11/08/2006

Whale, whales (kujira)

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Whales, Walfisch (kujira)

***** Location: Japan, other areas
***** Season: See below
***** Category: Animal


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Explanation

Whale, kujira 鯨
kigo for all winter in Japan

semi kujira 背美鯨(せみくじら)Eubalaena japonica

makkoo kujira 抹香鯨(まっこうくじら)sperm whale
Physeter macrocephalus

zatoo kujira 座頭鯨(ざとうくじら)humpback whale
Megaptera novaeangliae

iwashi kujira 鰯鯨(いわしくじら)sei whale
Balaenoptera borealis]
nagasu kujira 長須鯨(ながすくじら)
Balaenoptera musculus
..... shironagasu kujira 白長須鯨(しろながすくじら)

kokujira 小鯨(こくじら)"small whale"

isana 勇魚(いさな)Isana. old name for the whale


CLICK for more photos

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humanity kigo for all winter



. hokei 捕鯨 (ほげい) whaling, whale hunting  
kujira tsuki 鯨突(くじらつき)spearing a whale
isana tori 勇魚取(いさなとり)
kujirabune 鯨舟(くじらぶね)whaler, boat for whaling
..... hokeisen 捕鯨船(ほげいせん)
kujirami 鯨見(くじらみ)outlook for whales
..... kujiraban 鯨番(くじらばん)
ichiban mori 一番銛(いちばんもり)first harpoon
niban mori 二番銛(にばんもり)second harpoon


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kujiranabe 鯨鍋 (くじらなべ) whale hodgepodge
kujirajiru 鯨汁(くじらじる)soup with whale meat


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humanity kigo for all summer

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shio kujira 塩鯨(しおくじら) salted whale meat
sarashi kujira 晒鯨 (さらしくじら) salted whale meat
kawa kujira 皮鯨(かわくじら)whale skin


Matsuo Basho wrote in "Kuzu no Matsubara" 葛の松原

水無月や鯛はあれども塩鯨
minazuki ya tai wa aredomo shiokujira

in June
having salted whale is better than
sea bream

Tr. Reichhold


Sixth Month--
though there is sea bream
this pickled whale meat

Tr. Barnhill

Barnhill comments:
"Sea bream is more of a delicacy, but for Basho what fits the season and his aesthetics is the lighter fare of cold, white whale meat favored by the common people."


source : turbobf1516

During the Edo period, a lot of whale was landed in Nagasaki (Hirado, Ikitsuki and the Goto islands) and prepared with salt to last on the long way via the Nagasaki Kaido road 長崎街道 or the Hirado Kaido 平戸街道 road to find its way to Edo.
Even now Shio-Kujira is served in many schools in Nagasaki, with grated onions and marinated in soy sauce. It is also deep-fried as tatsuta age.

Whale meat revived in Nagasaki
source : david-in-tokyo.blogspot


minazuki 水無月 "month without water"
This refers to the time just before the rainy season when water is scarce in the wells and fields.
- - - - - another reading is
mizu no tsuki 水の月 "month with water"
sixth lunar month, now July


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

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WDCS is the global voice for the protection of whales,
dolphins and their environment

Introduction to Scientific Whaling

In 200O, Japan's research whaling fleet returned home with 88 whales out of the 160 planned to be killed in the north-western Pacific Ocean. In 2001, Japan began its programme to sample up to 100 minkes, 50 Bryde's and 10 sperm whales in the north-western Pacific Ocean, based on the country's spurious argument that whales are competitors with humans for dwindling fish resources. This hunt was on top of the 500 plus minke whales that it is already hunting in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and the North Pacific.

The use of 'scientific permits' within the IWC is a controversial subject. Whilst Article VIII of the ICRW allows for a member nation to self-allocate quotas for 'scientific purposes', the majority of the IWC members believe that Japan and Norway, have abused this 'loophole' in the Convention.
Whilst many nations have used scientific permits to keep their struggling whaling industries alive, scientific permits really came into their own in the 1970s. The Faroese used scientific permits to maintain their commercial fin whale fishery, despite official IWC protection for the North Atlantic fin whale from 1976. In April 1985, the Japanese Minister for Fisheries, Moriyoshi Sato said, "the government (of Japan) will do its utmost to find ways to maintain the nation's whaling in the form of research or other forms". Japan began its scientific whaling programme in 1987, and continues to kill up to 540 minke whales every year. In 2000, it expanded its hunt in the North Pacific to include sperm and Bryde's whales.

