The Japanese Culture of Mourning Whales

Whale Graves and Memorial Monuments in Japan

Mayumi Itoh

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9789811066702
• eBook ISBN:
  9789811066719
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Japanische Geschichte

Addresses the controversial practice of Japanese whaling

Highlights the cultural and historical value of Japan's whaling culture and memorial rites for whales

Assesses the relevance of this culture to nature conservation and management of sustainable use of natural resources

© The Author(s) 2018

Mayumi ItohThe Japanese Culture of Mourning Whaleshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6671-9_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Mayumi Itoh¹

(1)

Princeton, New Jersey, USA

In nature one form of life must always prey upon another. However, human consciousness holds an awareness of, and sympathy for, the will of other beings to live. An ethical human strives to escape from this contradiction so far as possible.

—Reverence for Life, Albert Schweitzer (1923)

End Abstract

On March 31, 2014, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Japanese whaling operations in the Antarctic Ocean were not for “scientific research” but were de facto commercial whaling . Japan thus lost the case that the Australian government had filed in May 2010. The Japanese government responded immediately by stating that it would abide by the ruling. This is not news. Earlier in 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) , based in Cambridge, England, which was established under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) in 1946, adopted a regulation to implement a moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in the 1985–1986 season. However, along with other whaling countries such as Norway and Russia , the Japanese government, which had joined the IWC in 1951, objected to its decision.¹

The IWC has no power to enforce its decisions on its members, and any member nation can opt out of any specific IWC regulation by submitting a formal objection to it. Canada even withdrew from the IWC entirely in 1982. Japan in the end succumbed to international pressure (of the United States specifically) and withdrew its objection and stopped commercial whaling completely in the Antarctic in 1986. Nevertheless, Japan soon began whaling operations in the Antarctic in 1987 under the “scientific research ” provision of the ICRW (which also allows whaling under the “aboriginal-subsistence ” provision ). The “scientific research” provision allows governments to issue special permits to their citizens to engage in whaling for purposes of scientific research. Japan also began small-type “scientific research” whaling in the Japanese coast and off northwestern Pacific Ocean in 1994.²

Thus, unlike other whaling countries, such as Norway , Iceland , and Russia , that had opted out of the moratorium on commercial whaling and have engaged in commercial whaling on their own, Japan has engaged in “scientific research ” whaling through the management of a government-supported non-profit organization, the Institute of Cetacean Research based in Tokyo. In turn, international environment protection groups, such as Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society , condemned the Japanese government asserting that it was allowing commercial whaling in the name of the “scientific research.” Their anti-Japanese whaling campaigns escalated to the extent that they attacked the Japanese whaling factory-ship Nisshin-maru in the Antarctic Ocean in 2006 and 2007. Then came the ICJ’s ruling of 2014. These controversies are public knowledge.³

Japanese Classical Whaling

Little known is the fact that the Japanese have had a tradition of whaling since ancient times. The Man’yō-shū, the anthology of poems that was compiled from the late seventh century to the late eighth century, uses the word isana-tori (“isana” literally means “brave fish” and refers to whale, while “tori” means “to catch”) in describing the ocean. This suggests that the Japanese had already engaged in a rudimentary form of whaling by the Nara period (710–794). However, the practice remained sporadic.⁴

Centuries later, with the invention of manual harpoons in the late sixteenth century, Japanese classical whaling began in earnest at the beginning of the seventeenth century during the Edo period (1603–1868). Unlike modern Western-style whaling, Japanese classical whaling only involved coastal whaling , catching whales that migrated off the Pacific Ocean or the Sea of Japan and using only rudimentary tools. Moreover, what is almost unknown to the non-Japanese speaking world is the fact that the Japanese conducted ceremonies after the deaths of whales and took care of their “afterlives.”⁵

Japanese Culture of Mourning the Deaths of Whales

The memorial rites for whales began with creating whale graves by burying a part of their bones and erecting gravestones. Then, the Japanese conducted funeral services and mourned their deaths according to the Buddhist percept . Afterwards, they performed seasonal and annual memorial services for whales and continued to pray that their souls would rest in peace in heaven. They also erected memorial stupas (cenotaphs created at Buddhist temples and elsewhere) for whales and continued to pray that their souls would attain the enlightenment of Buddha . Surprisingly, these memorial rites have been observed not only in whaling communities but also in non-whaling communities where villagers caught whales that had been stranded ashore. Even more surprisingly, after the classical whaling had ended more than a hundred years ago, the Japanese have maintained this tradition to this day.⁶

