The 38th Annual Meeting of the IWC

in Malmö, Sweden
1986

TC/38/AS2

SMALL-TYPE WHALING IN JAPAN’S COASTAL SEAS
The Government of Japan
1986

CONTENTSJapanese whaling, with a long history and tradition, hascome to be categorized into these three groups since the
Meiji Era in the latter half of the 19th century, whenadvanced Western technology, the concept of the ‘jointstock corporation’, and other economic efficiencies wereintroduced into Japan.
The whaling industry developed and expanded after the
Meiji Era (i.e. increase in catch) as whalers pursued larger
profit by introducing Norwegian-type whaling guns, largersized and faster-speed whaling boats and meat carrier boats,etc., under modernised management in which the capital,
management and labor were separated.
Many of the workers in the whale searching, flensing
and gunning divisions in a whaling company came from
communities such as Taiji, Tosa, Gotoh and Rikuzen, where
people had pride and deep knowledge of whaling and where
whaling thrived from ancient times. However, increase insupply of whale meat as a result of increased catch,combined with the progress of urbanization anddevelopment in transportation and traffic systems, had
weakened the linkage of these local communities towhaling.
Despite such social and economic changes since the
Meiji Era, whalers in traditional whaling communities who
were left behind in modernization, strived to maintain theirtradition by conducting small-type whaling on minke whales
and other small cetaceans migrating near the coast — thespecies which had never attracted the interest of factorytype whaling and large-type coastal whaling. Small-type
coastal whaling, therefore, uses small boats and theirwhaling grounds are limited to waters near the coast. Fromthe viewpoint of whale meat consumption, this type of
whaling has a strong tie with local communities where thehabit of consuming raw whale meat is still maintained.

I. Foreword ................................................................... 1
II. Historical Background of Small-type
Coastal Whaling ........................................................ 1
III. Present Situation of Small-type Coastal
Whaling (Comparative observation with abori-ginal/
subsistence whaling in other countries) .................... 3
IV. Linkage Between Small-type Coastal Whaling
and Local Communities (from the viewpoint of whale
meat consumption, etc.) ............................................ 4
V. The Nutritional, Subsistence and Cultural
Needs of Small-type Coastal Whaling in
the Local Community ................................................ 6
1. Nutritional needs
2. Subsistence needs(1) Occupational needs for those engaged inwhale hunting, flensing and marketing of themeat(2) Whaling and people in the community
3. Cultural needs(1) Food culture(2) Social needs
VI. Conclusion ............................................................... 11I.

FOREWORD

The Japanese have a long-standing history with whales.
Traditions and culture on whales and whaling, fostered overthe course of history, have been handed down fromgeneration to generation. There are still some local
communities which depend on whaling both from theviewpoint of harvesting and consumption. In thesecommunities, small-type whaling, mainly on minke whales,
has been and is practised.
The small-type whaling in Japan is a very localised
operation, maintaining the most original form of theJapanese relation with whales. In this sense, the small-typewhaling is said to have a similar significance subsistence
whaling has to aboriginal people. The purpose of this paper
is to describe the nutritional, subsistence and cultural needsof such small-type whaling on a limited number of local
communities.
Whaling activities by the Japanese can be divided into
three categories. First, factory-type operation on minke
whales in the Antarctic; second, coastal whaling using largetype catchers on sperm and Bryde’s whales in waters distantfrom the shore, and third, small-type whaling on minke
whales and other small cetaceans in the waters around thecoast of Japan.

II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
SMALL-TYPE COASTAL WHALING
In a small and mountainous island country like Japan,
people naturally tended to seek animal protein in marine
resources including whale. The importance of marine
resources for Japan is quite the same as that of the livestock
for Western people. Whale bones have been detected inshell mounds in the Jomon period (ca 10,000 BC-ca 300
BC). Back in that period, revolving hand-held harpoons
had been already used to catch whales, sea lions, seals andSteller’s sea lions. A primitive picture drawn on bird bones
found in a shell mound in Hokkaido shows a group offishermen in a boat striking harpoons into a whale. In ancient1TC/38/AS2

