     
bound up with stage development and     
ministered to the emotional  temperament
 of the nation2 leading in what may be  
considered a national  obsession1 a     
mania for actors and actor-prints4    ,a
 fascinating subject is this century of 
dramatic evolution fostered  by the     
printers' branch of the ,popular        
,school4 ,the actor had been  consigned1
 in dark feudal days1 to the lowest rung
 in the ladder of  caste1 ranking next  
to the outcast 7,eta71 as in early      
,english days  the strolling player was 
associated with tinkers and the other   
vagrant  population4    ,the ,no ,kagura
 and lyric drama1--suggesting the       
medival and passion  plays of           
,europe1--prefigured the modern drama in
 ,japan1 but the  immediate precursor of
 the present theatre was the ,puppet    
,show1 a  ,japanese apotheosis of our   
,marionette performances4 ,it is        
interesting  to note that ,toyokuni1 who

 ,m4 ,louis ,gonse declared has carried 
further  than any one the power of      
mimetic art1 and with whose theatrical  
scenes  we are most familiar1 began his 
career as a maker of dolls1 and these   
puppets were eagerly sought for as works
 of art4    ,if the aphorism 8not to go 
to the theatre is like making one's     
toilet  without a mirror10 be true1 then
 the ,japanese are justified in their   
national stage passion1 which           
overshadows the love of any other       
amusement4 ,taking the phrase literally1
 it was to the persons of the  actors1  
and the printers who spread their       
pictures broadcast1 that the  people    
owed the sthetic wonders of their       
costume4 ,the designers were  also      
artists1 as instanced by ,hishigawa     
,moronobu1 the ,kyoto designer  and     
,yedo embroiderer1 the printer and      
painter1 illustrator of books and       
originator of ,ukiyo-ye4    ,enthusiasm 
for the portraits of actors1 fostered by
 the ,torii printers  from the          

foundation of the school by ,kiyonobu1  
about #agaj1 hastened  no doubt the     
development of colour-printing4 ,as     
early as ,genroku1 the  portrait of     
,danjuro1 the second of the great       
dynasty of actors1 who by  their genius 
helped to brighten the fortunes of the  
playhouse1 was sold  for five cash1 in  
the streets of the capital4    ,the     
combined genius of the artists1         
engravers and printers of ,ukiyo-ye     
evolved and perfected the use of the    
multiple colour-block4 ,toward the      
middle of the century1 under the waning 
powers of ,torii ,kiyomitsu1  successor 
to ,kiyonobu1 the school seemed sinking 
into oblivion1 for  ,harunobu1 its      
rightful exponent1 filled with visions  
of ethereal  refinement1 scorned the    
theatrical arena4 ,when most needed1    
however1  a prophet arose in the person 
of ,shunsho1 the painter1 the pupil of  
,shunsui and master of ,hokusai1 thus   
completing the transformation  begun by 
,harunobu4 ,the great scions of the     

rival branches of ,ukiyo-ye1  printing  
and painting1 stepped into each other's 
places and bridged the  chasm1 which    
threatened the unity of the ,popular    
,school4    ,both branches were united1 
however1 in the use of the multiple     
colour-blocks1 but although ,shunsho    
followed ,harunobu's experiments in     
colouring1 varying his actor designs    
with domestic scenes and book           
illustrations1 ,harunobu resolutely     
refused to portray the life of the      
stage1 and in this determination he was 
followed by his pupil and  successor1   
,koriusai4    ,about the year #agfe1 the
 art of printing colours1 by the use of 
individual blocks1 technically called   
chromo-xylography1 was perfected4  ,it  
is an interesting reflection1 from the  
standpoint of ,buddhism1--which  teaches
 that in the fullness of time1 the great
 masters in religion1  art and learning 
become reincarnated upon earth1 for the 
benefit of  humanity1 that at this      
period ,hokusai was born1 the crowning  

glory and  master of ,ukiyo-ye4 ,had he 
appeared earlier in the century1 his    
genius  might have been diverted to the 
technical development of printing1 and  
the world thus been the loser of his    
creative flights4    ,professor         
,fenollosa beautifully defines the      
inception of the ,ukiyo-ye  print as    
8the meeting of two wonderfully         
sympathetic surfaces1--the              
un-sandpapered grain of the cherry-wood 
block1 and a mesh in the paper1  of     
little pulsating vegetable tentacles4   
,upon the one1 colour can be  laid      
almost dry1 and to the other it may be  
transferred by a delicacy  of personal  
touch that leaves only a trace of tint  
balancing lightly  upon the tips of the 
fibres4 ,and from the interstices of    
these printed  tips1 the whole luminous 
heart of the paper wells up from within1
  diluting the pigment with a soft      
golden sunshine4 ,in the ,japanese print
  we have flatness combined with        
vibration40    ,to the connoisseur1 one 

of the most important considerations1   
scarcely  secondary to that of          
colouring1 in the selection of ,ukiyo-ye
 gems1 is  this vibratory quality1      
depending equally upon the texture of   
the  paper and the magnetic pressure of 
the master printer's fingers4 ,this     
characteristic seems to have vanished   
from the modern print1 and cannot  be   
imitated1 though the enthusiasm for fine
 specimens has flooded the  market with 
spurious antiques1 deceptive to the     
uninitiated4 ,in the  exquisite         
reproductions of the early ,ukiyo-ye    
prints and paintings now  being         
issued1--though a joy to the student    
unable to acquaint himself  with the    
originals1--this ineffable effect of    
vibration is lost1  probably owing to   
the substitution of a less sympathetic  
medium than  the luminous vehicle of the
 early impressions4    ,the actual      
process of wood-cutting seems a simple  
art1 but a close  study of the making of
 prints will show the consummate skill  

required  to produce them4 ,the artist's
 design was transferred by tracing      
paper1 then pasted on to the face of the
 wood block1 and the white  space       
hollowed out with a knife and small     
gouges4 ,after the block had  been      
inked1 a sheet of damp paper was laid   
upon it1 and the back of  the paper was 
then rubbed with a flat rubber till the 
impression was  uniformly transferred4  
,where more than one block was employed1
 as in  colour-printing1 the subsequent 
impressions were registered by marks    
made at the corners of the paper4 ,the  
colouring matter laid upon these  early 
blocks was extracted by mysterious      
processes from sources unknown  to the  
,western world1 which1 alas6 by         
supplying the ,eastern market  with     
cheap pigments1 led to the deterioration
 of art in this essential  particular4  
,from #agfe to #aghj the school of      
,ukiyo-ye was dominated by four great   
artists and creators of separate styles3
 ,harunobu1 succeeded by  ,koriusai1    

taking for motive the subjects of       
,shunsui2 ,shunsho of  ,katsukawa       
7changed by ,shunsui from its former    
title of ,miyagawa71  upon whose        
shoulders had fallen the mantle of the  
,torii2 ,shigemasa1  working upon       
,shunsho's lines1 but breaking into a   
rival academy1 the  ,kitao2 ,toyoharu1  
pupil of old ,torii ,toyonobu1 founder  
of the school of  ,utagawa1 whose most  
illustrious pupil was ,toyokuni1 the    
doll-maker1  and brother of ,toyohiro1  
,hiroshige's master4 7,kunisada1 noted  
for his  backgrounds1 succeeded         
,toyokuni1 and after the death of his   
master  signed himself ,toyokuni the    
,second47    ,shunsho is considered one 
of the greatest artists of ,japan1 both 
as  an inventor and powerful colourist4 
,m4 ,louis ,gonse says3 8,all the       
collections of coloured prints which are
 today the delight of the  tea-houses2  
all the fine compositions showing       
magnificent landscapes  and sumptuous   
interiors2 all those figures of actors  

with heroic  gestures and impassive     
faces behind the grinning masks1 and    
with  costumes striking and             
superb1--came originally from the       
atelier of  ,katsukawa ,shunsho1 who had
 for a time the monopoly of them40      
,while  the ,torii artists were         
beguiling the ,yedo populace with       
theatrical  portraiture1 and aiding the 
growing tendency toward cosmopolitanism 
by issuing printed albums1 books of     
travel and encyclopedias1 art was  also 
expanding at the ancient capital1       
,kyoto4 ,sukenobu1 the prolific  artist1
 was bringing out beautifully           
illustrated books1 and ,okio1  from     
sketching on the earth with bamboo      
sticks1 while following his  father and 
mother to their work in the fields1 had 
risen to be the  great founder of the   
,maruyama school of painting1 and the   
,shijo or  naturalistic school was named
 from the street in which was the studio
  of the master4    ,the ,popular       
,school1 aided by ,okio1 effected a     

revolution in the laws  of painting at  
,kyoto1 for the ,torii artists forsook  
their academic  methods1 painting birds1
 flowers1 grass1 quadrupeds1 insects and
 fishes  from nature4 ,okio's name ranks
 high among the great masters of        
,japanese  art1 of whom so many fanciful
 legends are told4 ,the charming artist 
with brush and pen1 ,john ,la ,farge1   
says3 8,as the fruit painted by the     
,greek deceived the birds1 and the      
curtain painted by the ,greek painter   
deceived his fellow-artist1 so the      
horses of ,kanaoka have escaped  from   
their kakemonos1 and the tigers         
sculptured in the lattices of  temples  
have been known to descend at night and 
rend one another in the  courtyards40   
,then the story is told of a moonlight  
picture1 which1 when unrolled1  filled a
 dark room with light4 ,a pretty legend 
of ,tanyu1 the great ,kano  artist1 and 
the crabs at ,enryaku ,temple1 is given 
by ,adachi ,kinnotsuke4  ,upon one panel
 of the fusuma1 or paper screen1 is seen

 a crab1  marvellously realistic1 only  
with claws invisible4 ,on the other     
panels  the artist had painted its      
companions1 and at the bidding of his   
patron  furnished them with claws4      
8,nevertheless10 the master declared1   
8,i warn  you that if ,i give these     
crabs claws they will surely crawl out  
of the  picture40 ,as the visitor       
glances from the wonderful counterfeit  
crab  to the four empty panels beside   
it1 he knows the old master had only    
spoken the truth4     ,illustration3    
,under the ,cherry ,blooms4 ,by         
,kiyonaga1 the regenerator   of ,torii1 
whose classic figures recall1 in their  
dignity and   simplicity1 the methods of
 the early ,italian master4    ,and so  
with ,okio4 ,he breathed into his       
pictures the breath of life4  ,his      
animals live1 and his flights of storks 
swoop across the great  kakemonos1 each 
bird with an individuality of its own1  
though one of a  multitude of flying    
companions4 ,to view ,okio aright1 we   

should see him  at home in his own      
environment1 not in ,europe1 where so   
many copies of  his masterpieces abound4
 ,john ,la ,farge gives us a glimpse of 
an ,okio1  fitly set1 framed in oriental
 magnificence1 in the ,temple of        
,iyemitsu  at ,nikko3 8,all within was  
quiet1 in a golden splendour4 ,through  
the  small openings of the black and    
gold gratings a faint light from below  
left all the golden interior in a summer
 shade1 within which glittered  on      
golden tables the golden utensils of the
 ,buddhist ceremonial4 ,the  narrow     
passage makes the center1 through whose 
returning walls project1  in a curious  
refinement of invention1 the golden     
eaves of the inner  building beyond4    
,gratings1 which were carved1 and gilded
 trellises of  exquisite design1 gave a 
cool1 uncertain light4 ,an exquisite    
feeling of  gentle solemnity filled the 
place4 ,in the corridor facing the      
mountain  and the tomb1 a picture hangs 
on the wall4 ,it is by ,okio4 ,kuwannon1

 the  ,compassionate1 sits in           
contemplation beside the descending     
stream of  life40    ,about #agge arose 
a legitimate successor to the school of 
,torii in  the adopted son of           
,kiyomitsu1 ,kiyonaga4 ,he discarded the
 theatrical  tradition of his school1   
but the boldness of his drawing was     
foreign to  the style of ,harunobu4     
8,his brush had a superhuman power and  
swing40  ,he rivalled the three great   
masters1 ,koriusai1 ,shigemasa1 founder 
of  ,kitao1 and ,toyoharu of ,utagawa1  
and the masters of ,ukiyo-ye1 forsaking 
their individual predilections1 flocked 
to his studio4    ,the simplicity and   
dignity of the early ,italian masters1  
sought after  and adored by the         
pre-,raphaelite brotherhood1 their noble
 lines and  contours1 are again realized
 in the panels of ,kiyonaga4 ,professor 
,fenollosa said that 8classic0 is the   
instinctive term to apply to  ,kiyonaga1
 and that his figures at their best may 
be placed side by side  with ,greek vase

