ABSTRACT
The Chinese, and th e Japanese foll owing in their train, yi eld to no other nation in th eir love for th e more or less art ificia l grouping in numbered series of interr elated subjects. The present selec t ion of th ese 'Numerical Categories, ' exte nsive as it may appear, comprises th e most important only of the Japanese examp les and excludes many of pu rely historical or technical int erest. Several of th em ar e mere transcripts from Chinese or other sources, while mo st of the remainder a re formed on Chinese models. All , or nearly a ll, have been selec ted with an eye to th e interpretation of th e titles or sub-t itles of certain co lo ur-prints, numbers of whi ch were produced in series a llud ing , di rectly or indirectly, to one or other of the categories cited. Punning versions are not unusual, and seve ra l of th ese are qu ot ed in th e subjo ined list.
