architecture. What may have been the precise origin of these five- or
seven-storied erections, for what purpose they were intended, or what
symbolism, if any, they were the expression of, is now largely a
matter of conjecture. No one who has visited the East can at any rate
have failed to be impressed by them. In Japan where, save the lower
storey, the whole is lacquered red, they are a striking feature of the
country. The lower storey, by the way, is decorated with numerous
painted carvings. Topping the whole building is the twisted spire of
bronze.

Like most other things in Japan, the origin and development of the
architecture of the country is lost in the twilight of obscurity.
Korea appears to have influenced Japanese architecture, just as it has
Japanese art of various kinds. It is an extraordinary fact that this
portion of Asia contiguous to the Japanese islands, which has for so
many hundreds of years past exercised such a subtle influence on the
art and industries of Japan, should at the commencement of the
twentieth century have passed under the suzerainty of that country.
When one fully comprehends the connection in various ways of Korea
with Japan in all the past centuries, one begins to understand the
sentimental feeling which has influenced the whole nation in regard to
the possibility of Korea passing under the domination of any other
Power. At the beginning of the third century Korea was invaded by
Japan and, although the country was then conquered, it, as has not
infrequently under similar circumstances happened in history,
exercised a potent effect on both the art and architecture of Japan.
Korean architecture, of course, was not original; it was based on that
of China, which in its turn came from Burmah, and that again probably
from India. In the course of the seventh century, however, the
imported architecture more or less assumed the general style which has
since remained distinctly Japanese and although it undoubtedly
embodies everything that was best in the architecture of the countries
from which it derived its essential features, appears to me to have an
originality of its own. No man who has not visited the great temples
at Shiba and Nikko can understand to what heights of sublimity wooden
architecture can rise, what a gorgeous _tout ensemble_ can be
accomplished by harmonious colour schemes deftly blended by artists
who had made a study of colour and all the details connected
therewith, and