640 THE ART OP CASTING BRONZE IN JAPAN. 



which I have just described may seem to us, he has produced with 

 them castings iu brouze ou all scales which, with all the modern equip- 

 meuts of our foundries, it would be ditticult for us to excel. The sim- 

 plicity, adaptability, and portable character of his appliances have 

 been of special advantage to him in his remarkable achievements in 

 colossal castings. Thus, when a huge image of a Buddhist divinity or 

 a bell of unusual weight was \ equired for a temple in any locality, the 

 whole of the operations were conducted on the spot. Temporary sheds 

 for the modeling were erected in the temple grounds. The furnace and 

 blowers were transported thither in segments; sometimes the latter 

 were even made by the local carpenters. If the casting had to be made 

 in one piece the necessary number of cupola furnaces, each with its 

 blower, were erected around the mold. The cost of the blast was nil, 

 as the services of any number of eager volunteers from the crowds 

 which congregated at the temple festival on the day of casting were 

 readily obtained for the meritorious work of treading the blowing 

 machines. In this way the great bells and colossal images were cast. 

 It may be interesting to note here that the methods of heating the 

 mold and of repairing defective castings were in use in Europe during 

 the tenth and eleventh centuries, and doubtless at a very much earlier 

 date. They are described by Tl)eoi)hilus in his valuable treatise, I)e 

 Diversis Artibus, written in the early half of the eleventh century, 

 and his description is practically identical with that I have just given 

 you of them as they are jiracticed in Japan. 



4.— THE ALLOYS USED. 



The success which the Japanese artist has attained in the execution 

 of his famous masterpieces in bronze is not, however, solely due to his 

 methods of modeling and casting, but is largely dependent on the 

 physical character of the alloys he has used. His alloy, par excellence, 

 is called "karakaue" — which signities "Chinese metal" — this name 

 having been given to it because it is believed not to have originated in 

 Japan, but to have been introduced from China. The exact date of its 

 introduction is unknown, but there is little doubt that it was not later 

 than the seventh century, when the bronze coins in circulation in the 

 country were chiefly Chinese, and it was probably in this form that the 

 Japanese first became acquainted with it. The name '' karakane" does 

 not, however, designate any definite alloy. It has a generic rather 

 than a specific signification, and is applied to a very varied group of 

 mixtures of metals of the copper- tin-lead series, in which the propor- 

 tion of copper may range from 71 to 80 j)er cent, of tin from 2 to 8 per 

 cent, and of lead from 5 to 15 per cent. 



The Table II which follows contains all the analyses of the alloys 

 bearing this name which have been published by various analysts, as 

 well as some which I have made myself of typical specimens. It also 

 includes several other allied alloys which are not in such general use as 

 " karakane," but are valuable for special purposes: 



