Читать книгу Trades and Crafts of Old Japan - Eric A. Kaemmerer - Страница 9

1: A Brusk Shop (see frontispiece)

In Japan, as in China, the writing brush has for centuries symbolized the scholar and the artist as well as the intimate relation between calligraphy and painting. This fude, as it is called in Japan, is a pointed brush of soft animal hair inserted into a tube of bamboo or other material, which is sometimes lacquered. It is made in an almost infinite variety of sizes, since it must serve an equally countless number of purposes—from the writing or painting of extremely delicate lines to the inscribing of broad and bold strokes in massive calligraphy for a kakemono. There are also variations in the fineness or coarseness of the hair used for making the brush. To prevent damage to the point, fude are usually displayed in vaselike containers.

The master and his wife are at work making brushes from the piles of hair on the small stands behind which they sit. In the street we see a two-sworded man in a conical rush hat. For its sign, the shop has a black lacquer board trimmed with gold and carrying a picture of a dwarfed but very fat writing brush.