Anatol Donkan explains the softening of fish leather

“These are tools for working fish leather – an anvil and a matching hammer. First, they would take the fish skin, wrap it up, and start kneading it. Then they folded the skin into a pouch so that no air could get inside. This pouch was placed on the anvil, and they beat it to soften the skin. They turned it over and kept beating it until the leather became soft. This is, of course, hard work – usually done by women. But men or young people also helped. They would check if the skin was soft enough, fold it again and again, and keep hammering it. In the end, all kinds of things could be made from the fish leather. For example, from four catfish – which can grow up to two meters long in the Amur River – they would make a pair of trousers. The tool shown at the bottom also serves to soften fish leather by pressing it. It’s shaped like a mother beaver with a small beaver, and both of them help to make the leather soft.” (Video in progress)

Recorded by Erich Kasten. Viechtach, 2024.