From the 16th century the English have had intercourse with Japan, and from 1613 to 1623 the E. I. Company maintained a factory there. The Dutch from the earliest years had a factory, and St. Francis Xavier made many converts to Christianity. By treaties with the American and European Governments, the country has been thrown open to foreigners, and the extraordinary variety and beauty of Japanese scenery, the strange manners and customs of the people, the unparalleled rapidity of the changes which are transforming the social, political, and religious life of the nation, and the archeological remains which are to be found in the country, have been subjects of great and abiding interest ; and the Japanese have eagerly cultivated western science. At first they employed learned men from Europe and America, but these have gradually been replaced by Japanese who had been sent to be educated in Europe.
The Japanese school of art has been eagerly examined by the nations of Europe. Dr. Chris topher Dresser wrote on the Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures ; Mr. Quin, the British Consul at Hakodadi, reported on the Lacquer industry ; the ceramic and ornamental arts of Japan have been illustrated in a work by Messrs. Audsley and Bowes •, and M. Gonse issued a work on l'Art Japonais. The Japanese book,' the Ko-gei Shi riyo, on their lacquer industry, has been noticed by Mr. Quin. In this, in drawing and painting, in embroidery, in crusted work and enamel, the Japanese have special schools. In their painting of the human figure there is invariably disregard both of drawing and anatomy, but in the place of these there is an exuberance of the most playful and grotesque action. Mr. Wilkinson (Sunny Lauds) mentions a bronze image of Buddha at Kama Kura, 15 nines from Yokohama. It is in a sitting posture, and was cast in the year 1252. Its height 50 feet. Sir J. E. Reid also mentions a bronze seated idol, cast A.D. 743.; height from the base of the sacred lotus flower on which he sits to the top of the head, 631 feet ; 1,005,361 lbs. of material were used.
The origin of the ceramic art in Japan is re ferred to the prehistoric era of Oanamuchi-no mikoto, and the inventor, Oosei-tsumi. But in B.C. 29, when an empress of Japan died, and, according to immemorial custom, a selection from among the slaves of her household were doomed to death, so that she might not descend un attended into the grave, then arose ,in the province of Idsoumi the worker in stone and pottery, whose name was Nornino-Soukoune. He
made images of clay, and, taking them to the widowed emperor, persuaded him to bury them with the body of the august lady, and to spare the lives of her favourite servants. Thereafter the cruel custom was discontinued, and Nomino Soukouno was allowed, as a title of honour, the designation liaji,—tlie artist in clay. It seems probable that for 1500 years or more, pottery only, and not porcelain, was made in Japan ; but in the time of Henry VIII. of England, about 50 years before porcelain was first made in Europe, an artist who had travelled in China settled at Hizen, and instituted there a manufactory of the finer ware. But the earthenware of Japan is of such a quality that it has sometimes apparently been described as porcelain. Raku ' ware, which figures in Japan at ceremonial tea-parties, closely resembles china, but is nothing more than a lead glazed earthenware, introduced by Ameya, a Corean, about the year 1500. It is said that Ameya's descendants, in the 11th generation, still pursue the trade of their ancestor at Kioto,—such is the permanence of Japanese institutions.
In China it was not till the 3d or 4th centuries of the Christian era that fine materials were em ployed, and that some degree of perfection was attained. Still, taking the later date, the porce lain of China has a high antiquity, and must have been made at least 1250 years before English porcelain. When the Chinese had acquired a certain amount of skill and perfection, they appear to have rested entirely satisfied with the results, and to have continued producing them without variation for ages. So exclusively were the Chinese the manufacturers of porcelain, that it acquired the name of their land, and became universally known (on its introduction to Europe in 1518) as china. The Japanese have acted differently from the Chinese, and have produced porcelain ware of the finest fabric and in the highest artistic forms.
The Japanese are a Mongoloid race of small stature. The women's hands and feet are small, and their necks and shoulders beautifully modelled. The race are gentle, kind to one another and to animals, but insincere, and personal gain overrides all other thoughts. In hot weather men and women go about the country unclothed. Their greatest failings are licentiousness and untruthful ness. The Aino have square and powerful frames; they have a profusion of coarse black hair, and the men wear long beards ; they are peaceable, honest, and sociable.