Gifu University (GU) student team won multiple awards at the "IVRC 2023" hosted by the Virtual Reality (VR) Society of Japan on Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19, 2023. IVRC stands for "Interverse Virtual Reality Challenge." It is a challenge that has been held since 1993, where students from around the world form teams to create interactive works using VR technology. The theme of GU team was Gifu's traditional cormorant bird fishing called "Ukai."

The GU student team created a VR work that allows a viewer to "become" a cormorant bird in the VR world and experience the traditional Ukai fishing method. The objective of the work is to promote Ukai fishing to a global audience. To create their work, GU student team members visited the Nagaragawa Ukai Museum in Gifu City and observed and studied how a cormorant bird master handles cormorant birds while catching fish. They also boarded a pleasure boat and observed an actual fishing scene. Based on their experiences, the students created the VR work that enables a viewer to "become" a cormorant bird catching a fish in the water.

Here is how it works; first a viewer sits on a chair and bows to look for a sweet fish called "Ayu," in the water. When a viewer spots a flashing fish, he or she looks up and catches it. A viewer can experience the active movements of the caught fish with a special beak-shaped tool. In addition, a viewer can "swallow" the fish via a tool tied around his/her neck.

The GU student team that won the "Laval Virtual Prize" will be able to attend "Laval Virtual 2024," which will be held in Laval, France in April. There, the students will have the opportunity to present a Japanese traditional fishing performance to people from around the world.

On Wednesday, December 13, 2023, the GU student team and their supervisor visited the Office of the President to report their wins to President YOSHIDA Kazuhiro. On behalf of the team, Mr. Fujishima said, "In April next year, we are going to demonstrate our VR work at Laval, which has a big river like the Nagara River in Gifu. We hope people around the world will appreciate the beauty and profundity of our cormorant bird fishing culture with lot of fun. We will continue to improve our VR work to win the next competition."

President Yoshida gave the students the following words of encouragement: "It is fascinating to know that a VR viewer can become a cormorant bird and experience fishing. I do hope that the GU student team can present this time-honored fishing performance, which has been maintained in Gifu for centuries, to people around the world. You can get a strong support from the people of Nagaragawa Ukai Museum, too. I wish you all the best of luck at "Laval Virtual 2024" in France next April.

Gifu University continues to support students in their endeavors to promote the local culture and tradition to the people around the world.

Names of prizes and GU student team members

Names of Prizes

Laval Virtual Prize, Pichikyo Prize, and YAMAHA Prize

Members of "Team Ukai"

• Mr. FUJISHIMA Syunsuke (4th year student, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)
• Mr. HAYAZAKI Masato (4th year student, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)
• Mr. FUJII Shunsuke (4th year student, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)
• Mr. HOSHINO Sora (4th year student, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)