Introduction Most inspiration and information for this article was discovered while traveling and living in Japan

during 1992-95. I became especially interested in hemp as a globally sustainable crop option after witnessing the clear-cutting on Vancouver Island during the Clayoquot blockade actions in 1992. I quickly began looking for ways to find solutions. After exploring around north-central Europe for a while, I went from my B.C. homeland to Japan. I first settled in Yazu-gun, Tottori-ken on the San-in (Sea of Japan) coast on South-Western Honshu where I lived in the mountains and cultivated kinoko (fungi). Mostly Shiitake and Enokitake.

I made my way around the rural areas in the Kansai, Chugoku regions of Honshu and then traveled a portion of the O-henrosan Odori ("the pilgrim's path") a series of 88 temples and shrines on the island of Shikoku. On my second journey, Misa Nakanishi and I traveled North along the San-In coast and spent the harvest season in Nagano-ken near the Japan Alps, living and learning the old ways from a variety of farmers, artists, crafters and hempsters. It was in this area where I began to really understand the depth of hemp's history in Japan as this was a hemp producing region until a few decades ago. During that trip I also visited the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb museum and learned some of the

reasons for modern Japan's laws and how they came to be. Soon after, while living on Micronesian Islands, I continued my inquiries into cannabis and Japanese culture, especially in Palau and Yap which were occupied by the Japanese from for several decades until the end of WW2. I continue to pursue research into the history, usages and the potential of Hemp in Japan and invite all info, inquires and ideas.

Enjoy Knowledge Dave Olson, Olympia, WA Cascadia, 1997 HEMPEN CULTURE IN JAPAN Nihon, has long been a land of mystery to outsiders. Though isolated from the world's progress for thousands of years, Japan still managed to import and reinvent the wisest ideas from other lands, turning them into something all their own. Hemp is no exception. Yet the passage of time caught the persistent cannabis sativa plant in a confusing vise of tradition and modernization,sustainability and rapid expansion. As Japan begins to realize it's role as a global leader, hemp again rises from the shadows to greet the future in the Land of the Rising Sun. Hemp comes to Japan Since the Neolithic Jomon period, hemp grew in Japan. The term Jomon itself means "pattern of ropes, " which were certainly made of hemp. Archeological evidence places hemp seeds as a food source during this Jomon period (10,000 to 300 BC). (Marui)These hunting and collecting people lived a civilized, comfortable existence and used hemp for weaving clothing and basket making. (Mayuzumi) What isn't entirely clear however, is exactly when and how the seeds arrived in Japan. When considering this question, it is often difficult to distinguish the facts of history from the pervasive creation myths that make up the Japanese religion of Shinto. Some scholars insist that hemp was abundant in Japan before contact with China or Korea; however, impartial analysis suggests that, like much of it's culture, hemp was almost certainly imported and adapted by the Japanese from China. To better determine the journey that those first hemp seeds took, one can consider the examples of three other prominent imports which shaped Japanese culture and indeed became standards of Japanese civilization: Buddhism, wet-field rice and Washi paper. The history of paper is easily traced because it was written down on paper. The first real paper in known to have been created in China from hemp rags by a court eunuch,

Ts'ai Lun, from a mix of old hemp rags and mulberry bark in around 100 A.D. Experiments using silk and bamboo had been ongoing for a few decades, but most writing was done on small wood panels. (Hughes, 40) Paper isn't recorded into the historical record of Japan until the 7th century A.D., when Korean priests and monks delivered this new technology to the Imperial palace in 610 A.D., along with Buddhism and the acceptance of the Chinese writing system. The paper that the Korean monk, Doncho, produced for his royal demonstration was made from hemp rags and mulberry bark, as in the Chinese tradition. The Japanese copied his technique; the skill spread rapidly throughout Japan, with over 80 subtle varieties of paper being made throughout Japan within 50 years. This certainly suggests hemp must have been already long domesticated, to keep up with this rapid growth of papermaking fueled by the spread of Buddhism and the new form of written communication. Evidence of that vital period of Japanese history is owned by a Nihonga painter named Haneshi. He possesses a piece of brown and slightly brittle, pure hemp paper, dated at 770 AD. It is still intact and he keeps it in a box with a small piece of rare incense. (Hughes, 165) It is clear that by this point in history, Korea and Japan had had a long established relationship, since Japan maintained a territorial foothold on Korea in the fifth and sixth century. Furthermore, there were numerous ships traveling between China, Korea and Japan exchanging new ideas and information even before this period. Another Japanese staple, wet-field rice, made its way from the Middle Kingdom to Japan around 300 BC. (Rathburn) The seed stock first went to Korea, then was brought by traders across the narrow but rough channel to Shimonoseki, Japan's southern island of Kyushu which is the closest point to the Asian mainland. It is probable that hemp made the same voyage before or around the same time. There are reports of seeds from prehistoric periods that have been uncovered on the island of Kyushu (Marui) which would suggest this passage definitely took place before the common era; yet scientific dating techniques would have a hard time putting an accurate date on such a small artifact. In support of that theory, a cave painting found in coastal Kyushu depicts tall stalks and hemp leaves. It too is from this Jomon period, and indeed is one of the earliest artworks uncovered in Japan. The richly colored painting depicts several, somewhat strangely dressed people in baggy short-pants and tall curved hats. Horses and ocean waves are also clearly rendered in the cave art. In all, the picture seems to depict Korean traders bringing a plant by boat. Along the stem of the plant are small pairs of budding leaves or branches. The plants themselves are tall and at the top are large, distinctive, seven-fingered hemp leaves. (Personal Collection) Surrounding the top of this hemp plant figure is a sunlike aura suggesting the connection between the sun and hemp in Shinto and strikingly similar to the hieroglyphic carvings from Mediterranean cultures which show a similar sun/hemp motif. (Bennet)

Hemp in Japanese history As time went on, more people arrived on Japanese shores from China and Korea, some to trade,

many to settle, in all taking Japanese culture on to another period. This Yayoi period produced major changes in Japan as "foreigners" imported more advanced practices and quickly made the indigenous Japanese adapt their ways. Most significant was the spread of agriculture and clan-like social arrangement. The people of these times lived in patriarchal groups and wore clothes made of hemp and bark, a technique which continued on for hundreds of years. At this time also the complex Shinto system of multiple patriarchal deity developed, as numerous clans each adopted a patron saint. (Hooker) By that time, hemp had successfully adapted to the Japanese climate and spread throughout the latitudes. Even on the northern island of Hokkaido, the indigenous Ainu made their colorful costumes from the fiber during the Yayoi period around the 3rd century AD. (Constantine) Thus, hemp was already a well-established crop in many parts of Japan by the time written language was commonly used, and the first "official" recorded history appears as the Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan), published by Crown Prince Shotoku in 710 AD (soon after the introduction of paper making, Chinese writing and Buddhism). Trade and communication between China, Korea and Japan faded over the next few centuries as each country led it's own secluded path. Japan did continue for a while to send scholars and students to learn medicine, agriculture and science from the Chinese and bring the best of it back home, including the Kampo (Chinese medicine) ancient pharmacopoeia developed by Lao Tzu. This system of health and treatment utilized many forms of the hemp plant to treat a variety of illnesses. A translated account reads "Hemp preparations are especially used as a laxative, to treat asthma & poisonous bites, worm animals, counteract skin ailments and as a general tonic to promote vigor. "(Drake) During these centuries of feudal society, a leader emerged named Hideyoshi Toyotomi. He came from a typical village to unite Japan. An account of his growing up goes into some detail on daily life in the 1500's.: "The village of Nakamura lies in the rich farming country of southwestern Owari in the delta of the Kiso River. Cotton, hemp and rice were cultivated there during Hideyoshi's day by a comparatively well-off community of peasants, many of whom owned their own land." During the feudal era, hemp cultivation was encouraged by the Daimyo (feudal lords) wanting hempen-ware's high resale value from the wealthy city merchants who favored hemp for making fine clothing. This brought economic strength and power to the Daimyo of the area (who were often in debt to the merchants) (Stearns). The merchants had an interesting and much maligned position in feudal society. They were ranked near the bottom of the ladder but by building "unions" and creative marketing, they were soon the wealthiest class. The Samurai forbid themselves to handle money as it was unclean and despised and feared the merchants because of there increasing wealth. The merchants again learned the use of money from foreigners. "Merchants dealt not in rice but in coin, and utilized four metals: gold (oban, koban, ichibu kin), silver (chogin, mame-ita, monme), copper (zeni),and iron. They had square holes in the center based on the Chinese system, and were carried on strings of hemp." (Hidden Variable) (note: the 5 yen coins still have a hole in them left over from this practice) During this time, Japanese agriculture and social structure continued to change despite lack of new influence from outside sources. Indeed as the merchants and daimyo feuded, the farmers started to "unionize to sell their hemp directly to the markets in Edo (old Tokyo).