historical records, such as Kojiki and Manyoshu, many
descriptions of whales and whaling can be found.
It was in early 17th century when whaling was firstcarried out in an organised way at various parts of thecountry in a shift from the previous primitive hunting-type
catch. Until then, whaling had been conducted based ontsukitori method, in which whales had been caught with
only hand-held harpoons. Small groups of harpooners,
called “tsukigumi”, had engaged in whaling on many coasts
throughout the nation. An old Japanese saying goes: “Catchof one whale will make seven bays rich”, and whales
swimming near the coast had certainly been a valuable
resource for poor seashore communities. In the 1670s, a
new amitori method, in which harpoons and nets werecombined, had been developed in Taiji, Wakayama
Prefecture, and this method came to be used in other fishingcommunities as well.
In the Edo Era (1603-1867), whaling bases employing
this method were distributed over western Japan, with thenumber of such bases reaching over 30 in 1820-1850. A
whaling base had to be located facing the ocean, in the areas
where whales could migrate close to the shore and withpresence of a bay into which whale could be chased.
Residents near whaling bases had the opportunity to eat
whale meat, and the statistics show that their consumptionof whale meat is higher than other places even since whalingceased in those communities.
It was also in the Edo Era when a system was developed,
based on year-long wisdom and techniques, to use virtually
all parts of a whale body both for food and non-foodpurposes. Such a close relation to whales is said to be
characteristic of the Japanese, and their whaling presents aclear contrast with that in other countries in which whales
were killed mainly for taking whale oils.
A team of amitori-method whalers had 20 to 40 or at
the maximum 50 boats, with the number of workers,
including those on land, on ships and part-time employees,
totaling 500 to 800. Among the staff were carpenters, tub
makers, smiths, sake distillers, and doctors.
Like the previous tsukitori method, this method was
also primitive in that it was a passive method to await the
coming of whales to the shore, so that very small fractionof whale resources was caught.
Late in the Edo Era, harvesting of whales by American
whaling fleets in waters near Japan started to have its effects:
the number of whales migrating to Japan’s coast decreased
drastically, causing declines in amitori-method whaling.
The American whaling fleets had actively launched into
the Pacific since the Japan Grounds were found circa 1820.
In 1843, more than 100 whaling vessels operated in thearea, rising to over 290 in 1846. Through 1860s, over 100
American whaling boats operated every year, with theaverage annual catch amounting to about 10,000 whales in
the peak period. Main species harvested was sperm whales,but many other species, including right whales on which
Japan’s amitori whaling depended, were caught.

In the Meiji Era, the traditional amitori method ofwhaling gradually declined, and instead Norwegian-typewhaling came to be used extensively in the 20th century.
Land stations for large-type whaling were established invarious places along Japan’s coast. The large-type whaling
harvested whales in waters up to 200 miles off Japan’s
coast using engine-powered fishing boats. This type ofoperation was further expanded in the postwar foodshortage period, with the number of land stations rising to
15-20 and the number of whaling boats to 30-40 in the
1950s. Species harvested included blue, fin, sei and sperm
whales. Furthermore, factory-type whaling had developedin the postwar years in the Northern Pacific whaling
grounds, including grounds around the Bonin Islands andthe Bering Sea, because it became impossible to use land
stations at the Bonin Islands and the Kurile Islands due toterritorial problems. The factory-ship operation had been
competing with large-type coastal whaling in the Northern
Pacific over catch of the same whale stock until the 1970s
when the former was terminated.
Another major development was the starting offactory-type whaling in the Antarctic. In 1934, Nippon
Hogei Co. purchased whaling boats and a mothership from
Norway and started test operation in the Antarctic.
Between 1938 and 1941, six fleets operated in the Antarctic
to harvest mainly blue, fin and humpback whales, marking
the prime time for Japan’s prewar factory ship operationin the Antarctic. After a suspension during the World War
II, factory-type whaling in the Antarctic was resumed,
under policy of the Allied Forces, to cope with the nation’s
food shortage, with seven fleets sent to the Antarctic in
1960-1965, exceeding the prewar scale.
Aside from development and expansion of large-type
coastal whaling and factory ship operation in the Antarctic,
very localized small-type whaling had been maintainedby people left behind in the modernization of whaling
technology. These people were concerned over retaining
local whaling activities. As the traditional amitori whaling
declined and went out of existence, a new type of whaling,which does not require large capital, developed in Taiji inWakayama Prefecture. This method uses a whaling boatwith a crew of 5 to 7 and harvests pilot whales, which had
been used for human consumption since the Edo Era.
Originally they used hand-held harpoons, but later tested
U.S.-type bomb lances, and then they improved it into awhaling gun with harpoon rope for taking pilot whales(1904). Later, whaling vessels came to be powered byengine (1913). In 1933, operations on minke whales with
5-ton whaling boats each with crew of 5 started in
Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture. These boats, called locallyas minke whale boats or tento boats, were used inharvesting minke and other small cetaceans in waters up
to 20 to 30 miles from the shore. Whale meat produced
through this operation is mainly distributed and consumed
in raw form in the areas of production. This resembles
production and consumption of whale meat among small2Small-type Whaling in Japan’s Coastal Seastsukitori-method whaling teams scattered all around Japan
before the amitori method was developed.
In the prewar years, anyone was free to engage insmall-type coastal whaling, except Baird’s beaked whale
harvesting in Boso area in Chiba Prefecture. The numberof whaling boats was 20 at the maximum, but their
number increased during the war and the postwar foodshortage period, reaching 83 in 1947. The Minister ofAgriculture and Forestry enforced a licensing system onsmall-type coastal whaling to restrain the onrush into thisoperation by many new corporations. This licensing
system is still in force today. The size of whaling boats
around 1947 was 5 to 30 tons, each with a crew of 5 to 7
aboard. Since mid-1960’s when Japan launched on a track
to high economic growth, the number of ships engaged
in small-type coastal whaling gradually turned downbecause many new firms moved to shift their small-typewhaling operation to large-type operation or other typesof fishery. At present, a total of 9 ships are being operated
by people who inherit their ancestors’ tradition andembrace pride in their profession.

