Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/461

Rh he inspected the swords, could not detect any trace of deception, and is therefore unable to offer an explanation of the fact that several persons walked up this dreadful ladder barefoot without any untoward consequences.

 Taste. Japanese taste in painting, in house decoration, in all matters depending on line and form, may be summed up in one word—sobriety. The bluster which mistakes bigness for greatness, the vulgarity which smothers beauty under ostentation and extravagance, have no place in the Japanese way of thinking. The alcove of a Tōkyō or Kyōto drawing-room holds one picture and one flower-vase, which are changed from time to time. To be sure, picture and vase are alike exquisite. The possessions of the master of the house are not sown broadcast, as much as to say, "Look what a lot of expensive articles I've got, and just think how jolly rich I must be!" He does not stick up plates on walls:—plates are meant to hold food. He would not, whatever might be his means, waste £1000, or £100, or even £20, on the flowers for a single party:—flowers are simple things, perishable things; it is incongruous to lavish on them sums that would procure precious stones for heirlooms. And how this moderation makes for happiness! The rich not being blatant, the poor are not abject; in fact, though poverty exists, pauperism does not. A genuine spirit of equality pervades society.

When will Europe learn afresh from Japan that lesson of proportion, of fitness, of sobriety, which Greece once knew so well? When will America learn it,—the land our grandfathers used to credit with republican simplicity, but