"Cotton was not grown much before the Muromachi period and then it seems to have been confined to mainly to Eastern Japan where growing conditions were not particularly favorable. Toward the end of the 16th century, however cotton found its natural habitat in the Kinai, thereafter the production of raw cotton very rapidly increased . . . The hemp cloth industry of Uonuma county in Echigo Province provides an example of a different kind. This industry dated back to at least the Nara period, when taxes were party paid by the cloth. But the industry here achieved no considerable growth until certain innovations in bleaching and weaving were made toward the end of the seventeenth century. After that the output of hemp cloth increased from about five thousand rolls to about two hundred thousand roll annually until the end of the eighteenth century. By this time, local sources of raw material were no longer adequate to supply producers and hemp had to be imported from Aizu and Yonezawa." (Smith) While the farmers were supposedly given rights and privilege by the Samurai, they were in fact kept poor, busy and occupied with the agricultural process which was very labor-intensive in low-tech rural Japan. Even then, space was at a premium and the farmers began terracing the hillsides (as learned from China). Hemp (along with silk for the wealthy Samurai class) was the primary source of clothing fiber until the 17th century when cotton was introduced. Cotton began to replace hemp as the fiber crop for the new urban working class because of high yields by heavy fertilizer use and development of mass processing methods.(Mayuzumi) Hemp continued to be used for a variety of specialized purposes, including the straps of geta (high wooden sandals), long-line eel fishing lines and packaging ropes (Mayuzumi), to name few. After short periods of limited trade with some European countries (primarily Holland but only on an off-shore trading zone) in the early 17th century, Japan once again closed the bamboo curtain solidly to the west. In 1853, American Commodore Perry and a fleet of black gunboats pried open the ports for trade and began a new era of change, trade and conflict. Inside, a still feudal, warring nation scrambled to take stock of the impact and learn the secrets of these strange "bearded barbarians". Realizing they had been caught in a very vulnerable position, Japan embarked on an intense, rapid industrialization. In the ensuing chaos, the young Emperor Meiji was restored and the Samurai class dissolved. Massive, sudden change occurred in a short time, and a nation was restarted. This new Meiji era sparked a period of mutual bewilderment and competitive fascination, an awkward dance between the East and West that begat wonderful exchanges of arts, medicine and humanity, and the brutality of war and racism. Japan quickly engineered trains, steamships, silk factories and mining operations, surpassing in a few decades the growth of industry that had taken Europe and America close to a century. Shortly after their hasty ushering onto the world stage, Japan sent its first diplomatic mission to USA, sailing across the Pacific only four years after first seeing a ocean going vessel. Among the crew, serving as the Captain Kimura's personal servant and translator, was Yukichi Fukuzawa. He tells in his account of the journey about the crew all receiving a pair of hemp sandals to make the passage. He goes on to say that some crewmen were a bit embarrassed when they arrived in San Francisco and saw how different their footwear and customs were: "All of us wore the usual pair of swords at our sides and the hemp sandals. So attired we were taken to the modern hotel. . . Here the carpet was laid over an entire room and upon this costly fabric, walked our hosts wearing the shoes they had come in from the streets! We followed in our hemp sandals." (Fukuzawa) Young Fukuzawa went on to found Kieo University and inspire Japan's new educational system. His face is now on Japan's 10,000 Yen bill.

Regardless of the fact that Japan had become a member of the world community, the country's farmers still bore the brunt of the labor, working long days in treacherous conditions to supply essentials for an increasing urban population. From the humid summers to the freezing winters, hemp provided rugged and functional clothing. In the Meiji and Taisho eras (19th century), country-people continued an ancient technique, combining hemp fiber with other plants like seaweed and broom-straw to make circular, pointed hats which the wet mountain snow would slide right off of. (Seattle Asian Arts) These hats are really more of a solid helmet of hemp fiber intertwined with seaweed, perhaps to let the snow slide off the sloping, conical peak. The farmers also utilized similar materials in making pack-like, back support pads for hauling heavy loads down steep mountainsides. The crafting skill of the traditional artisans endures; the term for this is You no Bi . (Seattle Asian Arts) This tactile feeling of "beauty in utility" evokes a sense of the rugged simplicity and deliberate, elegant workmanship that blends so well with the hemp aesthetic. During this same era when country people fashioned rugged workwear, the textile artist continued using hemp to a different end. The skill of the Japanese textile makers is seen in hemp kimono (traditional clothing) worn especially in the summer. Hemp became a somewhat exclusive fabric used for special garments and upper classes. Hemp's durability allowed the same fibers to be reused several times for recycled clothing, rags and finally paper. As class structure made labor-intensive hemp unreachable for many, they tried to imitate the properties with cotton. Before the introduction of cotton to Japan, hemp fiber had already long been in use for the weaving of cloth. (Hughes, 77) In fact, the summer cotton kimono, the yukata, was the common person's adaptation of the yukatabira (absorbent hemp bathrobes) the wealthy wore to and after soaking in the hot springs. (Mayuzumi) Hemp in Religion In the vast journey from India to China, the teachings of the Buddha were altered considerably, although on the trip from China to Korea and then on to Japan, the tenets remained undiluted. However, upon receiving this wisdom, the Japanese adapted and intertwined Buddhism with the traditional mythological religion of Shinto. Shinto is the ancient "way of the gods." A ritualistic expression of profound respect for the kami (the intrinsic god-like spirit) in nature. Plants, animals, rocks, trees all possess a sort of spirit or reverence which can be terrifying or peaceful. In Shinto, humans are always searching towards purity and responsibility which transcends the traditional religious sense and into day-to-day society. Shinto's creation stories tell of the islands that would become Japan rising from volcanoes and hot springs. God/dess figures descended to people the country with their direct descendants who are more cherished than any other on Earth. Purity and fertility are paramount concepts and from the beginning to the present, hemp is an essential symbol of both. In Kojiki (the Record of Ancient Matters) the story relates: After creating the country the primal pair consulted together saying, "We have now produced the great eight island country, with the mountains, rivers, herbs and trees. Why should we not produce someone who shall be lord of the Universe." (Kojiki) This first pair then begat the founding goddess-figure, Amaterasu Omi kami (Sun Goddess). She is

