



Produced by Meredith Bach, Hope Paulson and the Online
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  [Illustration: THE GREAT STATUE OF BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA]

  AN ARTIST'S LETTERS FROM JAPAN

  BY
  JOHN LA FARGE

  [Illustration]

  NEW YORK
  THE CENTURY CO.
  1897


  Copyright, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1897,
     By THE CENTURY CO.

  THE DE VINNE PRESS.




TO HENRY ADAMS, ESQ.

_My Dear Adams:_ Without you I should not have seen the place, without
you I should not have seen the things of which these notes are
impressions. If anything worth repeating has been said by me in these
letters, it has probably come from you, or has been suggested by being
with you--perhaps even in the way of contradiction. And you may be
amused by the lighter talk of the artist that merely describes
appearances, or covers them with a tissue of dreams. And you alone will
know how much has been withheld that might have been indiscreetly said.

If only we had found Nirvana--but he was right who warned us that we
were late in this season of the world.

 J. L. F.

  [Illustration: WHICH IN ENGLISH MEANS:]

AND YOU TOO, OKAKURA SAN: I wish to put your name before these notes,
written at the time when I first met you, because the memories of your
talks are connected with my liking of your country and of its story, and
because for a time you were Japan to me. I hope, too, that some thoughts
of yours will be detected in what I write, as a stream runs through
grass--hidden, perhaps, but always there. We are separated by many
things besides distance, but you know that the blossoms scattered by the
waters of the torrent shall meet at its end.




  CONTENTS


                                                    PAGE

  AN ARTIST'S LETTERS FROM JAPAN                       1

  FROM TOKIO TO NIKKO                                 29

  THE SHRINES OF IYEYAS[)U] AND IYEMITS[)U]
    IN THE HOLY MOUNTAIN OF NIKKO                     52

  IYEMITS[)U]                                         85

  TAO: THE WAY                                        99

  JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE                              119

  BRIC-A-BRAC                                        128

  SKETCHING                                          159

  NIRVANA                                            175

  SKETCHING.--THE FLUTES OF IYEYAS[)U]               185

  SKETCHING.--THE PAGODA IN RAIN                     193

  FROM NIKKO TO KAMAKURA                             195

  NIKKO TO YOKOHAMA                                  202

  YOKOHAMA--KAMAKURA                                 216

  KIOTO                                              230

  A JAPANESE DAY.--FROM KIOTO TO GIFU                253

  FROM KAMBARA TO MIYANOSHITA--A LETTER FROM
    A KAGO                                           265

  POSTSCRIPT                                         280

  APPENDIX                                           281




  ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                    PAGE

  THE GREAT STATUE OF BUDDHA AT KAMAKURA.       FRONTISPIECE.

  THE KURUMA                                           5

  CASTLE, AND MOAT WITH LOTUS                          9

  AT THE WELL                                         11

  ANCIENT                                             15

  N[=O] DANCER WITH MASK, REPRESENTING THE SAKE IMP   19

  MODERN                                              23

  THE LAKE IN UYENO PARK                              28

  A TORII                                             32

  OUR RUNNER                                          36

  IN THE GREAT AVENUE OF CRYPTOMERIA                  39

  NIKKO-SAN                                           43

  THE WATERFALL IN OUR GARDEN                         47

  PORTRAIT-STATUE OF IYEYAS[)U] IN CEREMONIAL DRESS   53

  AVENUE TO TEMPLE OF IYEYAS[)U]                      55

  SKETCH OF STATUE OF IYEYAS[)U] TOKUGAWA             57

  STABLE OF SACRED HORSES                             61

  SACRED FONT                                         65

  YOUNG PRIEST                                        68

  DETAILS OF BASES OF CLOISTER WALLS, INNER COURT     71

  DETAIL OF CLOISTER WALLS, INNER COURT               75

  LINTEL, BRACKET CAPITAL                             77

  INSIDE