Visiting Mankyu was quite a dream. He’s the most renowned tenkara net maker in Japan and spending time looking at so many of his nets showed me he is a true master. Yoshimura-san has been making nets for 45 years, a craft he learned from his father. He’s also the longest practitioner of tenkara I know of , he’s been fishing tenkara for about 63 years.

Kuwata-san and I spent the morning with Yoshimura-san and his daughter, who helps him with the shop and works on connecting mesh bags to net frames. His daughter showed me how she connects the mesh bag to the nets by connecting a new bag to a frame I had made – they complimented my craftsmanship on the net construction, and gave me some invaluable pointers on finishing it. It was very impressive to see her skills at connecting the mesh to the frame, one of my most feared tasks. She said that often people make the frame and bring it to her for connecting the mesh.

We talked at length about tenkara nets. At one point in the conversation we discovered that both of us knew Katsutoshi Amano. Yoshimura-san picked up his cell phone and called Amano-san. Amano-san must have put in a good word for me, as Yoshimura-san then invited me to return and learn net making with him. I was definitely able to find time for that on my calendar, after all that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Japan for an extended visit. I will be spending a full day with him the day before I return to the US.

Though I wish I had met him earlier to spend time learning about tenkara net making, this leaves me with an excellent reason to return next year, when I hope my Japanese will be much better. I will certainly write more about him after my day at his workshop.  This encounter was quite a treat since Yoshimura-san frequently declines giving interviews to newspapers and magazines and has declined invitations by NHK to appear on tv.

I spent the night at the home of Kazuhiro Kuwata, who makes our tenkara leather wallets. It was great watching his craftsmanship as he finished a custom knife I had ordered for my own net making.

Kuwata-san lives and works in a large 100-year old traditional Japanese home in the country side. He loves vintage things and was attracted to the character of the house – which some people say is haunted.

We drank sake from his collection of Edo-period porcelain cups and enjoyed yakitori cooked on a irori . Kuwata-san doesn’t speak much English, so our conversations took place mostly in Japanese through the evening. Then he pulled out one of the vintage guitars he restored and played some American rock. These are experiences I wanted to have in Japan, and I’m happy I did.

In this picture Dr. Ishigaki teaching the class on day 2. Among other things he talked about the order one should try fishing a spot, start from the end of the pool and working your way up. He also demonstrated how working a spot from different directions can allow you to use different techniques (e.g. natural drift from below, pausing the fly from the side, dragging the fly from above, etc.)

Fishing was pretty difficult. I scored a few on Saturday, but got skunked yesterday. I had many drifts where I really expected a fish but nothing bit. I finally had a very nice rise at the end of the day, after Dr. Ishigaki and I had fished 3 other streams in the last couple of hours, and were at the end of our final 200 meter stretch with no bites of any kind. I got my fly to hang in one small spot long enough to get the interest of a fish, but I didn’t hook it.

The best thing about fishing frequently with someone who is a lot more experienced than you, is the confidence it gives you. Dr. Ishigaki likes to move quickly, so we’ll fish a stretch of a stream pretty fast and if nothing is happening we get on the car and check out a different section or different stream, as water temps or other factors may be different. But, there are days when it’s just not you, nor your technique, nor your flies, it’s just that the fish are not up to eating and there is not much that can be done about it.As has often been said, if it were much easier we wouldn’t call it “fishing”, we’d call it “catching”.

Preparing to fish a stream in the evening, the first of 3 Dr. Ishigaki would try in a couple of hours:

Moss-covered walls like these seem to be a constant presence on many streams. Walls have been built to prevent erosion of stream banks, since the water can get pretty high during heavy rains.

Our last stretch:

The inn we stayed in was pretty cool, a definite angler’s hangout. It’s called Mt. Ontake and run by Kazumitsu Suzuki and his wife. Here’s the URL for reference: http://www.mtontake.jp/. They served an awesome dinner and breakfast and at a very reasonable price.

The spot is a regular destination for employees of the Patagonia store, which is how they got connected with Dr. Ishigaki. Last year he gave them a class on tenkara, and we’ll be there again this coming weekend to show them tenkara. It’s incredibly interesting how tenkara, Tenkara USA and the Patagonia company keep getting connected.

Suzuki-san and I got along great. He doesn’t speak English, but we were able to converse quite well about cameras, tenkara fishing, skiing and climbing Mt. Ontake, a trip we hope to do together next year.  He even told me of a “secret” spot in Mt. Ontake area where he recently found several large Iwana but no one fishing as it’s a bit difficult to access. I may even be able to visit it before I leave.

Yesterday as the class took place, Suzuki-san took me around to fish in a couple of spots in the area. Suzuki-san is also a patrol for the streams in his area is responsible for checking anglers’ licenses. As he drove me around we stopped a couple of anglers. One didn’t have a license, but he readily pulled money to pay for it. Licenses typically cost about 1,000yen for a day ($12), and there is a penalty of 800yen if you’re caught without a license. Most people buy the license ahead of time, but it is a bit inconvenient to find the location to purchase one, so I don’t blame them for taking the chances without one.

This morning I drove to Kaida-kogen, an area very popular among fishermen, for a tenkara class and fundraiser event with Dr. Ishigaki and Kurakami-san.

I left Maze at 6AM, arrived here at 8AM. It rained a little in the morning, and then hard in the afternoon. There were moments when the scenery was just awesome, at other moments the visibility was very low. Here’s a shot from one of the clear moments of the day when a layer of fog raises above the stream.

A little bragging, this morning I believe I was the only person to catch a fish in our group of about 15 people. And, in the afternoon I caught 4 fish, while the entire group had 1 fish among them. The stream has quite a few fish, but I believe the water was very cold today, and the fishing difficult. Not great numbers to really brag about, but it was easy to keep count today.

Here’s Ishigaki-sensei doing a demonstration to the class. He’s finally ditched the vest!!! Yes, he said it’s too hot and he doesn’t carry that many things in it anyways. I noticed he wasn’t using a vest on the Itoshiro event, so I finally asked him if he ditched it altogether.

After fishing in heavy rain for about 4 hours, and catching my fair share for the day, I headed to an onsen. Just can’t seem to get enough of onsen, especially when it rains. I absolutely love that part of Japan for those rainy/cold days of fishing.

The most fun today may have been the charity event after dinner. Dr. Ishigaki and Kurakami san are taking every opportunity to raise some money  for the earthquake victims. But, the event mostly consisted of underpricing things and if more than one person wanted the item they had to do rock/paper/scissors. It was a great way to have fun, but not a great way to raise money. I donated a Tenkara USA tshirt and a couple of sets of flies, those may have been the most popular items tonight. Then, the last item was the giveaway of a brand new Shimano tenkara rod. All those present participated in a rock/paper/scissors game to win the free rod. And, guess who won… yes, I did! But, I truly have no use for it as you may imagine, so I decided to turn it around and introduce an American-style auction into the party with bids starting at $50. The auction raised about $80, still a great bargain for the winner (photo below), but an additional chunk of money for the earthquake victims.

Japan has streams of many different kinds. The general term for river is “kawa“, but there are other more specific terms to describe different streams. Kawa can be “honryu“, which is the main stream, or “shiryu“, which are tributaries. Of course, a shiryu can also have other shiryus… Two other terms I use very often are “karyu“, which means downstream, or “jiuryu“, which means upstream.

Some are small, boulder strewn mossy streams. These are normally called “sawa“, the term for small streams, such as the one Yoshikazu Fujioka-san is fishing below, and my host Ikumi is fishing below that.  I’ve been teaching Ikumi tenkara fishing and am very proud of how good her form is. We’ve only been out 3 times and her casting precision and technique impress me. She caught a fish on this evening (yumazume = evening activity period), Rocky and I didn’t.

Mountain streams in general are called “keiryu”.

The keiryu below is being worked by Chris Stewart, the “Tenkara Bum”, who is referred by our Japanese friends as “tenkara baka”, though we’re still unsure that’s the best term for a bum. This was the “shiryu” to the Itoshiro, which is the “honryu” in the area we fished and one of the few catch and release streams in the country.

Keiryu also come in different  styles. The clearest ones are called “seiryu”, which indicates they are “clear/beautiful/moving water types of streams. They may be large or small, but have the characteristic features of a mountain stream, boulders/pockets/currents. The Mazegawa is referred to as a seiryu. The Mazegawa has at least 100 distinct parts, that feel like entirely different streams. The one picture below shows my hosts, Ikumi on the foreground and Rocky farther downstream. The pool in front of her is about 12ft deep and we could easily see every rock below.

Some are large, slower rivers, these are just normally referred to with the general name “kawa/gawa” – there may be a more specific term, but I still haven’t learned it. The picture below was taken in Gujo soon after the ayu fishing season started. I’ll write more on ayu fishing later, but for now, suffice it to say it’s not tenkara! It’s done using a live “decoy fish”. It’s definitely a serious activity here. I may even call it “the bass fishing of mountain streams”.

Other streams are very steep, and the walls around it form a type of canyon. These are generally called “tani/dani”. These are the streams where people may do “shower climbing”, or sawanobori – interestingly, the activity is called “sawanobori”, because tani may or may not have water in it (it’s a canyon area), and shower climbing requires water, thus “sawanobori” is used. I helped take a group of kids on an outing to one of these streams, but no fishing allowed there. Next friday I’m scheduled to go explore a “tani” and will do some tenkara fishing. Actually, I’m supposed to catch lunch. Here’s the place I wish I had fished, but instead I enjoyed some awesome canyoning:

The fish here are just gorgeous, when I can see them I get excited about fishing again. In this area we can catch Iwana, and Amago. On the Japan sea side, one may find the yamame. Next week I have an outing scheduled with a local whose favorite stream is a couple of hours away and we can catch yamame.

This is a picture of a Iwana, my best fish on this trip. It’s not the largest fish one can catch here; last week on the ryokan I visited, the owner had a beautiful mounted display of a 20.5inches (52cm) Iwana. The Fishing Center has a dried 25inch Iwana on their wall. Tenkara was also used to catch some large fish.

Here is an amago I caught on a “shiryu”, the term for tributary. Notice the small red spots, the differentiating mark between the amago and the yamame. I hope to have a picture of yamame next week.

On the drive over, I noticed the same mountains I had seen when driving with Chris a couple of weeks ago. This time I found a better viewing spot and was able to setup my tripod for a more stable shot and some video.

Last year Dr. Ishigaki took me to visit one of the stores, where I fell in love with tenkara nets. Then, a few weeks ago Eiji Yamakawa and his friends came to this area, but as it was raining very heavily on our second day they decided to visit the tackle shops instead of going fishing, I tackled along. This time I wanted to go on my own. I wanted to take my time in observing the style of different net makers and I wanted to talk to the owners of the stores with no rush, no time to go back, and without feeling like I’m taking someone else’s time. Furthermore, this would be excellent Japanese practice.

My Japanese is still very crude, but I’m finding that on the topic of fishing I have been holding decent conversations, being able to ask the questions I want (even if sounding like a Tarzan), and understanding most of the responses. Sometimes I still count on my iPhone, which in Japan has become an expensive dictionary, though I’m relying on that less and less. Also, I do keep a small moleskin notebook and pen with me at all times and take note of new words and refer to ones I learned before. I have had numerous hour+ long conversations here, and those have been some of the most fun (though challenging) experiences in Japan. There is something about living on the country-side, where people seem open to taking their time in conversing with a stranger, arriving at common grounds and sharing common experiences. Whereas most encounters in big cities seem dictated by a one-hour time block, here I have sat for a cup of coffee and talked with people with no pre-allocated amount of time. Sometimes conversations are quick, other times 3 hours long, nonetheless each is a big opportunity to learn about 10,000 new things.

(by the way, though tenkara is mostly for smaller fish, if you still think it is only for the very small fish, take a look at the mounted fish on Shimizu’s wall, fish of that size or larger are a common decoration on walls of businesses in this area)

The first tamo shop I stopped at is owned by Shimizu-san. By far my favorite store and where I got my first net last year. A few weeks ago when we tried to stop by they were closed, so I was happy to find his store opened on this visit. Shimizu-san’s store has been around for about 40 years and was previously owned by his father. At this time of year, ayu fishing season is starting and the river across the street from his store was filled with ayu anglers (more on this later). A couple of times fishermen came in dressed in their neoprene waders to talk to Shimizu, as I admired each of the nets he had on display. This year’s collection of nets from different makers was nothing short of extraordinary. The nets were much more expensive than they had been last year, but each of the nets was of very high quality. Also, his store only stocked kaya-tree nets this year, as opposed to nets made from other trees like the “momi”. He says kaya nets are the best and he’s not carrying nets from other woods this year. He and I had a good conversation. I didn’t meet him last year, but he said his wife had mentioned meeting me last year.

Then, I revisited another store where  I had stopped a few weeks earlier. I actually had to return to the area before I left since I had pre-ordered 2 custom mesh bags from the maker. I had asked if they had any mesh bags to sell, but they didn’t, preferring instead to use the bags for their own nets. However, he agreed to prepare a couple for me and have them ready within about 10 days. So, I stopped there and picked them up for my upcoming kaya nets. Here’s a picture of the maker about 30 years ago, this picture hung on the wall:

Osaka is famous for its waterfalls and “shower climbing” (canyoning through waterfalls and pools). In all, the area is estimated to have over 216 waterfalls, though some people suspect it has even more falls that are hidden deep in the woods.
How I cam here was interesting. On Saturday, I met the owner of the ryokan here in Maze. She said her husband really likes fishing, and that I should get to know their town and possibly fish with him. She invited me to come the next day and stay there. What an awesome couple of days those were.

The ryokan was right next to a gorgeous river, which you can see on the picture above. The owners of the ryokan took me around town to see the waterfalls (they hiked around in their yukata robes, adding to the feel of “romantic Japan” that many people may have).

After hiking to the falls I met two local guides of my age, who volunteer as guides during the weekend. They said they do shower climbing and enjoy fishing. We agreed to fish the yumazume (the evening activity period) together. We were also treated to a 5-star dinner by the owners of the ryokan and were joined by their son who works there and is about my age. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find dates to go shower climbing/tenkara fishing together before I leave. I have to return next year so we can do the 3-day canyoning trek to Mt. Ontake.

The fishing was okay. As with most streams in Japan, the number of fish in the rivers was not that large. The fish that do remain in the water are just gorgeous, as they have not been beaten up by bad catch and release practices.

The stream behind the ryokan featured a few points where natural spring water bubbled up. The onsen water feeds a fountain inside the hotel where one may drink it – it has a very interesting soda texture to it, but tastes a bit like, well, fart (yes, the sulphuric smell of many onsen water sources). Apparently it’s very good for your health, but I could only must a glass of it. A few dishes are also cooked with that water. Hot onsen water also feeds the outdoor bath of the ryokan. Today I learned that the word onsen is used for both hot and cold spring water, though it’s normally associated with hot water in Japan.

I will have to write another post very shortly about the Hoba Sushi Festival over the weekend. It was a surreal event during the evening, as we lit 10,000 candles on the fishing center grounds and lining the banks of the stream next to it to remember the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

This was our second meeting, the first time was a few weeks ago, when Amano-sensei was teaching a class on tenkara with Dr. Ishigaki and Kurakami-san. We fished together for 2 days and also sat down for a fly-tying demonstration at the end of day 1.

He struck me as a very interesting character and as someone who would probably have a very interesting tenkara history to tell. I wanted to ask him many more questions, so asked if he could spare some time to do a fly-tying demonstration and interview. He invited us to his minshuku (a type of hotel that is relatively inexpensive and offers food) in Hagiwara (15 minutes from Mazegawa). If you ever come to this area, you may want to spend some time at his place, at least stop by for lunch as there is a wonderful collection of fishing tackle at his minshuku.

As far as I am aware Amano san is currently the person who’s been practicing tenkara the longest in Japan. Mr. Amano has been tenkara fishing since he was about 13 years old, about 50 years now. I asked him if he knew of anyone who’s been doing tenkara for that long, he thought hard but couldn’t think of anyone else. His first encounter with tenkara, at the age of 13 or so, was on a day when he was bait fishing but having no success. He noticed a person doing tenkara upstream from him, who was catching fish. He also noticed insects flying around. From that time, he started teaching himself the art of tenkara. He never had a teacher; all of his learning was through observation of the occasional tenkara fisherman he would see, and through experimentation and trial and error. He said that, unlike today, when he started doing tenkara, the practice of different activities was generally kept secret. One would have to “steal” the knowledge from others via observation, and that’s what he did. He couldn’t ask someone to teach him. Nowadays he helps teach fishing classes throughout the country, and helped establish a “Fishing Academy” where people may learn more about fishing.

Through many years of experimentation, Amano-san also settled for the fly design he currently uses. As most tenkara anglers, this is the only fly-pattern he uses. A simple fly, also tied with only thread and hackle. He uses no vise, saying he’s got two hands, so he doesn’t need one.

Amano san practices many types of fishing, tenkara being just one of them. At one point, Mr. Amano was a professional fisherman, catching ayu fish to sell to local hotels and markets. He occasionally also fished commercially for amago and iwana (the local trout), but those he tended to reserve for sport. Despite this history, Amano san is a conservationist and realizes that the streams of Japan are not what they used to be. Damming of rivers, and the concrete walls erected on the banks of streams have damaged fishing. Nowadays, Amano san vehemently opposes and fights against dam construction in Japan. He is also a strong proponent of catch-and-release or at least imposition of limits on streams in Japan, especially the Mazegawa, where he would like to fish more often, but fishing is considered too difficult nowadays. He did say that if one can master the Mazegawa, then one can fish anywhere in the world – I think there are just too few fish left on this river. We both agree catch-and-release would do wonders to this river.

One interesting thing Amano-san said is that it took him 20 years to realize that tenkara (or fishing with a fly in general) is the ideal tool for some situations but not all. It may be his favorite method of fishing, but sometimes he thinks that using bait will be more effective. He says there are days when using tenkara is the most fun a person can have and will be the most efficient method he knows, on other days bait fishing is better, and yet on others one should just stay inside. This, he realized after 20 years of fishing tenkara.

It was a most enjoyable trip. This year I was joined by Chris Stewart, the Tenkara Bum, who came to Japan on his first visit. I picked Chris up at the station near my village on Friday and we drove 2 hours to our destination. We arrived just in time to see Dr. Ishigaki taking his first steps from his car to the stream, and so we joined him for a bit over an hour of evening fishing. The hatch was strong, and fishing relatively productive for such a short period. I did hook the most, 6 fish that evening, choosing to move very fast and fish the most obvious pools only, since we only had a short period of time. During the event I was very happy to see and fish with several people I had met last year, and was also very happy to meet new people.

Among them was Takashi Yoshida (above) who drove about 7 hours for the event and entertained us with a wonderful fly-tying demonstration. While tenkara flies are traditionally simple and most tenkara fishermen keep their flies very simple, Yoshida-san has been pushing the boundaries by using techniques and materials that make him stand out as a fly-tying innovator. He’s quite an accomplished tenkara angler, and while trout streams may be his favorite, Yoshida-san has been one of the people who has been pushing outside its traditions. I was happy to meet him, as I had seen a video of him teaching tenkara shortly before I came to Japan. After his fly-tying demonstration Yoshida-san and I fished together. Yoshida-san fished very heavily pressured waters near Tokyo, and he’s been open to using different approaches to get into fish. While most tenkara anglers I have met stick with more traditional patterns, Yoshida-san doesn’t think twice before putting a beadhead nymph if he feels that will catch fish. He also teaches students with PVC western fly-lines which are very easy to see and cast, though he admits they are not ideal for most tenkara situations. Here’s his video, and here’s his blog.

Last year I was presented with two tenkara bamboo rods made by Dr. Ichihashi, a pediatrician whose passion is bamboo rod making. This year we were fortunate to be offered a workshop on tenkara bamboo rod making. Those who still think tenkara is cane-pole fishing, I can tell you a couple of things: tenkara is neither fished like your childhood cane-pole, nor are the cane rods the same. There is a lot of craftsmanship that goes into tenkara bamboo rod making and he showed us just a preview of that.

After his workshop on bamboo rod making, I was able to fish once again with Sakakibara Masami (featured in our video “Tenkara Masters” shot at last year’s event). Once again he was able to teach me a couple of new things. On Saturday evening I fished with Sakakibara-sensei, his wife, and Dr. Ichihashi who, of course, was fishing a bamboo tenkara rod.

On Sunday morning Chris and I headed to the main part of the Itoshiro, but quite far upstream. This area was not a catch-and-release area, and so I’ll blame our slow fishing morning on that fact. The water was absolutely beautiful and we did hook a couple of fish each. It was nice to fish with him on a Japanese river, I almost thought we wouldn’t get a chance to do it again.

And, of course, I spent a great deal of time talking and fishing with my sensei, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki. Dr. Ishigaki, 64, is regarded by most people as the person who’s popularized tenkara as a sport in Japan. He taught a class on Saturday and was busy coordinating the event. Once the event was over, we headed to a place a bit off-the-beaten-path with Chris and one of Dr. Ishigaki’s students (Dr. Ishigaki is a professor in the field of “vision studies”, nothing related to fishing, he primarily teaches how the eyes work and perceive things, and works a lot with athletes and in the sports industry… he recruits a lot of his university’s students to tenkara). I talked to him about a few things I learned from other people and as always he had excellent arguments against certain theories, or excellent explanations to support other theories. I’m happy to have him as my sensei and for his continued support and teachings.

This being the fishing center, and with my presence here, the topic of tenkara obviously had to come up. We asked the kids how many of them knew what “tenkara” was. Out of 15 kids, only one raised his hand. We asked them if anyone knew what fly-fishing was, the same kid raised his hand. His dad is an avid angler. It’s a shame that so few kids from this area know what this method of fishing is. So, we explained to them the concept of tenkara, how it’s a traditional Japanese method of fishing practiced in the mountain streams of this area. I also did a fly-tying demonstration. As you know, tenkara flies are very simple to tie, so we gave a couple of the kids a chance to try it. The fishing kid was the first to volunteer. It was his first fly, and he was very good at it. A natural tying whizz.

Not having enough time to get all kids to try fly-tying today, I gave a fly to each of them. They were very inspired by the concept of fishing with a fake fly. We also talked about tenkara nets. I was invited to come give a presentation on tenkara in the local school in the next couple of weeks. In the US, as well as in Japan, the population of people interested in fishing is declining. There are many reasons this should concern us, and I’m glad to contribute a small amount here too.

Following a weekend of typhoon weather, with very heavy rains that raised water levels by about 3ft, yesterday I didn’t fish. But, I couldn’t sit still. I wanted to see what kind of photography I could capture with water levels still a bit high in most places (though not nearly as high as it was on Monday). The light was pretty interesting. I spent a few hours hiking along sections of the Maze river and found this spot. The climb down to the river was very difficult, and perhaps a bit dangerous, but the setting idyllic. The moss remained on the rocks despite a roaring river the day before. It was meditative, not a person nearby. I plan to fish this stretch when water levels return to normal.

