(うか)

うかい
noun
cormorant fishing
culture
1. cormorant fishing
A traditional Japanese fishing method using trained cormorants to catch sweetfish, performed at night by torchlight on rivers.
We went to see cormorant fishing in summer.
長良川(ながらがわ)鵜飼(うか)有名(ゆうめい)だ。
The cormorant fishing on the Nagara River is famous.
In cormorant fishing, cormorants are used to catch river fish.

Formed from () (cormorant) + ()い (keeping, raising). A fisher (a 鵜匠(うしょう)) handles trained cormorants that dive for (あゆ) (sweetfish); a ring on the bird's neck stops it from swallowing the larger catch. Now mostly a summer tourist spectacle, especially on the 長良川(ながらがわ).

Common collocations