re the works of women. Among these
distinguished writers can be mentioned Murasaki Shikibu, Seish[=o] Nagon,
and Iseno Taiyu, all court ladies in the time of the Emperor Ichij[=o]
(about 1000 A. D.). The court at that time was the centre of learning,
and much encouragement was given by the Emperor to literary pursuits,
the cultivation of poetry, and music. The Emperor gathered around him
talented men and women, but the great works that remain are, strange to
say, mostly those of women.

Much attention was given to that harmony of art with nature that the
Japanese taste makes the _sine qua non_ of all true artistic effort. The
gorgeously embroidered gowns must change with the changing season, so
that the cherry succeeds the plum, the wistaria the cherry, and so on
through the whole calendar of flowers, upon the silken robes of the
court, as regularly as in the garden that graces the palace grounds. And
so with the confectionery, which in Japan is made in dainty imitation of
flowers and fruits. The chrysanthemum blooms in sugar no earlier than
on its own stalk; the little golden orange, with its dark green leaves,
is on the confectioner's list in winter, when the real orange is yellow
on its tree. The very decorations of the palace must be changed with the
changing of the months; and _kakemono_ and vase are alternately stored
in the _kura_ and brought out to decorate the room, according as their
designs seem in harmony with the mood of Nature. This effort to
harmonize Nature and Art is seen to-day, not only in the splendid
furnishings of the court, but all through the decorative art of Japan.
In every house the decorations are changed to suit the changing seasons.

Through the years when Japan was adopting the civilization of China, a
danger threatened the nation,--the same danger that threatens it to-day:
it was the danger lest the adoption of so much that was foreign should
result in a servile copying of all that was not Japanese, and lest the
introduction of literature, art, and numerous hitherto unknown luxuries
should take from the people their independence, patriotism, and
manliness. But this result was happily avoided; and at a time when the
language was in danger of being swept almost out of existence by the
introduction of Chinese learning through Chinese letters, the women of
Japan, not only in their homes and conversation, but in the poetry and
lighter literature of the country, preserved a strain of pure and