JAPANESE CARVING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11400, 18 April 1899, Page 6

JAPANESE CARVING.

While our modern tendency is to do away with the necessity for skill by inventing machines to do our work, the Japanese have kept on cultivating skill of hand, with the result that much of their work.is even yet wonderfully skilful, and so quickly produced as .to' be able to compete in price with machine work of the same kind. Where art\is concerned, the advantage of an industrial! system' that, encourages skill is obvious, and' this- is nowhere more apparent than in wood carving.. Whoever compares our substitutes for, carving, and much even of ! our actual carved work, done under the influence of machine work, with tho spirited and perfect wood, carving of the Japanese, will be convinced that we must cultivate skill of hand as assiduously as do the Japanese, if our art is not to deteriorate still farther. The young carver, in japan obtains graded lessons, leading the student from simple incised lines, to the fullest representation of the human figure, in tho round. Anciently, no doubt, there was' but little of this systematic training, and even now, after the second year, the pupil is set to work at designs intended for actual use; but he is still led gradually from difficulty to difficulty. In this way he is capable, after a few lessons, of producing good work of,a simple order, but remarkably facile and artistic. There is no appearance of machine-like accuracy or slovenliness oi clumsiness about . the work. ■ All is intelligent, spirited, and graceful. Much of the effect is doubtless due to the beauty of traditional designß, but, the main interest is, after all, in tho workmanship. Let us first describe the tools used .by the Japanese carver. They are of three] kinds, diamdnd-pointed gravers, such as are used in wood engraving; gouges, and square, flat chisels with slightly rounded cutting,ends. These come in sets of yariouß sizes, and are mounted in wooden handles ; about six oi seven inches long. The whetstones for the, gouges are some grooved, some raised, and some rounded, so as to sharpen the blade bo,th -from ;the inside, and the outside. . A rough'stone'and a finishing stone "are used for all toolsj The first year's course consists of 36 lessons, mostly in incised lines and rectangular pattern work, with, toward the end, a little modelling;of the surface. ■■ The pupil is first shown to cut straight lines with the grain of the >vood and across it, and) is next taught combinations \of straight mouldings, in Japanese " ori" or " folds," in.which both the diamond-pointed and-the'squar-chisels are used. Various key patterns in incised lines and in relief are examples of the first year's work, which goes on from this point to the cutting of triangular-sided bosses and incisions, and various star patterns and inter-, lacings. Towards the end of the year the use of the gouge is introduced both in outlining and in modelling. In the course,of the year's work the pupil learns in a general way the use of all his tools, and how to keep them in order, and to humour the grain of the wood. The second year's study is of naturalistic ornament and carving in relief. One,of the earliest lessons is in.carving tree branches relieved fiat from a" flat ground., In the'next lesson the branches'are rounded,-and some are shown crossing under or over others, as in nature, and after a few more simple lessons'in leaf work we have one of the characteristic types of Japanese ornament, ,the flowering plum branch. The carving of birds, those special favourites with Japanese designers, is taught in a series of lessons covering incised outline work, and various ways of rendering feathers, to the flying'bird in liigh relief. The chrysanthemum, the pomegranite, the pine tree, the peoey, are each the object of a special, series of lessors .and the 3?ar Eastern conventional form' of .clouds, waves, and flames are taught in a similar manner.—" Art Amateur." ...