The Sweet Fish of Jewel River 249 



go a-fishing. It is easy enough to find the place, for it is 

 not more than ten miles out of Tokyo, on a fine old farm 

 just by the Temple of Tachikawa, with its famous inscribed 

 stone, given by the Emperor of China. 



At the farmhouse, commodious and hospitable, likewise 

 clean and charming, after the fashion of Japan, we send for 

 the boy who brings our fishing tackle. 



The tackle comes waddling into the yard, the three birds 

 with which we are to do our fishing. Black cormorants 

 they are, each with a white spot behind its eye, and a hoarse 

 voice, come of standing in the water, with which it says 

 y-eiigh whenever a stranger makes a friendly overture. The 

 cormorants answer to the name of Oii, which in Japanese 

 is something like the only word the cormorants can say. 

 The boy puts them in a box together and we set off across 

 the drifted gravel to the Tamagawa. Arrived at the stream, 

 the boy takes the three cormorants out of the box and ad- 

 justs their fishing harness. This consists of a tight ring 

 about the bottom of the neck, of a loop under each wing, 

 and a directing line. 



Two other boys take a low net. They drag it down the 

 stream, driving the little fishes — ayu, zakko, hae, and all 

 the rest — before it. The boy with the cormorants goes in 

 advance. The birds are eager as pointer dogs, and appar- 

 ently full of perfect enjoyment. To the left and right they 

 plunge with lightning strokes, each dip bringing up a shining 

 fish. When the bird's neck is full of fishes down to the 

 level of the shoulders, the boy draws him in, grabs him by 

 the leg, and shakes him unceremoniously over a basket until 

 all of the fishes have flopped out. One of my Japanese 

 friends, looking at this process, said, " You can see now how 

 Japan felt when she was forced to give up Port Arthur. 

 Just like that bird." 



The cormorants watch the sorting of the fish with eager 

 eyes and much repeating of y-cugh, the only word they 

 know. The ayu is not for them, and some of the kajikas 



