wild boar meat; mountain whale (euphemism)
Historical euphemism for wild boar meat, used when eating animal meat was taboo (pre-Meiji). The literal meaning is 'mountain whale'. Today it is a rare, literary, or nostalgic term.
Yamakujira is a word that referred to wild boar meat in the days when eating meat was forbidden.
In this region, wild boar meat is still sometimes called yamakujira.
Compound of 山 (yama, 'mountain') and 鯨 (kujira, 'whale'). Coined as a euphemism for wild boar meat during periods when eating four-legged animals was taboo, likening boar to whale, which was considered fish and thus acceptable.