JAPAN 



3118 



JAPAN 



their influence. In fact, Japanese literature is 

 too new to make prediction possible, but critics 

 believe that a people so capable of receiving 

 inspiration and suggestion from outside sources, 

 without servile imitation, are bound to produce 

 a literature which shall do justice to the awak- 

 ened, progressive nation. 



Art. The very name Japanese art brings 

 up mental pictures of exquisite pottery ware, 

 gleaming lacquers, embroidered silks, enamels, 

 finely wrought mosaics and pictures remark- 

 able for their ability to produce a clear effect 

 with a few simple lines. The Japanese as a 

 people are remarkably artistic, and the sim- 

 ple, unfurnished rooms of their houses are 

 always ornamented with pictures, either hang- 

 ing on the wall or executed directly upon the 

 sliding screens. Most of the pictures are un- 

 framed, all of them are unglazed, and the 



material upon which they are made must thus 

 be some fairly durable substance, as silk. 

 Japanese pictures ignore perspective entirely; 

 they show no softening shadow effects, but on 

 the other hand they display a remarkable 

 genius for composition, a fine sense of the 

 harmony of color, and a knowledge of every- 

 thing that a line can be made to express. The 

 sacred mountain appears in many pictures. 



In the other fine arts Japan does not excel, 

 but many of its mechanical arts are unsur- 

 passed elsewhere. The crackled Satsumaware; 

 the cloisonne enamels; the ivory carvings; the 

 gold-decorated lacquer; the pictures done in 

 embroidery these the workmen of other lands 

 would find it impossible to duplicate, and much 

 of Japan's export to Western countries con- 

 sists of such articles. See Manujactwes, be- 

 low. 



The Land 



Surface. Japan was built up by volcanoes, 

 and its surface is in general mountainous, a 

 main range following the crescent-shaped curve 

 of the principal islands. Hondo, the largest of 

 the islands, which is 700 miles in length, is 

 traversed from end to end by this range, and 

 only in the neighborhood of Tokyo is there a 

 plain of any considerable extent. Smaller 

 ranges cross this main' one at intervals, and at 

 the intersections the greatest aHitudes and the 

 grandest scenery are found. The valleys are 

 deep and steep of slope, and are broken up into 

 many little plains, but whether the surface be 

 high or low, level or broken, vegetation is 

 everywhere, the whole Empire presenting a 

 picture in varying shades of green. 



Volcanoes are numerous, and while most of 

 them are extinct some still belch forth steam 

 and occasional lava flows, while now and again 

 one breaks out and does serious damage (see 

 History, below). The loftiest peak in the Em- 

 pire is Mount Morrison, in Formosa, 14,300 

 feet in height, but by all means the most 

 famous is Fujiyama, "the Peerless," which is 

 12,395 feet in height. This symmetrical peak, 

 almost a perfect cone, from which no eruption 

 has taken place since 1708, can be seen from 

 far out at sea; and Japanese artists are very 

 fond of introducing its snow-crowned slopes 

 into their decorative schemes. See FUJIYAMA. 



Waters. Narrow islands, everywhere ridged 

 with mountains, give small opportunity for 

 rivers of any great size, but the streams are 

 numerous and picturesque, though of no par- 



ticular use for navigation. Down every valley 

 rushes a little river, and waterfalls are a very 

 common feature of the scenery. In the island 

 of Yezo is the largest river, the Ishikari, which 

 has a course of 275 miles, while Hondo has 

 three rivers of note, the Shinano, 215 miles in 

 length, the Tonegawa, 177 miles, and the 

 Kisogawa, 115 miles. Even after these streams 

 reach level ground they are so impeded by 

 shallows and rapids that only broad, flat-bot- 

 tomed boats can navigate them. 



Japan has many beautiful lakes in its moun- 

 tain regions, and to them tourists flock. Most 

 famous of all is Lake Biwa, or Omi, in Omi, 

 the south-central part of Hondo, which is al- 

 most equal to the famous Swiss lake, Geneva, 

 in size, and is noted for its eight specially 

 delightful views called "Eight views of Omi" 

 by the Japanese. In the region of the lakes 

 there are many hot springs whose mineral 

 waters have curative properties. 



Climate. By reason of its great north-and- 

 south extent, Japan has a climate that- varies 

 widely in the different parts of the empire. 

 In Formosa and the Loo-Choo group, sub- 

 tropic conditions prevail ; snow never falls, and 

 the summers are long and very hot. But far 

 to the north, in Sakhalin and the Kurile 

 Islands, the winter cold is almost arctic in its 

 intensity, and snow lies in the hollows the 

 year round. In the central part of the Empire, 

 near the capital, the climate is equable and 

 for the most part delightful, though a brief 

 period in summer is likely to be very hot and 



