OPEN FENCES. The next to be mentioned are Open Fences of bamboo, called Yotsume-gaki, generally decorated with climbing plants,�the convolvulus, wild rose, passion-flower, and in some cases the wistaria, being applied to this purpose. They consist of occasional wooden posts�with or without a ground sill�between which are placed verticals and horizontals of thin bamboo, having open intervals; the whole is tied together with cords, and presents a series of open checkers. The uprights, which consists of single or double stems, are arranged of different lengths, sometimes regularly recurring, and sometimes without any apparent system. A flat middle bar of wood is occasionally introduced longitudinally to strengthen the construction, the stems being arranged alternately on each side of it, and the whole secured with dyed cord. Open Fences are seldom more than two or three feet in height, with their style of fabrication distinguished by the three degrees of elaboration. A rare example of a very simple and rustic kind is made with thin leaf-clad branches of bamboo fixed in the ground at intervals of five or six inches, bent in different directions, and tied together at the crossings; this produces a kind of curved lattice-work, the leaves partly filling up the intervals. Occasional wooden posts are necessary to strengthen and bind together such constructions. Illustrations of Open Fences are shown in Plates XII., and XVIII., and Fig. 19 gives an example taken from a small Tea-Garden.
