As to subject, the whole field of Japanese mythology, history, and literature is recorded in their netsuké. Perhaps the finest of all are the miniature representations of the masks used in the No dance—sometimes beautiful, sometimes comical, often grotesque, but always artistic. Then we have the beautifully finished carvings of insects; snakes twisted in lifelike coils; a goose with its bill caught in a closed clam shell, and vainly flapping its wings; fishes, tortoises, mice—all varieties of animal life: it is a veritable illustrated natural history. Then in lifelike groups we have the whole world of legendary folklore laid before us. The Tongue-cut sparrow, Motomoro the peach child, and many other old fairy tales, are here retold; while men and women in all the occupations of their trades and callings give an epitome of contemporary Japanese life.

The names of the famous netsuké carvers are too numerous to record here. One of the most celebrated was Shuzan, who lived early in the eighteenth century, a volume of whose designs was published in 1781.

Of late years, since the use of the netsuké has begun to die out, the carver has turned his attention to okimono—small pieces not pierced for the cord, and intended merely as cabinet ornaments. Many of these little ivories are exquisitely beautiful. European work, even of the best, looks weak and poor beside them; and even the best Chinese carving, though perhaps equally dexterous in manipulation, seems dull and mechanical contrasted with their never-failing fertility of imagination.

Rider on Horseback