Arashiyama Tsusen South Boarding Area (Yakatabune, Rental Boat) — Local services in Kyoto

We boarded a traditional boat shaped like a melon seed, which could accommodate around 20 people. The boatman wore traditional attire with "Ukai" written on his back and used a long pole to row. He would push the pole to the bottom of the water, pull it out, and then switch to the other side to continue rowing. I was a bit puzzled at first because, for one, we weren't wearing life jackets, and second, the pole seemed to be only about three meters long. I wondered what would happen if we reached the deeper parts of the lake. Later, I realized the water was very shallow, less than a meter deep.

We initially thought we were in for a scenic boat ride, but soon found out that it was a traditional Japanese performance called Ukai (cormorant fishing). Although it originally came from China, this practice has been in Japan for at least five hundred years, though I can't recall the exact period. As night fell, about five of these melon-seed boats were linked together, and then the show began with a smaller boat demonstrating cormorant fishing. There were three crew members on the boat, with a fire lit at the bow to attract fish so that the cormorants could see clearly underwater. One crew member held three or four ropes, each tied to a cormorant. When the cormorants spotted fish, they would dive into the water to catch them, then return to the boat with the fish in their beaks. The crew member would then squeeze the cormorants' necks to make them spit out the fish. It was quite fascinating, and we even witnessed a rare sight where one cormorant managed to catch two...

I really enjoyed this boat ride. It was $4000 yen for 1 or 2 people. It’s a good activity when you get tired of walking and shopping. We got our own boat because there weren’t that many tourists at the time which was about 2pm.

The ride itself was 30 minutes and the water was calm. Nothing much to see, just trees along the river. Not much excitement. During the ride, a food boat will come and try to sell you food. We got 3 skewers of dango...

A charming boat ride up and then back down the river, about 45 minutes give or take. If I recall correctly it was about ¥1500 per person. The boat operator used a long pole to steer the boat which we found to be quite neat. I believe there are different offerings that this boating company provides but this one was the...