Kakemono

“ Of Confucian relics there rests only an impressive bronze tablet, with full-length figure of the sage, from which "rubbings" are sold to the pious. A sinister black impression of the gaunt, long-nailed philosopher, whose teaching still broods like a shadow over the majority of Japanese households, recalls to me, in the shape of a colossal kakemono, that dusty, dilapidated school, whose students are deserting it for Western lore. The vast temple, however, standing in a grove of cryptomeria, is still thronged by worshippers, and forms a worthy link with the historic glories of Ashikaga. ”

“ Indeed, this calm, sedate gracefulness is the result of the study of the tea-ceremony and is assuredly a more valuable acquisition than the knowledge of the formalities themselves.
Flower arrangement is an art which plays an important part in the decoration of a room; for the kakemono which hangs in the alcove of the parlour loses half its attraction unless there is before it on the dais a vase of flowers to match. The alcove is the part of the room which draws first notice upon entrance, and the flowers share with the kakemono the earliest attention of the newcomer. ”

“ The priests must be fed, tea-houses must be built, the temples preserved; the government frowned upon them all. Every time, therefore, that the needs became too pressing to be resisted, a kakemono was aroused from its rest of ages, and converted into cash. Buddha was thus given a lease of life once more, while his sacred kakemonos were transported to do service168 in the drawing-rooms of Europe and America.
Many of them were bought up by the Japanese themselves. ”

“ The house must be simple in the extreme, yet built of the choicest woods. The character of the tea equipment was specified, as was the nature of the decorations.
This was where Flower Arrangement originally came in. A kakemono—one of those Oriental paintings mounted on a vertical panel of silk arranged to roll up on a cylindrical piece of wood and ivory attached to its lower margin—must hang in the shallow alcove which is the place of honour in every Japanese room ”

“ The importance of Shintō here as compared with Buddhism impresses me more and more every day. Most of the kakemono in the tokonomas are Shintō rather than Buddhist. The story of the Sun-goddess is a favourite theme with local artists. Here also the gods of Good-Fortune have become after a fashion adopted by Shintō.
I expect to send you some mamori shortly from two places—Ichibata and Sakusa. The Shintō shrine at Sakusa would probably interest you. Lovers in doubt go there to pray to the kami who set the single in family, and who have decided in advance the coupling of all human creatures. ”

“ For instance, in one play the palace of Lord Hosokawa, in which was preserved the celebrated painting of Dharuma by Sesson, suddenly takes fire through the negligence of the samurai in charge. Resolved at all hazards to rescue the precious painting, he rushes into the burning building and seizes the kakemono, only to find all means of exit cut off by the flames. Thinking only of the picture, he slashes open his body with his sword, wraps his torn sleeve about the Sesson and plunges it into the gaping wound. The fire is at last extinguished. ”

“ Kaka, kä′ka, n. a New Zealand parrot.—n. Ka′kapo, a nocturnal flightless New Zealand parrot.
Kakemono, kak-e-mō′nō, n. a Japanese wall-picture or decoration, painted on silk, gauze, or paper, and mounted on cylindrical rods.
Kaki, kä′kē, n. the persimmon of Japan, or Chinese date.
Kakistocracy, kak-is-tok′rā-si, n. government by the worst men in the state. [Gr. kakistos, superl. of kakos, bad, kratia, rule.] ”

“ According to legend it is no earthly bird, but wanders from the Realm of the Dead at the end of May, and warns all peasants who see it that it is time to sow the rice. Some interpret the bird's note as meaning, "Has the kakemono been suspended?" others that it gently repeats: "Surely it is better to return home." The latter interpretation is [Pg 279] characteristically Japanese, for if it is believed that souls return in the summer-time, it is reasonable to suppose that at least one of the birds should fly back to the old woods and streams and hills of Nippon. ”

“ Kakeru means to suspend and mono means an object, hence kakemono, a suspended object. byobu signifies wind protector or screen; makimono, meaning a wound thing, is a painting in scroll form. It is not suspended, but simply unrolled for inspection. Such original work by Matahei and others is extant. ”

