pe as in Japan. The carving of netsukes
developed into a very high art; indeed, there is perhaps no branch of
Japanese art which has aroused more enthusiasm among foreign
collectors and connoisseurs. Quite recently I attended a sale of
netsukes in London at which the bidding was both fast and furious,
while the prices realised were enormous. The netsuke, strictly
speaking, was the toggle attached by a cord to the tobacco pouch,
inro, or pipe of the Japanese man, with the object of preventing the
article slipping through the girdle or sash, but the word has been
more loosely employed by foreigners until, in popular parlance, it has
come to embrace all small carvings. Netsukes were nearly always
representations of the human figure, and various reasons have been
advanced to account for this fact. I need not consider those reasons
in these pages, as they, as well as the arguments by which they are
attempted to be supported, are almost entirely speculative. The
distinguishing characteristic of the true netsuke is two holes
admitting of a string being run through them. These holes were often
concealed behind the limbs of the figure. The material of which
netsukes were made varied, and consisted of ivory, wood horns,
fish-bones, and stones of various kinds. Those made of wood are
undoubtedly the most ancient, ivory being of comparatively recent
importation into Japan. Nevertheless, the netsukes made of ivory now
command the highest price. The names of many of the great
netsuke-makers are still famous, and much of their work is certainly
artistic and beautiful to a degree. I am afraid that in the collecting
of netsukes many European lovers of Japanese art have burnt their
fingers. The genuine old artistic productions are now extremely rare,
but a brisk trade has sprung up in reproductions which are skilfully
coloured to give them the appearance of age. The netsuke, I must
reiterate, was an almost indispensable adjunct to the costume of
every Japanese man, and it was, accordingly, made for use and not for
ornament alone. Of late years wood and ivory sculpture in Japan has
largely degenerated and deteriorated owing to the output of articles
not of utility, but made for the foreign market--"curios," in fact.

No one who has visited Japan can have failed of being impressed by
those gigantic statues of Buddha which have been erected in different
parts of the country. The largest and best known is the Dai Butsu, at
Kamakura, a few m