2023 Volume 316 Pages 71-102
This study focuses on cases around Ise Bay, particularly in the Mikawa region of Aichi Prefecture, where many folk customs use mullet as a fish for ceremonies and events and examines why mullet was chosen.
Mullet has appeared in literature since ancient times and has been a familiar fish to the Japanese. In the Heian period (794-1185), it was used in ceremonies and events, and in the Middle Ages, it was even considered a fish of higher rank than sea bream. In the late modern period, it was widely recognized as a “success fish” whose name changed according to its stage of growth, and it became a fish used in many ceremonies. However, during the period of rapid economic growth, mullet came to be avoided as a fish contaminated by pollution.
Mullet has been chosen for local ceremonies and events because of its long fishing season around Ise Bay, its ability to respond to simultaneous demand as it migrates in schools, and its status as a successor fish. In terms of distribution, mullet are transported from the Ise-Shima region and Lake Hamana to the Nagoya area, a major consumption center, allowing the establishment of a “mullet consumption culture zone” in this region.
In the Ise-Shima region, mullet was considered a “divine fish” and was served as an offering to the gods and as “Ise carp” at inns to guests visiting Ise. This treatment of mullet spread to the surrounding areas through exchanges via Ise Bay, and the image of mullet as a fish of high rank has been maintained until recently. It can be pointed out that behind this was the common understanding among the people that mullet are migratory fish that appear in large schools at certain times of the year = a blessing from God, that they have “sanctity” with the power to move between brackish and sea water, and that they have the “spirituality” described in literature of transforming themselves into sutra scrolls and otters. The case of mullet provides an important insight into the relationship between fish and people.
