[1151] For these two stories, see de Thiersant, op. cit., VII. ff.
[1152] The earliest drawings represent Ebisu holding a red tai (Chrysophis cardinalis) in one hand, and a fishing-rod in the other. In popular sketches he is usually shown with a laughing countenance, watching the struggles of the tai at the end of his line, or else banqueting with his companion gods on the same fish. In placing a fisherman god among the Seven Deities of Happiness the Japanese display shrewdness of observation and skill in selection.
[1153] Williams, op. cit., I. p. 818.
[1154] In Chuang Tzŭ (translated by Professor Legge, and also by Professor Giles) a good deal about fishermen, but very little technical can be read.
[1155] Second edition (London, 1909), p. 390. Then on p. 250 there is a weird story of the goblins who ate the bodies of nineteen men drowned in the river, but spared the father of Wang Shih-hsiu, because he was a skilled drop-kicker in the football matches played on a mat in the middle of Lake Tung-t’ing. The ball was a fish’s bladder!
Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber, and is in the public domain.
Uncertain or antiquated spellings or ancient words were not corrected.