Page:NIE 1905 - p. 324.jpg

FUH-HI. The first year of his reign is usually placed in B.C. 2852, though some make it earliet.

Fuh-hi is the reputed founder of the Chinese nation, and is said to have laid the foundations of civilization among a people who were still little better than beasts, eating raw flesh, clothed with the skins of wild animals, pairing promis- cuously, and destitute of even the rudest arts of life. He taught them the arts of fishing, hunting, and pasturage, and instituted marriage, dividing the people into 100 families or clans, to which he gave a name, and ordaining that persons of the same clan should not inter- marry, a custom observed in China to the present day.

His own surname was Feng, 'wind,' and his birth was miraculous, having been carried in his mother's womb for twelve years. Among many other things, he is reputed to have discovered the elements of writing on the back of a tortoise or dragon, which rose from the waters of the Yellow River. From thence he evolved the Pah-Kica (q.v.), or 'eight trigrams,' which by combination and multiplication form the sixty-four hexa- grams, on which is based the text of the Yih- King, the oldest book in China, and one of the five King, or classics. He died in B.C. 2738, and was succeeded by Shing-Nung, the 'Divine Hus- bandman,' who introduced agriculture, and con- tinued the task of civilizing and uplifting his people. Consult: Mayer, Chinese Reader's Manual (Shanghai, 1875); La Couperie, West- ern Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization (London, 1894); and Legge, "The Yih-King," in Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvi. (Oxford, 1882).

FtfHRICH, fu'riK, Joseph von (1800-76). An Austrian historical painter and engraver. He was born at Kratzau, Bohemia, February 9, 1800, and studied under Bergler at the Prague Academy, where he became greatly influenced by the literary Avorks of Schlegel and Tieck, de- signing fifteen plates for the latter's Genoveva before going to Rome. In that city he joined the German Pre-Raphaelites, and while there collabo- rated, with Overbeck, Veit, and Koch, in painting the frescoes in the Villa Alassimi. They repre- sented illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy, Ariosto's Orlando Fttrioso, and Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, and reveal in their execution the first note of modern German art. Born and bred a country boy, Fiihrich felt the beauty and influ- ence of landscape as a background to biblical subjects, and the study of DUror made him lean toward the portrayal of patriarchal scenes. His painting of "Ruth and Boaz" is idyllic in its rep- resentation, and his "Jacob and Rachel" is simi- larly treated. In 1841 he was ai)pointed profes- sor at the Academy in Vienna, but continued many of his important works. For his fresco painted in the Church of Alterchenfeld, a work which wcupied the years between 1854 and 1801, he was knighted and received the doc-oration of the Order of the Iron Crown. Among his works are ^'Joshua Before Jericho," the "Mourning Jews." "'Christ on His Way to the IMount of Olives." •"Peter's Draught of* Fish," the "Prodigal Son." and "Mary's Journey Over the Mountain." in the Gallery of Vienna, his best work. At the age of seventy-one he illustrated the legend of Saint Gwendolen. Fiihrich died at Vienna. Consult: His autobiography (Vienna, 1875); and the mon-

ograph by his son Lucas (ib., 1886); also Muther, History of Modern Fainting (London, 1895)..

FUJI-SAN, foo'je-san'. See Fujiyama.

FUJIWABA, foo'je-wa'ra. The name of one of the most renowned noble families in Japan, eminent in civil aflfairs, as the Taira and Mina- moto were in military, and the Tatchibana were in religious affairs. The founder was Kamatari, Regent of the Empire a.d. 645-49, reputed to be the twenty-first in descent from his heavenly an- cestor who served the great-grandfather of the first Mikado. The family was most powerful. at Court from the eighth to the twelfth century, and down to the present time has been notably pro- ductive of statesmen, artists, poets, authors, scholars, historians, etc. (Consult MetchnikoflF, Empire du Japon, vol. i., Geneva, 1881, for a list of these.) The Princess Sada, wife of the Crown Prince of Japan, is of the Fujiwara fam- ily, of the fortieth generation in descent from Kamatari, the founder, the eighteenth from Tada- mitsu, the founder of the Kujo family.

FUJIYAMA, foo'j^-ya'mi (more correctly Fuji-no- Yama, or Fuji-San; frequently but in- correctly called Fusiyama). The highest moun- tain of Japan, situated in the Province of Su- ruga, 60 miles west of Tokio, and visible from fourteen provinces, as well as far out at sea; height, 12,365 feet. It is a volcano, with a crater 500 feet deep, and about 2^4 miles in circuit. Tradition says that it rose from the plain in a single night, B.C. 285, while at the same moment Lake Biwa (q.v.), near Kioto, was formed. The last recorded eruption began November 24, 1707, and lasted until January 22d of the following year. A hump called Ho-yei- zan (9400 feet), noticeable on its south side, was then produced. As the sacred mountain of Japan, it is annually frequented by many thou- sands of pilgrims from all parts of the empire. Its summit may be reached by five different paths. Shrines and temples are numerous. Fuji- san is the focus of Japanese legend, the frequent theme of the poet, and a familiar object in Japan- ese art.

Consult: Chamberlain, Things Japanese (Lon- don, 1892); Griflis, The Mikado's Empire (New York, 1900); Satow and Hawes, Handbook for Travelers in Central and Northern Japan (Yoko- hama, 1881); and the ordinary books of travel.

FU-KIEN, fo7)'kA-en, or FO-KIEN, fo'ke -^n';' in the local dialoit Hok-kien. A maritime prov- ince of China, bounded on the north by Che-kiang, on the northwest and west by Kiang'Si, on the south by Kwang-tung, and on the east by the For- mosa Channel; area, 38.400 square miles; popula- tion, about 25.000.000; capital, Fu-chow (q.v.). In 1886 Formosa (now belonging to Japan) was detached from it and made a separate province. The general surface is hilly, in some places quite mountainous, especially along its western bound- ary. The only comparatively level alluvial tracts are found near the mouths of the great rivers, the Min and the Lung, and their numerous tribu- taries. The soil is fertile and in a high state of cultivation, producing tea, rice, wheat, barley, sweet potatoes, indigo, and sugar. Quantities of timber are obtained from the mountainous dis- tricts of the interior, and floated down the Min to Fu-chow, where it is transhipped to Shang- hai and other ports. The manufactures are few.