hilosophy. From his days no less than
sixty-six distinct kinds of incense were recognized and distinguished
by names derived from literary allusions. This pastime is not so
elaborate as the cha-no-yu, nor does it furnish, like the latter, a
series of criteria of art-objects. But it shows abundant evidence of
the elaborate care bestowed upon it by generation after generation of
Japanese dilettanti.

IKE-BANA

The English language furnishes no accurate equivalent for what the
Japanese call ike-bana. The literal meaning of the term is "living
flower," and this name well explains the fundamental principle of the
art, namely, the arrangement of flowers so as to suggest natural
life. In fact, the blossoms must look as though they were actually
growing and not as though they were cut from the stems. It is here
that the fundamental difference between the Occidental and the
Japanese method of flower arrangement becomes apparent; the former
appeals solely to the sense of colour, whereas the latter holds that
the beauty of a plant is not derived from the colour of its blossoms
more than from the manner of their growth. In fact, harmony of colour
rather than symmetry of outline was the thing desired in a Japanese
floral composition. It might be said that Western art, in general,
and more particularly the decorative art of India, Persia and
Greece--the last coming to Japan through India and with certain Hindu
modifications--all aim at symmetry of poise; but that Japanese floral
arrangement and decorative art in general have for their fundamental
aim a symmetry by suggestion,--a balance, but a balance of
inequalities. The ike-bana as conceived and practised in Japan is a
science to which ladies, and gentlemen also, devote absorbing
attention.

OTHER PASTIMES

It will be understood that to the pastimes mentioned above as
originating in military times must be added others bequeathed from
previous eras. Principal among these was "flower viewing" at all
seasons; couplet composing; chess; draughts; football; mushroom
picking, and maple-gathering parties, as well as other minor
pursuits. Gambling, also, prevailed widely during the Muromachi epoch
and was carried sometimes to great excesses, so that samurai actually
staked their arms and armour on a cast of the dice. It is said that
this vice had the effect of encouraging robbery, for a gambler staked
things not in his possession, pledging himself to steal the articles
if the dice we