A gorgeous stream, a “shiryu”, or “tributary” of the Mazegawa:

While many people take a lot of fish, I’m happy to know fish can find sanctuaries of gorgeous water, but no fishing allowed, this is what the sign looks like:

Fishing with Eiji Yamakawa, and two of his friends from their tenkara fishing club, awesome guys:

After much looking, finally found the rare “kaya” tree [update: they were not kaya, but rather the more commonly found "momi" trees, I finally found an ancient kaya forest and learned about their differences]. I found the trees 2 days after reading that as much as 45% of the forests of Japan have been replaced with cedar (“sugi”) tree plantations. Indeed, cedar is about all you can find here, but deep in the woods there are other trees. I climbed a kaya momi, and found others where the branches were accessible. What an impressive tree:

Originally posted on June 10, 2010, after fishing in Japan at this exact time of year last year.
This time of year is considered the best time for tenkara fishing in the mountain streams of Japan. One of the main indicators of this is the Fuji hana (藤花, fuji flower, wisteria japonica). The fuji flower is commonly found near streams in Japan at this time of year, and when it’s blooming it’s said to be tenkara fishing time. So, I’ll call the fuji flower, the tenkara flower.  Now we need to find one for tenkara in the US.

The character for the fuji flower (藤) is the same character as Fujioka-san (藤岡), so they joke that’s his flower. This is the fish he caught just about an hour earlier:

Fujioka-san with a nice Iwana

One morning I was able to get very close to the fuji flowers, they tend to be found a bit high, but a few hours before I was able to I had dunked my camera’s lens, a big SLR lens, into the water as I landed a fish. It’s what I call my karma neutralizer. I didn’t realize it until later, but the  picture I took was a bit foggy. Luckily I was able to get back there before the trip was over and take a better picture.

Originally posted on June 16, 2010 after my last year’s visit to Japan.

ZENMAI

I love the idea of using natural materials on all my flies. Through tenkara I learned about a material most people accustomed to the western fly-tying traditions have never heard of and very few have used, even though its properties make it a great material and it’s available in most parts of the world, including the US: the zenmai.

The zenmai was first introduced to me by Fujioka sensei, my teacher of tenkara flies, through his excellent website. A few months ago he sent me some flies, and also a small bit of zenmai, which I would not dare use as they belong to the “museum”. While fishing with Fujioka sensei, I asked if he had seen any zenmai around, “it’s a bit too late in the season”, he replied.  Usually the zenmai comes out in very early spring and the fleece falls off soon after. However, as luck would have it, Fujioka sensei later went to an onsen (hot springs) at a higher elevation and there he was able to find some.

Fly tied by Fujioka sensei using the zenmai dubbing material.

The zenmai is a type of  fern that, in early spring, has a cotton-like material on its body. This cotton-like material makes for excellent dubbing material, it is relatively waterproof, and can be easily made into a tight thread. Depending on the time it is picked or the plant it is picked from, the zenmai will vary slightly in color, with some being darker, and more commonly found in a light tan color.

Usually referred to as “flowering fern”, the zenmai belongs to the Osmunda family. The Japanese species is the Osmunda japonica, but according to Fujioka sensei the zenmai may be found worldwide, except for Australasia. The plant can be found in two stages with fleece still on its body: more commonly it’s found as a fiddlehead fern, a young shoot coming out of the ground and still curled up with fleece covering it almost entirely. Or, as a grown plant with the fleece material still on its stems, like in this video.

Though a bit hard to find at this time of year, there were still a few plants around during my visit (late May-early June). The day after Fujioka sensei gave me some zenmai, I found one plant with the fleece still attached to its body. The following week, as I visited my wife’s grandparents farther north in Yamagata, they found some more zenmai stalks while picking sansai (mountain vegetables). That’s another cool thing about this plant, the Japanese zenmai is an edible plant, a sansai, which is commonly picked by people in the mountains areas of Japan. The cotton-like material is discarded, and the meaty vegetable prepared and eaten.   On this day, vegetable picking proved to be more productive than fishing (the water was too cold, I believe). Among a couple of enormous bags we picked of warabi, and fuki were a few young fiddlehead ferns still fully covered in zenmai fleece.

After being dried for a while, the zenmai can be prepared as a delicious mountain vegetable. We had some awesome meals with these on the side.

Hands full of sansai. In this case, warabi.

I know some tenkara anglers in the US have already picked North American zenmai this year, for their own flies. But, I’m afraid this post may be too late for most people to be able to find it now.

Sakasa Kebari tied by Amano-sensei, free-hand, with no tools and eye-less hooks. Sakasa Kebari hold quite a esteem here.

It’s been 12 days since I arrived in Japan seeking to learn more about tenkara and experience the mountain fishing culture of Japan. This is my third visit to Japan, and each time I continue to learn more and more about tenkara. Who knew such a simple method of catching food would have so many subtleties to keep me coming back!

Tenkara and Tenkara USA for me are much more than selling fishing rods and other items; I’m very passionate about sharing the method of fishing with you. I’m happy to be writing this and working on videos, pictures and other content from my new room overlooking the mountains of Gifu. I will try to find time between fishing and hanging out with the people from the area to share what I learn on the blog. Rainy days like today are perfect for that.

After about a week of travelling, I have now been settled in what will be my home for the next month and half in the small mountain stream village of Maze, on the Maze River in Gifu, Japan. It’s a beautiful, idyllic setting. Very inspiring. Out of 12 days in Japan I think I have fished on 8 of them. I can’t say enough about how beautiful the streams here are, I absolutely love them. Crystal clear water, emerald gems with movie-like settings of cedar forests and mossy rocks.

Chikara fishing an idyllic stream, great fishing, poor catching

But,unfortunately, I’m quickly acquiring a new appreciation for the streams in the US and sometimes I wish I could mix the best of both worlds, where regulations, and stream management and keep-limits would make the rivers here more productive. Rivers don’t have a keep-limit and the concept of catch-and-release is virtually unknown – though I revisited the Itoshiro River, a very productive C&R river about 1 1/2 hours from here. Out of the many stretches of streams I have fished in this area, few showed much sign of life. I did catch fish just about every day, but it was hard work! Conditions are good, insect life very abundant, but the fish seem to be mostly gone. A shame, but we’ll see what I find deeper in the forests.

A beautiful example of an Amago, a native, though seemingly rare fish.

My host, Rocky Osaki, manager of the Mazegawa Fishing Center, and his wife Ikumi, have taken great care to introduce me to the community of both anglers and non-anglers in the region. I have been blessed to be invited into numerous homes where I soak all I can about tenkara, fishing culture and other aspects of life here. And, of course, have been soaking on the local onsen every chance I get.
A local kid whom I just had to nickname “Sanpei”, he doesn’t seem to mind.

This weekend there was a wonderful event here. 3 tenkara masters, and I do not use that word lightly, taught a course on tenkara to a group of about 15 people. I spent most of my time with Amano-sensei (more on him later, but quite a character and a most skilled tenkara angler).From each of them, as well as other very experienced tenkara anglers, I have learned more about tenkara.

Tenkara fishing course

Ah, and today I was featured in the regional newspaper, in an article talking about the event and the presence of Tenkara USA there:

But, in case anyone is curious, here’s a panorama I did yesterday with my iPhone of the Mazegawa Fishing Center. This is the place I’m spending almost my entire time. It’s one of the coolest places on earth to spend 2 months. A fishing center, with access to canyoneering gear, a tenkara-perfect river right in front of it and a hot-spring onsen just up the hill. I’ll try writing more later. Now, back to studying Japanese before I head out to fish some more.

Hope most of  you can see this 360′ view of the place. You may need special software for it and I apologize for that.

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Here’s the location of where I’m staying, notice the abundance of mountains and streams in the area!!! The town I’m staying doesn’t have a convenience store, nor traffic lights. It’s very quite, and gorgeous. Mountain view galore, and streams in abundance:

View Larger Map


One of the highlights of the trip, Daniel with a 19" brown caught with tenkara on the Madison, photo by Ryan Jordan

Soon after we introduced tenkara to the US, Ryan Jordan, founder and CEO of Backpacking Light, took notice of tenkara. Initially, I suspect, as a tool; but soon he was hooked by the method. Ryan has since helped introduce a great number of ultra-light backpackers to tenkara and the backpacking community has been quick to adopt the method. Why wouldn’t they? It is as if tenkara had been designed with backpackers in mind, rods collapse down to a mere 20″, are ultra-light at an average of 3oz, all rod pieces nest protected inside the rod’s main segment and it’s very quick to setup and simple to use. Tenkara is absolutely the right tool for backpacking, and, as most people quickly realize, it’s also the ideal method for mountain stream fishing – small or large. Almost 2 years after Ryan and I started communicating, we finally got a chance to fish together in his homewaters near Bozeman, MT.

Ryan hooks a nice trout as we fish together. Photo by Brian Flemming

How this trip came about is a bit of a cool story. A few months ago I noticed some forum users planning a gathering in Utah. I had been wanting to return so asked if I could join. Right before the trip to Utah I called up Brian Flemming, a filmmaker who lives in Bozeman. For sometime now, Brian has been working on a feature documentary film on tenkara and tenkara’s introduction to the US. As we talked about my upcoming trip to Utah he mentioned, in passing, that Montana was not that far. Ohhhhh! I got home that night and booked a ticke from Salt Lake City to Bozeman instead of returning to San Francisco. This would be a great chance to get some backpacking/tenkara footage for his film as well as capture Ryan’s thoughts on tenkara.

Tenkara, the film in the making. Brian Flemming shoots as Daniel fishes. Photo by Ryan Jordan.

For 2 days we enjoyed great fishing. Together we worked to dispel some of the myths surrounding tenkara, and help affirm some of the aspects of tenkara that most people still receive with skepticism.

First, we fished a large mountain stream. Generally people still associate tenkara with small streams. And, yes, it’s great for small streams. I think small streams call for tenkara. However, tenkara is not limited to small streams. For over a year now Tenkara USA has stopped saying that tenkara is made for “small streams”, as that term is vague and not appropriate to describe the ideal waters for tenkara. Tenkara is ideal for fly fishing mountain streams. Mountain streams are those that have visible features, normally currents broken up by boulders and other obstacles. The Madison, by definition, is a mountain river, and, like most rivers it can be broken down into smaller sections. The Madison is thus a series of mountain streams running parallel to each other. And, any such stream can be very effectively fished with tenkara.

Ryan fighting a nice rainbow on the Madison. Caught using a tenkara fly, of course.

During the entire time, the only prolific hatch was that of midges. Size 22 midges covered rocks and formed small blankets on the water in the afternoon. Most people would be tying on similarly sized flies or switching flies to match the hatch. Yet, I stuck with what I have been preaching for over a year and kept my one fly pattern on. Almost the entire time I fished a size 12 tenkara fly. And, this was met with much success. I did have to try several different techniques and found a couple that worked particularly well this time, mostly drifting and stopping the fly for about 2 seconds., covering about 5-6ft at a time. I was also pleased to see Ryan, who at one point was a professional fly-tier and knows the waters well, sticking with a small selection of tenkara-only flies. We fished these flies and stuck with them.

Ryan with a nice one caught on a tenkara fly as midges hatched everywhere.

On each of the days, Ryan and I caught several trout over 15″, and I was lucky to hook a couple of 19″ brown trout. Both trout were handled very quickly and extremely effectively with tenkara. My experience fighting fish of that type of size is very limited. And Ryan can probably talk more about tackling large fish with tenkara, as he does live in the state where they all seem to be on steroids. However, even though tenkara’s sweet spot is for targeting the “usual” mountain stream trout (i.e. <18″) tenkara is a VERY effective tool for catching and fighting just about any trout found in those waters. This is especially true if one is using the right tool, in this case the Amago rod for targeting larger fish. My first 19″ brown, pictured on top, was caught using the Amago. With good technique, which I must say I have acquired over the last couple of years, such fish can be handled at ease. That fish was landed much more quickly than one would land it if using a reel. The fish wants to run, and it was a strong fish, but it can’t take line. So, it truly is angler v. fish. On the second day I was using our newest rod, the Ito, which was designed for smaller fish. The Ito is a softer rod and I wanted to put it to the test. I hooked another brown of exactly the same size, and actually, in the same exact place. The Ito, as expected, took a little longer to handle the fish, but still very comparable to using a reel. The rod performed beautifully and the method did not disappoint in challenging the large and strong fish of Montana.

Daniel landed a 19" on the soft Ito. Photo by Ryan Jordan

The plan was to hike in about 3.5 miles along the Madison, in an area called the Beartrap. We’d fish for 2 days and raft back to the car. Tenkara was, of course, the primary goal of the trip. But, one of the coolest things about backpacking light is how one can carry less but do more. In addition to fishing gear, we also carried  personal inflatable rafts in our packs. Packrafts. In total I’m guessing our packs weighted about 20lbs with food, the rafts, shelter, and our tenkara gear. This would be my first time giving packrafting a try. Despite of having to wait for a 15 minute massive hail storm to pass, and then rafting down the river in freezing temps with heavy snowfall I got hooked.  Packrafting just seems to be such an efficient way of covering water. The packs are inflated very quickly with inflating bags that quickly press a lot of air into the rafts, working like giant, ultra-light bellows. The backpacks were tied to the front of the boat, as we sat on the back. And, downstream we went. We didn’t fish on our way downstream. I personally much prefer to fish as I walk than from any type of boat, but packrafting does require attention and it would be difficult to fish from one.

A classic shot, Ryan Jordan waiting out the hailstorm before putting in.

Rafting down the Madison with snow fall

If you want to experience tenkara in Montana, make sure to come to our Tenkara Summit  on August 27th, in West Yellowstone, MT.

And, stay tuned for more information on tenkara the film. This is a project by Brian Flemming and expected to be released in 2012.

Misako, you have greatly contributed to helping introduce tenkara to the United States. I think it was some type of sign that you were working on the “Made in Japan” exhibit for the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum right at the time I was working on launching Tenkara USA. Almost exactly one month after Tenkara USA launched, the highlight of your exhibit was a demonstration on tenkara by Dr. Ishigaki who came from Japan for the event. Now, 2 years after tenkara was first introduced to the US, you worked with Dr. Kevin Kelleher on a book which will open the doors to fly fishing for many people.

TUSA: Can you tell us how you first discovered tenkara and how long you have been practicing it?

Misako: I started to research Japanese fly fishing history in year of 2000 because many anglers from the other countries at FIPS Mouche World Fly Fishing Championships have been asking me about Japanese fly fishing. During my research in Japan, I discovered tenkara. It gets my interest since tenkara is the way to catch beautiful Japanese trout.  Every time I’ve been to Japan, I collected information about tenkara little by little. Finally I had a chance to learn actual tenkara fishing from Dr. Ishigaki in the mountain stream in Gifu prefecture in June, 2008. Since then, about four years, I have been practicing it.

TUSA: What is the most appealing part of tenkara to you?

Misako: I feel more directly connected to fish and its surrounding nature during tenkara fishing.  When I fly fish with the regular fly rod and reel, there is a heavy line and rod in between you and your fly.  You can drift your fly more naturally in tenkara fishing since your line is smaller diameter.  The lighter tackle make you feel closer to the nature.

For example, I wear a heavy fishing vest for wading safely in the strong current river when practicing western fly fishing.  Yet, I feel so light when I tenkara. It is easier to walk along the streams and bank since I do not have to carry so many tackles.  When you carry less gear, you will have more time to enjoy fishing and the nature.

TUSA: It’s very common with tenkara anglers to rely on only one fly pattern, as opposed to the many patterns used in western fly-fishing, as Dr. Ishigaki told us at the exhibit you organized in New York. But, you started practicing western fly-fishing in the Catskills, which is very famous for its many fly patterns.
Have you been able to convert to using only one fly pattern? Do you normally use tenkara flies, or do you still use many western flies with tenkara?
Misako: No.   I normally use tenkara fly first.  When I fish mountain streams, I keep fishing with tenkara fly.  During the morning fishing, I sometimes change to nymph flies to practice the championship style of fishing.  In the evening, when fish look at a fly on the water, I sometime change from tenkara fly to dry flies.  When I fish lower part of the river or lake, I start with tenkara fly and change to the other kinds of flies.  They are sometimes local flies, or other times, the flies from the friends who fish for World Fly Fishing Championship, or my own designed flies.  I use many different kinds of flies which were tied in other countries including Japan.

TUSA: It never ceases to amaze me how often I am talking to someone and they mention your name or that they know you. You are very respected and active with clubs like the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum, where you lived for many years, the North Arkansas Fly Fishing Club, where you currently live, and most notably you’re the captain of the Japanese National Fly Fishing Team, and the goodwill ambassador of the International Women Fly Fisher (the list of groups you participate in goes on). You are now helping introduce tenkara to many new people who have never heard of it.
What motivates you to share your knowledge on tenkara with others? And, how do people in these communities react to the concept of tenkara when you share it with them?

Misako: I love the nature where fish live and I would like to share the beauty with others hoping that they will cherish it.  I believe that tenkara will help them to enjoy the nature more. They can be children, wife, husband, grandfather and grand mother, as a whole family.  They can be anglers who have injured parts of their bodies.

They want to see and try tenkara rod, and to know more about the cultural background of Japanese tenkara fishers.

TUSA: You currently teach classes on tenkara and your motto is, “fly fishing the easy way”. I think that greatly matches with the concept of tenkara, where we want to make people realize that fly fishing can be simple. Do you think tenkara has made it easier to introduce people to fly fishing and also help people stick with the sport as opposed to abandoning it after giving it a try?

Misako: I teach not only tenkara but also western fly fishing, fly casting and fly tying with the same motto in my mind.  I recommend my students to enjoy them in the relaxing manner by helping them to lean the easy ways to do.

Yes.  You are right that tenkara matches with my motto.  Tenkara is a good introduction for fly fishing, too.  I teach my students traditional tenkara first and then how to adopt it for their home water.  They will have clear understanding what and how to change it according to their conditions.  Some students increase their interest toward the possibility of tenkara and keep fishing with tenkara rod discovering the merits of tenkara fishing.

TUSA: Do you think tenkara has many limitations? After using reels and practicing western fly fishing for many years, have the apparent limitations of tenkara taught you anything new?

Misako: Thank you for the nice comments about my quote. No, I do not think tenkara has many limitations when you fish in the mountain streams.  Rather tenkara helps me to improve in reading water, how to present a fly to fish, how to land fish, etc.  For example, you start to find out that there are very often fish very near or within a short distance.  I’ve also discovered many different ways, to play/ land fish with the short line.

The foremost goal of Tenkara USA is to introduce people to the traditional tenkara practice, what I like to call “pure tenkara”, tenkara as it is practiced in Japan. I understand anytime a concept is introduced to a different culture, there will be adaptations, but I figure I should provide a good starting place. In the book you coauthored with Dr. Kelleher, there are western fly-fishing concepts mixed in with concepts from tenkara, making it a very good introduction to fly fishing via tenkara, showing people how simple fly fishing can be.

TUSA: What is tenkara to you? Do you think adaptations to American waters are necessary for tenkara? Or, are they simply inevitable?

Misako: Tenkara has the beauty of simplicity.  The technique of fly fishing is condensed within tenkara.  I found that tenkara is similar to fly fishing styles, which have been practiced in the mountain streams in Europe.

Adaptations will inevitably be practiced by the American tenkara anglers.  Once you own a tenkara rod and try the method, you will love to practice getting better and better at catching not only trout in the mountain streams, but also the other kinds of fish in the different waters of the Americas.

The book “Tenkara – Radically Simple, Ultralight Fly fishing” is available through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tenkara-Radically-Simple-Ultralight-Fishing/dp/0762763949.
Here’s our review of the book: http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?p=1245

Below is a slideshow of the 4 days I spent in the area. Every day as perfect as it could be. On Thursday I arrived at the airport in late afternoon, checked into my hotel, and headed to one of my favorite streams. I called Erik up, and he was already there – mind you we had no plans to meet that afternoon, but we had a blast fishing together. Friday was a nice repeat, and it included John. Awesome company in small stream fishing. On Friday night I gave a talk at Western Rivers Fly Shop in SLC. They don’t currently carry our gear, but were very welcoming and eager to learn more about tenkara and have their customers also learn about it. The talk was followed by a great dinner at a sushi restaurant not far from the shop. Saturday we resumed the “talk” with on-stream demonstrations. We fished all day, caught some nice fish. More fishing Sunday on one of the most gin-clear streams I know. On Monday I headed up to Logan to meet with our dealers in the area. Round Rocks brought in a great crowd, many already avid tenkara anglers. The rivers were completely out of control and it was raining but I still gave the on-stream demonstration, on the stream that runs right behind their store. It was very cool to teach real tenkara to people that were so used to using it similarly to western fly-fishing.

Today I came to Bozeman and already have some great stories, which I hope to share soon, including tenkara fishing in the middle of an unexpected snow blizzard today. Tomorrow morning I’m heading on a 2-day backpacking trip with Ryan Jordan, founder of Backpackinglight.com. Definitely looking forward to this and to sharing it all with you. All in all a great time. Enjoy the pictures.
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In May 2010, Daniel Galhardo, founder of Tenkara USA, spent 2 weeks in Japan learning more about tenkara, and fishing with two of the most renowned tenkara masters in the country, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, and Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkara no oni). Daniel captured some of their lessons on tenkara casting, and presentation/fly manipulation techniques. After about one year the video was finally edited into something at least presentable.
We hope you will pick up a couple of the tricks in the video, and most importantly learn what tenkara, the Japanese method of mountain stream fly fishing, looks like. Many more lessons were learned, but only so much can be shared in one video.
The events shown took place in the Itoshiro River area, Gifu Prefecture.

Daniel will be heading to Japan again in May, this time for 2 months. He will be documenting much of this trip as he visits the country and will be posting regularly. Please keep checking tenkarausa.com/​blog for updates from May 10 through June 30th.

If you had been waiting for the 12ft Iwana, now’s the time to get it. This is the first iteration of the Iwana rod, which has a shorter handle (9 inches instead of the current model 12″ handle). It’s a very nice rod, and what created the following for the Iwana. The Series II, which has a longer handle, and better quality cork, is expected back in our inventory approximately the first week of May.

