Ukai, the Samurai Summer Pastime

1,300 Year Old Fishing Technique and Samurai Hospitality Attraction

Picture this. It was a night of eerie darkness, the sort you’d see in a samurai movie just before a ninja attack. The moon could barely be seen. An inky black river swirls its way between the surrounding steep, darkened mountains. On one of the mountaintops overlooking the wide, lazy river, was a samurai castle lit up by bonfires to mark its presence. Below it, a small fleet of long, narrow, flat-bottomed boats were making their way from upstream towards the fortress.

Surely the samurai in the castle’s watchtowers could see the large steel baskets of fire hanging from the front of each of the boats, and knew they were approaching? Weren’t they watching?