“ In Japanese dwellings the kitchen is at one side of the front door. The rooms seldom have more than one solid wall, the others consisting of paper screens. In this solid wall there is always a toko-noma, or alcove, raised about a foot above the floor of the room and perhaps two feet deep. It should stand opposite the entrance, and is the most honourable place in the house. Here, where the kakemono—a perpendicular, panel-shaped picture—is hung, and a rare porcelain vase of flowers may stand, is the seat of honour. ”

“ Gonse had alleged that only four paintings of Kanaoka's could still be traced; one of these, a kakemono belonging to the dealer Wakai of Tokio, which represents the Buddhist saint Jizo, is reproduced in his l'Art Japonais (i. 169) . ”

“ Very young persons are permitted in signing their paintings or writings to add their exact ages up to thirteen.
Where Chinese literary artists add poems to their paintings as many as eight seals may be observed thereon. In Japanese paintings never more than two seals are used and these follow and authenticate the signature.
The correct distance at which a kakemono is to be viewed is the width of a mat (tatami) from the alcove where the picture is hung. It is bad form to look at it standing. Before critically examining the work a Japanese will scrutinize the artist's signature and seal. ”

“ The European who uses it finds that it effectually banishes sleep, while the ordinary Japanese is apparently unable to sleep without it. In most houses, however poor, a kakemono, or wall picture, is to be seen. It is usually the only decoration save an occasional vase containing flowers, and of course flowers themselves, which are in evidence everywhere. Light is, or used to be, given by a “lamp,” a kind of Chinese lantern on a lacquer stand, the light being given by a rush candle. ”

“ The rules and canons of any art when enumerated, classified and explained, are likely to prove trying, if not wearisome reading. Yet, if our object be to acquire accurate knowledge, we must consent to make some sacrifice to attain it, and there is no royal road to a knowledge of Japanese painting.
We have little or no opportunity in America, excepting in one or two cities, to see good specimens of the work of the great painters of Japan. Furthermore, such work in kakemono form is seen to much disadvantage when exhibited in numbers strung along the walls of a museum. ”

“ Inchie, becoming very serious and natural, 168 would give me a little lecture on the absurdity of Westerners coming to Japan expecting to buy really fine old curios and pictures at a small price, when no Japanese would part with them for any consideration. “A man,” he said, “will come from your country who thinks he understands Japan because he has read some books about it, and has seen some examples of bad art in England. That man has no eyes—he can’t see the really beautiful things. He comes to buy the old kakemono. He won’t buy the new kakemono by the good man that lives now. ”

“ A peasant told me that the kakemono and other sacred objects had been given to the neighbouring temple, where they might be seen.
Sec. 5
Not far from the site of the Rengaji, in the grounds of the great hakaba of the Kwannondera, there stands a most curious pine. The trunk of the tree is supported, not on the ground, but upon four colossal roots which lift it up at such an angle that it looks like a thing walking upon four legs. ”

“ Furthermore, an even number being considered negative (in) is not favored. Mats are three by six feet in size and must always be so laid as not to form crosses, which are unlucky. In the alcove of this room no kakemono is permitted but one in the pure Japanese style. The subject of the painting will depend upon the season, while all red colors are proscribed and sumi pictures of the Kano school are most appropriate. The treatment must be simple (tan paku) ; for instance, a single flower spray, a branch of the plum, a hermit, or a solitary mountain peak. ”

“ Who but Hearn would have chosen this ghastly scene, and described it with such terrible reality?
With the parents we have unravelled the mystery of Kinumé, whose spirit belonged to one family, and whose body was the child of the other.
Perhaps we still see the famous picture of Kwashin Koji, which had a soul, for "it is well known that some sparrows, painted upon a sliding screen (fusuma) by Hōgen Yenshin, once flew away, leaving blank the spaces which they had occupied upon the surface. Also it is well known that a horse painted upon a certain Kakémono, used to go out at night to eat grass." ”

“ To give Tokijiro the means of livelihood so that he may pursue the quest of the lost treasure, Urasato sells herself to a house of ill-fame, the Yamana-Ya by name, taking with her the child Midori, who is ignorant of her parentage. Kambei, the knave of a proprietor, is evidently a curio collector, and it is to be gathered from the context that the unfortunate young couple have some suspicion—afterwards justified—that by some means or other he has obtained possession of the kakemono—hence Urasato's choice of that particular house. ”

