Mexico Missouri message., 1905-11-23
NO HUNTING IN JAPAN.
Game Is Very Plentiful There, But
the Natives Care Nothing for
the Sport.


Men often ask me about the sport OBJ
tainable in japan, and so with respect
to this It may not come amiss II here
explain. Hunting such as the people
Of England and Ireland understand
by that term, is absolutely non-existent
in the land of the mikado. Foxes, deer
and hares are plentiful enough, but Jap
ans natural features and the methods
of agriculture followed by It's farming
classes are all, and most uncompromis-
ingly, too, against It, says Toxic cor
respondent Of the London Field.
OF candidates for the rife Japan pos
sesses quite a respectable number.
among them three species of bears, the
wolf, a species of stag, another Of ante
lope, and, II It is permissible for an old
Anglo-Indian to place him in the same
category, the wild boar All are, how
ever, scarce, and getting soarcer yearly,
and 1t certainly would not pay anyone
to make extensive preparations for go
ing in search Of any Of them, for,
though the Aino, that extremely hairy
aboriginal of Japan, hunts them all as
to stranger to do likewise, and as for
the Japanese hunter, he is the most pit
iful of shikaris.
And then again, the slightest devia-
tion Of foreigner off the beaten tracks
! of foreign travel in Japan is more likely
than not to lead to unpleasantness for
him, for suspicion of foreigners and
their motives is one Of the leading and
worst traits in the Japanese character.
Not being sportsmen or travellers in the
same sense and from the same motives
as the English-speaking people are,
they cannot understand why anyone
| should spend his time in pursuit Of OBJ
| jects which-to them, at least-bring
no tangible results. To travel they have
no objection, but only do so to see places
| of interest and with some very definite
object in view, such as for the spying
out of foreign land or for the gaining
of knowledge upon a special subject.
To revert, however, to the wild game
Of Japan, it is a pity indeed that matters
are as described, for the bears of the
land are unique, as we'll from the
point of view of the enormous size,
strength and fierceness of one species as
from the diminutivness of another
The first is great carnivorous brute, o
sort of grizzly, who makes nothing of
killing and carrying off fourteen-hand
pony. Next to him comes black beast
very much like the sloth bear of India,
and last of all diminutive little brute
scarcely larger than a good-sized span.
Tel, exceedingly shy and seldom seen.
The wolves of Japan are scarce, cow
ardly and Of little account, and found now
only In the extreme northern parts Of
the empire. The stag is about the size
of and in make and shape and habits,
too, like the fallow deer of England and
Scotland. The little japanese antelope
must be very near relative indeed of
the jungle bakri of India, possessing,
as he does, the same general appear
ance and shy habits.
The wild pig of Japan appears to be a
domestic pig run wild; indeed, have
seen herds Of Manchurian and Nom
golian swine, great black, hairy beasts,
driven through the streets of Picking, of
far wilder and fieTcer breed than any
| Win plB nave COlhC dClOoS III JdBuhs
The boars there are, however, of fair
size, but never so tall on the legs nor
with such fine tusks as the jungly sooar
of India. To ride one of them down,
as we do his brother of indie, would be
an impossibility, for, as it would be the
case in hunting so, too. in this spot
the nature of the country would be all
AGAINST anyone attempting to do so.