How to Preserve the Culture of Whaling in the 21st Century

　When we want to save traditions, what do we do? Most of us will participate in it actively, believing that it is the only way to preserve it. However, is this really the only way? Does culture exist only by being put into practice? I don't think so. For me, culture doesn't always have to be actively maintained. We don't necessarily have to practice culture to keep it alive.

　Therefore, I believe it could be possible to save whaling traditions without actually continuing to hunt whales. In Yamaguchi prefecture, there was a poet called Kaneko Misuzu. Some of her poems are about whales. I would like to demonstrate how to preserve whaling culture without actually whaling through her poems.

　Firstly, I will introduce the background of Kaneko Misuzu focusing on why her birth place is important. This will tell us how she grew up with customs related to whaling and also from what kind of viewpoint her neighbors engaged in whaling. Kaneko Misuzu was born on 11 April 1903 in Senzaki, a fishing port in southwestern Honshu facing on the Sea of Japan (Dutcher, 2001). In those days whaling was a common practice in coastal areas in Japan because whale meat was an important source of protein. Eating animal meat was forbidden by the Japanese government but whales were categorized as fish then. Also Japanese people used every part of a whale such as bones, teeth, and oil with a belief that thoroughly using every part of the dead body was a way to express the respect and mournfulness toward the dead animals (Bakersfield, 2015). Her birth place Senzaki had a unique way of catching whales. Yazaki (2005) explains that at the beginning of the Edo era, the whaling organization called Kujira-gumi was established and they caught whales coming into Senzaki bay. Their method, in which people cornered whales into a net and nailed them with harpoons, was called Amitori-style.

　Besides using different whaling method, Senzaki also has another unique custom called Kujira-Hōe or Kujira-Ekō (Yazaki, 2005). As Misuzu wrote in her poem "Kujira-Hōe", Kujira-Hōe is a memorial service wishing peace for the hunted whales. It is held in the end of spring. Whaling is regarded as a season word or a symbol for winter in haiku (Shinmura, 2008; Takahama, 1950), as whales often appear around the Japan Sea in winter. This is the reason why Kujira-Hōe takes place in spring after the winter high season for whaling.

　Yazaki (2005) also points out another custom related to whaling. Not far from Senzaki lies Seigetsu-an, a Buddhist retreat of Kōgan-ji temple, which has a tomb built for 78 whale fetuses. It contains a pagoda saying "Dear baby whales whose lives ended when their mother whales died. We would like to send you back to the sea if it should be possible. However, you would not be able to live alone there. Therefore, we hope that you would be given divine favor from Buddha in Paradise." In addition, there is a temple called Humon-ji, which also has a pagoda saying, "May seas be prosperous and fish rest in peace" and in this context "fish" includes whales.

　As we can see, Kaneko Misuzu grew up in an environment full of whaling-related customs. These traditions give greater context to whale hunting which is often simply characterized by cruelty. This environment must have nurtured the gentle approach of Kaneko Misuzu toward whales as well as other living things.

　Next, I will introduce my translation of four of Kaneko Misuzu's works and illustrate their relationship to whaling culture.

　In "Whaling" she describes whaling as if telling an old folktale. General poems or haiku about whaling tend to tell us the feelings aroused by whaling on the assumption that readers should know what whaling is like. However, this poem uses vigorous words so that those who don't know whaling can have a visual image of hunting whales, which brings forth the sorrow and nostalgia in the reader's mind. Worrying that the future generations might not be able to understand the poems of whaling, I used to believe that whaling practices should be continued so as not to be forgotten. However, Misuzu's poems have changed my opinion. I have come to look upon whaling as an aspect of culture that can be passed on through art or literature.

　"Kujira-Hōe" shows a recognition of the sacrifice of whales that have lost their parents. I think that this poem, along with the pagoda and tomb for whales in Senzaki, clearly demonstrates that Japanese fishermen have not just been mindlessly slaughtering whales. However, only actual act of killing whales has been singled out as a typical example of Japanese whaling traditions. I truly hope that people around the world will become more aware of the wider context of Japan's whaling traditions.

　"Fish" expresses an idea similar to that of which I heard from Australian people in a Japanese language class in my high school. Last autumn we had a student and a teacher from Australia in our class and had an opportunity to discuss the issue of whaling with them. They said that Australians usually think it is okay to take lives of creatures that have been raised such as cows and sheep but that it is not right to kill wildlife. In this poem Misuzu expresses the same idea. This suggests that we can share values across time and place. I believe it is significant that a Japanese poet in the early 20th century expressed similar ideas to an Australian teacher in the 21st century. Australia and Japan might have more in common than we at first presume.

　"Whoever Tells the Truth?" explains that Misuzu was trying to find the truth without merely accepting information given by others. It was because of this mental attitude and the whaling customs around her that Misuzu was able to make such poems and think about not only the whales caught in whaling but also about the ones in the sea far beyond.

　Thus we can observe that her living environment had a considerable influence on the works of Kaneko Misuzu, which vividly describe what whaling is like with affectionate eyes toward other living things. These days whaling is highly controversial. Thanks to her poems, however, I can feel relieved to know that the traditions of whaling can be kept alive at least in literature and the arts.