Studio: international art (86.1923)

DECORATIONS IN THE TOKONOMA

rows with waving bamboo, swallows with
swaying willow trees, and many others. If
one is on the kakemono, the other is
generally supplied by flower arrangement
or sculpture or some other ornaments bear-
ing the required decoration. a a
It is wonderful how even a single flower
can create the atmosphere of an entire home.
A half-opened mukuge (the rose of
Sharon) with a drop of dew on it, thrust into
anfold bronze vase, which by pouring cold
water into it, may have moisture collected
about it like a dew, dripping to the black
lacquer tray below—is a sight which can
make you forget the stifling heat of a sum-
mer afternoon, as was the case with the
writer a fortnight ago at the home of a tea-
master in Nagoya. If you sit before a vase
in a tokonoma, filled with a slender spray
of wild cherries combined with a smiling
camellia, half concealed under the leaves
close to the water of the vase, you will hear
the whisper of the approaching spring and
an echo of the departing winter. Place some
susuki (miscanthus sinensis) in a flat
bronze receptacle to suggest the vegetation
by the side of a lake, and hang on the wall
above it a painting of wild ducks in flight:
you then have a scene of autumnal dusk.
Earlier in the year the writer enjoyed
having in his tokonoma and shelves some
Christian and Buddhistic images, and, on
the wall of the tokonoma, a kakemono of
an aphorism by a learned Buddhist priest
in the following words : “ Ikka go-yo ni
hiraku " (“ A single flower opens in five
petals ”), suggesting the possibility of mani-
fold manifestations of religious truth. 0
Bonseki, sand pictures on black lacquer
trays, form another important factor in
the decoration of a room. With a few rocks
and different grades of white sand, the
moon is made to shine over the wide ocean,
glistening on its myriad waves, or the
water may be made to gush from among
rocks and flow down the gurgling stream,
or a mighty river may be created to flow
in silent grandeur in majestic curves across
the snow-covered field, or a towering
mountain may be made to cast its sublime
image upon the calm lake below, or the
thundering waves may be made to dash
against a stern rock—what a charming idea
for decoration! There are many other
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things used for decorating the room.
Incense-burners of wide variety of shapes,
incense-cases, scrolls, ryoshi-bako (box for
writing papers), suzuri-bako (box for ink-
stone, brushes, etc.) of lacquer, the work-
manship on some of which has commanded
world-wide admiration, armour, swords,
and an infinite variety of vases are but a
few among a thousand-and-one objects used
as ornaments. 0000

It has been well said that each object
has its own position to fill in its relation to
other objects on the shelf or in the toko-
noma. It should be so placed as to bring
out its best, even as a person should be
given a position in the community accord-
ing to his ability and aptitude. In grouping
different objects of art for decoration, care
must be used to avoid repetition and
monotony. There must be variation and
harmony. In a tasteful decoration sym-
metry is avoided, balancing many against
a few, a large against a small object, a
round against a square article, the high
against the low, etc. Not only the size and
shape but colour as well should be taken
into consideration, so that a rhythm of
colour as well as of form may be created.
This phase of art has been carried to per-
fection in cha-no-yu, an institution founded
upon the adoration of the beautiful amongst
the sordid facts of everyday life, in which
living itself becomes an art. The scheme
of decoration in Nippon homes, as well as
gardens and other branches of art, has for
centuries been influenced and developed
by cha-no-yu. It has taught the people to
look for charm in the commonplace, beauty
under the surface, and to revel in fragrant
suggestions of the higher things of life.
These characteristics are manifested in the
decoration in the tokonoma. 0 0

The Fine Art Association of Nippon
recently held its Sixty-fourth Biennial Ex-
hibition in Tokyo. The Spring Exhibition
was, as usual, entirely devoted to paintings,
and contained about a hundred works by
contemporary artists, in the form either of
kakemono or of folding screens. The
Association remains faithful to the old art
ideals of the Far East, and endeavours to
preserve them against the inroads of
Western futurism and impressionism. 0