30 
House & Garden 
THE STORY of JAPANESE PAINTING 
Being the First of Two Articles on the Beginnings of this 
Nipponese Art and Its Development 
W. G. BLAIKIE MURDOCH 
A long and dreary 
time must elapse 
ere the Occidental, liv¬ 
ing in Japan, can 
speak with any fluency 
the language of the 
country. 
Having reached that 
stage, he will find it 
very difficult, still, to 
follow the ordinary 
parlance of the people. 
But, when that like¬ 
wise has been mas¬ 
tered, an adventure of 
quite singular charm is 
to visit many Buddhist 
temples, and chat with 
the priests. 
They are usually 
friendly, proud to show 
their treasures of 
hieratic art, glad to 
tell what they know 
about the men who 
wrought these things, 
while often they will give an invitation to 
come into the rectory for some green tea. 
Listening always with a curiously marked in¬ 
terest to Western comments on Oriental paint¬ 
ing in general, the priests to-day, as of old, 
are frequently themselves artists, perhaps con¬ 
ducting a little art-school. And here may be 
seen a group of boys and girls, kneeling on the 
matted floor, with their handiwork spread be¬ 
fore them, each using exactly the media used in 
“The Cliffs”, by 
Shibata, early 19th 
Century 
There is almost a modernist feeling in 
Sesshiu’s “Winter” 
Japan centuries ago. The visitor may himself 
essay those media, thus getting an idea of their 
advantages and disadvantages, compared with 
those of the brushes and pigments of the West. 
Painters and Society 
Through ten centuries, Japan nearly always 
had fine painters. She personally honored 
them far above the adepts in the colored print, 
although this last is what the Occident is still 
inclined to view as the prime glory of Japa¬ 
nese art.' 
Dealing with the curious forms of despot¬ 
ism which existed in Old Japan, Lafcadio 
Hearn says that personality was “wholly sup¬ 
pressed by coercion.” Like statements are ! 
made by countless other historians, pointing i 
out for instance that formerly a Japanese, j 
whatever his gifts, could not. rise from the 1 
clearly defined social grade into which he was 
born; while the State told people where they 
must live, and even dress was controlled by I 
law. But strong individuality is like dyna- I 
mite: it will manifest itself in spite of what 
the westerner might deem mere convention.. 
That old Japan presents no exception is 
finely shown by the story of Hideyoshi (1536- 
1598) who, bom a peasant, and employed for 
a while as butler to a feudal lord, rose by sheer 
genius to be king in everything but name, 
which achievement should be borne in mind by 
Occidental critics of Oriental art. For these 
usually give the bulk of their space to dis- 
canting on the different Japanese academies: 
they tell how, at each, certain tenets were im¬ 
posed in a manner despotic as that which ob¬ 
tained in ordinary laws, pupils being taught 
that there was one right way of depicting trees, 
say, water, or the human form. And, as a ' 
rule, this matter is followed by a mere tabu¬ 
lating of the artists themselves, according to the 
respective styles of workmanship to which they 
were trained. Now, in Japan, as in every other 
country where art has reached great heights, 
its chronicle is essentially one of individuali¬ 
ties, not solely of codes or academies. 
Toba Sojo was the artist of “The Way of the 
Monkey” pictured below, a delightful portrayal 
of Japanese humor. Toba Sojo was a bishop 
who lived in the mid-Wth Century 
“The Vine”, by Haritsu Ogawa, a 
painting of great delicacy 
At the Myoshin Temple near Kyoto can be found the famous Peony Screen painted by 
Yusho Kaihoku 
