Japanese Cormorant

BirdEast Asia

Oct 15

Written By Alexander Julius Jensen

Phalacrocorax capillatus

Ukai

In the city of Gifu ¹, near the Nagara River, stands a bronze statue of an ukai fisherman. He wears a skirt of straw and a fabric hat folded to a tall point. In front of him, atop a rounded basket, perches a cormorant. He gently holds the side of its body with his left hand. Meanwhile, with his right, he grasps the cormorant by the front of its throat, compelling it to give up the sweetfish it's swallowed.

This statue represents a tradition that goes back over 1,300 years, one that is still practised to this day — although, only during certain times of the year — on the Nagara River, and some ten other rivers, including the Uji River south of Kyoto. The practice is known as 'ukai' (鵜飼) in Japanese, translating to 'cormorant fishing', for it is the black diving birds that are the true master fishers.

Japan's Cormorant

The cormorant you'll see most often in Japan is, by far, the great cormorant ² — a species that's found almost worldwide. But this is not the cormorant you'll see by an ukai fisherman's side. Instead, the fishermen use the Japanese cormorant — a much more localised species, as its name suggests, found only in Japan and a few surrounding countries.

The Japanese cormorant poses proudly, whether perching on a seaside rock or the prow of a boat. It stands just under a metre tall (2.8 ft), its wingspan stretching to a metre and a half (4.9 ft). Its feathers are midnight black. Its serpentine neck bends and curves, terminating in a long hooked bill, painted orange at its base and around the bird's ultramarine eyes. Come breeding season, its inky feathers shimmer iridescent green and a white mask spotlights its face — and some cormorants grow a mane of snowy, satin feathers.

In Japanese, the species is known as the umiu (ウミウ), or the sea cormorant, for that is where it's usually seen. While the great cormorant ranges far inland, into city parks and landlocked lakes, the Japanese skirts the country's shorelines. It breeds in the north, mostly in Hokkaido, where colonies gather on coastal cliffs and steep rocky slopes to nest. But, as Hokkaido freezes in winter, cormorants fly as far as the island of Okinawa in Japan's southernmost regions, to bathe in the subtropical sun.

The Japanese cormorant hunts in coastal waters, diving to depths of 20 metres (65 ft), darting after writhing shoals of sand lace and anchovies. The cormorant's large webbed feet paddle behind it, propelling its body through the water like an animate harpoon. It catches fish crosswise in its bill, the curved tip like a fishing hook, piercing the prey and preventing its escape. The cormorant swallows its slippery catches whole.

Fishing By Firelight

In ukai, the fishermen are only half of the full team. Their partners, the umiu, perch along the railings of their long wooden boats, about a dozen birds per boat. Leashes of string loop around each cormorant's neck, converging into a bundle in the fisherman's hand.

Ukai is a nocturnal occupation, begun with the setting of the sun. A long pole hangs over the side of the boat, holding a burning brazier. Inside, a wild fire crackles and sparks as the boat sways. The flame's reflection shimmers across the inky water's surface as if the river itself is on fire. Like the lure of a deep-sea angler fish, the glowing flame in the dark draws fish to the surface. Then the cormorants are freed to feast.

They dive in, shooting through the dark water like arrows. Their bodies are large, but not fat, allowing them to sink effortlessly. The swarming fish are easy prey — here on the rivers, instead of their typical marine fare, the cormorants catch ayu, or sweet fish, named so for their melon-like sweet taste. The birds gulp ayu after ayu, filling up their large throat pouches, but a ring around each of their gullets stops them from fully swallowing the sweet snacks. After a while, the fishermen beckon the birds to return to the boat, make them "cough up" their catches — maybe give them a treat and a short break — before sending them forth to snatch more sweetfish. ³

And so a night of ukai goes; until the baskets are full or the fishermen and their umiu tire. Today, ukai is mainly held as a cultural event or tourist attraction — where you pay to go on a boat (not the fishing boat) to watch the fishermen at work with the cormorants, and, if you booked a dinner cruise, you get to enjoy the fresh-caught sweetfish afterwards. Each river has its own season for ukai, usually falling during spring and early autumn (you can see the specific dates here). For the rest of the year, the naturally placid cormorants live with their fishing masters in houses along the river shore.

