Chinese Ukai

This scroll is no longer available for sale.

This is a photograph purchased from King Wu, a professional photographer in the state of Washington.

This is a picture of a traditional Ukai (Japanese) word. Ukai is the term for trained Cormorants that the fisherman ties a string around the bird's neck and then the bird will dive for live fish. Due to the string, the bird can not swallow the fish. When the cormorant arises from the water, the fisherman takes the fish alive.

This is still practiced in Japan as well in the city of Gifu on the Nagara River, but primarily as a tourist attraction.

I used the blue silk cloth because it provided a good imagery of water. There was no Jikusaki put on this scroll, to focus on the photography.