The Spell of Japan Part 21

In the province of Kai there is a hill called Chrysanthemum Mount, overhanging a river into which the petals fall. It is believed that long life is a.s.sured by drinking the water. Among the people the custom also survives of placing small blossoms or petals in the cup during the wine-drinking that takes place at the festival on the ninth day of the ninth month.

The j.a.panese fondness for flowers is not bestowed chiefly on the rare and costly varieties produced by the florist's skill, but is lavished upon the familiar blossoms of every day. Love of nature is shown in their pilgrimages for seeing flowers, picking mushrooms, gathering sh.e.l.ls, and even for viewing the moon, which form their favourite holiday excursions. One of the prettiest conceits of the j.a.panese imagination is that which regards the snowflakes as the flowers of winter, and has added snow-viewing to the list of flower-festivals.

Parties are even formed to rise at dawn and go out to see the morning-glories open. I can testify, too, from my own experience that they are well rewarded, for j.a.panese morning-glories are worth seeing.

One day when our train was delayed at a village, the station master invited us to view the morning-glories in his tiny garden, about twenty feet square. The colours were so beautiful that they were really a feast for the eyes. Some were pale in tint, some brilliant, and some had crinkled flowers and leaves.

Among the j.a.panese popular names for plants are some interesting ones.

The tufted gra.s.s that grows on the hillsides has the delightful name of "lion's moustache." The barberry, which grows wild in j.a.pan as it does here, is popularly styled "snake-can't-climb-up," on account of its thorns, the idea being that the snake wants the berries, but the thorns keep him off. The little pachysandra, sometimes used here for borders in gardens, bears the high-sounding t.i.tle of "n.o.ble plant." We are surprised at this until we discover that it is very hardy, adapts itself to any surroundings, and blossoms under the unfavourable conditions of early spring. Because of these qualities, rather than for anything striking in its outward appearance, it is called n.o.ble. It is also a symbol of good luck, perhaps in recognition of the fact that a person's good fortune comes chiefly from his hardihood, adaptability and power to overcome obstacles.

On one of our visits to j.a.pan we imitated the fas.h.i.+on of the country and made pilgrimages to view the lotus, which was in full bloom in July, its pink and white blossoms almost covering the waters of the ponds. Again in the autumn, we went on excursions to enjoy the charming colours of the maples. Often we took jinrikishas and went to an inn by a rippling brook, where we spent the day, eating the native food with chopsticks from little lacquer trays, and looking out from the balcony of polished wood upon the bright, sharp-pointed leaves dancing in the suns.h.i.+ne.

At the various festival seasons of the year, different flowers and plants are used, either alone or in combination with others. For instance, the pine and the bamboo appear among New Year decorations; the iris is the flower of the Boys' Festival; fruits and berries are used on the first day of the eighth month. Such occasions as the coming of age of a young man, a promotion in rank, farewell gatherings, death anniversaries, poetry meetings, tea ceremonials and incense burnings, all are adorned by their appropriate flowers.

j.a.panese flower arrangement differs fundamentally from that of the West, and includes much more than the mere ma.s.sing of a cl.u.s.ter of blossoms of beautiful colour and texture, set off by a sufficient number of leaves of some kind. _Ike-bana_, as they call their art, considers the flower as a mere detail and of little beauty apart from its proper place on the stem. In addition to grace and beauty of line and an entire absence of crowding, it requires the expression of the thought that what you have before you is not simply cut flowers but a growing plant--which must always have an uneven number of branches. Buds and even withered leaves are used as well as flowers, in order to suggest the natural mode of growth. By keeping the stems together for a few inches at the base a strong plant is indicated, springing from the surface of the water, which is supposed to represent the surface of the earth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _IKE-BANA_ OR FLOWER ARRANGEMENT.]

As we learn the rules of _Ike-bana_, we do not wonder that it has been the study and diversion of philosophers, generals and priests. The three branches with which the arrangement starts are named Heaven, Man and Earth. Heaven, the longest branch, must be one and one-half times the height of the vase and must stand in the centre of the cl.u.s.ter. Man should be one-half the length of Heaven, and Earth one-half as long as Man. These sprays are bent into the desired curves before they are placed in the vase. Finally, but with great care, every leaf or flower that hides another must be ruthlessly cut off.

By the use of special flowers and the varying disposition of the sprays the season of the year or the particular occasion for which the arrangement is designed may be indicated. For example, unusual curves of the branches suggest the high winds of March; white flowers are used at a housewarming, or they signify water to put out a fire; evergreens or chrysanthemums are used when a youth comes into his property, to express the wish that he may long keep his possessions.

