Awa, Awa /~nami_7<, Hyuga, and Kiio This was the beginning of the period 

 of the coastal fishery for skipjack. 



Section 1 The Period of the Coastal Fishery 



This period extends to end of the Edo Period, when the people were so 

 charmed by the flavor of the first skipjacks of spring that they composed 

 such poems as 



Kamakura no 

 Umi yori ideshi 

 Hatsugatsuo 

 Mina Musashino no 

 Hara ni koso ire 



The first skipjack which come 

 From the seas of Kamakura 

 All disappear into 

 The bellies of Musashino. 



The first market of the year for skipjack was held on the Buddha's birthday, 

 which according to the old calendar was April 8th„ That is to say that in 

 the period of the coastal fishery the fishing season In the Kanto region 

 began around April 8th of the old calendar^ which means that the fishermen 

 waited until the skipjack migrated into the waters close to Kamakura,, 

 The demand for the fish was great since at that time of the year the 

 flavor of the skipjack was excellent and since it accorded with the spirit 

 of the people of Edo to treat the fish as a harbinger of springo These 

 facts J together with the fact that as the manufacture of dried skipjack 

 sticks became general the populace acquired a taste for the fishj and its 

 being prized by the warrior class also were all factors in the promotion 

 of the skipjack fishery. The coastal fishery became a profitable enter- 

 prise and this led tc its farther development as a peculiarly Japanese 

 fishery. The ful^^-ess of the development of the -loastal fishery and the 

 wealth of experience gained in it became the central factors in the 

 opening of the next period of the fishery's progress and as the fishery 

 spread in its own peculiar form all over the world these factors have 

 formed the foundations of its present state. 



From the point of view of the boats used this was the era of Japanese- 

 style vessels, moved for the most part by man power with oars and sculls. 

 The progress of the skipjack fishery has been parallelled by progress in 

 fishing boat constrri': tiono 



Let us examine the history of the development of the skipjack fishery 

 and of fishing vessels in the provinces. This was a period in which when 

 the warm waters of the Kuroshio moved north along the coast of Japan large 

 schools of skipjack would follow the current and migrate in close to shore. 

 Neither the land nor the sea had as yet been sullied by machine civiliza- 

 tion, the Trater was cleaf and clean, there were no man=made obstructions, 

 and the great schools •:! skipjack could swim about at their leisure in 

 search of food freely and safely. They could be taken freely in waters 



