Ainu Fishing Dogs
At earliest dawn, twelve of us started accompanied by about thirty dogs. But why so many dogs I couldn't imagine.
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Life with Trans-Siberian Savages by B. Douglas Howard, 1893.
At earliest dawn, twelve of us started accompanied by about thirty dogs. But why so many dogs I couldn't imagine. For some distance we kept the down-hill trail by which I had come, which I now found very easy, especially as they insisted on carrying for me everything I wanted with me. We then took another trail which left the saw-pit far to the south- west, and in about four hours came upon a little bay of the Gulf of Tartary, which they did not often visit.
It was a wild scene, with many rocks about the promontories, but the water this fine morning was almost as blue and beautiful as the Mediterranean.
The beach too was pure sand and very gently shelving, so that one could wade out a long distance without getting out of depth. Being allowed to go out with shoes off in one of the birch-bark and bear-hide canoes which paid out the net, I saw a sight, the like of which I have never heard of so near the shore in any other waters.
Looking straight down from the shady side of the canoe, the bottom was distinctly visible, while from under the canoe, the frightened salmon-trout were swimming seawards in such numbers, it seemed as if it would be difficult to drop a stone into the water without striking one. With large boats which could have gone far out, and with a very wide, strong and long net, the haul which could have been made would simply have been as great as ever the nets could hold.
With even our scanty net and haphazard method, we brought ashore the first haul, I should think over two thousand fish, weighing from about four to ten pounds apiece. I had previously seen shoals still larger than this off Korsakoff, but on inquiry since, I was not surprised to be told, that in no other part of the world are salmon-trout so amazingly plentiful. While some of the Ainus were sorting this haul and preparing to bury what they could not carry the first journey, I went farther along the shore with the others, who seemed to be having under way some sort of project with the dogs.
From the time we started, I was puzzled to guess what they could be taking thirty dogs with them for, and my curiosity now kept me very closely on their track. I was soon to be well repaid for my trouble. At a certain point all the men and dogs came to a halt. Half the dogs and men then moved farther along the water's edge, about two hundred yards.
At a concerted signal the dogs were started from their respective points and swam straight out sea-ward in single file in two columns. At a wild sharp cry from all the Ainus, the right column wheeled left, and the left column wheeled right, until the head of each column met. Then at another signal, all of them swam in line towards the shore, advancing more and more in crescentic formation. As they neared the shore, increasing numbers of fish appeared in the shallow water, frightened forward by the splashing of the advancing column of dogs, which, as soon as their feet touched bottom, pounced upon the fishes as quick as a flash.
The dogs promptly brought the fish which they had seized to their masters, who cut off their heads and gave each dog the head which belonged to him, as his share of the catch. The dog which caught nothing, got nothing.
I believe this dog drill of the Ainus is entirely unique. It is all the more remarkable too, as the dogs, many of which have been captured from the forest, are still half wild.
Howard, B. Douglas. Life with Trans-Siberian Savages. London, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1893.
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