sustainable management stock (SMS), but those taken by
the United States and Denmark are classified as protected
stocks (PS).
2. Number of whales harvested
In Japan, the number of whales meeting local needs is
210, out of 320 currently caught. This is not an extremely
large number compared with 130 minke whales and 10 fin
whales currently harvested by Denmark and 179 graywhales caught by the Soviet Union.
In past records, the catch has been stable since long
before 1977 when the IWC established catch quota forminke whales in Japanese coastal waters (Fig. III-1 andFig. III-2). This indicates the strong linkage of small-typewhaling with the needs of specified communities.
Furthermore, in terms of catch volume, 210 minke
whales caught by Japan’s small-type whalers correspondto about 600 tons in the weight measurement of whales,
while the catch of 26 bowhead whales in U.S. whaling,which has the smallest catch number among subsistence
whalings, corresponds to about 1,000 tons of whale byweight (26 whales x 40 tons). The Soviet catch corresponds
to 2,500 tons (179 whales x 14 tons). From the foregoing,
it may be easily understood that the needs of Japan’s smalltype coastal operation are modest.
3. Catch Method
Whaling in Japan, Denmark and the Soviet Union isconducted through whaling guns equipped aboard thewhaling boats, whereas in the U.S. operation, explosive
lances and other equipment are used from hand-rowed boats
or motor boats. The use of explosive harpoons in Japan’s
small-type whaling had been considered very dangerous,
but Japanese whalers followed the IWC recommendations
to use explosive harpoons after all-out efforts to develop
such devices without causing hazards. Operations in theSoviet Union also employs explosive harpoons. Details on
the kinds of harpoons used in Danish and U.S. subsistence

III. PRESENT SITUATION OF SMALLTYPE COASTAL WHALING(Comparative observation with aboriginal/subsistence
whaling in other countries)
1. Whale Species Harvested
Like whaling in Greenland, Japan’s small-type coastal
whaling is directed at small-sized and highly reproductive
minke whales. On the other hand, subsistence whaling in
Alaska is directed at large-sized bowhead whales whose
stock had been much depleted in the 19th century bycommercial whaling aimed at producing whale oil. The
subsistence whaling in the Soviet Union is targeted at graywhales. In the IWC’s stock assessment, the whales subject
to Japanese and Soviet harvesting are classified as
Fig. III-1:

Changes of Minke Whale Catches by Number of Animals by Japanese Small-type Coastal
Whaling
No. of whales caught

560
Average
400
351
300

1960

1970

Note: Catch limits have been set since 1977

3

1980

Year

TC/38/AS2

whaling are not well known. In the latter case, there areconcerns that a considerable number of whales are being
killed after prolonged suffering.
4. Whaling BoatsJapan and Denmark use more or less the same size ofwhaling boats, between 15 and 50 tons, and the Soviet Union
is using large-sized ships of several hundreds of tons. In
the United States, very small hand-rowed boats or motor
boats are being used, which sometimes cause the bowhead
whales to be left unlanded after being struck or killed,resulting in a waste of whale resources.
5. Forms of Operation
As in other whaling countries, Japanese coastal whalers
operate during the season in which the targeted whales migrate to the Japanese coastal waters (between April and
September). Main operation area is 20 to 30 miles from theshore on a daily return basis (Fig. III-3, opposite). Whales
harvested are treated in nearby local communities such as
Ayukawa, Kushiro and Abashiri-Monbetsu, which havebeen closely tied to small-type whaling over many years.
6. People Engaged in Whaling
The number of people directly engaged in small-typewhaling in 9 whaling boats is 63, with each boat havingcrew of 5 to 8. Reflecting Japanese tradition to use all
possible parts of a whale, there exist 26 people speciallyengaged in flensing of whales. Such a situation is different
from Denmark, the Soviet Union and the United States.
Of the combined total of 89, 45 are aged 45 and older,having been engaged in whaling all their life. Most ofthem come from the traditional whaling communities ofFig. III-2:

Taiji, Wadaura, Ayukawa, Kushiro and AbashiriMonbetsu, all of them located in remote places such as
the tips of peninsulas.
7. Consumption
Whale products are basically consumed by residents inthe areas surrounding land stations, but some surplus isdelivered outside these areas.