 painting4 ,ideally beautiful is the    
fall of his drapery1  determining the   
lines of the figure in the fewest       
possible folds4 ,in  indoor scenes he   
almost rivalled ,harunobu1 but he loved 
best to paint  in the open air4 ,in     
imagination we see ,kiyonaga1 the lover 
of beauty1  gazing at the wealth of     
lotus blooms which fill the moats of    
feudal  ,yedo1 and in the crucible of   
his fancy transmuting them into the     
forms  of women4 ,the lotus1 of all     
flowers1 has the deepest art            
significance1  and is the oldest motive4
 ,the author of 8,greek ,lines10 ,henry 
,van  ,brunt1 said3 8,the lotus         
perpetually occurs in oriental mythology
 as  the sublime and hallowed symbol of 
the productive power of nature4 ,the    
,hindu and the ,egyptian instinctively  
elevated it to the highest and  most    
cherished place in their ,pantheons40   
,it is the flower of religion1 of       
beauty1 and of love4 ,from the ocean    
the ,hindu ,aphrodite1 ,lachsmi1        

ascended4 ,isis in ,egypt reigned1      
crowned  by the lotus1 and there the    
tender1 flowing lines became sublime1   
monumental1 fitted to symbolize death   
and eternal repose4 ,in ,japan its      
joyous curves represent life1           
immortality1 and1 delicately sensuous1  
they conjure up visions of ideal beauty4
 ,the lotus1 sweetly blooming  before   
the artist's eye1 expanded into a vision
 of fair women1 whose  lissom forms he  
clothed with swirls of drapery4 ,and the
 women of ,japan1  enamoured of these   
enchanting poses1 endeavoured to assume 
the curves  of ,kiyonaga1 sheathing     
their delicate limbs in silken          
draperies1 and  simulating in their     
enchanting slenderness the stems of     
flowers--or1  to borrow a beautiful     
simile from ,lafcadio ,hearn1 8looking  
like a  beautiful silver moth robed in  
the folding of its own wings40    ,it is
 said that every ,japanese actor-print  
was a potential poster1 and1  alas6 the 
fashion-plate is endeavouring to mold   

itself upon the most  exaggerated type  
of the degenerate offspring of the      
genius of the ,torii  ,school4    ,the  
,japanese woman1 with her untrammelled  
form arrayed in draperies  designed by  
consummate artists1 may dare to follow  
classic  ,kiyonaga--youth and grace may 
acquire oriental plasticity4 ,but let   
fashion rest there4 ,pitiful and        
ludicrously futile is the effort of     
embonpoint to attain sinuosity4 ,lines  
of beauty cannot be manufactured2  as   
well imagine the slender stem of the    
lotus encircled in steel1 its  curves   
determined by a multiplicity of wires   
and tapes4    ,although the leaders of  
,ukiyo-ye followed so closely in the    
footsteps  of ,kiyonaga that his type of
 face stamps the years from #aghj to    
#agij1  yet his style was too classic1  
too noble to suit the taste of the ,yedo
  populace1 which1 in its thirst for    
realism1 had become depraved4 ,rather   
than lower his standard he chose to     
resign1 leaving the field to his        

followers1 ,yeishi1 ,utamaro and        
,toyokuni4 ,these masters1 at first as  
dignified in their method as ,kiyonaga1 
now yielded to the public craze  for the
 exaggerated1 the abnormal and          
grotesque4 ,it was an apotheosis  of    
ugliness and vulgarity1 a 8,zolaism in  
prints40    ,coarse pictures of actors1 
masquerading in female dress1 replaced  
the  charming little domestic women of  
,harunobu and ,koriusai1--the ladies of 
,japan1 as we see them in reality1--and 
the noble figures of ,kiyonaga4         
,gigantic courtesans1 bizarre and       
fantastic1 with delirious headgear1     
took the place of ,shunsho's fair       
children of the 8,underworld10 who1 in  
the modesty of their mien1 seemed to    
belie the calling they so often         
deplored1 as the songs of the ,yoshiwara
 testify1 plaintively sung to  the      
syncopated rhythm of the samisen1       
tinkling through the summer  nights4    
,the school of ,ukiyo-ye was sinking    
into obscurity1 when ,hiroshige  and    

,hokusai appeared1 two children of      
light1 dispersing the gloom3            
,hiroshige1 the versatile painter1 lover
 of landscape and ethereal  artist of   
snow and mist2 ,hokusai1 the prophet1   
and regenerator of  ,ukiyo-ye4 ,he was  
the artisan-artist1 in the land which   
recognizes no  inferior arts1 and the   
,mang-wa1 consisting of studies as      
spontaneously  thrown off as those in   
the sketch-book ,giorgione carried in   
his girdle1  was published for the use  
of workmen4 ,living in simplicity and   
poverty  he gave his life to the people1
 and the impression of his genius is    
stamped upon their work4 ,a true        
handicraftsman was ,hokusai1--the       
,mang-wa  a dictionary of the arts and  
crafts1 as well as the inspired vehicle 
of art4 ,in it 8balance1 rhythm and     
harmony1 the modes in which ,beauty  is 
revealed1 both in nature and art10 were 
manifested1--for he was a  vital artist1
 laying bare the enigma of evolution1   
and the mystery of  creation4           

,illustration3 ,the ,actor ,kikugoro4   
,by ,toyokuni ,i1 the great             
,actor-,designer and ,master of ,mimetic
 ,art4                                  
,utamaro4                      ,le      
,fondateur de ,l'cole de la ,vie4       
,the above title is quoted from the work
 of ,m4 ,edmond de ,goncourt1 8as  one  
having authority10 there being many     
claimants to the leadership of          
,ukiyo-ye 7the floating world71 the     
,popular ,school of ,japanese ,art4 ,in 
the life of ,utamaro1 ,m4 de ,goncourt1 
in exquisite language and with          
analytical skill1 has interpreted for us
 the meaning of that form of  ,japanese 
art which found its chief expression in 
the use of the wooden  block for        
colour-printing1 and to glance          
appreciatively at the work of  both     
artist and author is the motive of this 
sketch4    ,the ,ukiyo-ye print1        
despised by the haughty ,japanese       
aristocracy1  became the vehicle of art 
for the common people of ,japan1 and the

  names of the artists who aided in its 
development are familiarly  quoted in   
every studio1 whilst the classic        
painters of 8,tosa0 and  8,kano0 are    
comparatively rarely mentioned4 ,the    
consensus of opinion  in ,japan during  
the lifetime of ,utamaro agrees with the
 verdict of  ,m4 de ,goncourt4 ,no      
artist was more popular4 ,his atelier   
was besieged  by editors giving orders1 
and in the country his works were       
eagerly  sought after1 when those of his
 famous contemporary1 ,toyokuni1 were   
but  little known4 ,in the 8,barque of  
,utamaro10 a famous surimono1 the title 
of which forms a pretty play upon words1
 maro being the ,japanese  for vessel1  
the seal of supremacy is set upon the   
artist4 ,here he is  represented as     
holding court in a gaily decorated      
barge1 surrounded by  a bevy of beauty  
paying homage to his genius4 ,he was    
essentially the  painter of women1 and  
though ,m4 de ,goncourt sets forth his  
astonishing  versatility1 he yet        

entitles his work1 8,outamaro1 le       
,peintre des  ,maisons ,vertes40    ,the
 beautiful inhabitants of these         
celebrated houses of the ,yoshiwara     
7the flower quarter7 of ,yedo had ever  
been sought as models by  the artists of
 ,ukiyo-ye4 ,but1 alas6 the sensuous    
poetic-artistic  temperament of         
,utamaro1 undisciplined and             
uncontrolled1 led to his  undoing4 ,the 
pleasure-loving artist1 recognizing no  
creed but the  worship of beauty1       
refusing to be bound by any fetters but 
those of  fancy1 fell at last into the  
lowest depths of degradation1 physical  
and moral4 ,and this debasement of their
 leader1 tainting his art1 was          
reflected in the work of his brother    
artists and hastened the decadence  of  
the ,popular ,school4    ,to understand 
the influences which sapped the         
self-control of the  gay and            
beauty-loving ,utamaro1 we have only to 
glance at the text by  ,jipensha ,ikkou 
of 8,the ,annuary of the ,green         

,houses10 two volumes of  prints in     
colour1 so marvellously beautiful that  
they caused the artist  to be recognized
 as1 in a sense1 the official painter of
 the ,yoshiwara4  ,the writer thus sums 
up the fatal fascination of the inmates1
 the  courtesans of highest rank1 who   
alone were depicted by ,utamaro4 8,the  
daughters of the ,yoshiwara are brought 
up like princesses4 ,from  infancy they 
are given the most finished education0  
7from the ,japanese  standpoint1 be it  
observed74 8,they are taught reading1   
writing1 art1  music1 le th1 le parfum0 
7in the game of scents1 the art is to   
guess by inhaling the odour of burning  
perfumes the secret of their            
composition74 8,their entourage is that 
of princesses1 brought up in the        
seclusion of the palace4 ,coming from   
all parts of the #8,land of the  ,rising
 ,sun1' they must discard their         
individual patois and learn to  speak   
the archaic tongue1 slightly modified1  
the poetical1 the noble  language of the

 court from the seventeenth to the      
nineteenth century40    ,in the home of 
the celebrated ,tsutaya ,juzabro1 who   
edited the most  beautiful books of the 
time1 in his early impressionable youth 
lived ,utamaro1 within a stone's throw  
of the great gate leading  to the       
,yoshiwara4 ,by day he devoted himself  
to his art1 by night  he surrendered    
himself to the fatal enchantment of that
 brilliant  8,underworld10 until1 like  
,merlin1 ensnared by ,vivian1 with the  
charm of  8woven paces and waving       
hands10 his art sapped by excesses1 he  
became  8lost to life1 and use1 and     
name1 and fame40    ,let us1 forgetting 
this sad sequel1 glance at the works    
which testify  to the life of high      
artistic endeavour led by ,utamaro in   
the early part  of his career4 ,in the  
preface to the 8,yehon ,moushi ,yerabi0 
7,chosen  ,insects71 the master of      
,utamaro1 ,toriyama ,sekiyen1 throws so 
charming  a sidelight upon the youth of 
the artist1 that the temptation to quote

  is irresistible4 ,the value of these  
,japanese prefaces to the world1 to     
workers in every field1 is incalculable4
 ,at the outset of his work1 ,m4  de    
,goncourt alludes to the well-known     
preface of ,hokusai in the 8,fugaku     
,hiak'kei10 and doubtless fortified     
himself by the stimulating example  of  
the old master1 when undertaking at the 
age of seventy the great  task of       
presenting to the ,western world1 under 
the title of 8,l',art  ,japonais10 a    
history of five noted painters1 besides 
that of other  artists in bronze and    
lacquer1 pottery and iron--artists in a 
land where  the terms artist and artisan
 are interchangeable1 the only country  
where art industrial almost always      
touches grand art4    ,the translator of
 the preface of ,sekiyen is gratefully  
referred to by  ,m4 de ,goncourt as     
8l'intelligent1 le savant1 l'aimable ,m4
 ,hyashi40 ,it  may be considered a     
revolutionary manifesto of the ,profane 
,school1  the school of real life1 in   

opposition to the hierarchical ,buddhist
  academies of ,kano and ,tosa1 which   
had become stultified by tradition  and 
stifled by conventional observances4    
8,prface crite par ,toriyama ,sekiyen1  
le matre d',outamaro1 clbrant  le       
naturisme 7sorti du cur7 de son petit1  
de son cher lve ,outa40  8,reproduire la
 vie par le cur1 et en dessiner la      
structure au pinceau1  est la loi de la 
peinture4 ,l'tude que vient de publier  
maintenant1  mon lve ,outamaro1         
reproduit la vie mme du monde des       
insectes4 ,c'est  la vraie peinture du  
cur4 ,et quand je me souviens           
d'autrefois1 je me  rappelle que ds     
l'enfance1 le petit ,outa1 observait le 
plus infini  dtail des choses4 ,ainsi   
l'automne1 quand il tait dans le jardin1
  il se mettait en chasse des insectes1 
et que ce soit un criquet o une         
sauterelle1 avait-il fait une prise1 il 
gardait la bestiole dans sa  main et    
s'amusait  l'tudier4 ,et combien de fois
 je l'ai grond dans  l'apprhension qu'il

 ne prenne l'habitude1 de donner la mort
  des  tres vivants4 ,maintenant qu'il a
 acquis son grand talent du pinceau1  il
 fait de ces tudes d'insectes1 la gloire
 de sa profession40    ,the enthusiastic
 master of le petit ,outa proceeds to   
rhapsodize upon  his pupil's genius and 
intimate knowledge of the structure of  
insects4  8,he makes us hear10 he says1 
8the shrilling of the tamamoushi10 the  
cicada of ,japan1 whose endless peevish 
twanging upon one string forms  an      
underlying accompaniment to the         
harmonies of long summer days4  8,he    
borrows the light weapons of the        
grasshopper for making war2 he  exhibits
 the dexterity of the earthworm1 boring 
the soil under the  foundations of old  
buildings2 he penetrates the mysteries  
of nature in  the groping of the larv1  
in the lighting of his path by the      
glow-worm1  and he ends by disentangling
 the end of the thread of the spider's  
web40    ,the colour-printing of these  
insects is a miracle of art1 says ,m4 de