Ralph and Lisa Cutter write about tenkara for California Fly Fisher

Ralph & Lisa Cutter wrote a great article on their first experiences with tenkara for California Fly Fisher, with a beautiful illustration of a mayfly landing on a bamboo stalk done by Lisa. Getting to meet Ralph and Lisa was quite awesome in itself. I had known about the Cutters’ work for a long time, and always suspected they would probably enjoy learning about tenkara. One day, suddenly and unexpectedly, I received an email from them. Ralph says that Yvon Chouinard was visiting with them for a couple of days, and Yvon kept talking about tenkara. With so much “tenkara this, tenkara that”, Ralph couldn’t resist and got in touch.  It just so happened I was in the Sierras and would be going past their place on my way back home and also had some rods in the trunk of my car. I personally delivered the equipment, and gave them a brief lesson. As they attest in their article, there is more to tenkara than is first expected, ” the few videos and descriptions of tenkara I had seen prepared me for a lesson in dapping and high sticking.However, when Daniel made a crisp, tightly looped cast and hit a fist-sized pocket 30 feet away, I was incredulous. His line, nothing more than 18 or 20 feet of 16-pound fluorocarbon leader tied to a few feet of 5X tippet, was effortlessly lifted from the water by his 13-foot rod. Only the fly and a few inches of tippet remained touching the film. It was a perfect dragfree presentation . . . more perfect than any Western fly rod could ever approach in that situation.” A couple of weeks later my friend Marty and I had the pleasure to fish with them for a couple of days, what an awesome couple of people! My favorite quote from their article, “ I can’t imagine ever approaching a small stream with conventional fly gear again.”

Ralph and Lisa Cutter on a rest at midday by the Truckee River – all their gear between them.

John Gierach writes about tenkara for Fly Rod and Reel magazine

For the many months since I met John Gierach and Ed Engle for a few days of fishing in Colorado, I have been anxiously anticipating John Gierach’s words on tenkara. I had been longing to see his eloquent and characteristic writing illustrating tenkara to his readers. And, I was not at all disappointed to read his 4-page article for Fly Rod & Reel magazine, which is currently arriving to subscribers and should be in newsstands soon. Through his article I was able to relive my experiences with two anglers I have admired for a long time,  Gierach himself and Ed Engle. In turn they were able to share their first-hand insights on tenkara with their readers. Ed’s article, published right after the trip for the Daily Camera can be found here. The article did tenkara great justice. My favorite quote in the article, “I’d sometimes giggle out loud at the long reach I had and the beautiful drifts I was getting in normally difficult pocket water.”

John Gierach hitting a nice pocket in a small mountain stream.

I think the Cutters and Gierach’s readers deserved to learn about tenkara. After all they often talk about mountain stream fishing, and how could you ignore tenkara when that is one of your favorite kinds of fishing?  It’s awesome that they have been able to see why tenkara is here to stay.

Inspired by that auction, tenkara angler and  owner of TrailLite Designs, Thom Darrah, approached us to do a new auction by donating one of the products he designed, the Ebira rod quiver, as well as a tenkara gear set. The new auction includes all items one would ever need to go fishing – a complete tenkara set:

- Iwana 11ft rod, Series II (147.95)
- Ebira rod quiver (55.00)
- Tenkara Net (85.95)
- Book: Tenkara, Radically Simple, Ultralight Fly Fishing. Dr. Kelleher and Misako Ishimura (Signed by Dr. Kelleher) (19.95)
- 3 flies tied by Dr. Ishigaki (the only fly he actually uses for fishing) (priceless)
- Level line 3.5 (12.35)
- Traditional tenkara line 10.5ft (19.95)
- 2X Line holders (11.95 each)
- Tippet, 5X (7.55)
- Forceps/Nipper set (11.95)
- Fly box (12.35)
- Tenkara tea set (15.00)

Keep an eye open, I just got wind that there is a very rare, authentic bamboo tenkara rod coming from Japan, donated by Dr. Ishigaki for a new auction. It’s a very nice gesture from him. It will be the first time an authentic tenkara bamboo rod will hit the market and will probably be the only chance to ever acquire one as they are rare even in Japan – I may bid on that one myself too

100% of the proceeds from these auctions go to relief efforts in Japan.

Now, to top it all off, tenkara angler and artist Anthony Naples, of the blog castingaround.com, has provided us with some delightful artwork to celebrate the first Tenkara Summit to be held in the US. A couple of weeks ago Anthony said he had an idea for a poster, and asked if it would be okay for him to take a shot at it. Of course! I’m very pleased with the results, and we’ll adopt his artwork as the official Tenkara Summit art. Anthony has setup a store on Zazzle, with the Tenkara Summit artwork below on shirts, posters, mugs, etc. We will have some shirts for sale during the event, but they will be in a very limited quantity. So, if you want to guarantee you get a shirt, you may want to order it from Zazzle.

Thanks Anthony for the beautiful work! I think it fits tenkara very well, and is a wonderful way to celebrate the event.

Based on feedback from anglers in Japan, we redesigned the handle of the first version of the Iwana rod, improving its length, contour and cork quality. Instead of buying  a new rod for $147.95, you may simply get the upgraded handle for your rod for only $36. One of the many advantages offered by the design of tenkara rods. The upgrade handle is available here.

In an effort to raise funds for the relief efforts that will be taking place in the coming days/weeks/months, I am auctioning off one of my very prized and extremely rare tenkara nets (tamo), made in Gujo by tamo master Ikichi-san. I feel greatly indebted to the people of Japan for teaching me about tenkara, and for always kindly welcoming me. 100% of the proceeds will go to the relief efforts.

I have written extensively about tenkara nets here http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?tag=tenkara-net.  I thought you, or someone you know may like the opportunity to acquire this one. 100% of the money raised will be sent to the relief efforts, and the bidder earns a one-of-a-kind net that is becoming rarer by the day. Please pass it on to anyone you feel would like a chance to bid.

Good luck with the bidding and than you for helping.

AUCTION (better pictures, and more info here): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320670445593

AUCTION (better pictures, and more info here): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320670445593

About tenkara nets:

Tenkara nets are a highly prized traditional craft, with very few remaining in the world. Tenkara nets are made from one single branch from a tree. The branch has to be found by the maker and must be just of the right diameters and angles. Finding the branch may take hours, but finding the unique ones is by chance and can be days or weeks. Every net is different, and the one for sale a masterpiece. This net has two naturally occuring bumps on the handle, which is quite unusual. The wood used to make this net is from the “Kaya” tree (Torrey nucifera), which only grows in a small portion of Japan and a couple of small territories nearby. This tree, like the net maker himself, is very rare too.

Functional Design:
The angle between the frame and the hoop makes these not only beautiful, but extremely functional for small stream fishing. If someone was to design a net nowadays for stream fishing, he wouldn’t come up with something better. The combination of a round handle with that angle allows the angler to put the net on your wading belt on your back and it stays off your back completely. When you catch a fish, you may press the handle behind your knee and work with both hands to release the fish. You may also leave it on your side, if you’re fishing in deeper water with water to your waist. Though I suspect this net will become part of someone’s collection.

The end of the net features a deer antler. In Japanese angler superstition, it is said the deer antler protects a person in the water. It’s an amulet for good luck and protection. Many nets feature this, it’s a nice detail, but also serves the function of making it easier to slip it into your belt.

The mesh is completely hand made, and very fine, which gently cradles the fish. The mesh holes are about 2mm.

Details:
Maker: Ikichi

Wood type: Kaya (Torreya nucifera), made from one single branch.
Finish: Urushi (lacquer)
Color: Dark red
Details: wood shows off at selected spots, beautiful.
Acquired September 2010
Date made: unknown.

There are very few net makers left in Japan (thus in the world), and these are very scarce.

I hope this will find someone who appreciates it as much as I do. Thank you for helping spread the word.

Daniel W. Galhardo

Tenkara USA, founder

This first net was made with a Juniper tree branch, collected in Colorado. It is one of my favorite ones so far. As with all nets, this was a whole lot of work, but the beautiful features on the wood made it all worth it. I also incorporated a deer antler, which I thought would really complement it – and protect me in the water as Japanese superstition goes. As I didn’t want to hide the flaws on the branch, I chose to fasten the mesh to it by using eyelet pins on the bottom of the frame – TONS OF WORK, and I don’t plan to do that unless absolutely necessary as I felt it was for this one.

As with all nets I’m making, this one features my name with Japanese kanji characters on the handle. Dr. Ishigaki, my sensei, is also quite a master with words. He was able to find characters that can not only be pronounced “Da ni e ru”, as you’d pronounce my name in Japanese, but also mean “a person who developed his own casting style” or something to those lines.

The one below is made of a Ponderosa pine branch, collected in the Sierras. I made the hoop larger than most other nets so far. It is a little over 27cm (most that I make are 24cm) in diameter.

This one is a small net, made with Jeffrey Pine. The diameter of the branches making the hoop are thinner than usual, but it’s very strong nonetheless, and I’d use it with full confidence. The line used to connect the mesh to the frame was twisted polyester line made by my friend and forum user Rick.

And, below is the “kuroi tamo”, a unique black net. The branch had some parts with interesting lines and features, but was generally boring and not that pretty. Thus, I decided early on to highlight the interesting features by darkening the entire net and having a transparent, and golden tone over on black on those features. They are hard to see in the photographs, but the bottom of the handle and the rounded middle are where you can see it. Unfortunately I think the mesh bag was too small for this one. I was going for a smaller mesh to keep its look more “delicate”, and used a 24cm size. I should have used a 27cm mesh, and will probably change it down the road.

Tied by Kuhlow

Mr. Kuhlow from our forum tied the nice western/tenkara hybrid above, he says, “I called it the Royal Sakasa Kebari for kind of obvious reasons. When I first tied it, I was thinking about what kind of kebari would be great for small stream brook trout. Then I thought why not combine the best aspects of a sakasa kebari (namely the reverse hackle) and another proven fly, the Royal Coachman. That fly has been around since 1878 and worked so well that numerous other types of flies have used it’s color scheme. So I applied the herl and silk red band and reverse tied partridge hackle to a scud hook and away I went. It became one of my best flies for brookies last year. The only issue I have now is that I have tied so many new patterns this past winter I wonder if I’ll get a chance to fish it this coming year!”

Below is John Burge’s take on a classic tenkara fly, tied after one of Yoshikazu Fujioka’s favorite patterns, and I think its visibility will be a great asset in a fast flowing mountain stream.

Tied by John Burge

Bob Kern (Narcodog) tied the fly below, I really like the way the hackle matches the body. I kept the photograph a bit dark to accentuate the yellow of the hackle and the body.

Tied by Narcodog

Tied by Karel Lansky of tenkaraonthefly.net

Andrew Berner tied the fly below, and says, “Mine was the red reverse Ishigaki Kebari. I just got all the stuff to tie flies and actually made two other batches of twelve and picked this third batch that looked the best. I’m new to this tying thing and I don’t think mine are as good as others but am really excited to try them out and see if they work. I used some 6/0 thread, hungarian partridge and red peacock herl. I’m really excited about tying as much as I can and want a bunch of good flies before the season starts this April.”

Tied by Andrew Berner (Berner9)

Tied by Rsetina

Erik Ostrander, who organized our first tenkara fly swap, created the midge tenkara fly below. Erik says, “For the second fly swap I tied a tenkara variation of my successful western fly called the “Drunken Midge”. It’s a very simple tie utilizing wine colored wire – hence the name. I have great success fishing this fly in the winter during the prolific midge hatches. I’ve been wanting to tie a good tenkara style version of the Drunken Midge for some time now, and I believe my design holds true to the original pattern. I call this one “Umeshu Midge”, named after the Japanese liquor made from Ume, the Japanese Plum. The tie is quite simple. Mustad C49S hook in size 18 to 22, gray uni-thread, wine colored wire, and a grizzly hen hackle.”

Tied by Erik Ostrander

Forum user, Heineken, tied the beautiful fly below.

Tied by "Heineken"

Ugly fly by Daniel

My fly was an “ugly” functional fly, and my take on a “original kebari”. I tied a fly to accomplish one goal: to sink effectively while using the simplest materials, thread and hackle. Actually, there is a bit of a story behind how I learned about this fly. Last September, Dr. Ishigaki came to visit and fish in California. On one of the days we went fishing for golden trout, on a gorgeous mountain stream with many very calm pools. One of the pools had a good number of fish, but they were only going for flies about 2-3ft under. While we could get to them with other flies, it took a while for them to sink. So, after a few minutes he pulled this “secret” weapon. I had seen his fly box many times Yet, I never noticed this “different” fly, which was tied with a lot more thread on the body. We tied this fly on, cast to the pool, and observed it sinking twice as fast. And, we could now catch twice as many fish, still using one pattern.

We will count on the special presence of our sensei, Dr Hisao Ishigaki, who will be visiting from Japan especially for the occasion to talk and demonstrate tenkara. We’ll also enjoy the participation of the people who have helped introduce tenkara to the country, Chris “Tenkara Bum” Stewart, Craig Mathews (Blue Ribbon Flies), Ryan Jordan (Backpacking Light), Tom Sadler and more. There will also be an on-stream demonstration in the afternoon. West Yellowstone is the ideal location for the event. in addition to the presence of our friends at Blue Ribbon Flies, the area is blessed with an abundance of mountain streams, and will provide visitors a great opportunity for a lot of great fishing.
Please RSVP here www.tenkarausa.com/summit

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Please visit: Tenkara USA for fresh blog updates.

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This blog is just a testing ground for Tenkara USA’s main blog.

Tenkara was not always “tenkara” everywhere in Japan. Before it was widely known as “tenkara” throughout Japan, this method of mountain stream fishing was most commonly known as “kebari tsuri”. You see, “tsuri” is the Japanese word for fishing. “Kebari” literally means “feathered/haired hook”, and is the word for an artificial fly. Japan has a lot of mountains, and valleys. These valleys can be relatively isolated by the high mountains around them, and thus different dialects and words exist. One important note, the general, non-fishing population of Japan does not know the term “tenkara”, and will look quizzically if you ask them about tenkara. In this case, using the term “kebari tsuri” may give them an idea that it is a method of fishing with a feathered hook.

If someone asked the Tenkara Bum, "where does the fish think the fly came from?". He would say "from the sky". If the person asked him how he was catching so many fish, he would reply "tenkara".

In a few of these mountain stream areas, this method of fishing became known as tenkara very early on. There are several theories for how the name came about, though no one will ever know for certain. Fujioka-san presents a couple of theories for the name’s origin in his site. One of the theories he does not cover, but is also widely accepted, is that one day a professional tenkara fisherman – the original tenkara angler – was casting his fly around a stream and catching a lot of fish. Someone not familiar with the method approached him and asked, “what kind of fishing is this?” (or something to those lines). The original tenkara angler misunderstood the question for, “how are you catching so many fish?”, to which he replied, ” well, the fish sees the fly coming from the sky – ‘tenkara‘… and when it lands, he bites.” And so the word spread around that region that the method was to be called “tenkara”. In other areas, people not familiar with the story just kept calling it “kebari tsuri“, until…

This fish saw the fly approaching from the sky.

Dr. Ishigaki, my sensei, started getting interested in tenkara about 40 years ago. At that time there was almost no information written or available. He found one book that talked of mountain stream fishing, “kebari tsuri” and gave a few pointers on the method. As he started devoting his time to researching tenkara, he was put in touch with many of the tenkara masters of the day. Some called it tenkara, others kebari tsuri. Suddenly, and in large part because of the research he was doing, articles he wrote for different magazines, and an appearance at one of the largest TV shows in the country, there was a resurgence in interest for tenkara in Japan. Many of the tenkara masters of the time started getting connected. Soon the word of choice for describing the traditional Japanese method of mountain stream fly-fishing, became tenkara. In part because it was shorter, part because it sounded more traditional and, in large part to be more specific and distinguish it from other types of fishing that used a “feathered hook”.

So, what does tenkara mean? Tenkara means the “traditional Japanese method of mountain stream fly-fishing where only a rod, line and fly are used”. Tenkara is a very narrowly defined word used exclusively to describe this exact method of fishing where only a rod, line and fly are used to catch trout in mountain streams.

This is tenkara, period.

Even in Japan, where tenkara originated, the vast majority of the non-fishing population has never heard of tenkara, and have no idea what tenkara is -  though most people here know fly fishing, I am still surprised when I mention “fly fishing” to someone in the US and they don’t know really know what it is, Tenkara is popular in some areas, what I call “pockets” in Japan. People in these areas and mountain stream fishermen know it, but the general population doesn’t.

Tenkara was not always “tenkara” everywhere in Japan. Before it was widely known as “tenkara” throughout Japan, this method of mountain stream fishing was most commonly known as “kebari tsuri”. You see, “tsuri” is the Japanese word for fishing. “Kebari” literally means “feathered/haired hook”, and is the word for an artificial fly. Japan has a lot of mountains, and valleys. These valleys can relatively isolated by the high mountains, and thus different dialects exist.

If someone asked the Tenkara Bum, "where does the fish think the fly came from?". He would say "from the sky". If the person asked him how he was catching so many fish, he would reply "tenkara".

In a few of these mountain stream areas this method of fishing was known as tenkara from the beginning. There are several theories for how the name came about, though no one will ever know for certain. Fujioka-san gives a good description of the theories for the name’s origin in his site. One of the theories he does not cover, but is also widely accepted, is that one day a professional tenkara fisherman was casting his fly around a stream and catching a lot of fish. Someone not familiar with the method approached him and asked, “what kind of fishing is this?” or something about the type of fishing, the original tenkara angler misunderstood the question for “how are you catching so many fish?. The tenkara angler, misunderstanding his question, replied that the “the fish sees the fly coming from the sky – ‘tenkara‘… and bites it.” And so the word spread around that area. In other areas, people not familiar with the story just kept calling it “kebari tsuri“, until…

This fish saw the fly approaching from the sky.

When Dr. Ishigaki, my sensei, started getting interested in tenkara about 40 years ago, there was almost no information written or available. He found one book that talked of “kebari tsuri” and gave a few pointers on the method. As he started devoting his time to researching fishing and tenkara, he was put in touch with many of the tenkara masters of the day. Some called it tenkara, others kebari tsuri. Suddenly, and in large part because of some research he started doing, articles he wrote for different magazines, and an appearance at one of the largest TV shows in the country, there was a resurgence in interest for tenkara in Japan. Along with these masters and new friends, the word of choice for describing the traditional Japanese method of mountain stream fly-fishing, became tenkara. In part because it  was shorter, part because it sounded more traditional and, I suspect, in large part to distinguish it from other types of fishing that used a “feathered hook”.

So, what does tenkara mean? Tenkara means the “traditional Japanese method of mountain stream fly-fishing where only a rod, line and fly are used”. It is a very narrowly defined word exclusively used for this method of fishing, to distinguish it from the dozens of others practiced in Japan.

This is tenkara, period.

When we go fishing in a mountain stream, we are often looking for solitude. Not only that, but fish in smaller streams will often be spooked more easily and not take a fly if they have been disturbed. So, keeping other anglers in mind, as well as our own interest, the best approach is to have every angler fish in the same direction, upstream. This will ensure that anglers are not crossing each other, just to find the entire rest of the stream spoiled. It will also allow anglers to leapfrog each other if they see someone upstream.

I grew up surfing, and though I won’t discuss the etiquette of wave riding, and surfers tend to be quite different when it comes to protecting their water, they do understand clearly that some etiquette in the water benefits everyone. Sure, there are wave hogs, and most breaks are way more crowded than any stream I have ever fished, but everyone moves in one general direction and that helps keep people happy in the water.

I think there may not be a wrong direction to fish as long as the approach is well planned, but as I will write below, I think fishing upstream has at least three advantages: (1) a good chance of not being seen by fish if you’re in a steeper tumbling stream, (2) greater ease at spotting stream features, and (3) a larger number of presentation possibilities.

A couple of weeks ago I went fishing with Ralph and Lisa Cutter, very well known and respected anglers. They own the California School of Fly Fishing. Ralph is most well known for his underwater studies of fish and bugs – he dives a lot and, with his years of research and experiments, knows what fish can or can not see. He said he always prefers to fish downstream. I brought up the idea, which I don’t personally buy too much, that fish would be able to see you more easily this way; he said that’s nonsense, fish have an almost 360′ field of view, with a very small blind spot directly behind them, but as they are constantly moving, swinging with the current, their actual field of view is 360′. The reason he likes to fish downstream is a practical one: he says he is a very visual angler, and can see the white in a fish mouth more easily that way and thus strike the hook when that happens.

Fishing downstream, features are harder to spot

I may understand the field-of-view reasoning for slower moving streams and flatter streams. However, when fishing in a steeper stream, even if fish may have a 360′ fov, one advantage of fishing upstream is using the geography of the stream to help hide you. In a steeper stream, it can be common to find large rocks upstream, and the natural “falls” and turbulence of the water can do their part on this too. On the same token, I think it is much easier to see features in the water when you’re moving upstream. if moving downstream all can blend in a bit more easily, features become “flatter” as the boulder breaking water above a spot will now hide it, you can’t see the whirlpool forming so well because the water dropping into it may be hiding it. I haven’t taken pictures with this in mind, but above this paragraph is a picture of a stream looking downstream on it. To me it looks relatively flat, and though I can’t see places where fish may be hiding, I can’t see them all that well. The picture below shows the contrasting image, the same stream but looking upstream, you can see a lot of features that may be holding fish. Not to mention that if you’re wading downstream, you could potentially step into a deeper pool without noticing it, but that is more easily avoided if moving upstream.

Fishing upstream reveals the stream features more clearly

My tenkara sensei, Dr. Ishigaki prefers to head upstream. I haven’t asked him exactly the reasons why he does so but will in my next email. He never fishes moving downstream. BUT, he frequently does fish straight across, and occasionally a little downstream too if he finds the need to, as he moves upstream. Because he prefers fishing upstream, his first casts will almost always be upstream. As he moves up he will often hit the same spot from two, sometimes three different directions if he believes there are fish there: so, upstream, 1/4, straight across. You can see a summary and illustrations of the main tenkara techniques in our past blog posts.

His general approach, and mine is: keep moving upstream, because we’re moving up our first casts will almost always be about directly upstream, with a drag-free drift of the fly. If there are features (small whirlpools/currents/etc) 1/4 upstream, then cast to those too. Try 3-4 casts in each of these directions. Now, you move up and the pool that used to be upstream or 1/4 upstream from you is straight across and you can try fishing that spot for a totally new angle and with new technique. By casting straight across you can manipulate the fly in different ways (stop the fly, let it drift, stop, let it drift; or stop, pick up, stop, pick up; or casting slightly downstream and move the fly upstream about 1ft at a time by pulling it. If you effectively covered the water on your way up, there shouldn’t really much of a need to fish downstream as the water has been covered.

Now that I write this I realize another reason to fish upstream may be that, with all things being equal – e.g. fish can see you well no matter which directions – by moving upstream you can hit the same spot with more fly manipulations/techniques.

If you move down stream, you can hit the pool downstream with essentially one presentation: stop, let it drift or any variation with drag, it’s difficult to achieve a drag free presentation this way without creating slack in your line; then as you move to the side of the spot, you can get a drag free drift but maybe not a great one; at this point it is no longer very effective to go downstream from the spot and try another presentation if the fish hasn’t striked, and you missed a chance to get a good drag-free drift over that spot. But, by moving upstream, I think you can get the drag-free drift first, and apply all other techniques effectively from the side of the spot, and perhaps a little upstream from it. So, you have now applied one extra, perhaps the most effective, technique.

