THE WAY OF JAPANESE NIMRODS 



BY GA^NE T. K. NORTON 



AN engineering friend, recently returned from Japan, 

 is full of tales and stories of the customs and 

 habits of the Japanese. However, like many travel- 

 ers, he looked much and saw little, and of the little 

 seen no form of record was kept. It is small pleasure 

 to hear travel stories recounted by such folk. Beyond 

 the engineering work the work of rebuilding the entire 

 Japanese railway system at a cost of 308,002,000 yen has 

 been started which he knows very well, the cormorant 

 fishing interested him most. 



The custom of using the sea-birds to catch fish for 

 market, a habit practiced today in many parts of Japan, 

 was observed on the Nagara river, near Gifu, in the 

 province of Owari. In certain parts of China the birds 

 are used in the same way. The species of cormorant 

 used belongs to the same family as our double-crested 

 cormorant, or shag, and is much like him. 



migration southward from the places of summer resi- 

 dence on the northern coast. Once trained the birds 

 work well from 15 to 20 years. During the winter their 

 food taxes to the utmost the income of the owner, but 

 during the summer they are precious and profitable hunt- 

 ers, or fishers, well warranting the care bestowed upon 

 them. Mosquito nets are provided them during the sum- 

 mer to insure their comfort. The fishing always takes 

 place at night by torchlight. 



Four men occupy each boat. The boats go out in small 

 fleets and drift slowly downstream ; three hours' fishing 

 is a night's work. The man at the stern does nothing but 

 manage the craft. In the bow the master stands, wear- 

 ing the peculiar hat of his rank, handling a dozen train- 

 ed birds with astonishing skill and coolness. This skill 

 has earned for the fishermen of Gifu a reputation that 

 might be envied even on Great South bay. A fisher of 



Courtesy the National Geographic Magazine 



THE MASTER FISHERMAN AND HIS AIDES 



Photograph by J. C. Dowding 



First cousin to our double-crested cormorant, or shag, these queer looking birds of China and Japan are invaluable assistants to the fishermen, 

 for they do most of the laborious work in connection with a prosperous and thriving industry. 



The native fishermen breed their own birds as a rule. 

 The first bird of the team or corps is caught with the use 

 of decoys set in trees frequently by the birds and bird 

 lime smeared upon the surrounding branches. After 

 one bird has settled and becomes a prisoner it is placed 

 among the bushes, decoys are removed and other birds 

 are caught in the sticky lime. The birds taken are young, 

 being caught in early winter on the coast on their first 



the second grade is amidships, handling four birds. Be- 

 tween the fishers is the fourth man, called kako from 

 the bamboo striking instrument of that name which he 

 uses, whose sole aim is to make the noise and disturbance 

 necessary if the birds are to be kept at work. He helps 

 out by shouting, caring for extra apparatus and lending 

 a hand where needed. 



Each cormorant wears at the base of the neck a metal 



295 



