Page 259 - Japanese marks and seals on pottery, paper and other objects.

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

AND PRINTED BOOKS.

he records of Japan state that the art of painting
T was introduced into the country from the period
Corea
the works of that
but
in
a.d.,
the year 463
no longer exist, nor have we any information as to their
character the earliest known example of the art is a portrait
;
of the prince Shotoku, said to date from the seventh
century, which is preserved in the temple of Horiuji in the
province of Yamato. About that time an official department
for the encouragement of the art was established under the
name of Guwa-koshi, which was afterwards changed to
Edokoro, but it is probable that the works of this period
did not extend beyond the decoration of the Imperial
palaces, and little progress was made until the fourteenth
century, when the great school of Tosa was established by
Tsunetaka.
This celebrated artist, who was then the director of the
Edokoro, having been rewarded with the appointment of
vice-governor of the province of Tosa, assumed that name,
and gave it to the school of painting of which he was