Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/294

 The probable truth is that the story was invented by some Japanese Swift to satirise the irrational value which the virtuosi of his country attached to rusty old specimens of Korean faience, homely pieces of Imbe pottery, and tiny tea-jars of Shunkei-yaki.

To examine, with anything like becoming accuracy, the subject of tea-jars, tea-cups, and other Cha-no-Yu utensils, of which the wares of Seto may be considered typical, would require a separate treatise. Several treatises have indeed been devoted to the matter by Japanese dilettanti. In every case the authors are faithful to the spirit of their science. They waste no time upon historical details which, however welcome they might be to outsiders, are supposed to be familiar to every duly educated devotee. The information they give is limited to an outline drawing of each cha-tsuho (tea-jar), cha-wan (tea-cup,) koro (censer), mizu-sashi (ewer) and so forth, thought worthy to be included among the meibutsu (celebrities) of the craft; the dimensions of every part of these little vessels; a description of the brocade bags in which they repose; facsimiles of the certificates accompanying them or the inscriptions on their boxes,—certificates and inscriptions, which, as the autographs of renowned virtuosi, add immensely to the intrinsic value of a specimen; the names, sometimes of past, always of present, fortunate possessors of these gems, and finally the names of the chefs-d'œuvre themselves,—names that constitute a curious record of Japanese ingenuity, ideality, and refinement. The Western amateur is bewildered by this extraordinarily elaborate framework of unessential information. He fails to connect it with the merits of the picture itself, being, in fact, incapable of appreciating those merits. Were there question