In the making of works of art in bronze, a single artist casts the metal. does the chasing, colors with oxides, encrusts the bronze with pre cious metals, coral, or pearls, and produces the work from start to finish. The Japanese do not share the predilection of the Indian people for brass utensils, though the few they make are ornamented with great skill and care; but they excel in bronze manufactures. In 1899 the bronze and copper workers in Japan numbered 5395, and the finished product was valued at $691,875.
The Japanese excel in the manufacture of some kinds of paper, of which they use a larger quan tity in proportion to population than most other nations. It is made from various species of plants, including the pulp of the paper-mulberry, and is used not only for printing and painting, but for many other purposes. Their handker chiefs, table napkins, window-panes, the panels forming the movable partitions of their houses, are made of paper. They cover with paper the cushioned stools used as pillows. and paper gar ments coated with vegetable wax are worn in rainy weather. The papers of Japan always show a yellowish tint when made of the purely native materials, and in the purely native way, and in this respect are inferior to the pure white products of the West : but printing paper as white as any made in the United States or Europe is produced in quantity. All attempts to imitate some of the Japanese native papers have failed. In 1899 paper was manufactured in 65,514 establishments, yielding an output valued at $8,272,754.
The Japanese also excel in wickerwork, and in a great variety of straw objects, such as straw toys and mosaics. Ivory is fashioned into curious boxes and cabinets, and embellished with carved reliefs involving microscopic work. Ivory carv ings, large and small, distinguished for technical skill and inspiration, are sold in all Western coun tries. The artistic skill of ninny of the natives, however, has been impaired by the production of quantities of cheap articles to meet the foreign demand for the artistically worthless articles sold under the name of 'Japanese-china' and other cheap products.
Spinning and weaving have for centuries been the most important native industries. The art of weaving heavy linens and silken fabrics and their brocades, interwoven with gold and silver thread, was long ago developed to a high degree; their products still form admirable hangings and festive robes. But the modern brocades are often
colored with imported aniline dyes, and have neither the brilliancy nor the quality of the old fabrics. Spinning and weaving for every-day utility have always employed most of the textile workers. The returns for 1895 showed that there were then over 1,000,000 weavers, and in nearly every house in rural Japan the spinning-wheel and loom were kept going from morning till night. A great revolution, however, was already far advanced. About 1880 an enormous impetus was given to the erection of cotton spinneries, with all modern appliances, and to-day home-spun yarn is almost unknown in the Japanese markets. Osaka is the great centre of manufacture both of yarns and cotton goods. It has been compared to Manchester on account of the many spinning mills and other large textile interests centred there. In 1S90 the amount of raw cotton im ported into Japan was 34.779.000 pounds. Since then the imports have increased six-fold. In 1900 79 cotton-spinning mills, with 1,135,111 spindles, employed on the average 12.170 men and 43,375 women: but since 1898 the industry has suffered much from overproduction and from the great advance in the wages of skilled labor. Generally speaking, .Japanese industry on modern lines has suffered much since the war with China on ac count of lack of capital and the temporary loss of the trade with China. The native capital invest ed in numerous factory industries, amounting to $31.000.000 in 1S93. has been more than trebled since that time. The following table, giving the value for a series of years of the silk, cotton. and other textile manufactures, shows the rapid pro gress of these industries: 1856 1896 1597 1898 1899 814,240.000 855,492,100 $60,955,200 $71,562,600 The amount of cotton yarn produced in 1899 was 277.380,000 pounds. Silk is also manufac tured to a great extent by modern machinery. About half the raw silk is retained at home for the manufacture of the characteristic silk fabrics worn in the country. Large quantities of the ex ported silk fabrics are now dyed in France and the United States before being placed on the market. Reeled silk, however. is the chief silk export. Silkworm-eggs on cards are also ex ported to Italy.