Changes

In the [[Edo period]], whale meat, whale oil, and certain other cetacean-derived products, were prominent trade goods, and whaling was among the most capital-intensive undertakings in the entire Tokugawa period economy. Whaling generally involved large groups of 400 to 1000 workers, operating within complex managerial structures.<ref>Kalland, 75, 180.</ref>

In the [[Edo period]], whale meat, whale oil, and certain other cetacean-derived products, were prominent trade goods, and whaling was among the most capital-intensive undertakings in the entire Tokugawa period economy. Whaling generally involved large groups of 400 to 1000 workers, operating within complex managerial structures.<ref>Kalland, 75, 180.</ref>

Whaling took place chiefly in the [[Sea of Japan]], but also on the Pacific coast, e.g. in [[Tosa province]], which was strategically located along whales' migration paths.<ref>Martin Dusinberre, ''Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 191-192.; Luke Roberts, Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa, Cambridge University Press (1998), 45-49.</ref> The chief targets of whaling expeditions were humpback and right whales, which migrated south from the Sea of Okhotsk through the Sea of Japan and into the [[East China Sea]] in December, and back north in April and May. Right whales were especially desired for their superior meat and for the amounts of whale oil which could be extracted from their bodies, but grey whales, fin whales, and even blue whales were sometimes hunted as well.<ref name=kalland180/>

Whaling took place chiefly in the [[Sea of Japan]], but also on the Pacific coast, e.g. in [[Tosa province]], which was strategically located along whales' migration paths.<ref>Martin Dusinberre, ''Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 191-192.; Luke Roberts, Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa, Cambridge University Press (1998), 45-49.</ref> The region known as Saikai, including the provinces of [[Hizen province|Hizen]] and [[Chikuzen province|Chikuzen]] in northern Kyushu, [[Nagato province]] (Chôshû) in western Honshû, and the island provinces of [[Iki province|Iki]] and [[Tsushima province|Tsushima]], were together the most productive whaling region in the archipelago, in the Edo period.<ref name=kalland185>Kalland, 185.</ref> The chief targets of whaling expeditions were humpback and right whales, which migrated south from the Sea of Okhotsk through the Sea of Japan and into the [[East China Sea]] in December, and back north in April and May. Right whales were especially desired for their superior meat and for the amounts of whale oil which could be extracted from their bodies, but grey whales, fin whales, and even blue whales were sometimes hunted as well.<ref name=kalland180/>

Shogunal and [[han|domain]] authorities generally viewed these three types of cetacean hunting as very separate categories, regulating them rather differently. Beached or drifting whales obtained "passively," as well as dolphins driven towards shore to be slaughtered, were grouped in within the rights of a fishing village to activities in those waters. The two were differentiated, however, in that all residents of the village were given collective claim to a dolphin catch, which thus had to be shared, while those who collected whale carcasses could claim the resulting meat, oil, and other products for themselves. Active whaling operations similarly could lay claim to their own catches, not being obliged to share with other villagers, but since these active operations often took the whalers not only into waters belonging to other villages, but even into waters belonging to other domains, they were generally obliged to pay a sort of guest fee to the village or domain where the whale was caught.<ref name=kalland180/>

Shogunal and [[han|domain]] authorities generally viewed these three types of cetacean hunting as very separate categories, regulating them rather differently. Beached or drifting whales obtained "passively," as well as dolphins driven towards shore to be slaughtered, were grouped in within the rights of a fishing village to activities in those waters. The two were differentiated, however, in that all residents of the village were given collective claim to a dolphin catch, which thus had to be shared, while collected whale carcasses became in many regions the property of district or domain authorities, who then distributed the meat, oil, bones, and other parts (or the monetary income from the sale of those products) according to their own policies. Active whaling operations similarly could lay claim to their own catches, not being obliged to share with other villagers, but since these active operations often took the whalers not only into waters belonging to other villages, but even into waters belonging to other domains, they were generally obliged to pay a sort of guest fee to the village or domain where the whale was caught.<ref name=kalland180/>

 

 

The increase in active whaling led to an increase in injured and dead whales found drifting or beached. In some domains, such as [[Fukuoka domain]], when one was taken in as ''yorikuja'' ("passive" capture of weakened or dead whales), the authorities were to be notified, so that the district headman (''ôjôya'') could organize an auction for local merchants. Merchants, groups of fishermen, or others would bid for the meat, the bones, or other parts of the whale, with prices varying dramatically, of course, depending on the size and species of the whale, the condition of the carcass (e.g. how long it had been rotting before being collected), and other factors. A large portion of the proceeds, sometimes as much as 2/3, was paid in tax to the authorities. Much of the remainder was distributed among the people of the village, much as finds from shipwrecks or washed-up cargo would be.<ref>Kalland, 182-184.</ref>

===Whaling by Westerners===

===Whaling by Westerners===