Following out the Buddhist idea of preserving life as long as possible, the j.a.panese make their vases with a wide mouth, so that the water they contain may be exposed to the air. This makes it necessary to support the branches, and various kinds of holders have been devised for this purpose. Both vases and holders are made of basket-work, porcelain, bronze and bamboo, and according to their shape they are called by such names as "Singing Mouth," "Crane Neck," and "Rampant Lion." Hanging baskets in the form of boats, too, are popular, and receive names like "Cloud Boat" and "Dragon-head Boat." In summer low, shallow vases are used, which suggest coolness by the extent of water surface exposed.

According to the law of _Ike-bana_, vases should be nine-tenths filled with water in spring and autumn, in hot weather they must be brimful, in winter only four-fifths full, and even less in very cold weather.

Pebbles may cover the bottom of the vase in imitation of a river-bed, both white and black ones being used. An effective arrangement is to place three large stones on top of the small ones--quite a high rock to represent a mountain, a second flat one, and a third between the others in height.

The j.a.panese love to decorate their houses with flowers, but we might say on entering, Where are they? Why, in the most honoured place of all!

On the raised platform of the alcove, perhaps beside the image of some G.o.d, stands a large vase with a few carefully arranged branches of flowers, or maybe of leaves alone. These are enough. You feel no need of anything more.

The table decorations made for Europeans are especially interesting.

They are often placed directly on the tablecloth. One that we saw contained a conventionalized Fuji in evergreen needles, like a flat print, overhung with cotton wool to imitate clouds. Sometimes miniature landscapes are formed in a box, for anything tiny delights the j.a.panese, and they spend whole days arranging such things. The Inland Sea is often represented in blue and white sand, with real earth for the sh.o.r.es and the islands, while small pine branches are introduced to look like twisted trees. Boats and fishes are put in the blue sand, and small temples set up on the sh.o.r.e. As every imaginable toy is made by the j.a.panese, the scene can be varied according to the taste of the designer--I have even seen tiny European ladies imitated, and railway trains and telegraph poles introduced.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE TABLE DECORATIONS ... ARE ESPECIALLY INTERESTING"]

In the miniature landscapes which Watanabe devised for us he used dwarfed trees in almost every instance, and imitated water and waterfalls with sands of different colours. For the Fuji of these pictures he sometimes used one of those oddly shaped pebbles that abound in j.a.pan.

On Was.h.i.+ngton's Birthday Watanabe surpa.s.sed himself in this sort of decoration. He represented Was.h.i.+ngton City by a diminutive Capitol and White House and Was.h.i.+ngton Monument, set in a park-like arrangement of gravel drives and avenues of tiny trees. Among these appeared absurd little equestrian monuments and decorative detail of various kinds. As he had never been in America we asked him how he had pictured it so correctly. He answered that he found a photograph of the Capitol in a book, and took it to a friend, who made models of the buildings for him.

He also had arranged a large cherry tree (which, because it had artificial flowers, appeared to be in full bloom), into which the proverbial hatchet was stuck.

The j.a.panese art of landscape gardening arose from their fondness for nature, which led them to reproduce in miniature the scenery visible from their homes. No doubt Chinese influence had its effect upon this art, as upon many others, through the medium of the Buddhist priesthood.

Among the earliest examples of landscape gardening were the temple groves of Nara. From the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries gardens took on a freer form, more like that of the present time, but the dried-up water scenery was used, showing the hollow of a lake dry, as if in time of drought, sometimes combined with the bare mountain. In the fifteenth century, when the tea ceremony was introduced, a special form of garden was devoted to its use, while at the same time the art of flower arrangement flourished. Soami, about 1480, and Ens.h.i.+u, a hundred years later, are among the best known landscape artists. "The Rocky Ocean," "The Wide River," "The Mountain Torrent," and "The Lake Wave"

are fanciful names given to different styles of gardening.

A j.a.panese garden is generally enclosed by a bamboo paling, often in some pretty design, which may surround the house as well. There should be one high point in the garden, which dominates the whole, and it may contain a miniature mountain, dwarf trees, stones, and a tea-house with a gateway at the entrance. If possible, there should be water with a bridge over it, and a cascade to bring luck.

From the varying arrangement of these features, we find hill gardens, flat gardens, finished, intermediary or rough gardens. On our place in Brookline, Ma.s.sachusetts, we have a j.a.panese hill garden. The flat effect is especially popular in j.a.pan, with its gravel walks and stone lanterns in different sizes and designs; but whichever style is chosen, it must be so planned as to present its best appearance from the house.

No garden is complete without one or more lanterns, which are placed, if possible, by the water, that their light may be reflected in the pond.