enshrined at the holiest of place, the Ise Jinja (shrine) along with the ancient sacred mirror Ameratsu gave to her grandson when he descended from above to reign over the eight island kingdom. At that shrine on the Ise pennisula, the special prayer given for the founding Goddess of Japan is calledTaima (cannabis). Further, hemp, salt and rice are the sacred staples that are used as part of all the rites at the shrine. (Yamada) Indeed hemp and mulberry fiber and cloth, and paper made from them, as well as salt, sake, and rice are offered to the gods at the Shinto shrines. This element of purity is stressed again as undyed hemp was an important part for the household of the new bride. This undyed hemp came to symbolize the womanly virutes of faithfullness, chastity and obedience. Like the undyed cloth, an old saying goes, the woman must allow herself to be dyed any color her husband chooses. (Hughes, 49) In a shrine ritual, a Shinto priest shakes a short wand with hemp attached called a gohei over the head of patrons in a cleansing ceremony. (Robinson) Originally the actual hemp and mulberry fibers were attached to a stick but eventually paper made from the same and cut into distinctive zig-zag strips and attached to a sakaki branch became standard. The priests dressed in robes made of a sort of starched hemp paper so as to be pure to perform these purification rites. (Hughes) Another Shinto tale tells that every October, all the dieties from around Japan gather at a sacred site in rural Shimane prefecture (Sea of Japan side of Honshu, south of Tottori) at Japan's largest jinja (shrine) called Iizumo taisha. During this month, the rest of the nation is left unprotected from calamity while the Gods hold a harvest and match-making ritual celebration. (JNTO) Shimane-ken is far out of the way of any urban center and, besides being "Home of the Gods," it was the home to bounteous hemp harvests up until about 50 years ago. Although initially widely accepted, Buddhism faded and didn't really gain widespread acceptance again until an enterprising royal adjusted it significantly to make it more inviting to the masses by combining the search for enlightenment a sense with Zen asceticism (again borrowed from the Chinese). At Shinto Jinja (shrine), and Buddhist Tera (temple) certain objects are symbolically made from hemp. For example, the leg-thick bell ropes must be hempen, as is the noren (a short curtain), which acts as a symbolic purification "veil", meant to cause evil spirits to flee from the body as the head brushes lightly under the short curtain. It is in death that Shinto and Buddhism mix into a braid. The relatives continue to visit the graves leaving offerings and praying in the Buddhist way. Yet at home, a family shrine with the departed's picture and memorabilia is tended in the Shinto tradition with claps, incense and worshiping the kami within. The Japanese wound paths around their country as they travelled long distances for salt, enlightenment and pilgrimages. In olden times, these wandering pilgrims and traveling believers were obliged to leave an offering of rice and hemp leaves to the path-side phallic-fertility statues of the Sahe no Kami (protective deities) before embarking on a journey. "These deities were represented by phalli, often of gigantic size, which were set up along highways and especially at cross roads to bar the passage against malignant beings who sought to pass . . . Standing as they did on the roadside and at cross-roads, these gods became the protectors of the wayfarers; travellers prayed to them before setting out on a journey and made a little offering of hemp leaves and rice to each one they passed." (Moore) In another old tradition, rooms of worship were purified by burning hemp leaves by the entrance. This would invite the spirits of the departed, purify the room and encourage people to dance.

An account of this event states: "On the first evening fires of hemp leaves are lighted before the entrance of the house, and incense strewed on the coals, as an invitation to the spirits. At the end of the three days the food that has been set out for the spirits is wrapped up in mats and thrown into a river. Dances of a peculiar kind are a conspicuous feature of the celebration, which is evidently an old Japanese custom." (Moore). This seems to coincide with a Buddhist "giving respect and making amends with departed ancestors" holy day. The current tradition at this August "O bon" festival involves the similar practice of first, travelling to the family plot, and then leaving offerings of the departed's favorite foods on the grave, perhaps to purify or satisfy the restless soul. At some point, the same hemp leaves were probably part of this ritual.

Partly as a politcal power move, Buddhism was assigned as the official religion of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the period (from1600 -1868). During this time, all citizens were obligated to register as members with one of the three main branches of the sect. (Religions of Japan, Monk) As time went on, various sects developed, chopping up and combining doctrines as they chose. In later years, the battle for reinstallment of the Shinto tradition and Emperor figure-head sparked a manic revolution that overthrew IIyesu Tokugawa's descendants. Zen and the Martial Arts Zen, the meditative, Taoist influenced branch of Buddhism was also influenced by hemp. Samurai (elite level of society, often warriors) and scholars who followed the subtle tenets express hemp's inspiration in arts like Haiku (short poems), Aikido (a martial art), Kyudo (archery) and Chanoyu (Tea ceremony). In these Haiku, the feeling of hemp is as clear as today, The wandering poet Issa Kobayashi writes: The grass around my hut also has suffered From summer thinness. Just when I hear The sundown bell, The flower of this weed. Basho the Haiku Master writes:

The grassHow wonderful it is! The summer drawing room. Trees and stones, just as they are Ah, how glorious! The young leaves, the green leaves Glittering in the sunshine! and one more (author unknown); When all things are hushed, suddenly a bird's song arouses a deep sense of stillness. When all the flowers are departed, suddenly a single flower is seen, and we feel the infinity of life. (All Poems quoted from Drake) Note about the Haiku translation: these poems were extracted already translated into English tfrom the original Japanese. While they seem to be an accurate representation of hemp, this author has not seen the original Japanese texts to determine the actual Kanji characters used.) A well-known children's adventure story tells about a technique used by ninja (stealthy assasins) to improve jumping skills. The learning ninja plants a batch of hemp when he begins training and endeavors to leap over it everyday. At first this is no challenge, but the hemp grows quickly everyday and so does the diligent ninja's jumping ability. By the end of the season, the warrior can alledgedly clear the full gorwn stand of hemp. (Mayuzumi, Masuda) This certainly attests as much for hemp's vitality as the ninja's leaping ability. From the southern islands of Okinamwa which are cuturally mixed of Japanese and South Pacific island culture, the skill of Karate emerged. In the Karate-do Kyohan (the book of the way of the empty hand ) it relates the feats obtainable by the Karate master: "A miraclulous and mysterious martial art has come down to us from the past. It is said that one who masters its techniques can defend himself readily wthout resort to weapons and can perform remarkable feats: the breaking of several thick boards with his fist. With his sword hand he can kill a bull with a single stroke; he can pierce the flank of a horse with his open hand; he can shear a hemp rope with a twist or gouge soft rock with his hands . . ." (Funakoshi) Kyudo (Zen Archery) has been practiced as a martial art since the early part of the millenium. Like other arts, its was inbued with Zen concepts and confusion principles of training and disipline. "the Japanese developed a bow that was much longer and stronger than those seen in Asia and Europe . It is recorded that a warrior who who happened to catch the enemy in ranks was able to kill three of them with the same arrow shot, go great was it's penetrating power." (De Mente) Not coincidently, the bow's string is specifically made of hemp. (Mayuzumi, Marui) which reflects a connection with the meditative practice of Zen as well as verifying hemp's toughness as a fiber. During an elaborate pre-bout ceremony called dohyo-iri, in Sumo (wrestling), the reigning Yokuzuma (grand champion) carries a giant hempen rope around his ample girth to purify the ring and exorcise the evil spirits. From the front of the belt hang zig-zag strips of white paper which are common religous symbol in Japan found hanging at Shinto shrines and in the small "shelf" shrines at home. (sumo guide) This purification continues even today, the 25-35 pound hempen belt being worn by Hawaiian-

born sumo champion, Akebono. (JW) It is interesting to note the use of salt in as a purifying agent in the ring as well which relates to Amatseru's shrine at Ise in which hemp and salt go together in purification rites. The Hemp Control Act Hemp cultivation came to a legal halt in the during the post W.W.II, allied-forces occupation. Allied troops lived in Japan and helped substantially to rebuild the nation battered by the destruction and poverty of wartime. The foreign troops were certainly surprised at the abundance of hemp growing both wild and cultivated. In 1948 when American General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur and his colleagues rewrote the Japanese constitution, they included the Taima Torishimari Ho, the Hemp Control Act. (Constantine) Ironically, it was the Japanese Imperial Army's invasion of the Philippines a few years earlier that acted as catalyst for USA's "Hemp for Victory" campaign to replace the Manila-hemp used by the armed forces.