¹ The city of Gifu is located in central Japan, just outside the larger city of Nagoya. Within the city, there are several animal attractions, for the zoologically inclined.

For those with an entomological interest, there's the Nawa Insect Museum, which holds 300,000 insect specimens from around 12,000 species (mostly butterflies and beetles). Founded in 1912, it houses the personal collections of a Gifu-born entomologist named Yasushi Nawa.

Mount Kinka stands tall over the city. A cable car carries visitors to the top, where Gifu Castle stands. But, stepping off the cable car, the first thing you'd encounter is not a historic castle, but squirrels, many many squirrels. Here, atop the mountain, is the Gifu Kinkazan Squirrel Village; a small lodge with an outdoor enclosure where you can feed and interact with squirrels. Discretion, along with long pants and sleeves, are recommended, as you're very likely to be swarmed by sharp-clawed squirrels (Pallas's squirrels, if you're interested in the specific species).

But Gifu City's most famous attraction is still that of ukai. Alongside the Nagara River, which bisects the city, roads feature manhole covers engraved with carvings of cormorants in pursuit of fish. The bridges spanning the river have decorated metal railings with cormorants spreading their wings to dry. And, in a public square overlooking the Nagara, artworks of ukai feature burning braziers and swimming birds.

Gifu Castle overlooks the city atop Mount Kinka.

Artful depictions of the Japanese cormorant in Gifu City.

A great cormorant (*Phalacrocorax carbo*) amidst a river in Kyoto.

² The great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is the world's most common, most widespread cormorant species. From the east coast of North America, through all of Europe, much of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, these large black birds can be seen perching on rocks and pilings or diving for fish in rivers, reservoirs, and along the coasts. The species is, however, absent from Central and South America as well as, unsurprisingly, Antarctica. In other parts of the world that practice cormorant fishing, such as China, the great cormorant is the fishing partner of choice.

The Ethics of Ukai

³ Nowadays, we are wary of anything that stinks of indentured animal servitude, and rightfully so. In both developed and developing countries, any practices involving animal exploitation and abuse are being altered or abandoned as a result of public outcry.

Over 30 nations around the world have banned wild animals from circuses, while several others have banned all animals, domestic or wild. The rights of animal "actors" who star in movies are increasingly enforced. Cruel traditions, such as bullfighting are increasingly opposed and outlawed. To be sure, there is still much to be done. Abuse still goes on in the tourism industry; from elephant riding in Thailand, to orangutan boxing in Cambodia, dolphin shows in the Bahamas, and "dancing" bears in India. There is still illegal trade in animal parts; whether that be bear bile for traditional medicines or ivory for fashion and furniture. And especially pertinent to Japan — to its whaling and fishing industries — many wild species are overharvested for our consumption. Even practices that don't seem harmful on the surface — such as wild animal cafes or the "animal villages" in Japan (squirrel and fox) — can, in reality, often be harmful. That's all to say that, while there are still changes to be made, we have come a long way.

A cormorant fisherman in Yangshuo, China.

Compared to circus whippings, horrific blood sports, and mass slaughter, the practice of ukai seems downright pleasant. But at face value, something doesn't sit right with a wild animal, tied by the neck, made to fish but impeded from actually swallowing what it catches, giving up most of the fish instead to its human handlers. Nowadays cormorant fishing in Japan is mostly done for tourism purposes, however, it was — and in other countries, still is — practised for the purposes of catching fish to feed oneself and or family. It's important to recognise ukai's value as a historical and cultural practice, but it's also important that we not let potential cruelty hide behind the mask of tradition.

Most people prefer that their morals be justified and backed up by facts. Science in itself cannot dictate what is right or wrong, moral or not — those are conceptions of human culture and psychology. But science can inform our morals; it can help us align our morals more rationally with the truths of the real world. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any studies into the welfare of ukai cormorants, into their behaviour and physiology. If such studies existed, we might know more about how these fishing partnerships influence a wild animal's welfare, and help us make a more informed moral decision.

