LESSON 12: CULTURE AND THE OCEAN
Understanding Goals 
People express their appreciation for and fascination with the ocean in a variety of ways, including art, crafts and food. 
Japan is an example of a country where people have expressed their appreciation for the ocean for a very long time throughout its history. 
In some cultures, like the Japanese culture, certain marine organisms are thought to bring good luck and happiness. 
The ocean is an important part of the culture in many countries, including Japan. Thematic Strands in Social Studies, National Council for the Social Studies Culture Vocabulary culture Background and Note In this lesson, students are going to learn how people’s deep cultural appreciation for and fascination in the ocean and its marine organisms are manifested through various arts, crafts, food and festivals. This is particularly true in Japan, which is the focus of this lesson. Feel free to include other cultures where the ocean has played an important role and has manifested itself through people’s visual or culinary or performance arts. Advance Preparation Be ready to play YouTube user zackrz7’s video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ahvSxpIh0M or videos/DVDs/tapes of sounds of waves. Have 3 laptop stations set up in the classroom with internet connection where students can see the pictures in the pdfs. Alternatively, you may wish to reserve a computer lab and divide the lab into three areas of computers, where each area corresponds to one of the 3 topics. Prepare copies of the summative performance assignment and assessment for all students. Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans
Making Connections between the Ocean and Humans
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Materials PDF’s of pictures of Japanese artifacts, arts & crafts, toys Lesson 12 – arts and crafts slide show.pdf Lesson 12 – ebisu slide show.pdf Lesson 12 – seafood slide show.pdf A copy of the sheet of paper with the questions (see advance preparation) A copy of the summative performance assignment and assessment for each student Lesson Plan Part 1A (5 minutes) If the previous lesson (Lesson 11) was not taught, do Part 1B instead. Listen to the sounds of waves. Discuss homework questions from previous class. Part 1B (10 min) Have students watch the ocean and listen to its waves for a few minutes. Gather reactions. How do they feel after listening to the waves and watching the ocean? Part 2 (25 min) “Because the ocean does so much for humans, people all over the world have expressed their appreciation for the ocean or their great interest and fascination in the ocean for a very long time in different ways. For example, some people have written stories and poems about the ocean, while others have drawn paintings or taken photos of the ocean and its marine creatures. Some people have made crafts and toys of marine organisms. In some areas of the world, the ocean has played a very important part of the culture.” Ask: What does culture mean? Think pair‐share for a few minutes and then report back to the whole class. “Today, we’re going to explore Japanese culture because Japanese people have been expressing their interest in the ocean and their connection to the ocean for a very long time in interesting, surprising ways.” Explain that there are three stations around the classroom, where students will spend some (7‐8 min at each station) time looking at three ways in which Japanese people’s fascination with the ocean are expressed: seafood & celebration, festivals & celebration, arts & crafts. At each station, students will look at the pictures and watch video clips. As they do so, they will keep in mind the following: Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans
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1
What do the pictures tell us about what the ocean means to the Japanese people? 2
How do you think Japanese people might feel if the ocean suddenly disappeared? Why? 3
Jot down anything that surprises you, or interests you. Part 3 (5‐10 min) After students go to each station, discuss students’ reactions, thoughts as a whole class. Ask students to consider everything they saw and report on what they found particularly interesting and why. Part 4 (5 min) Hand out the directions for the summative performance of understanding assignment. Ask students to read over the directions carefully and write down any questions they have about the assignment, like if there’s something you don’t understand or if there’s something you’re confused about. Tell students that we’ll talk about the assignment in more detail next time. Reflection / Homework Questions 1 Given that a lot of people throughout history – like the Japanese – have expressed their fascination with the ocean in different ways (art, food, crafts, poems, stories), how might they feel if the ocean suddenly disappeared? 2
Read over the directions for the summative performance of understanding assignment and jot down any questions you have. Resources (For More Information) http://www.kikkoman.com/foodforum/thejapanesetablebackissues/12.shtml This Kikkoman website gives a nice description of Japan’s seafood culture. http://www.morikami.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=OnlineExhibits_FreshfromSea&cat
egory=Exhibits This is an online exhibit from the Morikami Museum in Florida that illustrates Japan’s marine culture. http://kyoudogangu.xii.jp/sakana.htm This is a Nakamura’s Japanese website with many beautiful pictures of clay dolls and papier‐mâché toys and dolls of fish. Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans
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The Importance of Marine
Organisms in Japan – Taking a
Look at Ebisu and Tai (Sea
Bream)
This is a statue of Ebisu, a
popular Japanese god of
abundance and good
fortune, in Morioka, a city in
Iwate Prefecture, northern
Japan. Ebisu also watches
over the fortunes of
fishermen, and so he is very
popular among fishermen.
He is usually depicted
holding a sea bream, or tai in
Japanese. Tai is a redskinned fish that is
associated with good
fortune. (Red is a lucky color
in Japan.)
Shichiroku, http://www.flickr.com/photos/shichiroku/3071138692/in/set-72157610498845540/
Another statue of
Ebisu with his tai in
Miyagi Prefecture,
Northern Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ebisu.jpg
Another statue of
Ebisu with his tai
at Ebara Shrine in
Tokyo
Fugu Tabetai, http://www.flickr.com/photos/fugutabetai/2160301905/
These are wooden statues of Ebisu holding a
sea bream (tai).
Copyright Mark Schumacher, http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ebisu.shtml
MC Masterchef, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mc_masterchef/60234935/
This is a scene of the Karatsu Kunchi festival, held every November in Karatsu City,
Saga Prefecture, in southern Japan. The fish depicted here is tai, the fish that Ebisu
always carries with him. This tai for this festival is made out of clay and lacquer and is
on top of a wooden float that is carried by people.
