Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/184

172 Murray's Handbook. Then there is the well-known cormorant-fishing, of which details are given on pp. 105-8 of the present work. The arrow-shaped fish-traps lining the shores of Lake Biwa are a curiosity calculated to strike any observant eye. So are the "fish outlooks" that dot the coast of Izu. Each of these stands on some lofty cliff overlooking the sea, where an experienced man keeps watch, and blows a horn to the fishermen below to draw in the large village net, whenever a school of albacore has entered it. A sight fascinating on account of the great dexterity involved, is that of the trout-fishers in some clear, placid streams, who simply land their prey with hand-nets. This may be witnessed on the waters of the Kitayama-gawa, just below that loveliest of spots, Doro-Hatchō. To such methods must be added the fish-spearing practised on many points of the coast, and the whaling off Kishū and Shikoku, the whales being sometimes actually caught in nets. The flies used by Japanese anglers should also interest the sportsman, being quite different from those employed by European fishermen. To an English eye the native method of fly-fishing will seem rude; but it is justified by its results.

 Flag. The Japanese national flag (Hi-no-Maru) is a good instance of Amiel's axiom that "nothing real is simple." The sun upon a background,—why should not the idea have been hit upon at once by the inhabitants of this "Land of the Rising Sun?" And yet, when we come to look into the matter, we find this apparently obvious result to have been evolved from a strangely complicated set of ideas, slowly changing through the centuries.

It seems that, from time immemorial, the Chinese Court and army had made use of banners adorned with figures founded on astrological fancies,—the Sun with the Three-legged Crow that