What is tenkara? And what isn’t?
These two questions seem to be popping up in the tenkara conversation more and more lately. I’m working on an article focused on these two questions and I’d love to know what you think.
Please offer your thoughts in the comments or, if you prefer, shoot me an email.
Thanks!
I’ve thought about this topic way too much. I do that with everything. After going in a few circles I’m back where I started I think – if not a bit dizzier. When I started tenkara way back when, I thought of the tenkara rod as a tool. Then somewhere along the line I was enlightened to “tenkara as technique”. After wearing that concert t-shirt for a while – I’m back to my Forest Gump posture; “Tenkara is as Tenkara does”. This idea has been validated for me by Japanese angler Eiji Yamakawa. At the Summit I was talking to him about his tenkara rod and noticed that he grips it differently than I’ve been told was “tenkara”. I mentioned jokingly that he was holding the rod “the wrong way”. Eiji laughed and then dealt me this pearl of wisdom “In tenkara, anything goes!”. So that was enough for me to base my entire philosophy upon.
With all that said. I am in no way denying that there is plenty to learn from Japanese Tenkara Masters regarding tenkara techniques. Quite to the contrary, I know there are many tenkara techniques that will make me a better angler, and I am all about sucking up as much of that as I can – there is plenty to learn. I just want to be able to say I’m “tenkara” fishing whether I’m fishing dries, nymphs, sakasa kebari or whatever. And whether I’m fishing still waters, rivers, streams. Or whether I’m fishing for trout or bluegills or catfish. If I am using my tenkara rod I am doing tenkara.
This may not be a consensus, maybe it is not even strictly correct – but that’s where I am.
I think people need to spend more time fishing & less time typing.
Take your tenkara rod and just go fish, have fun, experiment, learn something new. Quit wasting fishing time wondering if what you are doing is tenkara or arguing with others about what tenkara is or is not.
It’s time for me to shut up and go fish, see you on the water.
John
Come on man! Don’t rub it in that you live on minutes from a bunch of trout streams…some of us have to talk about cause we can’t get out…
Nudge and wink, please take in the lighthearted manner in which it’s intended. ps It’s not just talk – it’s visualization and meditation…
Hey John Vetterli – I totally agree. Actually, I am surprised at the discussion about whether something is Tenkara or not. I expected that the big discussion would be whether Tenkara is fly fishing or not.
i love the people who say a it’s not a tenkara unless it has a cork handle, and the ones who say a tenkara has to be at least 11foot. An 11 footer couldn’t cast where I fish in Snehandoah country and blue ridge mts.
I know, understand, and respect tenkara as it’s practiced in Japan. I also realize that now that tenkara has been introduced in America and the west, it will undoubtedly undergo experimentation and expansion. I feel there’s room in western tenkara (is that such a thing?) for a lot of variation on a theme. I fish some nymphs, terrestrials, western fly patterns, etc., but I really feel it’s still all tenkara. I’m using a tenkara rod. I’m still keeping it very simple and uncluttered. I too noticed the variation even among the Japanese guests at the most recent tenkara summit. I’ve also seen Yvon Chouinard (a long-time tenkara angler) gripping his rod differently. I don’t see anyone telling them that they’re doing it “wrong”.
No doubt there will be those who cling to what they view as the traditional Japanese form. However, if tenkara (small ‘t’?) is nothing but fly-fishing without a reel and with a fixed line then we have to admit that there were people doint just that in the US and elsewhere long before the Japanese form was imported. Tenkara didn’t meet graphite until perhaps the 70s? I expect that the style will evolve further with time. Whatever catches fish will should rather simply shape the sport.
John Vetterli, Right On!
Some seem to think of Tenkara as a religion. Minimalism, only certain rods qualify, etc. One web site feels the need to remove people based on comments that are felt to be non-tenkara or may lead people to purchase equipment that doesn’t belong in the religion of tenkara. In my opinion, Tenkara is in the mind of the beholder. It is what it is and will continue to evolve as has other forms of fishing. If I enjoy it, I use it but don’t limit it to just “10 colors”. Fish don’t judge me on technique so why should I. Some of my best fishing days have been while using my tenkara rods using sinful methods.
