Nagara River Cormorant Fishing

Ukai is done at night from a wooden boat with a basket of burning pine hung over the bow. The usho, the master, handles up to twelve cormorants at once on leashes of hemp, each bird with a loose ring at the base of its neck that lets it swallow small fish but not the ayu it is working for; the birds dive at the light, take fish, and are drawn back to the boat where the catch is brought up. The fishermen of the Nagara are formally employed by the Imperial Household Agency, a designation that has continued since the practice was placed under court protection, and the office passes down within six families. They wear the same working dress - a linen headcloth, a straw skirt, straw sandals - as they have for centuries. Spectator boats go out first, are moored, and then the fishing boats come down the river past them.

What you actually see

• Birds on leashes - up to twelve cormorants worked at once by one fisherman.
• Fire over the bow - a basket of burning pine used to draw the fish.
• Imperial appointment - the fishermen employed by the Household Agency, the office hereditary.
• Unchanged dress - headcloth, straw skirt and sandals, as worked for centuries.

When to go

11 May to 15 October, in the evening. An evening; book the boat in advance.

Honest expectations

Fishing is cancelled on full-moon nights and in high water after rain. The actual fishing passes quickly - much of the evening is waiting on a moored boat. Commentary is in Japanese. Some visitors find the neck rings troubling; the practice is regulated and the birds are long-lived, but it divides opinion.

Nearby

Gifu Castle is on the mountain above the river; Inuyama is south-east.