IV. LINKAGE BETWEEN SMALL-TYPE
COASTAL WHALING AND LOCALCOMMUNITIESThere are three components in the current small-typewhaling along the coast of Japan. First, to provide minke
whales to local communities. The bulk of minke whales
harvested are being consumed raw (as sashimi) in the three
specified communities. Second, part of the harvest isdelivered to regions outside the local communities,
particularly to Tokyo and other large cities. This portion
cannot be called subsistence consumption by local
communities. Third, there are communities which depend,
besides minke whale, on Baird’s beaked and pilot whales.
The consumption of these whales is local, and their taking
is outside the competence of the IWC. Therefore, this paper
intends to summarize the situation of small-type whaling
which covers local consumption by a specified group ofpeople, in other words, whaling for subsistence from theviewpoint of consumption of whale meat by local
communities.
Whale meat is mostly consumed in western Japan,
particularly northern Kyushu and the Osaka-Kyoto areas,
with the bulk of meat from the Antarctic supplied to theseareas. However, consumption of minke whales taken insmall-type whaling is limited to northern Japan, notably
the following three areas (Fig. IV-1, p. 7). There, people
utilise virtually all parts of a whale, including the viscera,
and the red meat is mostly eaten raw.
A) Ayukawa in Miyagi Prefecture (Honshu)
B) Kushiro on the Pacific coast of Hokkaido
C) Abashiri-Monbetsu area on the Okhotsk Sea coastof Hokkaido
Minke whales landed on the shore of Ayukawa are
not transported to Hokkaido, and those landed in Hokkaido
are not distributed in Honshu, either.
A) Ayukawa, Miyagi Prefecture
Ayukawa, located at the tip of the Oshika Peninsula,
has been a major whaling base in the eastern Japan since
early this century, and is still known as a ‘town of whales’.
Ayukawa has been closely involved with whaling, withmany people from this region engaging in whaling. Even
though whaling has declined now, there are a whale
museum and souvenir shops selling whale-related productsin the town. Whale meat consumption in Ayukawa is larger
than any other place in this area.
Most of the minke whale meat landed in Ayukawa isdelivered to 28 retailers in this area through the Ayukawa
Fishery Cooperative and other agents. The retailers are
distributed within the range of about 30 kilometers from

Annual Production by Types ofWhaling (Meat and Blubber for Human
Consumption)(Unit:
1,000)
200

Factory-type whaling

150

100

50
Large-type
coastal whaling
Small-type coastal
whaling
1960

1970

1980

Year

4

Small-type Whaling in Japan’s Coastal Seas
Fig. III-3:

Distribution of Minke Whale Catches by Small-type Coastal Whaling (1985)
140°E

142°E

144°E

146°E

146°E

46°N

Monbetsu

44°N

Abashiri
Kushiro

42°N

40°N

Ayukawa
38 °N

36 °N

Ayukawa, which could be properly called ‘the Ayukawa
area’. It includes medium-sized cities such as Ishinomaki.
Whale meat has been one of the most important fisheryproducts for these retailers, with trading value during thewhaling season accounting for about half of their total sales.
The population in this region is about 147,000. When theharvest of minke whales exceeds about 70, the surplus
amount will be delivered to other areas, including Tokyoand Sendai. At present, local consumption of minke whalesin the Ayukawa region is said to be at 70 whales. Frozen
minke whale meat from the Antarctic is also provided when
there is a need.
B) Kushiro, Hokkaido
The fact that whales have been used in Kushiro areafrom ancient times has been proved by remains from shellmounds, with 90 per cent of animal bones from the shellmounds those of marine mammals, including whales. The
average number of minke whales landed at Kushiro port in5

TC/38/AS2

recent years is 100 per annum. The meat is distributed by
the local fishery cooperatives and several agents. In 1985,
harvesting at Kushiro numbered 120 whales, about 20 ofwhich were transported to other areas in Hokkaido, such as
Sapporo and Asahikawa. Current local consumption in
Kushiro can be considered as 100. The whale meat is being
distributed through 110-120 retailers. The population in thisarea is about 218,000. Outside the whaling season, frozen
minke whale meat from the Antarctic is supplied andmarketed.
C) Abashiri-Monbetsu area, Hokkaido
People in this area facing the Okhotsk Sea have beenusing whale meat from ancient times. Particularly during
the season of severe cold, salted whale blubber is usedwith meat in traditional dishes. There are about 140
retailers selling fish and shellfish as well as whale meat,but most of the meat is distributed by peddlers. The
population in the area is about 134,000, and recent
consumption of minke whales in this area has been 40.
Whale meat in excess of this amount is delivered to
Kushiro or Sapporo.
From the viewpoint of local whale meat consumption,
small-type coastal whaling for subsistence in Japan canbe summarized as follows:(1) Areas: Ayukawa, Kushiro and Abashiri-Monbetsu,
with the number of whales landed in a year standingat 70, 100 and 40, respectively, based on the actual
consumption in these areas. Total number of whales
landed is 210.
(2) A total of nine whaling boats are now operating.
(3) Based on the above catch figure, per-capita
consumption of minke whale raw meat (notincluding that from the Antarctic and imports) in ayear is as follows:

