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THE BEGINNING OF ART. 41
" Gradually the custom of '
with the master '
dying
faded out of our country, even in the provinces
remote from the capital. In time even the burial of
images ceased, and people went out to look at the
old circles of earthen heads as a curiosity. Finally
the moss and undergrowth and drifting dust of
centuries covered up the images, leaving them many
feet underground. Occasionally the spade of some
enthusiastic relic-hunter, or one digging for new
foundations, reveals a chapter of life in ancient
Japan, such as I have narrated to you. Out of the
merciful enterprise of Sukune* sprang the splendors
of our potters' and decorators' art.
" In Hizen and Satsuma our workers in clay are
now able to produce almost any shape, quality, or
color, and your father seems never tired of boasting
what Japanese potters can do. Even Doctor Sano
says our people are far ahead of the Europeans in
this art."
" Why does n't father set out all his pretty porcelain
bowls and dishes and jugs and tea-pots where
we can see them, as you say the Holland men do ? "
asked Kine".
" Because, child, that is not our custom ; and
besides, on account of fire, nearly
all our valuable
things are kept in the fire-proof store-house, and in
our rooms we have only a few precious articles at a
time. That is the custom all over Japan, I believe."
Then Taro told how an ancient grave had been
accidentally dug open at a place near Fukui a few
days before, and how in the large stone coffin, amid