Excellent Skill To Use Birds To Catch Fish Of The Japanese

Fishermen use a rope to tie each cormorant by the necks so that they cannot eat the fish they catch.
Excellent skill of using birds to catch fish of the Japanese
In the middle of the night in Gifu City, Japan, several men are sitting by the Nagara River with cormorants. Under the flickering fire, they appeared as people from another era in traditional costumes, controlling the birds like puppets. They are preparing for a ukai ritual - the art of nighttime cormorant fishing.
While not the most ineffective, ukai is the most artistic form of fishing, once common throughout the fishing villages along the Nagara, Hozu and Uji rivers

. This profession existed about 1,300 years ago. Legend has it that General Oda Nobunaga during the Warring States period used to sponsor fishermen, conferring them the official title and the title of usho, or cormorant fishing expert.
At the age of 46, Shuji Sugiyama is the youngest usho in Gifu region He sat silently on a rock along the pitch black Nagara in the dark, ignoring the voices of his companions.




Sugiyama is one of the last cormorant fishermen in Gifu. Photo: Martin Bureau.
Hundreds of years ago, the ukai profession flourished. But since obtaining a license to royal cormorant fishermen in 1890, the art has faded away since usho is only licensed if related to a previous master. There are very few usho left across Japan to date, and only 9 have a royal license - including Sugiyama.
“It is because we men and cormorants live together that we are able to fish together. For example, I would never go fishing on another usho's cormorant, ”he said as he watched the birds' throats, preparing for the night fishing
Sugiyama inherited the profession from his father, following him fishing until he got an official license in 2002.



Five generations of his family have followed this profession.
The fishing season takes place from May to October, but fishermen have to take care of the birds year round until they die. Every fall when cormorants migrate through Ibaraki prefecture north of Tokyo, fishermen will capture and train them for about three years. "I usually catch about 10 birds and put them in herds, so that they imitate the older ones and learn to fish," Sugiyama said.
A night fishing trip starts after sunset. Usho will take the birds through the alleys leading to the river bank. They wear traditional clothing including dark blue shirts, papyrus hats to cover the ash from the Kagari-bi fishing lanterns, long straw skirts to block water and cold mist, and sandals cut off to expose the heels to prevent slipping. The usho will draw a lottery to choose the order in which the boats come in and out of the river section with fish.




The cormorants are tied together with a rope, and around the necks each are tied so they cannot eat large fish. The looser loop is just enough for the birds to eat the smaller fish and is completely removed at the end of the night fishing trip. Cormorants have an excellent ability to hunt fish, instantly killing them with their razor sharp beaks.
When a cormorant catches its prey and floats to the surface, usho will take the fish from its throat and release it back into the river to continue hunting. Towards the climax of the So-garami (Final Pursuit) fishing, the boats will flock the flocks to the shallow water. At this time, a whole section of the river was filled with birds calling, fishermen screaming and the rhythmic knocking of the paddle hitting the side of the boat.
Ukai fishing boat at night. Photo: GifuCVB.




At the end of the mackerel season, Sugiyama can relax a little, but he does not expect himself to rest his hands anytime soon. “I have a son who is still in elementary school. I have a feeling it is starting to enjoy my work. He sees me with cormorants every day, hoping that one day he will succeed me, ”said Sugiyama.
The fish caught by cormorants is nearly impossible to sell for money. The usho live mainly on subsidies from the local government, making this profession an art of attracting tourists. They hope that one day ukai will be on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
"Cormorant fishing is the most touristy attraction we have in Gifu City, more than 100,000 people come here every year to see it, and the number of visitors is growing," said Kazuhiro Tada, head of tourism.



of the city, said.
Japan recognizes a set of 122 cormorant fishing gear as an important cultural and cultural asset, and ukai art is an important intangible cultural asset of Gifu Prefecture. The usho's "ho-ho" shouted to stimulate cormorants and the sound of knocking on the side of the boat is also on the list of 100 most wonderful sounds in the land of the rising sun.
Currently, tourists watch the ukai in Gifu boat from 11/5 to 15/10 every year, except for Mid-Autumn Festival and on days when the river is too high. Ticket price 3,400 yen (more than 700,000 VND) an adult, the children's ticket is half. The ukai flight has time frames at 18:15 on weekdays, 18:45 on weekdays and 19:15 on weekends or holidays.
Ukai not only exists in Japan, this traditional fishing art still exists in China with fishermen in the Lijiang lineage.
According to Pham Huyen / Vnexpress
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