Tenkara, what is it? What isn’t it? I have generally stayed out of these conversations but here’s my two cents. When looking to answer questions like these someone or group of people are generally looking for a definition. A definition is something that places bounds or limits upon something so that all may agree on it. There are times when this is good and times when this is bad. If we we’re to limit what tenkara (method or gear) is by a definition that would be the end of the story, no room for improvement or ideas or techniques because any thing that comes after the “definition” is set could not be included without altering the original definition. If a definition were to be set for say the type of gear used in tenkara then anything created and used after bamboo poles and horsehair lines would not be considered tenkara because that is not what was originally used. Or for that matter, if I practiced tenkara, method and gear, down to a tee as originally practiced in Japan except that I used a weighted fly, would that force others to say that what I’m doing is not tenkara? On the other hand (and trying to play devil’s advocate)….Without some sort of definition and historical perspective on tenkara, as it was originally practiced, people will ultimately be misinformed and develop a poor understanding of the qualities and characteristics of tenkara that make it unique and so enjoyable. How can we know where the sport is taking us if we don’t understand where it has come from? RIGIDLY defining tenkara has led to serious differences in opinion in the tenkara community, so much so that I dare say certain friendships are being ruined over it. At times I practice tenkara in the traditional manner and at times I use tenkara gear in a non-traditional way. In the end I’m having fun but I’m always quick to point out to any interested passerby the history tenkara (gear and method) and how I’m using it. Giving both a historical definition and describing current applications of tenkara will allow everyone and anyone to come to a consensus on what tenkara is and is not.
It seems there isn’t even a good definition of tenkara in Japan. On the one hand, you have the “ten colors” of tenkara, which pretty much agrees with the “anything goes” that Eiji told Anthony. On the other hand, you have what we’ve been told in the US that tenkara is a fishing method that uses a single unweighted wet fly. (There are several fishing methods in Japan that use a line tied to the end of the rod tip, but for it to be truly tenkara there must be a single unweighted wet fly at the end of the line.)
When I was in Japan, I mentioned to one of the Japanese tenkara anglers that I had seen a website that illustrated historical tenkara fishing styles of different regions. http://www.alles.or.jp/~berserkr/E/tenkara.html Several of the syles used multiple flies. Some used weights. Some used floats. I was told they weren’t tenkara. Why not? Because tenkara uses a single unweighted wet fly – by definition. Anything else isn’t tenkara – by definition. By that definition, most anglers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc are not tenkara fishing, or at least not very much of the time.
It reminds me of a conversation I once had about haiku. I was told by a Japanese person that it is not possible to write haiku in any language other than Japanese. She said the 5-7-5 syllable rule only scratches the surface. It has to convey an emotional feeling. It has to have a seasonal reference. Specific words are used to convey the seasonal reference. Those words of course are all Japanese, thus without the use of one of those Japanese words, it isn’t really haiku. Haiku is not a poem, it is a ritual.
If tenkara is a ritual, in which the type of fly (singular) is rigidly defined, as is the type of line that must be used, the length of the rod, the type of the grip (both the material and the finger placement), then Lefty was right. It won’t survive. On the other hand, if tenkara is basically just fly fishing with the line tied to the rod tip, then it will be adopted all over the world. It is fun and effective, and that is all that is required for it to survive and thrive.
Actually, it’s already too late for the ritual. The genie is out of the bottle and he isn’t going back. People are calling what they are doing now “tenkara.” Telling them they are wrong is not the way to win friends and influence people. There’s a grocery store chain in Connecticut whose motto is literally carved in a very large stone just inside the door.”Rule Number One: The customer is always right. Rule Number Two: If the customer is ever wrong, re-read Rule Number One.”
Don’t tell some guy who fishes for native brookies in the Southeast “Sorry, you can’t fish tenkara because the overhead branches are too low to use a real tenkara rod.” If the fishing METHOD is the same, the method is still tenkara no matter how long the rod is, or what the grip is made of, or what type of fish they use the rod for in Japan or whether the rod has “tenkara” or “soft hackle” painted on it. The method is pretty much independent of the equipment, so long as the line is tied to the rod tip and the cricket on the end of the line isn’t real.
It is pretty easy to say “this is tenkara” and “this isn’t tenkara” at the extremes. The problem is where, exactly, to you draw the line? If there is a line at all, it would have to be as rigid as that expressed to me by the Japanese angler. That might work in Japan. It won’t work here.
