Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/386

Rh of Yedo, the law limiting the number of insect-dealers to thirty-six, was abolished." Whether the guild was subsequently dissolved the chronicle fails to mention.

Kiriyama, the first to breed singing-insects artificially, had, like Chūzō, built up a prosperous trade. He left a son, Kamejirō, who was adopted into the family of one Yumoto, living in Waseda, Ushigome-ku. Kamejirō brought with him to the Yumoto family the valuable secrets of his father's occupation; and the Yumoto family is still celebrated in the business of insect-breeding.

To-day the greatest insect-merchant in Tōkyō is said to be Kawasumi Kanesaburō, of Samonchō in Yotsuya-ku. A majority of the lesser dealers obtain their autumn stock from him. But the insects bred artificially, and sold in summer, are mostly furnished by the Yumoto house. Other noted dealers are Mushi-Sei, of Shitaya-ku, and Mushi-Toku, of Asakusa. These buy insects caught in the country, and brought to the city by the peasants. The wholesale dealers supply both insects and cages to multitudes of itinerant vendors who do business in the neighborhood of the parish-temples during the en-nichi, or religious festivals,—especially after dark. 註