Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-237) and index.
Contents:
Foreword: The aquamarine archipelago / by Paul S. Sutter -- Acknowledgments -- Note on the text -- Maps of whaling areas -- Introduction -- Seeing from the sea : a whale's-eye view of Japan -- Bringing whales ashore, whalers offshore : coastal networks and the history of whaling -- Moving whales from coasts to mountains : the circulation and use of whale products -- Seeding stories : whales as cultural and scholarly inspiration -- Memorializing whales : religious and spiritual responses to whale death -- Conclusion: Japan and its maritime space.
Summary:
"Today, Japan defends its controversial whaling expeditions by invoking tradition but what was the historical reality? In examining the techniques and impacts of whaling during the Tokugawa period (1603 1868), Jakobina Arch shows that the organized, shore-based whaling that first developed during these years bore little resemblance to modern Japanese whaling. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from whaling ledgers to recipe books and gravestones for fetal whales, she traces how the images of whales and byproducts of commercial whaling were woven into the lives of people throughout Japan. Economically, Pacific Ocean resources were central in supporting the expanding Tokugawa state. In this vivid and nuanced study of how the Japanese people brought whales ashore during the Tokugawa period, Arch makes important contributions to both environmental and Japanese history by connecting Japanese whaling to marine environmental history in the Pacific, including the devastating impact of American whaling in the nineteenth century"--Publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.