
The Japanese literature is of special importance. Because of language difficul- 
ties, most of it hae heretofore been unavailable to western ecientists and legislators. 
In addition to ita contributions to knowledge of the movements and habite of the fur seal 
and the hietory of the fur seal industry, it is of especial value here because it mirrors 
the Japanese thinking and viewpoint on the subject. 
This report will serve another useful purpose if its exposition of the paucity of 
the available data stimulates the more intensive researches needed to determine the fur 
seal's status in Asiatic waters. Future conferences among the nations concerned may then 
be enabled to reach a fair and equitable agreement on the management of the north Pacific 
fur seal resources. 
ANCIENT HISTORY 
The Japanese apparently have known for centuries the anima] naturalists today 
call the northern fur seal, Otoes ursinus (Figure 1), for their oarly treatises on natural 
history contain not infrequent references to it. These rare and fascinating medieval vol- 
umes, printed from meticulously 
and laboriously hand-carved wood- 
blocks, aro far more accurate and 
artistic than their European proto- 
typee, the 15th and 16th century 
herbals. While somes of the Japa- 
nese drawings and descriptions are 
equally fantastic, particularly 
those based on heareay or of mythi- 
cal aninals, those drawn from nature 
and described at first hand are 
marvelously true to life, and eas- 
ily identifiable today. 
However, the fur seal was 
of such little importance to the 
Japanese economy until the end of 
the 19th century, and its normal 
habitat was so distant from the 
ty ' ny te . early centers of Japanese cultures 
Heh he a a OS in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, that it 
TR a HS ‘ : _ was really familiar only to a few 
whi NG Tae Na. illiterate fishermen and adventur- 
Many as me Als ous tradere, who were hardly among 
Daan the contemporary literati. Hence 
aaa vis Hy AS . ite specific identity and etymology 
Jth aA ETENS ‘were not clearly defined in Japa~ 
nese speech cr writing until very 
recently. Early Japanese writers 
used a loose terminology that is 
frequently impossible to correlate 
with the context or pictures. 
Their early names for the fur seal 
seen to refer interchangeably to 
other sea mammals euch ae the sea 
otter, the hair seals, the sea 
‘tb sis 
4! "i " 
ae aM 
Ny \ 

; lion, the walrus, and even some of 
Wee te Ee 3» MALE the smaller cetaceans, Often the 
THE FUR SEAL animal they were writing about can 
be identified only by weighing the 
Figure l. ~ The fur seal, as shown in given biological clues carefully 
Investigation of the Fur Seal and Sea Otter in the light of present-day kmowl- 
(Bibl 48), p 80. edge. 