“ It is a Japanese custom for a woman to speak thus depreciatingly of herself.
Urasato's escape from the Yamana-Ya
URSATO, OR THE CROWN OF DAWN THE POSITION AT THE OPENING OF THE STORY
Urasato and Tokijiro are lovers. The child, Midori, is born of this liaison. Tokijiro is a samurai in the service of a Daimyo, and has charge of his lord's treasure department. He is a careless young man of a wild-oat-sowing disposition, and while entirely absorbed in this love affair with Urasato, a valuable kakemono, one of the Daimyo's heirlooms, is stolen. ”

“ They are a source of entertainment at dinner parties, where they are brought out for the inspection of the guests in much the same fashion that we display our bric-à-brac or collection of paintings. A careful history of each is kept, which always accompanies it. The more kakemonos the Japanese has, and the greater the antiquity of them, the prouder man he is. ”

“ The makers of these kakemonos formed a separate class of society, and spent their whole lives in the practice 159of the delicate art. They had no instrument but the needle, and no material but Japanese silk with which to produce these wonderful results. They worked year after year at the beck of grosser spirits than themselves, and of course were poor and unhappy. They did not have the hope of fame that inspires so many artistic souls ”

“ The old kakemonos are direct copies from the Chinese, and go back to the introduction of art into Japan, and down to the present time the Japanese have chiefly occupied themselves in imitating and reproducing them with almost mathematical precision. The merit of their art, if we may call it such, lies in their method, which, by repeated copying, gives them such accuracy, such perfect touch, and such mastery over the brush. They are feeble in conception, inimitable in execution; masters in the matter of taste, when the human figure is out of the question. ”

“ In violation, to be sure, of the native custom, but presumably for the delectation of his guests, a temporary display of numerous art treasures had been arranged by our host. Kakemonos painted by Enshu and other celebrated native artists were hung upon the walls. Screens of the greatest artistic interest and of almost priceless value were to be admired on every hand. Nor were these art objects limited to the best specimens of Japanese, or Chinese, or other Oriental workmen. Mr. K. Hamaguchi in his travels around the world had made judicious selection of things of beauty from many places. ”

“ I am, however, of opinion that painting has not deteriorated to anything like the same extent as some of the other Japanese arts. The subjects depicted by the artists have during the centuries from time to time changed, but the technique has altered but little. It does not, I know, appeal to everybody, but it is the kind of art, I reiterate, that grows upon one. No person who has interested himself in painting in modern Japan, especially on [161] kakemonos, can, I think, have failed to be impressed by the exquisite and beautiful work which the Japanese artists in colour to-day produce. ”

“ Note 4.—It will be well, perhaps, to warn collectors against elaborately modelled and highly decorated specimens of Imari porcelain which are placed upon the market by unprincipled dealers as examples of Kakiemon's work. There were several generations of Kakiemons, and the mere fact of ascribing a specimen to Kakiemon is sufficient to proclaim the ignorance or dishonesty of the description. As for the figures of richly robed females that have received this title in recent works on Japanese art, they are manifest forgeries. ”

“ The new artisan makers of the okimono struck out a line for themselves, one influenced more by the naturalistic and popular schools than by the classical art, and the quails of Kamejo, the tortoises of Seimin, the dragons of Tōun and Tōryū, and in recent years the falcons and the peacocks of Suzuki Chokichi, are the joy of the European collector. The best of these are exquisite in workmanship, graceful in design, often strikingly original in conception, and usually naturalistic in ideal. They constitute a phase of art in which Japan has few rivals. ”

“ It will be seen, therefore, that Kakiemon, Goroshichi, and Risampei had to work, with a somewhat difficult material. Indeed, it may be said generally of the Arita porcelain that its pâte is not naturally of fine quality. The utmost care was necessary in manipulating it, and so exhausting was the labour entailed that men were wont to speak of human bones as constituting one of the ingredients of the ware. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that Kakiemon and his fellow-potters succeeded in producing anything very striking in those early days. ”