Excerpt:

Interview: Daniel Galhardo from Tenkara USA

“I love angling. I love Japan. So when I read about two years ago about Tenkara USA I knew immediately that it is something I need to try. Since then, I fished a few times with my tenkara fly fishing gear, and have kept a steady eye on the developments of the company. I always liked them, great videos, great website, great service. So I got in touch with the founder of Tenkara USA, Daniel Galhardo, and he happily agreed to an interview. If you’re not yet hooked on tenkara [pun intended], I bet you will be after this interview – enjoy!

Most current picture of Tenkara USA’s headquarter:

To read full interview, please visit Hiking in Finland

In just about 3 months I will be heading to Japan to learn the intricacies of tenkara. For 2 months I will be living in a fairly remote village, by the Maze river (Mazegawa) with the sole intent of learning more about different aspects of tenkara, while picking up more Japanese. I do not currently speak Japanese, and so far have been relying on my wife, on my good friends Masaki and Chikara. This time it will be a bit different, I’ll be staying in an area where hardly anyone speaks English, and for the most part I’ll be on my own. I’ll be renting a car to get around (aiii, a bit scary I confess). I’ll be going to different areas and will be fishing different streams with tenkara masters. SO, I MUST LEARN JAPANESE!

I’m not a novice when it comes to learning foreign languages. My native language is Portuguese (I was born and raised in Brazil). In addition to having learned English, along the way I have picked up 3 more languages with decent fluency – though I am as quick to forget them; I’m still okay with Spanish, but German and Chinese are quickly fading. But, for some odd reason my past attempts at Japanese were met with disappointment. I’ll blame it on my previous jobs, which left little time to study it. This time it is different, not only do I have a very strong motivation, but I’m able to dedicate a lot of time to it…

…okay, maybe instead of writing this I should be studying more. But, I’m really excited about something. I just went to the central library here in San Francisco to look at the kids section on foreign books. They have a pretty good collection of Japanese books for kids. Among them I found the book pictured above. It is a kids book showing the life of a trout – Yamame – and talking about fly-fishing. It is a pretty neat book. I picked it up to become better with my recognition of Hiragana (one of the Japanese syllabaries) , and hopefully pick up a little more fishing vocabulary. What really got me excited about this book, however, is the fact that during Dr. Ishigaki’s visit to California he had a small towel with the same image. It must be a famous book, I just emailed him this picture to see what he says. Here is Dr. Ishigaki with Chris “Tenkara Bum” Stewart  with the said towel.

About learning Japanese. So far I have been focusing on two things: deconstructing the language and learning the syllabaries (there are 2, Katakana and Hiragana…there is also Kanji, the Chinese characters that represent an entire word, luckily my background with Chinese will help a bit with that, but not by much).  I have enrolled in classes 2x a week, but have been spending about 2-3 hours a day watching Japanese tv (little kids shows and sumo wrestling have become my favorites), reading kids books, and opening the pages of a couple of grown up books on tenkara and my favorite, Tsuri Kiji Sanpei comic books. We’ll see how far I can take this, I feel good about it this time.

Tenkara, Radically Simple, Ultralight Fly Fishing, is a nicely illustrated book that will do much to help introduce people to tenkara, and thus to the simple sport of fly-fishing. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that it is a blend of information about tenkara and western fly-fishing concepts, as opposed to a guide to “pure tenkara”, i.e. tenkara as it is and has been practiced in Japan. It unfortunately leaves out information on few areas of tenkara as it is practiced in Japan, in favor of western fly-fishing notions. Thus, it should not be considered the “definitive guide to tenkara” or the “tenkara bible”, but rather as a general introduction to tenkara and fly-fishing…

It’s important to note that this book was born out of  Dr. Kelleher’s and Ms. Ishimura’s great passion and enthusiasm for tenkara, which transpires through its pages, and was being written at a very early stage of tenkara’s introduction to the US. As its pages were being written and the book was nearing completion, we were continuing to learn the intricacies of tenkara:  its history, its techniques, the usage of tenkara flies, and many other nuances of the practice and its users in Japan. As Dr. Kelleher states in the acknowledgments page, “Given [tenkara's] history is obscure, its instruction untranslated, and its practice new to our streams, there are bound to be errors or omissions”. While in some areas, such as details and usage of traditional tenkara flies, and the non-usage of floatant, indicators, and split shots, the traditional tenkara practice was known but partially ignored in favor of the western concepts, in other areas, particularly on more advanced tenkara techniques, the knowledge had not yet reached the authors.

The book contains perhaps a bit broader view of tenkara than a traditionalist would like. I was pleased, however, that in many areas where western fly-fishing concepts were introduced, the closing paragraphs informed the reader about how the concepts just introduced may not be practiced by tenkara anglers; and sometimes the authors mention the tenkara approach – though they hardly ever go into much detail. For example, in the chapter discussing flies,  the authors introduce many western flies, talk about fly choices, and the chapter follows one on bug knowledge, which to the tenkara angler are trivial. But, they close the chapter by stating, “Dr. Ishigaki, the most recognized master of tenkara, fishes one pattern in several sizes and colors. Maybe we should take a page from his book. Indeed, a tenkara traditionalist may be dismayed at my mentioning of many western flies.” In tenkara fly-fishing little attention is paid to entomology, and tenkara anglers, historically and currently, have always relied on one general pattern.

I think the most important concept to keep in mind, while reading this book, is the origin of tenkara. The authors write, “tenkara in the United States is already evolving. The centuries-old kebari fly and its traditional staccato stream presentation are being supplanted and extended by the many varieties of flies and fishing styles that characterize American fly fishing. This adaptation of tenkara is inevitable, although I hope that the origins of tenkara, from the hands of the pragmatic mountain fishermen will not be forgotten.” Our foremost intent is to share the knowledge on “pure tenkara” with people. Perhaps with an understanding that others will choose to mix this knowledge with their past experience. It is my strong opinion that the method has been developed for so long, and that the trout and the mountain streams of the US are not so different from the Japanese ones, that we should not assume adaptation is inevitable. It is my strong hope that anglers and people interested in fly fishing will see tenkara with a new pair of eyes and an open mind, leaving behind preconceived notions in order to accept what has been learned for centuries in the mountain streams of Japan. To anyone interested in “pure tenkara”, I always say this: think about the original tenkara angler, the commercial fisherman in the mountain villages of Japan, who was trying to catch fish for a living in fast flowing mountain streams. Unlike the modern amateur angler, who can buy many things and often uses gear to make up for lack of skill, the original tenkara fisherman was a poor peasant, who had to rely solely on technique and skill, and only on the basic gear and never on the unnecessary, to catch fish. He couldn’t afford time, energy or money to buy weights to sink his fly, produce and switch among many fly patterns, rely on strike indicators to catch fish. He had to come up with the techniques to catch fish efficiently. Further, he HAD to be good. He had to be a very good fisherman to catch fish in order to make a living. If one thinks about this, as he reads the book, one can understand the basic foundations of tenkara.

The book should primarily be read as an introduction to fly-fishing via the simplicity of tenkara. The adoption of fly-fishing, as we know, has long been in decline in the US. Every year, fewer people are being introduced to the sport. There area  few reasons I think this is important.  This will not only mean that fewer people will support an industry, which is after all irrelevant, but more importantly, fewer people will feel the intimate connection with nature that a sport like fly-fishing provides, and fewer people will feel the emotional and passionate urge to protect the environment in the future. Dr. Kelleher is a physician, and in the book he emphasizes this connection to nature and its importance to health, which is underlined by his professional viewpoint. In our opinion, one reason for the decline in the number of people taking up fly-fishing is its complexity, and the intimidating nature of the sport. When one believes he must know all about bugs, that  he must know about the hundreds of fly patterns out there, and that he must know about reels, and what specific line should be used when, and then is thrown off by the irrational emphasis generally given to fly casting,  then he comes to believe that fly-fishing is difficult. All of that just to catch a fish and enjoy nature??? With tenkara we wanted to show the world how simple fly-fishing really is; and I believe that is also Dr. Kelleher’s and Ms. Ishimura’s goal. As Dr. Kelleher writes, “Western fly fishing is hard to teach too, and many refuse its complications.”  In our view, tenkara is a solution. To fly-fish, all one needs is a rod,  line, a fly, and some of  the knowledge presented in this book. Fly-fishing can be, after all, one of the simplest activities in the world. There are no rules, and it’s just you trying to catch a fish.

That this book is not the definitive guide to tenkara is totally okay. Tenkara is still so new here, there is plenty of time for such knowledge to be shared. As the authors write, “tenkara is being embraced and adapted by anglers with many backgrounds.” Through Tenkara USA, I will always strive to only present information on “pure tenkara”, to present the traditional practice, with an understanding some people will adapt it. I must agree with the authors when they say, “tenkara in the end is just fishing: a sport, a challenge, a form of play.” While in the future there will be a need to introduce more tenkara-specific information,  for now I think this is an excellent introduction to tenkara for those unfamiliar with the method and will provide some new content to those already familiar with it. This book is a nicely illustrated and sensitive introduction to tenkara  fly-fishing and reflects the enthusiasm of the authors. I would recommend it to anyone exploring tenkara fly fishing and wanting to give this mountain stream method of fishing a try.

Some specific notes about specific parts of the book

Tenkara History

Tenkara’s exact origins are hard to pinpoint, and obscure. However, there is strong evidence to suggest that tenkara was originally and independently developed by the mountain folks, with no influence by outsiders. The book unfortunately goes into a bit of too much detail about a different method of fishing, ayu fishing, which was documented as having been practiced by samurai, and tries to make the connection between the two methods without first expressing this is just one of the theories. After a few paragraphs talking about the samurai method of fishing the authors do state that, “In any case, it is certain that tenkara as we know it today was developed primarily by the subsistence and professional fishermen who lived in the heavily forested mountains, and who fished with a focus on efficiency.” The romanticized notion that tenkara may have somehow sprouted from the samurai method of fishing seems to live on, and is one that people hold on to. After all it is easy to connect a Japanese method of fishing with samurai.  However, it is our strong belief that if any connection exists between the two methods, it is likely tenkara, as done by commercial anglers, may have inspired the samurai to do it for leisure. After all, samurai may have, for leisure, practiced a type of fishing when peace was widespread, but what about the hundreds of years before that?

Bugs and Tenkara Flies

Like most books on [western] fly-fishing, this book also takes the opportunity to explore the subject of entomology and their relationship with fly imitation. It is important to know that rarely does a tenkara angler pay attention to the study of bugs in the water. He will pay attention to their general size, possibly color, but that is about it. He will not base his fly selection on hatches, as is traditionally done in western fly-fishing. Rather, tenkara anglers are known to stick with a pattern, the reverse hackle “sakasa kebari” being the most common style, and they may change sizes and colors based on the fish’s acceptance or refusal of the fly, water levels or water color, but hardly, if ever, will he change the pattern due to little activity. I do wish the book had talked more about the traditional tenkara flies, and their use, thus introducing a fresh concept to people in the US. The western fly-fishing notions of fly selection work, but so does the idea of using only one fly pattern and effectively manipulating it.

Tenkara Fishing Techniques

One area the book did not cover at all, although a general reference was made to it, are tenkara fishing techniques. Tenkara relies not on choosing the perfect insect imitation, but primarily on the manipulation of the fly. Imparting purposeful drag on the fly is okay in the right circumstances, though the book mentions a little about this, it tends to dwell on the western fly-fishing notion that a drag-free drift is the ultimate goal. For some ideas on the manipulation of the fly and fishing techniques,  please read our past posts on techniques.

A quick note on “landing of fish”. It was written that to land the fish, you should “extend your rod hand as high as you can behind you, pulling the line into range of your off hand.” I’d just suggest that people do not have to extend the rod high, and it is better technique to keep your arms and  the rod tip low, but simply tilt the rod back to allow you to reach the line. This is less tiring and gives you more control to grab the line.

Disclosures: The book is the brainchild of Dr. Kelleher, who soon after discovering tenkara through our site, fell in love with it and decided to help spread the word via a book. As he began working on it, Dr. Kelleher asked for my advice, and I very happily and proudly offered and provided my full assistance in the chapters he felt necessary. I have researched the topic more thoroughly than anyone else in the country, and have relied on the teachings of a couple of tenkara masters in Japan to ensure I could share the knowledge on pure tenkara. I, or Tenkara USA, are in no way partners to the book, received no monetary compensation for our assistance and have no financial connections with the project; moreover, we never provided any sponsorship in the writing of this book.  My intent is simple, to introduce tenkara outside of Japan, and I was happy to assist in the project.

2011 will be the year of the small stream. Companies and shops are going to press the virtues of those small waters… the value of catching wild fish, though they might be modest in size, over the stocked mutants in crowded tailwaters.
So get out the 2-weight, the fiberglass wand, or the Tenkara rod, pull up the hip waders, and get ready for a small stream rededication.

In line with what many people have been saying (Mr. Gordon Wickstrom, for example), I think tenkara is at the forefront of a trend towards simplification, less reliance on unnecessary gear, and yes, mountain stream fly-fishing and small stream angling. We’ll see if this holds true; we were pleased with how some of the 2010 predictions made by anglers for Midcurrent came true.

While I’m typically not one to brag, it’s really cool to see how we have indeed created a new category in the fly-fishing industry and how the awareness of tenkara is slowly growing through our efforts and through the word-of-mouth of passionate new tenkara anglers. Before we “opened our doors”, tenkara was virtually unknown outside of Japan and the term basically never searched for. Few people even knew about it in Japan (see our radio interview with Tokyo radio station). Now, the number of people searching for the term “tenkara” is steadily growing. Take a look at the graph above for a search pattern graph, please note, this report only shows search patterns on a scale of 0-100, not the number of people searching the terms. Timeline: I first learned about tenkara in early 2007, and learned that “Tenkara Bum” Chris, was researching it at about the same time (thus the little bump in 2007 on the graph below). I then started seriously studying and developing Tenkara USA in September/October 2008 (suppose it takes at least 2 people to register on the search patterns). And, then “opened the doors” of Tenkara USA in April 2009. At this point I started working very hard on increasing the awareness of tenkara, and educating the public on the method. Bloggers have really taken an interest in tenkara and contributed much to its introduction. The big peak on the graph was in September, 2010, when an article on tenkara was published in the New York Times.

After seeing this graph I became curious to see how the searches for “tenkara” would compare to “fly-fishing”. Of course the absolute numbers for tenkara searches are a tiny fraction of the searches for “fly-fishing”, but it’s widely accepted the number of fl-fishermen has been declining. Do you want to see something very interesting? Look at the longer-term searches for “fly-fishing”. Research by one of the major fishing companies in Japan (which produces equipment for all types of sport-fishing) has shown that fishing in general has long been in decline in Japan just as it has been here, but tenkara has been the one category to have actually grown in Japan in the last few years. Through tenkara we hope to introduce many new people to the simple sport of fly-fishing.

Originally posted on June 25th, 2009. Slightly edited here:

While the most characteristic tenkara flies are the so-called “sakasa kebari”, or reverse hackle flies, these are not the only type of fly used in tenkara. Over the years, Mr. Yoshikazu Fujioka, from the website “My Best Mountain Streams”, has researched and collected traditional tenkara flies from different regions of Japan. Now, Fujioka sensei gives us a very nice, yet, tenkara-like simple, analysis of tenkara flies. Like classifying western flies into “dry”, “wet”, “nymphs”, etc, his analysis focuses specifically on tenkara flies and what pattern styles are commonly found in the hands of tenkara anglers. These should serve as a good foundation to better understanding tenkara flies (if one chooses to, understanding this is not really necessary to be a successful angler). As shown in his graphic chart, even the sakasa kebari come in different forms and with different characteristics (soft hackle/stiff hackle, thick body/thin body and short/long hackle).

Typically, an experienced tenkara angler will use one pattern only. Over time, an angler will acquire preferences for a specific fly type, and will have his sole “go-to” fly, maybe a couple of different sizes and colors, but the same pattern. Not all tenkara anglers use the same fly, but each one tends to stick with only one style. Some may believe a fly with soft hackle will be more “fluid”, softer and thus may be more attractive; other people may believe a stiffer hackle facing forward is better. There is even an angler who uses snake skin to tie his flies, and he believes the reflection of the snake skin attracts fish (we just think it is a cool story!). This is largely personal preference, or maybe because of that “one great day with the one fly” they experienced.

The complete analysis of tenkara fly by Fujioka sensei can be found on the pdf document. It’s very informative and thorough, yet simple as it should be.

Tenkara fly-tying, sakasa kebari
Demonstration on how to tie a tenkara sakasa kebari (reverse-hackle tenkara fly). This fly is tied on a large, size 8 hook. It is ideal for fishing mountain streams that are running a bit higher and you want to increase the visibility of the fly, or when you see larger bugs in the water. This is pretty much the only pattern I use, though I most often use flies in size 12. Fly-fishing for trout in mountain streams means that the fly used doesn’t need intricate details, so, any fly with a size similar to bugs in the water and general bug shape, such as the sakasa fly, should work well as long as it is presented and manipulated properly.

Drinking high-quality green tea has long been an obsession of mine, and most recently Dr. Ishigaki turned me on to ground green tea. As luck would have it, shortly after I discovered ground green tea, a tenkara angler put me in touch with a distributor of this type of tea. I wasn’t looking for it, it just found me. So I thought, how cool would it be to make our own label and give people a chance to try it. One of the most soothing elements of Japanese culture, especially now in the fly-tying season. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. We’re offering this for a very limited time, unless there is strong demand, for only $15 for the tea, a Tenkara Tea can, and a neat bamboo whisk.  Tenkara Tea

Here is a video I made especially for the occasion.

While Tenkara USA is a fully independent company with no commercial ties with a Japanese company, we are very fortunate to have established very strong relationships with tenkara masters in Japan. These relationships,  particularly with our masters Dr. Hisao Ishigaki, Yoshikazu Fujioka and Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkarano-oni) can be seen in every single one of our products, and is something no other tenkara company can enjoy. That is our true competitive advantage.

Today I’m happy to release our redesigned Iwana tenkara rods. The Iwana is currently our best-selling rod, and redesigning something that is working that well is always a risk. However, this rod incorporates meticulous feedback acquired from tenkara anglers in our last visit to Japan. The feedback was honest and important enough to warrant the tweaks we made.  The main focus of this release was the new handle design. The handle is probably the most important design component of a tenkara rod. It provides comfort for a full day of constant casting and manipulating of the fly and balance to the rod. Our new design allows the angler to comfortably grip the rod in different positions, including the very end of the rod with a rounder finish.  This new release also features better quality cork, a longer handle (unanimously suggested by all tenkara anglers we met in Japan for improved balance), and a redesigned metal cap which will not come loose while fishing.

The introduction is in Japanese, but the interview was fully done in English. It’s now available on iTunes as a free podcast.   You can also listen to it on your iPhone, just search for “Global Frontline”. CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW FOR PODCAST LINK:

Tenkara USA interview for Tokyo radio station, J-Wave “Global Frontline”:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/j-wave-jk-radio-tokyo-united/id322103767#

Yesterday a video showing a tenkara angler in Japan using a very long line was brought up in our forum. The angler is probably using some 30ft of line, which is on the very long end of the scale for tenkara lines but still manageable. However, the video shows very poor landing technique for landing a fish with such a long line. In the Japanese video shown at the bottom of this post, the angler plays the fish much longer than necessary and instead of grabbing the line to bring the fish closer to him, he walks back up the bank and beaches the fish – A BIG NO! NO!

Correct way of landing a fish with a long line:

So that you know better, when you decide to use a line longer than your tenkara rod, the proper technique is pretty simple and consists of simply lowering the rod tip towards your back so you can bring the line closer to you, then grab the line and hand-line the fish closer to you. The video we produced last year and posted  below shows decent technique, I have improved it since making the video: do not lift your arm high as I do in the video below at 1:40, you can keep your elbow bent while you calmly do bring the line and fish closer to you. Then, try bringing the fish to a place with calmer water so you can subdue him closer to you and calmly net the fish

OK technique for landing fish with long lines can be seen here (should have kept my arm lower, this gives more control of the line and of the fish and is less tiring):

17″ Brown recently landed using about 28ft of line:

THIS SHOWS BAD TECHNIQUE:

REPEAT, BAD TECHNIQUE – DO NOT TREAT FISH THIS WAY. READ REST OF POST ABOVE!

Many people believe they need to use a nymph, a heavy hook, or – UGH! – split shot to sink a fly. Casting a line with split shot is one of my worst nightmares, I have done it a few times and hated it. With some technique you can get your fly to sink between 3 and 6 ft, sometimes even more depending on the conditions you’re presented. While split-shot, or a heavy Czech nymph will get your fly to sink deeper and faster, I find them awful to cast and one more piece of junk to get lost in the stream or for you to carry, plus, moving one pool upstream will probably produce better results if no fish are taking. One question I get time and time again is how do you sink your fly with no weight?

The first thing you can try doing is casting a bit farther upstream, this will give the fly a chance to soak up more water and sink a bit. Now, here’s the cool technique for sinking your fly deeper in a mountain stream. It’s really a deadly technique, particularly useful when you find some white water, and you have tried a few techniques but no fish rose.  Simply cast the fly upstream from the incoming white water (it doesn’t have to be a waterfall looking pool, simply a point with more turbulence).  Let the fly drift into the white water, and then lower the rod tip almost all the way down to the water. The intent here is to get as much of your line in the turbulent white water, and get it to be sucked under. As the line gets dragged under your fly goes down with it. After a few seconds you’ll feel the line starting to move downstream, as it does you follow it with your rod, slowly and gradually raising the rod tip as the line goes downstream.

TIPS:

- Always strive to keep your line tight. This will allow you to feel anything taking the fly, or for you to see the line stopping/moving in an unusual way, which may mean a fish has taken the fly.

- Variation: As your line starts going downstream, and you start raising the rod tip, try raising the rod tip then dropping it about 10 inches up and down at a time. Every time you lower it you’ll need to wait a second for the fly to sink again. This is a great way to entice trout  to take, and every small pull up may allow you to hook a fish if one is has your fly and you haven’t noticed it.

- Move your rod downstream and slightly forward with it to keep it from swinging.

- The technique works a bit better with level lines, which are denser than the traditional lines.

Western fly-anglers associate soft-hackle flies with a swinging motion, and thus many people new to tenkara have so far thought of it as a great method for swinging tenkara flies. However, there is a major flaw with swinging a fly: swinging moves the fly away from the where the fish expected it to be. Today’s technique is intended on fixing that. I learned this technique when I was fishing with Dr. Ishigaki in Japan and I complained that I was getting many fish to rise, apparently right on my fly but they weren’t “taking” it. He explained they seemed to be rising right on my fly but he could see they were just missing it and explained why.

