Kujira no Tatsutaage (Deep-Fried Marinated Whale Meat)

Kujira no Tatsutaage is a dish of lean red whale meat seasoned with soy sauce and ginger, coated with katakuriko (potato starch) and deep-fried. In Yamaguchi Prefecture, it has long been enjoyed at home, in restaurants and in school lunches, especially in areas with deep ties to whales such as Shimonoseki and Nagato. On the San'in side in the north of the prefecture, there has long been a custom of eating whale at Setsubun to pray for good health and freedom from illness. Whaling flourished along the Nagato coast in the Edo period, and Shimonoseki prospered as a relay point sending the whale meat and whale oil to various regions. From the Meiji era onward, Shimonoseki also became a base for modern whaling, and in the postwar years of food shortage, whale meat supported people as a valuable source of protein. Tatsutaage spread in this era as a staple of school lunch menus, and even today, school lunches using whale are served at schools in Shimonoseki City about six times a year. Shimonoseki is said to rank first in Japan in the number of restaurants serving whale dishes and in the volume of whale meat landed and distributed, and tatsutaage can be enjoyed at restaurants in the city.