  We analyze the CLAS data on the photoproduction of hyperon resonances, as
well as the available data for the ground state $\Lambda$ and $\Sigma ^{0}$ of
the CLAS and SLAC-E84 collaborations, by considering constituent-counting rule
suggested by perturbative QCD. The counting rule emerges as a scaling behavior
of cross sections in hard exclusive reactions with large scattering angles, and
it enables us to determine the number of elementary constituents inside
hadrons. Therefore, it could be used as a new method for identifying internal
constituents of exotic-hadron candidates. From the analyses of the $\gamma \, p
\to K^{+} \Lambda$ and $K^{+} \Sigma ^{0}$ reactions, we find that the number
of the elementary constituents is consistent with $n_{\gamma} = 1$, $n_{p} =
3$, $n_{K^{+}} = 2$, and $n_{\Lambda} = n_{\Sigma ^{0}} = 3$. Then, the
analysis is made for the photoproductions of the hyperon resonances $\Lambda
(1405)$, $\Sigma (1385)^{0}$, and $\Lambda (1520)$, where $\Lambda (1405)$ is
considered to be a $\bar K N$ molecule and hence its constituent number could
be five. However, we find that the current data are not enough to conclude the
numbers of their constituent. It is necessary to investigate the higher-energy
region at $\sqrt{s} > 2.8$ GeV experimentally beyond the energy of the
available CLAS data for counting the number of constituents clearly. We also
mention that our results indicate energy dependence in the constituent number,
especially for $\Lambda (1405)$. If an excited hyperon is a mixture of
three-quark and five-quark states, the energy dependence of the scaling
behavior could be valuable for finding its composition and mixture.
