Collecting and Smoke-drying of the Lungless Salamander Onychodactylus japonicus in Hinoémata District

Abstract

Professional salamander collectors have worked in Hinoémata district of Fukushima Prefecture. They collect a huge number of the salamanders with a bamboo-made fishing apparatus called muiiri or uké in the breeding season. The salamanders are soaked and killed in a weak salt water, and are smoke-dried on spits. This work is carried out in a shabby hut built near the collecting place. Twenty smoke-dried salamnders are found into a bundle, and are sold for 1200 Yen as an aphrodisiac.