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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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JUN0 1 1<92

L161— O-1096

534

JAPANESE COLLECTIONS

(FRANK W. GUNSAULUS HALL)

BY

HELEN C. GUNSAULUS
Assistant Curator of Javanese Ethnology

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

CHICAGO
1922

uwrasmr of mwois libra
AUG 16 1922

BRONZE BUST OF DR. FRANK W. GUNSAULUS.

57Z

no, 3
Field Museum of Natural History

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Chicago, 1922

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Leaflet Number 3

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PREFACE

In the premature death of Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus
this Institution has lost a devoted trustee and one of its
warmest friends and most eloquent spokesmen. With
his universal understanding and breadth of sympathy
he has been a vital source of inspiration to the Depart-
ment of Anthropology in particular. His many gifts
to the museum testify to the wide range of his interests,
his artistic taste, and his discriminating judgment.
The oriental collections were enriched by him with two
valuable Chinese embroidered panels, a precious rosary
of amber beads, Persian glazed tiles, a celadon flower-
vase, and a remarkable ethnological collection from
the aboriginal tribes of Formosa, which is unique in
this country. Above all, however, his interests were
directed toward Japan. He indeed it was who made
the first substantial contributions to the foundation of
a Japanese division. An exquisite painted screen of
the Tosa school, an extensive collection of sword-
guards and sword-fittings, as well as a collection of
books on Japanese art, belong to his prominent
bequests. The collection of surimono, presented last
year by his daughter in her father's memory, was
brought together by her with his invaluable assistance.
His profound interest in the achievements of oriental
nations was not purely academic, but he was also
actuated by a strong desire for a better understanding
, between America and Japan and an earnest striving
toward the realization of world peace.

It may not be amiss to place on record here some
paragraphs extracted from an article devoted to the

[i]

2 Field Museum of Natural History

Field Museum by this extraordinary man (Chicago
Record-Herald, 4th of February, 1912). At that time
the site for the new building was not yet decided upon,
and his utterances are almost prophetic: —

"Among the first four of the larger and richer
assemblages of those objects which make for the edu-
cation of the world-man along scientific lines, the
Museum itself imposes upon the city, the state, and the
nation a demand for such a location as will insure for
it the leadership of the educative forces in these
directions, not only for Chicago, but for the whole
country.

"It is not as if a tremendous library were to miss
its end and aim in popularizing intelligence — for books
can be loaned and circulated, and books can be printed
and reprinted by the thousands; — it is not as if some
superior collection of jewels, either in painting, sculp-
ture, architecture, or some temple of music or elo-
quence shall be placed, where the common people may
not partake of its beneficent culture! Perhaps the
coming man may be able to do his work as a thinker
and as a creator of new and valuable things, without
so much of these.

"But the scientific method is the method of the
future. The art and power of thinking along the lines
of nature and history are of the highest in value. The
secret and mastery of classification, such as the merest
child may comprehend in visiting this Museum — these
are of critical importance to the mind of the future.
Man's past in nature and in the history of his efforts
at creating society — these are the tremendous and un-
failing background which must be taken into the mind
of the coming man, or he will have no foreground!
Retrospective and prospective in human thinking and
doing are vitally correlative. The Field Museum is
indeed our crown, and we must all agree that the center

[2]

The Japanese Collections 3

and consummation of our educational life which
touches the poorest child and will exalt the richest,
shall be located so centrally and so magnificently that it
will attract all our men, women, and children unto it !"

In recognition of his great services, the Board of
Trustees has resolved to name the two rooms shelter-
ing the Japanese collections "Frank W. Gunsaulus
Hall." At the instigation of the President and the
Board of Trustees, a bronze bust of Dr. Gunsaulus,
modeled by J. G. Prasuhn, has been placed in this Hall.
A reproduction of this bust appears as a frontispiece
to this publication.

B. Laufer

t3]

The Japanese Collections

The collections in Frank W. Gunsaulus Hall (Room
30, on the second floor, south-east corner) are intended
to illustrate certain phases of the social and artistic
life of Japan, and, for the most part, are typical of the
period known as the Tokugawa (1603-1868), so called
from the family name of the shoguns or military com-
manders, who ruled over that country from the seven-
teenth to the middle of the nineteenth century. When
Japan opened her doors to the world in 1868, she had
been dwelling in seclusion for over two hundred years,
admitting no foreigners save a few Dutch traders, who
were allowed to land an occasional ship at the port of
Nagasaki in the seventeenth century. The main por-
tion of the country had been untouched by European
influence during that time.

