Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ...of Mitsunaga. This house produced many famous artists, who for a long period maintained their illustrious family name. The house of Takuma was best known as a line of Buddhist painters. At the end of this age lived Takuma Eiga, who, for the first time in history, blended the Chinese style of drawing with that of the pure Japanese school. Such a tendency at this time foretold the future ascendency of the Chinese style in the Muromachi age (13341567) and it is supposed to have been caused by the paramount influence of the Zen-shu (one of the Buddhist sects). VI. PREVAILING SENTIMENTS, MORALITY AND BUSHIDO. It appears to be an immutable law of nature that as material civilization advances and Society becomes more complex and intricate in its organization, the pernicious effects of luxury and dissipation tend to undermine the moral stamina of the community. The insidious effects of ease and voluptuousness are more quickly observed in the case of townsmen than in that of the inhabitants of the country districts; and while we may not be able to agree that " civilization tends to corrupt men, as large cities vitiate the air," it is the result of universal experience that no sooner are the city dwellers accustomed to general self-indulgence, and a standard of high living, than they become excessively fond of ostentation and pretence. This breeds a fickle and insincere disposition among all classes, which finally results in the decadence of the native and perhaps even culminates in national disintegration and extinction. The inhabitants of the eight provinces to the east of the Hakone mountains--collectively known as the Kwanto, --being far removed from the Imperial City of the West, had not as yet been influenced by the pomp and extravagance of...
