Page:Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/162

130 Stripped from their blades they are now being sent about the Western world, and attract great interest and study as further evidence of the perfect craft which kixuriated in the land of tlie rising sun a few generations ago. Before me I have at present about two hundred of these objects, and to one accustomed to regard the sword as a thing of polished steel, they are a revelation in colour and material, while in design, modelling, and art quality some are fitted to be encased beside antique coins and medals, and to rank as museum pieces of a high order. There are oval-shaped guards of brass, yellow and granulated like roughly-beaten gold, and richly-figured big coin-like shajoes of blue tempered steel with gold damascening, with a deep red patina, and a surface like morocco.

There are others in copper, chased and decorated by flowers in gold and silver. Some are in bronze, with a soft olive-green patina ; some have a patina of deep black like polished ebony, and are orna- mented with figurings in gold. All are wonder- ful for colour, quality of surface, and varying beauty of outline. But those which have forced admiration beyond all others are of iron, damascened with gold and silver. Those of copper and brass are pretty, even beautiful ; but these last of intractable warlike metal are truly sword-guards, boldly chiselled, not to grace the carpet-knight, but for soldier ser- vice in the field. From the variety of designs it would almost seem a first principle with the makers of sword-guards in Japan that there should be no two alike. There is nothing characteristic of wholesale manufacture about them. It is as if each swora had been specially commissioned and the fancy of its wearer considered, so varied are the motives of their decora- tion. They show similarity of class, of fashion, and of period naturally, but otherwise they bear readings of a greater individuality of character than can be attributed to difference of craftsmen, whose tendency is to produce variations on great models. Fre- quently there appears as a basis of design to be some such difference of idea as would result from the use of family badges and symbols varying as widely as names. Emblems, in which Japanese art is so rich, play a prominent part. Paradoxically enough, on an instrument of death there is often the crane, the emblem of longevity among the Japanese, to signify the desire of the wearer, we may suppose. An eagle about to swoop down on some timid birds appears to have been a favourite device. Many represent scenes and incidents. For in- stance, one, a massive rudely-shaped disc of brass, which may have been on a hunting-sword, shows a falconer at his sport ; he is on horseback, and about to fly his hawk at a bird of gay plumage. It is a fine bold piece, and in its big archaic forms reminds one of metal-work found at Mycense. One of the most remarkable conceits is wrought in brass and iron. The sculptor may have commenced with a nugget of brass about the size of a large walnut, which has been hammered into an oval disc a quarter of an inch thick. On this a rippled surface has been produced like in miniature to that left on the shore by the receding tide ; then chiselled out of iron is shown the form of a dragon chimera plough- ing its way through and through the brass as if it were golden sand. Appearing and reappearing, on one side is seen the head breaking furiously out, and the tail ; on the other, some of the limbs and part of the body, while here and there are cunningly modelled hollows showing the track of the animal where it has already passed. Words cannot convey the naturalness and art of this object. The realism of surface, the spirit of the action, and the work- manship must be seen to be appreciated. The Japanese passion for moonlight scenes is frequently exemplified by representations of the rising moon in varying surroundings, apparently always peaceful, and perhaps to suit the meditative calm of quiet, civil gentlemen who may have worn the sword as a matter of course or a mark of distinction. Fusiyama, the great and beloved mountain of Japan, is intro- duced in many of the guards ; and many tell of a gentle taste for the beautiful in the shape of sprays of flowers. The votaries of entomology have their interests met by a profusion of unclassified-looking insects in various colours of metal.