Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/46

 antiquarian objects of this period are iron swords (straight and one-edged), iron spear-heads, articles of armour often adorned with gold and silver, mirrors of a mixed metal, horse-gear, such as stirrups, bits, etc., ornaments, among which are thick rings of gold, silver, or bronze, besides glass beads, etc. All these are of good workmanship, and it is probable that some of the articles are of Chinese origin.

The maga-tama, or comma-shaped ornaments made of stone, probably belong to a very early period of Japanese history. They formed part, no doubt, of the necklaces of polished stone and clay beads which we know to have been worn by Japanese sovereigns and nobles in ancient times.

 Architecture. The Japanese genius touches perfection in small things. No other nation ever understood half so well how to make a cup, a tray, even a kettle a thing of beauty, how to transform a little knob of ivory into a microcosm of quaint humour, how to express a fugitive thought in half-a-dozen dashes of the pencil. The massive, the spacious, the grand, is less congenial to their mental attitude. Hence they achieve less success in architecture than in the other arts. The prospect of a Japanese city from a height is monotonous. Not a tower, not a dome, not a minaret, nothing aspiring heavenward, save in rare cases a painted pagoda half-hidden amidst the trees which it barely tops, nothing but long, low lines of thatch and tiles, even the Buddhist temple roofs being but moderately raised above the rest, and even their curves being only quaint and graceful, nowise imposing. It was a true instinct that led Professor Morse to give to his charming 