Area

War II around 1947/48, the consumption of whale meat
held 45% of the total meat consumption in Japan, and in
the 1960’s approximately 2kg of whale meat per capita wasconsumed per year. Since then, because of the tighteningof catch restrictions, the supply of whale meat has gradually
declined; accordingly consumption had to be reduced. The
significance of whale meat in Japanese dietary habits,
however, is still very important at present.
(1) The role of whale meat as food in the communitya. As source of animal protein:

Whale meat holds 1.7% of the total national intake ofanimal meat protein in Japan, which is approximately 11.6g
per capita per day (in 1981). In consideration of the protein
value contained in the whale meat as shown in Table V-2,
(23g of protein per 100g of whale meat), the Japanese
consume 320g of whale meat per capita per year. The
dominant part of this consumption relies on the supply offrozen whale meat from the Antarctic or other areas. For
the local communities in question alone, as shown in the
Table V-1, the locally obtained raw minke whale meat isconsumed in addition to the average national whale meat
consumption of 320g, mainly consisting of frozen meat,
the total of which would amount to approximately threetimes as much as the average of the annual national whale
meat intake per capita in Japan. This accounts for the ratioof the whale meat consumption in proportion to the total
intake of animal protein, which is also shown in Table V-1.
In comparison with the peak period when whale meat
was the major source of protein, the proportion of whale
meat in total protein intake has been reduced, because of
the tighter catch restrictions which have curtailed the supplyof the whale meat. The demand for whale meat, however,is still very high and is regarded as the most important partof the diet to these communities, in spite of the present
scarcity of supply.
b.

Annual Consumption
No. ofPopulation Consump- per capita
Animalstion (kg) per year (g)Ayukawa

70

146,680

101,500

692

Kushiro100

2l7,850

145,000

666

Abashiri,Monbetsu

40

133,758

58,000434

As shown in Table V-2, compared to other animal meat,
whale meat contains not only high value of protein, butalso balanced essential amino acids making it a very
nutritious food. It is also rich in vitamin A which isimportant for growth, and the resistance to skin and eye
diseases (Table V-3; see p. 8 for tables). Another importantvalue of whale meat is the low content of cholesterol (Table
V-4), and fat (Table V-2). This means that whale meat isuseful for prevention of such adult diseases as myocardiac
infarction and arteriosclerosis; all that suggests that whale
meat is not just a protein source, but important for thesustenance of the health of those whose diets have relied
upon it. A report by an immunologist has suggested that ina region of Greenland with predominantly Innuit populationof 1,350, only 3 were reported to have died ofarteriosclerosis-related heart diseases. It reported that theInnuit whose regular diet is based on fish and sea mammals
have higher EPA value in the blood compared to other
Danish populations and their blood is hard to coagulate.

(Note: Yield of meat per minke whale is set at 1.45 tons.)V.

Sustainment and improvement of the nutritionalbalance:

THE NUTRITIONAL, SUBSISTENCEAND CULTURAL NEEDS OF SMALLTYPE COASTAL WHALING IN THE
LOCAL COMMUNITY

1. Nutritional Needs
The Japanese have utilised whale meat as one of theprincipal sources of protein since ancient times. After World

6

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

Locations of local communities with small-type whaling on the coast of Japan
Monbetsu
Abashiri

KushiroAyukawa

tradition mainly due to the Buddhism background which
prohibited eating animal meat freely. Because of thistradition, the Japanese have depended on fish as a major
protein source. However, unlike animal meat, availabilityof fish was more dependent upon the region and the seasons,so that instead of utilising the same species over ageographically extensive area, the Japanese have developed
their dietary habit of using what is available within the limitsof the season and the locality. Because of this tradition,
there are many cases in Japan where a certain food isregarded with unreplaceable importance to the certain local
community, while the same food may have little value to(2) Possible alternative food in the communitya.
Alternative food from the nutritional viewpoint:

It is possible to consider fish, shellfish, and other animal
meat as alternatives for whale meat. However, fish has lower
amino acid content and lower protein value, while otheranimal meats have higher cholesterol and fat making themless desirable as an alternative. In consideration of theforegoing, there is no suitable food as an alternative forwhale meat.
b.