Watch the Karatsu Kunchi festival in action
available from:
• tetsu4232 at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WG2a-qqhho
• moonwitch825 at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIRrYg1U4OE
• rankoro313 at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZRzJ3BtvKc
This festival has over 400 years of history. In addition
to the float with tai on top, there are 13 other floats
including those with dragons and samurai helmets.
Each float is more than 130 years old!
Questions for Thought:
1. How can we tell that Ebisu and tai are
important cultural symbols for the Japanese
people?
2. How do you think Japanese people might
feel if tai suddenly disappeared? Why?
3. Jot down anything that surprises you, or
interests you.
The Importance of Marine Organisms in Japan –
Taking A Look at Arts and Crafts of Tai (Sea Bream)
Courtesy of The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
Tai (sea bream) is
associated with good
fortune. In Japanese, the
word mede-tai means
worthy of celebration. The
color red is also associated
with good luck.
This is a wooden toy from
Kagoshima Prefecture in
southwestern Japan called
tai guruma or “sea bream
car.” Notice the wheels.
Tai guruma is also a
talisman for keeping away
bad spirits.
Courtesy of The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
See more pictures of different kinds of tai guruma available from:
• Popyah’s Japanese website at http://www11.ocn.ne.jp/~popyah/shizuoka/taiguruma.htm
• The Japan Toy Museum website at http://www.chirimenzaiku.org/link/taibukuro.jpg
Courtesy of The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
A young bride used to receive these papier-mache toys from her families to
distribute among the children living in the neighborhood of her new home.
This one depicts a tai and a dog.
Another papier-mache toy of a dog and tai
Courtesy of The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
Courtesy of The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
This one is a paper-mache doll with a tai and Ebisu, a Japanese god of abundance and
good fortune. Ebisu is also known as the guardian of fishermen, and is often depicted
together with a sea bream like here.
Nemo’s great uncle,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maynard/1529267598/
A pouch with tai and a maneki neko (cat that invites good fortune and money.)
Courtesy of The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
This special set of utensils is used to celebrate a baby’s first tasting of solid food about
100 days after birth. The mother helps her baby pretend to eat; the baby doesn’t actually
eat the food. This ceremony is for celebrating the well being of the baby and wishing for
plentiful food throughout its life. The utensils here are all decorated with tai.
A tray with tai carved inside
Yumiko,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosdeyumiko/2310764139/
See pictures of fish-shaped plates available from ImariTougei’s website at:
http://www.imari-tougei.co.jp/_userdata/sakanazara-fj.pdf
• The first three plates (large ones) are regular plates for eating.
The rest of the smaller plates are for putting soy sauce.
• The first five plates are in the shape of tai.
• The bottom four plates, from left to right: pufferfish or balloon
fish, octopus, squid, and flounder
You can also check out some neat pictures of dolls and
toys made of paper-machie or clay available from
Nakamura’s Japanese website at:
http://kyoudogangu.xii.jp/sakana.htm
Questions for Thought:
1. How can we tell that tai is an important
cultural symbol for the Japanese people?
2. How do you think Japanese people might
feel if tai suddenly disappeared? Why?
3. Jot down anything that surprises you, or
interests you.
The Importance of Marine
Organisms in Japan – Taking A Look
at some Japanese Food
A New Year’s Day Meal
Shrimp
(ebi)
The eggs
of herring
(kazunoko)
Dryroasted
sardines
(tazukuri)
panduh, http://www.flickr.com/photos/osakajon/73926934/
Shrimp
(ebi)
Another family’s New
Year’s Day Meal
Salmon
wrapped in kelp
(konbumaki)
The eggs
of salmon
(ikura)
Dry-roasted
sardines
(tazukuri)
faeriepink, http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriepink/3153632439/
Left: Salmon eggs.
The color red is
associated with
good luck.
Above: Dry-roasted
sardines. Sardines were
used as fertilizer for
growing rice, so they
symbolize abundant rice
crops.
Above: Salmon wrapped
in kelp. Kelp represents
good luck. The pinkish
red color of the salmon is
associated with good
luck.
Below: Eggs of herring. They represent
fertility (lots of children); if you look
carefully, you’ll see little tiny dots. Each
dot is an egg.
Below and Left: Shrimp
represent health and
longevity. The color red is
associated with good luck.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herring_roe.jpg
The King of Fish in Japan: Tai (Sea Bream)
datigz, http://www.flickr.com/photos/datigz/84623224/
This is salt-grilled tai or sea bream. In Japanese, the word mede-tai means worthy
of celebration. During special occasions, like weddings or the New Year, tai is often
eaten because it is associated with good luck and health.
Tai-yaki (sea breams) are waffles with sweet baked red beans stuffed inside.
Hidetsugu Tonomura, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonomura/3243405970/
Tai-yaki
Hidetsugu Tonomura,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonomura/3242572947/
How Taiyaki are made
timtak, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbunka/70055288/
Watch how taiyaki are made at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh182L2leKQ&feature=related
People buying and eating taiyaki at a taiyaki store.
Notice the tai on the store’s roof.
Nemo’s great uncle, http://www.flickr.com/photos/maynard/2369781379/
Kazuhisa Otsubo,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cytech/2315327773/
Above: Packaging for the tai-shaped sweet
pictured at the left
Kazuhisa Otsubo, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cytech/2316138508/
Questions for Thought:
1. What do the pictures tell you about what
the ocean and its marine organisms means to
the Japanese people?
2. How do you think Japanese people might
feel if the ocean suddenly disappeared?
Why?
3. Jot down anything that surprises you, or
interests you.