Japan too relied on both domestic and Southeast Asian hemp crops to make uniforms, helmet linings and other war accessories for their Imperialist campaigns until WW2. With continued control, Western companies seized this new post-war market and offered new synthetic products to replace the traditional and the hemp plant was almost completely eradicated. Thousands of years of growth and breeding greatly diminished under an avalanche of post-war change. Despite the intents of the centralized government, hemp was still cultivated and growing wild in cities, especially along railways, until the mid-50's. (Mayuzumi) As was the case in other countries, most farmers had no idea that this outlawed plant "hemp," was the familiar crop they used for everything from bird seed to fine woven cloths. "First, you have to remember that most Japanese still believe that cannabis is a narcotic, and do not realize that it is the same plant as hemp, which was once as much a part of Japanese culture as

rice. In a mere half century, McArthur, with the Marijuana Regulation Law (Hemp Control Act), managed to totally wipe away even the memories of hemp culture, which endured for several thousand years after its beginnings in the Jomon Period." (Yamada) Asa still has a familiar sound to the Japanese people, most of whom just assume that it has just been replaced by new, better fiber. Fortunately, much information survives in art, books and stories. In the 1991, 4th edition of Japan's major encyclopedia, Kojien, the entry of Hemp (Asa) states; ". . . Ropes, nets, sails and textile for clothes and shoes are made from it. Annual plant of the mulberry family. Introduced from Central Asia. . . . Leaves are long and 5-9 fingered. . . .Also, along with benihana (a type of ginger preparation) and ai (indigo) they make the "sanso" (three plants). Since olden times it has been cultivated all around the world. Hashish andmarijuana are made from Indian Hemp from India." (Kojien, JW) Hemp continues to grow in abundance as a weed in some areas where it was once cultivated as a fiber crop. Written and oral reports of expansive, wild and semi-cultivated crops of cannabis in the vast rolling hills on the cold northern island of Hokkaido have been substantiatedfor years, often by young city folk who try to harvest the rugged fiber for personal smoking use with little success and often legal problems. (Hiro, Masuda) In the current days, the police still place marijuana arrests as a high priority and especcially target foreigners who bring hemp in from other lands. In fact the Japanese jailed Paul McCartney for 2 Oz. in the early seventies and it was only with diplomatic pressure that he was released. The Shizuoka Prefectural Police department offers these definitions and information: "The abuse of cannabis has spread. The number of those arrested for cannabis-related offenses and the volume of cannabis resin (hash) confiscated registered a record high in 1995. Drug abuse is becoming widespread among juveniles, especcially young boys and teen-age stuedents. those under 30 account for 70% of all arrested.) Cases of large amounts of cannabis seized from foreign nationals visiting Japan have increased." Hemp in the Japanese Language In Japan's beautiful and bewildering language, hemp is expressed by a kanji (ideogram) character, also adapted from Chinese, and pronounced asa. Since the decline of cannabis hemp production, this term has become a sort-of catch-all term for replacement fiber crops such as Jute, Sisal, Flax Linen, as well as true Hemp making it a bit confusing. However in any dictionary or other languge resource, it is unmistakable that this asa character means cannabis. "There are so many ancient connotations to hemp, it's incredible. For example, that the Kanji for "to rub" consists of "hemp" and "hand". You rub hemp to get hashish." (JW) Referring to Cannabis Hemp more specifically is the word, taima. "Tai" (or "Dai") simply means "big," or "tall". Ma is the original Chinese reading of the asa kanji. As in other lands, hemp culture lives on too in through family names such as Asada or Asahara (hemp field) and given names like Asako (sweet, little hemp child) or Mamiko (sweet, hemp flower). The Japanese strains of hemp According to a USDA comparison studies, Japan's strains of hemp certainly were tall and big,

beating out European and Chinese strains. 1912 ". . . Japanese Hemp is beginning to be cultivated, particularly in California, where it reaches a height of 15 feet. Russian and Italian seed have been experimented with, but the former produces a short stalk, while the latter only grows to a medium height." (Dewey, Dodge) The USDA continued experimenting with Japanese strains with remarkable success. Growing in Virginia, a strain from Tochigi-prefecture even broke their height record. 1920: "The three best strains, Kymington, Chington and Tochimington [named after Tochigi prefecture in Japan] averaged, respectively, 14 feet 11 inches, 15 feet 5 inches, and 15 feet 9 inches, while the tallest individual plant was 19 feet. The improvement by selection is shown not alone in increased height but also in longer internodes, yielding fiber of better quality and increased quantity." (Dewey, Dodge) A clear estimate of how well these strains grew in their native soils under the care of talented Japanese gardeners is difficult to arrive at. Due to this, any definitive research on Japan's crop volume was destroyed in WW2 fire storms along with most government records. (Atomic Bomb Museum). Hemp in the Rural Areas Miasa-mura (beautiful hemp town), is located amongst the foothills and valleys in the shadow of the Japan's Northern Alps in Nagano-prefecture (north central Honshu, the largest island.) It is one former center of cultivation. When asked how much hemp used to grow in this region one farmer responded by saying, "Do you see these rice fields?" pointing to the vast checkerboard of rice fields we'd been cutting and bundling, "before the war, we didn't grow rice here, we grew hemp."(Kondo) In 1998, this area will host the Winter Olympic Games and perhaps this hemp heritage will receive some global exposure. Miasa town's brochure features the distinctive seven serrated edge hemp leaf. The town educates visitors with a hemp and flax museum and spinning equipment on display. (Personal Records)

