Foremost among the arts of Japan, both relatively and as the key which is necessary to understanding and appreciation of the others, is painting. It is an art differing in many respects from that of the European schools of painting, but not less worthy of serious consideration, and in certain qualities it ranks supreme. To those who have seen the masterpieces preserved among the temple treasures, or hidden in the collections of Japanese noblemen, and have felt their grandeur and charm, this will seem far short of over-statement. In the West, however, there is little opportunity to gauge the achievements of the great Japanese painters,[152] and it is even possible to spend a lifetime in Japan and remain in ignorance thereof. Japanese critics have always considered painting to be a form of poetry. The painter therefore strives to represent the soul of things rather than their visible forms. Not that he scorns realism, indeed he is often minutely realistic in a way that is unapproachable; but realism with him is only incidental, his main purpose being to produce a poem in form and color. To this end all irrelevant details are necessarily omitted. Nothing is given that in any way interferes with the central thought. Reduced thus to its simplest elements, his art calls for the utmost harmony in all that enters into it, and first of all for perfect composition of line, mass, and vacant space. Scarcely less important is color arrangement, including the balancing of light and dark as factors in the result. A high degree of technical skill is also requisite, for the poetry would be lost should the execution seem labored. The greatest works are, in appearance at least, spontaneous to an astonishing degree. Wonderful indeed are the possibilities of a single brush stroke in the hands of a master. The effects produced range from almost microscopic realism to the broadest impressionism, the latter quality being predominant in the works of some of the most eminent artists. So far as it is possible to sum them up in a brief statement, the distinguishing characteristics of Japanese painting are these:— 1. Excellence of composition. 2. Subtlety and beauty of line. 3. Remarkable command of the brush, and directness of method in its use. 4. Simplicity of treatment, and rigid exclusion of non-essentials. 5. Absence of chiaroscuro, and the employment of _notan_, or contrast between light and dark. 6. Skilful generalization of forms. 7. Poetical conception. 8. High development of the sense of harmony in color.