In ancient times, the Japanese considered whales to be manifestations of the god Ebisu, who brings riches from the seas. People gratefully utilized the whales that occasionally washed ashore as a source of food, and eventually they began whaling themselves as a means of livelihood.

Whales have been seen in coastal areas lying along the Kumano Sea, where the Black Current flows, since ancient times, and organized whaling began during the Edo period. Legend holds that the samurai Wada ChubeeYorimoto, who was from Taiji, pioneered the techniques of whaling, and he continues to be revered as the founder of whaling today.

Initially whales were caught using harpoons, but the subsequent creation by Taiji Kakuemon of methods for capturing the creatures using nets led to the rapid development of whaling. In this approach, a fleet of boats would surround a whale, catch it in a net, and then attack it with harpoons. But this “fleet” was nothing like a modern fleet of boats, consisting instead of small craft that were rowed by hand. The whale would be attacked with a large number of harpoons of several different types and then killed with a large sword.

More than 500 people played a variety of roles in whaling, a large and ambitious undertaking that required a truly regional effort. Those roles included lookouts who kept watch for whales from atop the area’s mountains, harpooners who attacked the whales with harpoons, and others to carry out tasks such as transporting the whale meat and managing and repairing associated tools and implements. An individual known as the “whale manager” was responsible for butchering the animal and processing the carcass and its meat, most of which was salted and shipped. Communities were grateful for each catch and used every bit of the gigantic creature, extracting whale oil from the bones and skin and utilizing whiskers and tendons as material for use in tools and implements.

Whales offered enormous prosperity to the area, inspiring the saying that “one whale benefits seven villages.” It is reported that the landing of 95 whales in 1681 yielded profits in excess of 6,000 ryo.

Whaling enriched each community since behind those who were involved directly in the hunt were numerous others, including ship carpenters, blacksmiths, and meat-sellers. News of the area’s prosperity reached as far afield as distant Osaka, inspiring Ihara Saikaku to note the wealth of Taiji in his work The Eternal Storehouse of Japan.