  ,goncourt1 and there is nothing       
comparable to it in ,europe4 ,of the    
methods by which these colour prints are
 brought to such a height of            
perfection1 it is almost impossible to  
speak authoritatively4 ,they are  the   
result of a threefold combination3 of a 
paper marvellously prepared  from the   
bark of the shrub1 ,kozo1 diluted with  
the milk of rice flour  and a gummy     
decoction extracted from the roots of   
the hydrangea and  hibiscus2 of dyes1   
into the secret of whose alchemy no     
modern artist  can penetrate1 it being  
safe to say the early 8,tan-ye0 and     
8,beni-ye0  prints can never be         
reproduced2 of the application of those 
colours by  the master engraver's       
fingers--that wizard hand of the ,orient
 into whose  finger-tips are distilled  
the mysteries of bygone centuries4 ,a   
portion  of the colour by means of this 
calculated pressure is drunk1 absorbed  
into the paper1 and only the            
transparency is left vibrating upon the 

fibres1 like colour beneath the glaze4  
,the 8,catalogue ,raisonn0 of ,m4 de    
,goncourt is a prose masterpiece4  ,his 
descriptive touches1 like pastels set in
 jewels1 captivate the  imagination4    
,through him we see the albums1 the     
fans1 the kakemonos1  the surimonos4    
,oh1 the prints1 with their wondrous    
backgrounds1 the  delight of ,utamaro6  
,sometimes straw-yellow1 the uniformity 
broken  with clouds of ground mica2     
sometimes gray in tint1 like the traces 
of receding waves upon the beach4 ,some 
silvered backgrounds throw  moonlight   
reflections upon the figures2 some are  
sombre1 bizarre--all  are marvellous    
beyond words4 ,and the colours6 we      
cannot define them in  ,english4 ,the   
8bleus0 7malades des mauves71 the 8rose0
 7beni7 8si peu de  rose1 qu'ils        
semblent s'apercevoir  travers un tulle2
 l'azur--dlav1  et comme noy dans       
l'eau10--not colours1 but nuances1 which
 recall the  colours4 ,and the          
8,gauffrage10 so effective with the     

print artists1 with  us a mere          
confectioner's touch6    ,it is said    
that 8the sthetic temperament of a      
nation is most subtly  felt in the use  
of colour4 ,purity1 coldness1           
sensuality1 brightness1  dullness of    
tints1 are significant terms correlated 
to mental and  physical human           
phenomena40 ,the assertion of ,ruskin1  
that 8the bodily  system is in a healthy
 state when we can see hues clearly in  
their  most delicate tints1 and enjoy   
them1 fully and simply1 with the kind   
of enjoyment children have in eating    
sweet things10 is brought to  mind in   
viewing the ,japanese people upon the   
occasion of one of their  great flower  
ftes1 feasting their eyes upon cherry   
blooms or trailing  clusters of the     
wistaria4     ,illustration3 ,while     
,mother ,sleeps4 ,by ,utamaro1 named by 
,m4 de   ,goncourt3 8,le ,fondateur de  
,l'cole de la ,vie40    ,utamaro planned
 schemes of colour and devised          
harmonies--themes which1  improvised    

upon and endlessly imitated by his      
artist confrres1 filled  his own        
countrymen with delight and ravished the
 hearts of ,parisian  painters4 ,the    
influence of ,utamaro1 ,hiroshige and   
the other masters  of ,ukiyo-ye         
revolutionized the colour-sense of the  
art world1 so that  ,theodore ,child1   
writing in #ahib1 remarks of the        
,japanese influence3  8,the ,paris      
,salon of today as compared with the    
salon of ten years ago  is like a ,may  
morning compared with a dark ,november  
day40    ,the same keen observation and 
technical skill which would have made   
,utamaro a famous naturalist is shown in
 his marvellous studies  of women4 ,he  
was the first ,japanese artist who      
deviated from the  traditional manner of
 treating the face4 ,the academic style 
demanded  the nose to be suggested by   
one calligraphic1 aquiline stroke1 the  
eyes  to be mere slits1 the mouth the   
curled up petal of a flower4 ,utamaro   
blent with this convention1 so little   

human1 a mutinous grace1 a  spiritual   
comprehension2 he kept the consecrated  
lines1 but made them  approach the      
human4 ,these 8effigies of women0 became
 individuals2 in  one word1 he is an    
idealist1 he 8makes a goddess out of a  
courtesan40  ,no detail of her anatomy  
escapes his eye1 no grace of line or    
beauty  of contour4 ,m4 de ,goncourt1 in
 detailing the great prints of ,utamaro1
  transports us to the ,orient4 ,he     
unrolls the film of memory1 so that     
again the ,japanese woman stands1       
reclines1 and lives before us4    8,vous
 avez la ,japonaise en tous les         
mouvements intimes de son corps2  vous  
l'avez1 dans ses appuiements de tte1 sur
 le dos de sa main1 quand  elle rflchit1
 dans ses agenouillements1 les paumes de
 ses mains  appuyes sur les cuisses1    
quand elle coute1 dans sa parole1 jete  
de  ct1 la tte un peu tourne1 et qui la 
montre dans les aspects si  joliment    
fuyants d'un profil perdu2 vous l'avez  
dans sa contemplation  amoureuse des    

fleurs qu'elle regarde aplatie  terre2  
vous l'avez  dans ses renversements o   
lgrement elle pose1  demi assise1 sur la
  balustrade d'un balcon2 vous l'avez   
dans ses lectures1 o elle lit  dans le  
volume1 tout prs de ses yeux1 les deux  
coudes appuys sur  ses genoux2 vous     
l'avez dans sa toilette qu'elle fait    
avec une main  tenant devant elle1 son  
petit miroir de mtal1 tandis que de     
l'autre  main passe derrire elle1 elle  
se caresse distraitement la nuque  de   
son cran2 vous l'avez dans le           
contournement de sa main autour  d'une  
coupe de sak1 dans l'attouchement dlicat
 et recroquevill  de ses doigts de      
singe1 autour des laques1 des           
porcelaines1 des  petits objets         
artistiques de son pays2 vous l'avez    
enfin1 la femme de                      
l',empire-du-,lever-du-,soleil1 en sa   
grace grce languide1 et son coquet      
rampement sur les nattes du parquet40   
,to translate is to travesty1 for the   
,french language seems to be the  only  

medium through which can be filtered the
 nuances of ,japanese  thought1 which   
elude the ordinary elements of language1
 like the  perfume of flowers1 the      
bouquet of delicate vintages4 ,our blunt
  ,anglo-,saxon mars that picture       
language1 where one flexible1 curved    
calligraphic stroke conveys to the      
sthetically receptive oriental          
imagination what stanzas of rhyming     
rhapsody fail to define4 ,sir ,edwin    
,arnold and ,lafcadio ,hearn approach   
the ,french1 are1 so to speak1          
orientalized4 ,ordinary ,english fails  
to give a ,japanese equivalent4  ,it is 
too emphatic1 too objective2 it suggests
 the dominant ,british  hobnail upon the
 delicate ,tea-house tatami--that       
immaculate1 beautiful  matting1 into    
whose uniform lines embroidered         
draperies dissolve  deliciously4 ,oh1   
those dreams of dresses6--the warp and  
woof of the  visions of the masters of  
,ukiyo-ye1 of ,harunobu and ,kiyonaga1  
,toyokuni  and ,kunisada1 and all the   

rest1 the idols of ,parisian colourists6
    8,for us10 says ,m4 de ,goncourt1   
8,utamaro painted violet dresses1 where1
  upon the border1 degradation rose0    
7fading into ,beni1 that mystic  tint1  
the spirit of ashes of rose71 8birds are
 swooping1--violet  dresses1 across     
which woven in light1 zigzag insect     
characters1  composing the ,japanese    
alphabet1--violet dresses1 where ,corean
 lions1  grim and ferocious1 crouch1    
gleaming in shading of old bronze within
  the purple folds6 ,dresses of mauve1  
smoky1 shading into bistre1 where  the  
purple iris unsheathes its head from the
 slender gray-green stalk60             
,mourasiki-ya 7maison mauve7 was the    
name of the atelier of ,utamaro4        
8,robes of that milky blue the ,chinese 
call #8blue of the sky after the  rain1'
 beneath clusters of pale rose peonies2 
dresses of silvery gray1  fretted with  
sprays of flowering shrubs1 making a    
misty moonshine2  pea-green dresses1    
enamelled with rosy cherry blooms2 green

 dresses1  fading into watery tints1    
hidden by groups of the pawlonia1 the   
coat  of arms of the reigning family2   
purple costumes1 channelled with water  
courses1 where mandarin ducks pursue    
each other around the hem4 ,oh1  the    
beautiful black backgrounds1 controlling
 the scintillating mass  of colour6     
,black robes sown with chrysanthemums1  
or showered with  pine-needles1 worked  
in white4 ,black dresses1 where finely  
woven  baskets are mingled with sceptres
 of office6 #8,oh6 les belles robes6' he
  cries1 where flights of cranes        
dissolve into the distance1 where birds 
are fluttering1 where lacy fretwork of  
fans and little garlands are            
interwoven6--a motive delighted in by   
,utamaro as a framework for beloved     
faces40 ,all that is beautiful in nature
 and art lived and breathed in  these   
dresses1 upon which the loving hand of  
the painter left a grace  in every fold4
    ,the early inspirer of ,utamaro's   
genius was ,kiyonaga1 who had restored  

the glory of the school of ,torii--the  
printer's branch of ,ukiyo-ye1  which   
had sunk into temporary oblivion under  
the waning powers of  ,kiyomitsu4 ,the  
atelier of ,kiyonaga became the         
sanctuary of the artists  of ,ukiyo-ye1 
who1 upon entering1 forsook their       
individual traditions4  ,there          
worshipped ,toyokuni of ,utagawa2       
,yeishi1 the scion of classic and       
aristocratic ,kano2 and at the master's 
feet sat the ,young ,utamaro1  absorbing
 his methods until1 in his early        
compositions1 said ,m4 de  ,goncourt1   
the technique and mannerisms of         
,kiyonaga 8saute aux yeux40    ,the     
influence of ,kiyonaga pervades his most
 beautiful work2 but later1  under a    
life of constant self-indulgence1       
amongst associations all  tending to    
demoralization1 his genius suffered an  
eclipse4 ,his loss  of self-control     
affected his art1 until the sweeping    
lines and noble  contours which his     
brush had acquired in the atelier of    

,kiyonaga were  lost or widely          
travestied into a 8delirium of female   
tallness40 ,in  these wild flights his  
brother artists followed in headlong    
pursuit1  and the contagion of the      
movement swept the studios of ,paris4   
,in the  modern poster we see the       
degenerate offspring of the genius of   
,utamaro1  and of ,toyokuni4 ,professor 
,fenollosa said1 8,the generation of    
,aubrey  ,beardsley prefer these tricks 
to the sober grace of ,harunobu1        
,kiyonaga  and ,koriusai40 ,it is art   
born of excess1 a 8,zolaism in prints40 
,the horrors of diseased imagination1   
the visions begotten of absinthe1  which
 blot the brilliant pages of ,de        
,maupassant and the verse of ,paul      
,verlaine1 were reflected by ,utamaro in
 his studies of the loathsome  and the  
abnormal1 where ,montaigne declares1    
8,l'esprit faisant le  cheval eschapp1  
enfante des chimres40 ,the blasphemous  
impieties of  this culte1 deplored by   
all true ,frenchmen1 in the country of  

