Nagara River Cormorant Fishing (Ukai)

On summer nights in Gifu, the Nagara River fills with firelight. Wooden boats drift downstream below Mt. Kinka, iron baskets of burning pine hanging over their bows, and in the glow the ushō — the cormorant masters — work their birds on the water. This is ukai, cormorant fishing, and it has been carried out on this river for around 1,300 years.

A living tradition, not a show

Ukai is a way of catching ayu, the sweetfish of the clear summer river, using trained cormorants instead of nets or lines. The master stands at the bow in dark robes and a kazaori-eboshi headdress, with a straw skirt against the spray, handling as many as a dozen sea cormorants at once on long cords and reading each bird by feel in the firelight. A loose snare at the throat lets a bird catch the ayu but not swallow the larger ones. What looks like beautiful chaos is decades of practice.

This is not a performance staged for tourists. Six masters on the Nagara River hold the title of Kunaichō Shikibushoku Ushō, which makes them appointees of the Imperial Household Agency; the fish from the imperial cormorant fishing are still offered to the Household, and the fishing itself is a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

The boats, the fire and the finale

Viewing boats push off from the south side of Nagarabashi Bridge in the early evening. Passengers eat and wait as the light fades — the slow build-up in the dark is half the magic. When the cormorant boats finally appear, the river turns to firelight and motion: the ushō calling to their birds, the boatmen tapping the hulls to startle the ayu. The calls and the rhythmic knocking are counted among Japan's 100 Soundscapes. The night ends with the sōgarami, when all six cormorant boats line up abreast across the river and drive the fish into the shallows together.

Below Mt. Kinka and Gifu Castle

The river runs at the foot of Mt. Kinka, crowned by Gifu Castle — the mountain stronghold once held by Oda Nobunaga, floodlit above the water at night. By day the Kinkazan Ropeway climbs to the keep for a wide view over the city and the river. Close to the boarding area, the Nagaragawa Ukai Museum tells the story of the craft with a full-size cormorant boat and a scrolling screen, and keeps the tradition alive in the off-season too.

Good to know

The season runs May 11 to October 15, with fishing almost every night apart from one autumn rest night and any evening the river is too high, so it is worth confirming officially before you set out. Boats run rain or shine in light weather but are cancelled in high water. Evenings on the river can be cool even in summer, so a light layer helps, and the popular nights of midsummer and Obon fill early — reserve ahead. For a first-hand account of an evening on the water, see our blog post on Gifu's Nagara River cormorant fishing. For another of Gifu's summer-night traditions, the river town of Gujō Hachiman holds its famous all-night Bon dancing through the warm months.