64
CONSTRUCTIVE ART IN JAPAN.
BY
R. HENRY BRUNTON, Esq.,
MEM. INS. C.E. F.R.G.S., E.G.S.
Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan,
on the 22nd December, 1873.
———o———
The accounts of Japan which at the present time are generally spread throughout Europe, are so exaggerated, that both the natural beauties and wealth of the country as well as its genuine condition and the progress which it has made, are greatly over-estimated by those who have not had an opportunity of visiting the country and of judging of them for themselves. Every one, therefore, who comes to Japan is led to expect too much, and there are few who on arrival do not experience feelings of disappoinment. And it is probable that nothing developes these feelings more fully than the absence of those artificial improvements which are generally met with in all civilised countries. The dwellings of the people are of mean appearance, and are generally without ornament or adornment of any kind. They are built in a temporary and unsubstantial manner, and are to a great extent wanting in the comforts which are ordinary in all European houses. The streets in the principal towns, as well as the country roads, are rutted, uneven and perfectly untended; and although gravel is sometimes used, the roads are generally merely formed of the earth or clay through which they pass. There is almost an entire absence of
