Associated with: Japanese "whale cults"
By the storm-torn shoreline a woman is standing.
The spray strung like jewels in her hair.
And the sea tore the rocks near that desolate landing.
As though it had known she stood there.
For she had come down to condemn that wild ocean.
For the murderous loss of her man.
His boat sailed out on Wednesday morning.
And it's feared she's gone down with all hands.
-Lament for the Fisherman's Wife
Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus
The Cove, Dummy
Oh right, The Cove. Taiji is the setting for the 2009 docu-film focusing on the town's annual dolphin hunt. I didn't give it too much thought, but when I started making plans to go to Taiji a friend quietly suggested that maybe it wasn't such a good idea... as a foreigner I'd be roundly hated and yelled at by everybody in sight. I thought that unlikely, but decided I should at least watch The Cove to see what I might be in for. If you haven't seen it, it looks something like this...
Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus
...except the turtles are dolphins and the water babies are Japanese fisherman and the dolphins are boats. Much like that last sentence, I wasn't completely sure what to make of The Cove, but I did get a sense from watching it why the townsfolk might be suspicious of me. The fishermen in the film were also extremely aggressive, and though I'm always delighted when I hear roughly spoken Japanese, I'd prefer not to have it spoken to me. Anyway, the movie itself wasn't enough to put me off going, but I did decide to take a few precautionary steps. First I made a point to visit out of season so there would be nothing happening at the time to protest or get worked up about, and likely no actual protesters to get mistaken for. I also somehow had the bright idea to wear light summer business attire as a way of throwing people off my scent. I wouldn't look anything like a protester and perhaps the townsfolk would mistake me for a Mormon. So looking like I meant business... as in, actual business, it was a sunny Sunday morning when I arrived at Taiji Station. This would be my start and end point provided I made it through the day alive.
Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus
My plan was to be in and out of the town quickly and do as little as possible to attract attention. You can imagine my surprise then when I exited the station to find a car with loudspeakers and men standing around with walkie-talkies. I was not expecting this kind of vigilance! I quickly ducked back into the station and read pamphlets for about 10 minutes before venturing outside again and striking out toward Taiji proper. I hadn't gone all that far when there on the sidewalk was another man with a walkie-talkie! Suddenly I found myself every 30 meters or so crossing paths with patrollers. They were everywhere! Did they know I was coming or did they always do this?
It was only when I saw all the cyclists lined up in the middle of the road did I realize what was happening. Somehow I'd managed to come to Taiji on the last day of the Tour de Kumano, a professional road race that has been held in the region annually since 2006. Because of it, every able-bodied townsperson was out in the street to witness the event. I would be seen by one and all and they would be wondering who the idiot was in business gear staring at everything but the cyclists.
Not far from the starting line was my first stop, the Taiji Whale Museum. The museum, which doubles as a marine park, has been referred to online as "a dolphin's worst nightmare." The museum also lost a discrimination case back in March this year for refusing to admit "anti-whalers." I wasn't sure what to expect of this apparent enclave of cetacean hell, but I bravely strode forward to the ticket counter with my discount voucher and was admitted inside.
Once in, I knew my destination and headed straight for it: the third floor. It's this level that exhibits Taiji's 400-year history of whaling.
A whale on the beach means wealth for seven villages.
A fishing village is not simply a village in which the people fish, but a village where if fishing did not take place, the village would not exist. Taiji is one such place. There is not the space for a viable agricultural industry, and like many coastal areas in Japan the mountains meet the sea. In times past a bad season littered with poor catches meant hardship and the possibility of famine.
Taiji as a fishing village was of course not the only community with such a capricious relationship with the sea. There are tales of villages where, in perhaps being brought even to the brink of starvation, the people would suddenly wake one morning to a whale having beached itself on its shores; and literally overnight, the fortune of the village was reversed. A whale, in all it represented to the village as its savior, the sustenance it provided and wealth it would bring, was thought of as no less than the embodiment of a god... a Hyochakushin (漂着神) or as Davisson puts it in his article, a "Drifting Ashore God." There are also less dramatic accounts of a whale, shark or other marine creature appearing at a village on the day of a shrine festival. With some shrines being almost on the beach, the animal would appear to be visiting the shrine... a "visiting deity" as it were.
