Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/400

 —Such chiselling was called itto-bori, or "single-stroke carving."  —Manufacturers of all small wooden objects were generically called himono-shi.  —From the close of the seventeenth century, worshippers at the shrines of Sugi-no-Mori Jinja in Yedo fell into the habit of presenting an image of clay or wood on the occasion of making a vow or returning thanks to the deity. There were eight houses where these images were manufactured, and where, also, the puppets used in festival processions were modelled, the material employed for the latter being usually a variety of paper called mino-gami, which can be worked up to the consistency and strength of planking. The nature of these puppets will be apparent from the fact that the most remarkable among them were the Denshichi-migyo which had movable eyes. They derived their name from that of their maker, Takeoka Denkichi, who, in 1873, constructed with mino-gami an exact copy of the Kamakura Dai-Butsu for the Vienna Exhibition. The Takeoka family, now represented by Takeoka Gohei, were inspired by the example of Matsumoto Kisaburo to effect great improvements in the manufacture of these puppets.  —This has been demonstrated by experiments conducted in Yezo by Professor H. S. Munroe, an American mining-engineer.  —Reference may be made to two huge carp, about nine feet in height, which stand at either extremity of the roof-ridge of Nagoya Castle. According to popular belief they are made of pure gold, but they are in fact copper plated with the precious metal.  —The gilding process is thus described by Mr. W. Gowland, formerly Assayer at the Imperial Japanese Mint, in one of a series of valuable essays read before the Society of Chemical Industry: "The object of copper or bronze to be gilded was immersed in vinegar made from the juice of unripe plums until a clean metallic surface was obtained. It was then washed with water and dried over a brazier, and mercury was applied to it while it was still warm. When the surface had thus been amalgamated, the gold was laid upon it in the form of leaves. A stronger heat was then applied, the mercury was volatilised, and the gold left perfectly adherent." Japanese accounts add that tonoko (freestone powder) was mixed with the mercury for application to the surface of the metal; that the process of plating was repeated two, three, and even four times, and that polishing with tonoko was finally resorted to. They also mention another method: the metal, having been boiled in lye, 