ff> o b t e i sia 



food for the Japanese and are exported 

 to China, the business amounting to sev- 

 eral hundred thousand yen each year. 

 The Laminaria fishermen use long poles 

 with forks or sickles at the end. With 

 these they wind up the long laminae — 

 sometimes forming belts a hundred feet 

 in length and two feet in width — down 

 to the point of attachment, when the 

 plant is either pulled from the rocks or 

 cut off just above the holdfast. The 

 laminae are then dried in the sun on the 

 sand beach, packed in bundles and bales 

 and shipped to the markets. The two 

 most important species commercially are 

 L. japonica (Shinori-kombu) and L. 

 angusta (Mitsuishi-kombu). The former 

 is broad, long and thick when folded ; 

 the latter narrow, short and stiff and pre- 

 pared in bundles, not in bales. The 

 smaller variety is used in confectionery, 

 while the larger is made into a tea 



