The island of Miyajima

As some of you might know, I am currently traveling through Japan with my mother and some friends. Today, we've visited the island of Itsukushima, better known as Miyajima.
I was quite surprised by the sight: a souvenir shop filled with paddles, great and small.
Apparently (at least according to Wikipedia), a local monk invented a new type of wooden spoon for scooping rice. This item has achieved fame and is now sold in stores in all sizes - usually with a scene from the island or with a message in Japanese writing. Some messages, like "domestic bliss" or "love" are quite suggestive I myself got a "victory" one.

The biggest spoon (you can take your picture with it) is about 3-5 meters in length. With this thing, the islanders could probably spank Godzilla into submission.

Try googling "miyajima spoon" for more information.

It seems like the island may be missing out on a huge potential export opportunity.

Have you found any Japanese spanking literature or other obvious signs of local interest in the "English vice"?

Fulgur. Thanks for this as I have a pic of the spoon your referring too in a slide show I have on Spank. Now if you can find yourself some 'pillow' books you will answer your own question. Yes they do have the tradition though I think they are more into sticks that look and act like cane's rather than the American Paddle traditions.

The rice paddle is a traditional Japanese kitchen utensil. They do make wicked spanking paddles but the average Japanese would probably never think of it in that context.