How Imperial Japan Harnessed Sardines to Power Its War Machine
Imperial Japan transformed abundant sardine catches into fish oil, which was chemically processed into explosives that supported its military expansion.
During its rise as a modern empire, Japan turned the humble sardine into a strategic resource, processing its oil into the key ingredient for dynamite. Introduced in the 1910s, hydrogenated fish oil enabled the production of nitroglycerin, mirroring similar practices in other wartime powers. Control of Korean waters after the 1910 annexation gave Japan access to massive sardine schools, and by 1931 the empire captured about 44% of global catches, dwarfing U.S. harvests.
The Hungnam Complex in colonial Korea evolved from a fertilizer plant into a self-contained explosives hub, supplying dynamite directly to campaigns in Manchuria. This “militarized fish” supported invasions from Manchuria in 1931 to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, but dwindling stocks in the early 1940s curtailed the supply. Although Japan’s defeat ended the wartime use, modern statistics show that over 70% of sardines still serve non-edible purposes such as oil and fertilizer.
Why it matters
It shows how a seemingly ordinary resource can be repurposed for large-scale war, linking ecology, industry, and imperial ambition.
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