The Kyoto coastline: The fishing village of Ine
A small fishing village, located about a hundred kilometers north of Kyoto, runs 5 kilometers along with the bay of Ine. There we will see what is called in Japanese, Funaya, homes combining boathouse and architecture of traditional Japanese houses. These original homes line up along the coast, creating this little "Venice of Japan".
The village is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Japan. There is still a community of fishermen for generations. We call this way of life Sato-umi, that is to say to live together at the edge of the sea, in harmony with great nature. Even today, the younger generations continue to respect this tradition and also offer visitors small cruises on the bay to contemplate this beautiful village from the sea. Many of these funaya have been renovated into a guesthouse to allow visitors to live at the heart of families and to minimize the impact of tourism on the environment. You can enjoy local dishes freshly caught fish and cooked by the fishermen themselves.
Ine is surrounded by a mountain covered by the forest and small cliffs flowing into the sea, the landscape is sumptuous. It is said that fishermen settled there nearly 1500 years ago. The fishermen in Ine use an old fishing technique, throwing a kind of cage called Mondori in the sea from funaya. There is of course angling from small boats; or the Ama fishery, the net called Ama being designed to catch only a limited number of fish. Ine is one of the few places in Japan to maintain this ancient way of life, and even the younger generations, having tasted urban life, finally choose to return to settle there.
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