Tub Boat Rides
Tub Boat Rides on Sado Island, Niigata City Japan
Tarai-bune tub boat rides are a fun thing to do if you can spare about ten minutes!
The Tarai-bune is the symbol of the Ogi area and you can see this symbol in a variety of places, even randomly placed among street paving stones.
After a long drive down some winding streets we ended up in a parking area not far from a hidden tub boat spot. We walked down some traditional Sado Island streets and found the tiny office for the tub boat experience.
After paying the money for our group, two elderly ladies in traditional dress rushed out to help us into our tub boats.
The tubs were very awkward for me as I’m 6 foot tall, so there was barely any leg or sitting room, and I kept feeling I was going to tip the boat over.
As the boat wavered slightly each time the skipper shifted the oar, I was also worried about dropping my mobile. So not as many pictures were taken this time.
I thought it was only going to be for about 10 minutes but the area we were in had longer times and with not many people waiting, the tub helmsperson was quite happy to take us to the centre of the lake and pause while we took pictures of each other and of each other’s tub boats. Definitely get friends along in a separate tub so that you can get pictures of each other.
I was also given the opportunity to try to push the tub with the front oar. Here are the 3 steps you should know to begin.
1. Hold the handle of the oar each side carefully with both hands, but don’t push too hard. Make sure the oar remains straight and the string that holds the oar in place is taut.
2. Swing the oar from side to side like a pendulum. Make sure the string remains taut. Keep this action up until you feel the boat moving forward.
3. Once you have a rhythm (keeping the string taut and the oar straight down but swinging side to side) add a slight figure eight (infinity) to your movements. This will create the pull and will direct your tub boat across the water.
Did I mention you need to keep the string taut?
Personal note: The physics didn’t make sense until someone told me about the figure eight movement after I got out. So I knew I was missing something trying to pull the tub across the water with one oar just swinging back and forth. Also, with the water pressure it seemed almost impossible to keep the string taut and the oar straight at the same time. The oar kept being pushed back towards the edge of the tub and compensating meant putting my back into it and… aaargh! How could these elderly little Japanese women be stronger than me?! Lol.
This was a fantastic experience and a lot of fun. Something I not only had never done but also hadn’t known existed. I’d seen photos but I hadn’t realised the tubs were rounder, smaller, and steered in a completely different way to a small boat. Amazing.
Here’s a quick video:
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