Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 295

1841.

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Notices of Japan, No. 1.X.

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sexes. In metallurgy, they are, however, very skillful; and the beautiful work called syakudo, in which various metals are partly blended, partly combined, pro- ducing an effect much resembing fine enamel, is used in lieu of jewels for girdle- clasps, boxes, sword-hilts, &c. But the branch of this art in which they surpass most other nations, is the tempering of steel, and their sword-blades are said to be of transcendent excellence, bearing the fine edge of a razor,* and capable of cut. ting through an iron nail. They are valued accordingly; as we are told that a sum equal to £100 is not thought too much to give for a peculiarly fine sword-blade, whilst an old one, of exquisite temper, is esteemed beyond all price. Their ex- portation is prohibited, from some superstitious idea of an intimate connexion be. tween Japanese valor and Japanese arms, as a joint heritage from their divine

ancestors.

Of the manufactures of the country, it is enough to say that they make avery. thing wanted for their own use; that their porcelain has degenerated from its pristine superiority, it is said, owing to a deficiency of the peculiar fine clay; and that their most beautiful silks are woven by high-born criminals, who are confined upon a small, rocky, unproductive island, deprived of their property, and obliged to pay for the provisions, with which they are supplied by sea, with the labor of their hands. The exportation of these silks is likewise prohibited. †

* Fischer.

* [The manufacture of paper in Japan is worthy of a more particular notice than has been given to it; the following account, compiled from Kæmpfer, is ex- tracted from the Saturday Magazine. The tree from which the paper is made is the Broussonetia papyrifera, called kaji by the Japanese, and shoo Chinese. Some of the finest specimens we have seen are much whiter than the bamboo paper of the Chinese; the color of the common sorts is a yellowish white; and by much use the surface becomes furred though it does not soon wear out.

by the

From a strong, branched, woody root, rises a straight, thick, equal trunk, very much branched out, covered with a fat, firm, clammy, chestnut-colored bark, rough without and smooth on the inside, where it adheres to the wood, which is loose and brittle, with a large moist pith; the branches and twigs are very fat covered with a small down, or wool, of a green color, inclining to purple.

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Every year, when the leaves are fallen off, or in the tenth Japanese month, which answers to our December, the twigs are cut into lengths, not exceeding three feet, and put together in bundles, to be afterwards boiled in an alkaline lye. These faggots are placed upright in a large kettle, which must be well covered, and boiled till the bark shrinks so far as to allow about half an inch of the wood to appear naked at the top; when the sticks have been sufficiently boiled, they are taken out of the water and exposed to the air to cool; the bark is then stripped from the wood and dried, and laid up to be manufactured at a future time.

"When a sufficient quantity is collected, it is soaked in water for three or four days, and when soft, the blackish skin which covered it is scraped off with a knife; at the same time also, the stronger bark, which is of full a year's growth, is separated from the thinner, which covered the younger branches, the former yielding the best and whitest paper, and the latter only a dark and indifferent sort. If there is any bark of more than a year's growth, it is likewise picked out and laid aside for the purpose of making a coarser description of paper. All knotty particles, and discolored portions, are also picked out and laid on one side. After it has been sufficiently cleansed and separated, it must be boiled in clear lye. During the time it is boiling, it is kept constantly agitated with a strong reed; this part of the process must be continued until the bark has become so tender as to separate, when gently touched with the finger, into flocks and fibres.

"After the bark has been boiled, it has to be washed, and this part of the busi- ness is of no small consequence in paper-making, and must he managed with great

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