What is tenkara? What difference does it make?
I just want to enjoy my hobby of fishing, that’s all. I have found that my different Tenkara rods (from different sources) are the easiest way to do this. Yes I still carry my western rod and reel if needed, but I mostly is not always fish Tenkara since it is a more “natural” way for me.
I tie and carry both “match the hatch” and Tenkara flies since if one does not work the other will usually…
To me, the Tenkara Masters” of Japan have their own way just as do I.
If Tenkara is continually marketed as an alternative fishing experience in the USA, then it needs to be “adapted” to the way American anglers fish.
In my humble opinion, the inclusion of Tenkara on Orvis as a “mass marketing” business plan will never gain acceptance if the owners of the business do not include the western style of “match the hatch” as people are used to.
How do you convince someone to use a Sekasa Kebari over the 22-28 pale morning duns flying all over the river that they have had success with? My last trip I had success with a red hook nymph (take off of the killer bug) 18, that I had tied for our water on my Daiwa and Amago rods while just down from me pmd’s at 22-28 were great. As always we asked each other what we were using. I caught and they caught with both.
Tenkara marketed for the USA should not be so caught up on the mystique of Tenkara Masters and include themselves into the way people fish here in the USA, since this is where they are trying to market Tenkara.
Well Ashley,
The can of worms is open now.
I’m going to grab some popcorn and a coke, sit back and watch the fireworks show!
It’s a sad state to find that in our path to introduce what tenkara is like in Japan, to seek that which is beyond the tools of tenkara and share that with a public that had not heard of it before – and how it is different from the dozen(s) of different fishing methods practiced in its country of origin – that along the way our message has been misinterpreted or taken out of context.
I have written this point over and over again in our blog and forum: it’s not our intent AT ALL to tell anyone how to fish. It is not my intent at all to diminish other methods of fishing. It has been my intent to share what tenkara looks like and how it is practiced in Japan so that people will know where to start and then choose to deviate in whichever form they choose.
We are the first to introduce tenkara to the US, and I have taken that job very seriously by repeatedly going to Japan, including extended periods of time, by bringing my teachers to the US on 3 different occasions so they could share their way of doing tenkara.
WHY?
So that people can then go in search of their own tenkara! So people can find the aspects of the method that give them most joy. So that we could learn new and effective things from tenkara (as it is and has been practiced in its country of origin), rather than just keep doing what we may have learned at one point – if we choose to! While Eddie will tell you that in tenkara anything goes, he will also tell you that tenkara has a few common elements that make it tenkara and that certain things are not tenkara. I have spent time with at least a dozen of the most experienced tenkara anglers in Japan, and am heading back there next week to learn even more – because tenkara is tenkara.
WHY?
Because I believe tenkara is a wonderful and complete method. Because I believe the way tenkara is practiced in Japan (in the past and currently) is the best way to simplify fly fishing while being very effective. Because I take great joy in learning how to rely on my own technique and not on gear, because I feel great freedom in knowing that I can board on a plane or drive anywhere tomorrow with my one box of flies and with technique I can do ok; it is liberating, and it is simple. That is tenkara to me.
We could have taken a different approach and focus on marketing fishing rods and not the method, or making 9ft tenkara rods because 9ft is what the western angler is used to. Instead, I decided to create a company that introduced a method no one had ever dared touch before, to promote concepts no one would ever dare try if we didn’t give examples of how it is not only possible but effective (the idea that one doesn’t have to change flies, for example).
We focused on the why: because tenkara as it is practiced in Japan can teach us a lot, can open new doors, and can allow people the freedom to deviate because now they know how tenkara is practiced in it’s country of origin.
Along the way we found a wealth of information to share, things others didn’t seek; it was not for creating a bible, simple for sharing the story, for entertaining those who are interested and for giving anyone interested in it, something else to go by. And, to those who felt we were spreading a dogma by talking about things I found in Japan and about what tenkara is like in its country of origin, I am sorry, no one else had ever talked about tenkara and no one else has spent much time learning the method, so I felt it was appropriate to share it. However one fishes is entirely up to him/her! Seriously.
