CHAPTER TWENTY 

 JAPANESE FLOWER VASES 



ALTHOUGH the Japanese have not 

 as large a flora as other countries, 

 they have above all others a greater 

 beauty and variety of flower receptacles. 

 These are not only beautiful in form, mate- 

 rial, and design, but are made for the use to 

 which they are put; so that a flower can al- 

 ways be placed in an appropriate receptacle, 

 and probably in one especially designed for 

 that particular sort of flower. 



Their love of the beautiful, however, does 

 not cause them to overlook the practical in 

 these vases, and they most seek in their shapes 

 what will best prolong the life of flowers. 

 For this reason their vases are wide open 

 at the mouth, for they do not depend upon 

 the vase itself, as we do, to hold flowers in 

 position, having found that the oxygen enter- 

 ic 200 ] 