Alternative food from the viewpoint of cultural
habits:The Japanese have had almost negligible cattle-farming

7

TC/38/AS2

TABLE V-2: Protein and fat contents of various kindsof meat (100g)others. Each local community keeping different sense ofvalue as regards the different kind of food is a tradition
deeply rooted in Japan even today under the highly
developed distribution system.
Particularly, for the three areas treated in this paper, thesense of attachment to whale meat which has developed
traditionally in the local communities since ancient times
through their long history of whale harvesting is so deepthat it is extremely difficult for the local community to findany alternatives. The following are examples by which thelocal communities manifest their deep and traditional
attachment to whale meat. (a) When whale meat is madeavailable at the local market (usually in the fish-shops), otheritems such as fish and shellfish are left unsold, at the sametime the sales of the meat-shops drops suddenly. Thisillustrates well how much the local communities preferwhale meat to other food items. (b) The local fishermendemonstratively prefer loading whale meat to other fooditems on board their boats for their own consumption,
because they regard it as more preservable and safer fromfood-poisoning. This suggests that the significance of whale
meat is high not only because of the traditional habits, butalso as a necessity for working conditions. (c) A kind of
potpourri called kenchin jiru using unesu (ventral grooves)is indispensable for the festivities of the new year in eastern
Hokkaido. In Japan the new year festivity is the mostimportant of all events of the year; it is comparable to
Christmas in the Christian culture, and is extremely
important as the time for family unity celebrating together
the coming of the new year. (d) As the preference of whale
meat is so high that it is very difficult to obtain it even withinthese localities, some of the fishermen’s co-operatives makearrangements with whale hunters taking advantage of
personal connections, so that they may receive priority inthe supply of whale meat. This is an example of a strong
preference of whale meat in the local community.
2. Subsistence Needs

Whale
meat

Beef

Pork

Chicken

Egg

Protein23 (g)

19

17

19

12

Fat

3 (g)

13

21

14

11

(by National Census of Nutritional Intake in 1983)

TABLE V-3: Vitamin A Content (Intíl unit per 100g)
Whale meatbase meat (frozen)
red meat (frozen)
ventral groove

500
120
150

Beef

round
rib

30
15

Pork

ham
rib

10
10

TABLE V-4: Cholesterol Content (mg%)
Whale meat

red meat

31

Beef

round
loin

75
74

Pork

rib
ham

118
64

Fish

mackerelflat fish
salmonyellow tail

59
51
88
53

(1) Occupational needs for those engaged in whale
hunting, flenshing and marketing of the meat

Though smaller in scale in comparison to other types
TABLE V-1: Consumption of the whale meat and its ratio against intake of animal protein in the local
communities

Area

Population

Consumption per capita per year (g)AnnualConsumptionof Minke
Whale Meat
(raw)
(kg)

Locally
Obtained Raw
Minke Whale
Meat

Average
National Intake
of Whale Meat(mainly frozen)

Total

Ratio Against
AnnualAverage percapita Intake ofAnimal Protein

Ayukawa

146,680

101,500

692

320

1,012

5.5%

Kushiro217,850

145,000

666

320

982

5.4%

Abashiri,Monbetsu

133,758

58,000

434

320

754

4.5%

(Note: Yield of meat per minke whale is set at 1.45 tons.)8

Small-type Whaling in Japan’s Coastal Seasof whaling, there are a number of people whose
livelihood depends upon the local small-type whaling
and related work. As already pointed out in this paper,
these three areas in question are all remote fromurbanization: having been struck by the massive
emigration of the younger labor out to the more
urbanized regions following rapid industrialization inrecent years, they are left in the state of so-called‘demographically foresaken environment’. The situationsuch as this almost entirely precludes any opportunityof alternative employment.
Those who depend on small-type whaling for living
can be classified into the following three categories:a. The people directly engaged in whaling and theirfamilies; those who are directly dependent on smalltype whaling for living.
b. The people engaged in the distribution of whale
products and their families.
c. The people engaged in the processing and selling ofwhale handicrafts in the township of Ayukawa
where whaling has been traditionally the key meansof living.
a.

(Kushiro area)
Wholesalers .............................................................. 2
Employees of the wholesalers ........................ 220
Their dependents ............................................ 678
Retailers ................................................................ 114(Ayukawa area)
Wholesalers .............................................................. 4
Employees of the wholesalers ........................ 311
Their dependents ......................................... 1,057
Retailers .................................................................. 28
The Ayukawa area has limited population and area, but
consumers in general are strongly interested in whale
products. The retailers in this area are mostly door-to-doorsalesmen without shops.
c.

In Ayukawa, 5 persons are engaged in processing andselling of craft-works using whale parts, with 18 dependents
whose living relies upon whaling.
In addition to the above figures, a large number ofpeople in the communities are engaged in whaling-related
jobs such as ship chandlery, vessel repairs and others.

People directly engaged in whaling:

A total of 89 persons are engaged in whaling, including
those working on board 9 boats, and those at the flensing
station on land. With their families amounting to192, thepopulation under this category is 281 in total. The age
structure of the direct labour is:Age
20 to 29 = 930 to 39 = 19
40 to 44 = 16
45 to 49 = 14
50 to 54 = 16
55 and over = 15
The age structure shows a bias toward the higher ages,
suggesting the specialisation of the job and their year-roundengagement in whaling through all seasons, with few casesof transfer to other jobs or other fisheries.
b.

