Untitled

HOW THE JAPANESE MAKE CHINESE INK. 93
have already trespassed too long on your time. Will you
kindly tell us what colors you employ in decorating your ink?"
"We generally use vegetable paint," he said.
" It is merely
to make it attractive to the eye."
"What building is that represented on your screen?" asked
Johnnie.
' The temple of Dai Butsu at Nara. I made a pilgrimage
there last year which has given me a great reputation in the
trade."
:t
Why do you stamp your goods
said Fitz.
them."
"
with Chinese characters ?
"
If I were I you would put my own name on
? Then they would never sell," was the frank reply.
mark some of the cakes ?
sweetly perfumed flower of the
plum-tree," and others with the seals of the great Chinese and
Nara makers."
" We should call that forgery," said Johnnie.
" Do the
Chinese and the Nara men never complain of you?"
Maru-naka shook his head and naively replied:
"They do not know anything about it. Do your honorable
"
?
people never make things and call them Japanese
"I guess they do," said Fitz.
who puts another person's trade-mark on his goods."
:? We
all do it," was the innocent rejoinder.
" I
:? You are not the only man
" I have made
the pilgrimage to Nara, therefore consider I am entitled to
stamp that name on my ink."
"Listen," said Sallie; "what noise is that?"
r
This is the eighth day of the fourth month," said Marunaka.
"It is the festival of O Shaka no Tanjiyo or Ku~