Literature Review

Literature in English

There is a diverse literature in English on whaling in general and on Japanese whaling in particular. Some of the notable recent works on whaling include The International Politics of Whaling (1997) written by Peter J. Stoett ; Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature (2007) and The Sounding of the Whale: Science and Cetaceans in the Twentieth Century (2012), both by D. Graham Burnett ; and Unveiling the Whale: Discourse on Whales and Whaling (2009) by Arne Kalland . Meanwhile, two books in English have been published on Japanese whaling: Japanese Whaling: End of an Era (1992) by Arne Kalland and Brian D. A. Moeran , and Whaling in Japan: Power, Politics, and Diplomacy (2009) by Jun Morikawa.⁷

There are also two book chapters on Japanese whaling: “Japanese Perceptions of Whales and Dolphins” by Arne Kalland in John Knight, ed., Wildlife in Asia: Cultural Perspectives (2004); and “The Ambivalence of Whaling: Conflicting Cultures in Identity Formation” by Jessamyn R. Abel in George M. Pflugfelder and Brett L. Water, eds., JAPANimals: History and Culture in Japan’s Animal Life (2005).⁸

None of the entries above mention Japanese belief systems about whales or memorial rites for whales, with the exception of works by Arne Kalland. In addition, there is a conference proceeding entitled Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan: Report of an International Workshop published by the Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, the University of Alberta (1988), which has a short chapter, “Whaling Beliefs and Japanese Worldview.” Although this publication does not provide the author’s name for each chapter, the twelve participants in this workshop include such prominent anthropologists and Japanologists as Tomoya Akimichi, Pamela J. Asquith, Harumi Befu (deceased), Theodore C. Bestor, Milton M. R. Freeman, Helen Hardacre, Arne Kalland, and Brian D. A. Moeran . The significance of this highly specialized study is unquestionable, but some of the content is now outdated. More recently, Bones of Contention: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan (2012) by Barbara R. Ambros touches on the subject.⁹

Accordingly, there is no book in English, to the knowledge of this author, that has devoted its entirety to the study of Japanese whaling culture in general, let alone the Japanese memorial rites for whales specifically. Regarding academic journal articles, only one article in English has examined Japanese memorial rites for whales for one specific locale, “Prayers for the Whales: Spirituality and Ethics of a Former Whaling Community—Intangible Cultural Heritage for Sustainability” (2007) by Kumi Kato.¹⁰

Literature in Japanese

In comparison, literature on Japanese whaling in general as well as on the Japanese whaling culture abounds. Regarding classical literature, Saikai geigei-ki (Record of Whaling in West Sea), compiled by Tanimura Yūzō in 1720, is considered the oldest solid study of whaling, chronicling classical whaling also in the Kinki and Inland Sea regions. This was followed by the publication of Geishi-kō (Manuscript on History of Whaling), compiled by Ōtsuki Seijun in 1808. This six-volume work is the oldest encyclopedia of whaling in Japan.¹¹

In the latter twentieth century, notable publications came out, which include Nihon hogeishi-wa (History of Japanese Whaling, 1960) by Fukumoto Kazuo; Saikai geigei-ki (Record of Whaling in the West Sea, 1980)...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Historical Background
• 3. Whaling Culture and Whale Graves in the Hokkaidō and Tōhoku Regions
• 4. Whale Shrines and Temples in the Kantō Region
• 5. Whale Graves and Monuments in the Chūbu and Hokuriku Regions
• 6. Sacred Mountains of Buddhism and Shintoism and Whaling Culture in the Kansai-Kinki Regions
• 7. Pure Land Buddhism and Whaling Culture in the Chūgoku Region
• 8. Pilgrimage of Eighty-Eight Temples and Whale Graves in the Shikoku Region
• 9. Buddhism, Catholicism, Shintoism, and Whaling Culture in the Kyūshū Region
• 10. Conclusion
• Backmatter