When a trout is lying in its resting place, it’s keeping an eye on the food being brought by the current. In normal conditions, free-flowing insects (i.e. not attached to a line) will flow straight downstream. Except for very abnormal currents, they will flow in a straight line. When a trout spots food coming towards it, it moves in a straight line to intercept the food, in its strike zone. However, if the bug (your fly or a live bug) moves towards the shore, it also moves away from the fish’s strike zone. Sometimes the fish may be able to catch it, of course, but more often than not, a fish coming in a straight line upstream to intercept a fly will it if it has moved away from the strike zone. Have you ever felt like trout were rising right by your fly, almost right at it, but weren’t taking it? Many times it’s because they rose where the fly was supposed to be, but you pulled it away.

Next time, don’t swing your fly, try this instead: Cast just slightly upstream, or straight across. Stop your rod  and let the fly flow downstream into its first natural position. Pause the fly in place for 1-2 seconds (depending on speed of current, among other things). Then, and this is where the change comes in, instead of keeping the rod tip in place, or swinging the rod tip toward the shore, actively move your entire arm downstream while pushing it slightly forward. Let the fly move about 1ft or a bit more, and stop the fly in place again for one or two seconds. And repeat, actively moving your entire arm downstream and forward. Stopping it in place is not absolutely necessary but will give fish a better chance to see it.

TIPS:

- Stopping the fly in place will give fish a chance to see your fly and hopefully strike it.

- Repeat this 1 or 2 more times casting and stopping the fly exactly in the same spots. If no fish rises do it in a slightly different place 1 or 2 more times. If no fish, MOVE upstream.

- Start with your arm close to your body so you have room to move it forward (starting with the arm fully stretched will make this difficult)

- One important variation is keeping the main line in the water so the fly will stay right under the surface. To do this, picture the angler above holding the rod with his right hand. He’s holding the handle high above his head with his right elbow fully bent, and the rod tip almost touching the water on his left (so it’s pointing down). Similarly to this technique he’s also going to be moving his arm downstream and slightly forward.

The first illustration is one that will be most familiar to you. It’s how most people fly fish already and is effective with tenkara too. One simply identifies where fish may be holding (think about places near enough a current that food is being brought to them, but where the water allows them to stay put without spending a lot of energy: behind and in front of rocks – even if these rocks are hidden under the surface – and on the seams of currents. With this technique one casts upstream from the spot, and lets the fly drift down as he lifts the rod in order to keep the line tight. As with most tenkara techniques you should strive to keep the main line off the water.  Tip: when drifting the fly downstream one should not normally pull it, you must give the fish a chance to see your fly and grab it.

In the upcoming days we’ll be sharing the main methods of manipulating a fly with tenkara. While there are several different ways, and variations of the methods we’ll cover, the main techniques include :
1) Downstream, drag-free drift (today).
2) Cast, stop the fly, drift it downstream/stop/drift/stop
3) Cast downstream/pull fly/stop/pull/stop
4) Sinking the fly with no weight
5) Retrieving the fly, pulling it back across the stream.
6) Repeatedly casting fly in one place

One of the users of our forum just pointed out two episodes of Sanpei, the fishing boy I talked about in an older post, are available on Google videos. Unfortunately they are in Italian, but the cartoons as very well drawn and actually show relatively good technique. I’m not asking you to sit in front of them for the entire 20 minutes (unless you speak Italian and want to do it). But you may want to sift through them:

Episode 11:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3830024264957174244&hl=en&fs=true

Episode 12:
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=7855598312357321639&hl=en&fs=true

The best mesh for stream fish.

The super fine mesh of tenkara nets is absolutely ideal for stream fishing. Hand-made with nylon, the mesh has tiny 2mm gaps, which presents several advantages for stream fishing and until now have not been offered to anglers outside of Japan. The very fine mesh gently cradles the fish to minimize damage to its skin.  A fish will never get caught in the gaps, as may happen in the wider gaps of some nets where the gills or jaw of fish can sometimes be damaged when they thrash around in other nets. It’s very light weight and retains no water (a quick shake will dry it entirely). And, my favorite, it will not snag your fly.

The best net design

Based on the original “design” of tenkara nets, which are made with one single branch and have a frame positioned at an angle from the handle, one couldn’t come up with a more functional design nowadays. The angle between the frame and handle can serve several purposes.

It allows you to position it on your back, through the wading belt ,while the net stays off your back and allows for free movement. When fishing in shallower water you can press it behind your knees after you net a fish so you can use both hands to manage the fish, or take a picture.  If in deeper water, you can also leave the handle through your wading belt on your side as you have both hands free to unhook the fish or take a picture. The round handle also ensures you can position it between your legs, or the positions mentioned above, and it won’t turn. In sum, a very well designed angler’s tool and it has become our favorite picture-taking device.

For more information on why we love tenkara nets so much please see our blog posts on tenkara nets: http://tenkarausa.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/netuse.gif?tag=tenkara-net

We also offer separate mesh for the nets in case you want to venture into making your own tenkara nets.

The article was very well written by Mr. James Card, who met with Ms. Misako Ishimura for a day of tenkara fishing. It talked about the story of its introduction to the US, with the participation of Tenkara USA and its founder (me), Misako Ishimura, Chris “Tenkara Bum” Stewart, and Dr. Ishigaki, of course.

Please take a look: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/sports/16tenkara.html?_r=1#

Since the idea of sticking with one fly and relying solely on my technique is still relatively new to me, sometimes doubt creeps in. This is especially true if I find myself  fishing a bigger, slower river, like the Madison, for which everyone has advice on what fly to use and for which there are dozens of books on what specific patterns to use at different times of the year, etc. And, it’s also true if I find myself in the company of very experienced anglers, like John Gierach and Ed Engle, who may be using different patterns in a stream they know well. And, it is especially the case if the day is slow.  In these situations it’s very easy to lose confidence in my technique, in the techniques I can use to attract fish, and start thinking that maybe they are right! But are they? The western thought of matching the hatch is so ingrained in our minds that it’s hard to let go of it and realize that a couple of hundred years ago professional tenkara anglers, in the mountains of Japan, who depended on catching trout for a living, made it happen with one fly pattern and flawless technique. Nowadays that is the approach taken by tenkara anglers in Japan, for sport, and they continue catching fish.

Today I find myself in Ennis, Montana. I came here to speak at the Madison River Fly Fishing Festival. During my presentation I spoke about the concept of “one-fly”, of not paying particular attention to the fly but rather to fishing it. That’s usually the part of my presentation where I fear I’ll be thrown out of the room, especially given that my presentation was the day after  a great fly tying demonstration by Craig Mathews and John Juracek , as they demonstrated how to tie fly patterns for the Madison. I’d have to prove my “technique/one-fly concept” in their home water, a type of river I don’t usually fish, the Madison itself.  I’d have to stick with one fly; this was the ultimate test for me.

I typically fish mountain streams (I’ll no longer call them “small-streams”, as I don’t think that’s an accurate description for the best tenkara waters, I fish mountain streams, of many different sizes, which are defined by faster water and distinct features). In these streams I know any fly will work just fine and I no longer have any problem sticking with a sakasa (reverse hackle) fly, size 12, if the fish dont’ bite when I do a drag free drift, I’ll work the fly in a couple of different ways.  I may try a few casts from a couple of different angles, perhaps do a pause-down-pause-down approach, or pull-up-pull-up approach, or try to get the fly deep. If no fish take after a total of some 10 casts, I move on. It’s important to remember that sometimes the fish will just not take anything, perhaps a mink happened to be eating in that pool, or someone may have walked through it, or the weather is just not right and the fishing slows down. Nevertheless, if a trout is the least willing one can catch it with technique, regardless of the fly.

Trout are very opportunistic feeders and they have to grab food quickly, further their vision is not great, and anything of reasonable size will be seen as food. Yesterday I met great success on one of the Madison’s feeder streams; I only had a couple of hours of fishing left and I wanted to fish my favorite type of water, a mountain stream. I bought a map and found a mountain stream about 30 minutes away. In a couple of hours, and despite the very cold water, I managed a dozen or so fish – one fly, of course.  Today, when I told people that I caught plenty of fish, on that stream, with a size 12 only, and that I didn’t choose a fly in particular, they were a bit skeptical. Luckily I had a couple of pictures from last night (fly is a bit out of focus, but on the edge of the frame):

After the presentation I met with Bryan, a tenkara angler who lives in the area. He, a friend of his, his friend’s son and I headed to the lower part of the Madison, near town.  We fished for about an hour and nothing. The kid had a size 14 grasshopper on, I stuck with one tenkara fly. But we couldn’t manage a bite, not on the hopper, nor on the tenkara fly. That’s when confidence started seeping out – what is happening? Will they take a different fly? Is my presentation not good enough? In this case there was relatively heavy boat traffic where we were fishing, and I attributed our lack of activity to that. Or, that fact that perhaps I still hadn’t figured out the right technique for such big water.

We left the stream, and went our separate ways. As there were still a couple of hours of sunlight left, I wanted to do some more fishing for the rest of the day. There a few good mountain streams in the area, the type of water I really like. However, I just couldn’t give up on the Madison. This would be one the few chances I’d have to say that “yes, you can also use any one fly in the Madison, or anywhere with running water and trout”. If I want to master my tenkara technique I’d have to work hard for it. I returned to the exact same location and was greeted by this beautiful sun light and rainbow, a good sign perhaps.

This time I was a bit freer to move anywhere and a bit faster; so I worked that area very hard. I went upstream, across, downstream, to the middle, and to some very likely pools, hitting all spots that I knew should have fish in them.  For an hour or so I only saw a flash or two. Then, confidence started seeping out again. I had a grasshopper and an elk-hair caddis in my box, two “just-in-case” flies I still haven’t had the confidence to put away. I tied the large hopper on,  this was the fly everyone  in town has been raving about for the Madison. About 10 minutes with the hopper and nothing but one tiny strike. I then tied on the size 12 elk-hair caddis, fished it for about 5 minutes on a couple of very likely spots, still nothing. I paused for a moment and thought about what  I could do differently to catch fish.  First of all, I should stick with my one fly, if the results with these “just-in-case” flies are not that apparent, I think I can make it work with my tenkara fly.  In reality any fly of reasonable size should work given the right presentation and manipulation.

How can I make this work? If I only had my tenkara fly, how could I catch fish with it?

This pause was probably sufficient. I had primarily been sticking with dead drifts: casting upstream or to the side and following the fly down with no drag. Sometimes I would cast to the side, pause the fly in place for a couple of seconds, let it go downstream (in a straight line, not swinging), and pause. And sometimes I would cast a bit downstream and work the fly upstream, and other times I’d just cast upstream and try to get the fly deep by lowering my rod tip and gradually lifting it to keep a tight line. Pretty much the major tenkara techniques, in a simplified explanation. One technique I hadn’t been using, however, was giving the tenkara fly a lot of life by casting to the side and very abruptly pulling the fly towards me (with the line in the water). I did this vigorously, pulling at about 1ft intervals, a bit like a streamer. This worked! Suddenly I was getting into fish. The reasoning: the water was very fast in this area and the fish needed to really see the fly well, so giving it a lot of action was necessary. After a couple of fish I decided to switch to a bigger fly, a size 10 which “Tenkara Ouji” had sent me, to increase its visibility. This also worked very well, although I know I could have just as easily stuck with the same fly I had been using.  I landed a few (maybe 4 or 5) 12 inchers,  lost 2 fish about 16-17″  when I was about to land them (yes, I’ll be thinking about these in my sleep, and yes, the bigger ones are always the ones that get away!), and missed a few strikes, a couple of which were very good.

For many months now I have made a point to stick with one fly pattern only. My box has one fly pattern, mostly size 12, but in couple of different sizes and color combinations -  all virtually the same. I would have no problem having only one identical fly, but I like having different ones so I can show different tenkara flies to people. I pick the fly at random, except if the water is very high and I know I want more visibility (both for myself and for the fish), in which case I like using a light colored or bigger fly. In the months since completely converting to one fly only, I have  fished more often than I ever have (fishing about 10-15 days out of each month). And, I continue catching fish, and probably many more fish than I ever have too.

I also initially met the theory of using one fly with great skepticism. It took me exactly a year to fully convert to using one fly pattern only. But, I have learned a lot about how to fish since then. I am striving for perfecting technique and simplifying my fly fishing, I’m now really learning how to fish. I have embarked on a quest to fully embrace fishing technique, and let go of the accepted current thought of ”match-the-hatch”.  The longer I fish with only one fly, the more confident I become in my technique, and the fewer fish I catch “out of luck”, or because they “like” a specific fly. Most fish I currently catch, I know why I caught them, and if I don’t catch a fish I know I can improve my technique. The fly shouldn’t be the major concern of the angler, professional fisherman in Japan made a living out of fishing with one fly pattern, how can we argue with that? 

In current western thought the emphasis has been on finding just the right fly, for the pool, for the weather, for that fish. We forget that perhaps we can do something differently with the same fly to catch fish. We try to make up for lack of technique with different flies. This theory, that one can use any one fly to catch fish based on his/her technique, will be met with skeptcism - this was my own initial reaction to it - and it may be controversial, given that as anglers we have all had the experience of switching a fly and then hooking a fish, and that few people ever talk about this. However, I do see it as potentially a paradigm shift in our mentality for fly-fishing. I will stick with one fly and will focus on my technique.

“Simple fly, simple fly”, as the Tenkara Bum says. And so the “just-in-case” flies are now gone for good!

If you only had one fly pattern in your box, could you still catch fish? If you ran out of your “go-to” fly pattern, would you feel okay and continue fishing, or would your day be ruined?

It was with great relief that, while visiting Japan, we’d find a living proof that the young are still taking up the sport, at least via tenkara. During the tenkara event we got to meet young Taiga Watanabe, who was just about to turn 13. Taiga goes by the nickname “Tenkara Ouji”, translated as “tenkara prince”, and is well known for hanging out with the older “Tenkara Oyaji”, secretly picking up the masters’ tricks.

Tenkara Ouji showed us a tray filled with multiple tenkara patterns he tied himself, and which he sold like candy to anglers in the event. In an effort to foster his keen interest in tenkara, or perhaps to feed his insatiable appetite for cool tenkara gear, I put in an order for a few dozen tenkara flies. I knew anglers here would love to have them. His dad assured me Taiga would be tying flies through the summer anyways, so he may as well sell them to me so he could sustain his tenkara addiction. We shook hands and a few weeks later we received these beautiful flies. I kept a few for myself, and have caught plenty of fish on them. The rest are now available for purchase as sets, which include one of each of the flies pictured below. These flies wont’ last long, only a small number of sets is available. He’s currently tying new patterns for us, which should be available in a couple of weeks.

Tenkara Ouji's flies

Fly Rodders is one of the leading magazines on fly-fishing in Japan. The mention is very positive, mostly focusing on the fact that we’re now introducing the Japanese method of fly-fishing outside of Japan.

I have often wondered, and talked to a couple of people in Japan, about whether tenkara becoming popular in the US could lead to its further popularization in Japan. Often times people in Japan have looked at the US for trends, and someone told me Japan is about 2 to 3 years behind the US in fly-fishing terms…well, I say the US was at least about 200 years behind Japan on this one! So, I could be inclined to think even such a mention could be the beginning of more tenkara adopters in its home country too. Maybe that’s presumptuous, but I’ll just continue thinking it.

How can I possibly start writing about a fishing trip with two of the finest anglers in the US, if not by repeating an older post that I must have been living a dream? And that, if not overwhelmed, I am still trying to believe that I actually went tenkara fly-fishing in the company of such well known anglers as John Gierach and Ed Engle! These are two of the guys who most shaped recent western small-stream fly-fishing. Yes, tenkara fly-fishing with John Gierach and Ed Engle!

I was never too surprised that Gierach and Engle became interested in tenkara. And not that surprised that they would take up tenkara, either. I had read their work before, and knew they were small-stream anglers and pursuers of fly-fishing simplicity at their core. I also knew we shared many perspectives and ideals about the sport.  They would have to be drawn to the simplicity and effectiveness of tenkara.

Though not entirely surprising, fishing with such well known anglers as Mr. Gierach and Mr. Engle is indeed quite a privilege, and witnessing both tenkara fishing exclusively during our trip and embracing tenkara as the ideal method for stream fly-fishing, was nothing short of a spectacular. That I could present anything new to these guys is something I’m very proud of.

Gierach playing a brown trout using the Iwana rod on the St. Vrain (yes, he does seem to be reaching for the reel):

After being contacted by Gierach and communicating with him for a period of time, I finally invited myself to fish with him in his home waters near Lyons, Colorado. I figured, if Gierach writes about it, it’ll be set on stone, and thus I should share all I know about “pure tenkara” with him. It’s easy to overlook the real origins and techniques of tenkara as practiced in Japan for possible preconceived notions on tenkara, and I didn’t want that to happen. A few days before the trip, I learned we’d be joined by Gierach’s good friend, Ed Engle, whose work I also admired and whom I had contacted a bit over a year ago because of an article he wrote on fly-fishing simplicity, having as few elements between him and the trout, etc.  There you go, Ed, only a rod, line and fly between you and that trout:

What I didn’t know until I arrived is that both Gierach and Engle have a bit more than a passing interest in Japanese culture. Both Engle and Gierach used to belong to a poetry group in their college days and were very interested in Japanese poetry, philosophy and culture. Engle had even studied Japanese and learned the Japanese brush painting technique of Sumie. Gierach has been cultivating bonsai trees for over 20 years, and had some truly striking bonsai in his living-room; in addition, Gierach also had done some very nice “Gyotaku” (the art of applying paint to a dried fish and transferring the fish’s details to paper), which now sit at the writer’s den – yes, it was cool to see where the magic happens.  Of course, the main topic of our conversations was fly-fishing, but that they had an interest in Japanese culture was cool addition. I spent two full days fishing in their company, staying at Gierach’s home. This gave us a chance to talk much, and at length about fly-fishing, tenkara’s origins and techniques and many other topics of interest; the conversations didn’t stop unless it was before the morning coffee, or for fishing.

Gierach’s 20+ year old bonsai:

We fished a couple of different forks of the St. Vrain, Gierach’s famous home stream.  What a beautiful stream. On our first day, we headed to the South St. Vrain, hiking down a trail past a picturesque lodgepole forest, and through a mossy trail. We took our time to observe juniper bushes that could become nice bonsai and, of course, also kept our eyes open for branches that could work as tenkara nets . I brought a tenkara net along to show it to them, and I think both of them really liked the concept. Their gazes now often shifted from trail to stream to trees as they walk around.

The point in the South St. Vrain where we started was pretty tight in places, making it challenging to cast, but we managed our casts and hooked some nice trout. As we fished, I tried demonstrating the main tenkara techniques: casting upstream and having a drag-free drift downstream, while keeping the line tight; casting slightly upstream, holding the fly in place for a few seconds, letting it go down about a foot and holding, repeating until the end of the drift; casting slightly downstream and pulling the fly upstream at about 1ft intervals; or simply casting upstream from the head of a pool, dropping the rod tip so the line would be dragged under, and effectivelly sinking the fly deep. The stream opened up a bit as we worked our way up the stream, and the St. Vrain became “tenkara-perfect”.

During our second day, we visited a more remote part of the St. Vrain, remote for a reason. This stretch required a serious 4-wheeler to get up there. For a bit over 4 miles Gierach skillfully navigated some treacherous terrain with large boulders one would think impassable. It was all worth it when we arrived at a lush verdant area, with a gorgeous “tenkara-perfect” stream running through it.

Ed working a nice pool, Gierach farther upstream:

The air felt moist and smelled of pine trees, my favorite type of place. We hiked for a few minutes through tall grasses, still a little wet from the previous days’ storms, and which had been flattened by what we assumed were moose. We later confirmed this assumption by finding some moose dropping. “If you see a moose, don’t piss it off!”, I was told, as if I would purposefully do that. As we fished, going upstream, we managed a nice pace, leapfrogging each other to the next pool. I tried taking pictures in between, and every once in a while we’d reconvene, to either talk about the fishing, or to observe each other trying to fool a trout. Those were memorable moments.

Neither of them really went for the “ one-fly” approach that I have adopted, and primarily used a two-fly rig (elk hair caddis and a dropper nymph). Nevertheless, we did very similarly in numbers of fish each of us caught (discounting for the time I focused on taking pictures instead of keeping my “one fly” in the water). I was happy to see that they didn’t bother changing flies when the fish didn’t bite, focusing instead of moving upstream to the next pool, a classic tenkara approach.

Both Gierach and Engle agreed that any one fly pattern would probably work just fine in a stream like that. And so it did. I continued using one tenkara fly only, or more accurately, any fly picked at random from my box, which probably had 3 different tenkara patterns with a few different colors.

The fly resting on the flat part of my tenkara net:

The two newest tenkara converts will probably be letting their reels rest for a while. I won’t blame them if they choose to take their cane rods to the water every now and then, but for some reason I suspect that will not happen so often going forward.

GEAR USED:

- Iwana 12ft

- Traditional tenkara line, 10 1/2ft

- Tenkara level line 3.5

- Line holders

- Tenkara flies

Ishigaki sensei and Chikara helping with translation

After knowing Ishigaki sensei for about a year and having  had many communications with him via email, and after spending several days talking and fishing with him while visiting Japan, I thought there were some questions I should ask him “for the record”. An interview was in order. On the 3-hour drive back from the Itoshiro to Nagoya, I turned on the recorder and had a nice conversation with Ishigaki sensei. We had so many other lengthy conversations in my time there, and we covered many specific aspects of tenkara, this time I had some slightly broader questions to ask him.

NOTE: Ishigaki sensei gifted us with a few tenkara flies he tied himself, which are now available here for the benefit to an environmental non-profit.

CONVERSATION:

Daniel: Dr. Ishigaki, could you describe your path to tenkara? What led you to pursue this simpler way of fishing? What is your story with tenkara?’

Ishigaki sensei: I first learned about tenkara through a book, “Keiryu no tsuri” (stream fishing). The book was published about 40 years ago by the company “Tsuribitosha”. This book covered  3 types of fishing: lure fishing, live bait fishing and tenkara. In the book, tenkara was not called tenkara, but rather “kebari tsuri” [kebari = fly, tsuri=fishing, but different from western fly–fishing which is specifically referred to in Japanese as “fly fishing”]. I learned about it through that book, but didn’t start tenkara right away; I was into bait fishing back then. One day, while bait fishing, I saw the first person practicing tenkara; that day, I wasn’t catching anything, but the tenkara angler caught 2 fish in front of me. I was surprised, so this is tenkara! When I returned home, I remembered the book mentioned tenkara, so I picked it up and started reading that section again. Based on the book, I tied my first fly, and made a tapered line. Back at that time there were no tenkara rods available to purchase. So, as a substitute I used a “hera rod” [rod for a type of carp fishing]. The rod was a bit too short.  Thus, I started tenkara, but barely caught any fish in the beginning. There was no information on tenkara besides that book, so I thought I couldn’t catch fish because there was no information about it. At that time I was doing lure fishing, bait fishing and also tenkara, but didn’t do much tenkara in the beginning. I was 27 years old at that time, the same age as Daniel.