,hugo and  ,molire1 were distanced by   
,utamaro1 who suborned his art1 his     
cynical  brush caricaturing under the   
distorted figures of noted courtesans   
the saints and sages of the sacred      
,buddhist legends4 ,trading upon his    
vast popularity1 he issued a pictorial  
satire upon one of the famous  ,shoguns1
 but this act of lse-majest brought him 
into disfavour with  the reigning       
,shogun1 the ,louis ,,xv of ,japan1 an  
artistic voluptuary1  like his          
prototype1 the subject of ,utamaro's    
cartoon1 and the artist  was condemned  
and cast into prison4 ,from his cell the
 gay butterfly of  the ,yoshiwara       
emerged1 spent and enfeebled1 daring no 
more flights of  fancy1 and dying in    
#ahjf1 before he reached his fiftieth   
year1 from the  effects of his          
confinement and the misuse of pleasure4 
,oh1 the pity of it6 the profound pathos
 in the picture1 in ,sekiyen's  preface 
of the little 8,outa0 holding his       
treasured prize1 8la petite             

bestiole10--the childish artist-hands of
 the embryo master clasping the  insect 
so gently to preserve its ephemeral     
life1 yet later plunging  into the      
dissipation and excesses which shortened
 his own4 ,living with  the dclass1     
however we may gloss their imperfections
 and cover with  the cloak of charity   
their sorrowful calling1 he became      
himself a  cynic1 an outcast1 an        
iconoclast1 learning that 8hardening of 
the heart  which brings                 
8,irreverence for the dreams of youth40 
,though ,utamaro was one of the greatest
 of the popular artists1 his            
demoralization led to the decadence of  
his school1 which later was  regenerated
 by the great master of ,ukiyo-ye1      
,hokusai1 the artist of  the people4 ,in
 ,hokusai1 8,dreaming the things of     
,heaven and of ,buddha10  breathed the  
pure spirit of art1--that ,spirit of    
poetry and purity which  calls to us in 
,milton's immortal lines3               
8,mortals1 that would follow me1        

,love ,virtue2 she alone is free4       
,she can teach ye how to climb          
,higher than the sphery chime2      ,or 
if ,virtue feeble were1      ,heaven    
itself would stoop to her40             
,the ,romance of ,hokusai4              
,master of ,ukiyo-ye4     8,from the age
 of six1 ,i had a mania for drawing the 
forms of things4   ,by the time ,i was  
fifty1 ,i had published an infinity of  
designs1 but   all ,i have produced     
before the age of seventy is not worth  
taking   into account4 ,at seventy-five 
,i have learned a little about the real 
structure of nature1--of animals1 plants
 and trees1 birds1 fishes and   insects4
 ,in consequence1 when ,i am eighty1 ,i 
shall have made still   more progress4  
,at ninety ,i shall penetrate the       
mystery of things2 at   a hundred ,i    
shall certainly have reached a          
marvellous stage1 and when   ,i am a    
hundred and ten1 everything ,i do--be it
 but a line or dot--will   be alive4 ,i 
beg those who live as long as ,i1 to see

 if ,i do not keep   my word4 ,written  
at the age of seventy-five by me1--once 
,hokusai1--today   ,gwakio-rojin1 #8the 
old man1 mad about drawing4'0      8,ars
 longa1 vita brevis10 though a time-worn
 aphorism1 seems  the best comment upon 
these words of ,hokusai1 which preface  
the  8,fugaku ,hiak'kei0 7,hundred      
,views of ,fuji74 ,judging from what he 
had  accomplished1 before his death in  
#ahdi1 at the age of eighty-nine1 and   
the continual increase in his powers1 it
 is easy to believe that had  his life  
been extended to the limit he craved1   
the prophecy would have  been fulfilled4
    ,m4 ,louis ,gonse says of ,hokusai1 
8,he is the last and most brilliant     
figure of a progress of more than ten   
centuries--the exuberant and  exquisite 
product of a time of profound peace and 
incomparable  refinement40    ,from the 
standpoint of ,buddhism1 ,hokusai was   
the crowning glory1 the  supreme        
efflorescence of countless previous     
incarnations4 ,in his career  he        

epitomized the theory of evolution1 the 
embryonic stages being  exemplified by  
his progress through the schools4       
,trained in the atelier  of ,shunsho1   
the most skillful exponent of ,ukiyo-ye 
art1 he rapidly  absorbed the methods of
 his master2 but even the ,popular      
,school was  trammelled by convention1  
and ,hokusai's genius1 rejecting        
academic  fetters1 winged its flight    
through all the realms of oriental art4 
,he drank at the fountain-head of       
,china1 then absorbed the traditions of 
the 8two great streams of ,kano and     
,tosa1 which flowed without mixing  to  
the middle of the eighteenth century40  
,kano1 springing from ,chinese  models1 
was transformed by the genius of        
,masanobu and his followers1  and became
 the most illustrious school of painting
 in ,japan4 ,it was the  official school
 of the ,shoguns1 in opposition to      
8,tosa0--that elegant  and exquisite    
appanage of the ,mikados1 which         
represented aristocratic  taste4    ,the

 ,tosa school is characterized by       
extreme delicacy of execution  and fine 
use of the brush1 as in ,persian        
miniature painting4 ,the  splendour of  
the screens of ,tosa has never been     
surpassed1 with their  precious         
harmonies in colour and delicate designs
 7so often imitated in  lacquer71       
against glorious backgrounds in rich    
gold-leaf4    ,he studied the technique 
of ,okio1 founder of the school of      
realism1  which1 maturing at ,kyoto1 led
 up to 8,ukiyo-ye10 the popular art of  
the  masses of ,yedo4 ,ukiyo-ye1        
literally 8,the ,floating ,world10      
despised by  the ascetic disciples of   
,buddha and ,confucius for picturing the
 gay  world of fashion and folly1 was   
the name of the school which liberated  
,japanese art from the shackles of      
centuries of tradition4                 
,illustration3 ,two ,ladies4 ,by        
,hokusai4    ,ukiyo-ye is the supreme   
expression1 the concentrated essence of 
the schools1 a river of art whose fount 

was ,india1 ,persia and ,china4  ,for   
centuries it was forced into narrow     
channels by the haughty and  exclusive  
aristocracy2 but ever widening1 its     
branches at last united  and swept into 
their joyous current the common people  
of ,japan1 who1  intuitively art lovers1
 had ever thirsted for the living       
stream4 ,now  they beheld themselves    
reflected1 in all the naturalness of    
daily life1  yet with a spiritual       
rendering1 8appealing10 said ,jarves1   
8to those  intuitions with which the    
soul is freighted when it first comes to
  earth1 whose force is ever manifested 
by a longing for an ideal not of  the   
earth1 and whose presence can only be   
explained as an augury of  a superior   
life to be1 or else the dim reminiscence
 of one gone2 and  the recognition of   
this ideal is the touchstone of art--art
 which then  becomes the solution of    
immortality40    ,the originators of    
,ukiyo-ye1 which included in its scope  
painting  proper1 book illustration and 

single-sheet pictorial prints1 were     
,iwasa ,matahei and ,moronobu1 followed 
in long succession by ,shunsui1  the    
precursor of ,hokusai's master1         
,shunsho2 and united with it were  the  
engravers of the ,torii school1         
culminating in ,kiyonaga 7with whose    
grace and beauty of line ,hokusai could 
never compete71 the refined  offshoot of
 the ,kitao1 and the elegant scion of   
,kano--,yeishi4    ,hokusai's           
individuality and independence long     
galled his master1 and  a final rupture 
was caused by the pupil's enthusiasm for
 the bold and  sweeping1                
black-and-white1 calligraphic strokes of
 ,kano4 ,then began  a hard struggle for
 the youthful artist1 who had no money  
and no  influence4 ,his father was a    
maker of metal mirrors1 ,hokusai's real 
name being ,nakajima ,tetsu ,jiro1 but  
his pseudonyms were legion4 ,in  the    
atelier of ,shunsho1 he was called      
,shunro1--taking with the other         
disciples of this school of ,katsukawa1 

the first syllable of his  master's     
name4    ,cast adrift upon the streets  
of ,yedo1 he sold red pepper1 and hawked
  almanacs1 at the same time constantly 
studying1 and seizing the best  ideas   
from all the schools4 ,blent with an    
intuitive instinct for art1  the        
,japanese nature is essentially         
histrionic1 and throughout the whole    
career of ,hokusai there is an element  
which is genuinely dramatic4  ,c4 ,j4   
,holmes1 in his beautiful work on       
,hokusai1 gives many romantic  incidents
 in the artist's life1 and was it not by
 a theatrical tour de  force that he    
first won popular favour8    ,he chose  
no doubt a national holiday1 perhaps the
 festival of 8,cherry  ,viewing10 when  
,uyeno ,park is thronged with sightseers
 of every station  in life4 ,here in the
 heart of the great city of ,tokyo is a 
hallowed  spot--majestic1 grand and     
peaceful1 where in mystic solemnity the 
sacred  cedars enshrine that wondrous   
necropolis of illustrious dead1--for at 

,uyeno lie buried six of the famous     
,shoguns4    ,in the courtyard of one of
 the temples1 ,hokusai erected a rough  
scaffolding1 upon which was spread a    
sheet of paper1 eighteen yards  long and
 eleven in width4 ,here in the sacred   
heart of ,japan1 with  tubs of water and
 tubs of ink1 the master and predestined
 genius of  his country manifested his  
power4 ,he swept his huge brush this way
  and that1 the crowd constantly        
increasing in density1 many scaling  the
 temple roof to see the marvellous      
feat1--a colossal figure1  springing    
into life at the touch of the creator4  
,all who know his work  can in          
imagination picture the grand sweeping  
curves and graduated  shadings that the 
magic broom evolved2 and the artistic   
people gazed  spell-bound1 while many a 
murmured 8,naruhodo60 7,wonderful7 and  
sibilant  inhalation of the breath      
marked their recognition of the master's
 power4    ,displaying less of the      
artist than the genius at legerdemain   

were  ,hokusai's street tricks--almost  
reprehensible did we not know the dire  
straits to which genius is often        
reduced4 ,an eager expectant crowd      
dogged his footsteps and watched with   
delighted curiosity1 while he  sketched 
landscapes1 upside down1 with an egg or 
a bottle1 or a wine  measure1 anything  
that came to his hand1--changing with   
bewildering  effect from huge figures of
 ,chinese heroes and demigods to        
microscopic  drawings on grains of rice1
 and pictures made out of chance blots  
of  ink4    ,his fame was noised abroad1
 and at last reached the ears of the    
,shogun1  and now an unprecedented      
honour was conferred upon the humble    
apostle  of the artisan1 for he was     
summoned before the august presence to  
give an exhibition of his skill4 ,the   
,japanese are ever imitative1 and       
,hokusai may have borne in mind the     
legend of his prototype ,sesshiu1 an    
artist-priest of the fifteenth century1 
who sketched before the ,emperor  of    

,china a marvellous dragon1 with        
splashes from a broom plunged in ink4   
,still more spectacular and theatrical  
was ,hokusai's debut1 for1  spreading a 
sheet of paper before the feet of the   
monarch1 he covered  it with a blue     
wash1--then seizing a live cock1 he     
daubed its feet with  a red pigment1 and
 let it run over the wet colour1 when   
the ,shogun  and his astonished         
courtiers beheld a flowing stream of    
liquid blue1  upon which appeared to    
float filmy segregated petals of red    
maple  leaves4 ,a mere trick6--unworthy 
of genius1 we might say1 but ,hokusai   
had  gauged his countrymen1 and knew    
that his jeu d'esprit would arouse  and 
impress these aristocratic connoisseurs1
 jaded with ceremonial  observances1    
more than any display of technical      
knowledge1--for the  ,japanese1 as a    
nation1 are naively childish in their   
love of novelty  and amusement1 and of  
the unusual and bizarre4    ,is it not  
possible that this trickery of the      

master may have  unconsciously supplied 
the motive for ,hiroshige's famous print
 of a  ,yedo suburb1 chosen by          
,professor ,fenollosa1 in his beautiful 
work on  ,ukiyo-ye1--where he so        
poetically says1 8the orange fire of    
maples  deepens the blue of marshy      
pools08    ,space does not permit any   
detailed description of the compositions
  of ,hokusai1 and there is no complete 
catalogue of his works1 the  one nearest
 to accuracy being ,m4 ,edmond de       
,goncourt's ,catalogue  raisonn4 ,his   
fecundity was marvellous4 ,he           
illustrated books of all  kinds1 poetry1
 comic albums1 accounts of travels1--in 
fact his works  are an encyclopedia of  
,japanese life4 ,his paintings are      
scattered1 and  countless numbers lost1 
many being merely ephemeral drawings1   
thrown  off for the passing pleasure of 
the populace4 ,the original designs  for
 the prints were transferred to the     
blocks1 and lost1 though the  master    
rigidly superintended the reproduction  

of his works1 and his  wood-cutters were
 trained to follow the graceful sweeping
 curves with  perfect accuracy1 many of 
his compositions being ruled across for 
exact  reduction4     ,illustration3 ,a 
,river ,scene4 ,by ,hok'kei1 the        
faithful pupil of   ,hokusai1 who strove
 to follow in the footsteps of the      
,master4    ,ukiyo-ye art is bound up   
with print development1 and the climax  
of  xylography had been reached in the  
time of ,hokusai4 ,japanese book        
illustration1 and single-sheet printing1
 revolutionized the world's  art4 ,the  
great connoisseurs of colour tell us    
that nowhere else is  there anything    
like it1--so rich and so full1 that a   
print comes to have  every quality of a 
complete painting4    ,hokusai had      
served a four years' apprenticeship to  
the school of  engraving1 and his       
practiced eye was ever ready to detect  
any  inaccuracy in his workmen4 8,i warn
 the engraver10 he said1 8not to add  an
 eyeball underneath when ,i do not draw 

one4 ,as to the nose1 these two  are    
mine10--here he draws a nose in front   
and in profile1--8,i will not  have the 
nose of ,utagawa40 ,the greatest        
difference exists in the beauty  and    
colouring of the impressions1 and the   
amateur1 in his search for  ,ukiyo-ye   
gems1 should not trust his unaided      
judgment4    ,m4 ,louis ,gonse said of  
the surimono1 8,to me they are the most 
seductive  morsels of ,japanese art40   
,they are small1 oblong prints1 composed
 as  programmes for festive occasions   
with a text of verse enriched by        
exquisite illustration4 ,the surimono of
 ,hokusai showed the influence of       
,tosa1 the decoration being very        
elaborate1 and delicate as a ,persian   
miniature4 ,in places1 the surface of   
the print is goffered for ornament  in  
relief1 and the colouring is enforced by
 inlaying in gold1 silver1  bronze and  
tin4    ,some of the best examples of   
,hokusai's art are the 8,waterfalls10   
the  8,bridges10 8,thirty-six ,views of 

