日本捕鲸文化英文版

1、thank you very much for inviting me to the “international whale symposium” atulsan, the republic of korea. my name is hisashi hamaguchi.i teach cultural anthropology at sonoda womens college, amagakai, japan. i have studied the whaling cultures of japan and bequia, a small island in the caribbean se

2、a. today, i would like to present a brief summary of the “history of whaling in japan and whale meat in japanese food culture.”my presentation is divided into three parts, as this slide shows. 1) history of whaling in japan, 2) whaling in contemporary japan, and 3) whale meat in japanese food cultur

3、e. i will then present my conclusions.let us begin with a brief history of whaling in japan. cetaceans are generally divide into large and small based on their length. large ones (over 3-4 meters) are called “whales”, and small ones (less than 3-4 meters) are called “dolphins/porpoises.” compared wi

4、th whales, it is easy to catch dolphins/porpoises. so we think the dolphin/porpoise hunting was developed first.a lot of dolphin bones (e.g. pacific white-sided dolphins, short-beaked common dolphins) and stone spear points were found at the mawaki site, ishikawa prefecture. this shows that the dolp

5、hin hunting was conducted in the early jomon period (4000-3000 b.c.). so we have a history of dolphin hunting for over 5000 years.how about whaling of the large cetaceans? we think people used stranded whales at first. it was easy to use the stranded whales, and was not necessary to have the elabora

6、ted skills associated with hunting. those who had known a large quantity of meat and blubber from a stranded whale started active whaling as the next step. this was because there was no guarantee of another stranded whale.the large cetaceans, such as right whales and gray whales, used to migrate in

7、the neighboring waters of japan. it was easy to catch them because they swam slowly. that is why people went out to hunt these whales.in the 1570s, a whaling method called “tsukitori-hou” (whaling with hand- harpoons) began in the ise bay. although this method gave whalers a certain degree of succes

8、s, it was too inefficient due to the struck-and-lost rates.after much trial and error, whalers invented a new whaling method called “amitori-hou” (whaling with nets) in taiji in 1675. this new method increased catching efficiency considerably and decreased the struck-and-lost rates. the “amitori-hou

9、” had been used for 200 years.a total of 111 whalers were lost on their way back from whaling due to bad weather in taiji in 1878. this disaster brought the “amitori-hou” to a close. then the whalers started seeking a new whaling technology.through trial and error for 20 years, a new whaling technol

10、ogy, norwegian whaling (e.g. modern whaling) was introduced from norway in 1899. the norwegian whaling (modern whaling) used a rapid catcher boat with a mounted gun discharging bomb-lances. it became possible to catch fin whales and blue whales with this new technology. then the whaling entered a ne

11、w era in japan.in the early 1900s, the norwegian whaling (modern whaling) spread throughout japan, and dozens of new whaling stations were constructed. finally, the japanese whaling vessels went into the antarctic ocean in 1934.in 1946, japan resumed whaling in the antarctic ocean, and whale meat sa

12、ved the lives of the japanese people under the food shortage after world war . at that time, whale meat accounted for 47% of the total amount of the animal protein taken in the japanese people.then in the 1970s, the anti-whaling protests began in the west. at last, a moratorium on commercial whaling

13、 for some species was enforced in japan in1988. the era of commercial whaling was over.let us move on to the present situation of whaling in japan. there are 85 species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins/porpoises) in the world. according to the international convention for the regulation of whaling

14、(icrw), a moratorium on commercial whaling is applied to 13 of 85 species of cetaceans. as to the remaining 72 species, it is possible to catch them commercially.in japan, a total of 15,000 whales and dolphins are caught under the control of the minister of agriculture, forestry and fishery and the

15、governors concerned. almost of all of them are eaten by the japanese people. three types of whaling methods are used. 1) small-type whaling, 2) hand harpoon fishery, and 3) drive fishery. take a quick look at these whaling methods.first, i am going to talk about the small-type whaling.this is a map

16、of four whaling communities in japan; abashiri, ayukawa, wada and taiji. small-type whaling is carried out offshore adjacent to these communities.the small-type whaling is conducted as follows. a small whaling boat (less than50 tons) with a harpoon gun is used. it catches bairds beaked whales, pilot

17、 whales and rissos dolphins. a total of 5 small-type whaling boats are in operation now. these whaling boats are based in four communities; abashiri, ayukawa, wada and taiji. each community has its own tradition of whaling.the right side is a picture of the bairds beaked whale landed in wada. the le

18、ft side is a picture of the small-type whaling boat based in taiji.the hand harpoon fishery is a method in which whales and dolphins/porpoises are caught with hand harpoons. a fisherman on the bow of a fishing boat throws harpoons into whales and dolphins/porpoises. the main targets of this fishery

