cormorant fishing is a traditional japanese method of fishing that is now in several places simply as a tourist attraction. we stumbled across it by accident seeing a sign that said 'boat trip' which we thought would be a good way to end the day. then we realised it was to watch cormorant fishing which we had no idea what it was! this was in arashiyama in kyoto following a visit to the bamboo grove. the fishing as you can see is in small boats with several cormorants on rope who have something round their neck to stop them swallowing the fish. a fire is held over the water to help them and the fishermen see. they then dive and catch fish and are pulled into the boat to spit their catch into a bucket. at the end they sit rather smugly on the end of the boat waiting for their supper when they get back. of course there is plenty of debate as to the cruelty to the birds or not. in terms of photography it was a real challenge as it was dusk turning to dark by the time the fishing was underway, and the action was pretty fast. but i was really pleased with some of the shots especially catching a couple of moments with the fish popping out of a bird's mouth - like this shot which seems to tell the story. it was one of the most unusual things we saw.
i have added an album of cormorant fishing here
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