In pre-war Japan, the post-elementary vocational education system in the fishery occupations consisted of two parts: the fisheries schools under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and the provincial fisheries training institutes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. Few Japanese researchers have paid attention to the latter. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the historical role of the fisheries training institute of Toyama Prefecture which was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, in view of the expansion of the northern-sea fishery rights after the Russo-Japanese War and the amendment of the law for the promotion of pelagic fisheries. We analyzed the employment trends of the graduates as well as the changes of the rules and curricula for the fisheries training institute of Toyama Prefecture. The results were as follows; (1) Until February, 1907, the fisheries training institute of Toyama Prefecture, which has its origin in Nakaniikawa-County Fisheries Study Meeting established by voluntary body in June, 1896, had contributed to fisheries in the local area. (2) After the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the fisheries training institute of Toyama Prefecture dealt with the industrial policies in order to promote pelagic fisheries, and established the pelagic fisheries course in March, 1907. (3) From March. 1907 to March, 1941, the fisheries training institute of Toyama Prefecture, where the pelagic fisheries course was established, had changed from the organization contributing to the fisheries in the local area to an organization that trained competent men who engaged in the pelagic fisheries.
