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AN ARTIST'S LETTERS
FROM JAPAN

[Pg iv]

The Great Statue of Buddha at Kamakura

[Pg v]

AN ARTIST'S LETTERS
FROM JAPAN

BY
JOHN LA FARGE

NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1897

[Pg vi]

Copyright, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1897,
By The Century Co.

The De Vinne Press.


[Pg vii]To Henry Adams, Esq.

My Dear Adams: Without you I should not haveseen the place, without you I should not have seen thethings of which these notes are impressions. If anythingworth repeating has been said by me in these letters, ithas probably come from you, or has been suggested bybeing with you—perhaps even in the way of contradiction.And you may be amused by the lighter talk of theartist that merely describes appearances, or covers themwith a tissue of dreams. And you alone will know howmuch has been withheld that might have been indiscreetlysaid.

If only we had found Nirvana—but he was right whowarned us that we were late in this season of the world.

J. L. F.

[Pg ix]

WHICH IN ENGLISH MEANS:

And you too, Okakura San: I wish to put yourname before these notes, written at the time when I firstmet you, because the memories of your talks are connectedwith my liking of your country and of its story,and because for a time you were Japan to me. I hope,too, that some thoughts of yours will be detected in whatI write, as a stream runs through grass—hidden, perhaps,but always there. We are separated by manythings besides distance, but you know that the blossomsscattered by the waters of the torrent shall meet at itsend.

[Pg xi]

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