Katsukawa Shuntei, Edo Period (Source: Museum of Fine Arts, https://www.mfa.org/ via http://ukiyo-e.org)
To try and bring down a whale in these pre-modern times though was a dangerous practice, and what the god giveth it taketh away. It has been suggested that the spirit of a deceased whale poorly treated would become vengeful by driving fish away from shore or doing damage until appeased with proper worship. Meanwhile out on the boats, there was no guarantee that those on a perilous hunt would return, and in this way the life and death of the whale was intertwined with the life and death of the whaler and the whaling village. Whatever one's thoughts are on the current state of affairs, it cannot be denied that the people of old Taiji lived their environment, and this is the legacy the townsfolk fiercely protect.
It was this spirit that I hoped to catch a glimpse of on my visit to Taiji, and it's the third floor of the museum which houses the relics of this old tradition. Truth be told I wasn't very interested in the whale and dolphin specimens on the second floor or the dolphin show outside. The top floor of the museum gave me all I needed for the other sites I would visit that day.
Of particular interest was an exhibit titled The Last Harpooner. It begins with a tragedy known as the Semi-Nagare (with O- sometimes added to the front as emphasis, meaning great). It was this event in 1878 that would mark the end of traditional whaling in Taiji. Semi-Nagare (背美流れ) doesn't translate well. The museum presented it in English as "Right Whales, and Drifting Away," but it might work a little better as "The Right Whale Drift" or perhaps "The Great Right Whale Current."
Even in a dream, look not upon a right whale and her calf. (背美の子連れは夢にも見るな。)
We'll continue the events of the Semi-Nagare over the course of this series on Taiji. To set the scene, however, it might be helpful to get a feel for the whale hunt and some of the customs at the time. C.W. Nicol writes:
The [whaling] fleet was directed from lookout points on shore, which were also in contact with the beach-master. They relayed his orders, as well as the sightings and movements of whales, by the means of various pennants, by signal sticks (a kind of semaphore), by smoke signal and by the notes of conch shell trumpets. One signal was of great significance. The hoisting of it would mean a whale sighting, but no hunt. It was a three-pennant signal, each pennant being black with a white stripe in the middle...
Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus
...it signified a female right whale and her calf... [T]here is a wealth of stories in Taiji to indicate that they held the female whale, especially a pregnant or mother whale in great awe. Even the whaler's song show this... [A] female right whale, normally a docile creature, would fight with fury if she had a calf... [T]he Taiji whalers could afford to let a female right whale and her calf go unharmed, and it seems that they always did so.
-Taiji, Winds of Change, C.W. Nicol
Comments: I'll just go ahead and say it. If you're at all interested in the history of Taiji, then a trip to the whale museum is a must. The third floor exhibit is excellent, and The Last Harpooner includes detailed explanations in English, which is really going the extra mile for a local museum. Another good reason to visit the museum is its large gift and souvenir shop. If like myself you are not planning to stay nearby in a hotel, you will likely not get the opportunity anywhere else in town to purchase mementos. The museum is also in some ways a de facto tourist center, and they gave me a really quite wonderful Taiji guidebook in English. I would have gladly paid money for it, but this is something they were giving away for free (though you have to ask for it). I was extremely impressed.
Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus
The agedness of the museum is apparent on the second floor, which houses the whale and dolphin specimens. There are a lot of preserved animal parts and a lot of things in jars, including many fetuses and at least one newborn. Brand new when the museum was opened in 1969, this would have looked very scientific for the time, but some Western visitors will find this a little creepy if not disturbing. I recommend skipping whatever doesn't interest you or may upset you.
Relating to that, I cannot comment on the quality of the dolphin shows that were playing, though I'm sure they are fine if you're into that sort of thing.