So, it saddens me that I failed and my message has not been clear. This will likely be the last time I will ever respond to a question asking what it is or isn’t, and I’m afraid I may fail yet again, BUT here we go: we focus on sharing how tenkara is done in Japan so you can find your own tenkara, a place that will give you most joy and freedom in a stream.
Rather than ask here “what is tenkara?”, consider asking “what is tenkara to you?”
Daniel, I think you’ve always been articulate and careful when stating your position about this topic – but have perhaps been misinterpreted by some. I think to state my position more clearly I should say that when I fish a place that is “tenkara perfect” then that is my favorite way to go – traditional (as I understand it) tenkara. But often I’m in a position where I’m fishing less than “tenkara perfect” water and I’m modifying tenkara to fit the water. At those moments I still think I’m fishing “tenkara” – albeit a modified form. Perhaps it’s all semantics.
Like you say Daniel “Rather than ask here “what is tenkara?”, consider asking “what is tenkara to you?””
I don’t think it is at all unusual for a young community to try to define itself. It’s a really, really normal thing to do. It’s inevitable, in fact. Has any community ever failed to be defined — either by itself or by outsiders?
“What is tenkara?” is a subject that is not going to go away. It is fundamental to the community. If there is no answer to that question, there is no tenkara community. Similarly, if the answer is “anything at all,” then there also is no community — because someone using a blender to make a margarita is doing tenkara.
Somehow a question that is normal and expected and useful has recently come to have negative emotions attached to it. That has led some to (understandably) take approaches such as “Let’s not talk about this” or “I’m going to say my piece and then that’s it” or even “This doesn’t matter.”
It matters, and it will continue to matter. And people will keep talking about it because it matters. We can’t decide to make this question go away. But we can decide how we are going to talk about it.
As people, and especially as men, we can often err toward turning a discussion into a competition. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
I propose that it is possible that we need new terms. We have one term right now, “tenkara,” that is being used to describe fishing methods that have different qualities. We are looking at the term “tenkara” as a piece of real estate, and real estate is a zero-sum game. If I own an acre, you don’t. If I control my acre, I can tell you to stay out of it.
But terminology is not a zero-sum game. New terms can be invented to describe new things when those new things come up. It’s free. Nobody loses.
When I use my Amago to fish a Prince Nymph with an indicator, am I doing tenkara? I don’t know. I know that it is not tenkara as it is practiced in Japan. But I also know that it is different enough from conventional Western reel flyfishing that I can’t call it that, either.
So what do I call it?
I think it is unfair to leave that question unanswered. Some of the personal offense that some anglers feel, in fact, may stem from the implicit insult in being told, “That thing you are doing has no name.” That’s like being told you are not allowed to have any real estate.
I have no problem with reserving the term “tenkara” for “tenkara as it is practiced in Japan.” There is nothing fundamentally wrong with that, and a strong argument can be made for it. After all, why not define tenkara the same way it is defined in the place that invented it? And that definition is fairly clear. I don’t even mind calling it “pure tenkara.” When I mix Western and Eastern, I’m aware that neither is “pure” anymore.
But what do we *call* this other stuff that is very much like tenkara but isn’t “tenkara as it is practiced in Japan”? When I tie on an Adams to replace my Ishigaki Kebari, what is this new thing that I am suddenly doing? As a community, we can decide to name these differences.
We’re doing new things. They should have new names.
Well said. I think those of us who have come to favor the traditional methods have no problem with”hybrid” tenkara,and in fact probably started out doing exactly that and may even return to that when conditions demand. But traditional tenkara is a differet experiance and they probably deserve different names. There’s no need for either name to carry any sort of negative conotation, it just helps to better understand what people are doing with these rods. If you’re not worried about keeping up the traditions of tenkara you shouldn’t be so concerned with a slightly different label.
I believe that Japan has several different styles of fishing that involve telescopic fly rods — meaning rods that cast the line, not a weight at the end of the line. While they all share this one distinct and clear similarity, the Japanese don’t group them all under the name “tenkara.”
Do they group them all under any name at all?
Because I think that might be the first name we need. Right now we Westerners are calling ALL reel-less flyfishing “tenkara” by default. And that is changing the definition of the term as it is known in its place of origin.
