38o ART INDUSTRY AND RELATED OCCUPATIONS. 



not; difficult to reconcile. As appears from the previous observa- 

 tions concerning silk culture in Japan (observations also true 

 of silk industry), it is limited to Hondo, the principal island. It 

 was so always, undoubtedly. It is therefore easy to believe that in 

 the 1 2th century this island exported silk stuffs, while the island of 

 Kiushiu, with which the Portuguese had to do, almost exclusively 

 received them during the latter part of the i6th century from 

 China via Macao, not to mention the fact that internal wars and 

 dissensions in the capital Kioto might sometimes check the expor- 

 tation of silk to the southern islands ; so that Nagasaki was pro- 

 bably more easily supplied with stuff from China, than from the 

 manufacturing and commercial cities of Hondo. Be this as it may, 

 however, the fact remains that those Europeans who were particu- 

 larly interested, in 1859, when the export of Japanese silk began, 

 had no idea of the high standard to which the Japanese silk industry 

 had reached. Nevertheless, as in China, so also in Japan, silk 

 weaving had been for several centuries one of the finest examples 

 of artistic excellence. It shows to-day, also, what high develop- 

 ment an industry can attain, even with imperfect working appliances, 

 in the hands of an artistic, skilful, and persevering people. Up to 

 1859, the silk culture and silk manufacture of the country supplied 

 nothing more than the domestic trade. Thunberg thinks the reason 

 that the fabrics did not reach European markets, was solely owing 

 to their narrow width.^ 



When at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, Japan for the first time 

 displayed the variety, richness, and tasteful collection of its Kinu, 

 or silk factories, not only were the ordinary visitors astonished 

 at these unsuspected accomplishments, but even more the well- 

 informed Prize Commissioners. There were simple, smooth stuffs, 

 and surprisingly beautiful twilled fabrics full of softness and ele- 

 gance, with heavy brocades and other figured materials of a beauty 

 utterly unanticipated, besides some entirely new appliances and 

 designs. Though, it is true, the Chinese were the teachers and 

 models to the Japanese in silk manufactures, yet here, as in so 

 many other instances, the pupil has outstripped the master. There 

 is no better recognition of the work of Japanese silk weaving than 

 the judgment of the competent Prize Commissioner of the Vienna 

 Exhibition, Al. Heimendahl, the President of the Crefeld Chamber 

 of Commerce. He writes in his Report on Silk and Silk Wares as 

 follows : " However much one may be inclined to shake the head 

 at much that is burlesque and bizarre in design, and at the peculiar 

 tendencies of style, all that is not beautiful is ennobled by one com- 

 mon feature, everywhere to be seen — pleasure and perseverance in 

 work. But besides these noted eccentricities there is, on the other 

 hand, such a fine sense of form and colour, whether it be manifest in 



^ " Silkens handelen blomstrar val innom Riket, men for den smalhet, som 

 tygerne bar aga kunna de icke utforas och af Europeerne nytjas.'' — Thunberg : 

 Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia, iv. p. 105. Upsala, 1793. 



