ATTITUDES TOWARDS CATCHING AND KILLING THE YAMABIRU (LAND LEECH) IN THE TENRYU AREA, JAPAN

Abstract

Recently, yamabiru, or land leeches (Haemadipsa zeylanica japonica), have proliferated in prefectures across Japan. Since it is unlikely that they will disappear from the living spaces, fields, and forests in which humans live and work, people living in the new contact zones have devised methods to coexist with them. The field research was conducted in 2017 and 2018 in C Township in the Tenryu area. Like many rural areas in Japan, C Township is facing the challenges of depopulation and ageing, and is home to a group of residents who aim for local revitalization. The participatory observation of leech-catching, an activity practiced by the group members who dare to use their hands to kill yamabiru instead of chemicals, provides several implications regarding ethical attitudes and the role of the human body. This paper argues that the members do not behave as victims suffering from the damage caused by yamabiru and do not kill them out of anger or discomfort. Instead, by behaving as an assailant and seeking out the concrete feeling of killing by direct contact, the members attempt to control their disastrous impact on other creatures and the environment. This behavior invites us to pay closer attention to the role of the human body and of bodily interaction as a sensory tool to coexist with other creatures in the Anthropocene, an era full of risks and uncertainty