,fuji10 the 8,gwafu10 the 8,hundred     
,views of ,fuji0 7of which the finest   
edition was brought out in ,london  with
 a commentary by ,mr4 ,f4 ,v4 ,dickins71
 and the fifteen volumes of  the        
8,mang-wa10--a term hardly translatable1
 but signifying fugitive  sketches1 or  
drawing as it comes1 spontaneously4 ,the
 preface best gives  us the intention of
 the master4    8,under the roof of     
,boksenn1 in ,nagoya1 he dreamed and    
drew some three  hundred compositions4  
,the things of ,heaven and of ,buddha1  
the life of  men and women1 even birds  
and beasts1 plants and trees1 he has    
included  them all1 and under his brush 
every phase and form of existence has   
arisen4 ,the master has tried to give   
life to everything he has painted1  and 
the joy and happiness so faithfully     
expressed in his work are a  plain proof
 of his victory40    ,hokusai has been  
called the king of the artisans1 and it 
was for them  especially that he        
composed the drawings of ,mang-wa4 ,his 

influence is  expressed in all their    
works3 in the structure of the roofs of 
temples1  in houses and their interiors2
 upon the things of every-day life1 as  
upon flowers and landscapes1 upon       
lacquer1 inros and netsukis1 bronzes    
and ivory4    ,gustave ,geffroy truly   
gauged the genius of ,hokusai in        
speaking of his  8flights beyond the    
horizon40 ,in the master we recognize   
the creator4  ,he feels the mystery of  
the birth of mountains1 as in that weird
  composition of ,fuji1 where the great 
cone is seen rising above circle  upon  
circle of serpentine coils1 forming the 
mystic tomoy--symbol of  creation and   
eternity4 ,he feels the pulsation of the
 universe1 and the  life of ocean1 and  
in a frenzy of creative power1 beneath  
his hand  the curved crests of foaming  
waves break into life1 flashing into    
countless sea-birds born of the froth of
 ocean4 ,he is the painter of  chimera1 
the prophet of cataclysm2 he 8gives the 
world a shake and  invents chaos40 ,how 

vivid is ,holmes' description of the    
wave in the  seventh ,mang-wa6    8,man 
becomes a mere insect1 crouching in his 
frail catamaran1 as the  giant billow   
topples and shakes far above him4 ,the  
convention of black  lines with which he
 represents falling rain is as effectual
 as his  conventions for water are      
fanciful4 ,the storm of ,rembrandt1 of  
,rubens1  or of ,turner1 is often       
terrible but never really wet2          
,constable gets  the effect of wetness1 
but his storms are not terrible4        
,hokusai knows  how a gale lashes water 
into foam1 and bows the tree before it2 
how  the gusts blow the people hither   
and thither1 how sheets of drenching    
rain half veil a landscape1 how the     
great white cone of his beloved  ,fuji  
gleams through a steady downpour6 ,his  
lightning is rather odd in  comparison  
with the realistic studies of the great 
artists of ,europe1  but what ,european 
ever tried an effect so stupendous as   
that recorded  in #8,fugaku ,hiak'kei1' 

where the snowy top of ,fuji is seen at 
evening1  crimson with the last fiery   
rays of sunset1 while all the flanks of 
the  mountain are hidden by a dark      
storm-cloud1 through which the lightning
  flashes60    ,poetry and art are ever 
allied1 and the vibrations of genius    
encircle  the globe4 ,byron and ,ruskin 
and ,hokusai were contemporaries4       
,possibly  at the very moment when the  
poet was immortalizing himself by       
composing  his 8,storm in the ,alps10   
the grand 8old man1 mad about drawing10 
was  sketching the peerless mountain3-- 
8,far along      ,from peak to peak1 the
 rattling crags among1      ,leaps the  
loud thunder6 not from one lone cloud1  
,but every mountain now hath found a    
tongue1      ,and ,jura answers through 
her misty shroud1      ,back to the     
joyous ,alps1 who call to her aloud40   
,lord ,byron's vivid pen also best      
describes the squally storms of both    
,hiroshige and ,hokusai1--where         
8,the big rain comes dancing to the     

earth40    ,was not ,hokusai truly 8a   
portion of the tempest08 as he          
represents  himself1 drawing ,fuji1 in  
winter1 working in a frenzy of          
haste1--for  the ground is covered with 
snow--two brushes in his hand1 and      
wonder  of wonders6 one held between his
 toes4 ,this picture1 also from 8,the   
,hundred ,views of ,fuji10 prefaces     
,marcus ,b4 ,huish's work on ,japanese  
art4    ,the closing scene in the drama 
of ,hokusai's life is full of pathos4   
,though his whole career had been       
shadowed by poverty1 and shrouded in    
obscurity1 his art still held him       
earth-bound4 ,upon his death-bed he     
said1 8,if ,heaven would only grant me  
ten more years60    ,then1 as he        
realized that the end approached1 he    
murmured1 8,if ,heaven  had but granted 
me five more years ,i could have been a 
real painter40    ,so ended the life of 
the master of ,ukiyo-ye4 ,his body lies 
beneath  the pines of ,asakusa1 but     
would we not gladly believe that his    

8soul  turned ,will-o'-the-wisp1 may    
ever come and go at ease1 over the      
summer  fields10--for this was the last 
expression of his passionate desire4    
,hiroshige4                ,landscape   
,painter and ,apostle of ,impressionism4
      ,if the lovely 8,land of the      
,rising ,sun0 should1 during one of     
those  volcanic throes which threaten   
her extinction1 sink forever beneath the
  depths of ocean1 she would yet live   
for us through the magic brush of       
,hiroshige4 ,gazing at his landscapes1  
the airy wing of imagination wafts  us  
to a land of showers and sunsets--a     
fairy scene1 where the rainbow  falls to
 earth1 shattered into a thousand       
prisms--where waters softly  flow       
towards horizons touched with daffodil  
or azure tinted4    ,here is a gliding  
sampan with closed shutters4 ,inside1   
the lantern's  diffused light throws a  
silhouette upon the bamboo curtain1 a   
drooping  girlish head bending towards  
the unseen lover at her feet4 ,ripples  

play  upon the water1 stirred by the    
amorous breath of oriental night4 ,in   
fancy we hear the tinkling of the       
samisen1 touched by delicate fingers1   
sweetly perfumed4    ,now we see rain   
upon the ,tokaido4 ,a skurrying storm4  
,affrighted coolies  running this way   
and that4 ,a mountain full of echoes and
 horror4 ,down  it splash rivulets1     
running into inky pools4 ,darkness and  
terror and  loneliness1 and longing for 
warmth and shelter and the peace of     
home4    ,in marked contrast is one of  
the 8,seven ,impressions of ,hakone40 ,a
 glad  reveille4 ,the sun breaks out1   
the clouds have burst asunder1 masses of
  vapour float here and there4 ,all is  
chaotic1 untamed1 a palette wildly      
mingled4    ,the ,japanese so dearly    
love ,nature1 in all her moods1 that    
when she  dons her mantle of snow they  
hesitate1 even when necessity compels1  
to sully its purity4 ,in one of         
,utamaro's prints1 sweetly entitled by  
,m4 ,edmond de ,goncourt 8,la ,nature   

,argente10 a little musme is seen       
searching the snowy landscape she loves1
 and1 hating to blot the  beautiful     
carpet1 she cries1 8,oh1 the beautiful  
new snow6 ,where shall  ,i throw the    
tea-leaves80 ,with ,hiroshige1 the      
artist of snow and mist1  we feel this  
love1 and so successfully1 does he deal 
with a snowy  landscape that we see the 
snow in masses1 luminous1 soft and      
unsullied1  as if ,nature had lent a    
helping hand to portray her pure white  
magic4  ,so1 without formula or         
technique1 but absolutely and sincerely1
 he  unrolls the winter pageant before  
us4    ,the ,japanese landscape painter 
sums up nature in broad lines1 to which 
all details are more or less            
subordinated4 ,this rendering of the    
momentary vision of life and light1--the
 spirit1 not the letter of the          
scene1--is what is meant by             
,impressionism4 ,whereas1 however the   
,french  impressionists express light by
 modelling surfaces1 the ,japanese      

adhere  rigidly to line1 and rely upon  
gradations of colour and the effect of  
washes to produce the illusion of light4
 ,their landscape is expressed  in      
clear-cut lines and flat masses of      
colour4 ,in the prints this virtue  of  
abstract line is exemplified1 the       
outline being the essential  element of 
the composition1 for upon line and      
arrangements of balanced  colour the    
artist must depend1 cramped as he is by 
the necessities  of the wood-cut4 ,and  
here he displays his wonderful          
ingenuity1 his  fineness of gradations  
and opposition1 his boldness and        
infinity of  device1 and in spite of the
 limitations which hamper him1 he       
realizes  absolute values in the        
narrowest range1 by virtue of his       
knowledge of  lines and spaces4         
,illustration3 ,wistaria ,viewing at    
,kameido4 ,by ,hiroshige4    8,no       
scientifically taught artist10 said     
,jarves1 8can get into as few  square   
inches of paper a more distinct         

realization of space1 distance1         
atmosphere1 perspective and landscape   
generally1 not to mention  sentiment and
 feeling40    ,this virtue of the line  
is the inheritance of the ,japanese1 the
  consummate handling of the brush      
almost a racial instinct4 ,from ,china1 
far back in the centuries1 came the     
sweeping calligraphic stroke1  of which 
in ,japan the school of ,kano became the
 noblest exponent4  8,l'cole10 said ,m4 
de ,goncourt1 8des audaces et de la     
bravoure du  faire1 l'cole tantt aux    
crasements du pinceau1 tantt aux tnuits 
d'un cheveu40    ,as soon as the tiny   
hand of the ,japanese baby can grasp the
 brush its  art education begins4 ,the  
brush is the ,japanese alphabet--it is  
their  fairy wand1 their playmate--they 
learn to paint intuitively1 though      
later the most assiduous study is given 
to acquire the characteristic  touch of 
the school with which they affiliate4   
,the brush is their  gnie1 subservient  
to their imagination2 they master and   

