ABSTRACT
In his dealings with the Portuguese, Ota Nobunaga seems the prototype of the "Meiji statesmen"—the men who have caught hold of Western ideas and made Japan over in our own day. Physically, he was of the North-Asian type of the Buke—the military nobility—tall and slight, with aquiline nose and keen eyes, and long, oval face. Gonse calls Nobunaga the inaugurator of a period that may fairly be called modern; "his military dictatorship is the bridge thrown between the vanishing power of the Ashikaga Shoguns and the renovated government of Ieyasu." Ota Nobunaga was of Taira blood, a descendant of Kiyomori himself. Brilliant himself, the way to Nobunaga's heart was by daring and originality. An exceedingly pretty modern ware is produced at the Ota potteries for Japanese use; it has the warm cream-white ground, and dainty designs of flowers, all restrained and delicate, to suit Japanese taste.