Many residents in the town are anxious to resume legal hemp cultivation and are frustrated by the long and always unsuccessful application process required. However, a variety of hardy strains of free-growing hemp continue to abound in the quickly shrinking back-country. Most of this is wild but some is cultivated for use by farmers continuing on the old ways.(Inoue) In this area of Nagano-prefecture, the local government administers the growth of one or two closely monitored hemp fields of exactly one thousand plants grown at a different location in rotating villages (Miasa, Ogawa, Shinshushimachi, Omachi, Nakajo) in the gun (county) every year. The local authorities count the plants at the beginning, during and end of the growing season to ensure that no hemp has been taken. The hemp fiber isn't used at all, in fact, after the plants mature and bear seeds, the seeds are harvested to maintain a fresh seed stock in the town coffers and the hemp crop is burned completely in the field. (Gruett) Certainly a waste of seed but at least the acclimated strains aren't extinct as has happened in other countries. In that same area, an American expatriate farmer and craftsman has stepped back a few hundred years and "reopened" a village. The hamlet of Gonda was founded about 600 years ago by monks who stayed on when they found a clear water spring in this secluded mountain valley. The area thrived as a farming community for several families, probably mostly unaware of the changes occurring in their nation which was far away as the several day long hike to the village to trade for salt. As Japan entered into foreign wars and skirmishes, young people were drafted from the farms to fight for the Emperor, and many never returned. This migration went on and off for close to 50 years with wars all around the Pacific and Asia. In the post-war poverty, poor country people migrated to the cities to seek work where many were exploited into deplorable working conditions as a nation rebuilt chasing the strengthening Yen. Any people left in the villages, split to the city when the economic boom began. Most fled the rural life except for the oldest child of each family who must remain to carry on the family traditions, maintain the graves, tend the elders and run the house. A household bursting with long-living elderly and scant few workers. By early 1970's, Gonda was still half a century behind, no utilities, roads or services. A village with just old folks remained and the city officials removed them into city condos rather than provide infrastructure and services. For a decade the area stood vacant, silent, fading back into the hills except for an occasional relative, bringing ceramic saucers of sake and oranges to the graves. Retired from the Navy, Steve and his family resettled the village and homesteaded there, tending to the area and again using the bounty of the mountains. With hard work and smartly planned organic agriculture, Gonda's fields once again bloom with life. In their valley, there are discovering the rich agriculture history of the area.

When first arriving to the region in the early 1980's, Steve saw film footage from about 1970 of farm grandmothers hand-harvesting & retting hemp. The film showed the Grandmas pulling the long, fiber strands from hemp plants and shaking the seeds into woven baskets. The film was presented by a local school teacher in a town meeting to discuss the old ways. Old ways that are now illegal. Still in the forests and hillsides, wild and tended hemp continues to grow. (Gruett) The Emporer's Hemp Clothes On Shikoku (the smallest of the four main islands) hemp is grown for the use of the Imperial family. When Emperor Hirohito passed on in 1989, a coronation was held for the heir. The Emperor himself is regarded as a direct descendant of these Gods and acts as a sort of high priest in this pagan Shinto belief. Since Hirohito's son was also becoming the "living entity of God", there was to be a special Shinto ritual. In Shinto, as hemp is the symbol of purity, the new Emperor certainly had to wear hemp garments which had become unavailable over the course of his father's long rule. A group of Shinto farmers in Tokushima-ken had thought ahead and planted a symbolic yet subversive crop and presented the Emperor with his new clothes made of pure local hemp. (Gruett) (Bennet) They are still producing this hemp crop for the exclusive use of the Imperial family. Further, hemp is being grown somewhere in Nagano-prefecture for making the bell ropes, curtains and other essential goods for Shinto and Buddhist houses of worship. (KTO, Maeda) In this area, the hemp tradition lives on in festivals and dance. The Japan National Tourist Organization tells about this in their on-line brouchure of the area: "Oasahiko Shrine: Just walking to this quiet shrine is a lovely experience. On either side of the road are 400- to 500-year-old black pines designated a Prefectural Natural Monument. Several wonderful festivals are held here: shrine dances (kagura) by shrine maidens on lunar March 2 to pray for abundant crops, a lion dance

(shishi mai) in November to honor the god who brought hemp and cotton to the province; and at the lunar New Year kimono-shaped papercutouts (hitogata) that are procured at the shrine office are floated down the shrine's crystal stream in a symbolic exorcism. " Cloth, Paper and the Arts Cannabis sativa L. is also a ingredient in making washi (finely-made papers). (AJHWA) These traditions are confirmed by a modern, commercial paper corporation: "A.D. 105 - Paper as we know it was invented by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official. It is believed that Ts'ai mixed mulberry bark, hemp, and rags with water, mashed it into a pulp, pressed out the liquid and hung the thin mat to dry in the sun. Paper was born and this humble mixture would set off one of mankind's greatest communication revolutions. Literature and the arts flourished in China. A.D. 610 - Buddhist monks gradually spread the art to Japan. Papermaking became an essential part of Japanese culture and was used for writing material, fans, garments, dolls, and as an important component of houses. The Japanese were also the first to use the technique of block printing. " (Mead) Folks are still able to buy hemp clothing and household accessories that come from mostly China, Korea and now the US and Canada. Hemp and its breezy feel is particularly favored as summer apparel in the muggy heat. The domestic Japanese hemp is especially finely woven and some weave have a sheer, crepe quality is unlike anything else in the world. Portland, Oregon dye-master, Cheryl Kolander has several exceptional pieces featuring subtle patterns and the finest denier weave of any hemp available.

Often dyed in fermented ai (indigo) vats, the fine, almost sheer weaves show the possibilities and versatility of hemp. Weaves so fine that the fibers looks more like raw silk or flax. Certainly, Japan's experience with silk complemented the spinning and weaving of such fine denier thread into a more usable fabric than the silkworms'. (Kolander) Occasionally, some domestic makes it to the market place where is sold by international high-end silk fabric dealers in obviously very small quantity. Amounts, suitable only for collecting and research and not as a commercial venture of consequence. (Kolander) Kyoto has always been the center of art, humanity and spirit of Japan and because of some welltimed encouragement from a US Diplomat, Kyoto was not significantly bombed in WW2. (Atomic Bomb Museum) Thus the traditional textile arts carried onin the Old Capital.

Artists here still continue to use hemp cloth for making sheer woven cloth, hand dyed curtains and screens, paintings and quilts. These arts often specifically require hemp cloth as it works best with the natural dyes and wax resist methods of design. (Tomoaki) Obtaining true hemp is difficult and the replacements simply do not perform as well in the field or in the studio. The same artist who owns the piece of ancient hemp paper comments on how he obtains his stock: "I am very strict in my selection of paper because they are so vital to my work. Each artist must select his paper according to his own taste. Because I am well-know, I have no difficulty obtaining good papers, fortunately. Like most Nihonga (Japanese as opposed to Western technique) artists, I use mashi (hemp paper) There are many kinds of mashi even today, differing in character depending on where it was made. It is possible to find huge sheets of it." A common pattern in fabric is the traditional asa no ha (hemp leaf), where the seven blades of the leaf intersect forming a mandala like pattern. This pattern is often seen in curtains, quilts and kimono. (Yasuko) (Personal Collection)

This pattern is commonly seen in painting depicting the "floating world" of Geisha. The colorful art prints of the day often depict the subject's kimono with this geometric leaf pattern (personal collection) as well as relaxing and smoking a long slender pipe while between customers. Another interesting artifact from that world is a hair comb detailed with hemp and perhaps Japanese maple leaves. (JW)

In 1929, one of the most celebrated paintings of it's time, Shimizu's Taima Shukaku (Hemp Harvest) depicts farmers cutting down thick, dense hemp fields, surrounded by a vibrant valley. (Marui) This painting was a finalist for a kind of national "painting of the year" award from the government.

