East Namekawa Seaside Green Park and Gumi Island (東滑川海浜緑地公園とグミ島)

You can enjoy a glorious sea view with Gumi Island from the East Namekawa Seaside Green Park in Hitachi City in Ibaraki Prefecture. This park was reopened in July in 2019. There is playground equipment in the grassy field and children can also enjoy grass sledding.

Sometimes you can see Temminck’s cormorants resting their wings at a rocky area on Gumi Island. Temminck’s cormorants are migratory birds. They go to Hokkaido for breeding between April and Jun. And they head south to the Pacific side of Japan for passing the winter between October and December. It is said that the seaside of Hitachi city is a resting place on the journey for cormorants.

Hitachi city is the only place where cormorants are captured in Japan. About forty cormorants are captured every year at Unomisaki in the north part of Hitachi city. And they are sent to some places in which “Ukai”, cormorant fishing, is conducted. And that supports the Cormorant fishing culture in Japan.

“Ukai” is a fishing method used to catch ayu (sweetfish) by using a cormorant. It is conducted in eleven places in Japan, for example, in the Nagara River in Gifu Prefecture, in the Kiso River in Aichi Prefecture, and in the Uji River in Kyoto Prefecture, and so on. It is a traditional fishing method with a history of 1,300 years.

I went there at the end of June and there was a little sprinkle of rain. Unfortunately I couldn’t see any cormorants. For reference, I post a photo of cormorants which I found on line though I don’t know where it was taken.

茨城県日立市にある東滑川海浜緑地公園からグミ島のある素晴らしい海の景色を楽しめます。この公園は2019年の7月にリニューアルオープンしました。芝生広場には大型複合遊具が設置され、子どもたちは芝滑りも楽しめます。

ときにはグミ島の岩場で羽を休める海鵜を見ることも出来ます。海鵜は渡り鳥です。4~6月は繁殖の為に北海道に向かい、10~12月になると越冬の為に本州太平洋岸を目指して南下してきます。日立市の海岸は海鵜にとって旅の途中の休息地になるそうです。

日立市は全国で唯一の海鵜の捕獲地です。日立市北部の鵜の岬では毎年40羽前後の海鵜を捕獲し、全国の鵜飼地へ送り鵜飼文化を支えています。

鵜飼とは、鵜を使ってアユなどの魚を獲る漁法で、岐阜県長良川、愛知県木曽川、京都府宇治川など全国11箇所で行われています。1300年の歴史を誇る伝統ある漁法です。

私が訪れた日は6月の終わりで時折雨の降る日でした。残念ながら海鵜の姿は見られませんでした。参考までに、ネットで見つけた海鵜の写真を、どこで撮られたものかは分かりませんが貼っておきます。


Ikuyo.K.


RECENT POSTS

ALL