On summer evenings, hand-rowed boats take spectators out on the Uji River to watch cormorant masters fish with trained sea cormorants by firelight. In spring and autumn the association also stages hanachi ukai, cormorant fishing with no leash, in daylight.
Why it's unique
Uji's cormorant masters produced Japan's first artificially hatched Japanese cormorant (umiu) in 2014 and have bred chicks almost every year since; the first is corroborated by BE-PAL (Aug 2026) and earlier reporting. Because these birds are imprinted on their handlers, Uji has revived hanachi ukai: the birds fish freely and are called back by name. The Uji tourism association calls this the only hanachi ukai in Japan, noting that the Takatsu River in Shimane stopped the practice in 2001; that "only" is the association's own claim.
Three of Uji's four cormorant masters are women. Sawaki Mariko, Kansai's first woman cormorant master in 2002, led the hanachi revival.
Before you go
The summer night ukai is first-come, first-served on the day. Shared boats cannot be reserved, so be at the bank by about 17:30 in a busy week. The boats are hand-rowed and the birds come close enough to almost touch. The Uji-born birds are called "Ut-tea" (ウッティー), now an official city mascot. Ut-tea is billed to appear in the show but can be stood down for health reasons.
The untethered hanachi sessions are the rarer thing and are held in daylight, so you can actually watch the birds dive, which you can't see by firelight. They are billed for spring (May to June) and autumn (October to November), but no 2026 autumn dates were published. Ring the tourism association in April or September for dates, because they are not reliably posted. Sessions are cancelled in high water after Amagase Dam releases.