But it’s happening because we don’t have another word to use. And it may keep happening if we don’t get an umbrella term for “fishing with a reel-less flexible rod that casts line, not weight, and has the line attached to the tip of the rod.”
That term would include tenkara but would also include similar styles/rods that are not tenkara.
Alternately, we could call all reel-less flyfishing “tenkara” and use modified names under that (pure tenkara, hybrid tenkara, Italian tenkara, short-rod tenkara). But I don’t know why we would.
One option not on the table: Everything that isn’t tenkara as it is practiced in Japan (TAIIPIJ) just goes away and nobody ever mentions that stuff again. Cause, realistically, that’s just not going to happen. This general style of fishing will continue to be adapted to new kinds of waters and fish that they don’t even have in Japan. A lot of these styles will be very different from TAIIPIJ. But people will inevitably call it “tenkara” in the absence of any other accepted term.
Brian – these things tend to loop around and around. Personally I enjoy the discussion. My wife will tell you that I like to talk things to death. A personal peeve of mine is one that you pointed out above, about how some folks state their view and then declare it “end of discussion”.
I like the idea of reserving “tenkara” for the more traditional form but then what to use for the other kind? How about 洋風テンカラ / Yōfū Tenkara – that is “western” tenkara. I’ve always liked the sound of Yōfū Tenkara, more than “fixed-line fly fishing”.
Although, I do think the horse is out of the barn on this and we have to deal with “tenkara”, “traditional tenkara”, “hybrid tenkara”, etc.
But the curious thing about the future is that until it happens you can’t know what it will be. So hopefully, perhaps through some organic linguistic/social process a suitable nomenclature will shake out and we’ll get some nice mellifluous terms to use to keep it all sorted.
Maybe the answer is as simple as the Japanese method of fly fishing known as Tenkara….A long rod,A fixed line length and a fly. If you are using this simple equipment to have fun fly fishing …its Tenkara
At this point, I’m not sure what tenkara is. I’m hoping that a certain documentary will FINALLY come out and tell me. *hint, hint*
Yeah! I’m with Mike – we need the definitive documentary to let us know! Any updates?
Louie Armstrong was once ask “What is Jazz?” He responded, “If you have to ask, you’ll never know”. Meaning that jazz comes from and is experienced from one’s sole. I would suggest that if one has to ask, “What is Tenkara?”, you will never know. I’m with Chris Stewart on this one. WE ARE TALKING FISHING HERE……..”What is tenkara? What difference does it make?”
I’ll tell you what tenkara is.. I am tenkara! When I am out fishing with my tenkara rod, be it with a traditional tenkra fly or a more “western fly” or one of my own flies that seem to be a fusion of the two styles. I am also tenkara when I am out fishing and I pull out my simple Holga camera and make photographs of those I am fishing with. And like it has been if you have to ask “what tenkara is, or isn’t for that matter, then man you ain’t never going to know! At least until you broaden your horizons, because all it takes is just a little shift, and then maybe you’ll know what tenkara is…
Not to drop names, but I had an opportunity to ask Tom Rosenbauer of Orvis whether, since his company now carries the Iwana, he considers tenkara is fly-fishing. “Who gives a shit?” he said. “It’s fun. We sell spinning rods too.”
I agree with Chris that the genie is out of the bottle. Most of the fly-fishing world is now familiar enough with the the subject that an angler fishing for trout with a telescoping, fixed-line rod will be seen as tenkara fishing. The distinctions between traditional Japanese tenkara and the adaptations we have made in the states and elsewhere make for interesting conversation among the more serious students. But it would be a shame if some guy or gal thought a tenkara rod might be a cool way to fish a Prince nymph but were made to feel they would be cheating unless they used a kebari.
I think the fundamentals of tenkara fishing — using a relatively short, very light line that can held off the water and a simple fly selection based on attraction, not imitation — have been welcomed in the west. I saw Rosenbauer give a talk last year on fly-fishing small streams and he made the very same points. He even mentioned tenkara rods as being especially useful for this kind of fishing (though he did tell me he would rather have a reeled rod, even on a small stream). Twenty years ago, when American fly-fishing was obsessed with hatch-matching and everyone wanted a fast-action, long-casting rod, tenkara would probably have been laughed, or jeered, off the stream. Instead, it arrives at a time when attractor flies are back in favor, as with European nymphing, and wild trout (even small ones) from back-country streams are widely loved. Even the one fly concept has met with approval, which is a little surprising in a fishing culture that loves specialized flies. I think it’s because people like the idea that fishing well is more important than having the “right” fly.