I gradually started getting better at tenkara,  and then tenkara rods started becoming available, at first made of fiberglass.

Daniel: Were tenkara rods really not available at that time, or were they just hard to find?

Ishigaki sensei: I couldn’t find the fishing rod in stores, sometimes there were rods advertised in magazines, but very hard to find.About 30 years ago, gradually books on tenkara started being sold, and magazines slowly started introducing tenkara, and then rods started becoming available. But, I rarely saw anyone doing tenkara at that time. I couldn’t catch many fish, but I still thought it was a very fun way of fishing. So, I started thinking hard about why I couldn’t catch fish.  I just assumed that fish held the bait longer, but spit the fly right away.  Out of curiosity  I decided to conduct an experiment about how quickly the fish would spit the fly and how fast a fisherman could react.

I went to a hatchery that had 3 ponds, one with Amago, one with Iwana [two types of Japanese trout] and one with Rainbow trout.  Using photo-sensors connected to a hookless fly, I analyzed how long a trout held the fly in its mouth before spitting it out. The fly was held right on the surface of the water, so a fish would jump to it, hold it in its mouth and spit it out.  Then, I did an experiment with anglers to measure their reaction time between seeing a flashing light and trying to set a hook with a fishing rod. The average time for the fish to spit out the fly was 0.2 seconds, but the shortest reaction time for a fisherman was 0.3 seconds.  In other words, by the time someone reacts to the visual cue of a fish, it’s usually already too late because the fish has already spit the fly out.  So, I though be best way to catch a fish would be to make the fish hold the fly in its mouth longer; one way I thought would increase the time a fish held the fly in its mouth would be to have the fly in the water, not on the surface. Doing an experiment with the fly under water, the time a fish held the fly in its mouth increased to 0.6 to 0.7 seconds.

I conducted several experiments in this fashion.  Once a month for a period of 6 months I conducted similar experiments and wrote a report for a popular fishing magazine published by “Tsuribitosha”. Then, NHK, a very popular tv station,  decided to make a program on these experiments. The experiment was shown on one of the most popular tv shows at that time, which was watched by about 20% of the people in Japan. Many tenkara anglers watched the show, and then many of these people contacted me with their opinions on the research.  So, Tsuribitosha and other fishing magazines contacted me to conduct similar experiments, and they offered put me in touch with many tenkara experts and to interview them. For the very first time I had the opportunity to see several tenkara experts doing tenkara. I was 38 years old at this time [about 25 years ago].  As a result, I became good friends of many of these tenkara experts.  With these tenkara experts, we made several videos on tenkara.  This is how tenkara started spreading out, now people could learn from these videos we made.

Daniel: So, Ishigaki sensei was one of the main drivers in introducing tenkara in Japan.

Ishigaki sensei: That’s right, with several friends we started spreading out tenkara in Japan. This was the beginning of tenkara becoming popular in Japan.

Young Dr. Ishigaki featured in a magazine

Daniel:  Was this research in any way related to his profession, as a scientific researcher in the field of Visual studies, or purely a hobby?

Ishigaki sensei: Just a hobby. But, this is what got me started in tenkara, and was related to my interests too.

Daniel: What motivates Dr. Ishigaki to introduce others to tenkara, and teach tenkara to others since he makes no money from it?

Ishigaki sensei: Tenkara, compared to other methods of fishing, is a very fun, and fairer way of fishing. Above all, it’s fairer as the angler really needs to depend more on his technique. It’s also a simpler way. I like to introduce people to this. I’m also a professor, so I like to teach others.

Daniel:  Since you didn’t catch so many fish with tenkara in the beginning, why didn’t you give it up and just continue fishing with bait?

Ishigaki sensei:  I didn’t catch many fish with tenkara, but at the same time I could see that many fish were coming up to the fly, but I was wondering why they didn’t bite. This was very fun . I wondered why they came to the fly, but didn’t bite, and that made me conduct the experiments.

Daniel:  Dr. Ishigaki, you often say the main reason you like tenkara is its simplicity. Why did simplicity become the main appeal of tenkara to you?

Ishigaki sensei: About 15 years ago, my thoughts and philosophy on fishing got really solid. Fishing is really simple, you only need three things: fishing rod, line and fly. Even for fly, only one type is really necessary.  How you catch fish, with that simplicity, is based on a person’s experience and techniques. In my opinion, that’s a very interesting thing. If one’s skills improves, then he can catch fish. It doesn’t depend on the fishing gear. I really like that you do not have to depend on the fishing gear to catch fish. To me, that’s the most important thing about fishing, to think.  For example, to think about where the fish will be in certain conditions, and how I’ll go about catching it in that condition. It all depends on the person’s experience and his technique. To think about where the fish is, and then implement a technique, that’s the most important thing.

Daniel: When I watched Dr. Ishigaki fishing, I could see the thoughts going through his mind, and him trying different techniques to entice the fish.

Daniel:  Did you have any mentors when you were learning tenkara?

Ishigaki sensei: I didn’t really have one mentor, but I met and fished with many experts. I learned much from each of them, and picked the best things from each of them and tried to use that knowledge.

Daniel:  Nowadays, Dr. Ishigaki only uses one fly pattern. In the beginning, did you use many different fly patterns? When did you realize he could use only one fly?

Ishigaki sensei: I met many different experts, and I saw their flies. Everyone  was using different flies, but each of these tenkara experts used only one fly style.  To me, that meant that any fly could catch fish, so only one fly should be fine. So, I started using only one fly [later Dr. Ishigaki would come across the fly he now uses in a tackle shop, he really liked its simplicity and adopted that fly as his own].

The first book I read said that you should change flies. It even had different suggestions based on the time of year, “summertime use a black fly and use a big fly, in the spring use a green fly and small”, the book said. A different book mentioned the same thing, so I kept changing flies when I couldn’t catch fish. But, then I saw the different experts’ flies, and realized one type was fine.

Daniel: While learning tenkara, Dr. Ishigaki did a lot of different things to learn more about its history and where tenkara came from. As tenkara was originated by professional (i.e. commercial) fisherman in the mountains of Japan, this included dressing up as a professional angler from decades ago. What did you learn from these experiences?

Ishigaki sensei:  I wanted to learn and experience what they may have experienced on my own. The first thing I learned is that a long time ago the job of a professional fisherman in these mountain streams was a very tough job. For example, I wore the “waraji” (a type of straw sandal), where the toes are exposed. When in the water, I hit my toes on the rock.  There weren’t waders, but they wore very thin pants.  It was very cold, the feet hurt, but under their circumstances they had to do it for a living.  I did this 4 or 5 times, once for personal reasons, then the TV program asked me to do it again.

I also learned the line and tippet was very weak. Back in the day, the line and tippet were very weak. The line was made with horse-hair and tippet were made with silk-worm gut, which is hard to stretch. So, people had to fish with the line in the water as much as possible to keep its strength. If you kept the fly in the surface it would break the line, but if you kept the fly under water, then the line will not break. When the fly is in the surface the fish will come up and fall down, that’s a lot of pressure and the line will break, but if the fish grabs the fly under water, then the line won’t break.

Ishigaki sensei reenacts a professional tenkara angler

Daniel:  Many people in the US talking about tenkara, and because it is a type of fishing from Japan, they immediately think of it as a type of “zen” experience.  What does he think of that? Are anglers in Japan conscious and aware of the philosophies that tenkara ecompasses, e.g. its simplicity, enjoying nature more and depending less on gear, etc?

Ishigaki sensei: [lots of laughter] Americans think of Japan, they immediately think of “samurai”, “geisha”, etc, but most people in Japan are not really religious, there are very few Buddhists in Japan.  Tenkara is simply a method of fishing.

Daniel: Tenkara was never practiced by samurai, yet some people stick with the idea that tenkara is “samurai fishing”. It’s hard to dispel some perpetuated myths and stereotypes.

Daniel: With tenkara being introduced to the US and several other countries, some anglers will inevitable adapt tenkara to their idea of fishing, not really accepting it as is. Many anglers think they have to change flies or use weight, floatant, and indicators. How do you feel about people adapting tenkara and making tenkara more complex and complicated than it really is?

Ishigaki sensei: The really good thing about tenkara is that you don’t really have to change flies and you don’t need to use weight for sinking the fly or floatant. Using weight, or changing flies means that people will be missing out on some of the most important aspects of tenkara.  In Japan, using weight to sink the fly is considered not to be real tenkara. Some tenkara anglers in Japan use bead-head flies, but real tenkara anglers do not consider that to be tenkara. But, people are free to enjoy things they enjoy. Using weight and changing flies, may be a type of enjoyment for some people. All I want is for people to know they don not need to change flies or use weight, indicators, etc.  As long as people know and understand these are not necessary to catch fish, they can do what pleases them most. I believe it may be difficult to have Americans understand pure tenkara.  It will be important to make videos showing tenkara to continue showing people that it is simple and that you don’t need to use weight, floatant, etc.

Daniel: Do you think it is in human nature to make things more complicated than they really are?

Ishigaki sensei: Yes.  People tend to believe that the gear will help them catch fish more easily, instead of focusing on learning technique. That’s [western] fly-fishing; even though originally [western] fly-fishing was much like tenkara, people started thinking of things to make it easier for them to catch fish, like using weight and indicators or many flies.  Amateurs  (i.e. recreational fisherman) will use money and think of easier ways to catch fish. But, commercial fisherman in Japan tried not to spend any money for fishing, such as not using weight or indicators or many flies, they used only the basic tackle rod, line and hook, and they tried to think of ways to catch fish with only the basic tackle.  I believe Japanese tenkara fishing is the most effective type of fishing for stream fishing, because you learn the technique and don’t need unnecessary things.

Daniel: For some people, simplicity equals minimalism (carrying as few things as possible). The first thing many people want to get rid of is their fishing vest or a wader. Does wearing a fishing vest compromise simplicity in fishing?

Ishigaki sensei: No, not at all. Simplicity in fishing is using the basic tackle, only rod, line and fly. Fishing simplicity. That is the real simple thing. Wearing a vest, waders, wading boots, etc, these things are necessary for comfort and should not be compromised. For one, wader, wading belt and good shoes are needed for safety. The vest is good for keeping things organized inside of it. To me, having a vest is necessary to carry things. What one needs to simplify is fishing, with only rod, line and fly, but the other things shouldn’t be compromised in my opinion.  Not wearing a vest or waders is considered “cheap” in Japan; there is a joke that fly fisherman are rich, and tenkara anglers are poor [laughing].

Daniel: For some people, catching the big (or biggest) fish is all that matters. Is it all about the biggest fish?

Ishigaki sensei: Tenkara is not really a method for big fish. The most fun part of tenkara is to be in a stream, and catch many fish. If all you want is to catch the very big fish, then tenkara may not be appropriate.

Daniel: How would you describe your perfect stream?

Ishigaki sensei: Very clean water, beautiful scenery, where it feels relaxing and peaceful, a running stream with faster water [honryu], not very flat or slow.

Raw branch:

MORE PICTURES

After spending a few weeks looking for the ideal branches, I was able to find a couple of branches, one from a manzanita bush, the other from the Jeffrey pine. After near a month in the making, I’m getting close to finishing them. The entire process was documented on the forum.  Here are the semi-final results.

I loved working on something so simple and aesthetically pleasing. It’s not easy, but doable, and beautiful. The details were difficult, especially joining the two arms of the frame.

Though all nets are unique and one-of-a-kind, the manzanita will be more so because the manzanita does not have the symmetrical branches with the right diameters and angles for a net. The Jeffrey pine, on the other hand, has the ideal shapes and the wood is easier to work with.

I’ll venture to say this is the first manzanita net frame in the world built in this manner, and after studying the manzanita I think it may continue with that title since it was almost impossible to find the right branch for it. It’s my most rewarding project, the wood is absolutely gorgeous, and the outer layer of the stripped bark is red, giving it a beautiful natural color and providing for very interesting patterns on the places I needed to strip and sand. I needed to cut the end of the handle as it was curved in the wrong direction, and I figured I could follow the tenkara tradition of using deer antlers for protecting who uses it in the water. A tenkara enthusiast, who also gave me some great advice, offered to send me some deer antler, and one of them was a great match, having almost the same colors as the wood itself.

Stay tuned for the final pictures in a couple of weeks.

WHEN:   Saturday, September 11, 2010

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

WHERE: Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club, San Francisco, CA

Dr. Ishigaki is known and deeply respected throughout Japan as the leading authority on tenkara fly-fishing. A professor in the field of vision studies at the Aichi Institute of Technology, in Japan, Dr. Ishigaki became first known among tenkara anglers for his research on the vision of fish and of anglers. He has dedicated a big part of his life to introducing this simpler method of fly-fishing to people throughout Japan via many books, articles and DVDs on tenkara. After his first presentation in the Catskills, NY, Dr. Ishigaki is now coming on his second visit to the US to speak about tenkara.

A very friendly and warm angler and engaging lecturer, Dr. Ishigaki says he’s looking forward to making many new friends in the US, and is looking forward to his visit.

During the event Dr. Ishigaki will do a tenkara fly-tying demonstration, a presentation about tenkara, and a demonstration on tenkara casting.

Space is very limited.

Those interested should RSVP at the GGACC website: http://ggacc.org/p/ViewEvent.aspx?eid=322

Tenkara removes the complexities that were added to fly-fishing over the years and makes it a fun, and above all, simple and intuitive method of angling with a fly. Not having to pass line through the rod guides, strip line to cast, and going through a complicated series of knots, mean that tenkara allows for greater independence in his fishing. Imagine you only have one able arm and want to setup your rod and fish, yourself, for a bit. A rod with a reel by default ask for two hands, frustrating, I’d imagine. As I witnessed, a telescopic tenkara rod is a rod, made for one-handed fishing. It can be held under one’s arm as the plug is removed and the tip is exposed with the able hand; the hand, which in turn quickly makes a girth hitch on hisline and tightens it against the rod tip. And, finally telescopes each segment of the rod out and proceeds to cast, an intuitive cast with no 2-handed stripping needed. These are the few steps needed to setup and fish with a tenkara rod when the fly is already tied on. I was extremely proud to see a tenkara rod, one which I adopted from a foreign country and introduced to the US, serve as much more than a simple fishing tool.

Walking around the banks of this lake, with his western fly-rod already rigged but mostly inside the reel, the war veteran – not only a war veteran but a western fly-fishing “veteran” of 3+ years, who, through a special reel, a special stripping device and some ingenuity – spotted a very good fish. With no time to spare and go through the process of getting his line out of the reel to cast, I gave him my tenkara rod, which I kept rigged for the occasional cast. Not yet fully used to casting with a tenkara rod, his first cast piles up a bit, but it’s no problem, the line is so light the fish was not disturbed. On the second cast the fly didn’t turnover completely, but went far enough, maybe 15ft out, to attract the attention of the feeding fish. In a few seconds it was fish on. A healthy and very feisty 14″ rainbow. Not his biggest, nor his first, but his first on a tenkara rod, maybe the first that provided such a fight he thought he may not actually land it, the first that perhaps felt like an equal adversary. But, also the first fish he had full control over, who didn’t take line, because he couldn’t, and after a very strong fight just surrendered because he realized he couldn’t really run anywhere. He was hooked. The simplicity of it, the fact that he could simply cast when he wanted to, and the won battle – All worth it.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL VETERANS AND THOSE WHO SACRIFICE SO MUCH FOR THEIR COUNTRY!

Tenkara net, with a manzanita branch

I finally found a couple of branches that just may work, and if nothing else are good places to start the learning process. Through several resources accumulated and the suggestions of people with experience in wood work, I think I may just get to make my own net. I am documenting the experience  on our forum, under the newly created category of “tenkara nets”. I was able to find 2 branches of a Jeffrey Pine (this yielded 4 possible nets) and one branch of a manzanita (above). So far I started drying the nets while forming them into shape with strings, removed the bark and did some initial carving on the knots and ends. Now I must let them dry for  a while before resuming the work.

The raw net frame assembly.

This is going to be  a real fun project.

Mr. Fujioka is our tenkara fly teacher, our tenkara kebari sensei, and also helped us put together our current selection of flies. Over the years he has researched and collected traditional tenkara flies from different regions of Japan. Now, Fujioka sensei gives us a very nice, yet, tenkara-like simple, analysis of tenkara flies. Like classifying western flies into “dry”, “wet”, “nymphs”, etc, his analysis focuses specifically on tenkara flies and what pattern styles are commonly found in the hands of tenkara anglers. These should serve as a good foundation to better understanding tenkara flies (if one chooses to, understanding this is not really necessary to be a successful angler).

While the most characteristic tenkara flies are the so-called “sakasa kebari”, or reverse hackle flies, these are not the only type of fly used in tenkara, and as shown in his graphic chart, even the sakasa kebari come in different forms and with different characteristics (soft hackle/stiff hackle, thick body/thin body and short/long hackle).

Typically, an experienced tenkara angler will use one pattern only. Over time, an angler will acquire preferences for a specific fly type, and will have his “go-to” fly.  Not all tenkara anglers use the same fly as each other, but each one tends to stick with only one style. Some may believe a fly with soft hackle will be more “fluid”, softer and thus may be more attractive; other people may believe a stiffer hackle facing forward is better at attracting fish. Yet, others will tie any fly they find to be the simplest and quickest to tie. This is what Fujioka sensei shows in his analysis of tenkara flies.

The complete analysis of tenkara fly by Fujioka sensei can be found on the pdf document. It’s very informative and thorough, yet simple as it should be.

The Japanese magazines I found in tackle shops in Japan depicted more than just an enormous fish on the cover, more than that exotic, expensive, and “unnatainable” large fish from “a distant Shangri-la. These magazines focused on showing a way of living, the angler/adventurer lifestyle, one that can be attained by anyone so inclined, and in turn excites those who look at their pages. These magazines, in my view as a long-time fishing magazine reader, invite someone to give fishing a try. Even not being able to read the language, they offered enough (diagrams, illustrations, maps, pictures) to get me to buy a couple of admittedly very expensive magazines – the fishing magazines cost as much as $18, but each one is like a book, with less advertising than magazines here. Would you pay that much for a magazine?

Tenkara has been credited with introducing many people to the sport of fly-fishing. It’s simpler, less intimidating, more attainable, and we shall say more enjoyable and effective too. The sport fishing industry has long been complaining of decline. I think magazines have an important role to play in introducing people to “simple fly-fishing”, the attainable lifestyle that anyone may choose to pursue. Instead of intimidating those who look at them in bookstores, I think our magazines would offer real value to the industry and to their readers by offering prospective anglers better content (yes, I’ll say tenkara again as an example, as opposed to the “coolest new bobber/ splitshot in the market”), and a simpler alternative to what is out there. Show novices that fishing really is simple, tell them ideas of where to go, and they will try it.

A huge fish on the cover can be cool, sure. And, there are some Japanese magazines that show the “monsters” on the cover, the big bass, the huge salmon, etc. However, the cover can show more than just that huge fish that has become a cover formula. I don’t believe that’s what most fly anglers are after, at least not on every issue. I for one am after real knowledge, real angling experince local content, cool stream imagery. The magazines I saw bring their audience real knowledge and cool imagery, a lifestyle, not just a distant dream.

One of the main reasons for their appeal is the fact that tenkara nets are made out of a single branch of a tree. How much simpler can it get? No carving, no manufacturing, a simple, organic, tree branch selected and used to make a strong, and functional net frame. Of course, simplicity doesn’t always mean easy, and in this case it definitely does not.  A good tenkara net is very hard to make, and it takes a long time to finish.

The process of making a real tenkara net starts with the selection of the wood; this is the most important step, and the defining one in the process. A tenkara net craftsman will spend days walking in the woods in search of the branches that will work well for making a net. He’ll look for just the right branch with the right angles and diameters. After I learned how these nets are made, I have spent a lot of time looking up to trees, trying to identify those branches that may offer the right angles for a net, and they are really not easy to come by, at least not to the untrained eye. As a result, every single net will be a completely unique piece, with lots of effort put into each one.

Traditionally tenkara nets are made with branches from the kaya tree (Torreya nucifera), a relatively rare type of conifer tree found in southern Japan and an island in South Korea. The trees are a protected species; they are slow growing trees, confined to a small area; thus, any branches that are found are even more highly prized. While I believe many other trees may work, the kaya seems to be ideal for these nets, it’s durable and hard yet lightweight,  the wood has interesting patterns and a uniform grain. One of the nets I purchased, a slightly “large” one with a longer handle weighs a mere 3.5 oz. Occasionally bamboo is also used, though bamboo is not as durable for this application, and more difficult to work with, so makers tend to prefer wood branches.

In Gujo, Gifu prefecture, we visited a shop that specializes in tenkara nets. The store is run by the artisan and his wife and almost all nets are made by him. It is one of the few places in all of Japan that makes and carries thems. It’s a wonderful display of unique and authentic tenkara nets, some simple and functional, some with unique wood features, and some featuring ornamental deer antlers, which are said to protect anglers in the water. Yes, I did feel like a “kid in a candy store”.

The design and features of a tenkara net

Tenkara nets are just perfectly designed, even though no one ever really designed one, and even though I’ll suspect no tenkara net is never really “perfect”. As a matter of fact, imperfections are more than welcome on the nets, there is no need for the frame to be perfectly leveled or for the wood to be free of “flaws”. This may actually be their allure. The natural aspect of each branch is fully embraced by the maker, and by the angler. I think the concept of wabi-sabi applies well here. I have always been a big fan of Japanese design, and with so much inspiration from all aspects of life, even fishing, it’s no wonder Japanese design tends to be so clean, and functional.

The round shape of the net comes from the way the nets are made. Essentially one gets a branch that is Y-shaped (normally a trident shape, where the middle branch is cut off), and through a process of drying and steaming the wood, as well as forcing it into shape, bends the net frame into a circle. The reason for a circle shape is simple, a circle is the strongest shape that can be made to receive pressure or hold weight. Thus, a good circle is also a good indicator of the quality of the net. The circular frame is the best shape to uniformly distribute the pressure a fish puts on the frame, as well as on the net mesh.

The angle between the net frame, and the handle, is also an important functional attribute. As I experienced, this angle is supposed to help in a few ways. When wearing a wading belt (or a regular belt for that matter) the angle keeps the mesh and frame off one’s back, thus allowing the angler to move freely as he walks or climbs over a rock.

Further,  the longer handle usually found on a tenkara net along with that angle allows for the handle to be held behind the knee as one is kneeling on the water, while having the net and fish facing slightly forward. This allows for the tenkara angler to have both hands free as manages the fish, removes the fly, and yes, takes a picture. If one is wading a bit deeper, the same may be done by having the net held by the wading belt, or even under the arm pit as he manages the fish at a comfortable angle and with both hands. Yes, ingenious design!

