AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 169 



densely. It is as textile-plants that they are cultivated (Manila 

 hemp). Their fibres furnish not only a superior material for ropes 

 and mats, but are universally esteemed for the excellent clothing- 

 stuff that can be manufactured from them. In summer such 

 garments are much preferred to woollen. It is one of the chief 

 exports of the Liu-kiu Islands, and large quantities are sent to 

 Satsuma, whence it may make its way further through Japan." ^ 

 This last is true only to a very limited extent. These textures 

 do not leave Southern Japan, being used in ^scarcely any other 

 part of the country. 



5. Co7xhorus capsularis, L., Jap. Ichibi, Tsunaso, and Kanabi-kiyo. 

 This plant yields jute-fibre, which has become of such great im- 

 portance. It is found in several parts of Japan. But I doubt 

 whether the plant has been cultivated and its bast made into ropes 

 and coarse textures, as has been stated by one authority.^ The 

 following four bast-plants are not cultivated. As a source of 

 clothing material it is likely that they played a much more im- 

 portant part in old times than at present. 



6. Wistaria chine?isis, S. and Z., Jap. Fuji (see Ornamental 

 Plants). At the Exhibition of 1877 in Tokio, there was an exhibit 

 of prepared bast of this plant, as well as textures therefrom, called 

 Fuji-nuno, or Wistaria-linen, from Iwate-ken, Fukushima-ken, 

 Shimane-ken, and Hiroshima-ken, hence both from the North and 

 South-west of the island of Honshiu. 



7. Pueraria Thimbergiana, Benth., Jap. Kudzu. Young shoots 

 from this abundant plant (see bulbous plants) are boiled in an iron 

 kettle in pieces i m. long, and then submitted to longer soaking in 

 running water, till their bast becomes loose, when it is stripped off 

 by hand. To bleach, soften, and divide its fibres, it is pounded and 

 treated with water, and otherwise manipulated. When finished, 

 the fibres are tolerably firm and white, like hemp-bast. They are 

 used for the woof of several kinds of cloth, but only to a very 

 limited extent. The Aino women make threads of them, with 

 which to sew their clothes. 



8. Ulmtis montana, Sm., is, according to the testimony of Boh- 

 mer^ and Scheube,* the tree which the Ainos call At and the Japan- 

 ese Ohio-no-ki. The former manufacture from its bast that brownish 

 yellow stuff of which their clothes, as a rule, are made. It is 

 distinguished more by durability than fineness, and is much worn 

 also by the Japanese of Yezo. The bark of the tree is peeled off 

 in spring, and left to soak a half to one month in water, till its 

 bast is loose enough to come off in long strips. The Aino women 

 twist these into threads, and use them on their looms, whose con- 



^ "Die Liu-kiu Island Amami Oshima." Zeiischrift der deutschen Gesell- 

 schaft Ostasiens. Band 3, p. 141. 



2 "Le Japon k I'Exposition Universelle de 1878," p. 152. Paris. 



3 "Reports to the Kaitakushi," 1875. 



4 "Die Ainos." " Mitth. d. deutsch. Ges. Ostasiens." Heft 26. 1882. 