Wood cuts prints from a artistic agriculture grow book from 1979 show the same dense fields. The caption explain how one must walk through the fields to "ventilate" the plants. Other captions explain various, well-evolved processes including three step water retting technique and explain a means of bleaching by making alkaline chemicals like potash and caustic lime. (JW) Food and Medicine In contemporary Japan, ground hemp seed remains in the diet in Shichimi (seven spices) used for flavoring Udon noodles. Unsterilized hemp seed bird food is readily available too. While soy and rice have long been the nutritional staples, hemp seed was part of the diet, used mostly as addition to mountain vegetables or else as gruel. However, when the armies of the fuedal age went to war , they often subsisted on balls of ground hemp seed and brown rice gluten to keep them strong. In recent times, even brown rice has virtually disappeared from the storehouse in favor of processed foods and foreign dishes. Certainly, Japan's skill in soy foods like tofu and miso will adapt well into hemp which shares so many of the health benefits. The national government continues to maintain

its own private stash of seed and plants for posterity and experimentation. Since 1946, when hemp cannabis was in short supply due to the war, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Medicinal Plant Garden has maintained a seed stock and bred varieties of asa for research at a large, secure complex in suburban Tokyo. Given the Japanese knack for detail and research, it is certainly a valuable cache of information and genetics. The director, Torao Shimizu, maintains the plants are just to teach people what hemp looks like so they can dispose of it should it be found it growing in their area. (Lazarus, JW) While the original intent of the compound seems to have been to advance medicinal use of cannabis, this motive has been lost under a cloud of paranoia though the use of seeds for medicine is common information as mentioned in Kojien, Japan's major encyclopedia: "The seeds are used as bird seed and can also be used as a medicine (asashijingan) as a mild laxative. " (Koijen, JW) Contemporary Products and Entreprenuership Household accessories like washcloths, curtains continue to be sold, made from Chinese and Korean hemp. More recently, new hemp products from western hemp manufacturers are taking off. Given Japan's enthusiasm for traditional, rugged North American fashion, this will be a burgeoning industry should the restrictions relax. There are now several stores carrying hemp products including Earth Shop run by American expat Neil Hartman on the island of Hokkaido.

In Kyoto, a traditional hemp shop, Asakoji, continues to serve patrons since the1600's, surviving wars and prohibition. Perhaps more importantly, the store emphasizes the age-old connection of spirituality, art and agriculture the Japanese community a vital example of hemp in Japan. Their hemp noren sign boasts in Japanese "We only know about hemp but we know every detail." (Asakoji's sign)

At Taimdo (hemp shrine) in Tokyo, a hemp shop sells mostly imported hemp goods and is a center for activism and research. Citizens are increasingly using political means, as well as spiritual, to restore hemp cultivation in their homeland by distribution of information and products. As more international exchange takes place, cross germination of new ideas in business and activism occurs. This is bound to increase the markets in both countries. With resources like WWW making borders and time zones irrelevant and young Japanese entrepreneurs looking to expand into an exciting field, some American companies are beginning to reap the rewards from this vast potential. Changing the Laws Like other governments, the Japanese parliament continue to be hesitant and under-informed about the benefits of extensive cultivation. The actual current legal status still leaves opportunity for application to cultivate hemp. This is a frustrating lengthy, futile process as the government rarely issues permits. It has been so long that most civil servants respond simply with a blank look. (Gruett) For the first two decades, the law seemed to exist only on the books. Farmers still grew hemp for community uses and the law was not enforced until the outside pressures of "Internationalization," caught up. "Internationalization" is the closest translation of Japan's approach and attitude towards making a niche as a responsible, major world player. Continued American military and business occupation, coupled with internal government scandals and instability, made creating a international identity on it's own terms difficult for Japan.

The Hemp Control Act was first enforced in the harvest of 1967 when 20 stalks were seized from a farmer's collective in the Shinshu, Nagano region. (Yamada) The ensuing legal proceedings sparked the hemp liberation movement in Japan. In the early 1970s, the first modern hemp symposium was held at Kyoto University and a court challenge was filed to argue that the ban wasunconstitutional. The hemp movement became a struggle not only against hemp laws but against the pressing thumb of United States influence and the continuing occupation of Okinawa by military forces. Hemp conferences are now attended by a diverse group of lawyers, doctors, students, and farmers who are lobbying the government and encouraging research. In Iwate prefecture, an association of hemp farmers promotes a festival in which they invite the public to join in the harvest.. According to Haruko Oda, "we get more and more people every year who come to join in the harvest . . We cut the seven-foot high plants, blanch them in hot water and then burn the leftovers." (Young)

A Shizuoka lawyer who owns a coveted permit to cultivate cannabis for personal research has been representing marijuana arestees for much of his 20+ year career. He and his colleagues are also blitzing the mass media, publishing research and dissertations in popular magazines to encourage public education about hemp and its potential products. Hemp's potential as a building material is especially intriguing to this group who plan to construct hemp houses throughout their country, reducing Japan's massive importation of wood as well as showing a useful application of hemp. (Marui) Before 2000, Marui's group plans to call the Taima Torishima Ho (Hemp Control Act) for review to test its constitutionality. (Marui) If hemp is given fair time, this will have a resounding impact on this island nation and will certainly call the Japanese nation to debate at many levels. Even some government workers are owning up to Hemp's heritage, as a Health and Welfare spokesperson points out, "In the first half of the century, cannabis was a prescription drug for

treating asthma and other respitory diseases, but Japan was forced to adopt stricter controls due to international pressure. This means that under Japanese law, cannabis is treated as if it was as dangerous as herion or cocaine . . .although it could be said that cannabis is as addictive or miondaltering as alcohol." (Young) The Shizuoka Police Department ahs this to say about the mind-altering effects of cannabis, "The user may feel refreshed or have a sense of extreme well-beingand become very talkative. It affects all five senses and distosrts the normal sense of time and distance. It also affects perception, judgemnt and thinking. Habitual users of cannabis suffer from illusion or hallucinations. Sometimes they loose control to the pointof voilence or provocation." For these reasons, the police are made to crack down on marijuana users with the same zeal as they go after the Yakuza (organized crime families) who import and distribute Methamphetimine which is the most popular illegal drug in Japan. Current Agricultural & Economic Issues In a country of political indifference, the agricultural Co-op have been a vocal, organized political force since the fuedal period. Increased, low-cost crop imports, reductions in subsidies and difficult weather have made many farmers look for a change from growing rice year after year. This has also led to a reemergence of sustainable, organic farming techniques that will speed the implementation of industrial hemp cultivation and rejuvenate the tired soil. At several universities around Japan, research and test cultivation of low-THC hemp has occurred since the early 1990's. In Tochigi prefecture, a group has recently begun producing and marketing rugged, refined paper made from pure, domestic hemp. This handsome paper is available in limited supply and is being used for printing cards and book-covers. Shinshu University in Nagano is also cultivating but information is not widely published. Various projects are underway in Iwate and Fukui prefectures and on Hokkaido, showing hemp's potential in many latitudes and climates. In 1997 at least two permits have been granted to individual growers for crops in Shizuoka prefecture, much closer to the urban center of Japan. One permit went to a young farmer named Yasunao Nakayama who says, "I can hemp to make fibers and extract the oil Hemp and cannabis were used throughout the ages in Japan for clothes and as an herbal remedy. I'm just continuing that." The other permit to the lawyer Marui for personal research due his persistant legal efforts. Whether Japan will go the hempen path a kin to trading partners such as Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Canada remains to be seen. The US continues to operate military bases and maneuvers in Japan at the citizens financial and emotional expense. Heinous crimes and environmental filthiness makes this is a subject that is more infuriating to the populous in the 1990's than ever before. While under the protection of the Americans, Japan cannot exercise true sovereignty in making these vital decisions. As the threat in Southeast Asia settles, perhaps Japan will reaffirm its place as a regional leader and embark on a hemp cultivation program that will be a model for other Asian nations, just as Japan's economic growth provided an example, an example that many other Asian island nations are now emulating with staggering success. Japan is 80% forested much of that is in steep, sharp mountain ranges, an often startling fact to "Gaijin" (foreigners) who have never visited the scenic countryside of rural Japan. While Japan maintains much of it's own forests in a sustainable and responsible manner, companies and

