Japan - A Record in Colour

Dorothy Menpes

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Japan, by Dorothy MenpesThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: JapanA Record in ColourAuthor: Dorothy MenpesIllustrator: Mortimer MenpesRelease Date: April 22, 2010 [EBook #32086]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAPAN ***Produced by Marius Masi, Juliet Sutherland and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net JAPAN OTHER BEAUTIFUL BOOKS ON JAPANEACH CONTAINING FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOURANCIENT TALES AND FOLK-LORE OF JAPANBY R. GORDON SMITH, F.R.G.S.57 ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAPANESE ARTISTSTHE FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF JAPANDESCRIBED BY FLORENCE DU CANE50 ILLUSTRATIONS BY ELLA DU CANE“JAPAN”In the “Peeps at Many Lands and Cities” SeriesBY JOHN FINNEMORE12 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOURPEEPS AT THE HISTORY OF JAPANBY JOHN FINNEMORE8 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR ANDNUMEROUS LINE DRAWINGS IN THE TEXTPublished ByAdam & Charles Black, 4, 5 and 6 Soho Square, London, W. MISS POMEGRANATEJAPAN · A RECORD INCOLOUR BY MORTIMERMENPES · TRANSCRIBED BYDOROTHY MENPES ·PUBLISHED BY ADAM &CHARLES BLACK · SOHOSQUARE · LONDON · W. Published December 1901Reprinted May 1902, January 1903, January 1904January 1905 TO MY FRIENDTHE LADY EDWARD CECILTO WHOSE ENTHUSIASTIC ...

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• Publié par: essu
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 34
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Japan, by Dorothy Menpes

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Japan A Record in Colour

Author: Dorothy Menpes

Illustrator: Mortimer Menpes

Release Date: April 22, 2010 [EBook #32086]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAPAN ***  

Produced by Marius Masi, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

 

 

 

 

AJAPN

OTHER BEAUTIFUL BOOKS ON JAPAN EACH CONTAINING FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

ANCIENT TALES AND FOLK-LORE OF JAPAN BY R. GORDON SMITH, F.R.G.S. 57 ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAPANESE ARTISTS

THE FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF JAPAN DESCRIBED BY FLORENCE DU CANE 50 ILLUSTRATIONS BY ELLA DU CANE

“JAPAN” In the “Peeps at Many Lands and Cities” Series BY JOHN FINNEMORE 12 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

PEEPS AT THE HISTORY OF JAPAN BY JOHN FINNEMORE 8 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR AND NUMEROUS LINE DRAW INGS IN THE TEXT

Publishe d By Ada m & Cha rle s Bla ck, 4, 5 a nd 6 Soho Squa re , London, W.

MISS POMEGRANATE

JAPAN · A RECORD IN COLOUR BY MORTIMER MENPES · TRANSCRIBED BY DOROTHY MENPES · PUBLISHED BY ADAM & CHARLES BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON W. ·

Published December 1901 Reprinted May 1902, January 1903, January 1904 January 1905

R TEAPCH 19 ef PAHC acitiL l Gae enrd R TE Th VI ET RIV F I 1 s 50 HCPA rangemenlower Ar

  Note In this book I endeavour to present, with whatever skill of penmanship I may possess, my father’s impressions of Japan. I trust that they will not lose in force and vigour in that they are closely intermingled with my own impressions, which were none the less vivid because they were those of a child,—for it was as a child, keenly interested in and enjoying all I saw, that I passed, four or five years ago, through that lovely flower-land of the Far East, which my father has here so charmingly memorialised in colour. DOROTHY MENPES November 1901.

Contents

311t PA I   Ar GE ant thd rD e 1 ama PAHC RETII The Living Art92 HCPAET RII P I iaans erntr eithd  4 sdohteM RETPAHC 9 laci  IV P CHAP ng 75 A V tr ET R rPcai  n ARDWCED LAE  EDY  ESOHTNET LIC HW O RFEIDN HT   OTM  Y SAA TTIAEND OS SEWO N FO HCUM UC SHE T  HIT SSCE TSCISUAIAPHTS MY WORK Y MY JAPA IN 

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List of Illustrations

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AN ACTOR

 I

ART AND THE DRAMA

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 light. The true raittscis ipir t  bupa y erfi gceeral fo celecirtn coer i—onllourasnd y ail tse sa o  tngthe agstts si taddas lli ilmst ahf g ror aeome simpt we bec w dnah eceffa ,tcra inav sveh ucedlat  omidioot or ees fmass in ht ni gnitnaw si tre aWe. stWee   fo tahw ew llaco  tamcrs  achmu eravlini i g ed asi  great and all-ponknab fruO .setrfteunco orsteeisrl atotht eki eechnly t imiical lepe tssor mhoe ,eldeht ot enah they have money   dht m e ro apyn ,naom che terchrie ht ;elbissop sa cene a sintoail d tea dnilmsr ae idiv—vuetisipo, uoloc evol oN .rned w-toh cuplussna triaah tdnw  vivicod urloins m a etsa ylr—yawglorious sweeps fog lo dna dfo lb gnippets ,syeknut ouaby tlenil sprte tacleevnov ist in lhod s, s hciros ,c ew llar,ouit wrembol csees,ds  hvorerd alved fl hifted- c o  fpuell naadkrneednly a coing  rieht eyhtlaetstos rnteetplom c koni gof rla lhtslippers, and loo to rub f ralgo ,s woe d rlkeli l a ere—ve he haas wna ,J pa snidiro diea s l wnro bnd asneergelttob dasare no M, there  cn.e hTne a ppaear d anrrcorotes omerepna dirroap-s er hre hle asubtd  o .eWinseraom r,heetog tarney   os dna daorb os  th in thce breaddnaeovru eavnie e isistht noalrecas ifirna ,ew d gnhttsernetgs—rt shah isbut rp;  niag ot ew tahw  e osopprl al ctoreev .oNenu dnrestands this simpaerb htdq siteiund aul fofl es r eiro fo sisab yrvee ths rmfot  Ise.epanaehJ sat ell   so w ruthle t  yehevah fo t tieprcontiru tpee uohgt eha dnt rhlosophy,ntal phi t eninemacarcha hcihw ec os era eas e idalanof bnidetaathtsot  onese art.