The Japanese whaling programme has been repeatedly condemned by the International Whaling Commission. In 1995 the IWC recommended that members "should...refrain from issuing [scientific] permits in sanctuaries involving the killing of cetaceans in such sanctuaries" (IWC/47/30, Rev.1). The IWC also passed a resolution recommending that "scientific research intended to assist the comprehensive assessment of whale stocks and the implementation of the Revised Management Procedure "shall be undertaken by non-lethal means" (IWC/47/31).

On the 11th December 1995, the US Secretary of Commerce certified Japan under the 1978 Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman's Protective Act of 1967, noting that "Japanese nationals are engaged in scientific whaling activities that diminish the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) conservation program".
http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing.nsf/allweb/784FDCC28FBB876080256F3500551521

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Worldwide use

Alaska

humpback whales return home from Hawaii
kigo for spring

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Hawaii

whale watching

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especially in Hawaii, it is a big attraction.
There is also some whale watching going on in Japan.
Whales might be seen during the whole year, but during the summer holidays the whale watching is most prominent, therefore it might be considered

humanity kigo for all summer


Whale Watching
Check the Whale-Watching-Web
http://www.helsinki.fi/~lauhakan/whale/

Whale Watching World Wide


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Things found on the way




Moby Dick モビー・ディック

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851.
It is considered to be one of the Great American Novels and a treasure of world literature.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !


inspired by lines from Melville's "Moby Dick"

Growing grim
cold November in my soul
waiting for spring


William Sheehan
Joys of Japan, February 2012


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- Walfang -

Die Geschichte des Walfangs in Japan reicht weit in die Vergangenheit, erste Beschreibungen finden sich bereits im Kojiki , der ältesten Geschichtschronik des Landes aus dem achten Jahrhundert. Im 17. Jh. war die Stadt Taiji in Wakayama der Mittelpunkt des Walfangs mit Handharpunen.
Alle Teile eines Wals wurden verwertet, vom Fett über Fleisch bis zu den Knochen und Kiemen. Ein altes Sprichwort sagt: "Vom Walfisch gibt es nichts wegzuwerfen, nur seine Stimme."
Seit Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts wurden moderne Methoden des Fischfangs vom Westen übernommen. Während der Lebensmittelknappheit nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg war billiges Walfleisch eine wichtige Nahrungsquelle und wurde auch als Mittagessen in Schulen gereicht.
Im Jahre 1962 betrug die Fangmenge von Walen 226 000 Tonnen, sank aber bald ab. Die Internationale Walfangkommission sprach 1986 ein Verbot für den kommerziellen Walfang aus. Japan umgeht dieses Verbot seither dadurch, dass man den Walfang als wissenschaftliches Forschungsprogramm deklariert.

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HAIKU



大航海時代終りし鯨かな   
daikookai jidai owarishi kujira kana

the time of great seafarers
is now over -
all these whales


Hashimoto Eiji 橋本榮治 (1953 - )



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Whale's fluke
tosses water up -
the memory of it...


Zhanna P. Rader


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A whale!
Down it goes, and more and more
up goes its tail!


Buson, Yosa (1716-84)
Followed after Basho, but with his own style.


The whale squirts water
Don't kill the whale he is nice
He likes everyone.


Donny - third grade student

 © Greenpeace, Haiku Contest 2006
Read the whole collection HERE !




My four year old son
says he wants to change the world
he's heard the whale's song...


Posted by: Jennifer Cherkasov at January 26, 2006
source: weblog.greenpeace.org, MORE : Haiku Contest 2006

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deep blue --
in front of the whale
migration route

tons of tenderness --
a baby whale on the back
of its mother


Davorka Lukas, Croatia
June 2009


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Related words

***** ..... FISH as a kigo




Utagawa Hiroshige

***** yamakujira 山鯨(やまくじら) "whale of the mountain"
. Wild Boar (inoshishi)



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14 comments:

Unique Designs from Zazzle said...

as children
we submerged below the ocean --
to hear the humpback's song

~Simply Haiku Winter 2005

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

Since you are talking about whales and about haiku I thought to tell you about this haiku contest.

It was just for fun. I think most people that enterd had never written a haiku before. But I really liked some of them.

Gabi Greve said...

Thanks, Andrew san, for a great LINK!!!

Gabi
......................................................................

Anonymous said...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071225i1.html

© Japan Times, December 25, 2007

Whaling — for nationalism or science?

By KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writer

When it comes to whaling, Japan digs in its heels, as do antiwhaling nations and conservation groups.

