14o 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



The exportation of funori is a .small business, the shipments at the present time 

 being valued at only $1,500, although they have at times reached S3, 300. The 

 countries supplied are Korea, China, Asiatic Russia. Russia, England, and France. 



KOMBU. 

 NATURE AND GENERAL IMPORTANCE. 



Under the name of kombu the Japanese recognize various kinds of food made 

 from kelps. This is one of the most important of the marine vegetable preparations, 

 the annual sales in Japan and China being enormous and steadily increasing, espe- 

 cially in China. Some of the products have occasionally been sent to the East Indies 

 and San Francisco; but the sales in America are reported to have, been small, and it 



Laminaria longipedaXis. 



Kelps used in preparing knmhu. 



Laminaria japonica. 



i_ 



may be said that kombu is as yet unknown outside of Asia. Although not so valuable 

 as kanten, it is really more important to the country, because of its comparative 

 cheapness and the numerous ways in which it is used for food; furthermore, the 

 gathering of kelp gives employment to more people than does the gathering of 

 Gelidium, and the value of the raw products exceeds that of any other kind of 

 seaweed. 



The manufacture of kombu dales hack to about 1730. The present methods are 

 very primitive, and differ but little from those of the eighteenth century. The 

 principal centers are Osaka, Tokyo, and Hakodate, the leading place being Osaka, 

 where in 1903 there were 45 small factories, each employing from 10 to 30 men, 

 women, and children. 