After centuries of internal strife, the mode of living
changed very considerably in the peaceful Tokugawa
period, and all life took on a richer and more leisurely
aspect. The arts and especially the crafts were devel-
oped to a marked degree. Such pastimes as poetry
writing, the tea ceremony, and flower arrangement,
filled many of the hours of the leisure classes.

The shogun was at that time so powerful and dwelt
in such grandeur that many of the early travellers and
possibly our own Commodore Perry, who landed with
his fleet on Japanese soil in 1853, thought him to be
the real emperor. At any rate, the signature which
seals the treaty of 1854 is that of the shogun, and reads
TaiKun( "Great Lord").

From the days of her first sovereign, who is believed
to have descended from the Sun Goddess, Japan has
been a monarchy, acknowledging one supreme ruler,
her emperor. In reality, however, the country was a

[4]

The Japanese Collections 5

duarchy from the end of the twelfth century on to 1868.
While the emperor dwelt in luxury and seclusion in
Kyoto, the powerful generals, who subdued the war-
ring tribes in the north and west, gathered unto them-
selves all of the military forces. In time, the strongest
of them became the shogun, military master of the
whole country, establishing his court at first at Kama-
kura, and later at Yedo, the city now called Tokyo.

Centuries of constant warfare evolved a feudal
system of elaborate organization, which was presided
over by the shogun. Under him were the daimyo,
feudal lords who were masters of provinces, each prac-
tically a chief over his own small kingdom. The daimyo
were supported by armed retainers, known as samurai.
These men were the scholar-gentlemen of Japan, privi-
leged to wear two swords, forbidden by custom from
engaging in business, living within the precincts of the
daimyo's castle, and supported by their feudal lord, for
whom they were ever ready to fight and to lay down
their lives. It is estimated that there were two millions
of samurai in 1877. The military men and the nobles
of Kyoto together formed the governing class. The
producing class, comprised of the farmers, artisans,
and merchants, was sharply separated from the gov-
erning class, who ruled over them, and who were sup-
ported by them.

Under the Tokugawa shoguns, all daimyo were
required to make an annual visit to Yedo, the city
chosen in 1590 for the capital of the shogun. This
gorgeous procession has been the theme for many
painters and makers of color prints. The horse trap-
pings and armor, the banners and ornate bows and
arrows, as well as the highly decorated swords, com-
bined to make an admirable showing of color, as they
swept by the kneeling and prostrate commoners.

[5]

6 Field Museum of Natural History

The two currents of influence which have left the
deepest marks in the character of the Japanese nation
are her military history and her intercourse with
China.

In a.d. 552 Japan received the Indian doctrine of
Buddhism from Korea, which, on its part, had adopted
it from China. With the incoming of this novel
philosophy and religion, there was added to the long list
of gods and goddesses of the old Shinto creed (mainly
based on the worship of nature deities and ancient
national heroes) the Buddhist pantheon. At the same
time and during the succeeding centuries, Japan, with
her remarkable power for assimilating new ideas,
introduced from both China and Korea artisans adept
in every branch of art. These brought into the country
not only their skill, but also the customs, ideas, and
literature of the continent. Up until the sixth century,
Japan had no system of writing; and the adoption of
Chinese script resulted in the introduction of the folk-
lore of China, evidence of which may be traced in many
of the legends spoken of as Japanese. In a.d. 645 the
Japanese court was organized on the lines of that of
China. In the seventh century, Buddhist temples were
built and filled with Chinese and native sculptures of
Buddhist deities. Painting in the tenth century took
on a distinctly Japanese style; for the national spirit
was rising, and the people was determined to develop
a school of art, that would be a characteristic expres-
sion of its own ideas. This school was known as the
Yamato Ryu ("Japanese school") , and later became the
Tosa school. However, a revival of Chinese influence
and a refreshment of Chinese inspiration swept over
the artistic world of the country in the fifteenth cen-
tury; and from this movement emerged such masters
of landscape as Sesshu and the Kano artists, and such
exquisite customs as the tea ceremony, which was

[6]

THE UBRASY
OF THE

SURIMONO (COLOR PRINT) REPRESENTING
■ SELF-PORTRAIT OF HOKUSAI AS A FISHERMAN.

