If I had to select one newspaper article that most clearly illustrates the distinctive aspects of the people and culture of Japan, it would be this report in the English-language version of the Asahi Shimbun on kingyo sukui. You’ll find a uniquely Japanese nugget in just about every sentence.

You might recall from our most recent Matsuri Report that kingyou sukui, or goldfish scooping, is a common pastime for children at summer festivals. Scooping up goldfish would seem to be pretty straightforward—stick the scoop in the trough, swirl it around a bit until you catch one, and take it home and put it in a bowl.

Nah. This is Japan. There’s always more to everything than meets the eye.

For starters, catching one is not as easy as it looks, and some varieties are more elusive than others. For the inside scoop on goldfish scooping, the Asahi spoke to Tomoko Yoshida. Mrs. Yoshida is not some giddy schoolgirl with time on her hands. She is the sixth president of Tokyo goldfish wholesaler Yoshida Seisuke Shoten, a company founded in the 17th century. Yoshida entered the business when she got married a half-century ago and took over management of the company when her husband died.

Here are some of the highlights of the article. It reads like a condensed history of Japan viewed through the lens of goldfish scooping.

• Goldfish are thought to have first come to Japan from China 500 years ago.
• They became popular among samurai and feudal lords for two reasons. First, they were used as food tasters to prevent assassination by poisoning. They also were appreciated for their appearance.
• The shop’s most prestigious customer in the old days was the Kaga feudal lord, head of the domain located in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture. His estate is now part of the campus of the University of Tokyo.
• Regular folks started to develop an appreciation for goldfish, and breeders created many new species in the latter half of the 1800s. These breeders were located in a single Tokyo neighborhood.
• Yoshida Seisuke Shoten sponsored a goldfish beauty competition in 1889. Winners were chosen based on such factors as the balance between head and body, elegant swimming, and proper scale alignment.
• Goldfish sales were banned in World War II and many breeds nearly became extinct, but they made a comeback in the postwar period.
• The company sells about 40 types of goldfish, with prices ranging from 50 yen ($US 0.44) to hundreds of thousands of yen apiece. They sold one ranchu, a variety of goldfish (photo), for one million yen ($US 8,900).
• The 11th annual national kingyo sukui competition will be held in Yamato Koriyama, Nara Prefecture, in August. Last year’s competition attracted 2,017 entrants. The champion was Chiharu Yoshida, who caught 57 fish in three minutes.

Tomoko Yoshida has grown fond of goldfish over the years. She remarks:

Goldfish are like children. If you provide clean water and feed them properly, they grow up on their own.

Here is the website (all Japanese) for Kingyo-zaka, a restaurant and café located next to the wholesaler. In addition to tubfulls of goldfish information, the site also provides an easy way to order the fish on line.

And as the Japanese Consulate in New York suggests, if you’re looking for a unique gift idea, you might consider Kingyo: The Artistry of the Japanese Goldfish, published just last October. The consulate says it is “a delightful visual tour of goldfish in Japanese art, design, photography and literature….Kingyo also includes a novella by Kanoko Okamoto (1889-1939), a respected author known both for her passionate temperament and the richness of her language. Published in 1937, the novella, A Riot of Goldfish, tells the story of the impossible love of a goldfish breeder’s son for the daughter of his wealthy patron. As his love grows into an obsession, he attempts to create a goldfish that will capture and reflect her beauty.”

Welcome to Japan, pilgrims…