Unleashed cormorant fishing tour

People have practice cormorant fishing on the Uji River since the Heian era (784 to 1185), where it passes by Uji City. It is currently carried out from July to September, and is a familiar part of the poetic scenes of summer in Uji. The "sea cormorant" birds used in the activity are quite high-strung, and will never lay eggs in captivity. However, in the spring of 2014, the first sea cormorant eggs were laid incidentally by a cormorant pair that fished the Uji River, and Japan's first artificially fertilized sea cormorant was born. The cormorant born was named "Woody the Umi-u" (Woody the Sea Cormorant) by popular vote. In free cormorant fishing, the birds are released without the typical lead rope (a 4-meter rope connecting the bird and its master) and go fishing, coming back when their masters call for them. The trust between "Woody the Umi-u" (born through artificial fertilization) and his compatriots and masters has produced Japan's only "free cormorant fishing" team.