8juggle0  with it4 ,for no foreign      
taught technique will they barter their 
birthright4    ,and our masters and     
instructors in art more and more        
recognize the  value of initial         
brush-work4 ,the following excerpt from 
,walter ,crane1  in ,line and ,form1    
might serve as a preface to a work on   
,hokusai or  ,hiroshige3 8,the practice 
of forming letters with the brush       
afforded  a very good preliminary       
practice to a student of line and form4 
,an  important attribute of line is its 
power of expressing or suggesting       
movement4 ,undulating lines always      
suggest action and unrest or the        
resistance of force of some kind4 ,the  
firm-set yet soft feathers of a  bird   
must be rendered by a different touch   
from the shining scales of a  fish4 ,the
 hair and horns of animals1 delicate    
human features1 flowers1  the sinuous   
lines of drapery1 or the massive folds  
of heavy robes1  all demand from the    
draughtsman in line different kinds of  

suggestive  expression40    ,we are told
 that ,hiroshige began his career by    
making pictures in  coloured sands on an
 adhesive background1 to amuse the      
public1 and  perhaps this artistic      
juggling helped him later in arranging  
his  schemes of colour1 for the         
limitations of the block demanded almost
  equal simplicity in composition4      
,the impressions of ,lake ,biwa1 one of 
,hiroshige's finest series of  views1   
serve as a beautiful illustration of the
 almost exclusive use of  line in       
bringing out the salient characteristics
 of the landscape4 ,his  sweeping brush 
shows us volcanic mountains1 encircling 
the lake1 like  rocky billows1 torn and 
jagged1 for legend says that as the     
peerless  mountain ,fuji-san rose in one
 night1 so the ground sank1 and the     
space  was filled by the beautiful lake 
named from its resemblance in form to   
the ,japanese lute4 ,the trees which    
fringe the shore1 black and misty1  upon
 close inspection resolve themselves    

into a network of criss-cross  lines and
 blotches4 ,the sampans' sails1 the     
waves1 the rushes on the  shore1 the    
roofs of the village nestling beneath   
the cliffs1 are all  adroitly rendered  
by horizontal lines and skillful        
zigzags4 ,the rest of  the composition  
is a wash of shaded blues and grays1    
fading towards the  horizon into smoky  
violets4    ,biwa1 the beautiful1       
suggestive of mystery1 the four-stringed
 lute  gives thee her name4 ,through the
 music of thy rippling eddies do sighs  
well up in thee1 the murmur of the lost8
 ,a pall of darkness hovers over  thee1 
pierced by a gleam of sunshine1         
beckoning like a lover's hand4    ,much 
diversity of opinion exists with regard 
to the identity of the  artist1 or      
artists1 who designed the prints signed 
,hiroshige4 ,the  latest research1      
however1 justifies the assertion that   
there was but  one landscape painter1   
,hiroshige the ,great4    ,the          
pupils1--notably one1 who1 among other  

names1 signed ,shigenobu1  until after  
his master's death1 when he took the    
title of ,hiroshige  the ,second1       
gradually assuming his full             
nom-de-pinceau1 ,hiroshige              
,ichiryusai1--faithfully imitated his   
style1 also amplifying the              
multitudinous designs and sketches made 
by the master1 yet the genius  of the   
great artist is stamped upon his work1  
and as a clever critic  tersely says3   
8,everything he touched was his         
autograph40    ,mr4 ,john ,s4 ,happer1  
an indefatigable student of ,ukiyo-ye   
and collector  of nishiki-ye gems1      
during diligent research1 discovered a  
clew that  leads1 beyond controversy1 to
 the right attribution of the prints    
signed ,hiroshige1 and which he intends 
later to make public4 ,nearly  all the  
important vertical sets1 he says1 most  
of which have been  ascribed to the     
second ,hiroshige1 are by the first     
artist1 although  doubtless his pupils  
assisted him in his work1 rendering     

their aid1 as  did the pupils of        
,hokusai in the preparation of the      
,mang-wa4 ,hiroshige  also associated   
himself at times with other artists1 one
 set of the  ,kisokaido1 for example1   
being in part the work of ,keisai       
,yeisen1 and  he supplied many          
backgrounds to the prints of ,kunisada  
and ,kuniyoshi4    ,in the catalogue of 
the 8,collection ,hayashi0 only two     
prints are  assigned to pupils of       
,hiroshige1 one of them bearing the     
signature of  ,shigenobu4    ,the       
masterpieces signed ,hiroshige are all  
by one great genius1 the  ,apostle of   
,impressionism4 8,hiro1 ,hiro1          
,hiroshige1 great is ,hiroshige10  cries
 ,mr4 ,happer1 in an outburst of        
enthusiasm4 8,before ,hiroshige there   
was no ,japanese landscape              
master1--after him there is none40      
,in the 8,happer0 ,collection is a      
memorial portrait of ,hiroshige by      
,kunisada 7,toyokuni71 the inscription  
upon which is of especial  interest1    

confirming1 as it does1 the date of his 
death and proving  that the 8,meisho    
,yedo ,hiak'kei10 the vertical set of   
,yedo views1 so  often ascribed to his  
successor1 were by the master4    ,the  
inscription is thus quaintly interpreted
 by a ,japanese student3    8,ryusai    
,hiroshige is a distinguished follower  
of ,toyohiro1 who was a  follower of    
,toyoharu1 the founder of the ,utagawa  
,school4 ,at the present  time1         
,hiroshige1 ,toyokuni and ,kuniyoshi are
 considered the three great  masters of 
,ukiyo-ye1--no others equal them4       
,hiroshige was especially  noted for    
landscape4 ,in the ,ansei era1          
#ahed-ahei1 he published the  #8,meisho 
,yedo ,hiak'kei' 7#8,hundred ,views of  
,yedo'71 which vividly present  the     
scenery of ,yedo to the multitude of    
admirers4    8,about this time also     
appeared a magazine entitled #8,meisho  
,zuye'  7#8,sonnets on ,yedo ,scenes'71 
a monthly1 illustrated by ,hiroshige1   
and  displaying his wonderful skill with

 the brush1 to the admiration  of the   
world4 ,he passed away1 to the world    
beyond1 on the sixth day  of the ninth  
month of this year1 #aheh1 at the ripe  
age of sixty-two  7sixty-one by our     
count74 ,he left behind a last          
testament1 or farewell  sonnet1 #8,azuma
 ji ni fude wo no-koshite tabi no sora2 
,nishi no mi kuni  no ,meisho wo ,mimu4'
 7,dropping the brush at ,azuma1        
,eastern ,capital1 ,i  go the long      
journey to the ,western ,country1       
,buddhist ,heaven is in the  ,west1 to  
view the wonderful sceneries there2     
perchance to limn them  too47    8,this 
by ,temmei ,rojin1 picture by ,toyokuni4
    8,dated1 ,ansei #e1 ninth month     
7,october1 #aheh740    ,the best known  
prints by ,hiroshige are the            
8,fifty-three ,stations  between ,yedo  
and ,kyoto40 ,this ,tokaido series was  
at first beautifully  printed1 but the  
later impressions show a sad decay in   
the colouring4  ,the 8,yedo ,haik'kei0  
or 8,hundred ,views of ,yedo10 give a   

panoramic vista  of the ,shoguns'       
capital4 ,the pictorial description of  
,yedo1 in black  and pale blue1 is a    
lovely series4 ,in many of these        
landscapes the  ,dutch influence is very
 marked1 for the master of ,hiroshige1  
,toyohiro1  from whom he derived the    
first syllable of his nom-de-pinceau1   
had  experimented in landscape painting 
after the ,dutch wood-cuts which  were  
scattered throughout the country4       
,although ,hiroshige is best  known     
through his landscapes1 he1 like most   
,japanese painters1 was  too universal  
an artist to confine himself solely to  
one branch4 ,he  loved every phase of   
nature1 and in one of his well-known    
prints1  8,the ,eagle10 his skill in the
 delineation of birds is best shown4 ,in
  the later impressions a pale yellowish
 tone takes the place of the  beautiful 
steel-blue background of the earlier    
prints1 miracles of  colour printing4   
,athwart this background of ineffable   
blue1 which loses itself in the  mists  

that veil the sacred mountain1 is seen1 
sweeping and sailing  cruelly alert1 the
 evil eagle of ,hiroshige4 ,his wicked  
gaze is set on  nests of murmuring      
wood-doves1 he eyes the callow sea-birds
 in their  bed of rushes4 ,the temple   
bell rings solemnly2 the long vibrations
  cleave the azure dusk4 ,it is the hour
 of rest and dreams4 ,begone1 base      
harbinger of evil6    ,in the early     
prints by ,hiroshige the colours are    
most beautiful1 one  soft tone fading   
imperceptibly into another1 the blues   
and greens so  marvellously blended as  
to be almost interchangeable4 ,we are   
told that  ,michelangelo loved the      
companionship of the old workman who    
ground  his colours2 and of the         
,japanese1 it is said1 8this making one 
family  of the greater artist and all   
who had to do with him has given that   
peculiar completeness1 that sense of    
peace and absence of struggle  which we 
feel in ,japanese art40    ,in vain     
,hiroshige fought1 towards the middle of

 the nineteenth century1  against       
introduction of cheap and inferior      
pigments1 which were taking  the place  
of the native dyes--,nature's gifts1    
distilled by her artist  children4      
,reds1 yellows1 blues and greens1       
intense and crude1 were now  imported1  
and ,western commercialism sapped the   
virtue of the sincere  and devoted      
artists and artisans of the ,orient4    
,in describing the effect of colour in  
one of the ,nikko temples1 ,w4  ,b4 ,van
 ,ingen throws a searchlight upon the   
chemical secrets of this  splendour1    
which he tells us1 if asked to describe 
in one word1 that  word would be        
8golden40 8,these colours10 he says1    
8are not imitations  of colours4 ,if    
vermilion is used1 it is cinnabar and   
not commercialized  vermilion which is  
employed1 nor is something substituted  
for cobalt  because it is cheaper and   
will #8do just as well4' ,each colour is
 used  because it is beautiful and frank
 as a colour1 not because some other    

colour is beautiful4 ,if lacquer is the 
best medium to display the  beauty of   
the pigment1 lacquer is used1 and if    
water is better1 lacquer  is discarded1 
and if these colours are not imitations 
of colours1  neither are they           
suggestions of colours4 ,pink is not    
used for red2 if  it is used at all1 it 
is used for its own beauty1 and feeble  
bluish  washes are not made to do       
service for blue4 ,the ,oriental has not
 yet  learned the doctrine of           
substitution2 he knows that substitution
 is  transformation40    ,the secrets of
 colouring of the early prints1 the joy 
of ,parisian  studios and which inspired
 ,whistler1 are lost4 ,the delicious    
greens  of old mosses1 the pale rose    
tints1 the veinings and marblings1 the  
iridescent tints of ocean shells1 the   
luminous colours of the anemone1  the   
bleus malades des mauves--that divine   
violet1 a benison of the  palette handed
 down by those old ,buddhist monks1 the 
earliest painters  of ,india and ,china4

    ,these visions of colour are taking 
the place of obscurity and gloom1  for  
the great impressionists1 ,claude       
,monet1 ,manet1 the ,barbizon  school   
also and its disciples1 have abjured the
 old dark shadows and  substituted      
violet washes1 seeming to share the     
privilege with the  saints and sages of 
8seeing blue everywhere40 ,all true     
artists live  8within the sphere of the 
infinite images of the soul40 ,these    
seers are  their own masters1 and1 as   
,theodore ,child says so exquisitely1   
8they  are of rare and special          
temperaments1 and through their         
temperament  they look at nature and see
 beautiful personal visions4 ,they fix  
their  visions in colour or marble and  
then disappear forever1 carrying with   
them the secrets of their mysterious    
intellectual processes40 ,such a        
special temperament was bequeathed to   
,whistler4 ,he submitted himself to  the
 ,japanese influence1 not imitating but 
imbibing oriental methods1  and         

following them1 notwithstanding         
,philistine clamour1 for the  ,english  
art doctrines of the time were          
diametrically opposed to these          
innovations4 ,regardless of sneers1 he  
followed the bent of his genius1  which 
led him into oriental fields4 ,he felt  
the sweet influence of such  artists as 
,hokusai and ,hiroshige4 ,he took       
advantage of the centuries  of thought  
given to drapery1 in the land where1 as 
with ,greece1 dress  is a national      
problem2 where no fads and follies of   
fashion fostered  by commercialism are  
allowed2 where the artists design dress1
 and the  people gratefully and         
sincerely adopt their ideas4    ,when we
 can follow them and allow art to rule1 
then hideous vagaries  and vulgarities1 
distortions of the figure by hoops and  
wires1 and  monstrosities in sleeves    
will cease4 ,then may we hope to be an  
sthetic  nation4 ,we need our ,american 
,moronobus to design and embroider and  
paint dresses for their beautiful and   

intuitively tasteful countrywomen4      
,the colour vision of the ,oriental far 
surpasses our own4 ,his eyes are        
sensitive to colour harmonies which1    
applied to landscape1 at first  seem    
unreal1 impossible1 until we realize    
that though they present  objects in    
hues intrinsically foreign to them1 yet 
the result justifies  this arrangement1 
and its integrity is recognized1 for the
 impression  we receive is the true one4
 ,and this chaotic massing of colour we 
notice in a landscape by ,hiroshige was 
employed by many of the old  masters4   
,of the stormy passion of ,tintoret1    
,ruskin says3 8,he involves  his earth  
in coils of volcanic cloud1 and         
withdraws through circle  flaming above 
circle the distant light of paradise40  
,there is a keynote to art1 as to music1
 and to genius2 through the  inner      
vision this harmony is revealed4 ,it    
lies within the precincts of  the soul1 
beyond the reach of talented mediocrity1
 however versed in  the canon of art4   

