Whale mounds

Whale mounds (鯨塚, Kujira Tsuga) are mounds dedicated to whales that have been washed up on the shore, a custom unique to Japan.

Mounds are created to remember Cetacean stranding, a type of whale that was hunted for food and resources, and to show appreciation for the area being saved and enriched. Whales were considered gods and some were called Ebisu, so they were enshrined to prevent them from becoming angry gods after they died on the shore or were hunted. These mounds can be found at Toda Shrine in Shinagawa, Tokyo and Whale Shrine in Miyake-jima, Tokyo.

After the establishment of organized whaling after the Edo period, there are also mounds built as memorials and thanksgivings in areas where Whaling was a livelihood, such as the Ryujima area near Ukishima Shrine in Chiba Prefecture and Taiji.

Because the arrival of whales coincides with the arrival of fish, whales were thought to have spiritual power and were used as fishing guides. For this reason, the whale, in the form of Ebisu, was enshrined as a god of fishing to bring good fortune to fishermen and as a sea god to pray for safety at sea.

In the same way, whale graves and monuments exist in areas where whaling has been a livelihood since ancient times, as well as passive and accidental whaling, and when combined with whale mounds, there are about 100 of them in Japan.

They are found throughout the coastal areas of Japan. They vary in form, some are Stone Monuments, Towers, Shrines (wooden or stone), and some are just mounds of rocks placed on top of the bones of some of the remains, heaped with earth.

The following is an example from Miyagi Prefecture, Kesennuma and Karakuwa.

There are several whale mounds in the southern part of the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture.