4i6 ART INDUSTRY AND RELATED OCCUPATIONS. 



fans, while the Uchiwa give far less work owing to their simpler 

 form. 



Of the former, the finest manufactured in former times for home 

 demands cost scarcely 5 yen, while now they are made for foreign 

 customers with mother of pearl and ivory decorations to cost 

 three or four times that amount. The large majority of foreign 

 customers care principally, however, for the cheapness of these 

 wares, and the market is greatly influenced thereby. A hundred 

 of the common sort of Uchiwa may be purchased in Osaka for 

 from I to 2 yen, and singly, for from a halfpenny to a penny. 



During the decade 1 874-1 884, the export in Hiogo in 1879 

 reached its highest, with a value of 163,730 yen, and two years 

 later in Yokohama with \j6,666 yen. The following table shows 

 how it has wavered in both places since then, and later has fallen 

 everywhere : — 



Appendix: JAPANESE Writing Materials. 

 What they consist of: — Brushy India Inky and Ink Dish. 



Among the manifold uses of East- Asiatic bast papers, the most 

 important is after all the employment of it in the fixation and 

 communication of thought. Next to the paper, and even more 

 than pen and ink with us, the most necessary articles of a Chinese 

 or Japanese escritoire are the brush and India ink. Besides these, 

 there must be moreover an ink dish and water, for rubbing the 

 India ink. 



The Yatate, or portable writing-case, which the business man 

 always carries with him, includes a holder for fluid India ink and 

 a brush in a copper case. For household use, there is a handy 

 shallow box called Sumi-ire, with several compartments — one for 

 the brush, a second for the stick of India ink, and the third for the 

 dish. On an upper tray of the outfit is a copper or silver vessel 

 for water. In Industrial Art Collections one may often see speci- 

 mens of Japanese writing apparatus in the shape of flat, square 

 boxes, decorated most richly and beautifully with gold lacquer. 

 These are among the most prominent productions of Japanese 

 lacquer industry. 



The Fude, or brush, used for writing, most nearly resembles Fig. 10 

 on Plate IV,, though the hair of the rabbit or deer of which it 

 is usually made generally forms a thicker, blunter end. After the 



