Papers on Japanese Small-type Coastal WhalingSubmitted by the Government of Japanto the International Whaling Commission1986 – 1996

The Government of JapanMarch 15, 1997

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THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPANCopyright ©1997. The Government of Japan, all rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

1THE FOUR JAPANESESMALL-TYPE WHALINGCOMMUNITITESWhaling vessel “Yasumaru No.1”(courtesy: SHIMOMICHI Yoshiichi)

Abashiri

Oshika Town, Oshika Peninsula (centre)

Ayukawa(courtesy: Oshika Town)

WadaTaiji

Aerial view of the town of Wada (courtesy: Wada Town)

Historical site at Tomyo-zaki (a lookout for whaling)(courtesy: KAINO Yoshitsugu)iTHE WHALING IN JAPAN— Photograph by Hideo Higuchiii

A Ritualfor Whaling(Taiji)Shinto rituals in Taiji date back to thedays before modern organisedwhaling. The Toya Festival starts withparticipants having a taste ofpomegranate seeds and boiled whaleblubber depicting the body of a whale.
They subsequently walk to the shrine andparade the streets carrying portablebarrel-shaped shrines.

Preparation of offerings

Pomegranet seeds and boiled whale blubberiii

Remains of Whaling Traditions throughout Japan

Kujira Odori, Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture

Kujira-tsuki Odori, Toda, Shizuoka Prefecture

Meizaiten Festival, Arikawa, Nagasaki Prefecture*iv

Whale bone torii, Taiji, WakayamaPrefecture*Kuyo-hi of whales, Kyonan,Chiba Prefecture*

Whale bone torii, Arikawa, Nagasaki Prefecture*

Memorial Service for Whales, Nagato, Yamaguchi Prefecture*

A Buddhist ihai*

A Buddhist kako-cho*(*See page ix)

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*The Explanation of the photographs on pages iv and v.

Meizaiten Festival, Arikawa, Nagasaki PrefectureMeizaiten, the festival of the guardian god of Arikawa’s Kujiragumi, starts with the town’syoung men dedicating a traditional whale song to their god. They make a tour of all the spotsassociated with whales and whaling, and then go from door to door singing traditional songs.

Kuyo-hi of whales (memorial dedicated to whales), Kyonan, Chiba PrefectureThe kuyo-hi of whales is a memorial dedicated to all the whales taken in the whaling operation.

Whale bone torii (a shrine gate made of whale jaw bones), Arikawa, NagasakiPrefecture; also, a torii, Taiji, Wakayama PrefectureWhale bones form an arch that serves as an entrance to the shrine.

Memorial Service for Whales, Nagato, Yamaguchi PrefectureMemorial Service for the Deceased Whales, April 28-May 2, Koganji Temple, Nagato, YamaguchiPrefecture. The custom of holding memorial services for deceased whales has been passed downthrough generations in this community in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The memorial service spansfive days. In a temple hall accommodating the death registered rolls and memorial tablets for thewhales taken by this community in the past, the monk and the participants chant a prayer inunison. The ceremony also serves as a memorial service for all the fish resources taken, and forthe ancestors of the people of the town.
A Buddhist ihai (a memorial tablet of whales)An ihai is a memorial tablet that holds posthumous Buddhist names of every whale.
A Buddhist kako-cho (a death register roll of whales)The kako-cho is a set of death register rolls carrying the posthumous Buddhist names ofevery whale taken by past whaling operations, recorded in the chronological order oftheir deaths.

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ContentsPapersThe 38th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Malmö, Sweden, 1986TC/38/AS2

Small-type Whaling in Japan’s Coastal Seas ............................................................................... 1

The 39th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Bournemouth, UK, 1987IWC/39/25IWC/39/26

Japan’s Small-type Subsistence Whaling ................................................................................... 13History of the Consideration of Aboriginal/Subsistence Whaling ............................................ 15

The 40th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Aukland, New Zealand, 1988IWC/40/23

Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan: Report of an International WorkshopThis report was issued as a separate, joint publication of the Japan Social Sciences Association ofCanada, the Fund to Promote International Educational Exchange, and the Boreal Institute forNorthern Studies and later endorsed by the Japanese government for presentation to the IWC. Copiesare available from the Canadian Circumpolar Institute at the Univeristy of Alberta, Edmonton(formerly the Boreal Institute for Northern Studies).

The 41st Annual Meeting of the IWC in San Diego, California, USA, 1989IWC/41/21IWC/41/SE1IWC/41/SE3TC/41/STW1TC/41/STW2TC/41/STW3

Report to the Working Group on Socio-Economic Implicationsof a Zero Catch Limit ........................................................................................................... 17Socio-Economic Implication of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channelsand Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan .................................... 71Small-type Coastal Whaling in AyukawaDraft Report of Research: December 1988-January 1989 .................................................. 85Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-typeCoastal Whaling ................................................................................................................. 105Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities ......................................................... 123The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan .................................................................................. 137

The 42nd Annual Meeting of the IWC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, 1990TC/42/SEST2TC/42/SEST3TC/42/SEST7TC/42/SEST8TC/42/SEST9