The Japanese Collections 7

developed into a ritual of almost religious character.
In the peaceful years of the Tokugawa period, the
crafts came into their own ; for this period was one in
which people had time for beautifying the objects of
daily life. The process of lacquering, the craft of
working in metal, and the making of wood-block prints
are three branches of industrial art in which the people
of Japan excel. The two last-mentioned are well illus-
trated by examples in Gunsaulus Hall.

In the smaller room, there is on view a portion of
the collection of prints presented to the Museum in
1921 by Helen C. Gunsaulus in memory of her father,
Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus. One-fourth of the entire col-
lection is shown at a time, being replaced every two
months by a new selection. The larger part of the col-
lection is in Room 51, where, on application, it may be
seen by interested students. For exhibition purposes,
the entire collection has been divided into four groups,
each illustrating a well-defined subject, as follows: —

1. The art of Hokusai and his followers.

2. The New Year's festival, games and pastimes.

3. Gods and heroes.

4. Architecture and the home.

All of the prints in this collection belong to the class
called surimono, a name given to cards of greeting for
special occasions, such as New Year, birthdays, and
meetings of poets and artists. This art flourished
between the years 1780 and 1860, — that period known
as the Japanese renaissance, when the minor arts were
at their best. These prints were produced for private
circulation and not sold, as was the ordinary print,
which was made mainly for the shopkeeper and
peasant. Surimono were the charm and delight of the
literary and artistic world, and were presented as
souvenirs to a limited group of friends. The process by

[7]

8 Field Museum of Natural History

which they are made is the same as that employed in
the making of the ordinary print, with the additional
use of metal dusts: copper, silver, and gold, used to
heighten the elegant effect of brocade. They are also
enriched by embossing, which in many cases brings out
the design of fabrics, waves, clouds, feathers, flower-
petals, or the rounding of a figure.

The method of producing them is as follows : The
picture is first painted by the artist and pasted face
downward on a block of cherry wood, whereon the
carver cuts the picture in outline, making what is called
the key-block. This block is then applied to a soft and
delicate rice-paper, and the picture is printed in outline
in black. The colors are applied by separate blocks,
each color denoting a block. (See Hall 24, Case 48,
illustrating Chinese and Japanese printing.) It will be
noticed that in the surimono the registration of the
blocks is very accurate; seldom do we find one color
overlapping another. Surimono are the perfection of
color printing, technically.

Generally accompanying the designs on surimono
are poems (uta) , which usually are subtle interpreta-
tions of the subject pictured. The artists are, for the
most part, those known in the print world, though
Gakutei and Hokkei are known almost exclusively for
their exquisite surimono. The latter was a pupil of
Hokusai, the great artist of the nineteenth century,
whose prints, as seen here, testify as to his mastery of
the brush in figure drawing and his deserved reputation
as a great landscape artist. He and his followers may
be studied from the first group of surimono.

All these prints are valuable documents in the study
of certain customs and practices, particularly those in
the second group which includes surimono illustrating
the toys, games, and musical instruments, as well as the

[8]

r * i %

SURIMONO (COLOR PRINT) ILLUSTRATING
PROCESS OF WOOD-ENGRAVING.

THE mum
OF

The Japanese Collections 9

most important of Japanese celebrations, the New
Year's festival.

Of the many festivals in Japan, that of the New
Year is the most widely celebrated, attended as it is
with elaborate ceremonies. It takes place, as with us,
at the beginning of the year, though according to the
old calendar it was celebrated a month or more later,
when the plum began to blossom.