Getting There
The starting point on the Midosuji subway line is Tennoji Stn. Our destination is Taiji Stn. on the JR line.
Taiji is our first destination where taking anything slower than a tokkyu (a limited express train requiring an additional fee) is impractical. There is an excellent express service called the Kuroshio that travels the Wakayama coastline all the way to Shingu. Taiji is the third to last stop.
You can go to Taiji any day of the year, but I recommend going in April or May. June is possible, but check the weather forecast for rain, especially if the rainy season has begun. If it's really pouring the Kuroshio will stop running (perhaps with you in it). July is possible, and in August you will no doubt catch the beach crowd (fun), but both months are too hot for all the walking you'll need to do. The season for the dolphin drive is quite long from September to March. I don't think it's that big a deal to visit while the hunt is going on, especially if you can speak Japanese, but if you're worried about it just go sometime between April and August.
At Tennoji you'll need to change to the JR line and visit the ticket counter to buy your Kuroshio ticket to Taiji. The trip is about three and a half hours long, and taking the earliest service will get you there just before lunch. You'll then have about six hours of sightseeing before the last Kuroshio for Osaka. You might need to prioritize your to-do list a bit, but there should be plenty of time to enjoy the sites.
Getting Your Bearings at Taiji Station
At Taiji there is only one exit and it more or less faces the easterly direction you'll be traveling. The station has many excellent pamphlets and brochures, so grab a few to take with you. Try to get something with a map that has all the public toilets (WC) marked and a restaurant guide if you're going to have a meal somewhere. There are a good number of public toilets about the town, but some are easier to spot than others.
Map courtesy of Google Maps
Walking to the museum takes a solid 35 minutes, but the road is varied enough that you'll enjoy the approach and the landmarks along the way. The stretch of the Kumano Highway that you'll initially walk along does not have a raised footpath, but soon to your right you'll notice a foot bridge that crosses a river onto a path along the opposite side. This path (marked in red below) runs parallel to the highway and the river, and you can follow it almost all the way to where the road forks. From that point there is a wide raised footpath the rest of the way.
Map courtesy of Google Maps
Where the road forks there is also a convenience store. The route will later take you past a small supermarket so it's fine to skip it.
Once you've passed where the road forks it's simply a matter of following it around the northern end of the peninsula until you reach the museum. There will be a whole lot of camera candy along the way, as well as a kiosk and a few souvenir shops. Though it's hard to decide what to buy with your trip barely started, I suggest getting whatever catches your eye now as there is a good chance you won't be coming back this way. I particularly recommend the gift shop just before the Kiyomaru, a dry docked whaling vessel on display along the home stretch to the museum. The shop has some nice knickknacks and friendly staff. There is a red arrow pointing to it in the map below.
Map courtesy of Google Maps
Information on The Taiji Whale Museum
The museum is open from 8:30 until 17:00 every single day of the year. The 8:30 opening time is particularly attractive if you're already in the area and can make an early start. General admission (as of August 2016) is 1300 yen, 1200 yen for seniors over 70 (be careful, you'll get carded), and 700 yen for elementary school children. The museum's website has a voucher that can be printed out for 100 yen off general admission for adults and children. One voucher can be used for up to fourteen people.
The museum was built in 1969 and some of the interior does not seem to have changed in that time. If they have air conditioning it wasn't on when I went, so if it's the case it's absent all together, April or May might be better months to visit if you don't want to be sweating bullets.
Driver Gragma (yokaitourbus "at" mail "dot" com)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yokaitourbus/
The Master List (Wakayama)
http://yokaitourbus.blogspot.jp/2015/08/6-g-master-list-wakayama.html
(religion) Japanese Whale Cults (鯨崇拝)
Site: The Taiji Whale Museum (太地町立くじらの博物館)
Nearest Station: (JR Line) Taiji Stn. (太地駅)
Google Map Search: "Taiji Whale Museum"
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