A Glimpse At The Art Of Japan

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

Excerpt from A Glimpse at the Art of Japan This small volume is what its title says, - a brief look, for the reader, at the art in question. As regards the writer, however, it is the gist of ideas and facts of several years' study and experience, becoming more intense with time and reflection. His purpose is not to give, even if competent, a dry nomenclature of dates, names, varieties, and localities of manufacturers, lists of trade-marks, artists and artisans, and like data, interesting and useful in themselves, especially to collectors. To do this, besides a knowledge of Chinese and the two written languages of Japan, one must make a special study of the numberless ciphers and inscriptions, which are found on many of the better objects, to distinguish their makers or places of fabrication. A general critic has not time for this investigation; it is not necessary, either, for the author's aim, which is psychological and aesthetic, rather than realistic and statistical. He wishes to detect beauty and truth under all guises, believing that the character more than the mechanism of any art confers the highest pleasure, and is the most profitable to know. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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As an interpreter of Japan to the West, Lafcadio Hearn was without parallel in his time. His numerous books about that country were read with a fascination that was a tribute to his keen powers of observation and the vividness of his descriptions. Today, even though Japan has changed greatly from what it was when he wrote about it, his writing is still valid, for it captures the essence of the country - an essence that has actually changed a good deal less than outward appearances might suggest. In a word, the Japanese character and the Japanese tradition are still fundamentally the same as Hearn described.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.