consumers continue to be a major detrimental force in the wholesale destruction of foreign forests to feed its thirst for mass media publications and information. Particularly hacked are forests in Malaysia, Guiana and B.C where the majority is pulped into newsprint and household paper. Single use, concrete forms made from tropical hardwood are certainly excessive as well. During the economic gravy-days of the last few decades, the world's view of Japan has been obscured by a massive corporate face. Anyone can quickly name several well-known Japanese companies but its difficult to name a famous individual. There is little room for individual thought against the mainstream policy. This may begin to change as Japanese people continue a sort-of environmental reawakening. In 1991-2, Japan has also had to swallow its pride and for the first time import its national staple, rice. In seems years of subsidies and reliance of chemical farming methods resulted in massive crops failure when the rainfall was less than expected and the crops withered. While this importation of rice reduces the massive trade imbalance with many nations like Australia and US, Japanese citizens and farmers are not at all thrilled with buying and eating imported rice. Farmers will have to reconsider their techniques and costs to try to compete with the much less expensive foreign rice. Japan knows better than any trading country that once the trade gates are opened, shutting would take drastic measures. This has also begat a reemergence in organic farming techniques and return to heritage farming that will speed the implementation of sustainable, industrial hemp growth for the benefit of this island nation. With total dependence on foreign oil, crowded cities, toxic-patches of oceans, hazardous nuclear reactors, aging population, exessive golf courses and little farmland, Japan will quickly have to look for new options to carry itself into the next generation. Recently, Japan is starting to realize this and taking steps towards meaningful alternatives such as recycling and reducing consumption, especially with wood products. With Japan's skill at traditional arts of the land and soul, combined with their modern prowesses in manufacturing and mass-marketing, it will exciting and inspiring to see what new impact the hemp plant will make on the country's culture. As Japan realizes its role as a global model, hemp will emerge from the shadows to greet the future in the land of the Rising Sun.

Cannabis Culture in Contemporary Japan

Cannabis in Japan A vocabulary primer This Kanji is read MA in Chinese and represents two hemp plants hanging upside down from the rafters of a drying shed.

Asa = The Japanese reading for the traditional kanji character for hemp In the post war era, also refers to jute, sisal & flax as well as true cannabis. Taima = If you combine the character for big with the character for hemp, you get big hemp or cannabis sativa. The official word for the plant used on law act that prohibits its cultivation. marifana = Common slang adaption of the Meixcan/ American word for cannabis. choko= A modern Japanese slang for weed, kinda like ganja (which is also used) happa= Leaf A common used term used the same way as weed. kusa = Grass as in You got any grass? maku = The verb to roll. Try happu o maku Roll up some weed. dozo = This is the closest to say here, take this as you pass the joint. A polite word used in everyday use. happachu / happaboke = Weed junkie, used a bit lightheartedly sometimes as the suffix also refers for harder drugs. Cannabis Culture in contemporary Japan While smoking marijuana is not as wide-spread as in Canada, cannabis culture is certainly alive in contemporary Japan. The most popular drugs in fast-paced Japanese society are nicotine, alcohol and caffeine followed by Amphetamine in form of speed and ice. The Yakuza organized crime gangs run the trade and it goes on without the government paying much attention to it. In 1995, there was an increase to 19,400 arrests for speed. Compare that to a decreasing 1,500 for pot in 1995. (Young) Perhaps, the slanted priority is because of the Yakuzas wide influence throughout Japanese politics and business. Recently their is more cry for legalization to reduce the cash flow to the gangs as the usage increases. Says writer Nobuhiro Motobashi, The Yakuza are running a dirty trade in drugs which could be seriously damaged if you relaxed marijuana restrictions and at the same time tightened laws to catch hard drug traffickers. In my own experience, marijuana isnt that dangerous, not like amphetamines or cocaine. (Young) In the big cities, it isnt to hard to find buds or hash in small quantities. It is nonchalantly viewed as a trendy western drug to many casual urban users. Something you do a couple times before you get serious with your life. The chunks of hash are primarily sold by Iranians by the parks or train stations but the police are rounding up many of these suspects and deporting many for visa violations and minor infractions, in actions that often seem racially motivated. The commercial product comes mostly from the Phillipines, Thailand smuggled in by boats, the packages tied to off-shore buoys and passed off to the locals. Or from Hawaii, brought by smugglers posing as tourists.

In the mountains and country-side, the situation is somewhat better as the skills of growing are still practiced. Unfortunately it is hard to meet growers and smokers out in the countryside (thats why they live there). Several people I met there had moved from the big cities to homestead and grow in the rural areas. Due to the scarcity of equipment and the high cost of electricity, most crops are outdoors in clearings on steep hillsides in the dense forests. The genetics come from various seeds brought back from vacations to Thailand, Jamaica, Amsterdam or BC and then worked into the Japanese soil. Some growers in villages use small greenhouses alongside their house, hoping no one stops by to see whats growing. In Hokkaido there are still good-quality wild stands growing for those who dare to risk the police and go up to harvest. The police know this trick and station roadblocks during harvest season often catching people with their trunk full of plants. In these rural area, Cannabis Culture grooves on with an international twist. It is great to pass a bong around in a foreign land knowing that you are among folks with the same understanding of the plant as you. Especially in Japan which is so often seen as a crowded, neon, worker hive, it feels great to meet people living a life like yours in many ways. Same tunes, same thoughts, same ganja. One friend told me about Bob Marleys visit to Japan about 2 years before he died. Bobs entourage hadnt brought any weed with them to Japan so Bob was excited to meet this friend who was able to provide Bob with buds from his apartment closet grow system. Bob stayed at his apartment for a couple days and gave him a percussive gourd as a gift. The police still work along at catching the Cannabis smokers , especially as it is imported. A police spokesman says, Amphetamines are a big problem but we are enforcing the cannabis laws as rigorously as the other drug laws. (Young) The Shizuoka Police Department has pictures of seized smuggling devices like transistor radios and books and cite an increase in foreigners and Japanese caught importing large quantities. They also point out many strange reactions to smoking weed. Habitual users of marijuana of cannabis suffer from illusion or hallucinations. Sometimes they become over-excited and lose control to the point of violence or provocation. Their health deteriorates. (Shizuoka) Their report also quotes from a book called What is Marijuana, by Katsuo Kenmochi, Marijuana abuse cause disorder of time concept, confusing past, present and future. Addicts sometimes see what can not be seen, or sometimes see themselves as beautiful ladies, birds or animals. Sometimes they fall into a state of lethargy. (Kenmochi) The establishment also target famous people to defame the role models publicly. In 1995, one of Japans most popular rock singers, Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, was caught with under 2 grams of grass. He was jailed, fined millions, concerts canceled and had to publicly apologize. Remember this is the country that jailed a Beatle for a week. Japanese have also been at the other end of the rope as the Phillipines executed by hanging a Japanese convicted of smuggling several ounces of pot in the early 1990s . To be caught with smoking weed in Japan is a very big deal. Their justice system is efficient and precise at measuring out your sentence, no matter how much influence you have in some other country. Indeed there are many foreigners languishing away in Japanese jails who were caught bringing in a stash to get them by while they are living and working in Japan. At the border, both foreign and Japanese young people are often asked about and inspected for

