Whale Group - Whale Group

Japanese: 鯨組 - くじらぐみ

An organization of fishermen dedicated to whaling. Whaling in Japan, which targets right whales, began in the early 17th century (Keicho era) when Wada Yorimoto of Kishu invented the harpooning method. Yorimoto organized harpooning groups into groups of about 30 people, named them harpooning groups, and organized four of the five groups from his family. After that, the Wada family gradually branched out, but as the number of humpback whales began to increase in place of the decline in the number of harpoons, Yoriharu (Taiji Kakuemon) took the harpooning group to the next level and founded the net fishing method. Tosa whaling, which was as famous as Kishu, first established spear fishing (around the Kan'ei period (1624-29)), but eventually learned the net fishing method from Kishu, and the Tsuro and Ukitsu groups became the two major groups. Other notable activities included whaling in Nagato, the Masutomi family of Ikitsuki Island in Hirado domain in the northwestern waters of Kyushu, and net fishing in the Omura domain of Hizen domain.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

鯨猟を目的とする漁民の組織。日本の鯨猟は背美鯨 (セミクジラ ) を対象とするもので，17世紀の初め (慶長年間) 紀州の和田頼元によって銛突きの法が考案されたのに始る。頼元は突き組を 30人前後で1組とし，これを刺し手組と名づけて，5組のうち4組を一族で編成した。その後，和田家は漸次分家したが，背美鯨の減少に代って座頭鯨 (ザトウクジラ ) が来集するようになるに及び，頼治 (太地角右衛門) はこれまでの刺し手組を一大飛躍させて網取法を創始した。紀州と並んで有名であった土佐捕鯨は初め突漁を創始した (寛永〈1624～29〉頃) が，やがて紀州から網取法を伝習し，津呂組，浮津組が二大勢力を張った。その他，長門の捕鯨，九州西北海域では平戸藩生月島の益富家，肥前大村藩の網取法が盛大であった。

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