WORKING OF IVORY 



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"It is a well-known fact that our ancestors from time im- 

 memorial have loved to engrave and limn on such material 

 as stone, impressions received from glances at the rolling 

 clouds or the rivulet and stream swiftly flowing onward. 

 From the time of the building of the Asakura palace (about 



Fine Saws used by Japanese ivory carvers 



1,200 years ago), the art of carving has shown a decided 

 and steady improvement, generation after generation. 

 To-day it has developed to a wonderful degree; in ivory 

 work in particular, probably no other country excels ours. 

 "Mr. Soma, all his life a devoted student of this art, has 

 compiled a book entitled 'The Methods of Ivory Carvings' 

 which he has brought to me, with the request that I write 



