Official
Hamarikyu Demonstration of New Year's Falconry
On New Year's Day, on January 2 and 3, a demonstration of hawk art, which had been canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was held at Hamarikyu for the first time in three years.
Tradition from the Edo period. In the land related to the shogun's falconry.
Hamarikyu is said to have been used for falconry, horseback riding, fishing and banquets in the Edo period at the beach palace of the Shogun family. Even after the Meiji era, which was managed by the Imperial Household Ministry, a falconer was stationed to train hawk. Falconry has disappeared since it became a metropolitan park, but falconry is carried out every New Year as a succession of its tradition. The demonstration is Suwa style hawk art, the oldest existing school that has continued since the days of Nobunaga and Ieyasu.
Adding to make hawk accustomed to the environment
By the way, in the demonstration, "subscription", "transfer", "migratory", and "flying" were performed.
First of all, he walks through the venue with a hawk on his palm and gets used to the environment. Some of them were calm, while others were fluttered and excited.
The hat worn by the falconer is a hunting hat, and in Japanese it is a bird hat, but it seems that it was a hood in the Edo period.
Transfer-From a falconer to another falconer
When he flew away, he flew through the surface of the earth, soared in front of the falconer, and stopped.
Crossing - return to the falcon's hand from a distance
In the demonstration, a hawk released from the roof of a building quite far away outside Hamarikyu came back brilliantly. I always failed to take a picture, but this time I think I was able to take it well.
I've seen it twice in the past, but it's the first time I saw it back straight. A few years ago, when I saw the first time, Tsukiji Market was still before the relocation, many dragonflies were flying over Hamarikyu, threatening the hawk released from the same raptor, and the hawk fled into the tree, and when I saw it for the second time, a large group of crows was chased. There has been so many dragonflies since the market relocation, and there are no crows this year, and hawks may have come down calmly this time.
Flying - practice of hunting prey actually
I caught a pigeon released from the bird releaser in the air. The pigeon was a little sad. gassho.
Demonstration of falconry is a valuable opportunity that you can't usually see in the city, and after seeing it, I thought that hawks were purely cool.
I hope you will continue every year.