The Fisheries of Japan 



209 



Photo by Hugh M. Smith 



Sprinkling the Sheets of Funori to Prevent Curling 



hand or stick or rake for any little fish 

 or shell or crab or bit of seaweed that 

 may serve as food. In Yokohama, where 

 I first saw this practice, swarms of poor 

 people appear on the beach at each pe- 

 riod of low water, and seldom fail to 

 carry home with them enough of the 

 bounty of the sea to serve for several 

 meals. Similarly, at low tide boats re- 

 sort to the marshes and bars for the pur- 

 pose of gathering any kinds of products 

 that may have been stranded or that 

 may be accessible by wading. 



The Japanese have many holidays and 

 festivals. One of the national holidays 

 is devoted to girls, and another, in May, 

 is the special property of boys. Besides 

 games and festivities in which boys are 

 particularly interested, a feature of this 

 holiday is the throwing to the breeze 

 from nearly every house hollow paper 



and cloth fishes, some of them 20 feet 

 long, representing carp and having a 

 special significance. 



The Japanese make many presents, 

 and it is the invariable practice to inseit 

 under the special cords with which a 

 present is tied a peculiarly folded piece 

 of decorated paper, within which is 

 placed a small, thin strip of dried aba- 

 lone. One of the most approved pres- 

 ents for New Year's day is a whole 

 dried salmon. 



Ingenious and important uses are 

 made of many products which with us 

 are mere curiosities. In a town near 

 Tokyo I saw a shop devoted to the man- 

 ufacture and sale of lanterns made from 

 the dried skins of swell-fish. In the 

 IyOO-choo Islands water snakes are a com- 

 mon article of food. They are prepared 

 for market by drying in an extended or 



