Okikamuro Island in Suo-Oshima: The Sea Is the Way to the World

[Suo-Oshima Town, Yamaguchi Prefecture]

[Suo-Osshima Town, Tamaguchi Prefecture]

Fishermen of the Okikamuro Island in Suo-Oshima Town, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which prospered through pole and line fishing, made daring fishing expeditions to Kyushu, Tsushima, Taiwan, and even to the Hawaiian Islands, seeking fishing grounds. They developed relationships with such regions via the sea and formed settlements there.

Although the aging rate has reached 66%, former residents who have moved outside the island still gather during the summer Bon period and at the New Year, and call Okikamuro an "island that sinks in the Bon period (with so many people coming back)."

Okikamuro Island at present

Hot Springs on a Remote Island Serving as a Place of Exchange for Fishery Operators from Various Regions [Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture]

Until the latter 1960s to early 1970s, there were fishers who lived in boats called ebune and engaged in fishing, moving from place to place while selling their catches.

Arakawa Port in Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture is known as a base for the fishing ground off Goto and as a port of refuge during rough weather. At Arakawa hot springs near this port, fishers who gathered from various regions used to reserve a washbowl with a towel and soap at the watch stand of public baths, and exchange information on fishing conditions. Such a scene can still be seen today.

## (3) Roots of Fishery Management in Japan

Ebune anchored at a fishing port (middle of the photograph)

☐ In the Nara period (710–784), unsustainable fishery called kokugyo, which included private monopolization of fishery resources and taking all the fish in an area by draining a pond or using poison, became a problem. In response, an Imperial order was issued that all people shall be allowed to equally use mountains, rivers, groves, and wetlands.

☐ In the Edo period, the shogunate indicated a principle that inshore fishing grounds shall be managed by nearby fishing communities, while offshore fishing grounds shall be common areas, and a concept that serves as the basis for the present fishery rights system was established.

Basic Concept of Fishery Management in the Edo Period

Source: Compiled by the Fisheries Agency based on the "Guide to the Fishery Act" (Seizando Shoten) by Yoshiyuki Kaneda.

## Ura and Isotsukimura in the Edo Period: Edo-style Fishery Policy

As an Edo-style fishery policy, the shogunate restricted farmers from becoming full-time fishers, and permitted only those who had traditionally been engaged in fisheries to engage in fisheries full time. Communities of such full-time fisherfolk were called ura. Meanwhile, communities mainly consisting of households half engaged in farming and half in fishing, only for home consumption without using vessels were called isotsukimura.

The first signs of fishery management can be observed in the Edo period, such as limiting the number of fishery workers and fishing communities, and prohibiting the sale and purchase of fish caught in isotsukimura.

Source: "Fishing in the Edo Bay" (owned by the Research Center for Nonwritten Cultural Materials, Kanagawa University).