,nor can this occult gift be handed     
down4 ,the most  ardent disciples of    
,raphael tried in vain to express       
themselves after  his pattern4 ,the     
sublime inspiration which found its     
fullest outward  manifestation in the   
,sistine ,madonna rested there4 ,the    
poets realized  this colour vision1 for 
,dante cried--      8,had ,i a tongue in
 eloquence as rich     ,as is the       
colouring in ,fancy's loom40            
,inspiration must be sought by other    
than mechanical means4 ,have not the    
most inspired revelations of colour come
 to the great master1 ,william  ,keith1 
when1 invoking the aid of his old temple
 bell1 its lingering  vibrations yielded
 to him rich secrets of colour harmony1 
as the song  of the bell revealed to the
 soul of ,schiller the mystery of life  
and  birth and death1 which he          
crystallized in his immortal poem8      
,this is the keynote of ,impressionism1 
the touchstone of art4 ,what a  fairy   
wand was wafted by ,whistler1 standing  

upon ,battersea ,bridge6 8,the  evening 
mist10 he said1 8clothes the riverside  
with poetry1 as with a  veil1 and the   
poor buildings lose themselves in the   
dim sky1 and the  tall chimneys become  
,campanili1 and the warehouses are      
palaces in the  night and the whole city
 hangs in the heavens1 and fairyland is 
before  us60    ,leaning upon the       
bridge1 the sweet influence of          
,hiroshige permeating  his soul1 in the 
crucible of his fancy he blent with the 
radiant ,orient  a vision of old        
,london1 grimy and age-worn1 and        
realized 8a ,japanese  fancy on the     
banks of the gray ,thames40 ,to this    
picture he set the  seal of his brother 
artist1 and so the two apostles of      
,impressionism1  ,occidental and        
,oriental1 in that loveliest nocturne1  
will together go  down to posterity4    
,analytical ,comparisons                
between the ,masters of ,ukiyo-ye4      
,it is difficult rightly to determine   
the distinguishing characteristics  of  

the noted artists of ,ukiyo-ye3 but the 
connoisseurs speak of the  extreme grace
 of pictorial line in ,moronobu3 the    
sweeping areas of  pattern in the       
garments of ,kiyonobu and his followers1
 and their  forceful ways of outlining  
the folds of drapery1 all full of       
meaning4    ,grace and delicacy mark the
 idyllic compositions of ,harunobu and  
his  successor ,koriusai 7the face of   
the ,japanese woman is the face of      
,harunobu1 ,koriusai1 ,shunsho and his  
school74 ,m4 de ,goncourt says3  8,the  
,japanese woman is lithe1 little1 and   
rounded4 ,out of this woman  ,utamaro   
created the slender1 svelte woman of his
 prints1--a woman who  has the delicate 
outlines of an early ,watteau sketch4   
,before ,utamaro1  ,kiyonaga had drawn  
women1 larger than nature1 but fleshy   
and thick4  ,the face of the ordinary   
,japanese woman is short and squat1 and 
except  for the inexpressible vivacity  
and sweetness of the black eyes it is   
the face which ,harunobu1 ,koriusai and 

,shunsho represented4 ,out of  this face
 ,utamaro created a long oval4 ,he slid 
into the traditional  treatment of the  
features a mutinous grace1 a nave       
astonishment1 a  spiritual              
comprehension2 and he was the first     
artist who attempted1  while preserving 
the consecrated traditional lines1 to   
blend with them  a human expression1 so 
that his best prints become real        
portraits4  ,studying them1 we no longer
 see only the universal1 but the        
individual  face1 and1 unlike the other 
,japanese artists1 he idealizes his     
countrywoman through the mimicry of her 
gracious humanity40    ,the women of    
,kiyonaga have a more than human dignity
 and grace1 the  classic folds of his   
drapery recalling figures of the        
,renaissance4 ,the  ,japanese artist    
always has an underlying motive in the  
disposition of  his drapery4 ,the most  
recognizable perhaps are those called   
8,guantai10  signifying rude1 with      
angular outlines1 and 8,rintai10        

delicate1 supple  and wavy1 like the    
undulations of a river4    ,in the      
8,guantai0 motive we see the angles of  
the rocks1 even in the  most delicate   
folds of drapery4 ,in 8,rintai0 no angle
 is visible4 ,here  wavelike ripples    
descend1 flowing around the feet of the 
wearer4 ,in  these swirls of drapery are
 realized the ,buddhist conceptions of  
,life  in everything1--the lines are    
moving1 sentient1 and all but the       
leading  folds that determine the lines 
of the figure are suppressed4 ,the      
,japanese painter knows that the true   
master selects1 does not draw all  he   
sees1 but concentrates his efforts      
towards reproducing the lines of        
movement1 and in figures1 the lines of  
the limbs and flowing drapery4  ,in     
their designs for dresses the artists of
 ,ukiyo-ye emphasized  the theorem that 
art is the love of certain balanced     
relations and  proportions1 for they    
planned dresses in which every separate 
part is  welded into one harmonious     

whole4 ,they solved theories in colour1 
and  delighted in selecting as trials   
for their skill the most unmanageable   
patterns1 such as plaids and checks4    
,they extolled 8,notan0 or the          
decorative use of values4               
,illustration3 ,two ,ladies4 ,by        
,yeishi1 who gave to his faces a mystic1
   even religious expression1 like the  
women of the ,middle ,ages4      ,in the
 best prints the decoration of the dress
 fits in with the  scheme of the        
picture4 ,m4 de ,goncourt says3 8,if the
 figures are  represented out of doors1 
flowers seem to be shed upon the        
dresses1 as  if the wearer passed       
beneath blossoming trees4 ,if the artist
 paints  butterflies on a costume1 they 
harmonize with the background4 ,if      
peonies are used he alternates their    
whiteness with a purple tint4  ,and how 
admirable is their use of relief6 ,upon 
a blue or mauve gown1  how charming is  
the white relief of an embossed cherry  
petal1 and  so marvellously executed is 

this goffering1 that many of the oldest 
impressions retain the impression as    
perfectly as if only printed            
yesterday40 ,utamaro at first equalled  
,kiyonaga in the majesty of his         
figures1 later he lost beauty and       
strength in exaggeration4 ,yeishi  shows
 a striking resemblance to ,utamaro1 and
 he1 too1 followed after  ,kiyonaga3 his
 studies of women are noted for their   
refined elegance4  ,yeisen compares with
 ,utamaro in the grace with which he    
portrays women1  and ,yeizan's lines are
 stronger1 but show a marked similarity4
 ,hartmann  says3 8,the linear beauties 
of the representations of ,yeizan1      
,yeishi1  ,yeisen1 impress one like a   
,nautch1 like some languid oriental     
dance in  which the bodies undulate with
 an almost imperceptible vibration4 ,the
  ,japanese see in a woman1 a           
glorification of all beautiful          
things--they  even study the natural    
grace of the willow1 plum and cherry    
trees1 to  find the correct expression  

of her movements40    ,toyokuni was the 
master of mimetic art4 ,in his actor    
faces he runs the  gamut of             
emotion1--jealousy1 passion1 fiendish   
fury and concentrated  cunning1 rush at 
us from his prints4 ,toyokuni1 the      
,marionette maker1  forced life into the
 forms of his puppets1 and later the    
same power is  shown in his designs for 
the block4 ,like many of the ,ukiyo-ye  
artists1  he employs caricature1 but his
 figures are living1 sentient4    ,m4 de
 ,goncourt says3 8,in comparing two     
books by ,utamaro1 and ,toyokuni1       
illustrating the occupations of the     
women of the ,yoshiwara ,toyokuni1      
often the equal of ,utamaro in his      
triptychs is beaten by his rival4  ,his 
women have not the elegance1 the willowy
 grace1 the figures of  ,utamaro        
possess1 nor their resplendent          
personality4 ,his pictures lack  the    
spirit1 the life1 the #8trick' of       
voluptuousness of the women of  the     
#8,flower ,quarter4' ,then the comic    

note which ,toyokuni sought for in      
representing these scenes1 adds         
triviality to his work4 ,in short1 to   
judge between the rival painters1 one   
has only to place side by side  a woman 
painted by ,utamaro and one by          
,toyokuni4 ,the first is a little       
marvel1 the second only a commonplace   
print40 ,kunisada followed in the       
footsteps of his master ,toyokuni1      
adding charming backgrounds1 which  he  
borrowed from ,hiroshige2 in fact1 the  
,hiroshige are said to have  supplied   
many backgrounds to the prints of       
,kunisada and ,kuniyoshi4    ,hokusai   
used all methods1 acknowledged no       
school4 ,his lines flowing  out of the  
prescribed limits hint at vast stretches
 of country4 ,swirls  of waves foam up  
in the impressions1 supplying an        
alphabet of motion4  ,in ,mang-wa is    
blent sweetness and power1 structure and
 the fundamental  vital motive1         
underlying all art4 ,when working for   
the engraver he was  concise1 rapid and 

impulsive1 but when contemplating nature
 he sketched  in freedom1--his execution
 became fairylike4     ,illustration3   
,an ,actor in the ,miyako ,dance4 ,by   
,shunko1 pupil of   ,shunsho1 nicknamed 
,ko-tsubo1 or 8,the ,little ,jar10 from 
the seal used   by his master4    ,the  
landscape of ,hiroshige1 though confined
 to the narrow range of the  wood-cut1  
have all the qualities of               
,impressionism1 the details are         
subordinated1 only the salient points of
 the scene being represented1  but the  
atmosphere supplies what is lacking1 and
 this incommunicable1  subtle gift1 the 
birthright of the artists1 enabled them 
to conjure  living pictures from the    
hard medium of the wooden block4    ,the
 following suggestive comparisons       
between the masters of ,ukiyo-ye1       
kindly volunteered by ,mr4 ,morgan      
,shepard1 are full of value to the      
student1 as the individual opinion of a 
refined amateur and art critic4    ,of  
,harunobu he says3 8,though from the    

point of proportion his figures  seem to
 lack technic1 the nave artlessness of  
his lines perfectly  satisfies us4 ,in  
this purpose of simplicity they almost  
suggest the  qualities of the fresco    
work by the early ,tuscan masters1 when 
the  spirit was striving for expression 
and working out individuality along  its
 own spiritual lines4 ,the vigour of his
 stroke impresses one as  being         
untraditional4    8,in the figure of the
 ,dancer by ,shunko1 the pupil of       
,shunsho1 we  observe that1 although    
through training and tradition the pupil
 has  gained a greater facility1 yet the
 simplicity of the master is lost in  an
 excess of elaboration4 ,the lines      
resemble those of ,shunsho1 though      
there is more uniformity of stroke1 with
 a greater delicacy1 but the  simplicity
 of the first artist is merged in       
decorative purpose4 ,shunsho  is        
distinctly simple and his lines have a  
blended quality of relation1  giving a  
sense of repose which in the pupil is   

obscured by the tendency  to elaborate4 
8,in epitomizing the cardinal qualities 
expressed in the ,utamaro  prints1 the  
most marked is the suggestion of        
subjective1 unconscious  skill that     
gives no impress of the objective4 ,each
 line seems to come  directly from the  
fountain-head of the man's spiritual or 
soul nature1  though this very soul     
nature expresses itself often along     
sensual  lines4 ,indeed1 were the artist
 less of a spiritual genius1 he would   
often become revoltingly sensual4 ,to   
the casual observer the lines of        
,utamaro show wonderful facility1 and   
still greater delicacy1 yet we  cannot  
but observe underlying all his art1     
especially in its later  phases1 this   
subtle sensuality4 ,the lower draperies 
of the ,utamaro  figures have an almost 
insinuating fullness4    8,the          
compositions of ,yeishi1 upon           
superficial study1 suggest marked       
facility and even some originality in   
line composition1 with here and  there  

an eccentricity which gives character to
 his treatment4 ,the  lines seem to be  
invariably broad and openly expressed4  
,they lack the  strong personality and  
vigorous treatment of ,hokusai1 the     
suggestive  delicacy and voluptuousness 
of ,utamaro1 but seem to embody the     
vigorous  calligraphic stroke of        
,kiyonaga4 ,we can place ,yeishi upon a 
plane of  individuality because of his  
sensitive temperament which seemed to   
be influenced by his environment and his
 master teacher4 ,this varied           
individuality was accompanied by a      
tendency towards imitation1 yet  a      
generous discrimination would concede to
 him facility1 technic1  refinement and 
rare judgment4    8,the lines of        
,toyokuni show technical skill1 and his 
calligraphic  stroke is simple and      
vigorous1 yet he lacks the spiritual and
  suggestive delicacy of ,utamaro1      
giving the impression that              
externalities influenced him1 rather    
than the finer shades of artistic       

