[3] FISH CULTURE IN JAPAN. 647 



Salmo orientalis, &c, the former being so abundant as to afford the chief 

 supply of salt salmon to Echigo and the provinces around, as well as 

 the more northern districts. Formerly this river was the property of 

 the Daimio of Naito, but now the privilege of fishing belongs to a 

 company made up of the Shizoku, his former retainers. The vast 

 profits which they realize may be estimated from the fast that 750 

 famihes of Shizoku are living on the net profits, besides paying govern- 

 ment taxes and the expenses of repairing the banks of the river, 

 amounting to 5,000 yen annually. In amount of salmon, no other place 

 except Hokkaido can be compared with this, although the river is so 

 small one can easily wade across. There is no doubt that so large a 

 profit arises entirely from the perfection of the methods employed in 

 fishing. 



TheTanegawais a branch of the Miomotegawa running near the town 

 of Murakami, and about 10 cho (1 cho= 119.3 yards) from the mouth of 

 the main river. This is selected because of its being a natural spawn- 

 ing bed, providing as it does a clear bottom, level and covered with peb- 

 bles for the ripe fish when they come to spawn. Its whole length is 

 about 1,193 yards and its width 50. A fence is made at the upper part 

 across the water so as to prevent the fish from getting higher, while there 

 is another fence at the lower part which has an opening. When the sea- 

 son comes for spawning, a multitude of the ripe fish enter within the 

 fence and swim towards the upper fence. Then the lower fence is shut 

 up, and thus the fish are imprisoned on the spot between the two fences. 

 As a general rule the fish are thus kept inclosed for about one week, 

 until the whole of them have deposited their eggs, after making their 

 nests for themselves. After the spawning is over, the fish are then all 

 caught in nets. After this another lot is allowed to enter, and the process 

 is repeated until the end of November. It is remarkable that when the 

 fish are coming up the schools are so large as almost to fill the river, 

 when many maybe caught with the hand; and therefore it is that 

 several watchmen are employed day and night to protect the fish from 

 poachers. 



The fish eggs deposited in the bed are well guarded, and after the 

 proper time the eggs are naturally hatched. At the beginning of the 

 following May the young healthy fish go down to the sea, and during 

 this time several watching houses are built along both banks of the 

 river, where men protect the fish and see that they pass in safety. 

 This method of propagating fish has been practiced from the earliest 

 times, it being known that the salmon always return to their native 

 river to spawn ; and it having also been found that the result was of the 

 greatest benefit to the country. It is said that this method was in- 

 vented and first adopted by Mr. Aodo, two hundred years ago, and the 

 Daimio of that time, Naito, adapted this place to that purpose. The 

 regulations for fishing and protecting the fish in this remarkable river 

 are still executed precisely as they always have been in other times. 