I always agree with that man who said, “Let me make the nation’s songs and I care not who frames her laws,” or words to that effect, for, in my opinion, nothing so well indicates national character or so keenly accentuates the difference between individuals and nations as the way in which they spend their leisure hours; and the theatres of Japan are thoroughly typical of the people’s character. It would be utterly impossible for the Japanese to keep art out of their lives. It creeps into everything, and is as the very air they breathe. Art with them is not only a conscious effort to achieve the beautiful, but also an instinctive expression of inherited taste. It beautifies their homes and pervades their gardens; and perhaps one never realises this all-dominating power more fully than when in a Japanese theatre, which is, invariably, a veritable temple of art. But here with us in the West it is different. We have no art, and our methods merely lead us to deception, while we do not begin to understand those few great truths which form the basis of oriental philosophy, and without which perfection in the dramatic art is impossible. For example, the philosophy of balance, of which the Japanese are past masters, is to us unknown. The fact that Nature is commonplace, thereby forming a background, as it were, for Tragedy and the spirit of life to work, has never occurred to us; while the background of our Western play is not by any means a plan created by a true artist upon which to display the dramatic picture as it is in Japan, but simply a background to advertise the stage-manager’s imitative talent. The result is, of course, that the acting and the environment are at variance instead of being in harmonic unity. But we in the West have not time to think of vague things, such as balance and breadth and the creating of pictures. What we want is realism; we want a sky to look like a real sky, and the moon in it to look like a real moon, even if it travels by clock-work, as it has been known to do occasionally. And so real is this clock-work moon that we are deceived into imagining that it is the moon, the actual moon. But the deception is not pleasant; in fact, it almost gives you indigestion to see a moon, and such a moon, careering over the whole sky in half an hour. In Japan they would not occupy themselves with making you believe that a moon on the stage was a real one—they would consider such false realism as a bit of gross degradation—but they would take the greatest possible pains as to the proper placing of that palpably pasteboard moon of theirs, even if they had to hold it up in the sky by the aid of a broom-stick.

WATCHING THE PLAY

etirtscio  faJap cobes,me whek orged adarrof eht it is sttion of f roiclbli lomer on Cd.sesihamp y ela ew ,yltneuqesspotate  crewaysi  ner;sciutytp tcafno ,ar eylerve eser  aesel w-labalcndes ecen in a Western thena ,ertaylpmis dseauec b ndoe  waeiltor ehb est th areadimplnd sern tot T ehera  Nature.icity of rutaht e stsN nico nt rant  vheleio aulltnni oocers ts artisur aat ow llew syalp eruat Ng:inctpidey  and you seldom tiih neh rargn,e trexesemIn.  s ah ees g regnio ot pest deedow  sha tagnuilt ehdrnet ghlit er vmeco eht dnasethgirb  TNA DHT ERDMAAAR  eht napaJ nIof aork ic wscenlddeh na ysip aln maonaly  be on tah nama ,et dnramatic is the dhw osia uahtro , m. W fora dra hen   cuaamitp alhtro  pe,urct ictfeercnalab nni dna e, in order to fomra c molpte eipd anenevhe tre ta set dnh ehslli usrrht eoi nreta ry, cene ing s oundt elpmet a ro esidnscoo nt iesakettcw ehesa crihng a houn buildiuorg ,dn sihkcabJaa nepastjus  a ler ni sot noitahif  onkregufis  eah;lh t ih sot evet inetairy db otht ehguouo tretuf  os his ha taptr .hTsip ciforms a componen orct acheah icwh fo dna ,erutciphis int o pais th  eihhcnow  spu cgevaans  ihua s ehegath oTt miartist. a great raailb y mlso i t vn getafo, thr  ap e Jla s enomees ot have the couraget  oahdnelv re y ap Jiny t ha tan ees uoyirb hcusnt llliaous umintc sfeefehs not   hci m ehtsniahw t reguars inovfig  yedifen ehsralpt is onld. And i redro ni ,ruoloce the nclabao  t fhtyco ilnarblid ag, antione ac dlb  e m a notono,e  background shou aorbam dsess fo r  oraaredngn  i dati yrt.lI oianve auitiartlnd p yrassecsih tahtro pist ney blba is ideasnce to h nbodeeio  ftii  lyrtnt iarh pae  ,sscihwf fo  enti , hetagehe son t apurdmaih sec sngtiet snd aurlooc eht segnarra