Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/700

 642 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. Pagodas, derived from Indian prototypes, are characteristic. They vary from three to thirteen stories in height, a usual number being nine (No. 280). They are constructed in various materials, from wood to cast iron, are solid or hollow, the latter having staircases leading to each floor level. Pagodas had formerly a religious significance, but those erected latterly are secular in character, sometimes being monuments of victory. They are usually polygonal in plan, thus enabling the junctions of the roofs in each story to be elaborately ornamented. The Pagoda at Nanhin (destroyed in 1856), called the Porcelain Tower, was a well-known example (No. 281 e). It was an octagon 40 feet in diameter and 200 feet high. The eaves of the roofs to each story curled upwards, and from the angles bells, numbering 150, were hung. It was built of brick, coated with colored slabs of green glazed porcelain, on which its effect mainly depended. It contained about 2,000 images. Pagodas are distributed in considerable numbers over the country. The Titng-chow Pagoda (a thirteen-storied example), the Tang-chow Pagoda (a nine-storied example), both at Pekin, the. " Floivery " Pagoda, Canton, the Hang-choiv Pagoda, the Sao-chow Pagoda (nine stories), and others at Shanghai, Ningpo, and Nankin, are well-known. A good example is in Kew Gardens, and there are many models in the Indian Museum, South Kensington. In Japan the Pagodas are mostly five-storied, square in plan, and about 150 feet high ; they are attached to the important temples. The lower story contains the images and shrines, the upper ones serving as " belvederes." They were introduced with Buddhism from China, but those now standing mostly date from the seventeenth century ; the upper stories have projecting roofs with bracketed cornices supporting bronze bells. The Pailoos of China (No. 282) are a common feature, and have a family resemblance to the Torans of India as the Sanchi tope (No. 266 a), and those of Japan. They were erected as memorial arches in memory of deceased persons, generals, philosophers, or of virtuous widows. They are constructed of stone, or more frequently of wood, and have one or three openings, formed by posts supporting horizontal rails bearing an inscription and crowned with bold projecting roofs, covered wath gaily- colored tiles. Bridges are important structures in a country abounding in rivers and canals. The greater proportion have piers supporting arches formed, not of radiating voussoirs, but with horizontal courses, the slabs often measuring 5 feet in length, 2 feet wide, and 6 or 8 inches in thickness. Tombs, in consequence of the great reverence for the dead, are finished with care, and have respect paid to them. They are either conical mounds cut in the rock, or structural. Those of