XVIII.] TEESENTATION OF A MOTTO. G83 



European manufactories that the drawing of an artist has to 

 a showily coloured lithograph. But the price is high in propor- 

 tion, and the Japanese j)orcelain is too dear for every-day use 

 even in its own country. Nearly all the large sets of table 

 porcelain that I saw in JajDan were, therefore, ordered from 

 abroad. The cups which the natives themselves use for rice, 

 tea, and saki are, however, of native manufacture ; but even 

 in a well-provided Japanese household there is seldom so much 

 porcelain as would be required for a proper coffee-party 

 at home. 



In the evening the Governor had invited us to a dinner, 

 which was given in a hall belonging to a literary society in 

 the town. The rooms were partly furnished in European style 

 with tables, chairs, Brussels carpets, &c. The dinner was 

 European in the arrangement of dishes, wines, and speeches. 

 The dishes and wines were abundant and in great variety. The 

 company were very merry, and the host appeared to be greatly 

 l)leased, when I mentioned that at one of the places which I 

 had seen that day I saw a wall adorned by a motto of his 

 composition. He immediately promised to write a similar one 

 on me with reference to my visit to the town, and when a few 

 moments after he had the first line ready, he invited his 

 Japanese guests to write the second. They tried for a good 

 while with merry jests to hit upon some suitable conclusion, 

 but in vain. Early the following morning Mr. Koba-Yaschi 

 came to me, bringing with him a broad strip of silk on 

 which the following was pencilled in bold, nobly-formed 

 characters : 



Umi hara-no-hate-made 

 Akiva-Sumi-watare, 



which when translated runs thus : 



" As far as the sea extends 

 The autumn moon sj)reads her beneficent light." 



According to the explanation which I received the piece 

 points out that the autumn moon spreads her beneficent rays 

 as far as to that place in the high north where we wintered. 

 After the above-quoted verse came the following addition in 

 Japanese : *' Written by Machimura Masanavo, Governor of 

 Kioto-Fu, to Professor Nordenskiold, on the occasion of a dinner 

 given to him during the autumn of 1879." The whole besides 

 was signed with the author's common, as well as his poetical, 

 name, and had his seal attached. His poetical name was Rio- 

 San, which may be literally translated " Dragon-Mountain." 



The poetry of the JajDanese is so unlike that of the Western 

 nations that we find it difficult to comprehend the productions 



