Shooting the Hozugawa

Tuesday morning we loaded into boats for a trip down the Hozugawa (Hozu River). The boat carried more or less 25 people and had a crew of three, one manning the steering oar, one on a paddling oad and one poor apprentice manning a pole which he used to push the boat along in slow parts of the river and to fend off the rocks while shooting the rapids.

Apprentice boatman working hard

I use the term "shooting the rapids" loosely since during the whole two hour ride there were no real white water rapids as we know them from the Wenatchee River or other rivers in the Northwest where there are companies specializing in white water rafting. But I must say it was an enjoyable experience. The scenery was mostly natural scenes of the mountains lining the gorge with the occasional highway or railroad bridge cutting across the view.

The boatman using the rowing oar told stories and pointed out features along the way with the steersman occasionally chiming in. At the halfway point those two changed places but the poor apprentice just kept on using his pole.

Finally someone asked about the pole man. He didn't have time to talk but the oarsman explained that he is an apprentice who works the pole to learn the location of all the rocks and the various depths along the route. Our man has been working at it for one year so he has nine years to go before he graduates to the steering and rowing (and talking) roles. The positions are filled only with men from Kyoto and it is a good job so they put up with the apprenticeship to earn the right to work the boats.

As we got into the slow water near the end of the route a similar sized boat with a small outboard engine pulled up alongside and sold snacks and drinks to the passengers who were hungry and thirsty after the strenuous ride down the river.

We unloaded, surrendered out life preservers to the boatmen and headed for lunch.  Good thing since the big breakfast at the ryokan was wearing off and we were ready to eat again.