International studio (42.1910)

Japanese Art and Artists of To-day.—IV. Wood and Ivory Carving

WOOD CARVING BY HIRAKUSHI DENCHU

The chief distinguishing feature of the realistic
style, which has close affinities with Occidental
conceptions, is that the glyptic character is pre-
served at the expense of the surface finish. To
subordinate the process to the result is the
European canon, while to show the former without
marring the latter is the Japanese ideal. The
Japanese sculptor endeavours to leave on his work
the undisguised strokes of his chisel, showing the
technical force and directness impossible to be
suggested by strictly smooth surface. The best
specimens illustrative of this point will be found
in the works of Takamura Koun. The Moon,
by Yonehara Unkai, his pupil, here used as an
illustration (p. 112), is obviously an exaggeration,
but tells the tale most vividly.

We now come to the work of the individual
artist-carvers of to-day, and here we cannot do
better than take a few of the most noted, give a
short account of their lives, and point out' the
characteristics which single their productions out
for special notice.

Takamura Koun certainly takes premier place
among them. He stands midway between the
extreme realistic school of modern movements and
the pure idealistic school of former times. He
occupies in the realm of sculpture very much the
same place as that lately held by Hashimoto Gaho
in the world of painting. Even when a mere boy he
seems to have been endowed with an extraordinary
talent for glyptic art, and the following anecdote is
told as an illustration of this. He was engaged,
as a youth, in the workshop of a master. One
day he was given a particular kind of Japanese
fish salad of which he was extremely fond. After
having disposed of his own portion he espied
on the shelf the dish which had been set apart
for his master. He could not resist the tempta-
tion, and in a few minutes his master's portion
had gone the way of his own. To throw his
employer off the scent, he took a radish and
carved one end of it into the semblance of a
cat's paw, and dipping this into the dirt made
impressions along the verandah leading to the

IVORY CARVING i "PERSIMMONS." BY YOSHIDA HOMEI