Page 42 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

and dews of nine autumns to the thousand verdure-

clad hills." In short, it may be confidently asserted

that from the days of Ho Chou and Tao Yu, who

imitated green opaque glass and green jade respec-

tively, down to the potters of the Chai-yao, who

sought to reproduce the greenish cerulean of the sky
between clouds after rain, the beau-ideal of these

early keramists was a celadon monochrome, the more

excellent in proportion as its colour partook less of

green and more of blue, without, however, losing a
nuance of the former. Another fact established by
these records is that the keramic industry was prac-
tised over a very wide area. Throughout the belt of
provinces extending from Chien-si in the north-west
to Chekiang and Kiang-si in the east of the empire,
potteries were more or less frequent.

In view of the references made above to Japanese

antiquarian literature, the reader will naturally be dis-
posed to enquire whether specimens of early Chinese

ware do not survive in Japan. The collections of the

latter country have always enjoyed comparative im-
munity from the dangers of war or political icon-

oclasm. Fire has been their great enemy. Many a

storehouse of objects of art has been destroyed in con-
flagrations which, from time to time, sweep away

whole acres of Japan's wooden cities. But of her
temples some have survived, and among the ruins of
others modern research has discovered specimens of
great interest. The late Mr. Ninagawa Noritane,

one of Japan's most painstaking antiquarians, person-
ally conducted investigations at the site of Bonshaku-ji,
a temple in the province of Omi, which was built in
the year 786 A.D. and destroyed within a decade by

fire. Among the ruins were found shards of hard

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