interpretation4      ,illustration3 ,the
 ,snowstorm4 ,by ,kitugawa ,yeizan4     
,his best work is histrionic and is full
 of individuality1 breaking  through the
 traditional stage attitudes1 which     
impressed the artists  who developed    
along his lines4    8,yeizan's treatment
 is peculiarly his own1 having a        
simplicity almost  amounting to         
awkwardness expressed in a reserve of   
treatment4 ,the  casual observer is     
impressed by a sense of incompleteness1 
but this  is overcome when the simple   
harmony of the lines is noted4 ,yeizan  
invariably breaks loose from his first  
reserve4 ,beginning very  carefully he  
gradually loses his constraint1 and the 
lower part of his  drapery shows greater
 impulse of treatment4    8,the work of 
,yeisen1 showing much of ,utamaro's     
facility1 with a  touch of the vigour of
 ,kiyonaga1 is yet distinctly conceived 
along  traditional lines4 ,it bears the 
strong impress of decorative sense1 but 
nevertheless the lines1 though simple   

and well controlled1 show rather  the   
finished master of technic than the     
originative mind4 ,in ,yeisen  we are   
less conscious of that emanating quality
 of originality and  forceful           
personality that we feel in ,harunobu1  
,hokusai and ,utamaro40    ,in analyzing
 the composition of the celebrated work 
by ,hokusai1  reproduced on the opposite
 page1 ,mr4 ,shepard comments3 8,in     
this1 as  in all ,hokusai's pictures1 we
 note the combination of vigour and     
gentleness1 characteristic aggression   
and insinuating suggestion1  an         
absolutely masterly touch1 and yet      
painstaking in minuti4 ,the  poise of   
the figure is admirable and absolutely  
satisfying in all  matters of drawing4  
,the treatment of the waves1 which are  
peculiarly  characteristic of the       
master's touch1 in their foamy sputter  
suggest  a comparison with the strength 
of ,hiroshige's huge billows1 majestic  
in their oily smoothness and sweeping   
grace4 ,giving the impression of  the   

middle distance1 the artist has         
delicately approached with the  most    
wonderful ease1 the vapory suggestion of
 the distant mountain  line4 ,he slips  
from the vigour of the foreground with a
 parallel  stroke of astonishing        
freedom1 seeming almost to remain       
poised1 so  that we reach without       
violence the faintly suggested distance 
as if  we had unconsciously slid from   
reality into dreamland1 unknowing of    
the transition4 ,hokusai possesses a    
masterly technic1 a characteristic      
vigour1 imagination1 delicacy ofttimes  
opposed by a brutal ruggedness1  and    
above all a pervading sense of humour40 
,illustration3 ,one of the ,thirty-six  
,views of ,mount ,fuji4 ,by ,hokusai4   
,hints to ,collectors of ,ukiyo-ye      
,gems4      ,to truly appreciate        
,japanese prints1 a knowledge of the    
language of the  block must first be    
acquired1 then the pursuit has an       
indescribable  charm1 inexplicable      
excepting to the initiated1 but to those

 who have  fallen under the spell1 the  
love of ,ukiyo-ye gems becomes a        
veritable  passion4 ,the collector of   
old prints must be guided in his        
selection  by the quality of the paper1 
which should be soft and vibrant1 the   
fibrous tentacles upon its surface often
 forming shadows where it has  been     
exposed to the dust4 ,the register must 
be perfect1 each colour  being confined 
absolutely to its prescribed space4     
,perfection in the  register is an      
infallible guide1 and prints with a     
perfect register  will increase in      
value4 ,the colours must be soft and    
melting1 in many  cases one tone shading
 into another1 not harshly determined by
 the  lines of the block1 as in even the
 most beautiful reproductions4 ,the     
florid colouring of the later           
impressions by the ,hiroshige are       
notable  examples of the deterioration  
caused by the use of cheap pigments and 
the haste of the printer who had to     
supply the increasing demand for  cheap 

pictures4    ,there are often exquisite 
examples of colouring to be found among 
the  later impressions from the old     
blocks1 but the lovely colours and      
nuances of colours conjured by the      
artists1 designers and printers in      
loving collaboration1 before            
commercialism had invaded ,japan1 can   
never  be seen again1 even as the       
disciples of ,william ,morris seem      
unable to  reproduce the beautiful      
shades which the genius of the master   
workman  evolved from the dyeing-vat4   
,bibliography1 for ,use of ,students4   
,anderson1 ,william3 ,pictorial ,arts of
 ,japan4 7,london3 ,sampson ,low1       
#ahhf47     ,anderson1 ,william3        
,japanese ,wood ,engravings3 ,their     
,history1 ,technique   and              
,characteristics4 7,london3 ,portfolio1 
#ahie47     ,bing1 ,s43 ,artistic       
,japan3 ,compiled by ,s4 ,bing1 with the
 assistance   of ,wm4 ,anderson1 ,t4    
,hayashi1 ,e4 de ,goncourt1 and others4 
7,new ,york3   ,brentano's1 #e ,union   

,square47     ,fenollosa1 ,ernest       
,francisco3 ,an ,outline of the ,history
 of ,ukiyo-ye4   7,tokyo3 ,kobayashi47  
,fenollosa1 ,mary ,mc,neil3 ,hiroshige1 
the ,artist of ,mist1 ,snow1 and ,rain4 
7,san ,francisco1 #aija47     ,goncourt1
 ,e4 de3 ,outamaro1 ,le ,peintre des    
,maisons ,vertes4 7,paris3 #aa   ,rue de
 ,grenelle1 #ahia47     ,gonse1 ,louis3 
,l',art ,japonais4 7,paris3 ,a4         
,quartin1 #ahhc47     ,hartmann1        
,sadakichi3 ,japanese ,art4 7,boston3   
,page  ,co41 #aijd47     ,hayashi1 ,t43 
,catalogue of the ,hayashi ,collection1 
with ,illustrations4   7,paris1 #aijb47 
,holmes1 ,c4 ,j43 ,hokusai4 7,london3   
,longmans1 ,green  ,co41 #aija47        
,huish1 ,marcus ,b43 ,japan and ,its    
,art4 7,london3 ,the ,fine ,arts        
,society1   #ahic47     ,jarves1 ,james 
,jackson3 ,a ,glimpse of the ,art of    
,japan4 7,new ,york1   #ahge47          
,okakura1 ,kakuzo3 ,essays on ,japanese 
,art1 in 8,japan10 edited by ,f4        
,brinkley4 ,also3 ,japanese ,pictorial  

,art1 in ,vol4 #g1 8,japan and ,china10 
by ,f4 ,brinkley4 7,boston and ,tokyo3  
,j4 ,b4 ,millet ,co47     ,pepper1      
,charles ,hovey3 ,japanese ,prints4     
7,boston3 ,walter ,kimball    ,company47
     ,perzynski1 ,friedrich3            
,farbenholzschnitt ,der japanische      
,farbenholzschnitt4 7,berlin47          
,revon1 ,michel3 ,etude ,sur ,hok'sai4  
7,paris1 #ahif47     ,seidlitz1 ,w4 von3
 ,geschichte des japanischen            
,farbenholzschnitts4   7,dresden3       
,gerhard ,kuhtmann1 #ahig47             
,strange1 ,edward ,f43 ,japanese        
,illustration4 7,london3 ,george ,bell  
,sons1 #aijd47     ,strange1 ,edward    
,f43 ,colour ,prints of ,japan4         
7,langham ,series of ,art   ,monographs4
 ,new ,york3 ,charles ,scribner's ,sons1
 #aijd47                                
,fac-similes              of the most   
famous ,signatures of ,ukiyo-ye         
,artists4      ,hishikawa ,moronobu4    
#afdc-agaa-ac4      ,okumura ,masanobu4 
#afij-agbj4      ,suzuki ,harunobu4     

#agdg-ahah4      ,koriusai4 #agfj4      
,shunsho4 ,died #agib4      ,iitsu      
7,hokusai74 #agfj-ahdi4      ,hokusai4  
#agfj-ahdi4      ,gakio ,rojin ,manji   
7,hokusai74 #agfj-ahdi4      ,hok'kei4  
#aghj-ahef-i4      ,kiyonaga4 ,died     
#ahad4      ,utamaro4 #aged-ahjf4       
,toyokuni4 #agfh-ahbe4      ,kikugawa   
,yeizan4 ,flourished #ahaj-cj4          
,kunisada4 #aghe-ahfd4      ,yeishi4    
,flourished #aged-ahje4      ,keisei    
,yeisen4 #agij-ahdh4      ,kuniyoshi4   
#ahjj-ahfa4      ,hiroshige4            
#agic-aheh-fj4      ,hiroshige4         
#agic-aheh-fj4                          
,index                     ,page        
,beni1 #bb1 #ci      ,botticelli1 #ac   
,brunt1 ,henry ,van1 #cb        ,child1 
,theodore1 #bd      ,cho ,densu1 #f     
,chromo-xylography1 #bg      ,cimabue1  
#g      ,crane1 ,walter1 #d             
,danjuro1 #bf        ,eta1 #be          
,forty-seven ,ronin1 #ad                
,genroku1 #ac      ,giorgione1 #bd      
,giotto1 #g      ,guantai1 #gj          

,harunobu1 ,suzuki1 #bc-bf              
,hayashi1 ,t41 #ch      ,heizei1 #c     
,hiroshige1 #cd1 #eg      ,hogen1 #g    
,hokusai1 #cd1 #dg        ,itcho1 #ac   
,iyemitsu1 #ca        ,jipensha1 ,ikkou1
 #cf      ,josetsu1 #d        ,kako1 #bj
      ,kano1 #c1 #d1 #e      ,kanaoka1  
#cj      ,kenzan1 #ac      ,kitao1 #bi  
,kiyomasu1 ,torii1 #bb      ,kiyomitsu1 
,torii1 #bf      ,kiyonaga1 ,torii1 #cb1
 #cc      ,kiyonobu1 ,torii1 #bf        
,korin1 #ac      ,koriusai1 #bh-cc      
,kozo1 #ci      ,kunisada1 #bj          
,kuranosuki1 #af        ,leonardo da    
,vinci1 #ac-ad      ,la ,farge1 #cj     
,mang-wa1 #ed      ,matahei1 #h-i       
,masanobu1 #e-f      ,meiji1 #h         
,ming ,dynasty1 #b      ,mitford1 #ad   
,miyagawa ,choshun1 #ba      ,mitsunobu1
 #g      ,mitsunori1 #i      ,motomitsu1
 #c      ,moronobu1 #f1 #i1 #aj1 #aa1   
#bj1 #ba      ,motonobu1 #e1 #f1 #g     
,nishiki-ye1 #bb      ,no ,kagura1 #be  
,notan1 #gj        ,okio1 #cj1 #ca      
,okumura ,masanobu1 #bb      ,otsu-ye1  

#aj        ,pater1 #b1 #bd      ,popular
 ,school1 #b1 #h1 #i1 #cj               
,register1 #gg      ,renaissance1 #f    
,rintai1 #gj      ,ruskin1 #dj          
,sesshiu1 #ea      ,sekiyen1 #ch        
,shigemasa1 #bi      ,shigenaga1 #bc    
,shoguns1 #d1 #dh      ,shunro1 #dg-ej  
,shunsho1 #bf-bi1 #di      ,shunsui1 #bb
      ,sotatsu1 #ac      ,sukenobu1 #bi 
,sumi-ye1 #ba        ,tan-ye1 #ba1 #ci  
,tanyu1 #aa      ,tokugawa1 #ac         
,torii ,school1 #ba-cd      ,tosa       
,school1 #c1 #d1 #e1 #i      ,toyoharu1 
#bi      ,toyokuni1 #cc1 #dd            
,toyonobu1 #bi      ,tsunetaka1 #d      
,utagawa1 #bi      ,utamaro1 #bj1 #cc1  
#ce-df      ,uyeno1 #ej        ,yamato1 
#c      ,yeisen1 #ge      ,yeishi1 #ga  
,yeitoku1 #i      ,yeizan1 #ga1 #ge     
,yoshiwara1 #cf-cg       ,illustration3 
,surimono3 ,the ,ride of the ,warrior   
,miura ,kenisuke4 ,the   inscription is 
a ,poem he composed before setting out  
for ,corea4 ,by   ,yanagawa ,shigenobu1 
the ,son-in-law of ,hokusai4