The Cormorant Fishing Boat
A Japanese Craftsman’s Methods
Douglas Brooks
To preserve an ancient craft tradition in danger of
disappearing, Douglas Brooks traveled the length and
breadth of Japan to seek out and interview its elderly
master boatbuilders. Between 1996 and 2010 he built
boats with five of them, from Tohoku in the far north
to southernmost islands of Okinawa, and his research
and experiences were documented in his landmark
2015 publication, Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding. Over the
intervening years Brooks has had opportunity to
build several more Japanese wooden boats, most
recently a cormorant fishing boat with Mr. Seichi
Nasu of Gifu, Japan, the subject of the present book.
Using trained cormorants to fish has a 1,300 year history
in Gifu, and is done at night from special river
craft called ubune, literally “cormorant boat.” The
boat features an extended bow with a swinging
boom, from which is hung an iron fire basket to light
up the water and attract fish, which are then retrieved
by the enthusiastic birds. Together with Mr. Nasu,
then 85, Brooks worked with several volunteers over
a two-month period to build the forty-two foot
craft, a design largely unchanged for centuries.
As in his previous publications, Brooks introduces
readers to significant aspects of traditional Japanese
boatbuilding, including design and measurements,
workshop and tools, wood and materials, joinery and
fastenings, and above all, secrets of the craft. His
work fills a large and long-standing gap in the literature
on Japanese crafts, and will be of interest to boatbuilders,
woodworkers, and all those impressed with
the marvels of Japanese design and workmanship.
Douglas Brooks is a boatbuilder, writer, and
researcher specializing in the construction of traditional
wooden boats for museums and private
clients. Since 1990 he has been researching traditional
Japanese boatbuilding, focusing on the techniques
and design secrets of the craft. The boats he
and his teachers built have been exhibited at many
Japanese maritime and history museums. Brooks is
the sole non-Japanese listed in a 2003 Nippon
Foundation survey of craftsmen capable of building
traditional Japanese boats. In 2014 he received
the Rare Craft Fellowship Award from the
American Craft Council. To learn more about his
research,visit: www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com
84 pp, 8.5 x 11, Soft
120 color photo, maps, drawings
Wooden boatbuilding / Japanese crafts
ISBN: 978-1-891640-01-8
$40.00