JAPANESE ART INDUSTRY IN GENERAL. 337 



do not play any part in Nikko. What gives Nikko ware its charm 

 is the individuality of its shapes, and the materials employed in 

 making it. Roots and pieces of branches of the Shakunagi {Rhodo- 

 dendron MetternicJiii) are stripped of their bark, and hollowed out 

 for bowls, ash cups, water dippers, and other purposes, then lac- 

 quered on the inside, and provided with a lacquered cover. Old 

 cork-like Polyporus is treated in the same way, and furnishes a 

 quantity of hollow vessels which attract by their want of symmetry 

 as well as their originality. 



Comb-cutting. The Japanese till now have made by far the 

 greatest part of their toilette and small-tooth combs of wood, and 

 used for this purpose chiefly the heavy, thick wood of several ever- 

 green trees of the southern part of the country. The following obser- 

 vations and memoranda relative thereto were gathered atSawa-mura, 

 in the province of Idzumi, on the way from Sakai to Wakayama. 

 Comb-cutting is carried on here in many of the houses. The woods 

 employed are chiefly the following, arranged in the order of their 

 estimation ; i. Tsuge {Buxns japonica, p. 246), 2. Isu or Yusu 

 {Distylium racemosum, p. 251), 3. Tsubaki (Camellia japonica, p. 

 259). The relative price of the combs made from these woods is 

 8 sen, 2 sen, and I sen each. Ginger, or Ukon, is often used to 

 give camellia wood the yellow colour of box, but cannot impart to 

 it the more important qualities, equal fineness of grain, hardness and 

 toughness. The imitation is otherwise very deceptive. Yusu wood 

 is easily recognised by its reddish brown colour. It comes, like 

 box, from Kiushiu, by way of Osaka and Sakai. It is soaked in 

 water for a longer or shorter time as necessity may require, in order 

 to prevent splitting. As in the case with Tsubaki, the wood of 

 kindred varieties is used also, e.g. of Mokkoku {Tenistroemia), but 

 much less frequently. 



A sort of division of labour exists in this industry. One man 

 saws the wood into plates, another with a circular saw cuts out, a 

 third files, grinds, and polishes the prepared comb. When it is 

 to hold up and adorn the hair of a girl or a woman, it is as a rule 

 ornamented by the lacquerer. 



In Yabuhara on the Nakasendo also, the comb manufacture 

 occupies many hands, but the softer deciduous woods of the neigh- 

 bouring forests are used here, and the wares are cheap and inferior. 



Straw Mosaic, Jap. Wara-kise-zaiku. The most common way of 

 ornamenting many small articles of Japanese woodwork, and at the 

 same time protecting them against the effects of weather, is by 

 lacquering, about which the following chapter will give more 

 extended information. There is another decorative art by means 

 of a sort of mosaic work. Intarsia, or the inlaying of difl'erent 

 coloured woods, such as is carried on chiefly in the Hakone Moun- 

 tains, has already been mentioned. A third method is the over- 

 laying of wooden ware with plaited rattan or straw. The first is 

 seen chiefly on the oval bread basket, the outside of which instead 



II. Z 



