Page:The Spirit of Japanese Art, by Yone Noguchi; 1915.djvu/19

14 but it may have been the usual payment in those days, and the Professor's friendship was more to Hogai than money. He received fifteen yen afterward when he was engaged by the Educational Department of the Government in 1884; how sad he could not support himself by art alone. And alas, he was no more when the general appreciation of his great art began to be told. Quite many specimens of Hogai's work are treasured in the Boston Museum at present. How changed are the conditions now from Hogai's day! But are these fortunately changed conditions really helpful for the creation of true art?

To look at some of the modern work is too trying, mainly from the fact that it lacks, to use the word of Zen Buddhism, the meaning of silence; it seems to me that some modern artists work only to tax people's minds. In Nature we find peacefulness and silence; we derive from it a feeling of comfort and restfulness; and again from it we receive vigour and life. I think so great art should be. Many modern artists cannot place themselves in unison with their art; in one word, they do not know how to follow the law or michi, that Mother Nature gladly evolves. It is such a delight to examine the works of Hogai, as each picture is a very part of his own true self; the only difference is the difference that he wished to evoke in interest; his desire was always so clear in the relation