Weather Signs: Traditional Meteorological Knowledge in Japanese Small-Scale Fisheries (Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology, 37)

Drawing on ethnography, historical sources, and vernacular environmental knowledge, this book examines how fishermen and coastal communities in Japan read winds, clouds, seas, animals, and celestial signs to anticipate change and manage risk. Centred on the vernacular forecasting framework known as kantenbōki, the study traces the entanglement of sensory perception, language, ritual, and labor in everyday engagements with atmosphere. Moving between micro-scale practices and broader climatic regimes, the book shows how local weather knowledge persists, adapts, and intertwines with modern meteorology, revealing weather as a relational, cultural, and ecological field rather than a mere physical backdrop.

Giovanni Bulian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His publications include Indigenous Weather Understanding in Japanese Fishing Communities (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, Oxford University Press, 2020) and, with Yasushi Nakano (eds.), Small-scale Fisheries in Japan: Environmental and Socio-cultural Perspectives (Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2018).