Cormorant fishing

Japanese: 鵜飼 - うかい

[1] 〘Noun〙 (also "ugai") ① Fishing using cormorants. Broadly speaking, it can be done in all four seasons, during the day, or by using cormorants to chase fish into a stretched net. Generally, however, it refers to a summer night when a bonfire is lit at the bow of a small boat to lure sweetfish and other fish close to the boat. The cormorant fisherman attaches a rope to the cormorant's neck, makes the cormorant swallow the fish in the water, and then pulls it up to make it spit them out. In other words , it refers to catching cormorants. Today, the most famous sweetfish fishing is in the Nagara River in Gifu Prefecture. Ukawa . Season: Summer ※Utsubo (around 970-999) Rojo: "He floated to the Yosari and then returned." ② A person who makes a living doing ①. Cormorant fisherman. Cormorant fisherman. Cormorant user . Cormorant man. Season: Summer. *Kojiki (712), part 2, folk song: "I am hungry , so come to help me, the island bird Ukahi. " ③ Official title. A subordinate in the kitchen of the palace, who catches fish for the palace . *Genji ( around 1001-14), Fuji no Uraha: "The chief of the kitchen of the palace arranges the cormorant fishing for the palace." ④ Abbreviation of "Ukaibune (cormorant fishing boat) ②." [Wakan Senyoshu (1761)] [2] Noh play. Fifth piece. Various schools. Written by Enami Saemongoro. Reworked by Zeami. When a monk from Kiyosumi in Awa Province visits the Isawa River in Kai Province, the ghost of a cormorant fisherman who was wrapped in a straw mat for the crime of murder appears to him, and tells him about the cormorant fishing and asks for a memorial service. As the monk is offering a memorial service for the cormorant fisherman, King Enma appears and tells him that the fisherman has attained nirvana. [Glossary] (1) The Sui Shu - Wakokuden records that cormorant fishing in Japan is the oldest in the world. It was widely practiced among the general public, but the Kojiki records a ritual of submission in which fish caught by cormorant fishing were presented as an offering, and the cormorant fishing department appears as a position to offer fish. Under the Ritsuryo system, cormorant fishing was positioned as part of the imperial court ceremonies, with cormorant fishing belonging to the Daizensho (Division of Food) of the Imperial Household Ministry.
(2) During the Edo period, various feudal domains protected cormorant fishing and established the cormorant fisherman system. After the Meiji period, except for the Nagara River in Gifu, which was protected as a fishing ground for the Imperial family (still under the protection of the Imperial Household Agency), only remnants remain in Kyushu and other areas for tourism purposes.

Ukaiukahi [Cormorant Fishing]

(Also "Ugai") One of the surnames.

Source: The Selected Edition of the Japanese Language Dictionary About the Selected Edition of the Japanese Language Dictionary Information

Japanese:

[1] 〘名〙 (「うがい」とも)① 鵜を使って行なう漁。広くは、四季それぞれ行なうもの、昼間行なうもの、張った網の中に鵜を使い魚を追いこませる追い鵜などにもいうが、一般には、夏の夜、小船のへさきで篝火(かがりび)をたいて鮎などを近寄らせ、鵜匠が鵜の頸(くび)に鵜縄(うじょう)をつけ、水中で魚をのませ、引き上げて吐かせるもの、すなわち獲(とり)鵜をいう。現在では岐阜県長良川の鮎漁がもっとも有名。鵜川(うかわ)。《季・夏》※宇津保（970‐999頃）楼上下「よさりまでうかひなどして帰給ふ」② ①を業とするもの。鵜飼人(うかいびと)。鵜匠。鵜使い。鵜人(うびと)。《季・夏》※古事記（712）中・歌謡「我はや飢ぬ島つ鳥宇加比(ウカヒ)が伴(とも) 今助(す)けに来ね」③ 官名。御厨子所(みずしどころ)の膳部(ぜんぶ)の下役で、御用の魚類などをとる者。※源氏（1001‐14頃）藤裏葉「御厨子所のうかひの長、院の鵜飼をめしならべて」④ 「うかいぶね（鵜飼船）②」の略。〔和漢船用集（1761）〕[2] 謡曲。五番目物。各流。榎並左衛門五郎作。世阿彌改作。安房の清澄の僧が甲斐の国の石和(いさわ)川を訪れると、殺生の罪で簀巻(すまき)にされた鵜使いの亡霊が現われ、僧に鵜飼の様を語り回向を頼む。僧が鵜使いの霊を弔っていると閻魔(えんま)大王が現われ、亡者が成仏したことを告げる。[語誌](1)「隋書‐倭国伝」には日本の鵜飼が世界最古のものとして記録されている。民間でも広く行なわれたが、「古事記」には鵜飼によって捕った魚を進献するという服属儀礼が記され、鵜飼部が魚を献上する職として登場、令制下では宮内省大膳職に鵜飼が属するなど、宮廷儀礼の一環として位置づけられた。
(2)江戸時代には諸藩が鵜飼を保護し鵜匠制度も確立した。明治以後は、皇室の御漁場として保護された岐阜の長良川（現在も宮内庁の保護下にある）以外は、九州など一部に観光用として名残をとどめているにすぎない。