Kirk here with some information about how to enjoy floating down the Kumagawa River (Kuma River) in the Hitoyoshi area. The picture you see on the top is of traditional “kawakudari” (“going down a river”). As you can see, these boats are controlled by two men, one at the back with a sculling oar and another man at the front. The tourists just sit in the middle of the boat to enjoy the ride. This type of kawakudari has a long history on the Kumagawa and in Japan in general. The image you see comes from the following site:
https://kumamoto.guide/en/spots/detail/2773
The other, more modern way to enjoy a trip down the river is rafting. The screenshot of rafters enjoying the Kumagawa come from this page:
https://www.kumagawa.co.jp/en/rafting/
Now, there’s a small (?) problem about which I’d like to ask your advice. Kumamoto’s official tourism website calls the traditional trips in wooden boats “rafting.” I’d like to contact the people who manage the page to let them know that they need to fix the English but I’m not quite sure what the “correct” English would be. Perhaps something like “Traditional Kawakudari Whitewater Boating” or “Traditional Boat Trips Down the Kuma River’s Rapids” or some such title would work. Any ideas?
By the way, the wooden boats are called “baika no watashi.” “Baika” (梅花) means “plum” and “watashi” (渡し) means “to cross (the river).” It’s a kind of boat that was traditionally used to take people or things from one side of a river to another but seems to have been repurposed for joy rides down the rapids. The generic word for such boats is 渡し船 (watashibune) and the third image is a portion of an Edo period print by Hiroshige depicting a watashibune scene:
https://www.adachi-hanga.com/ukiyo-e/items/hiroshige041/
I think you’ll agree that “raft” isn’t the right word for such a venerable boat.