File:JapanHomes107 HIKITE.jpg

English: From original book: "Conveniences for pushing back the fusuma are secured in a variety of ways; the usual form consists of an oval or circular plate of thin metal, having a depressed area, inserted in the fusuma in about the same position a doorknob would be with us. These are called hikite, and often present beautiful examples of metalwork, being elaborately carved and sometimes enamelled. The same caprices and delights in ornamentation seen elsewhere in their work find full play in the designs of the hikite. Fig. 106 shows one from the house of a noble; its design represents an inkstone and two brushes, — the brushes being silvered and tipped with lacquer, while in the recessed portion is engraved a dragon. Fig. 107 represents one made of copper, in which the leaves and berries are enamelled; the leaves green, and the berries red and white. Figs. 108 and 109 show more pretentious as well as cheaper forms, the designs being stamped and not cut by hand. Sometimes hikite are made of porcelain. In the cheaper forms of fusuma, the hikite consists of a depressed area in the paper formed by a modification of the frame itself. In illustrations of fine interiors one often notices a form of hikite from which hang two short cords of silk tied in certain formal ways, on the ends of which are tassels. From the almost universal presence of these in old illustrated books, one is led to believe that formerly the cord was the usual handle by which the fusuma was pulled back and forth, and that these gradually fell into disuse, the recessed plate of metal alone remaining. This form of hikite is rarely seen to-day, though a few of the old Daimios' houses still possess it. Fig. 110 represents two forms copied from a book entitled "Tategu Hinagata." "