Fishing cormorants during their off-hours.

When it comes to morality, for most people there isn't a sharp line between black and white, where every dilemma can be placed either on one side, where something is clearly right, or on the other, where it's clearly wrong. There is usually a grey zone, where they're not sure how to feel about something. This grey zone falls on different parts of the moral spectrum for different people. And since they're made up of people, societies and cultures also land on differing views of what's wrong, right, or grey; what they're willing to see as acceptable or not (there are always individual exceptions within societies/cultures, of course). The slaughter of hundreds of dolphins is seen as abhorrent and immoral and spurned by most people and cultures, but a minority see it as acceptable (clearly, since it continues to this day). The slaughter of livestock appears to be objectively just as bad, and is performed on a much larger scale, but it's seen as acceptable (or ignored) by a much larger proportion of people/cultures. Meanwhile, some people/cultures find the killing of any animal an abhorrent idea.

For me, the practice of ukai falls within my personal grey zone — I find it a fascinating tradition, but I'm uneasy with the welfare implications for the cormorants. Some people may see nothing wrong with ukai at all, while to others, it may be very obviously cruel and wrong.

**Where Does It Live?**

⛰️ Mostly along seacoasts, but sometimes ventures up rivers and visits lakes.
📍 Apart from Japan, it’s found in Taiwan, NE China, Korea, and the Russian Far East.

‘Least Concern’ as of 08 August, 2018.

IUCN

Size // Medium
Wingspan // 152 cm (5 ft)
Length // 81 – 92 cm (2.6 – 3 ft)
Weight // 2,300– 3,350 grams (5.5 – 7.4 lbs)
Activity: Diurnal ☀️
Lifestyle: Social 👥
Lifespan: 4 to 5 years in the wild, 15 to 20 years under human care.
Diet: Carnivore
Favorite Food: Fish 🐟
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Genus: Phalacrocorax
Species: P. capillatus

The Japanese Cormorant
In Japanese, the cormorant used in ukai is known as the umiu (ウミウ), or the sea cormorant; fittingly, since it's most often seen along the sea coast.
This species, the Japanese cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus), breeds mostly in the cold north, on the coastal cliffs of Hokkaido, before flying south in winter, as far as Japan's southern island of Okinawa where it can bask in the warm sun.
It can also be found outside of Japan, along the coasts of Taiwan, NE China, Korea, and the Russian Far East.
In the wild, the Japanese cormorant hunts marine fish — such as sand lace and anchovies — in coastal waters.
It dives to depths of 20 metres (65 ft) and catches fish crosswise in its bill, the curved tip piercing the prey like a fishing hook, and then swallows it whole.
The Japanese cormorant isn't actually Japan's most common cormorant species. That would be the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) — found throughout the entire country near bodies of water — which is also the bird of choice for cormorant fishing in countries outside of Japan (such as China).
Ukai — Cormorant Fishing
'Ukai' (鵜飼) in Japanese, translates to 'cormorant fishing'.
It is performed in the evening, using a large brazier of fire hung off the side of the wooden fishing boat, which draws in fish from the dark depths of the river.
The cormorants hunt ayu, or sweetfish, named so for their melon-like sweet taste. The fishermen hold their cormorants on long string leashes as they dive for fish and, to stop them from fully swallowing the fish, the cormorants wear a ring around their gullets.
After some time fishing, a cormorant is beckoned back aboard and a fisherman makes it regurgitate the fish it's caught into a large woven basket. The cormorant may then get a break and snack, before diving back into the river.
Ukai is still practiced today on some 10 different rivers including the Nagara River in Gifu and Uji River south of Kyoto. However, it's only done during certain times of the year and mostly as a cultural or tourist attraction.
You can pay to go on an adjacent boat to watch the fisherman and their cormorants at work and, if you take a dinner cruise, you can try the sweetfish that the cormorants catch. Or you can watch for free from the shore.
During the off-season, the ukai cormorants live with their fishing masters — typically in houses along the river shore.
Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any studies into the welfare of ukai cormorants, into their behaviour and physiology. Personally, I find ukai a fascinating tradition, but I'm uneasy with the welfare implications for the cormorants.