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THE BEGINNING OF ART. 37
the origin of keramics is connected with the need of
utensils for the table, in Japan the legend connects
the dawn of the potter's art with the instinct of
mercy, and with one of the greatest philanthropic
reforms in early history. In telling most of Japanese
stories, the beginning words are like our " Once upon
a time," that is, "Mukashi, mukashi," that is, "Long,
long ago."
" Though our potters," began Mrs. " Rai, are now
very skillful, yet there was once a time in Japan when
translucent porcelain was unheard of, and even the
coarsest pottery was unknown. How that art began
whose bloom we now see, the sacred book called The
Nihongi, or The Records of Ancient Things, tells us.
" Long, long ago there was a cruel custom in vogue
in the Mikado's empire. When a great noble or
member of the imperial house died, a number of his
servants committed jun-shi (dying with their master).
The dead noble was first laid in the ground and then
deep holes were dug in a circle round the grave.
One by one his servants were put in these holes,
buried up to their heads, and the earth filled in and
tramped hard around him. Their hands and feet
were bound so that they could not move. They
were then left to starve. In a few months nothing
remained but a ring of bleaching skulls, whose eyesockets
had long been emptied by ravenous birds.
" About the year 600 of the Japanese Empire, a
relative of the Mikado named Yamato-hiko died.
According to ancient custom the young prince was
arrayed in his rich robes of ceremony, decked with