People engaged in the processing and selling ofwhale products in the township of Ayukawa:(2) Whaling and the people in the community

The type of whaling conducted before the Meiji period(1867-1912) such as Ayukawa’s tsukigumi (handharpooners) type, or more organized Taiji’s amitori (netcapture) type whaling were entirely indigenous to the local
Japanese community without any influence of European orAmerican whaling techniques. It is evident that these native
whalings played an important role in the life of the local
community in nutrition, subsistence and culture. What thesetypes of native whaling meant to the local community wasakin to what the aboriginal/subsistence whaling means to
the Innuit community, and can be recognized as such.
In comparison to the present-day Alaskan Innuit
whaling, however, the Japanese native whaling had its
idiosyncracies: that is, in Japan from the very early stageof its development, whaling was conducted in a system of
specialized labour: the groups of the specialists such as theone consisted of whale hunters, or the one consisted offlensing workers, were responsible for each division of thelabour within the whaling activity. The labour-divided
system of the local economy also extended to other sectorsof the population in the community in that some people
were working in the farm, others working as merchants,
and they all paid due respect to the whaling specialists andobtained whale meat from the whalers in exchange for theirown products or merchandise. Although the present-day
community in Ayukawa live on the monetary-based
economy instead of a barter-system, the basic intracommunity dependence on each different occupational
division still remains the same today.
Let us draw a mental picture supposing a case tocompare Ayukawa with a village in Alaska under anassumption that IWC has imposed mandatory termination

People engaged in the distribution of whale
products:

The outlets of whale products to which the wholesalers
and retailers distribute the products are fixed and show
little variation. However, they sell other products, and do
not handle whale products throughout the year. Their job
for one year is comprised of distribution of other fish
species as well as whale products. The degree of
distribution’s dependence on the whale product varies fromarea to area, but over all the areas the distribution of whale
products maintains very important proportion of the totaltransactions. The structure of the population under thiscategory is as follows:(Abashiri-Monbetsu area)
Wholesalers .............................................................. 5
Employees of the wholesalers .......................... 24
Their dependents .............................................. 87
Retailers ................................................................ 144

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TC/38/AS2of their whaling.
“In a village in Alaska, the average income perfamily in the community amounts to U.S. $33,000.
The whaling action is not their occupation, so thatthe villagers do not depend upon whaling in an
economic sense. The cessation of whaling,
however, would deprive the people of theopportunity of participation in the whale hunts, orthe traditional whale-meat-sharing ceremonies sothat a greater number of people in the community
would lose the opportunity of tasting the whale
meat. Feeling of anger, void and sorrow would
prevail over the village.
“In Ayukawa, the community would be struck withsorrow and anxiety, because the whaling activities
no longer exist. Not only the opportunities for thepeople to taste the whale meat are lost, but also thefact that the community’s economy, and livelihood
have depended upon whaling and the related
business such as selling of the whale products,
would affect the psychology of the people
immeasurably. As the centuries of whalingdependent living is terminated, the solidarity andthe morale of the people would be seriously
damaged.”From this viewpoint, there is no basic difference in thenature of the effects of the cessation of whaling between
the two cases. Furthermore, in the case of Ayukawa, theimmediate economic damage and its social
consequences as well as the psychological effects would
be even greater.
3. Cultural Needs

is counted by the Japanese school children as one of thefive most favourite menus of the school lunch, and whale
meat stew with mizuna (a kind of water cress) calledharihari nabe, and a kind of potage cooked with the blubber
and tongue and other whale parts called kanto-ni are still
very popular in Osaka, the third largest city in Japan, as the
local specialities. In the areas where whaling has been
conducted traditionally, these dietary habits have grown somuch an integral part of the community that no local
ceremonies or festivities pass without serving some whale
meat delicacies.
(2) Social needs

The Japanese people have mixed feelings about thewhales, because they have utilized whales as food and formany other purposes since ancient times; their feelings
are a mixture of a deep appreciation, kind of intimacy,
and even reverence. The whales have grown as a naturalelement in the life of the Japanese through the religious
ceremonies and festivals, particularly for the communities
where the local people’s lives have depended on whaling
activities. Their feelings are manifested in various ways;
in their gratitude to god for giving them such precious
gift as the whale resources, or in form of atonement andreverence to the whales expressed in Buddhism
ceremonies. All these are the expressions compelled bytheir attachment to the whales because of their centurieslong utilization of whale resources. A visitor to a
traditional whaling town would marvel at the variety of
religious expressions everywhere from small monuments
to gigantic whale statues in the Shinto shrines, orBuddhism temples or in the most scenic spot available in
the township. At the time of the community festivals,
Shinto rituals or Buddhism services are held, a parade ofwhale floats is staged, whale models in miniature arefloated on the waters, to comfort the spirit of the killed
whales. In Ayukawa, each household of the community
is obliged to send at least one person to participate in thewhale dance held annually at the local ‘whale festival’.
There are traditional whaling communities where people
keep the folk dance and songs with the theme of whales
through the centuries as their local heritage; most of thesefolk songs were originated by the whalers while engaged
in whaling activities, and have expressions of gratitude toa Shinto god (nature) for offering precious whales.
These facts stated in the foregoing show that the local
communities have been benefitted by the whales which inturn contributed to the solidarity of the community as thereligious symbol. It is noteworthy that during the Edo Era,
when the feudal caste system was the foundation of society
and the people were afflicted with the rigid ranking of thefour social classifications, shi (warrior), noh (farmer), koh(craftman), and shoh (merchant), excluding the fishermen
as an unrecognisable social caste, the whalers were treatedas exception to the system. Some whalers were permitted
to carry swords, which was a priviledge only allowed to
the warriors. In some cases, the feudal lords directly(1) Food culture

