Showing posts with label squid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label squid. Show all posts

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Yurahime "Squid" Shrine Oki Islands

 


Yurahime Shrine was the highest-ranked shrine in all of the Oki Islands more than  1,000 years ago.


It is located onNishinoshima Island on Ika Yose No Hama which translates as "squid gathering beach" which explains the figures in the shallow water in front of the shrine.


The main deity enshrined here is Yurahime no mikoto, a female deity of fishing, and she is not enshrined at any other shrine.


According to the story, she was in a small boat and while trailing a hand in the water a squid bit her.


To atone and apologize, the squid decided to gather in the shallow waters of the bay every year and allow the islanders to scoop them up.


Some sources say the shrine was originally on Chiburijima and when the shrine moved here the squid followed. Some sources also say the goddess was returning from having visited Izumo Taisha.


It is said that the catch of squid is very much reduced from what it was in former times. The shrine is a popular spot for viewing cherry blossoms.


The previous post in this series on the Oki Islands was the ferry journey between Chibu and Nishinoshima.


Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Kuromatsu Fishing Port

Kuromatsu


The fishing harbor of Kuromatsu is just outside the main village in a small, adjacent cove. It is not very large but fairly typical of the thousands of small fishiung harbours found along Jaoan's almost 30,000 kilometers of coastline.


Now "protected" by huge, concrete seawalls, there is actually less concrete than found at many.


I suspect the tiny boats on the beach are used to put out small nets, drop off pots, and maybe harvest shellfish and seaweed. The half a dozen larger boats are squid boats.


The very powerful lights are used to trick the squid into thinking its a full moon and time to head to the surface for mating.


Buy tatami direct from Japan

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Manhole Fish

dzm1

This is the manhole cover for Nishinoshima, one of the islands that make up the Oki Islands. I know a squid is not a fish, but its close enough.

A walk from Tsuwano to Masuda 7164

Masuda down in the southwest of Shimane has the Takatsu River and I'm guessing these are carp.

ys4

This is from Taki Town up in Izumo and its hard to tell from the design exactly which fish it is meant to be, could be flying fish or it could be an Orca.

miho6439

Fukuura is a village on the Shimane Peninsular and now a part of Mihonoseki. The fish is probably a Sea Bream (tai) as Kotoshironushi, popularly known as Ebisu, used to enjoy fishing for Tai here.

miho6479

The draincover for Mihonoseki also features the Tai.

kamate4983

Another one from Masuda, and these look like Ayu, called Sweetfish in English. The Takatsu River is a popular place fro Ayu fishing.

sh427

Not sure which town this belongs to, but it was on the banks of the Shimanto River in Ehime, Shikoku. They might also be Ayu.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Hanging lunch out to dry

wes1003

A common sight in fishing villages on the Iwami coast is squid hanging up to dry.

wes1002

I believe Iwami exports a lot of squid to other parts of Japan.

wes1004

Dried squid jerky is actually a tasty snack with beer. I often take along some when I am hiking.

lilly8937

The squid boats use very bright lights to fool the squid into thinking its a full moon when they rise to the surface to mate.

The lamps are so bright that they can be seen through cloud cover when flying over Shimane at night.

dozen1

The strangest looking one I ever saw was on one of the Oki Islands. This one had been preserved and was hanging in front of a seafood restaurant.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Flying fish and squid

dg2

This manhole cover is from the same village as the bullfighting one, Tsuma on Dogo, the largest of the Oki Islands. This one shows a marine connection, a fairly common theme in Japanese manhole designs. It shows flying fish and squid.

aquas8864

The flying fish is the Prefectural fish of Shimane. The first time I saw some I thought I was watching a flock of small birds flying close to the water..... then they disappeared!!
A good place to see them is on the ferry over to the Oki Islands. If you stand in the bow and look forwards you will see them flying out of the way of the path of the boat, often flying for 50 metres. The world record flight time or a Japanese flying fish is 45 seconds.

hamat4

The Japanese catch and consume a HUGE amount of squid. It's eaten raw as sashimi ( a little chewy but OK), dried and shredded as a snack with alcohol, boiled, grilled, fried,.... in fact any way you can imagine and probably a few ways you can't imagine. In the Iwami area it is a matsuri speciality (photo above), grilled with a sauce of sake and soy sauce.

More from the Oki Islands