Japan and the Japanese

308 JAPAN*. A. D. 10110 1C!>2.
ever, the proportions and resemblance have been so far observe^
that scarce anybody can miss finding out whom it was designed to
represent, nor help admiring the ingenuity and skill of the master;
or else a judicious moral sentence of some noted philosopher or
poet, writ with his own hand, or the hand of some noted writingmaster
who had a mind to show his skill by a few hasty strokes or
characters, indifferent enough at first sight, but nevertheless very
ingeniously drawn, and such as will afford sufficient matter of
amusement and speculation to a curious and attentive spectator ;
and, lest anybody should call their being genuine in question, they
are commonly signed, not only by the writing-masters themselves,
but have the hands and seals of some other witnesses put to them.
They are hung up nowhere else but in the toko, as the most honorable
place of the room, and this because the Japanese set a great
value upon them.
2. " Pictures of Chinese, as also of birds, trees, landslips and
other things, upon white screens, done by some eminent master, or
rather scratched with a few hasty, affected strokes, after such a man-
ner that, unless seen at a proper distance, they scarce appear natural.
3. " A flower-vase filled with all sorts of curious flowers, and
green branches of trees, such as the season affords, curiously ranged
according to the rules of art, it being as much an art in this country
to arrange a flower-vase as it is in Europe to carve, or to lay a
table. Sometimes there is, instead, a perfuming-pan, of excellent
good workmanship, cast in brass or copper, resembling a crane, lion,
dragon, or other strange animal. I took notice once that there was
o c
an earthen pot of Cologne, such as is used to keep Spauwater in,
with all the cracks and fissures carefully mended, used in lieu of a
because of the
flower-vase, it being esteemed a very great rarity,
distant it place came from, the it clay was made of, and its uncommon
shape.
4. " Some strange, uncommon pieces of wood, wherein the colors
and grain either naturally run after a curious and unusual manner,
or have been brought by art to represent something.
5. " Some neat and beautiful network, adorning either the bal
cony and windows towards the garden, or the tops of the doors
creens and partitions of the chief apartments.