Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/145

* JAPAN. 127 JAPAN. 20,373 persons were engaged in the lacquer in- dustry in 4147 establishments. The value of their output is given as $2,820,114. Much broken pottery has been discovered in mounds in Japan dating from prehistoric times, but it was only after contact with China through Korea, and tile introduction of Korean potters, that Japan began to progiess in an art which has made it renowned. The most famous of the pot- ter}' wares are the choice imitation porcelains known as 'Old Satsuma, which have become ex- tremely rare. All Japanese pottery, however, is traced back to Seto in Owari, and from this circumstance Setomono has become the general name for all Japanese ceramic ware. The number of ceramic works was never greater than at present. The art has spread into many districts where it has been hitherto unknown. Wares serving the humblest titilities or expensive pro- ducts for collecting connoisseurs are produced, many of them being remarkable for richness of color and originality of floral and animal designs, ilany of the potters' villages are famous, though they do not difler in appearance from ordinary hamlets. Each workshop comprises the members of a single family, every member watching in his turn over the baking of the materials in the public oven of the commune. .Japanese porcelain is one of the important articles of export to Occi- dental countries. The chief manufactories for the finest porcelain ware are at Arita in the Province of Hizen, in Kiushiu, where the best clays are found in abundance. It was here that Gorodayu Slionsui set up his first kiln on his return in 1520 from China, where he had learned the art of porcelain-making. In 1S99 the number of establishments engaged in pottery and porce- lain making was 4004. the number of persons emploved 19.454, and the value of the product S2,933.91G. In the making of works of art in bronze, a single artist casts the metal, does the chasing, colors with oxides, encrusts the bronze with pre- cious metals, coral, or pearls, and produces the work from start to finish. The .lapanese do not share the predilection of the Indian people for brass utensils, though the few they make are ornamented with great skill and care : but they excel in bronze manufactures. In 1899 the bronze and copper workers in .lapan numbered 5395, and the finished product was valued at $691,875. The Japanese excel in the manufacture of some kinds of paper, of which they use a larger quan- tity in proportion to population than most other nations. It is made from various species of plants, including the pulp of the paper-mulberry, and is used not only for printing and painting, but for many other purposes. Their handker- chiefs, table napkins, window-panes, the panels forming the movable partitions of their houses, are made of pajjer. They cover with paper the cushioned stools used as pillows, and paper gar- ments coated with vegetable wax are worn in rainy weather. The papers of Japan always show a yellowish tint when made of the purely native materials, and in the purely native way, and in this respect are inferior to the pure white products of the West : but printing paper as white as any made in the United States or Europe is produced in quantity. All attempts to imitate some of the .Tapanese native papers have failed. In 1899 paper was manufactured in 65,514 establishments, yielding an output valued at $8,272,754. The Japanese also excel in wickerwork, and in a great variety of stra^v objects, such as straw toys and mosaics. Ivory is fashioned into curious boxes and cabinets, and embellished with carved reliefs involving microscopic work. Ivory carv- ings, large and small, distinguished for technical skill and inspiration, are sold in all Western coun- tries. The artistic skill of many of the natives, however, has been impaired by the production of great quantities of cheap articles to meet the foreign demand for the artistically worthless articles sold under the name of 'Japanese-china' and other cheap products. Spinning and weaving have for centuries been the most important native industries. The art of weaving heavy linens and silken fabrics and their brocades, interwoven with gold and silver thread, was long ago developed to a high degree; their products still form admirable hangings and festive robes. But the modern brocades are often colored with imported aniline dyes, and have neither the brilliancy nor the quality of the old fabrics. Spinning and weaving for everyday utility have always employed most of the textile workers. The returns for 1895 showed that there were then over 1,000,000 weavers, and in nearly every house in rural Japan the spinning-wheel and loom were kept going from morning till night. A great revolution, however, was already far advanced. About ISSO an enormous impetus was given to the erection of cotton spinneries, with all modern appliances, and to-day home-spun yarn is almost unknown in the .Japanese markets. Osaka is the great centre of manufacture both of yarns and cotton goods. It has been compared to ilanchestcr on account of the many spinning- mills and other large textile interests centred there. In 1890 the amount of raw cotton im- ported into Japan was 34.779,000 pounds. Since then the imports have increased six- fold. In 1900 79 eotton-spimiing mills, with 1,135,111 spindles, employed on the average 12,170 men and 43,375 women ; but since 1898 the industry has suffered much from overproduction and from the gieat advance in the wages of skilled labor. Generally speaking, Japanese industry on modern lines has suffered much since the war with Cliina on ac- count of lack of capital and the temporary loss of the trade with China. The native capital invest- ed in numerous factorv industries, amounting to $31,000,000 in 1893. has been more than trebled since that time. The following table, giving the value for a series of years of the silk, cotton, and other textile manufactures, shows the rapid pro- gress of these industries: 1886 1896 1S97 1898 1899 $14,240,000 $55,492,100 *60,9o5,20O $71,562,600 $85,456,800 Tlie amount of cotton yarn produced in 1899 was 277,380,000 pounds. Silk is also manufac- tured to a great extent by modern machinery. About half the raw silk is retained at home for the manufacture of the characteristic silk fabrics worn in the country. Large quantities of the ex- I)orted silk fabrics are now dyed in France" and the United States before being placed on the market. Keeled silk, however, is the chief silk export. Silkworm-eggs on cards are also ex- ported to Italy. The policy of .Japan has long been to build up a strong navv and a large merchant marine, with-