For centuries, whales have been revered in Japan, providing food and fuel for coastal cultures. Historically, whales were sacred gifts from the sea, honored with ritual burials and prayers. But there are apparently a few whales who didn't get the memo.

(Describer) Something with red eyes appears.

[stirring music]

Meet the Bake-Kujira, a ghostly whale skeleton that brings misfortune and famine. Why would a treasured and worshiped creature return as an omen of disaster? In a country full of centuries-old Yokai stories, the Bake-Kujira didn't appear until the late 20th century as Japan and the world reckoned with the devastation of industrial whaling. Was the Bake-Kujira just a ghost story or a warning of ecological collapse? And now, as climate change and harmful human habits threaten whales in new ways, could the Bake-Kujira be coming for us next?

(Describer) In front of a faded handwritten letter, title: Monstrum. Doctor Emily Zarka:

[gentle music]

Going back thousands of years, Japanese indigenous cultures from the Jomon people to the Ainu fished for whales as food, oil, and tools, using every part of the whale, from fin to tooth. They connected whales to their spiritual traditions, often seeing them as a manifestation of Ebisu, the god of fishermen and luck. Every whale carcass that washed ashore was a gift from the great whale god.

(Describer) Whales appear in artwork.

Whale dreams are also a part of Japanese folklore, where a whale appears commanding the dreamer often to spare its life. If ignored, the dreamer's family would suffer sudden accidental deaths or misfortune, like the overturning of a boat or a plague upon the village. These spiritual beliefs stem from an appreciation and respect for a natural balance between humans and whales. Japanese whaling cultures practiced death rituals for their catches. Some of the whale bones were ceremoniously buried in whale graves. Buddhist names for the whales were recorded in a death register for use in prayer. This was a ritual not only for whales that were hunted but also for any whale corpses that washed ashore. The Japanese people saw themselves as responsible for the afterlife of the whales. Seasonal ceremonies ensured the whales' peaceful rest. In Japanese religious beliefs, beings who died tragically or without proper burial can become vengeful or wandering spirits. This applies not only to humans, but animals as well, like whales. Whale hunting in the 16th and early 17th century was more opportunistic than predatory. Only whales that wandered into shallow waters were hunted. Whales were an integral part of Japanese coastal communities. And yet, there are no ancient historical accounts of the Bake-Kujira. That's notable given that Yokai have been documented since at least the 8th century. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, the development of organized whaling techniques, like using nets, increased efficiency and turned whaling from a sustainable local practice into a vital industry for coastal regions. Toward the end of the 18th century, steam-powered ships and harpoon cannons transformed Japan's whaling industry into a full-scale industrial enterprise. This allowed whalers to catch larger numbers, and target species that were once too fast to hunt. Whales were used to produce soaps, lubricants, materials for umbrellas and hoop skirts, carriage springs, and, most notably, oil. The whaling industry exploded, reaching its global height in the 1960s. Unregulated hunting, industrial processing, and high demand drove whale harvesting to unprecedented levels. By 1965, upwards of 80,000 whales were killed annually, with an estimated almost three million whales killed in the 20th century alone. Some whale species were depleted by up to 90%. The world began to take notice. By the late 1960s, scientists and conservationists began to raise alarm bells about extinction risks. Enter the Bake-Kujira. In 1969, legendary manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, wrote about a mysterious skeletal whale. Mizuki set his story long ago in the Oki Islands on a dark and stormy night. The sky suddenly filled with strange birds, and the water swarmed with odd species of fish. As the rain poured and heavy waves crashed against the rocks, local fishermen spotted an enormous shape moving offshore. Experience told them something this large could only be a whale, and a massive one at that. Excited by the opportunity, the fishermen gathered their weapons and headed out into the turbulent sea. But as the fishermen approached, harpoons ready, something strange happened. They hurled a harpoon, but instead of striking flesh, the weapon passed straight through the beast as if it wasn't there. As the fishermen looked closer, they realized the horror swimming in front of them wasn't a whale at all, at least not a living one, but instead a giant swimming skeleton-- a whale's ghostly remains gliding through the water. With the tide, the Bake-Kujira and other strange creatures silently disappeared back into the deep sea, leaving a lasting mysterious curse for the villagers. Soon after the strange sighting, the villagers experienced a series of hardships. Some say fire and plague followed in the Bake-Kujira's wake. This is Shigeru Mizuki's original drawing of the Bake-Kujira. We can see the very creepy whale skeleton that actually appears to have some teeth, which gives it an additional eerie quality, and one person trying to harpoon the ghost whale, obviously very unsuccessfully. It's unclear whether Mizuki based Bake-Kujira on an older oral legend, or if he introduced the ghost whale as a completely original idea. Regardless, his depiction of the whale skeleton became the dominant identity for Bake-Kujira. I have to ask: Was there a deeper significance to why Bake-Kujira took the form of a ghostly skeleton? Mizuki could have taken inspiration from earlier Japanese folklore featuring skeletal forms. Gashadokuro, for instance, was a giant malevolent human skeleton formed from the bones of the dead. It was said to wander at night, seeking revenge on the living. Its name translates to "starving skeleton." Similar to Bake-Kujira, Gashadokuro represents an unrested spirit. By cultural custom, whales had afterlives to honor and spirits to protect. So, appearing as a ghost wouldn't be totally unexpected and could be a consequence of not honoring whales before consuming their meat. And besides looking freaking cool, skeletons symbolize what happens to a physical body after death. Whaling was hardly a simple process. Collecting resources from the whale was a feat that required the entire village's participation. Even when commercial whaling streamlined the process, crews ranging from 300 to 1,000 people worked together to harvest the meat, oil, bones, and baleen. This meant exposure to broken-down whale carcasses. So, a whale skeleton would be a fairly familiar cultural image. This was reinforced in the 19th century when the Japanese began making anatomical whale drawings, the only animals they chose to depict in this way at the time. After the peak of whaling in the 1960s, both Japan and the rest of the world saw dramatic shifts in whaling policies. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 helped halt the mass hunting of whales and dolphins. By 1975, Greenpeace had launched anti-whaling protests, bringing international attention to the issue. The declining whale populations and growing public support for conservation prompted the International Whaling Commission to ban commercial whaling in 1982. Since then, the ban has been an area of contention and controversy for numerous countries. Japan left the IWC in 2019. Despite that, since the ban, populations of humpback, bowhead, and fin whales began to rebound. -[water whooshing] -[birds squawking]

(Describer) Birds circle a floating, bleeding whale.

While the Bake-Kujira legend is a ghost story, its themes might have subtly shaped attitudes towards whaling in Japan and beyond. It not only symbolized a time of scarcity and suffering but also as a warning of a collapsing resource. While some whale species have shown signs of recovering, climate change now poses new threats. Rising sea temperatures and habitat disruption are threatening whale populations in ways we are only beginning to understand. The Bake-Kujira, once seen as a supernatural warning, now takes on new meaning as a cautionary tale. A ghostly symbol of how environmental destruction can come back to haunt us. The ghost whale's legend teaches us that weather through over hunting or climate change, the past has a way of returning, and the Bake-Kujira is a prophecy we cannot choose to ignore.

(Describer) A red-eyed figure swims under a fishing boat.

[gentle music]

(Describer) Outtakes:

Peculiar, peculiarity, peculiarity. -(speaker) Try peculiarity. -"Peculiar" makes sense. Peculiar [mumbles]. That's easy to say!

(Describer) Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.