Dependence of the Japanese on whale as a source ofanimal protein has already been mentioned in earlier
chapters in relation to Japan’s geographical and historicalbackgrounds.
In the archives of the cooking recipe, there is Geiniku
Chomi Kata (Whale Meat Cooking) published in 1830, in
which as many as seventy recipes for whale meat andinternal parts were introduced. In this publication, we readthat a variety of recipes depending upon the locality andculture of the community were practised, each showing thewisdom for preservation and wasteless utilization. It is notedthat in the regions where whaling was conducted, the people
used to prefer taking whale meat raw and internal parts
simply boiled. This kind of simple recipe has been a
traditional preference for the people in the neighbouring
areas of whaling ports such as Ayukawa even today; they
consume sliced whale meat sashimi (raw meat) marinatedin soy sauce,
These dietary habits which have been deeply rooted inhistory show that whale meat has not only been just a protein
source for the Japanese but also has been treated as adelicacy with ethnic and social significance. For instance,
whale meat cooked in soy sauce and sugar, called yamatoni,

10Small-type Whaling in Japan’s Coastal Seas
operated as enterpreneuers to manage the whaling. Under
these circumstances, the whalers were the chosen
professionals within the society, and were the proud keyfigures of the community possessing highly developed senseof solidarity. The whalers’ high social status as describedabove is well reflected in the anthem of Taiji elementary
school written in the Meiji Era, which reads “When wegrow up, we all want to be whalers”. All of the important
positions involved in the whaling activities in thecommunity were patrimonial. Such occupational titles as
seko (harpooner), or tohmi (whale watchman) have survived
as surnames to the present day. It should be rememberedthat the majority of the families engaged in whaling andthe related activities are the descendents from these
professional whalers of ancient times.
In conclusion, the tradition of whaling in thecommunity is a complex and deep-rooted socio-economic
element based on the long history of religion, custom, andsocial behaviour which have survived through thecenturies to the present day, on which the solidarity ofthe entire community has been built. It is extremely
difficult to establish any rational with which to destroy
such solidarity by the prohibition of whaling.

The Japanese have formed unique food culture throughtheir centuries-long utilization of whale meat and parts.
Whaling in Japan has been developed in the areas witheasy access for the whales to come close to the coast
allowing favourable grounds for whale hunts. For thepoverty-stricken fishing villages and towns, the whales werehighly important as a source of health and wealth. The
whales played a significant role to these communities as
the cause for solidarity through various religious and local
customs.
After the Meiji Restoration (1868), some whaling
activities began to develop themselves from the coast to
the far seas, and onto the pelagic operations, while others
have remained within the traditional areas to the present
day operating as small-type coastal whaling. This smalltype whaling serves as a supplier of whale products mainly
to the local community, and still plays an important roleas the basis of solidarity in the community.
From this viewpoint, the nature of small-type coastal
whaling in Japan resembles closely to the aboriginal/
subsistence whaling as classified by the IWC. In this sense,
it would be reasonable that the Japanese small-type coastal
whaling should be given a similar right to that which the
IWC gives to the aboriginal/subsistence whaling.
Therefore, the Government of Japan requests that thecatches of minke whales of 210 animals at the maximum
per year be allowed to the Japanese small-type coastal
whaling to satisfy the subsistence needs of the local
communities. This catch limit is very moderate inconsideration of the following:(1) It accounts for only a 2% in weight of the present
level of total Japanese whale catches.
(2) It is not too high in comparison with the catches
currently made by other aboriginal/subsistence
whalings.

VI. CONCLUSION
The following three reasons account for the persistentutilization of whale meat by the Japanese as one of thevaluable sea-foods since the ancient times.
1. Surrounded by the seas all around the country, theJapanese have found rich resources in the ocean.
2. The land areas of Japan are not suitable fordevelopment of livestock farming because of the
predominantly mountainous topography within thelimited space.
3. The religious reasons prohibited eating of land
animals.

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