Even in the day time the light in the room is subdued, for the low eavesof the slanting roof admit but few of the sun's rays. Every thing is sober innt from the ceiling to the floor; the guests themselves have carefullychosen garments of unobtrusive colors. The mellowness of age is over all.everything suggestive of recent acquirement being tabooed save only theone note of contrast furnished by the bamboo dipper and the linen napkin.both immaculately white and new. Howerer faded the tea-room and thetea-equipage may seem, everything is absolutely clean. Not a particle ofdust will be found in the darkest comer. for if any exists the host is not atea-master. One of the first requisites of a tea-master is the knowledge ofhow to sweep, clean, and wash, for there is an art in cleaning and dustingA piece of antique metal work must not be attacked with the unscrupulouszeal of the Dutch housewife. Dripping water from a flower vase need notbe wiped away, for it may be suggestive of dew and coolnessIn this connection there is a story of Riku which well illustrates theideas of cleanliness entertained by the tea-masters. Riku was watching hisson Shoan as he swept and watered the garden path. Not clean enough,aid Riku, when Shoan had finished his task, and bade him try againAfter a weary hour the son turned to Riku: Father, there is nothing moreto be done. The steps have been washed for the third time, the stonelanterns and the trees are well sprinkled with water, moss and lichens arening with a fresh verdure: not a twig, not a leaf have I left on theground. "Young fool, "chided the tea-master " that is not the way agarden path should be swept." Saying this, Riku stepped into the garden,shook a tree and scattered over the garden gold and crimson leaves, scrapsof the brocade of autumn! What Riku demanded was not cleanlinessalone but the beautiful and the natural also

The name, Abode of Fancy, implies a structure created to meet somendividual artistic requirement. The tea-room is made for the tea master,not the tea-master for the tea-room. It is not intended for posterity and istherefore ephemeral. The idea that every one should have a house of hisown is based on an ancient custom of the Japanese race, Shintosuperstition ordaining that every dwelling should be evacuated on thedeath of its chief occupant. Perhaps there may have been someunrealized sanitary reason for this practice. Another early custom wasthat a newly built house should be provided for each couple that marriedIt is on account of such customs that we find the Imperial capitals sofrequently removed from one site to another in ancient days. Therebuilding, every twenty years, of Ise Temple, the supreme shrine of theSun-Goddess, is an example of one of these ancient rites which still obtainat the present day. The observance of these customs was only possiblewith some form of construction as that furnished by our sy stem of woodenarchitecture, easily pulled down, easily built up. A more lasting style,employing brick and stone, would have rendered migrations impracticableas indeed they became when the more stable and massive woodenconstruction of China was adopted by us after the Nara periodWith the predominance of Zen individualism n the fifteenth century,however, the old idea became imbued with a deeper significance asconceived in connection with the tea- room. Zennism, with the buddhisttheory of evanescence and its demands for the mastery of spirit overmatter, recognized the house only as a temporary refuge for the bodyThe body itself was but as a hut in the wildeness, a flimsy shelter madeby tying together the grasses that grew around -when these ceased to bebound together they again became resolved into the onginal waste. Inthe tea-room fugitiveness is suggested in the thatched roof, frailty in theslender pillars, lightness in the bamboo support, apparent carelessness nthe use of commonplace materials. The eternal is to be found only nthe spirit which, embodied in these simple surroundings, beautifies themwith the subtle light of its refinement.That the tea-room should be built to suit some individual taste is anenforcement of the principle of vitality in art. Art, to be fully appreciated,must be true to contemporaneous life. It is not that we should ignore theclaims of posterity, but that we should seek to enjoy the present more. Itis not that we should disregard the creations of the past, but that we shouldtry to assimilate them into our consciousness. Slavish conformity totraditions and formulas fetters the expression of individuality inarchitecture. We can but weep over the senseless imitations of Europeanbuildings which one beholds in modem Japan. We marvel why, among themost progressive Westem nations, architecture should be so devoid oforiginality, so replete with repetitions of obsolete styles. Perhaps we arepassing through an age of democritisation in art, while awaiting the rise ofsome princely master who shall establish a new dynasty. Would that weloved the ancients more and copied them less! It has been said that theeat beca