ON A BRONZE BUDDHA. 735 



ibilityand coldness make them seem alive, while their singular motions 

 and threatening look express capitally the fierceness and wayward na- 

 ture attributed to a symbol of the least stable of elements. To us and 

 to skeptical natives it is a curious, ingenious plaything, but to the Jap- 

 anese of the old religious or to the Buddhist, it means a good deal more : 

 it is a talisman to exorcise the dangers that lurk in sky and sea. 



Here, then, are such specimens of Japanese bronze-work as Ameri- 

 cans can examine in their own country, either in museums, in the shops 

 of dealers, or in the private galleries of the country. Perhaps too much 

 has been made of the degeneracy of Japanese workmen in these days. 

 It is true that they seem no longer to have a fixed and definite aim for 

 their energies, but that could hardly be when in political matters all is 

 floating, all is changing. Yet they still show wonderful skill, patience, 

 and fertility of resource ; they seem able to imitate almost anything from 

 the past, if not to originate great designs. In metal work especially 

 are they wonderfully strong ; it is not too much to say that they lead 

 the world for variety of design, beauty of finish, boldness of relief, and 

 readiness to follow new leads. Despite the croaking of critics native 

 and critics foreign, who shall say that when the genius of these workers 

 in metals shall have adapted itself to the new state of things, it will not 

 take another flight into the realms of high art ? 



