Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/225

 these little figures partook, of the nature of amulets, having been carved out of the old timbers of the sacred bridge leading to the temples, when the bridge was renewed for the first time. It was an article of popular faith that all these little figures were made from bridge-wood which had been hallowed during long years by the tread of priests and the passage of festival processions, but since the bridge did not require renewing more than once in fifty years, whereas every pilgrim visiting Nara carried away one of the images, faith must have been substituted for fact in an immense number of cases. Let the timber be what it might, however, the sculptor had to observe one rule unfailingly: he was required to fashion the object with a minimum use of the chisel. Perfect success in that respect was supposed to be attained when the tool was never applied a second time to the same place. Thus the Nara-ningyo stood to sculpture in the same relation as that of the Indian-ink sketch to painting. These figures do not appear to have attracted much attention in sthetic circles until the Taikō's example, as described above, being followed by the nobility as well as by wealthy commoners, gave a great impulse to the art of the himono-shi. From that time the chiselling of Nara-ningyo became a flourishing industry, the range of motives being gradually extended and the colouring executed with care and taste. Some of these figures were richly lacquered, and when thus decorated they received the name of Negoro-ningyo. In the early part of the nineteenth century, an expert sculptor named Okano Hohaku gave a wider range to his art by chiselling characters from the classic mimes,—the bugaku, the gigaku,