So in the U.S., tenkara is fishing with a telescoping, fixed-line rod, even if you’re not fishing for trout and even if the rod is nine feet instead of 12 and has no cork handle. (Or even if you use a PVC fly line like Yvon Chouinard.)
Tenkara is the original Japan’s fishing philosofy method, not more and no less. And then we say: this is a tenkara, or this is not a tenkara, we must to be free from west’s understanding the world. I think so.
Tenkara is the original way of the fishing, and it lives in our heads, or does not lives there.
The jazz metaphor is an interesting one.
But the term “jazz” did come to be defined.
And today the subdivisions within jazz are legion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_jazz_genres
Each one of these genres within jazz has a definition of its own.
This stuff happens. It’s inevitable.
Armstrong may not have been able to articulate a definition of jazz (he was like a fish being asked “What is water?”), but others did.
We can’t choose whether tenkara will come to have a commonly understood definition in the West. It will.
But we can choose to remain agreeable and open as we try to puzzle this out. We can use open discourse to lay out plainly what the differences between different fishing styles are, and try to come up with names for these styles that everyone is happy with. We can offer clear, easy-to-understand distinctions for newbies instead of confusing them as they discover “tenkara” but then discover that everyone in tenkara is fighting with each other over the meaning of the term.
I am not sure what tenkara is. All I know is that I now fly fish with a outrageously long carbon-fiber telescopic rod, no reel, a directly attached level or furled line which is attempted to be kept off the water, using a fly that often time has hackle that goes forwards instead of backwards … and with all of this I seem to be catching more fish and having more fun than ever. If this is tenkara then great! If it is not tenkara then great! I will continue to explore this fascinating way of fly fishing what ever it is called.
I have something to throw out here.
What if instead of trying to put something that appears to be very esoteric and multidimensional to so many people into tiny little restrictive boxes, we explore the aspect of the “tenkara spirit”.
Think about that concept for a minute, the spirit of a thing or a person has no hard definition, it is formless, shapeless, yet it has substance and gravity. There is a very famous adage from a widely known gung fu teacher: “Be like water. Water is formless, shapeless. You pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup, pour water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Water can flow, creep, or crash, it can penetrate the hardest granite rock, yet it is softest substance on earth. Be like Water my friend.” -Bruce Lee, 1969
To me, tenkara is an art form that allows me to express myself honestly with no hinderance to the internal man I am. I could show you fancy casting techniques and be filled with a cocky feeling of emotion and ego or, I can simply and honestly express my personal self through my tenkara. My tenkara flows from within. My tenkara methodology is a mix of the ancient, the modern, the hybrid, and the original that is from my own experience and discovery.
That is the tenkara spirit. It is me, it is you, it is a way to express oneself with total honesty and without lying to oneself. That is a very difficult thing. Creating little restrictive boxes is the easy way. It is a dividing way, it is exclusionary. It is not who we are. It is how we wish others to perceive us. It is a lie that we sell to ourselves.
I have stopped searching for what tenkara is because it is a fools errand. I have been searching out my tenkara spirit so that as I come into contact with others in our community, I can honestly express myself to you and you can honestly express yourself to me. That is inclusionary, it binds, it is like water.
John,
You have really distilled the essence of the tenkara controversy into something we all can embrace. Very well done!
John,
That sounds great in the abstract, but there are two people I can think of offhand who have demonstrated that they DO care how “tenkara” is defined in the United States: Daniel Galhardo and Dr. Ishigaki.
Daniel has said flat-out “This greatly concerns me.” Dr. Ishigaki has apparently said that “it’s really a shame this is happening” — referring to the expanding definition of tenkara in the U.S.
When two people as important as Daniel Galhardo and Dr. Ishigaki care so deeply about what gets called tenkara and what does not, I do not expect this issue to go away.
On June 10, Daniel wrote a blog entry called “What’s A Tenkara Rod?” Here are the first three paragraphs from it:
____________________________________________________________________________________
What’s A Tenkara Rod?
