1. A Korean kite, with "crow's feet"; 2. A Chinese kite; 3. "Cuttlefish" kite from a Japanese drawing (1-3 after Culin); 4. Kite from the Solomon

Islands (from a specimen in the British Museum).

of the same month it is customary in Korea to write on kites a wish to the effect that the year's misfortunes may be carried away with them. A mother does this for a small boy, adding his name and the Idate of his birth. The inscription is written along the bamboo frame, so that it may not be readily seen by anyone who might be tempted to pick up the kite. The boys tie a piece of sulphur paper on the string of such a kite, which they light before sending up, so that when the kite is in the air the string will be burnt through and the kite itself blown away.

as a

It is evident that the kite is, in this instance, treated scape-goat," the goat of the Hebrews being replaced by a bird. In Japan kites are called “ octopus," "paper-hawk," "paper-owl," &c.; and in Korea the rectangular kites are provided at each of the lower angles with triangular pieces of white paper called the "crow's foot," and near the upper border is a disc of coloured paper, which probably is the vestige of an antecedent bird's face. (Fig. 36, No. 1.) All classes fly kites, from the king downwards. Women sometimes fly kites from their yards, but it is said that anyone can tell when a kite is flown by a woman.

In Japan the season for kite-flying greatly varies; in general it appears to depend upon the prevailing winds. At Tokyo it begins on the first day of the New Year, and kites are never flown at any other

season. On the other hand, at Nagasaki, kites are not flown in the first month, but the festivals for kiteflying are the 3rd, 10th, 15th, and 25th of the third month, the 3rd being the occasion of a "religious festival of dolls" (literally of "chickens," or "young birds").

On the 5th of the fifth month is the boys' festival. Streamers and small flags are displayed, and a large coloured carp of cloth or paper. This fish is respected, as it resolutely overcomes all the difficulties it encounters in its passage up the streams of the country, even ascending waterfalls; thus it is emblematic of what it is hoped will be the career of the boys. Models of helmets and warriors are also exhibited as expressions of the hope that boys may become great men. There is a distinct association of ideas between long flags and kites. The same day in other parts of Japan is an especial occasion for kite-flying. In the province of Suruga all the boys who can afford it have a kite on this day. It is considered very unlucky for a boy to lose his kite; should this happen, it is customary for search parties to follow the lost kite even for a distance of twenty miles, and those who bring it back are rewarded with presents of sake. It is recorded that a boy once lost his kite on the day of this feast, and a few months later he died. Girls never have kites. In this case it appears that the kite is regarded as a "life-token," or "external

R

soul," of the boy. But this symbolism is limited to certain occasions and places. In Nagasaki, when a kite escapes, no special effort is made to recover it.

The middle and upper classes in China indulge in the pastime in a desultory way; it is not with them a national sport, as with the Japanese and with the natives of the countries south of China.* The Koreans say that the Chinese do not know how to fly kites, and that when a Chinaman grows tired he will tie the string on to a tree and lie down and watch it. t

In Hong Kong the kite-flying season is the end of summer; but in some parts of China the ninth day of the ninth month has been from ancient times the great kite-flying festival, when paper birds and bizarre monsters flit, swoop, and hover in multitudes in the bright sunshine. (Fig. 36, No. 2.)

In the mountains of the province of Canton kites are flown in gangs.

"The flier dismisses a leash of three, united by three lines of a few feet in length. At the junction of the three ends he attaches a single line, which is dismissed a few feet farther in the air. Then raising another separate leash of three— similar in arrangement to the first-he ties the joined ends of the second leash to his main single line, and dismisses the second trio, the first trio being in the air beyond and above the second. He repeats the operation as many times * G. T. WOGLOM, Parakites, p. 9. + S. CULIN, Korean Games p. 12

as his stock of kites and his stock of patience will allow. He heedfully chooses kites which have been proven sidewise fliers, so that they may not foul each other; if a fresher wind attacks his exhibits, his painstaking is ineffective; they will swirl into a confusion of entanglement which would exasperate any but a Chinaman."*

To a very large extent kite-flying in China and Japan is now a simple amusement; but this is what one constantly finds in the history of ancient ceremonial customs. Mr. Woglom informs us that the Japanese have their kite-clubs with quite large membership rolls. One prominent club, the Shiyen Kwai, holds assemblies annually in January for consultation and to competitively decide upon new designs. Prizes for beauty of design and decoration, and for perfection in build and accuracy in flight, are competed for at the meetings, which are protracted for several days. The club meetings are held in Tokyo, and the flights are held in the suburbs.

The "Festival of the Cherry-Bloom" is a season for national sport. Old men, up to eighty years of age, after their tiring efforts in raising their pets into the heavens, and too feeble to stand continuously, are attended by servants with chairs. When travelling through a sparsely inhabited section, the rider will see ancient, mummy-like Japanese sitting by the roadside, perhaps upon a bamboo-pole support, contentedly flying and watching his kite hour after hour. * G. T. WOGLOM, Parakites, p. 9.