Click below for some very instructive web pages (in Japanese) on making the nets.

A miniature tenkara net served as decoration in the net store, cute.

http://www4.plala.or.jp/keisuikai7/tamotukurikata.htm
http://www4.plala.or.jp/keisuikai7/tamowakutukuritaka2.htm
http://www4.plala.or.jp/keisuikai7/tamowakutukurikata3.htm
http://www4.plala.or.jp/keisuikai7/nakanosaku/tamowaku.htm

The zenmai was first introduced to me by Fujioka sensei, my teacher of tenkara flies, through his excellent website. A few months ago he sent me some flies, and also a small bit of zenmai, which I would not dare use as they belong to the “museum”. While fishing with Fujioka sensei, I asked if he had seen any zenmai around, “it’s a bit too late in the season”, he replied.  Usually the zenmai comes out in very early spring and the fleece falls off soon after. However, as luck would have it, Fujioka sensei later went to an onsen (hot springs) at a higher elevation and there he was able to find some.

Fly tied by Fujioka sensei using the zenmai dubbing material.

The zenmai is a type of  fern that, in early spring, has a cotton-like material on its body. This cotton-like material makes for excellent dubbing material, it is relatively waterproof, and can be easily made into a tight thread. Depending on the time it is picked or the plant it is picked from, the zenmai will vary slightly in color, with some being darker, and more commonly found in a light tan color.

Usually referred to as “flowering fern”, the zenmai belongs to the Osmunda family. The Japanese species is the Osmunda japonica, but according to Fujioka sensei the zenmai may be found worldwide, except for Australasia. The plant can be found in two stages with fleece still on its body: more commonly it’s found as a fiddlehead fern, a young shoot coming out of the ground and still curled up with fleece covering it almost entirely. Or, as a grown plant with the fleece material still on its stems, like in this video.

Though a bit hard to find at this time of year, there were still a few plants around during my visit (late May-early June). The day after Fujioka sensei gave me some zenmai, I found one plant with the fleece still attached to its body. The following week, as I visited my wife’s grandparents farther north in Yamagata, they found some more zenmai stalks while picking sansai (mountain vegetables). That’s another cool thing about this plant, the Japanese zenmai is an edible plant, a sansai, which is commonly picked by people in the mountains areas of Japan. The cotton-like material is discarded, and the meaty vegetable prepared and eaten.   On this day, vegetable picking proved to be more productive than fishing (the water was too cold, I believe). Among a couple of enormous bags we picked of warabi, and fuki were a few young fiddlehead ferns still fully covered in zenmai fleece.

After being dried for a while, the zenmai can be prepared as a delicious mountain vegetable. We had some awesome meals with these on the side.

Hands full of sansai. In this case, warabi.

I know some tenkara anglers in the US have already picked North American zenmai this year, for their own flies. But, I’m afraid this post may be too late for most people to be able to find it now.

http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/

I just landed back in San Francisco a few hours ago. I find myself a bit dizzy from all the travelling and the jet-lag. And, to be honest, my entire experience in these last 2 weeks has just been so beyond my expectations that it is a bit overwhelming trying to digest it all. But, I figure I have to start somewhere. I plan to slowly publish my experiences, techniques I learned, new insights, interviews, videos, and anything I can share with you.

Daniel with an Amago

Maybe it was growing up watching Karate Kid and other martial arts movies where the pupil goes off to live in a remote mountain village in Asia to train with a well-known master, but for many days I felt like I was living a dream that had been engrained in my mind from my early years, the stuff of a movie. Now that I think of it, it is natural it would be fishing, not martial arts, that I’d be pursuing knowledge of. A couple of days ago my mind brought back the memory of fishing with my dad, watching someone catching a lot of fish, and my dad telling me that if I wanted to learn how to fish I should ask a Japanese person how he does it – the region I grew up in has a very large Japanese immigrant population, and there has always been a stereotype held by my dad, possibly a fact, that the Japanese were incredible anglers. Many years later I am blessed to have the opportunity to go to Japan specifically to learn tenkara directly from the master, Ishigaki-sensei, as well as many other very gifted anglers such as Yoshikazu Fujioka and Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkarano-oni). I may be the first westerner to have ever received such in-depth focused training in the art and techniques of tenkara. For most of the last 2 weeks I was taken under the wings of the most renowned authority on tenkara in Japan, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki (hereby referred to as Ishigaki-sensei, as he has become my de facto teacher). I learned more about pure tenkara than I could ever have imagined I would.

Ishigaki sensei focusing on the water

Iwana

Daniel, Ishigaki-sensei, Fujioka-sensei, Chikara

Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkara no Oni)

I spent many days fishing with Ishigaki-sensei: observing, learning, being observed and unequivocally taught. I also met some of the most well-known people in the world of tenkara at in Japan and was extremelly welcomed by the anglers and communites of the Itoshiro and Mase (Masegawa) rivers: being interviewed a couple of times and appearing at a local newspaper. I was also received as a guest of honor at the “Itoshiro Fisher’s Holiday”, an annual gathering cellebrating the beautiful Itoshiro river, one of the first “Catch-and-Release” rivers in Japan, and even gave a brief speech at one of the biggest tenkara events in the country.

Saitou Shouichi, one of the event's founders and organizer

Angler's barbecue - very well organized

During the event I sought feedback from many people present, and Tenkara USA’s rods, lines and flies were carefully reviewed by some of the most demanding tenkara anglers in the world, dully critiqued (which will only make our rods even better in the future), but an attestment to our products, they received a big nod of approval by people who take tenkara very seriously! Receiving this type of feedback is extremelly valuable, and I’m grateful to have made those connections.
A few of the things I plan to write about in coming days are:

- Interview with Ishigaki-sensei: We spent many hours driving around and having very in-depth conversations about tenkara in the car. These conversations allowed me to ask some questions that bring out a lot of insight and philosophy from the master, as well as the modern history of tenkara in Japan and other things. He also discusses his scientific experiments on fish and anglers.

- Tenkara nets: Japanese design has yet to disappoint me, specially when it comes to its “practical simple elegance”. I have not been so enamoured with something since my “discovery” of tenkara rods. Being in the center of tenkara in Japan, I was able to learn quite a bit about tenkara nets, and their extremelly simple nature, and very organic design has left me in awe, which I hope to share with you.

- Tenkara flies: The simplicity of tenkara is summed by the fact that all you need is a rod, line and A fly. More commonly than I had thought almost all tenkara anglers use one pattern only (whatever their chosen one is). It is very common practice among all tenkara anglers to rely purely on their techniques to find and entice fish, not on changing flies. At this point I have become a firm believe in this approach on faster flowing streams. While anglers will debate which fly works best – some may prefer a fly tied using the skin of a poisonous snake (more on this later), others may use the natural dubbing from the flowering fern (zenmai), and others may just use cheap thread and a simple hackle – it’s widely accepted that one fly is all you need.

- Fishing techniques: The techniques used in tenkara are generally simple, but they are the main pillar of tenkara fly-fishing. Technique, not gear, should be the focus of any activity, although modern society has tended to put a premium on the latter. Relying on gear, even on changing fly patterns, not only detracts from the experience, but also from one’s growth as an angler. I plan to share the techniques I learned in Japan, they work on any faster flowing stream. And, anyone can do well with them and one fly.

- Tenkara bamboo rods: You used to think split-cane rods are nice, well, I’ll tell you, tenkara bamboo rods crafted by a good craftsmen, are just masterpieces. I have next to me what are probably 2 of less than a handful of tenkara rods outside of Japan, and they are just sweet, simple crafts. Made by Dr. Ichi Hashi, a Pediatrician in nearby Gujo, they are wonderful works. Why split something that works so well as given by nature?

- Landing fish technique: While very intuitive, the big lessons here were slow it down! Bring the fish to a shallower part of the water. Let it calm down by holding the line (trust the tippet) and net it. No more lost fish at the last second.

Iwana

- Travelling and fishing in Japan: Japan is likely the best country in the world for small stream fishing. Many people I talk to say their first love is small stream fishing, but if they ever travel is to pursue big fish in tropical countries. Japan is a wonderful country to experience, and the small stream fishing there is top-notch. I’ll try sharing some advice.

Dr. Ichi Hashi, tenkara bamboo rod maker

I had briefly seen a tenkara bamboo rod when Ishigaki sensei visited the Catskills last year, and I had read about it, but had not, until now, had a chance to feel a real tenkara bamboo rod. Then, I got to feel each of a group of some 12 rods, “feel them and pick the one that fits you best”, said Dr. Ichi Hashi, a local pediatric doctor who has been crafting tenkara bamboo rods forseveral years. What? Pick one? How could I? These are just incredible. But, how can I possibly say no and mean it? I had to feel the rods, I found my match, or as the cliche goes, it found me. All I could say was “domo arigatou gozaimasu”, while bowing very deeply for such generous gift, and hoping a gift of a hat and shirt could express a little gratitude.

Gorgeous handles, made of natural bamboo, or wrapped.

These are not the usual cane-pole rod. Yes, they are cane, but their action, weight, balance, are all those of a fly rod. The tenkara bamboo rods are made with 3 or 4 pieces of bamboo. Each rod uses 3 different species of bamboo, selected to be used as the rod butt, the middle of the rod, or for the tip. Plus the handle, which is often made from bamboo rhizome (roots). The selection and matching process is long. Dr. Ichi Hashi goes on his “expeditions” to the hills of Gifu prefecture, not far from Gujo, and selects the best bamboo for his rod. He does this during the late fall/early winter, when the humidity level in the bamboo is at its lowest. Then, he’ll dry the bamboo for up to 2 years in the attic of his clinic. At that point he’ll match the bamboo pieces to be used for the different segments of the rod. He’ll then clean the inside of the rod, opening the nodes to allow the thinner pieces to slip in; he’ll wrap the ends of the segments to strengthen then and lacquer them. And, finally, apply his mastery to finishing each rod. It’s pretty incredible that his rods look like they are all made from one single bamboo, the nodes often look identical, and the taper is flawless.

Incredibly, the nodes of these rod were perfectly aligned. A hard feat.

A 4-piece rod. Pieces are alternated to fit inside a thicker one.

Dr. Ichi Hashi also enjoys fishing with his bamboo rods the most, and I can see why. They are generally slower rods, but like our tenkara rods they come in a variety of flavors, there are the very thin/light rods that are soft (5:5) and there are those that feel stiffer/faster (6:4 or 7:3) , there are some rods that are slightly heavier, but can also be slow (5:5) or faster (6:4 or 7:3). Regardless of their action or weight, one striking feature of bamboo tenkara rods is their recovery. This is also different from the good’ol’cane pole.  Since a tenkara bamboo rod is made for casting a line, the bamboo selected and used for them has great recovery. When you shake them (e.g. cast) the rod will flex as much as it’s made to flex, but it will recover and stop shaking promptly, thus it does not dampen the cast.

Dr. Ichi Hashi has extended me a serious invitation to come spend time with him learning how to make tenkara bamboo rods. There are not many people who make these nowadays. After feeling these rods, I believe there is a lot to be learned from them that can and should be applied to modern rods. Plus, how could I say no to that, when at 14 years old I was trying to learn how to select bamboo to make a cane-pole? Dr. Ichi Hashi, please expect me in Gujo again in the near future. And, domo arigatou gozaimasu.

To learn more about bamboo rods (is this a tenkara rod? and the point of divergence), click below.

Is this a tenkara rod?

Very often we receive emails and messages from people saying they believe they have a tenkara bamboo rod. To date we have not seen one. It’s important to note  there are many methods of freshwater fishing in Japan that look similar (e.g. no reel, line attached to the tip, etc), but are not tenkara.  Most of these rods, though beautifully crafted, are cane poles for use with bait, not tenkara rods. The main distinctive characteristic is the handle, which for tenkara is important. Tenkara rods have distinctive handles for comfortable casting. In addition, tenkara bamboo rods are seldom more than 4 pieces, they are between 10 and 15ft, and need to be flexible enough for casting.
Point-of-divergence: wood v. bamboo

Western fly fishing started much like tenkara looks like today, rod, line and fly. No reel. It is believed that the divergence between western countries starting to use reels, but Japan continued to use a long rod without a reel, may have been caused by the different materials available for their rods. In Europe, the angler needed to use different woods as his fishing rod. In the beginning, all the European angler had in his disposal was the wood fishing rod and horsehair for a line.Without a reel, the ideal length for the rod was not today’s 9ft, but rather close to 15ft long. While that may have been the length used by Dame Juliana Berners or Charles Cotton, those rods were heavy! 15ft long rods made of any wood available in the west was too heavy for comfortable use. Thus, ingenious anglers started developing ways to shorten their rods and, instead, use longer lines. Later on Europeans  ”discovered” bamboo, and started using bamboo to make their rods, but by then it was already too late.

Today, the cane fly rod is highly prized by many anglers, but while bamboo looks like a perfectly suitable material to make a fishing rod as it is, I think there are a couple of reasons. Since selecting the best bamboo for making a fishing rod takes a long time, as does drying an entire bamboo rod. I believe the best solution for people in the west to make large quantities of more consistent fly rods without ready access to the sources of bamboo, was to split it and manufacture their own rods (as opposed to simply selecting the best looking bamboo).

In Japan, on the other hand, the hills are covered in a very lightweight material: bamboo. Bamboo allowed anglers in Japan to continue using their long rods, without ever having a need to devise running lines to shorten their rods. They continued using bamboo, natural bamboo, unsplit, just natural. The angler focused on finding the perfect bamboo, one that already looked like and felt like a good fishing rod. With time, he also worked on the handle for his rod, making it comfortable for casting a fly, then he worked on opening the nodes so he could store pieces inside of each other. From there he could only improve on this simple fishing tool. For centuries the angler worked on improving it and the tenkara bamboo rods are a result of this work. They feel great, yet they were never split. They are much like there were on the ground.

Dr. Ichihashi, tenkara bamboo rod maker

I had briefly seen a tenkara bamboo rod when Ishigaki sensei visited the Catskills last year, and I had read about it, but had not, until now, had a chance to feel a real tenkara bamboo rod. Then, I got to feel each of a group of some 12 rods, “feel them and pick the one that fits you best”, said Dr. Ichihashi, 市橋　寛, a local pediatric doctor who has been crafting tenkara bamboo rods forseveral years. What? Pick one? How could I? These are just incredible. But, how can I possibly say no and mean it? I had to feel the rods, I found my match, or as the cliche goes, it found me. All I could say was “domo arigatou gozaimasu”, while bowing very deeply for such generous gift, and hoping a gift of a hat and shirt could express a little gratitude.

Gorgeous handles, made of natural bamboo, or wrapped.

These are not the usual cane-pole rod. Yes, they are cane, but their action, weight, balance, are all those of a fly rod. The tenkara bamboo rods are made with 3 or 4 pieces of bamboo. Each rod uses 3 different species of bamboo, selected to be used as the rod butt, the middle of the rod, or for the tip. Plus the handle, which is often made from bamboo rhizome (roots). The selection and matching process is long. Dr. Ichi Hashi goes on his “expeditions” to the hills of Gifu prefecture, not far from Gujo, and selects the best bamboo for his rod. He does this during the late fall/early winter, when the humidity level in the bamboo is at its lowest. Then, he’ll dry the bamboo for up to 2 years in the attic of his clinic. At that point he’ll match the bamboo pieces to be used for the different segments of the rod. He’ll then clean the inside of the rod, opening the nodes to allow the thinner pieces to slip in; he’ll wrap the ends of the segments to strengthen then and lacquer them. And, finally, apply his mastery to finishing each rod. It’s pretty incredible that his rods look like they are all made from one single bamboo, the nodes often look identical, and the taper is flawless.

Incredibly, the nodes of these rod were perfectly aligned. A hard feat.

A 4-piece rod. Pieces are alternated to fit inside a thicker one.

Dr. Ichi Hashi also enjoys fishing with his bamboo rods the most, and I can see why. They are generally slower rods, but like our tenkara rods they come in a variety of flavors, there are the very thin/light rods that are soft (5:5) and there are those that feel stiffer/faster (6:4 or 7:3) , there are some rods that are slightly heavier, but can also be slow (5:5) or faster (6:4 or 7:3). Regardless of their action or weight, one striking feature of bamboo tenkara rods is their recovery. This is also different from the good’ol’cane pole.  Since a tenkara bamboo rod is made for casting a line, the bamboo selected and used for them has great recovery. When you shake them (e.g. cast) the rod will flex as much as it’s made to flex, but it will recover and stop shaking promptly, thus it does not dampen the cast.

Dr. Ichi Hashi has extended me a serious invitation to come spend time with him learning how to make tenkara bamboo rods. There are not many people who make these nowadays. After feeling these rods, I believe there is a lot to be learned from them that can and should be applied to modern rods. Plus, how could I say no to that, when at 14 years old I was trying to learn how to select bamboo to make a cane-pole? Dr. Ichi Hashi, please expect me in Gujo again in the near future. And, domo arigatou gozaimasu.

To learn more about bamboo rods (is this a tenkara rod? and the point of divergence), click below.

Is this a tenkara rod?

Very often we receive emails and messages from people saying they believe they have a tenkara bamboo rod. To date we have not seen one. It’s important to note  there are many methods of freshwater fishing in Japan that look similar (e.g. no reel, line attached to the tip, etc), but are not tenkara.  Most of these rods, though beautifully crafted, are cane poles for use with bait, not tenkara rods. The main distinctive characteristic is the handle, which for tenkara is important. Tenkara rods have distinctive handles for comfortable casting. In addition, tenkara bamboo rods are seldom more than 4 pieces, they are between 10 and 15ft, and need to be flexible enough for casting.
Point-of-divergence: wood v. bamboo

Western fly fishing started much like tenkara looks like today, rod, line and fly. No reel. It is believed that the divergence between western countries starting to use reels, but Japan continued to use a long rod without a reel, may have been caused by the different materials available for their rods. In Europe, the angler needed to use different woods as his fishing rod. In the beginning, all the European angler had in his disposal was the wood fishing rod and horsehair for a line.Without a reel, the ideal length for the rod was not today’s 9ft, but rather close to 15ft long. While that may have been the length used by Dame Juliana Berners or Charles Cotton, those rods were heavy! 15ft long rods made of any wood available in the west was too heavy for comfortable use. Thus, ingenious anglers started developing ways to shorten their rods and, instead, use longer lines. Later on Europeans  ”discovered” bamboo, and started using bamboo to make their rods, but by then it was already too late.

Today, the cane fly rod is highly prized by many anglers, but while bamboo looks like a perfectly suitable material to make a fishing rod as it is, I think there are a couple of reasons. Since selecting the best bamboo for making a fishing rod takes a long time, as does drying an entire bamboo rod. I believe the best solution for people in the west to make large quantities of more consistent fly rods without ready access to the sources of bamboo, was to split it and manufacture their own rods (as opposed to simply selecting the best looking bamboo).

In Japan, on the other hand, the hills are covered in a very lightweight material: bamboo. Bamboo allowed anglers in Japan to continue using their long rods, without ever having a need to devise running lines to shorten their rods. They continued using bamboo, natural bamboo, unsplit, just natural. The angler focused on finding the perfect bamboo, one that already looked like and felt like a good fishing rod. With time, he also worked on the handle for his rod, making it comfortable for casting a fly, then he worked on opening the nodes so he could store pieces inside of each other. From there he could only improve on this simple fishing tool. For centuries the angler worked on improving it and the tenkara bamboo rods are a result of this work. They feel great, yet they were never split. They are much like there were on the ground.

While, as I mentioned before, one fly pattern should be enough for successful fishing, different anglers will have different opinions on what works best. Hirata-san thinks the mottled look of the snake skin, along with its slight reflective surface, are highly attractive to fish. At $10 each they are not cheap, but he justifies it by saying that “I’m risking my life to make these flies”. I figured they would be a nice addition to the tenkara museum.

Hirata san in his tackle shop, home of the Mamushi kebari (snake skin fly)

While, as I mentioned before, one fly pattern should be enough for successful fishing, different anglers will have different opinions on what works best. Hirata-san thinks the mottled look of the snake skin, along with its slight reflective surface, are highly attractive to fish. At $10 each they are not cheap, but he justifies it by saying that “I’m risking my life to make these flies”. I figured they would be a nice addition to the tenkara museum.

Hirata san in his tackle shop, home of the Mamushi kebari (snake skin fly)

It’s funny, but sometimes I’d point out the big mayflies hatching to Dr. Ishigaki. He’d look at them, and shrug, as if to say “okay, nice, now let’s go fishing”. After a while I just stopped pointing to the bugs, and by the end of my trip they were interesting to see the way birds are, but no longer very relevant to my fishing.

A large mayfly landed on Ishigaki sensei's vest

So, if there is one point Dr. Ishigaki, probably the most renowned tenkara angler in Japan, and I would like for people to know even if they choose to ignore it, is this: you only need one fly pattern to successfully fish in streams with running water. It doesn’t matter what pattern you choose, some people prefer the sakasa flies (reverse hackle), some people the soft-hackle flies, and a few will use what look like dry flies. I’d recommend one of the traditional reverse-hackle tenkara style flies (sakasa kebari), for reasons I’ll cover on a later post on fly manipulation and presentation. You may generally pay attention to size, e.g. using flies that are slightly larger if that is the size of bugs found on the stream or if you want extra visibility (e.g. for a faster than usual stream), or smaller if the fish are scared or those are the sizes of bugs found on the stream. And, perhaps color for visibility. But, that’s about it.

Ishigaki sensei tying his famous, simple pattern.

Essentially, in faster running streams fish have few opportunities to eat, additionally they have poor eyesight. Having to decide very quickly whether to go for something floating around, they will often go for anything properly presented to them. If you’ve ever seen footage of trout feeding, you’have seen they will go for leaves, and rocks  going by, and even for bugs with a big hook sticking behind, so why not any fly. After I first heard of the concept, I was able to narrow my flies down to two choices, a floating elk-hair caddis and the Ishigaki fly pattern. Now I realize one is enough, and have converted, I think you can too, if you so choose.

How did he get to that conclusion?

When Ishigaki sensei started in tenkara fishing he didn’t catch many fish. Following the scarce advice from a few books and magazines available at the time, he’d switch flies if one was not working. Additionally, the books suggested specific colors and sizes based on the time of year. Not happy with not catching fish, but wanting to know why and with his background as a scientist, Dr. Ishigaki embarked on a series of experiments on trout feeding.

Some of his first research was on the vision of fish (he’s a doctor/professor in the field of vision studies), and he concluded that their vision was very poor, and they generally can not distinguish shapes or colors. That, along with their instincts to eat food when available, and the moving water they live in, does not allow fish to select what to eat, except for the obvious size discrepancies,  perhaps.

