SIDE LIGHTS ON BIRDS 



in Japan, from the tenth century to the present 

 time, have been artists of ' Kacho ' (birds and 

 flowers). I beheve that it is not too much to 

 say that Japanese art would be of but a neghgible 

 quaUty, were it not for the school of birds and 

 flowers. 



Yet Japanese studies of birds and flowers are 

 not satisfactory to some who look upon them with 

 scientific bias, for there is very little feeling of 

 far and near, light and shade. To them Japanese 

 studies are merely conventional designs for screens 

 — and as such they admire them : but to me their 

 pictures are true conceptions of nature. In their 

 pictures I see the love of nature that moved the 

 artists' brushes. The lack of perspective does 

 not make their pictures less true to nature. In 

 their own language they express the beauty of 

 nature faithfully. They are not hampered 

 by the laws of perspective and light and shade. 

 The brush of an artist moves freely as he sets to 

 work : therefore there is life in his bird and growth 

 in his plant. Those who are familiar with 

 Japanese literature will surely find there is a great 

 deal of similarity between Japanese paintings 

 and their poetry. As a Japanese poem expresses 

 the wonderful beauty of heaven and earth in its 

 seventeen phonetic sounds, so a Japanese picture 

 unfolds the beauty of nature in a few lines and 

 dots. There is a picture before me called 

 Cuckoo and Moon ' by Gekko. The picture is 

 extremely simple yet it suggests the loneliness of 

 the quiet night and the pathos of the mid-autumn 

 night. Immediately I recalled a verse by 

 Sanesada : — 



' ' None but the waning moon of morn 

 Heard the hototogiau (cuckoo) cry 

 In anguish for her heart's blood torn. 

 Thrill upwards to the paling sky." 



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