This is the next part of my sister's visit. She went to visit a friend in Osaka by herself for one day. The following day her friend Nancy and I took the shinkansen to Nagoya (about an hour closer to here) to meet her. Again, Jane's words are in blue.
I then proceeded to Nagoya station, where I arrived just a few minutes before Nancy & Rob were due so I was able to guess which train was theirs and meet them right on the platform. We went to our hotel where we were able to check in early. Rob had found a last-minute deal on a
four-star hotel. The rooms we had were actually not very large but it was extremely clean with extremely comfortable beds and nightshirts provided. Then we set out for Inuyama where the ukai (cormorant fishing) is, about a half-hour train ride away. A big outdoor wooden map of the city at the station had north at the top, but you were facing south looking at it, so was glad I had my compass in my purse. Unfortunately the map also seemed to imply that we had to cross the river to get to the fishing area. We had well over an hour, and enjoyed a walk down a little street with very old buildings – it would be a cool place to spend a whole day or two. Finally, we got to the river, crossed it on a large dam, realized we were on the wrong side of the river and still had a long walk to get to the boat dock. I was pretty sure there was no way we were going to make it to the boat on time (we had a reservation). We got near the other bridge and started running and made it to the boat dock just in time, to my great relief. We boarded a long, low boat with tatami mats in it - they gave us plastic bags to put our shoes in while on the boat. We headed down the river and picked up several more passengers at a hotel downstream - Japanese tourists. It was lots of fun trying to converse with them. They were talking and laughing and kept asking Rob questions. One man kept making funny gestures, we weren't sure what he was trying to convey except part of it had to do with fishing or food, it was very amusing. The sun had set and we were below a castle up on a hill that they light up at night, and which I found out later is one of the oldest wooden castles in Japan (not one that has burned down and been rebuilt). The boat had a roof with paper lanterns with candles burning in
them hanging down. The boat ride was so neat I thought that
alone was worth the ticket price. Then we motored back upstream to where there were other spectator boats and the fisherman's boat came out. That was really amazing to watch. There were three men in the fisherman's boat and they had a fire burning in a big metal basket hanging over the water. They periodically pounded on the boat floor with a pole - not sure if that was to attract the fish or signal the birds. The actual fisherman had on traditional garb including a straw skirt (right next to the fire!) and had several birds on leashes, who just bobbed along swimming next to the boat and
would periodically dive for fish. When the fisherman saw a bird had caught a fish, he would pull in the bird and make the bird spit out the fish into a basket and toss the bird back in the water, where it would bob along again like everything was fine. The birds are trained when they are young and live with the fisherman. The whole night-time scene with the fire reflecting in the water and everything really made it all extra amazing - was really one of those “had-to-be-there” experiences. I was really glad we got to see it. That style of fishing has been done for hundreds of years. It is no longer an economically feasible way to make a living, so the
government sponsors it as an "intangible cultural asset".
As Jane said, the whole thing was completely amazing. When we were both children, our family had a book that described cormorant fishing. We both still remember the book, and I think Jane was inspired to arrange that part of our trip mostly because of that memory. That made the experience even more incredible. Sorry some of the pictures are rather dark, but hopefully you can get the idea (especially if you click on them for the larger size).
Next: Parque Espana!!!
