JAPAN
supposed to have begotten the island of Onokoro, when the male and female principles first came into active existence. The divine feat is represented in art by a gracefully shaped stand, more or less elaborately decorated, on which are placed two figures of an aged man and woman, as well as a group of plum, bamboo, and pine trees, with accessories in the shape of cranes and tortoises. The figures are the spirits of the ancient pine-trees of Takasago and Sumiyoshi, and the whole combination is emblematic of longevity, prosperity, happiness, and undying affection. The Taikō's commission to prepare this alcove ornament was given to Yemon Tazayemon, a sculptor of Nara, and the shima-dai there produced—Nara-dai, as it is often called—is popularly said to have been the origin of the afterwards celebrated Nara-ningyo. But here, again, the student detects a tendency common in Japanese art-annals, the tendency to mistake the first public recognition of an industry for its origin. The plum, the pine, the bamboo, the tortoise, the crane, and the spirits of the ancient trees, of Sumiyoshi and Takasago, had symbolised long life, prosperity, and enduring conjugal love for centuries prior to the building of the ill-fated Momoyamagoten at Fushimi, and innumerable shima-hai[1] had been prepared for wedding ceremonies before Hideyoshi gave a commission to the Nara sculptors. Indeed, close examination of the records shows that Nara-ningyo were manufactured as early as the year 1135, on the occasion of the first great Kasuga festival, when the image of the god Waka-miya was moved to a new shrine; and tradition says that in their origin—which was not later than the middle of the tenth century—
- ↑ See Appendix, note 25.
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