19、are dalls porpoises. they are harpooned offshore area on the pacific side of the tohoku region. striped dolphins, rissos dolphins, common bottlenose dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, pilot whales and false killer whales are also caught by this fishery.this is a picture of the hand harpoon fish

20、ing boats anchored at katsuura port.the drive fishery is a method in which whales and dolphins/porpoises are caught alive. a total of 12-13 fishing boats drive the whales and dolphins/porpoises into a bay, after which nets are cast to close the entrance. taiji is the only town where this fishery is

21、carried out regularly. pilot whales, rissos dolphins, stripeddolphins, common bottlenose dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins and falsekiller whales are captured using these techniques.this is a picture of the rissos dolphins driven into hatajiri bay, taiji.let us move on to the catches for scient

22、ific purposes. the moratorium on commercial whaling is applied to 13 species of whales by the international convention for the regulation of whaling (icrw). but it is possible to catch these whales for scientific purposes. it is necessary to conduct this type of research to obtain accurate scientifi

23、c data for whale resources management.the government of japan catches 5 species of whales (e.g. minke whales, brydes whales, sei whales, fin whales and sperm whales) for scientific purposes. the whale products of this scientific research are sold and eaten when the research is over. a total of 1,238

24、 whales were caught for scientific purposes in the fiscal year 2005.in the fiscal year 2005, a total of 853 minke whales and 10 fin whales were caught for scientific purposes in the antarctic ocean. as a by-product of this scientific research, 3,169 tons of minke whale meat and 267 tons of fin whale

25、 meat were produced.people living in the four whaling communities, abashiri, ayukawa, wada and taiji, were (are) able to buy these by-products at a lower price than the market price. we were (are) also able to buy these by-products at the market price. thats the reason why whale meat in our food cul

26、ture has been passed generation to generation.let us move on to the whale meat in japanese food culture. we have a lot of whale meat dishes in japan. from community to community, people like eating whale meat of different species.however, people generally like eating meat of baleen whales rather tha

27、n that of toothed whales. meat of the baleen whales is tender and less fishy. sashimi is our most favorite whale meat dish. fresh whale meat surely tastes better.this shows the whale meat dish which people like eating most. the peoples of abashiri and ayukawa like eating sashimi of minke whale meat.

28、 on the other hand, the people of wada like eating dried bairds beaked whale meat, and those of taiji like eating sashimi of pilot whale meat.let us take a look at taiji town as an example of a whaling town.this is a picture of taiji whale museum. it was established in 1969. in this museum, we are a

29、ble to learn the history of whaling in taiji as well as the biology of cetaceans.this map shows where taiji town is. it is located on the southeastern side of thekii peninsula.taiji is a small town covering an area of 5.96 with a population of 3,796 (2004). whaling with hand-harpoons started in taij

30、i in 1606. then whaling with nets was invented in 1675. therefore, there is a long history of whaling in the town. whaling has become a living cultural heritage in taiji.at the peak of the pelagic whaling, 400 people from taiji were involved in the whaling industry. in the early 1960s, the tax from

31、the antarctic whalers accounted for 60% of the towns revenues.the taiji whalemen catch whales and dolphins/porpoises, even now. the small type whaling and the drive fishery are carried out at the offshore area of taiji. in 2004, a total of 1,666 whales and dolphins/porpoises were caught. the people

32、of taiji eat the meat of these cetaceans.these pictures show the tail meat of the short-finned pilot whales being sold in taiji. sashimi of the tail meat tastes good! the people of taiji like it.the prices for these meat at their highest are as follows; 1,500 yen (21,400 won) at the top right, 2,500

33、 yen (35,700 won) at the bottom left, and 3,500 yen (50,000 won) at the bottom right.this is an example of whale dishes using various parts of the whales. we are able to eat these dishes at a famous restaurant in taiji. the price is 5,250 yen (75,000 won).sashimi (tail meat, red meat, blubber, and u

34、ne-meat), hari-hari nabe (stewed boiled red meat and potherb), sarashi-kujira (boiled and sliced tail skin), shigure- ni (boiled rib meat with soy sauce and sugar), beacon, and udemono (boiled intestines).this is a menu of a restaurant, which features the sashimi of striped dolphin. its price is 1,0

35、50 yen (15,000 won). this restaurant is located in nachi-katsuura town, next to taiji town. we eat dolphins/porpoises as well as whales. of course, both are cetaceanslet us move on to a cooking and tasting of whale meat dishes in our college. we sometimes provide students with whale meat dishes. by cooking and eatingwhale