April 10, 1879] 



NATURE 



539 



THE MIRROR OF JAPAN, AND ITS MAGIC 

 QUALITY^ 



THE lecturer commenced by referring to the vast differ- 

 ences between the Chinese and the Japanese nations, 

 of which the EngUsh people, as a rule, do not seem to be 

 aware. He instanced various points of contrast ; one of 

 the most important being the intensely oriental secluded 

 character of the private life of the Chinese on the one 

 hand, and the Japanese dwelling in houses unfurnished 

 and left wide open to the public gaze on the other. But 

 why, he asked, in this comparative absence of nearly all 

 that we should call furniture, does one article pertaining 

 to the ladies' toilet — the bronze mirror with its stand — 

 hold so prominent a position ? 



This mirror of the Far East is usually circular, from three 

 to twelve inches in diameter, made of bronze, and with a 

 bronze handle covered with bamboo. The reflecting face 

 is generally more or less convex, polished with a mercury 

 amalgam ; the back is gracefully ornamented with a well- 

 executed raised design representing birds, flowers, dragons, 

 a geometrical pattern, or some scene in Japanese mythical 

 history. Occasionally there are also one or more Chinese 

 characters (signifying long life, happiness, or some similar 

 idea) of polished metal, in bold relief. The general 

 appearance of the back of the mirror, therefore, is some- 

 thing like that seen in the accompanying figure. 



It might at first sight be surmised that the elaborate 

 head-dresses of the ladies in Japan, combined with the 

 painting of their faces, furnished an explanation of the 

 prominence given to the metal mirror. But that this is 

 not the case is easily seen from the fact that it is in the 

 Imperial Palace, where the court ladies, still preserving 

 the simple fashion of ancient days, merely comb back 

 their long black tresses, and so have least need of a 

 looking-glass, that the Japanese mirror receives the 

 highest respect. A foreigner meets the mirror in the 

 temples, in the hands of the street-conjuror, in pictures 

 of the infernal regions, and in the regaha of the Japanese 

 sovereigns, and for some time after his arrival in Japan, 

 feels as an Oriental ignorant of biblical history might 

 when unable to understand the constant repetition of the 

 cross in Roman Catholic countries. But at length he 

 hears that the mirror is part of the Japanese religion and 

 mixed up with the "divine right of kings"; that it is the 



The Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution, January 24, by 

 Frof. W, E. Ayrton. 



most precious of the possessions of a Japanese woman, 

 and constitutes the most important part of the trousseau 

 of a bride, and "the two Great Divine Palaces" at ls€, 

 in which was deposited the first made mirror, have in the 

 eyes of the Japanese the same importance as has the 

 Holy Sepulchre for the Greeks and Armenians, and 

 Mecca for the Mohammedans. » ^v 



And to realise the reason of this, the stranger must 

 learn that there is a famous ancient myth in Japan, which 

 was recounted by the lecturer, detailing how the sun- 

 goddess in a rage shut herself up in a rocky cave, and 

 how the other gods to dispel the darkness thus caused, 

 used various artirices to entice her forth, the most success- 

 ful ruse being the manufacture of the first historical 

 mirror, in which, seeing her face, she was drawn forth 

 by her curiosity and jealousy. He will also learn how 

 in the supposed creation of the Japanese Empire, the 

 sun-goddess is reputed to have handed this mirror (with 

 the two other "god's treasures," which, together with a 

 mirror, at present constitute the regalia of the Emperor) 

 to her grandson with these words, " Look upon this 

 mirror as my spirit, keep it in the same house and on the 

 same floor with yourself, and worship it as if you were 

 worshipping my actual presence." 



After describing many interesting points in connection 

 with this strange mirror-worship of the Japanese, as seen 

 in the palace and in the cottage, the lecturer went on to 

 say that to the majority of those present the investigation 

 of the so-called magic properties of the Japanese mirror 

 would probably prove of yet more interest. 



This magic property, which is possessed by a few rare 

 specimens coming from the East, is as follows : If the 

 polished surtace is looked at directly, it acts like an 

 ordinary mirror reflecting the objects in front of it, but 

 giving, of course, no indication whatever of the raised 

 patterns on the back ; if, however, a bright light be re- 

 flected by the smooth face of the mirror on to a screen,^ 

 there is seen on this screen an image formed of bright 

 lines on a dark ground more or less perfectly representing 

 the pattern on the back of the mirror, which is altogether 

 hidden from the light. 



When this appearance is seen for the first time it is 

 perfectly startling even to an educated mind, and if the 

 source of light is sufficiently bright, as for instance a 

 tropical sun, it is difficult for the obserrer to divest him- 

 self of the idea that the screen is not perforated with cuts, 

 corresponding with the pattern on the back of the mirror, 

 and illuminated from behind. 



This strange phenomenon was known to both Sir David 

 Brewster and Sir Charles Wheatstone, both of whom 

 were of opinion that it was produced by trickery on the 

 part of the maker. Sir David Brewster, for example, 

 says in the Philosophical Magazine for December, 1832 : 

 " Like all other conjurors, the artist has tried to make the 

 observer deceive himself. The stamped figures on the 

 back (of the mirror) are used for this purpose. The 

 spectrum in the luminous area is not an itnage of the 

 figures on the back. The figures are a copy of the picture 

 which the artist has drawn on the face of the inityor, and 

 so concealed by polishing that it is invisible in the ordi- 

 nary lights, and can be brought out only in the sun's 

 rays.' ' 



Prof, Ayrton then related how he had been quite 

 unable to find for sale in any of the shops of Japan one 

 of these magic mirrors, which was supposed in Europe to 

 be a standard Japanese trick, and he explained how he 

 had at length ascertained that with regard to this so- 

 called magic mirror, the Japanese were the people who 

 knew least about the subject. 



But these magic mirrors were known to the Chinese 

 from the earliest times, and one of their writers spoke 

 about them in the ninth century of the Christian era. 

 They call them theou-kooang-kien, which means literally, 

 " mirrors that let the light pass through them," this name, 



