JAPAN - EDO period (1603 - 1868), 19th century - Lot 63

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  3. JAPAN - EDO period (1603 - 1868), 19th century - Lot 63
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Lot n° 63
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6000 - 8000 EUR
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Result : 7 800EUR
JAPAN - EDO period (1603 - 1868), 19th century - Lot 63
JAPAN - EDO period (1603 - 1868), 19th century Polychrome ink on paper, depicting the various stages associated with whaling. In the middle of the drawing, illustration and brief description of the place on the shore, 樫野崎 山見, (view of Kashinozaki mountain, in Wakayama), the main whaling region in western Japan. Manuscript signed by the artist 豊田安左衛門春政, Toyota Yasuzaemon, Harumasa, dated Tenpo 2 (1831), preserved in a modern box. Very slight flaws restored. At the end of the manuscript, again the date: Tenpo 3 (1832), and the name of the same artist. Dim. 26.5 x 540 cm The beginning of the long scroll, (Figure 1). depicts the life and work of the villagers exploiting the meat, blubber and oil of a very large captured whale. In days gone by, when whales were still abundant in the Sea of Japan, whale watching was a blessing for the inhabitants of poor fishing villages. A village could reap enormous wealth from the meat and oil of a single whale. Whalers would spot the whales from posts along the shore and launch boats to capture them with harpoons and spears. Instead of trying to harpoon whales in the open water, here nine boats are encircling a whale (Figure 2), pushing it into nets. The whale, the largest and heaviest animal on Earth, has always fascinated human beings. Speculations and fantasies have been all the more numerous given that seeing a whale alive has long been a rarity. Its history is linked to that of the sea, navigation and fishing. But it is also linked to the history of knowledge and classification of the animal world. Hunted since Neolithic times, the whale became better known when, in the 16th century, it moved from the coast and fjords to the high seas. The capture of a whale yielded a large number of products, fuelling a profitable trade. A whaling industry gradually grew up, but it became so predatory that in the 20th century it was necessary to limit catches and impose quotas. Meanwhile, the animal's symbolism changed. For a long time, it was a fearsome monster in the service of the forces of evil. The Bible and mythology made it an instrument of devouring, and medieval bestiaries, an attribute of the Devil. Modern literature was scarcely more indulgent, emphasizing its cruelty: it was the ogre of the oceans, like Moby-Dick, the ferocious white sperm whale whose story was told by Hermann Melville. As time went on, however, this image faded and inverted: the sea monster gradually gave way to a more endearing, if not pitiful, creature, the unjust victim of human greed and violence. The importance of whales was considerable in Edo period Japan (1600-1868), a country with a Buddhist tradition where meat consumption was forbidden, but seafood was allowed.
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