日本捕鲸文化英文版.doc

Thank you very much for inviting me to the “International Whale Symposium” at Ulsan, the Republic of Korea. My name is Hisashi Hamaguchi.I teach cultural anthropology at Sonoda Women’s College, Amagakai, Japan. I have studied the whaling cultures of Japan and Bequia, a small island in the Caribbean Sea. 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 culture. 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 with 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 dolphin 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 elaborated 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 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 success, 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” 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 technology, 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 new 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 saved the lives of the Japanese people under the food shortage after World War Ⅱ. 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 for some species was enforced in Japan in 1988. 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 (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 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 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 than 50 tons) with a harpoon gun is used. It catches Baird’s Beaked whales, pilot whales and Risso’s dolphins. A total of 5 small-type whaling boats are in operation now. These whaling boats are based in four com。