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TRAVEL FEATURE PHOTO ESSAY: Cormorant fishing on the Nagara River has played a vital role in the history of the city of Gifu in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The practice is a 1,300-year-old tradition where fishing masters - known as ushō - use Japanese cormorants to catch fish, primarily ayu (sweetfish). As a sign of respect for the skills of these fishing masters, they have received the official title of “Cormorant Fishermen of the Imperial Household Agency,” a hereditary title that is passed from father to son through the ages. It takes at least ten years to become a cormorant fishing master, with the the first fish caught each year being sent to the royal family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Picture: Nicholas Eagar

Japan’s ancient art of cormorant fishing

Photographer Nicholas Eagar documents Gifu’s Ukai, a 1,300 year old tradition of cormorant fishing on the waters of the Nagara river in Japan, where cormorant birds are trained to catch fish from boats with hanging bonfires in the dark of night …

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