By Daniel Galhardo
http://www.tenkarausa.com/blog/?p=2449
Consider this a public service announcement. Since we introduced tenkara outside of Japan in 2009, a number of rods have appeared in the market, being offered as tenkara rods, and a number of people with passing knowledge of the method have jumped on the bandwagon to offer their “alternative” to tenkara. This has translated into every kind of telescopic rod being marketed as a “tenkara-style rod”, whether it is designed for tenkara or not.
This greatly concerns me. There is a reason there are rods specifically made for tenkara. There is a reason I design rods for tenkara and rely on feedback from tenkara teachers in Japan for making our rods the best possible tools for tenkara. And there is a reason you can visit any tackle shop in Japan, or open the pages of the larger Japanese fishing magazines, and find tenkara rods next to cheaper telecopic hera rods (for carp), telescopic keiryu rods (for stream bait-fishing, generally trout), and telescopic tanago rods (for “micro-fishing”); yet just like a fly-fisherman in the US wouldn’t use a spinning for for fly-fishing, no tenkara angler would use the other rods for tenkara. In sum, there are reasons the rods look different and are marketed for entirely different purposes.
I recently brought up what I have been seeing happening here to my teacher in Japan, Dr. Hisao Ishigaki. He responded in Japanese saying, “it’s really a shame this is happening, as some people will not know what tenkara really is”. Dr. Ishigaki is the leading authority on tenkara in Japan; he consults on tenkara rod design for the large manufacturer, Shimano, as well as for our rods. Shimano makes rods for all kinds of methods of fishing, but they know better than market an “alternative” to tenkara anglers, and Dr. Ishigaki knows using a different rod will result in a considerably different experience.
Brian, I have simply chosen to ask myself a different question than the ones you have chosen to ask.
One is no more or less valid than the other, just different perspectives. These are hard questions to ask and the answers may not always be pleasant. I applaud you for posing them and I enjoy and respect the answers people have given. You are correct in saying that the question will not go away.
Daniel is my friend and I agree with many of his statements and I understand where his feelings come from. His concerns are valid from his perspective and Dr. Ishigaki’s concerns are also equally valid. So are yours, mine, and every person who has ventured out here on this site to express their views.
It is great that there are members of the tenkara community that have strong convictions like Daniel and Dr. Ishigaki. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is equally important to have the opposite view. That in theory should keep things in balance. After all, the majority of us will fall somewhere in the middle.
What I find fascinating with this entire discussion is that tenkara has become so deeply personal to each and every person who owns a tenkara rod. It is a strange thing, a beautiful thing, a potentially destructive thing.
Perhaps we might approach the “what is tenkara” question in a way people should approach religion.
With moderation.
My head hurts.
Why am I not following my own advice and spending more time fishing and less time typing?
I didn’t mean to imply that your preferred question was invalid, John. But you proposed it as a question to ask “instead of” the question that is the subject of this blog post. As if “What is tenkara?” could simply be cancelled and replaced with something else.
I don’t think it can be. It matters that we talk about it, and it matters how we talk about it.
Right now this question is being dealt with largely with veiled tweets, private griping, covert alliance-forming, broken friendships and even community banishment. To say that we shouldn’t turn this into an open, fair, very public conversation is tantamount to saying that we should keep dealing with it in the same destructive ways.
If that happens, I don’t think that things will get prettier. A difficult conversation, aiming for consensus at least on terminology, is a better route than avoiding the conversation.
Understood, Brian. Like usual, I am thinking outside the box.
Best of luck with this. It will be interesting to see how it develops.
I hope that a couple of my tenkara friends can find a middle ground and resolve some issues that are both personal and business related. Hopefully this discussion will help with that. Since my partners and I also make a living with tenkara, it is hard to watch some of the recent developments. Because the tenkara industry is so small right now, these issues affect all of us working within it. Wouldn’t you agree?
We need to go fishing together and have some fun and more lighthearted discussions like evolution vs. creationism or Roe vs Wade. We should be able to fix those in an afternoon of fishing.
I have been thinking a lot about this thread.
I should say that I agree with a lot of the comments here. I didn’t express that before, but I do. Right after my comment, Michaela says, “If you are using this simple equipment to have fun fly fishing …its Tenkara”. YES.