Socio-Economic Impact Countermeasuresin the Four Japanese STCW Communities ......................................................................... 151Distinguishing between Japanese STCW and LTCWin relation to Coastal Whale-fishery Management ............................................................. 159Operational Plan for Japanese Small-type Whaling ................................................................. 171Quantification of Local Need for Minke Whale Meatfor the Ayukawa-based Minke Whale Fishery ................................................................... 175Japan’s Answers to Questions on Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling ................................ 191

The 43rd Annual Meeting of the IWC in Reykjavik, Iceland, 1991TC/43/SEST1TC/43/SEST2TC/43/SEST3TC/43/SEST4The Cultural Significance of Everyday Food Use .................................................................... 195Socio-Economic Implication of Zero Catch Limit:Some Examples of Small-type Whaling ............................................................................ 203Summaries of Documents on Socio-Economic Implications andSmall-type Whaling ............................................................................................................ 205Age Difference in Food Preference with regard to Whale Meat:Report of a Questionnaire Survey in Oshika Township ..................................................... 209

The 44th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Glasgow, UK, 1992IWC/44/SEST2IWC/44/SEST3

Summary of Whale Meat As a Componentof the Changing Japanese Diet in Hokkaido ...................................................................... 213Commercial Distribution of Whale Meat: An Overview ......................................................... 221

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IWC/44/SEST4IWC/44/SEST5IWC/44/SEST6

44/SEST/WP1

The Importance of Everyday Food Use .................................................................................... 223A Critical Evaluation of the Relationship between Cash Economiesand Subsistence Activities .................................................................................................. 229Similaries and Diversity in Coastal Whaling Operations:A Comparison of Small-scale Whaling Activities in Greenland, Iceland,Japan and Norway .............................................................................................................. 237Proposal for Difinition of Small-type Whaling ........................................................................ 245

The 45th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Kyoto, Japan, 1993IWC/45/SEST1IWC/45/SEST2

How Different Are Small-type and Large-type Coastal Whaling? .......................................... 247List of Documents Related to Japanese Small-type Coastal Whalingand the Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit ............................................ 251IWC/45/SEST3Action Plan for Japanese Community-based Whaling (CBW) ................................................ 259IWC/45/SEST/WP1 Statement from Yojiro Toba, Chairman, Japan Small-type WhalingAssociation, for the Working Group on Socio-Economic Implicationand Small-type Whaling ..................................................................................................... 261

The 46th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 1994IWC/46/SEST1“Commercial” vs. “Subsistence,” “Aboriginal” vs. “Nonaboriginal,”and the Concept of Sustainable Development in the Context of JapaneseCoastal Fisheries Management. .......................................................................................... 263IWC/46/SEST2Small-type Whaling and the Socio-Economic Implications of a ZeroCatch Limit: Documents Submitted by Japan to the IWC ................................................. 267IWC/46/SEST3Social and Cultural Significance of Whaling in Contemporary Japan:A Case Study of Small-type Coastal Whaling ................................................................... 269IWC/46/SEST4Action Plan for Japanese Community-based Whaling (CBW)(IWC/45/SEST 3 Rev.) ....................................................................................................... 279IWC/46/31 Rev.2 Action Plan for Japanese Community-based Whaling (CBW):Distribution and Consumption of Whale Products ............................................................. 281

The 47th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Dublin, Ireland, 1995IWC/47/SEST1IWC/47/SEST2IWC/47/46

Action Plan for Japanese Community-based Whaling (CBW) ................................................ 285Summary Statement: Action Plan for Japanese Community-based Whaling .......................... 289Action Plan for Japanese Community-based Whaling (CBW): (Revised) ............................... 291

The 48th Annual Meeting of the IWC in Aberdeen, UK, 1996IWC/48/SEST1

Summary of the JSTCW Discussion ........................................................................................ 295

Resolutions45th IWC Resolution, 1993IWC/45/51

Resolution on Japanese Community-based Minke Whaling .................................................... 297

47th IWC Resolution, 1995IWC Resolution 1995-3Resolution on Japanese Community-based Minke Whaling .................................................... 298

48th IWC Resolution, 1996IWC Resolution 1996-1Resolution to Resolve the Distress of the Japanese Small-type CoastalWhaling as Community-based Whaling ............................................................................. 299

3ReferencesThe following four papers, though not included in this book, were submitted to theIWC in their repespective captioned years. Their titles are listed here for the reader’s reference.

40th, 1988Women’s Tale of Whaling: Life Stories of 11 Japanese WomenWho Live with Whaling

42nd, 1990Whaling Towns and Tourism: Possibilities for Development of Tourismat the Former Whaling Towns — Taiji, Wada and AyukawaEndangered Culture: Japanese Whaling in Cultural Perspective

44th, 1992Whale Meat as a Component of the Changing Japanese Diet in Hokkaido

Editor’s NoteThe papers in this book were written independently of each other and, to preserve the tone and text of the original, have beenedited for internal consistency only; no attempt has been made to achieve stylistic consistency throughout this publication.
Changes have been restricted to obvious typographical, punctuation, and other similar errors and internal inconsistencies. Allfootnotes have been moved to the end of the documents and presented as end notes.

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