The stone basins for was.h.i.+ng the hands vary in style, and so, too, do the gateways; these sometimes have thatched roofs, which provide shelter, and can be made very attractive. There are twisted dwarf trees here and there, of course, and variously shaped stepping-stones set in regular order along the narrow paths. Low bridges, usually without railings, cross the tiny pond, in which there are often double-tailed goldfish and carp which rise to the surface when you clap your hands.

Some enclosures even contain gaily coloured pheasants, ducks and storks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A j.a.panese Garden, Tokyo_]

Curiously shaped stones are carefully selected for the garden, each one having a name and a meaning attached to it. Standing upright in the centre should be the high "guardian stone." You may look for the "wors.h.i.+pping stone" in the foreground or on an island; you will find the "perfect view" on the hillside or in some prominent place; you discover the "water-tray stone" on the pond sh.o.r.e, and the "shadow stone" in the valley between two hills. Next to the "wors.h.i.+pping stone" is the "seat of honour," which is flat and horizontal. The "snail" is the most important stepping-stone.

Trees as well as stones have rank in the miniature landscape. The princ.i.p.al tree is the largest, and is as a rule either a pine or an oak.

One in a secluded corner with thick foliage to afford shade is called the "tree of solitude." The "perfection tree" should have fine branches.

Around the waterfall is planted the "cascade circuit," consisting of low bushes; and in the background is the "setting-sun tree," which is turned westward in order to screen the garden somewhat from the rays of the sun, and is often a maple that will light up the place with its own glow in the autumn.

In the literature of gardens we read of male and female cascades and rocks--just as of male and female styles of flower arrangement--the big one being the male, the smaller one near-by the female. The flowering tree is also considered a male, the plant in the same pot a female.

The dwarf trees, that looked so strange when we first saw them, soon became to us one of the delightful features of gardening in j.a.pan.

These, as well as the gardens themselves, originated in the love of nature, the j.a.panese wis.h.i.+ng to have about them reduced copies of trees which they admired. As the demand for these pigmies has greatly increased in recent years and the process of dwarfing is slow, j.a.panese florists have discovered a way of making them by a speedier method. When they find old, stunted trees that have taken on unusual shapes--those that have become gnarled and twisted by growing among rocks are especially good for this purpose--they cut them back very closely, root and branch, then leave them to grow for a time in the soil. After this they take up the plants carefully without disturbing the earth immediately about the roots, and place them in pots. Trees even one hundred years old have been successfully treated in this way.

But this is not "real dwarfing," which was described to me by my j.a.panese gardener. For this process, if you wish to keep the tree very small, it is raised from seed sown in a pot. After the seedling has made the growth of the first year, it is taken up, and the earth is carefully shaken off the roots and replaced with soil adapted to the special needs of the tree, which is allowed to grow for two or three years. Then it is time to begin tr.i.m.m.i.n.g it into shape, and here the same symbolic arrangement is followed as in _Ike-bana_, based upon the three main branches, Heaven, Man and Earth. Root-pruning must also be started after the growing season is over, and the larger roots cut away, leaving only the finer ones. If the branches run out too far in one direction, their growth is stopped by cutting off the roots on that side. A tree that is to be kept very small is not repotted until the roots have filled the pot; one that is to make a larger growth is transferred at an earlier date. By sc.r.a.ping off the top of the soil occasionally and putting on fresh earth repotting may be postponed for eight or ten years according to the kind of tree.

Dwarf maples from seed are ready for sale in two or three years; seedling pines require from five to ten years to fit them for the market, and plums four or five years. Lately, however, it has become the custom to graft the plum, cutting back the tree until only a contorted old stump is left, and grafting upon this. We had two such trees at the Emba.s.sy, which were simply old stumps filled with plum blossoms, one cl.u.s.ter pink and the other white, diffusing their perfume all over the house. They were very beautiful with a plain gold screen for a background.

All kinds of evergreens, oaks and maples, the plum and some other flowering trees, bamboos and every sort of flowering shrub, and some vines, such as the wisteria and the morning glory, are all used for dwarfing. Plants having thorns are never treated in this way, neither are they used in the decoration of shrines nor in real j.a.panese flower arrangement. For this reason the large, fine roses in which we take such delight, had never been cultivated in j.a.pan until perhaps forty years ago, when the first one was brought from Holland, and the method of cultivation was also borrowed from the Dutch.

In gardens, these diminutive trees are carefully shaded from the rays of the afternoon sun, and special pains are taken to keep them well watered. When the temperature is above ninety degrees, they are watered three times a day--at eleven in the morning, and at two and five in the afternoon. If they are used as house plants, the care of them is a dignified occupation, in which even n.o.bles and princes may engage in their own homes. As the use of ordinary fertilizers might be disagreeable to these exalted personages on account of their bad odour, a pleasant and economical way has been found of supplying the small quant.i.ty of nourishment needed from eggs. After an egg has been broken and the yolk and the white removed, the sh.e.l.l, with the small amount of alb.u.men that adheres to it, is taken in the hand and the broken edge touched here and there to the soil of the pot, leaving on each spot a tiny drop of white of egg. This process, repeated from day to day, furnishes the little tree with all the nutriment it requires. Milk is also sometimes fed to these plants by the j.a.panese, who have discovered that it gives brighter colours to the flowers.