It is customary to begin the New Year by watching
the sunrise. Most auspicious is it to see the Sun God-
dess coming from the cave, as is typified by the sun
rising between two rocks known as Myoto Seki on the
Futami shore. Between these is stretched a straw rope
(shimenawa) , one of the most outstanding features of
the New Year. It is made of twisted rice-straw with
pendants at regular intervals and decorated with fern
fronds (growing in pairs and signifying conjugal hap-
piness) , leaves of the yuzuriha (a plant which retains
its old leaves as the new ones bud, signifying a long
united family), a lobster (with bent back, signifying
age), and strips of paper known as gohei. In each
household, these same objects are to be seen grouped on
a red lacquer stand (sambo) on which are also placed
rice dumplings (mochi) of various forms. The pine,
bamboo, and plum (shochikubai) , all emblems of long-
evity, are used over and over as decorations.

It is believed that all evil influences are driven out
of the house by the ceremony of throwing dried beans
into every corner (oni yarai). After the beans are
swept out, a small charm consisting of a spray of holly
with a sardine's head is fixed to the upper corner of the
entrance to prevent the demons from re-entering. The
writing of poetry, the reading of a book, the first music
lesson, calling on friends, presentation of gifts, all are
indulged in on this day. On the third day, the mochi

[9]

10 Field Museum of Natural History

are chopped and eaten. On the seventh, the seven
spring grasses (nanakusa) , which have been gathered
by the young girls, are chopped to a certain incantation
and then cooked together. On the fourteenth day, the
pine and bamboo sprouts placed at either side of the
doorway are burned, and thus closes the celebration of
a festival of which this is merely a brief outline.

Two prominent features of the New Year's celebra-
tion are the many-formed and elaborate kites which
are flown the first half of the first month by the boys,
and the battledore and shuttlecock sets which are the
pride of the girls. The battle boards, often of excellent
workmanship, are made of fine kiri wood and padded
on one side with bright silks into a raised portrait of a
famous actor or hero in history. The shuttlecock is
made of the seed of the soapberry (mukuroji) plumed
with five feathers at one end. The penalty for letting
the shuttlecock touch the ground is a black smudge on
the face.

Dolls, stilts, balls, and ropes are used much as in
our own country, though boys do the rope jumping,
and girls play with the hand ball and show great dex-
terity in catching it, as they pirouette between strik-
ing it downward to the ground. Ropes are used in
different tests of strength, waist pulling or neck pull-
ing with a loop of rope as the medium. The games
represented in this series of surimono are as fol-
lows : —

Go, the most popular game of the Japanese, played
upon a board with nineteen straight lines crossing one
another, at right angles, making 361 crosses on which
the game is played. There are 180 white and 181 black
stones used in the playing.

Sugo-roku ("double-sixes") is backgammon played

[10]

The Japanese Collections 11

with dice. The board upon which it is played in
surimono No. 151513 is now out of use.

Juroku-mushashi ("sixteen knights") played on a
board marked in diagonally cut squares, with sixteen
paper pawns.

Kai Awase. A set of 360 clam shells, one-half bear-
ing a picture of a poet to be matched with the other
half bearing a poem.

Uta garuta ("poem cards"). A set of forty-eight
on half of which are the first two lines of twenty-four
poems, on the other half the last two lines.

The gathering of shells, the viewing of blossoms,
and the listening to singing insects are all delightful
pastimes of the Japanese, being occasions of organized
parties in which men, as well as women, enjoy
themselves.

The accomplishments of a cultured person include
the arts of painting, writing of poetry, caligraphy,
music, flower arrangement, and the tea ceremony. The
two last-named are outlined by stringent rules, and
have for many centuries been held in high esteem, many
different schools devoted to these two arts being in
existence.

The third series of surimono illustrates certain of
the household gods and several of the heroes of Japa-
nese history and folk-lore. The story of Amaterasu,
the Sun Goddess and heavenly ancestor of the Japanese
rulers, is illustrated by three prints on the north wall.
The legend of the Sun Goddess' retirement into a cave,
with the consequent darkening of the whole world, is
probably a primitive explanation of a solar eclipse.
She was lured forth from the cave by a dancer with an
assembly of musicians and gods, who are here repre-
sented by a drummer and one of the divinities.

