792 Recent Literature. [September, 
that the wood occupied in the trunk. As all rooms are made in 
sizes corresponding to the number of mats they are to contain, 
the beams, uprights, rafters, floor-boards, ceiling-boards are got 
out in sizes to fit. From one end of the empire to the othera 
mat is approximately six feet long and three feet wide. 
The ceilings of the Japanese rooms are low, and everywhere 
appear posts, supports, cross-ties, etc., exposed and decorated in 
exquisite taste. The most noteworthy feature of the chief apart- 
ment is a kind of bay divided into two parts, the tokonoma and 
chigai-dana. The bay nearest the verandah is called the zokonoma, 
in which hang one or two pictures, and on its slightly elevated 
floor stands a vase or some other ornament. The chigai-dana 
its ceiling, all closed by sliding screens. In the development of 
these two architectural features Professor Morse dwells at length 
and with much eloquence upon the advantage of the free-hand 
architecture of the Japanése over the bilateral symmetry carried 
to excess in house interiors among us. ; 
The space between the upper end of the screens and the ceil- 
ing is the ramma, and here Japanese finesse has reveled in panel, 
diaper, open bamboo work, porcelain and wood-carving. 
i 
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LEE ENES T NY 
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pete a e PA 
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ROR Sli 
Fic, 6,—Ramma of bamboo and perforated panel. 
It would carry us far beyond our allotted space to pive s pee 
‘ conception of the distribution of the interior for the comfort F 
the family, of the verandahs, bamboo fences, gardens, rooms 0 
convenience and luxury. 
Some of the appurtenances are both quaint and primitive. ei 
might see in almost any negro log-cabin devices made of wit : 
and bark to match the accompanying apparatus for holding 
pot or basket at different heights. The same thing in ™© 
will be found in almost any Japanese kitchen. 
If cleanliness is next to godliness, then verily the prn 
came near to being a godly race. Even the working classes, 57 
_ as carpenters, masons and others, often bathe two oF t 
~a day, They do not really wash in the baths, but boi 
= them for awhile, and then upon a platform, with an ex 
bucket of water and a towel, wash and dry themselyes. 
