[Travel Tales of the West/Shiba Kōkan] (17) Kajikitoshi, Storm Petrels, Saw-toothed Whale Teeth, and Whale Boat Flags

This fish is called Aminashi. It is also called Kajikitoshi. In Tosa Province, it is called Kashikitoshi. It pierces the bottom of a boat.

It is over one jō (approx. 3 meters) long from the tail to the area around the head and eyes. I sketched this fish as it was hung in the kitchen of a man named Mataemon on Ikitsuki Island. It is used for New Year's cuisine.

The color of its back is like a tuna. Its belly is white.

Storm Petrel
This bird is rarely seen. It appears from somewhere during the whaling season. It eats whale meat without limit. It resembles a seagull and is about the size of a swan. It does not walk when it lands on a hill.
The head is pale yellow, and the beak is a pale rouge color.

Saw-toothed Whale Teeth, also known as Shachihoko.
A fish that eats whales and tuna. I brought these teeth back. They are effective for [illegible].

I drew this illustration after asking a fisherman on this island. It blows water in the sea and exposes its back. Although I saw it with my own eyes, I could not see the whole body. Like the Right Whale, it blows water in two streams. Whales other than the Right Whale blow in one stream.

Saw-toothed Whale, also known as Shachihoko.
Size is over two ken (approx. 3.6 meters).

Now, regarding the whale stories I have illustrated, I, the author, only speak of what I have seen one by one, and I do not speak of what I have not seen. There is not a single hair's breadth of falsehood. I do not make the writing flowery, but speak of things as they are.

Besides the fishermen of the Goto Islands, Hirado, and Kii Province's Kumano Bay (the whales caught in this bay are small, but there are sixteen types), no one else has seen the whole body of a whale.

Why is this? The Goto Islands are eight or nine ri away from the castle town. Hirado is also an island five or six ri, or twelve or thirteen ri away, where they hunt whales. Especially from the last month of the year to the beginning of the New Year, they focus on fishing. In a small boat, there are eight men rowing, and one harpooner; no one else can ride.

Calf whales often capsize the boats. The boats overturn. Those who are not skilled in swimming lose their lives. Fishermen are raised by the seaside from childhood and naturally acquire swimming skills. Therefore, it is said that many are struck by giant fish among the waves. For this reason, few people see them. Those who listen to tall tales say things like there is a whale thirty-three hiro (fathoms) long, and they cut its back to scoop out the oil.

I, the author, once crossed to Hirado Island, and by the order of the Lord of Matsuura, I stayed at the house of Masutomi Mataemon on Ikitsuki Island for thirty days (Mataemon supports over two thousand people, sending laborers to various islands to prepare when whales arrive), and whales appeared only two or three times. For the sake of my curiosity, I endured the danger and watched this fishing (thirteen ri northwest of this island is Iki Province, and there is a man named Doi Ichibei who is a whale hunter).

On New Year's Day, this island also sets up gate pines and celebrates with zōni (rice cake soup), just like in Edo. On the fourth, we departed this island by boat and sailed beneath Shiradake on the side of Hirado Island. The sheer cliffs tower several jō high, making one wonder if they are the Red Cliffs. Passing this, we arrived at a place called Aburamizu. The rock walls are red (a type of hematite, which can be used as a pigment for painting). We rounded both shores and arrived at Tasuke Port (boats sailing from Nagasaki anchor here). From there, we set sail and arrived at the castle town of Hirado.

Illustration of whale boat flags
For a fin whale with a calf, the flag is raised at the stern.
When it is a right whale, this mark is raised at the bow of the boat. For a humpback whale, it is raised at the stern. All these ways of raising flags indicate the type of whale.
■ (■ is the character for 'ox horn').