[in

12 Field Museum of Natural History

The Seven Gods of Good Fortune (Shichi-fuku-jin)
are to be seen in every household in Japan, and appear
in certain prints on the south wall. They are derived
from Brahmanism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Shintoism.
They may be seen associated in one print, where they
are having a New Year's feast. Fukurokujiu, with the
tall head, is the god of prosperity, longevity, and wis-
dom. Daikoku, with the rice bales and magic hammer,
is the god of wealth. Ebisu, with the fish, is the patron
of fishermen, while Hotei, with a large bag, is the friend
of children. Bishamon clad in armor, though rever-
enced by warriors, is a god of wealth. Juro Jin, an
old man with a staff and scroll, is also a god of
longevity and wisdom. Benten, the only female of the
group, is the goddess of eloquence and talents.

The pictures of heroes are interesting, not alone for
their story-telling qualities of thrilling feats of bravery,
but more especially on account of their true delineation
of the arms and armor worn by the warriors of old
Japan. The two swords, carried by all samurai or
warriors, appear again and again, as do also spears
and halberds. The latter are of various forms, straight
and forked, and generally held by a carefully decorated
hand-piece. Battle-axes are also evident, and, in the
case of the older warriors, quivers full of arrows are
suspended from the left shoulder. An interesting
weapon of ancient days is being effectively used by a
woman, Tomoye Gozen, in a print shown on the south
wall. It is called kusari-kama, that is, "chained hoe."
Attached to the shoulder, the sickle-shaped knife was
flung at the adversary and pulled back by means of the
chain. The armour is all of the old type, made of lami-
nae of iron or lacquer laced together with silken braid,
and decorated on the breast plate, shoulder, and hip
pieces with precious metals. The helmets are elabo-
rate and surmounted by gilded horns or wings.

[12]

*\A%«i

*!

mni

i •%

SURIMONO (COLOR PRINT) REPRESENTING DAIKOKU, ONE OF
THE SEVEN GODS OF LUCK, SMOKING A TOBACCO-PIPE.

THE U88AHY

of tbe

The Japanese Collections 13

In the fourth selection of surimono one is enabled
to study examples of the architecture of Japan: the
peasant dwellings with thatched roofs ; the city house
with its sliding screens (shoji) showing the garden
beyond ; certain temples whose entrances are heralded
by tall gates (torii), and little tea-houses met with as
the traveller goes through the country. The interior
of the Japanese house may also be glimpsed into, for
in these little prints we see the maiden at her low
writing-table composing a poem or seated on the floor
arranging her coiffure by the metal mirror, the house-
wife preparing the tea, or smoking her pipe by the
brazier (hibachi). Household lanterns, screens, sliding
and folding, potted plants on lacquered stands, low
tables for writing or holding the lacquered and porce-
lain dishes, are all pictured; and one recognizes the
simplicity and artistic restraint of the house in the very
absence of the cluttering objects and bric-a-brac, which
fill up the average home of Europe and America. The
Japanese house is almost purely Japanese, untarnished
by outside influence, even that of China, the country
from which so much has been borrowed, but whose
methods in this respect have been sparingly adopted.

In the larger room, Cases 1 and 2 contain examples
of metal work, being accessories and ornaments used
on the sword. This collection was presented to the
museum by Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus in 1916 ; other speci-
mens are in the study collection in Room 51. The
examples in Case 1 are mainly of iron, dating from the
sixteenth century onward. The flat disk-like objects
arranged on the shelves are sword-guards (tsuba),
which are inserted between hilt and blade, thus afford-
ing a protection for the hand during fighting. The
smaller objects on the base of each case are orna-
ments for the hilt and scabbard, as illustrated on the
fully equipped weapons set up below.

[13]

14 Field Museum of Natural History

During the many centuries of wars, the samurai,
who wore two swords in his belt, had grown to look
upon this weapon as his dearest possession; it was
indeed "his living soul." On entering a house, the
long sword (kata?ia), with which he defended his lord
in battle, was laid upon a rack near the door (katana
kake). The shorter sword (wakizashi) was always
carried in his belt. This was his most prized posses-
sion. With it he would take his own life rather than
suffer the disgrace of being killed by an enemy, or, as
often was the case, would follow his feudal lord in
death, or commit suicide, in order to uphold and pro-
claim certain principles or to raise a protest against
unjust political measures. The suicide which was per-
formed with this sword was called harakiri or seppuku.
It was a fatal crosscut amounting practically to disem-
bowelment, and was performed with a staunch brav-
ery and self-abnegation characteristic of the samurai.