Since the International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, antiwhaling nations, including Australia and Britain, have condemned Japan for conducting commercial whaling disguised as what it calls scientific research.

The annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean starts soon. Japanese whalers plan to hunt some 1,000 whales. The catch was to include 50 humpbacks, hunted for the first time since 1963, but Japan backed down from this plan Friday amid intense international outrage.

Following are some questions and answers about the whaling dispute and why it is a hot topic:

Why is Japan so persistent about whaling?

One big reason is that it evokes a sense of nationalism. Japan does not want to stop whaling simply because it is told to do so by Western countries, including those that encouraged Japanese to eat whale meat after the war, when other food sources were scarce, critics say.

Shortly after Japan was defeated in 1945, the Occupation forces gave the green light for Japan to start coastal whaling. The cheap, and then plentiful, whale meat became a key source of protein as the nation struggled to rebuild.

In recent years, however, conservation groups have repeatedly called Japanese whalers "barbarians" and "murderers," prompting a sense of indignation.

However, except for whaling industry participants and bureaucrats involved in the IWC talks, whaling is not a big issue for ordinary Japanese. In a survey conducted by Greenpeace Japan last year, about 34 percent of 1,047 respondents said Japan should resume commercial whaling, while about 66 percent said they either oppose or don't have an opinion on commercial whaling.

What is the official government stance on whaling?


The Fisheries Agency argues that whales are just another type of marine resource and should be treated like fish.

Many countries, including Japan and Britain, engaged in overwhaling in the 1960s, leading to a sharp decrease in stocks. But now some species have increased to the point that limited catches will not put them at risk of extinction, according to the agency.

After the IWC issued the moratorium on commercial whaling, due, according to some, to insufficient scientific data on the survivability of some species, Japan has engaged in both lethal and nonlethal research whaling.

The agency claims killing whales is necessary to gather comprehensive data, including age, reproductive information and eating habits, for future management of stocks.

Hideki Moronuki, a Fisheries Agency official in charge of whaling, also pointed out that whale meat is a part of Japan's food culture that other countries should respect.

In the past few years, the agency came up with a new argument that whales, at the top of the marine food chain, consume up to 436 million tons of fish annually, dealing a heavy blow to Japan's fisheries industry.

What do antiwhaling nations argue?

Antiwhalers call Japan's lethal scientific research a sham because whale meat is sold commercially for human consumption, and feel Japan does not need to kill 1,000 whales a year just for research.

Even if the number of some species, including the minke, has increased, whales could again face extinction if commercial whaling is resumed, they say.

Whaling is also a highly emotional issue for some Westerners. Humpbacks, a popular whale-watching species especially in Australia, have unique patterns on their pectoral fins that enable individual whales to be recognized. In some cases, they are given names. Killing whales is thus seen as a moral crime as well as an environmental one.

Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a radical conservation group, said in a recent edition of New Yorker magazine that whales are more intelligent than people, and their slaughter is tantamount to murder.

Is whale meat a popular daily dish for Japanese?


No. Before Japan gave up commercial whaling in 1987, whale meat was served in school lunches and in the home. But now it is considered by some a delicacy that few people eat. There have been reports, too, that whale meat has high levels of mercury.

The meat is not a popular consumer choice at present, and thus unsold quantities are stockpiled.

In the Greenpeace Japan survey, about 82 percent of the respondents said they have never eaten whale meat or haven't eaten it in a long time.

What is the history behind whaling in Japan?

Historians say the tradition dates back about 5,000 years to the Jomon Period. Large whale bone fossils have been found in ruins in Hokkaido and Aomori, indicating people were eating the mammals at the time.

In the seventh century, Emperor Tenmu imposed a ban on eating and killing wild animals and birds because of his Buddhist faith. However, fish and whales, which were considered fish, were excluded from the ban, spreading the custom of eating whale meat.

Whale-killing technology became more advanced as weapons and ammunition developed in the 17th century. In the 18th century, Japan acquired Western-style ship technology and navigation, allowing for long-range hunts.

How much whale meat is processed in Japan annually?

In fiscal 2006, some 4,154 tons of whale meat was produced as a byproduct of the lethal research, down from 5,560 tons in fiscal 2005, according to the Fisheries Agency.

The figure dropped last year because a fire broke out aboard the Nisshin Maru, the mother ship of the whaling fleet, cutting the hunt short.

But the figure has steadily grown over the years as Japan gradually expanded its lethal research. When Japan began research whaling in 1987 after the IWC's ban, only 1,140 tons of whale meat was processed.

