No doubt the higher development of appreciation for natural scenery among the people in general is largely due to the character of the scenery itself.  Steep hills and narrow valleys adjoin nearly every city in the land.  Seas, bays, lakes, and rivers are numerous; reflected mountain scenes are common; the colors are varied and marked.  Flowering trees of striking beauty are abundant.  Any people living under these physical conditions, and sufficiently advanced in civilization to have leisure and culture, can hardly fail to be impressed with such wealth of beauty in the scenery itself.

In the artistic reproduction of this scenery, however, Japanese artists are generally supposed to be inferior to those of the West.

As often remarked, Japanese art has directed its chief endeavor to animals and to nature, thus failing to give to man his share of attention.  This curious one-sidedness shows itself particularly in painting and in sculpture.  In the former, when human beings are the subject, the aim has apparently been to extol certain characteristics; in warriors, the military or heroic spirit; in wise men, their wisdom; in monks and priests, their mastery over the passions and complete attainment of peace; in a god, the moral character which he is supposed to represent.  Art has consequently been directed to bringing into prominence certain ideal features which must be over-accentuated in order to secure recognition; caricatures, rather than lifelike forms, are the frequent results.  The images of multitudes of gods are frightful to behold; the aim being to show the character of the emotion of the god in the presence of evil.  These idols are easily misunderstood, for we argue that the more frightful he is, the more vicious must be the god in his real character; not so the Oriental.  To him the more frightful the image, the more noble the character.  Really evil gods, such as demons, are always represented, I think, as deformed creatures, partly human and partly beast.  It is to be remembered, in this connection, that idols are an imported feature of Japanese religion; Shinto to this day has no “graven image.”  All idols are Buddhistic.  Moreover, they are but copies of the hideous idols of India; the Japanese artistic genius has added nothing to their grotesque appearance.  But the point of interest for us is that the aesthetic taste which can revel in flowers and natural scenery has never delivered Japanese art from truly unaesthetic representations of human beings and of gods.

Standing recently before a toy store and looking at the numberless dolls offered for sale, I was impressed afresh with the lack of taste displayed, both in coloring and in form; their conventionality was exceedingly tiresome; their one attractive feature was their absurdity.  But the moment I turned away from the imitations of human beings to look at the imitations of nature, the whole impression was changed.  I was pleased with the artistic taste displayed in the perfectly imitated, delicately colored flowers.  They were beautiful indeed.