山やま鯨くじら

noun

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.

• 山やま鯨くじらは、昔むかし、肉にく食じきが禁きんじられていた時じ代だいに猪肉ししにくを指さした言こと葉ばだ。

  Yamakujira is a word that referred to wild boar meat in the days when eating meat was forbidden.

• この地ち方ほうでは今いまでも猪肉ししにくを山やま鯨くじらと呼よぶことがある。

  In this region, wild boar meat is still sometimes called yamakujira.