Collection and usage of kelps (Konbu) by the Ainu was studied on paintings (Ainu-e) portraying the manners and culture of the Ainu were created by Japanese artists who visited Ezo in middle Edo era to early Meiji era, such as Ezokoku-fuzoku-e (A portrating of the life of the Ainu in Ezo) by Teiryo Kodama (in the late 18th century), Ezoto-no-kikan (An amazing scene of Ezo Island) by Ogimaro Hatano (1760-1808), Ezofuzoku-junigatsu-byobu Rokugatsu (Scenes of the twelve months, June) and the unclear title by Byozan Hirasawa (1822-1876), and reports on cultural assets of the Ainu by Lifelong Learning Culture Department, Hokkaido Prefectural Board of Education (1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999). As a result, this study revealed for the first time that the Ainu usually harvested kelps by handling wooden long rod from a small wooden boat in summer season, and especially the Ainu in Hidaka and Kushiro districts reduced kelps dried in the sun on the beach to powder and ate it, in the end of the Meiji era to the Taisho era.