The smaller sword is often more elaborately
decorated than its larger companion. It is accom-
panied by two smaller weapons, — a knife (kozuka)
and a skewer (kogai), both of which pass through the
sword-guard and slip into openings on either side of
the scabbar<J. The handles of these objects are always
decorated, as may be seen in studying those specimens
arranged on the floors of the cases.

From the sixteenth century on, many artists devoted
their entire energy to the beautifying of the sword. At
first, plain iron was used for the fittings; but subse-
quently artists like Kaneiye, Nobuiye, and the early
Goto masters, created their guards with reliefs of
precious metals. Other styles of decoration developed,
until in the eighteenth century, when peace was estab-
lished throughout the empire, the sword had lavished
upon it workmanship equal in technique to that of

[14]

of m

The Japanese Collections 15

many of our famous jewelers. In fact, the sword
took the place of jewelry, which was unknown to the
samurai.

Alloys were compounded of indescribable colors;
the dark blue of the alloy called shakudo and the vary-
ing grays and greens of shibuichi combined to make a
palette from which many of the eighteenth and nine-
teenth century artists literally painted in metal. There
arose schools of metal-workers whose products will
ever remain to do them honor,— particularly the Nara,
Hamano, Omori, and Ishiguro schools, all of whom are
represented by examples in Case 2. The subjects of
decoration range through historical incidents and
legends to bits of nature, such as the simple, but
striking motives chiselled in open work on the iron
guards in the center row of Case 1.

In the Tokugawa period, the serious duties of the
samurai were almost banished ; and his hours which
had been devoted to war and conquest were given over
to the leisurely pastimes of artistic and literary pur-
suits. The armor and swords of that day were made
for adornment rather than for fighting. The yearly
processions of the daimyo to Yedo, whither they were
required to come by the shogun's order, were occasions
on which the armed retainers, in full regalia, reflected
the elegance of their chief's domain.

In Case 3, the pair of large bows and the quiver
with the gilded leather mountings are typical of the
luxurious accoutrement of those days. The crest im-
pressed in black is that of Nabeshima, the powerful
daimyo of Hizen Province.

In Cases 3 and 4 are.suits of armor, likewise of the
Tokugawa period, which represent the fighting equip-
ment rather than the armor worn on parade occasions.
As there were only occasional border raids to disturb

[15]

16 Field Museum of Natural History

the peace of those times, there was little use for de-
fensive armor. These suits are typical examples of a
decadent craft, for compared with those of earlier date,
when fighting was a glory, they are decidedly inferior.

In the large tapestry on the north wall of this room,
a group of warriors in full regalia head a large proces-
sion on their way to the consecration of the famous
temple in Nikko which is dedicated to the first of the
Tokugawa shoguns, Ieyasu. This remarkable piece of
handicraft embodies a minute and exact record of the
carvings of those famous shrines, and the red and gold
threads reproduce to an extraordinary degree the red
and gold lacquer, which, with the colored carvings,
have brought forth the proverb, "Do not use the word
magnificent until you see Nikko." This tapestry af-
fords an excellent opportunity to study costume of
the seventeenth century ; for here are heralds, samurai,
daimyo, standard bearers and lance bearers, actors,
courtiers, musicians, and commoners, all moving in
procession across the scene. Of especial interest are
the portable shrines decorated with metallic mirrors,
birds, and hangings, which are being carried on the
shoulders of a hundred men. One may be seen on the
central stone steps, while the other is half hidden by
the tree at the left.

In the center of this hall there is a case (No. 9) in
which one of the five seasonal festivals is represented,
the one known as the hina-matsuri ("dolls' festival").
This celebration occurs on the third day of the third
month, and is a time beloved by each little girl of
Japan. On a series of shelves covered with red cloth,
she will arrange her set of dolls, often heirlooms
handed down from grandmother to mother and on to
the daughter. Seated before a screen are to be seen
the emperor and empress, with the old and young court
ministers and the five court musicians. Also other

[16]

The Japanese Collections 17

historical characters are sometimes added to this
group. Before them the girls are accustomed to place,
with deep reverence, offerings of food and sake, the
well-known rice wine. The dolls remain on view for a
week, after which they are carefully packed away until
the following year.

