Sea tenure in Japanese coastal fisheries is a complex subject that is little known in the West. It involves time-honoured customary procedures for management and conflict resolution which may have been incorporated into modern legislation. The Introduction reviews selected aspects of the general behavioural context within which the administration of Japanese fisheries and the resolution of conflicts should be viewed. Since the degree of continuity with traditional management practises is an outstanding characteristic, Chapter 1 describes and provides examples of the historical antecedents of the present situation. Present day formal administration is described in Chapter 2. Systems of coastal sea tenure reflect an intimate interplay of formal government regulations and informal customary elements. The latter are commonly of greater day-to-day importance than the former. In Chapters 3 and 4 this is examined through the problems of conflict management and resolution, proceeding from the personal and small-scale level to the impersonal prefectural and national levels.