Page:The Spirit of Japanese Art, by Yone Noguchi; 1915.djvu/17

12 the much-admired branch of Japanese art in the West. Although I was glad to see a good specimen of Sotatsu in "Descent of the Thunder God on the Palace of Fujiwara" in the exhibition, I hardly think that such a figure painting (a really good work in its own way) shows Sotatsu's best art; while my memory of the Sotatsu exhibition at Uyeno of Tokyo a few years ago is still fresh, I am pleased to connect Sotatsu with the flower-screens and little Kakemono for the tea-rooms, now with a pair of rabbits nibbling grasses, then with a little bunch of wild chrysanthemums. You will see what an admirer I am of this school, since I have dwelt at some length on Koyetsu and Kenzan in this little book of Japanese art. I regret that I have to beg for some more time before I make myself able to write on great Korin; I am sure that Hoitsu, one of the most distinguished decadents of the early nineteenth century, and the acknowledged successor of the Koyetsu-korin school, would give us a highly interesting subject to discuss. Oh, those days at Bunkwa and Bunsei (1804-1830)! Dear, rotten, foolish, romantic old Tokugawa civilisation and art!

Two articles on Harunobu and Hokusai are still to be written for the Ukiyoye school; I know, I believe, that without those two artists the school would never be complete. I am happy to think that I have Gaho Hashimoto in the in the exhibition,