We visited a charming exposition of pigmy trees in s.h.i.+ba. Many gentlemen of Tokyo had sent their tiny plants and miniature vases, _hibachi_, lacquers, books and jades to decorate the doll-house rooms. These playthings are in many cases of great antiquity and value, and lovely in quality and colour; as much pains and taste are required to arrange these little expositions as to decorate the large rooms of a palace. On account of our visit the gardener had taken particular trouble, and he showed us all the fairy articles with loving hands and words. There were microscopic trees an inch high and landscapes two inches long, which were a real delight, so exquisite were they. Such trees are really works of art, and some of them indeed as valuable as gems. About us, in pots of beautiful form and colour, were the dwarf trees of fantastic shape--stunted plum in fragrant bloom, white and pink, and gnarled trees hundreds of years old with blossoming branches springing out of seemingly dead trunks.

The a.r.s.enal Gardens in Tokyo are said to have been formerly the most wonderful in the country. Koraku-en, their j.a.panese name--literally translated, "past pleasant recalling,"--probably means "full of pleasant remembrances." They were designed some three hundred years ago with the object of reproducing in miniature many of the most renowned scenes in the Island Empire. In front of the pavilion, however, is a lake which is copied from a noted one in China called Soi-ko. Beyond the lake rises a wooded hill, on which stands a small, beautifully carved replica of the famous temple Kiyomisu at Kyoto. Lower down the hill is a little stream spanned by an accurate copy of the well-known bridge at Nikko; further on is the shrine of Haky-i and s.h.i.+ky-sei, the loyal brothers of Chinese legend. An arched stone bridge leads to still another shrine, and from this a path through a thicket of creepers conducts to a lake covered with lotus and fed by a stream which forms a lovely cascade. Another path crosses little mountains through thick foliage of bamboo and pine, pa.s.ses the artificial sea with its treasure island in the centre, and leads over bridges, by waterfalls and around temples.

In these gardens the j.a.panese most perfectly realized their desire to transfer the features of a natural landscape to their immediate surroundings; here were magnificent trees of great size, lakes and streams and mountains in miniature, and a wide jungle of gra.s.s and bamboo. Through the noise and dust and dilapidation due to the encroachments of the a.r.s.enal workshops, one can still catch a glimpse of the underlying plan and imagine the ancient beauties of Koraku-en.

CHAPTER XV

THE ARTIST'S j.a.pAN

"The great characteristic of j.a.panese art is its intense and extraordinary vitality, in the sense that it is no mere exotic cultivation of the skilful, no mere graceful luxury of the rich, but a part of the daily lives of the people themselves."

_Mortimer Menpes._

At every turn of the head the artist in j.a.pan discerns a picture that delights his eye--a quaint little figure dressed in bright colours standing by a twisted tree, a fantastic gateway through which he sees a miniature garden, or the curving roof of a temple, half hidden among the trees.

As architecture is always more or less affected by climate, the j.a.panese, in their land of earthquakes and typhoons, have put up low wooden structures, using cedar or fir princ.i.p.ally, because they are plentiful. The laws require that houses shall not exceed six _kin_, or fathoms, in height, but allow warehouses, or _G.o.downs_, which are more substantially built, to be carried up much higher. If by any chance a house has two stories, the second is very low. When I asked the reason for such a law in China, where they have a similar one, I was told the wind G.o.ds did not like tall buildings, but I was also a.s.sured that it was partly to keep missionaries from building high churches. In j.a.pan, I think it is probably on account of the danger of earthquakes.

Owing to the rainy seasons in spring and autumn, the houses have no cellars and are set on low piles. The summers are very warm and the winters are fairly cold, so the _shoji_, or sliding screen, without windows, was no doubt developed for that reason. Every house can be thrown open in summer and closed tightly in winter. As fires are frequent, no house is expected to last many years, and therefore the j.a.panese store their valuables in fire-proof _G.o.downs_.

The "Flower of Yedo" blossomed gloriously the other night, for hundreds of the tiny fragile houses went up in smoke, and thousands of people were made homeless. These Flowers of Yedo are the conflagrations that time after time spread through wide districts of the Capital with startling rapidity and leave nothing behind. Two days after the fire, little houses and fences of fresh new wood were springing up, for the people have been accustomed from time immemorial to these "Blossoms of the Flower."