Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/144

* JAPAN. 126 JAPAN. therefore the most important crop. Rice land is the most valuable, 2.45 acres of rice or 'wet' land being equal to 0.37 acres of otlicr arable land. For its cultivation irrigation is needed for flooding the fields, and even the hillsides and gul- lies are terraced, the water l>eing ingeniously con- ducted from one terraced i)lat to the other. It is sown in May and reaped in Xoveuil>er. and the average yield is said to be about 30 bushels an acre. In 1900 2,828.349 cho (0.029,45.5 acres) of rice land were under cultivation, and yielded 205.0G7.0S0 bushels. Much of this is consumed in the manufacture of sake, the beverage of the coun- try, the e.cise duty on which returns a large rev- enue to the Governinent. In 19f)0over 173.051,000 gallons were produced by 27,789 establisliments. The crops next in iniiiortance are Ijarky. r^'e. and wlieat, the area and the product of wbicli in 1900 were as follDws: barley, 1„579.096 acres, yielding 42,951,056 bushels; rye, 1,097,850 acres, yielding 37,170,807 bushels- and wheat, 1.147,747 acres, yielding 21,005.770 bushels. The other products are pulse, millet, corn, buckwheat, potatoes of various kinds, all sorts of vegetables, and the soy- bean, which is said to approach more nearly in its proximate chemical composition to animal food than any other known vegetable; one-fifth of its weight is fat and nearly two-fifths nitrogenous matter. In 1900. 73.041.157 gallons of the con- diment ])re])arcd from it wcie produced. In addi- tion to this, tobacco (introduced by the Portu- guese some time before 1012, for in that year its production and use were forbidden), cotton (known to the .lapancse 150 years before the Chinese), sugar, hemp, and indigo are grown, and gi'eat attention is given to silk and tea. In 1900 the land devoted to silk culture was 730.933 acres. The tea plantations in 1900 covered 120,- 702 acres, produced 03,210.099 pounds of tea, and employed 508,147 households. Since the abolition of the feudal system, the soil has been for the most part held by those wlio work it. the average holding being about an acre, and the average price per acre of rice land being ISO yen, and for other tilled land 55. The land tax is 2.^'< per cent., and in 1901-02 it brought into the treasury .$23,500,000, or more than three times the amount derived from cus- toms. The agricultural implements in .Tapan are very simple. Vntil recent years the rearing of flocks and herds has had no place in .Japanese agriculture, such cattle as were found l)eing used merely as beasts of burden. Milk, butter, and dicese were unknown, and beef was never eaten. This was due partly to the influence of Buddhist teaching, which forbids the taking of life, and partly to the fact that the grasses of Japan, except perhaps in Yezo, are not adapted for grazing. Since the Restoration (see paragraph on Jlisfor;/). how- ever, much attention has been given by the Gov- ernment to the subject. Experimental farms liave been established everywhere, under skilled foreign superintendence, including the breeding of horses and cattle and the rearing of sheep, etc. These efforts have been only partially suc- cessful, the soil proving unsuitable both for the grasses and the sheep. The use of animal food is now extending, however, and dairying has been introduced. In 1899 there were in the country 1,451.530 head of cattle and 1.547,100 horses. MjvxtFACTt'RES. China is the original home of the highly perfected arts of lacquer-work, fine ceramics, chasing and inlaid work, ivory, bone, stone, and wood carving, in most of which .Japan now excels its ancient tutor. The most authori- tative writers on the industries of .Japan agiee that file Japanese have regarded China as their model in all these departments for many cen- turies. They have developed great aptitude for imitating these art prmlucts, and liut very little independent creative power. The fact that Japan now far surpas.ses its old master in the most extended branches of art-liandieraft is to be attributed to this very gift of imitation, and most of all to the awakened .sense of beauty in nature and art that lias been applied to worthy and useful ideas as models which originated on foreign soil. In the latest development of the industries of .Japan the same limitations are observed. It has been shown tlius far that while the Japanese artisan has great manipubitive skill and can turn out indilTerenl sewinjj-inacliines. typewriters, and many other foreign mechanisms with an imitative art in superficialities that amounts almost to genius, still for the fundamental elements of his industry he must yet depend on the assistance of foreigners. The national character in its re- cent approximation to Western civilization is what it always has been, imitative, not origi- native; and is almost wholly devoid of that rude energ}' of initiative which constitutes such a marked difference between the inhabitants of the East and the West. This detracts nothing from the merit and value of the industries for which the Japanese are famous. In wood-work their buildings lack much in solidity, adaptation, and elegance. It is not as carpenters and architects that they are distinguished, but as joiners, turn- ers, and wood-carvers. The frames of their win- dow-panes, the wainscoting of the walls of many of their temples, and numerous other works, are samples of fine and careful I'oinerv. They make many small wooden wares, excellent in design and utility. Comb-cutting is a large house industry, small-tooth combs of the thick, heavy wood of several evergreen trees being used in the native toilet. Laequer-work takes the first place among the .Japanese art industries. In no other branch of aril liave the .Japanese so completely disengaged themselves from their Chinese masters, displayed so much fancy and taste, and won .such eminence among all civili7.ed peoples. The lacquer tree is grown chiefly in Hondo or the main island, be- tween the parallels of latitude 35° and 40° north. Its sap is distinguished from all other varnishes by its greater hardness, its high lustre preserved for centuries, and its resistance to agencies that destroy other resinous varnishes. The lacquer varnish is applied to wooden or metal articles. Every layer must be thoroughly dried and pol- ished before another is placed. A fine piece of work, with twenty to thirty coats of lacquer, may be many months in making. The antiquity of the industry is attested by some lacquer bo.xes in one of the templ'^s where they have been kept, it is said, in a state of perfect preservation for seven- teen centuries. Among the choicest exhibits of the museums in the Occident are Japanese lac- quers fixed on copper, or more frequently on the wood of the Pinits reiinnxpord. and ornamented with gold, silver, or mother-of-pearl. The best si)ecimens have a metallic lustre, can scarcely be scratched, and are almost indestructible. In 1899,