weed. One technique used by the border guards at the airport was to have the customer turn his or her pockets inside out to see if their is any residue or pieces of bud. Perhaps safer then the airport border is sending herb by mail, some foreigners living in Japan have buddies back home mail a nugg or two hidden in a cassette tape case or similar device although this does carry inherent risks as well. It is a social stigma to be caught and many Japanese parents fret that if their child goes overseas to visit or study they will become either pregnant or start smoking pot and then not be a proper worker/citizen. Marijuana is considered as bad as any other drug and smokers are referred to as happachuu (leaf addict) the same as a junkie. For several years, Japan has had a working holiday visa arrangement with Canada, Australia and New Zealand so it has given many young Japanese a chance to explore the world and try many new things and then take their new foreign habits back home to share with their friends. To many young Japanese who feel stifled by the rigors of their society, Vancouver is known for good bud, snowboard and music. The demonization of cannabis is not part of the Japanese culture, says Hidehiro Marui a lawyer in Shizuoka referring to the Cannabis Control Act imposed by the US government in 1948. Hopefully, Japan can find a balance between the traditional uses of hemp and the international drug policies sponsored by US government and global industrialists. This will surely increase international understanding, exchange of ideas and lifestyle rights throughout Japan and the World. Bibliography Asakoji. Asakoji store. Kyoto, Japan. Translated by Misa Nakanishi. 1997. Atomic Bomb Museum. Personal visit to the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima, Japan.1994. Berry. Hideyoshi. Mary Elizabeth Berry, The Council for East Asian Studies, Harvard University Press.1982. Bennet. Conversation with Chris Bennet of Tofino, B.C. 1997. Constantine. Japanese Street Slang by Peter Constantine, Tengu Books, Tokyo, Japan. 1992. De Mente. Everything Japanese. Boye De Mente, Passport Books, Chicago, IL. 1987. Dewey. USDA Bureau of Plant industry, Report of the Chief: No. 26 by Lyster H. Dewey. 1920. from: http://pressenter.pressenter.com/~davewest/fiberwars/chp5fr.html Dodge. A Report on the culture of hemp and jute in the United States,. USDA Office of Fiber Investigations Report No. 8:7. 1896. from: http://pressenter.pressenter.com/~davewest/fiberwars/chp5fr.html Drake. Bill Drake. "The Cultivator's Handbook". Wingbow Press, Berkely, CA. 1970. Funakoshi. What is Karate? from Karate-do Kyohan by Master Ginchin Funakoshi. Kodanasha International. Thanks to JW. http://buho.dpi.udec.cl/Shotokai-Budo/ingles/kyohan/karakyoh.html

Fukuzawa. Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Translated by Eiichi Kiyooka, Columbia Univ. Press, NY, NY.1960. pgs. 112-113. Gruett. Personal Conversations with Steve Gruett of Gonda, Nagano, Japan (population 3). 1994. Hidden Variable. Arcata, CA "Japanese History, Exploring Japanese Fuedalism." 1997. http://www.holdit.com/hidden/japan/toc.html Hooker. Bruce Hooker, Washington State University. "World Cultures: Ancient Japan, Jomon & Yoyoi," 1996. http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/AncientJapan/AncientJapanYayoi.html Hughes. Washi, The World of Japanese Paper, pgs.40, 43,49, 51, 77, 107, 165, 171, 183. Sukey Hughes, Kodansha International Tokyo, New York and San Francisco.1978. Inoue, Kondo, Hiro. Gakujin Inoue, Poli Kondo, Hiro. Japanese farmers and artists in the Shinshu area with whom I learned and lived the old ways of Japan. Autumn 1994. JNTO. Japan National Tourism Organization, On-Line tour guide. 1996. http://www.jnto.go.jp/05regional/tokushima/experience.html JW. Personal Correspondence with Joe Wein of Kanto region, Japan. Joe Wein has a collection of articles and resources about Hemp in Japan and Germany on the WWW. http://www2.gol.com/users/joewein/hempjpn.html Kolander. Personal conversations with master dyer Cheryl Kolander. Portland, Oregon. "Hemp for Textile Artists" 1996. Kojien. (encyclopedia), Tokyo, Japan. 4th edition. 1991. Quoted after JW. Kojiki. The native creation chronicle of Japan. Quoted from "Religions of Japan." KTO. Kansai Time-Out (English Language Weekly), Kobe, Japan. June 1995. Article: "The Grass is Greener," Sim Andrulli. Article includes interview with Maeda Koichi. Thanks to Dominic Al-Badri. http://www.kto.co.jp/kto.html Lazarus. Japan Times, August 7, 1994. Article by David Lazarus."Sumertime and the Pot Farming's Easy." quoted after: http://www2.gol.com/users/joewein/hempjpn.htm Marui. Personal conversation and correspondance with Hidehiro Marui, lawyer from Shizuokaken, Japan in Vancouver1997. Also from Maruis book "What is the Ganja" & "Asa and Human Culture. thanks to Asada Yutaka. http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~IS2H-MRI/ Masuda. Personal conversation with Eiji Masuda, Tokyo, Japan. 1996. Mayuzumi. Personal correspondence with historian H. Mayuzumi, Tokyo,

Japan. 1996. http://www.ict.co.jp Mead. Mead Corporation, Dayton Ohio. "History of Paper," 1996. http://www.mead.com/mead/history.html Monk. A lecture by a Buddhist priest at The Evergreen State College, Cultural Transformation in Modern Japan program. Fall 1996. Moore. Religions of Japan by George Foot Moore. 1913. quoted after: http://www.calyx.net/ ~schaffer/hemp/hemprefs.html Rathburn. Beyond the Tanabata Bridge, Traditional Japanese Textiles, ed. by Wm. Jay Rathburn. Seattle Art Museum, 1993. Robinson. The Great Book of Hemp. Rowan Robinson, Park Street Press, Vermont. 1996. Seattle Asian Arts. Seattle Asian Arts Museum, exhibit on Japanese Textiles, 1996. Shizuoka Police. What is Marijuana? Shizuoka Police Department Headquaters Public Relations Section. 1995. Thanks to JW. Smith. The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan. Thomas C. Smith. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. 1959. pgs.77, 79. Stearns. Peter N. Stearns, Michael Adas, Stuart B. Schwartz. 1992. "World Civilizations: The Postclassical Era. Chapter 19: Spread Of Chinese Civilization - Korea, Japan, And Vietnam, The Era Of Warrior Dominance" Quoted after http://www.calyx.net/~schaffer/hemp/hemprefs.html Taki. A Handbook on the Art of Washi: A Collection of Questions and Answers. by the All Japan Handmade Washi Association. Mr. Chosuke Taki, chariman. quoted after Joseph Wu, http:// www.datt.co.jp/origami/Info/washi.html Tomoaki. Personal correspondence with Tomoaki Francisco Kimura, Kyoto, Japan. "(How to make an) Asa Noren examples by artist Kyoshi Kotaru." http://www.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/franz/noren2.html Yamada. Tokyo Observer magazine #15, "An Interview with Yamada Kaiya". This interview originally appeared in the December 1995 issue of Jiyu Ishi. http:// www.twics.com/~anzu/15-Hemp.html Yasuko. Yasuko Takeuchi is a Japanese quilterin Osaka, Japan. http://www.mimuclub.com/yasuko Young. Japan Hemp Growing Between the Cracks. Rueters. Stuart Young, Aug. 27, 1997. Quoted after http://www.hempseed.com Special Domo Arigato to: John Roulac, Joe Wein, Dave West, Rob Clarke,Sonia Nord, Lauralee Elliott, Charles Tomala, Eiji Masuda, Gyr Walker, David Moore and Misa Nakanishi. Dave Olson Giggling Piglet Projects "Creation, Education, Inspiration"