Japanese Kermaic Art

Legend carries Japanese Keramic Art back to a period before history begins; but a less hoary antiquity gives us the date of the sixth century B. C. It is said that the Emperor Jimmu, the first Mikado, or god-man, in the sixth century B. C. ordered a certain kind of pottery for religious purposes. We have no information during the next five hundred years of the existence or character of the potters? art in Japan; but in the year 29 B. C. we get the name of a potter who lived in the province of Idsourni, "a worker in stone and pottery," Nomino Soukoune. It was the custom at that time to bury slaves with their dead masters and mistresses, presumably to wait upon them in the next world. When Nomino-Soukoune heard of the death of the Empress, he quickly made some images of earthen-ware, and taking them to the Emperor, induced him to bury them with the Empress was thereafter abolished and the potter, as a reward of distinction, was allowed to take for his name "Haji," the artist in clay.

Two years later, 27 B. C., a Corean prince landed in Japan and settled in the province of Omi; and it is claimed that he and his followers, with Haji, founded a potters? guild and made porcelain. But this is disputed, as the Chinese claim the invention of making porcelain, and declare that these early Japanese potters made only stone-ware. Without entering into the argument fully, it is easy to decide that Japan was the pupil of China and Corea in Keramic Art.

But a study of the subject also shows that even while Japan was in the stage of pupilage her national character asserted itself. The points of difference between the porcelain of China and Japan may be briefly stated. The Japanese, having learned from China and Corea the mechanical art of making porcelain, followed their own innate feeling for nature in their decorations. Perspective was permissible; there was greater simplicity in design; ornamentation was more chaste and less profuse; nature was more closely followed. To account for the greater refinement of Japanese Art, three points are to be noticed: While the Japanese degraded art by degrading the artists, the best and noblest of Japan's sons were themselves artists. The Chinese lowered Keramic Art still further by making it purely mechanical, dividing the different parts of the ornamentation among several workmen, while the Japanese gave to the individual the power to work to its completion each individual piece. Thus no two pieces were ever alike; each artist worked from nature, making his own designs. The third advantage was that the profession was hereditary. It is known that in Japan descendants to the eleventh generation have engaged in the same pursuit. Technical knowledge was thus transmitted, and Japan soon surpassed her teachers. The best test as to whether a piece of Keramic were is Chinese or Japanese is furnished by the symbols which distinguished the two countries.

The Imperial dragon of Japan has only three claws; that of China has five. The crane, the turtle, the pine, and the bamboo, emblems of longevity in Japan, do not appear in Chinese decoration. The sacred symbols of Japan--the Mirror, the Sword, and the Jewel--appear only in Japanese ware. The chrysanthemum, the iris and the lotus are their sacred flowers. The gods are different. A brief stud of the religious of Japan and China make it almost impossible to mistake any piece on which a sacred subject is painted, Moreover, the single word "Mikado" in Japanese characters must be attached to every piece of Keramic ware manufactured in Japan.

The symbol of the god of happiness is a white stag; the symbol of strength is the pine; the stork stands for long life; the tortoise for riches; the hawk symbolizes courage; a bear, in the snow, endurance; a carp swimming upwards is the emblem of perseverance.

But the most noticeable feature is the greater simplicity. The Japanese are content with a simple but exquisite spray on one side of a cup. The dishes which are spattered over with gold and covered with designs are manufactured expressly for the foreign market. Students of art study from the works of the best masters and from nature; they never think of following the bent of their own untrained imagination. Those who own collections of such works of the past as are of accepted and acknowledged worth are always ready to permit artists and students to study and copy from them.