Due to his research, which received much notoriety in Japan some 30 years ago, getting very widely published in fishing magazines, and even on the major tv shows, he was put in touch with many of the tenkara experts at the time. During these meetings, he noticed that every expert only used one fly pattern while fishing, but each one used a slightly different fly, and still caught as many fish, and as effectivelly, as the next guy. So, he figured, fish will probably bite anything! (as long as it’s properly presented/manipulated)

A wet tenkara fly, the Ishigaki kebari

Give it a try too!

Being under the tutelage of Ishigaki sensei and having had the “pressure” to fish with one fly exclusively over my time in Japan,  helped ascertain a new level of confidence in my abilities to catch a fish, not on the fly’s ability to attract one. Before the trip I had narrowed my choices of flies to two, a dry fly (elk-hair caddis) and a sakasa kebari. Now I’m a one fly convert. I’d urge you to give one fly a fair try for several days of fishing, you’ll simplify your fishing, learn how to use the fly properly, spend less time changing flies, more time fishing them, and finally, I believe you’ll enjoy your time fishing more.

In coming days I’ll share with you some interesting fly patterns I have come across, as well as the techniques to present and manipulate the flies.

It’s funny, but sometimes I’d point out the big mayflies hatching to Dr. Ishigaki. He’d look at them, and shrug, as if to say “okay, nice, now let’s go fishing”. After a while I just stopped pointing to the bugs, and by the end of my trip they were interesting to see the way birds are, but no longer very relevant to my fishing.

A large mayfly landed on Ishigaki sensei's vest

So, if there is one point Dr. Ishigaki, probably the most renowned tenkara angler in Japan, and I would like for people to know even if they choose to ignore it, is this: you only need one fly pattern to successfully fish in streams with running water. It doesn’t matter what pattern you choose, some people prefer the sakasa flies (reverse hackle), some people the soft-hackle flies, and a few will use what look like dry flies. I’d recommend one of the traditional reverse-hackle tenkara style flies (sakasa kebari), for reasons I’ll cover on a later post on fly manipulation and presentation. You may generally pay attention to size, e.g. using flies that are slightly larger if that is the size of bugs found on the stream or if you want extra visibility (e.g. for a faster than usual stream), or smaller if the fish are scared or those are the sizes of bugs found on the stream. And, perhaps color for visibility. But, that’s about it.

Ishigaki sensei tying his famous, simple pattern.

Essentially, in faster running streams fish have few opportunities to eat, additionally they have poor eyesight. Having to decide very quickly whether to go for something floating around, they will often go for anything properly presented to them. If you’ve ever seen footage of trout feeding, you’have seen they will go for leaves, and rocks  going by, and even for bugs with a big hook sticking behind, so why not any fly. After I first heard of the concept, I was able to narrow my flies down to two choices, a floating elk-hair caddis and the Ishigaki fly pattern. Now I realize one is enough, and have converted, I think you can too, if you so choose.

How did he get to that conclusion?

When Ishigaki sensei started in tenkara fishing he didn’t catch many fish. Following the scarce advice from a few books and magazines available at the time, he’d switch flies if one was not working. Additionally, the books suggested specific colors and sizes based on the time of year. Not happy with not catching fish, but wanting to know why and with his background as a scientist, Dr. Ishigaki embarked on a series of experiments on trout feeding.

Some of his first research was on the vision of fish (he’s a doctor/professor in the field of vision studies), and he concluded that their vision was very poor, and they generally can not distinguish shapes or colors. That, along with their instincts to eat food when available, and the moving water they live in, does not allow fish to select what to eat, except for the obvious size discrepancies,  perhaps.

Due to his research, which received much notoriety in Japan some 30 years ago, getting very widely published in fishing magazines, and even on the major tv shows, he was put in touch with many of the tenkara experts at the time. During these meetings, he noticed that every expert only used one fly pattern while fishing, but each one used a slightly different fly, and still caught as many fish, and as effectivelly, as the next guy. So, he figured, fish will probably bite anything! (as long as it’s properly presented/manipulated)

A wet tenkara fly, the Ishigaki kebari

Give it a try too!

Being under the tutelage of Ishigaki sensei and having had the “pressure” to fish with one fly exclusively over my time in Japan,  helped ascertain a new level of confidence in my abilities to catch a fish, not on the fly’s ability to attract one. Before the trip I had narrowed my choices of flies to two, a dry fly (elk-hair caddis) and a sakasa kebari. Now I’m a one fly convert. I’d urge you to give one fly a fair try for several days of fishing, you’ll simplify your fishing, learn how to use the fly properly, spend less time changing flies, more time fishing them, and finally, I believe you’ll enjoy your time fishing more.

In coming days I’ll share with you some interesting fly patterns I have come across, as well as the techniques to present and manipulate the flies.

We spent most of our time in the Itoshiro River, which is located in the Gifu province, and what we may call the “tenkara capital” of Japan. We also visited the Mazegawa, which was a beautiful river, but a bit high when we came. Gifu has a enormous variety and number of streams that are “tenkara-perfect”. See the interactive map below for exact locations where our pictures were taken.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115281063052794282472.000488ca37d7f1d589c57&ll=36.044658,136.801758&spn=0.388635,0.878906&z=10&output=embed
Japan presents a few challenges for travelling, mainly the language and signage, which in some places is completely in Japanese characters. However, that is a minor detail in light of the best public transportation system in the world, and the fact that most people are very willing to help. Of course, in this trip I had the help of a good friend from Japan and Dr. Ishigaki was driving us around. To get to that area we took a Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya, from there a subway ride to meet Dr. Ishigaki near his University, and a 3 hour car ride to the Itoshiro.

The character for the fuji flower (藤) is the same character as Fujioka-san (藤岡), so they joke that’s his flower. This is the fish he caught just about an hour earlier:

Fujioka-san with a nice Iwana

One morning I was able to get very close to the fuji flowers, they tend to be found a bit high, but a few hours before I was able to I had dunked my camera’s lens, a big SLR lens, into the water as I landed a fish. It’s what I call my karma neutralizer. I didn’t realize it until later, but the  picture I took was a bit foggy. Luckily I was able to get back there before the trip was over and take a better picture.

According to Chikara, my good friend in Japan, the article was very well written. He was impressed by the polite Japanese language used in it. Of course, one of the thousand more reasons I have to learn Japanese.

After fishing on the Maze River (Mazegawa), which turned out to be a bit blown out from previous days’ rain, we sat inside the Mizube no Yakata fishing center for the interview. The reporter asked questions of me and Dr. Ishigaki, and we had a good conversation about tenkara in the rest of the world.

Click on to see the article translation.

From the U.S. to Maze River

Tenkara fishing training

05/27/2010

Daniel Galhardo (27) has been spreading tenkara in the U.S., is now enjoying catching the Iwana and Amago with kebari as he visited Maza river, located in Maze, Karo-shi, on the 26^th. He enjoyed the Japanese traditional way of fishing with Dr. Ishigaki (professor in Aichikougyou University) known for “Tenkara sensei.”

“I’d like to live in Japan in the future and master tenkara fishing. I’d like to walk on the beautiful stream in Japan and enjoy fishing the most. ”, says Daniel about one of his dreams.

Through the years, Daniel enjoyed the live bait fishing, lure fishing, and fly fishing in the past. When he was researching the history of Japanese fishing about four years ago, he has learned that there is the way of enjoying fishing which has been around for ages. After acquiring the knowledge from magazines and books, he bought the tenkara gear, brushed up his fishing skills and started enjoying the fishing.

“Tenkara fishing is a very simple fishing method, like what I did as a child, I was so into it. It’s a fishing style that can make you relax, yet it’s very pure.” He talks about why tenkara appeals to him.

Daniel met Dr. Ishigaki last May in New York, when Dr. Ishigaki went there to give a speech and demonstration on tenkara. Daniel has been learning more about the technique from Dr. Ishigaki. He has started his own brand “Tenkara USA” to spread tenkara fishing in the U.S. and it’s getting more popular.

They visited Maze River, one of the best streams in the prefecture, and where there is also the fishing center “Mizube no Yakata”, to which Dr. Ishigaki has a deep connection.

The river was a bit swollen on the day, and they only had a half day to spend there, but Daniel talked with a satisfied look, “the Maze river’s water is very clean and there was the lush green of nature. I really had a good time here.”

Dr. Ishigaki said about Daniel, “I’m impressed with his eagerness and efforts. I’d like to teach him not only the techniques but also as much as I can such as its philosophy.”

Katsuhiro Osaki from Mizube no Yakata said “I’d like to introduce the fishing of the countryside, and I’d also like to introduce its nature and culture to overseas visitors in order to stimulate the local area.”

Daniel is going to stay in Japan until the middle of June. He is planning to attend the “Itoshiro Fisher’s holiday” held in Itoshiro River, Itoshiro-cho, Guze-shi.

According to Chikara, my good friend in Japan, the article was very well written. He was impressed by the polite Japanese language used in it. Of course, one of the thousand more reasons I have to learn Japanese.

After fishing on the Maze River (Mazegawa), which turned out to be a bit blown out from previous days’ rain, we sat inside the Mizube no Yakata fishing center for the interview. The reporter asked questions of me and Dr. Ishigaki, and we had a good conversation about tenkara in the rest of the world.

Click on to see the article translation.

From the U.S. to Maze River

Tenkara fishing training

05/27/2010

Daniel Galhardo (27) has been spreading tenkara in the U.S., is now enjoying catching the Iwana and Amago with kebari as he visited Maza river, located in Maze, Karo-shi, on the 26^th. He enjoyed the Japanese traditional way of fishing with Dr. Ishigaki (professor in Aichikougyou University) known for “Tenkara sensei.”

“I’d like to live in Japan in the future and master tenkara fishing. I’d like to walk on the beautiful stream in Japan and enjoy fishing the most. ”, says Daniel about one of his dreams.

Through the years, Daniel enjoyed the live bait fishing, lure fishing, and fly fishing in the past. When he was researching the history of Japanese fishing about four years ago, he has learned that there is the way of enjoying fishing which has been around for ages. After acquiring the knowledge from magazines and books, he bought the tenkara gear, brushed up his fishing skills and started enjoying the fishing.

“Tenkara fishing is a very simple fishing method, like what I did as a child, I was so into it. It’s a fishing style that can make you relax, yet it’s very pure.” He talks about why tenkara appeals to him.

Daniel met Dr. Ishigaki last May in New York, when Dr. Ishigaki went there to give a speech and demonstration on tenkara. Daniel has been learning more about the technique from Dr. Ishigaki. He has started his own brand “Tenkara USA” to spread tenkara fishing in the U.S. and it’s getting more popular.

They visited Maze River, one of the best streams in the prefecture, and where there is also the fishing center “Mizube no Yakata”, to which Dr. Ishigaki has a deep connection.

The river was a bit swollen on the day, and they only had a half day to spend there, but Daniel talked with a satisfied look, “the Maze river’s water is very clean and there was the lush green of nature. I really had a good time here.”

Dr. Ishigaki said about Daniel, “I’m impressed with his eagerness and efforts. I’d like to teach him not only the techniques but also as much as I can such as its philosophy.”

Katsuhiro Osaki from Mizube no Yakata said “I’d like to introduce the fishing of the countryside, and I’d also like to introduce its nature and culture to overseas visitors in order to stimulate the local area.”

Daniel is going to stay in Japan until the middle of June. He is planning to attend the “Itoshiro Fisher’s holiday” held in Itoshiro River, Itoshiro-cho, Guze-shi.

Daniel with an Amago

Maybe it was growing up watching Karate Kid and other martial arts movies where the pupil goes off to live in a remote mountain village in Asia to train with a well-known master, but for many days I felt like I was living a dream that had been engrained in my mind from my early years, the stuff of a movie. Now that I think of it, it is natural it would be fishing, not martial arts, that I’d be pursuing knowledge of. A couple of days ago my mind brought back the memory of fishing with my dad, watching someone catching a lot of fish, and my dad telling me that if I wanted to learn how to fish I should ask a Japanese person how he does it – the region I grew up in has a very large Japanese immigrant population, and there has always been a stereotype held by my dad, possibly a fact, that the Japanese were incredible anglers. Many years later I am blessed to have the opportunity to go to Japan specifically to learn tenkara directly from the master, Ishigaki-sensei, as well as many other very gifted anglers such as Yoshikazu Fujioka and Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkarano-oni). I may be the first westerner to have ever received such in-depth focused training in the art and techniques of tenkara. For most of the last 2 weeks I was taken under the wings of the most renowned authority on tenkara in Japan, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki (hereby referred to as Ishigaki-sensei, as he has become my de facto teacher). I learned more about pure tenkara than I could ever have imagined I would.

Ishigaki sensei focusing on the water

Iwana

Daniel, Ishigaki-sensei, Fujioka-sensei, Chikara

Sakakibara Masami (aka Tenkara no Oni)

I spent many days fishing with Ishigaki-sensei: observing, learning, being observed and unequivocally taught. I also met some of the most well-known people in the world of tenkara at in Japan and was extremelly welcomed by the anglers and communites of the Itoshiro and Mase (Masegawa) rivers: being interviewed a couple of times and appearing at a local newspaper. I was also received as a guest of honor at the “Itoshiro Fisher’s Holiday”, an annual gathering cellebrating the beautiful Itoshiro river, one of the first “Catch-and-Release” rivers in Japan, and even gave a brief speech at one of the biggest tenkara events in the country.

Saitou Shouichi, one of the event's founders and organizer

Angler's barbecue - very well organized

During the event I sought feedback from many people present, and Tenkara USA’s rods, lines and flies were carefully reviewed by some of the most demanding tenkara anglers in the world, dully critiqued (which will only make our rods even better in the future), but an attestment to our products, they received a big nod of approval by people who take tenkara very seriously! Receiving this type of feedback is extremelly valuable, and I’m grateful to have made those connections.
A few of the things I plan to write about in coming days are:

- Interview with Ishigaki-sensei: We spent many hours driving around and having very in-depth conversations about tenkara in the car. These conversations allowed me to ask some questions that bring out a lot of insight and philosophy from the master, as well as the modern history of tenkara in Japan and other things. He also discusses his scientific experiments on fish and anglers.

- Tenkara nets: Japanese design has yet to disappoint me, specially when it comes to its “practical simple elegance”. I have not been so enamoured with something since my “discovery” of tenkara rods. Being in the center of tenkara in Japan, I was able to learn quite a bit about tenkara nets, and their extremelly simple nature, and very organic design has left me in awe, which I hope to share with you.

- Tenkara flies: The simplicity of tenkara is summed by the fact that all you need is a rod, line and A fly. More commonly than I had thought almost all tenkara anglers use one pattern only (whatever their chosen one is). It is very common practice among all tenkara anglers to rely purely on their techniques to find and entice fish, not on changing flies. At this point I have become a firm believe in this approach on faster flowing streams. While anglers will debate which fly works best – some may prefer a fly tied using the skin of a poisonous snake (more on this later), others may use the natural dubbing from the flowering fern (zenmai), and others may just use cheap thread and a simple hackle – it’s widely accepted that one fly is all you need.

- Fishing techniques: The techniques used in tenkara are generally simple, but they are the main pillar of tenkara fly-fishing. Technique, not gear, should be the focus of any activity, although modern society has tended to put a premium on the latter. Relying on gear, even on changing fly patterns, not only detracts from the experience, but also from one’s growth as an angler. I plan to share the techniques I learned in Japan, they work on any faster flowing stream. And, anyone can do well with them and one fly.

- Tenkara bamboo rods: You used to think split-cane rods are nice, well, I’ll tell you, tenkara bamboo rods crafted by a good craftsmen, are just masterpieces. I have next to me what are probably 2 of less than a handful of tenkara rods outside of Japan, and they are just sweet, simple crafts. Made by Dr. Ichi Hashi, a Pediatrician in nearby Gujo, they are wonderful works. Why split something that works so well as given by nature?

- Landing fish technique: While very intuitive, the big lessons here were slow it down! Bring the fish to a shallower part of the water. Let it calm down by holding the line (trust the tippet) and net it. No more lost fish at the last second.

Iwana

- Travelling and fishing in Japan: Japan is likely the best country in the world for small stream fishing. Many people I talk to say their first love is small stream fishing, but if they ever travel is to pursue big fish in tropical countries. Japan is a wonderful country to experience, and the small stream fishing there is top-notch. I’ll try sharing some advice.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

A couple of days ago a package arrived at my mailbox. As I opened it, I was quite overwhelmed, wowed!, astounded, ecstatic, well you get the picture. A very good tenkara no oto-san, Dr. Ishigaki had sent me a one-of-a-kind find: two volumes of a comic book devoted to tenkara! Wow! is almost all I can say. Thank you Dr. Ishigaki! This is a rare treasure that I will cherish forever.

These books are beautifully illustrated, and with very good content. Take a look at the pictures below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
By Kondansya Comics

If it was not clear that fishing is a vital part of Japanese culture and life by now, then I think the existence of these books will clear any doubt. The two comic books are part of a larger series of comics devoted to fishing. The comics are called “Tsuri kichi Sanpei (Sanpei, a boy crazy about fishing). Volumes 6 and 7 are entirely devoted to tenkara, and are now part of our tenkara museum. These comics were published some 30 years ago. Each volume has about 200 pages of the most beautiful illustrations. Not only are these comics artful and entertaining, but they also have several tips and real fishing knowledge: fly-tying, rod making, native fish, casting and fishing techniques and other knowledge of the world of tenkara.

This series of comics has also been adopted by schools in the education of their young; talking about a way to get kids engaged in reading, and then really into the sport, heh?

I’m also thankful for honest opinions of our users. Today I saw a post by one of our members about how we can take something so simple and perhaps make it what it is not. As he says, “Tenkara is tenkara. Everything else… is just something else…”. Discussions in our forum will continue pushing some boundaries, and, yes, they will stretch tenkara in different ways – sometimes pushing it away from tenkara per se, sometimes pushing it away from simplicity. But, overall, I think these go in a full circle and bring tenkara right back to its simple roots. And, we’ll strive to keep it pure, and most importantly, simple and personal.

I’m a big tenkara purist (maybe not a 100% since I use an elk-hair caddis as a go-to fly, but pretty pure). I like everything about tenkara: its knots, its lines, its rods, its way of fishing and most of all its philosophy. And, I’d love to keep tenkara what it is: tenkara, pure, and simple. That’s the reason I have not made heavier rods as many people have requested or ever suggested anyone try a western fly line with it, and why I generally condone floatant, and do not use or suggest use of an indicator. And, that’s why I hardly discuss line tapers, or scientific formulas for rods and lines. I like to keep it simple. But, I understand these adaptations will happen, and it’s while I’ll probably never adopt any of them (I have never used flotant, split shot, or indicators) it’s still interesting to see a few experiments in different directions. In my view, not often, but sometimes something good may come out of it.

Yes, we can define tenkara as: using a rod between 10 and 15ft long (longer rods are not tenkara rods as they are too heavy, shorter rods lose any advantages of a tenkara rod); the rod will have a handle for comfortable casting; two types of lines are used: furled or level flurocarbon of up to 40ft; no floatant, indicator or split shot are ever used; the line is attached to a rod tip called a lillian by using a very simple knot; the angler is primarily using dry flies or soft-hackle (incl reverse hackle) flies, and one fly only. The angler will also embrace simplicity, less gear, more personal enjoyment. That is tenkara, purely. But…

What is your tenkara?

You get to a small stretch of stream and find that another angler has gotten there just before you. The fishable stretch is so small that to leapfrog him would just be rude. So, you resign yourself to fish behind him all day, and resolve to concentrate on presentation. When you stop for lunch he walks back down the trail and you offer a friendly “Any luck?” He says “I caught two small browns down below. You?” #flyfishingsimplicity allows you to say, “Yeah, a couple” instead of your actual fourteen.

What is your idea of #flyfishingsimplicity?

Meanwhile, here’s the trailer for a really good movie on Dr. Nakano and on small stream ecology, River Webs. We received this video today, watched, drooled a bit, and loved it. If you get a chance, and are interested in the subject, we’ll highly recommend you purchase it.

An important take away from the movie “Adding [non-native] rainbow trout in streams reduces emerging insects, and those feed not only the spiders that we studied, but also birds and bats” – Dr. Kurt Fausch, Colorado State University

For more information on the movie, you may visit their site: http://www.riverwebs.org/index.html. And, if you’d like to get a copy of the movie, simply join Freshwater Illustrated, for a contribution of $25 and you’ll own this incredible video: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=7089.

“RiverWebs is a 1-hour documentary film that chronicles the inspiring life and work of the pioneering Japanese ecologist, Dr. Shigeru Nakano. From his boyhood exploration of Japan’s mountain streams to his leadership of an international effort to understand river ecosystems, Nakano’s life demonstrates the unquenchable curiosity and bold creativity that drive scientific discovery. Yet it is Nakano’s tragic death that shows us the profound personal impact of his life, and reveals what is perhaps the greatest scientific strength… community.

Many dealers share our perception that tenkara may be something that was missing in the sport, a simpler fly-fishing alternative. The number of new participants in the sport has been minimal, which translates into a very slow and mature industry, and in turn brings few new things to the market, and also makes it hard to continually attract customers back into the fly shop. Based on our customer demographics, largely comprise of anglers with MANY years of experience, or outdoor enthusiasts completely new to fly-fishing, we believe tenkara is something that will excite loyal long-time fly shop customers and will open the doors to many new enthusiasts.

Creative Sports, Lois (manager) and Jamie (owner)

Tenkara USA will be working with the best independent fly shops in select regions. The first stores to start carrying our products are: The Bear’s Den (Taunton, MA), Creative Sports Fly Shop(Pleasant Hill, CA), Wildfly/Campsaver (Logan, UT), Mossy Creek Fly Fishing (Harrisonburg, VA)  . These shops are great at what they do, have a good reputation in their markets, and above all, are as enthusiastic about tenkara as we are. We will not push our products to any store, so if you see our products in a store, it’s because its owners got the concept and have become fans of tenkara too. These dealers understand the importance of something new in the industry, but most importantly they find the simplicity of tenkara refreshing and see the great effectiveness of using a long rod with no reel. We’re proud to work with them, and hope they don’t blame us when their western rods, and reels start accumulating dust.

Customers in Canada, the UK, and Western Europe will now be able to take advantage of our new distribution centers in Vancouver and the UK for cheaper shipping rates, faster delivery and no customs/ duty hassles. We’re very proud that word on tenkara has been quickly reaching many parts of the globe. The great international demand we have experienced has prompted us to make it easier for our international customers to order from us. At this point we’re making products available in limited quantities, and customers may order tenkara rods, tenkara lines, and tenkara flies as well as replacement tips for their rods. DVDs, t-shirts, and wallets are not currently available.

We’re currently working on making our site available in multiple languages as well, so stay tuned. If you’re interested in helping translate Tenkara USA into your language, we’d love to hear from you by email.