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We land at the stone jetty of Decima, a small island in front of the town, separated from the main land by a wide canal, where for centuries the Dutch consented to be penned up and submit to every indignity, while they monopolized the whole foreign trade of Japan. The street through which we passed is lined with their warehouses now going to decay, while a new eta of progress and advancement is opening to the country. The canal is now spanned by a wide stone bridge, leading to broad, well-paved streets, through which we stroll, making our last purchases of “curios.” This place has a population of over 100,000, and is famous for its manufacture of fine porcelain, a few specimens of which I had seen in Yeddo. We visit several large shops where the display of beautiful vases and china ware, elegant in design, and decorated in good taste, surpassed anything to be seen even in Paris. She teacups are all covered to retain the aroma of the fragrant leaf, and are a as delicate and fragile as egg shells. If I were only a few thousand miles nearer home, I should be tempted to send a large consignment of this beautiful ware to my friends on Superior street.
It is surprising that, with the remarkable skill, ingenuity and taste the Japanese show in some branches of the mechanic arts and manufactures, in the higher departments of art they are so rude and unskilled. In their porcelain, bronze, lacquer-ware, temper of steel for sword blades, and fabrics of silk and paper. they rival any nation of the civilized world. But painting, sculpture and music have few yotaries. In knowledge of perspective they excel the Chinese, but take low rank compared with Western nations. Printing in colors from blocks of wood, with graduated shading, like our lithographic color printing, has been known for ages; but their drawing is defective, and the execution rude. Their books of highly-colored prints are curious and interesting only as illustrative of their life, costumes and scenery. Their carving in ivory of figures and animals are skillful, but said to be inferior to the Chinese; and in all these there is a tendency towards the grotesque. It is easy to see that the pursuit of the arts and sciences requiring actual labor is not common among the higher classes, while to the lower ranks of society no inducements of rewards, honors and competition are held out for excellence in these accomplishments.
