Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Beliefs of Japanese Fishing Villages: With Special Reference to Yoriiso (Miyagi) and the Sanriku Region

The fishermen looked at the yama when they went fishing, looked at the yama when they couldn’t go fishing, looked at the yama when they abandoned a tool, they spent a life looking at the yama all the time. When a splendid sendØ, known for his excellence, looked at the yama the undulations on ground of the sea unfolded like a nautical chart in his mind. ... Considering a fisherman gazing at the yama could, at the same time, bring about another fisherman to reach a fishing spot before or after him ... and this way, days go by and then years; a fisherman’s life ended up in hardship with the yama since his fatherly ancestor’s times. (Utsumi 1990: 69-70; transl. by author)