In addition, about 400 tons of whale meat from small coastal whales, whose catch does not fall under the IWC's jurisdiction, as well as 1,000 tons of dolphin meat are processed every year for consumption.

However, a report by freelance journalist Junko Sakuma in 2006 showed that whale meat inventories reached 4,800 tons in August 2005.

What are the latest developments concerning whaling?

On Nov. 18, Japanese research vessels left Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, bound for Antarctic waters to hunt about 1,000 whales, including 50 humpbacks.

On Dec. 19, Australia announced it will send aircraft and a ship to monitor the whaling fleet and try to build a legal case against Japan in international courts, including the International Court of Justice.

As Australia and other countries and conservation groups heated up their outcry against Japan's whaling program, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura announced last Friday that Japan would not go after humpbacks while talks on reforming the IWC are under way.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20071225i1.html

Anonymous said...

Japanische Greenpeace-Mitarbeiter bleiben in Haft Umweltschutzorganisation protestiert weltweit gegen Festsetzung der Walschuetzer ohne Anklage

Hamburg (pressrelations) -
Japanische Greenpeace-Mitarbeiter bleiben in Haft Umweltschutzorganisation protestiert weltweit gegen Festsetzung der Walschuetzer ohne Anklage Hamburg, 01.07.2008 - Die beiden in Japan inhaftierten Greenpeace-Mitarbeiter Junichi Sato und Toru Suzuki werden fuer weitere zehn Tage ohne Anklage in japanischer Untersuchungshaft festgehalten.

http://www.greenpeace-magazin.de/index.php?id=55&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=25179&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=54&cHash=521ca0def2


Read the full text here
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/free-the-tokyo-two-300608

anonymous said...

Having eaten whale meat,
orphans and a doctor
play baseball

Saito Sanki
(trans. Saito Masaya, The Kobe Hotel, 164)

Gabi Greve - Darumapedia said...

Mingei - folk toys


kujiraguruma 鯨車 whale on wheels
from Kochi

kujira no shiofuki 鯨の潮吹き whale spouring, blowing
from Nagasaki
.

Gabi Greve said...

kujira legends 鯨と伝説

sappasen 早波舟 / さっぱ船 Sappa boats
Karakuwachoo 唐桑町 / Kesennuma - Miyagi

There is a legend from a shipwrecked boat, that was rescued by a large whale fish and brought to this shore safely. Now small boats are made as amulets for safe fishing.
Many have a flag in the center as amulat for a "big catch" tairyoo 大漁.
.
http://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.jp/2011/07/miyagi-folk-toys.html
.
and 71 legends at the Yokai Database
http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/cgi-bin/YoukaiDB2/namazu.cgi?query=%b7%df
.

Gabi Greve said...

Nakiri Jinja 波切神社 Nakiri Shrine
1 Daiocho Nakiri, Shima, Mie / 志摩市大王町波切1番地


This shrine is located in the 志摩郡 Shima district in the village of 大王町 Daio.
In its compound there is a special stone.
kujira ishi 鯨石 "Whale Stone"
which is said to have been found in the stomach of a whale.
.
Legends about namikiri . . .
http://fudosama.blogspot.jp/2005/05/namikiri-fudo.html
.

Gabi Greve said...

Legend from Sado, Niigata

In 1661, a solitary kujira 鯨 whale had been landed all alive and this was seen as an auspicious omen for the gold and silver mines of Sado.
.
https://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2019/02/ginki-silver-objects.html
.

Gabi Greve said...


Umi no Kami 海の神 God of the Sea
His messenger is the kujira 鯨 whale.

.
https://japanshrinestemples.blogspot.com/2019/06/umi-no-kami-sea-legends.html
.

Gabi Greve said...

Legends about 鯨 / くじら the Kujira whale
.
and more Kujira whale toys and art
.
https://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2019/11/kujira-whale-toys.html
.

Gabi Greve said...

Kujira Kannon 十一面観音像 Kannon Bosatsu with 11 faces riding on kujira 鯨魚 whale.
.
https://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2019/11/kujira-whale-toys.html
.

Gabi Greve said...

Legend from Hokkaido
Since olden times, the kujira 鰊 whale is a special fish of Hokkaido 蝦夷 Ezo. When the season comes, fishermen say special prayers and go out to sea. In the second lunar month, it was not allowed to ring a large temple bell. The vibrations of such a bell would be heared in the sea and the whales might disappear.
Words like whale, kitsune 狐 fox and awabi 蚫 were not allowed to use, since these animals were enemies of the whale.
.
https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/2008/04/herring-nishin.html
,