In Cases 5 and 6 the costume of the Japanese woman
of the present time is on view. These robes are those
worn by women of the upper classes, typical costumes
of the wives and daughters of samurai. The peasant
costume and the old court costume distinctly differ
from these. The wide sash (obi) and the elaborate
modes of dressing the hair were products of the Toku-
gawa period, again reflecting those luxurious days.
The sash of earlier times was merely a cord or an un-
pretentious belt. It became, after the seventeenth
century, the most important article of a woman's
wardrobe. Generally, five and a half yards long, often
of rich brocade with gold threads (such as on one of
the figures) , it is wound tightly around the waist, thus
forming a support. It is then tied in a complicated
knot or bow. Two styles of knots are here shown ; the
flat one, used by married women, and the more elabo-
rate butterfly bow, worn by the maiden. The dress-
ing of the hair is likewise an indication of the woman's
position. Made stiff with oil, the wife's hair is ar-
ranged in a single large puff, while the unmarried
woman wears two loops, — a large one in front and a
smaller one behind. The street mode is again a differ-
ent type. Two puffs, one on either side, are held in
place by a roll of silk which passes through them.

The robes (kimono) shown on the three figures
are typical garments for winter, summer and street
wear. All are of silk, two being embroidered in flowers
appropriate for the seasons.

[17]

18 Field Museum of Natural History

Case 7 contains some examples of carvings in wood
and ivory. The wooden masks on the top row are the
type worn in the No drama,= — a classical dance accom-
panied by choric songs relating ancient historical or
religious stories. The carved ivory sword in the center
is a very excellent specimen of a purely ornamental
weapon used probably for parade purposes.

In the lower part of this case there are some Bud-
dhistic images, two of these representing Qakyamuni,
the founder of Buddhism; and the third, Kwannon, the
goddess of mercy, a deity widely beloved in Japan. The
miniature shrine is a good example of the type set up
for use in a household.

Case 8 contains musical instruments, among others
some of the different forms of the lyre (koto). This
popular instrument was gradually evolved from Chi-
nese models, as were also the violin (kokyu) and the
reed organ (sho) .

On the west wall of the room there is a folding-
screen painted by an unknown artist of the Tosa
school, probably in the fourteenth or fifteenth century.
This screen was presented by Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus
in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Skiff as
director of Field Museum of Natural History. The
painting is of interest both for its subject matter and
because it combines the predominant characteristics
of this important school of painters, who were the ex-
ponents of a purely national style. The artist has de-
picted three scenes from the famous novel, "Genji
Monogatari," a romance of Prince Genji, written in
the eleventh century. The court costumes of heavy
brocade, the lacquer objects, and musical instruments
are painted with extreme care. The innovation of
omitting the roof from buildings in order to see the
interiors and the employment of golden clouds to blot

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The Japanese Collections 19

out unneeded detail or separate the scenes one from
another, are characteristic mannerisms of the Tosa
artists.

• In contrast to the Japanese style reflected in the
Tosa screen is the scroll exhibited on the south wall of
the room. This is a wood-block reproduction of a
famous painting by Sesshu, in the possession of Prince
Mori in Japan. Sesshu is regarded as the greatest
Japanese landscape artist, who painted in the Chinese
style. He lived in the fifteenth century and went to
China to study her ancient masters and the mountain
scenery of that country. On returning he founded a
new school whose members painted with vigorous
style mainly Chinese sages, birds and flowers, and
landscape compositions with illusive effects of atmos-
phere and distance. The panorama unfolded on this
long scroll is the artist's reminiscence of the scenery
along the river Yangtse in middle China. It is exe-
cuted in black and white, as is characteristic of the
Chinese school.

At the entrance to Frank W. Gunsaulus Hall
there is a model of a Japanese pagoda. In contrast to
the pagodas of China, which generally are hexagonal
or octagonal, the square form dominates in Japan.
As in the case of this model, Japanese pagodas are
made of wood, stone not being employed in either re-
ligious or domestic architecture.

Helen C. Gunsaulus

[19]

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