The seal paste (NIKU) is made of Diana weed _(mogusa)_ dried for three years, or of a plant called _yomogi,_ or with soft, finely chopped rabbit hair boiled in castor oil for one hundred hours with white wax and then colored red, brown, blue or tea color. The seal should be carefully wiped after it is used, otherwise this paste hardens upon it.
Japanese paintings are seldom framed, as frames take too much room. Frames are used chiefly for Chinese writings, hung high in public places or about the dwelling, and are called GAKU, meaning “forehead,” in allusion to raising the head to read what the frame contains. It is etiquette that such framed writings be signed with the real name rather than the _nom de plume._
Two kinds of seals are affixed to the frame: One, on the right, at the beginning of the writing, and called YU IN, containing some precept or maxim; and one or two, on the left, after the signature, bearing the artist’s name and any other appropriate designation. All writings in Chinese or Japanese read from right to left, and frequently are the sole ornament of a pair of screens.
For the guidance of experts who pass on the genuineness of Japanese paintings there is a well-known publication, “GWA KA RAKKWAN IN SHIN,” by Kano Jushin, which contains reproductions in fac simile of the signatures and seals of all the celebrated artists of the remote and recent past.
In concluding this work, which I am conscious is but an imperfect survey of a vast and intricate subject, I would call attention to the fact that in both Europe and America there is a wonderful awakening to the dignity, simplicity and beauty of Japanese art. This is largely to be attributed to the careful and scholarly writings and publications of Messrs. Anderson, Binyon, Morrison and Strange in England, Fenollosa in the United states, DeGoncourt, Gonse and Bing in France, Seidlitz in Germany, and Brinkley and Okakura in Japan; and all students of art must render to them the homage of their sincere admiration.
The object of all art, as Cicero has truly said, is to soften the manners, by training the heart and mind to right thoughts and worthy sentiments. To such end nothing will more surely contribute than a faithful study of the painting art of Japan, and the further we investigate and appreciate its principles the more we will multiply those hours which the sun-dial registers,—the serene and cheerful moments of existence.