Otaru City Museum Director Naoaki Ishikawa Updated 31 March 2021

A petition for a price increase submitted by a group of bathhouse owners in Matsumae during the Edo period remains. It was submitted in 1860 (the first year of the Man'en era) in the joint names of bathhouse owners in Matsumae (then Fukuyama). The petition cited the rising prices as the reason for the increase, stating, "In recent years, the prices of firewood and oil have inevitably risen," and another reason: "In recent years, many people have been migrating to work in the eastern and western Ezo regions, and so there has naturally been a shortage of bathing facilities."

These "migrant workers" refer to fishermen who travel to Ezo to fish for herring. In the late Edo period, the herring fishing industry in southern Hokkaido, which had been so prosperous that the song "Esashi's spring is not even in Edo," began to decline due to overfishing and other factors.

Meanwhile, fishing grounds in Ezo were being developed by "place-contract merchants." Initially, they only employed the Ainu people living around the fishing grounds, but due to strong requests from fishermen in the Matsumae domain who were suffering from poor catches, they were allowed to "work away from home" in Ezo.

This migrant work in Ezo is called "oi-nishin," or herring fishing. Herring fishing became possible in the Otaru area at the end of the 18th century. Initially, people were only allowed to live in Ezo during herring fishing season and were not allowed to stay there throughout the year, but gradually people began to settle there permanently, and in particular in 1855, the aforementioned application for a price increase was submitted.

It is unclear whether the fishermen had disappeared from the town enough to justify the increase in bath fees, or whether the bathhouse owners had fabricated the story, but it is not difficult to imagine that a major change had occurred that caused the castle town of Matsumae to become deserted. In this way, the Shiribeshi region became the center of herring fishing.

Although there were some contractors, such as the Nishikawa family, who continued to hold fishing rights dating back to the Edo period into the Meiji period, many fishing grounds came to be run by fishermen who had made a fortune. This opening up of fishing grounds allowed individual managers (bosses) to increase their catches through their own ingenuity and hard work. As a result, herring fishing reached its peak from the early to mid-Meiji period.

The highest catch for all of Hokkaido was in 1897 (Meiji 30), at approximately 1.3 million koku, roughly equivalent to 970,000 tons. Of this, 30% was caught in the Shiribeshi region, and Otaru alone accounted for 7% of the total catch for the entire prefecture. Of this, over 80% was caught using "tateami" (set nets). "Tateami" are fixed nets, also known as "kakuami" (square nets), and the development of this fishing method dramatically increased work efficiency, which is thought to have been one of the reasons for the increase in catches in the 1890s.

It is said that the first successful practical use of set nets was in 1885 at the fishing grounds of Saito Hikosaburo in Irigata village (now Shakotan town), at the tip of the Shakotan Peninsula (there is also a theory that they were also used in the Kitami region around the same time).

In the past, herring fishermen caught schools of herring that gathered around seaweed near the shore to spawn. Therefore, herring set nets were set up close to the coast. From the west to the east of the Tan Peninsula, and even along the coastlines of Yoichi and Otaru, set nets were once set up like a tangled mess of small boats known as "sampa boats," creating noisy scenes in many places. Around this time, the main fishermen in the booming fishing grounds were replaced by migrant farmers from all over Tohoku.

The buildings generally referred to as "herring palaces" include everything from fishermen's quarters to villas for the master's family, all of which were "luxurious buildings built with the wealth earned from herring." A prime example of this wealth is the former Aoyama family villa that remains in the Shukutsu district of Otaru City.

This private home was built for his family by Aoyama Tomekichi, one of the three major fishermen of Shukutsu, a major herring fishing area during the Meiji period. The house is filled with artwork, furniture, and other items, making it a truly luxurious building.

However, in terms of architecture characteristic of the herring fishing grounds, it would have to be the Ibaraki family home, which remains in the Shukutsu district of Otaru and is the master's family's private residence. A storehouse made of soft stone (tuff) also remains. The Ibaraki family home has a Western-style room.

The former Fukuhara fishing grounds in Yoichi Town, a nationally designated historic site, is one of the best-preserved examples of fishing ground architecture from the peak of herring fishing. In addition to the main building, the guardhouse, a group of warehouses including the library storehouse and miso storehouse, as well as the surrounding drying area, have been restored. The former Fukuhara fishing grounds are a place that makes you think they could continue operating as they were if only the herring returned.

If I were asked to name one more, I would say the former Tanaka family fishing grounds in Tomari village. In fact, the former Tanaka family home was moved to the Shukutsu district of Otaru city in 1958 and is known as the "Otaru City Herring Palace." Even though the main house is no longer there, the reason I recommend it is because of the warehouse that clings to the coast and the existence of the "Fukuro-mana" (a small boat entrance canal carved into the stonework or reef) that remains in front of it.

The Fukuro-kan of the former Tanaka family fishing grounds was in very good condition until about ten years ago, but it has begun to collapse due to recent typhoons and other factors, raising concerns. However, the remains of the main house remain intact, and it is easy to imagine what the main house looked like from there. The bricks of the warehouse and the streetlights on the Fukuro-kan embankment also give a sense of the wealth and sense of style of the fishermen of the time. It can be said to be the best relic to tell the story of modern herring fishing.

In recent years, herring have begun to migrate again around the Otaru area. Of course, the catch is nowhere near what it was in the past, but they have once again brought the taste of spring to Otaru.

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