xxvi. Taiji Bay (太地湾) or Taiji (太地) Part 5 (Epilogue)

Location (Semi-Nagare Monument): Taiji (near JR Line Taiji Stn.), Wakayama Prefecture; about 3.5 hours from Osaka + 45 min. walking time; or a 10 min. walk from either Ebisu Shrine or the Memorial Tower for Whales

Associated with: Sazae Oni (栄螺鬼) or the "Sea Snail Demon"

If you have followed my suggested route up to the Semi-Nagare Monument, you will have found yourself slowly circling Taiji Bay. It is out there on the ocean where we have a location which is a candidate for a rather squeamish account involving a (gasp) actual yokai.

The marine creature from which this yokai gets its name is the sazae, a type of edible sea snail that lives in a turban-shaped shell. (They sometimes make an appearance at a seaside barbecue, plonked on the grill and cooked in their shells.) It's said that such a sea snail will become a type of demon called a sazae oni once it has lived for thirty years. Another recipe for spawning this yokai is to throw a lusty woman into the ocean, where she will first transform into a sea snail. She will reappear later on a moonlit night, breaching the water as a sea snail demon.

Got that? Well in Namikiri of Kishu Domain (present day Taiji), there is the account of a band of pirates who while sailing across the bay came across a beautiful woman struggling in the water. Though the pirates were quick to rescue her, in their dark hearts they harbored an unchivalrous motive; that night each to a man had their rough way with her. It turned out, however, that they had been tricked, for the woman was a sazae oni. Later that night she transformed into a demon and bit the testicles off every pirate on the ship. The next day she ransomed their balls back to them for a tidy sum of gold.

Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus

Beyond Semi-Nagare

After the tragedy, the traumatized town found itself in a state almost beyond recovery. Taiji Kakuemon, the man who had issued the command to hunt, wrote, "Words cannot describe the wretched state of the hundreds of bereaved." In dealing with his own grief, Kakuemon distributed his estate among the families of the deceased. However, without the level of support that whaling had contributed to the economy, many of the town's young men left to look for work elsewhere.

But somehow Taiji managed to survive and piece together a new whaling fleet. Sawadayu and the survivors apprenticed new whalers, including Sawadayu's son Yasoichi, who had been too young to be a member of the fleet caught in the Semi-Nagare tragedy. The boy became a harpooner like his father, and later changed his name to Kimidayu (dayu being a special suffix attached to the names of harpooners). The invention of the whaling gun and other advances in technology made hunting safer, and Kimidayu would pass the trade onto his children. However, never would the next generation have to risk their lives out in the old chasers, setting the giant nets, or locked in the hunt. They would not understand the old saying, "On a boat, one is only an inch or two from a watery grave," in quite the same way their ancestors did. Kimidayu would be the last harpooner.

Kimidayu died at the age of 76 on June 28, 1945 just a few months before the end of World War II. Amazingly, footage exists of the old whaler. Taken in 1932, it shows the Ayaodori, a dance in which young men line up along a board placed across two traditional moso-bune boats. Kimidayu along with his friend, another old harpooner by the name of Uradayu, can be seen sitting on the bows of the boats, singing and banging the taiko.

Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus

Closing Thoughts

It has been nearly ten years since the footage for 2009's Cove was shot, but the battle still rages. With the discrimination case against the Taiji Whale Museum and Ric O'Barry's deportation from Japan just this year, there is yet to be a decisive winner. Without choosing a side though, my feeling is that Taiji will find its way much as it has always done. The town is a survivor. And while the dolphin slaughter footage is both compelling and disturbing, the fact of the matter is that the protesters have failed to meaningfully engage the townsfolk. Instead they have resorted to celebrity hype, international pressure and brute force. History has shown that in Taiji, successes as well as hardships forge a complex identity. The protesters would do well to note that the mother whale and its calf, an icon of unimaginable tragedy for the town, are eternalized in a gigantic monument that eyes visitors on their approach. So too now do the protesters play a part in galvanizing this identity.

Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus

Having been to Taiji, I do respect the protesters for putting their money where their mouths are and actually traveling and spending time there. It's possible to go straight there from Kansai airport without ever taking in a single major tourist site. Once on the ground it must be homesick-inducing, lonely and heartbreaking work. However, if the protesters really want the people of Taiji to care about their opinion, they first need to show that they understand theirs. That's not easy, but to understand is not to condone. It is the first step toward laying the groundwork for the possibility of change.

Photo Credit: Gragma's Yokai Tourbus

Getting Back to Taiji Station

It's a long walk back to the station, but hopefully it's been worth it. A tourist map will point out some other sites that might interest you, so keep having a wander around if you like. When you're ready, head back to the station by more or less retracing your steps. This time you can cut through the town and also take a shortcut through the mountain to save you having to walk all the way around the peninsula.

Map courtesy of Google Maps

Some Acknowledgements

Originally all I wanted to do was go see a torii made out of bones. I would have been clueless about it had it not been for Zack Davisson's article on the bakekujira at hyakumonogatari.com. That article can be read here:

https://hyakumonogatari.com/2013/05/10/bakekujira-and-japans-whale-cults/

C.W. Nicol is an author I stumbled upon horrendously late in the fifteen years I've been living in Japan. Nicol, one of the living treasures we are lucky to have among us, spent a year in Taiji doing research for his novel Harpoon. Though these days he condemns the cruelty of the dolphin hunt, he has been a defender of sustainable fishing practises, including traditional whaling. He continues to write a weekly column for The Japan Times, and his essay Taiji - Winds of Change can currently be read online here:

http://luna.pos.to/whale/jwa_taiji.html

A verse and chorus from Lament for the Fisherman's Wife are at the beginning of each main entry of this series. It's neither Japanese nor particularly old, but a tune by Scottish folk greats Silly Wizard. It appeared on their 1981 album Wild and Beautiful and with one listen you can tell that the song is both. You can find it on YouTube.

Artist Unknown, 1800s (Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/ via http://ukiyo-e.org)

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: Semi-Nagare Monument/Monument to Those Lost at Sea (漂流人紀念碑)
Nearest Station: (JR Line) Taiji Stn. (太地駅)
Google Map Search: NA