Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/244

 China, under the Sung emperors, had not begun to manufacture on a large scale the delicate, translucid ware for which she afterwards became famous, and Japan's ceramic ability was on a still lower level. Cups and bowls of solid céladon stone-ware filled the place of honour at aristocratic feasts, and tea, on the rare occasions of its use, was drunk from cups of unglazed pottery, as was sake also, though a favourite decanter for serving it took the form of a section of fresh, green bamboo. Effects of purity and due subordination were studied by fashioning many of the trays and stands out of milk-white pine, cut to the thinness of a wafer, the viands themselves being so disposed as to give a play of colour and an air of variety. Lacquered utensils also had a place at the board, but were always in a minority. The ménus of two dinners given by Fujiwara Ministers of State in the eleventh and twelfth centuries have been handed down by annalists. One of them shows that arithmetical symmetry was considered as well as the pleasures of the palate. There were eight entrées—rice-dumplings, three varieties of oranges, chestnuts (boiled), dried persimmons, pears and jujubes;—eight "dry viands"—steamed clam, dried bird's flesh, dried fish in slices (eaten with soy and vinegar), roasted sea-bream, fried suzuki (percalabrax), grilled salmon, roasted cuttle-fish and lobsters;—and eight "moist viands"—carp, trout, salt-trout