Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/103

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS unsurpassed by any cognate products of artistic genius the world over, a difficulty presented itself with regard to the theory that this branch of applied art owed its inception to Oda Nobunaga. His castle at Azuchi was built in 1576; in 1585 Hideyoshi constructed the celebrated "Palace of Pleasure" at Momoyama, and in 1592 the Shin sect built the temple Nishi Hongwan-ji in Kyōtō. It will be observed that the erection of Hideyoshi's palace was separated from that of Oda's by only nine years, and that the interval between the latter event and the building of the Hongwan temple was seven years. The "Palace of Pleasure" was pulled down by order of Hideyoshi within a few years of its completion. Nothing certain, therefore, can be said about its details. But portions of it were distributed among the "illustrious mansions" of Kyōtō, and these relics indicate that wood-carving of the highest type was employed in its decoration. A two-leaved gate, called the "day-long portal," because a whole day might be spent studying its beauties, now stands at the Nishi Hongwan temple, whither it was brought from Momoyama. It is a noble specimen of carving, showing the highest skill in chiselling à jour and in relief. The subject is an incident from Chinese history, and the carver had told the story on each side of the panels as though they were leaves of an album. It is scarcely a reasonable hypothesis that an art which had its

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