Before I go any further I want to reiterate that anyone should fish in any way they like. Everyone should find their own tenkara. That is up to the person in the stream. It IS JUST FISHING! It is not a strict martial art, it does not have a regulation book. I strongly believe that.
The only issue that I have had, and the reason for that blog post Brian quoted, is when the information about what is tenkara is coming from a source that may be perceived as having some authority and is disseminating information that is not accurate. There is a new company springing up every week that is out there to sell their version of tenkara. When these companies write on their site information that is not accurate, it creates great confusion about what tenkara is. I have always said I wanted to provide the starting place so people may deviate from it on their own (see: http://midcurrent.com/techniques/qa-with-daniel-galhardo-of-tenkara-usa/). When the starting place is already different from the original version, further deviations will make it stray too far and soon enough no one knows what tenkara even looks like. Sure, it does not really matter, but I believe it is a disservice to those who may have wanted to know it or those who could have benefitted from it.
To quote from the catalog of one our newest competitors selling a tenkara rod:
“Tie a standard tapered leader on to the tip, add a fly (or even a hook and worm)…”
So, where do we draw a line? What information do we believe in? Is using a tenkara rod with “a hook and worm” tenkara? Was the term “In tenkara anything goes” misinterpreted in the comments above? (FYI, I was with Eddie when he was signing the poster with that quote, he was asking whether he should write “in tenkara” or “with tenkara”; I asked him to explain it and he didn’t mean “anything” as in using a hook and worm, that is a different method of fishing).
What a person will choose to do and call it is entirely up to them (to be frank, the more people using the term “tenkara” out there, the better it is for us financially); but what a business will choose to promote as tenkara is what I have some issue with.
For me, having looked at the Japanese videos, and read around what people have been saying, pure tenkara seems to be a technique of using a fixed length line, held off the water to prevent drag wih a single sub surface fly which is worked in regular pulses to instill movement.
Most of that is identical to British Upstream wet fly fishing with spiders, except the soft hackles of spiders, are meant to work by moving in the current, so there is less need to instill movement compared to Tenkara.
So for me, I see no reason why you couldn’t fish Tenkara with a rod and reel, albeit less effectively, as long as you were following the appropriate technique.
Equally, even if you are using a Tenkara rod, if you are dry fly fishing, or Spider fishing or Czech nymphing, you still aren’t fishing Tenkara, you are just using a Tenkara rod.
Graham
Wherever you or I come down in this debate, let’s not lose sight on one very important fact: It was Daniel Gal hardo who had the courage and vision to almost singlehandedly bring tenkara to the US. Without that spark, we would not be having this discussion. One has to admire his fidelity to the Japanese tenkara spirit, as he sees it.
It is fishing !
Original, spirit, simplicity, “add your own reason here”, etc. As humans we need to catagorize, because we can’t deal in the abstract. The only reason we believe in anything is that we like the story.
This is interesting, I posted a link to this discussion on a UK based tenkara forum and asked if this same type of discussion is happening amongst our brother & sister tenkara anglers over in England.
They are not struggling with a specific definition of what tenkara is or is not. Their battle is having tenkara being simply recognized as fly fishing. It appears that many of the trout fishing habitats are managed by private fishing clubs and tenkara does not fit their definition of fly fishing and so, tenkara is banned from many trout rivers and streams. That sucks, We should feel fortunate that we can spend time debating the definition of tenkara as a method instead of trying to justify it’s existence and right to be used as a fly rod.
This is the link to the form discussion: http://uk-tenkara.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=info&action=display&thread=446
Thank you John,
I had found your reference at UK forum, and then spent some interesting time reading upper comments.
I fished with the fly without the reel before I’ve started to do it with the reel. Many years ago I began fishing at small streams and rivers with pole rod and the fly. Later I learned western fly fishing, but it is another story, 90% of my fishing was with pole rod at small streams.
I developed my own rods by combining segments from different pole rods. The top of the evolution was “no name” Chinese very flexible pole with the tip segment from Shimano TE2 pole rod. The rod was 4 meter long, 110 grams weight and casted 0,285 mm fluorocarbon line well. Normally I used wet flies with partridge hackle. Was it tenkara fishing? Definitely NO.
Once I’ve found some posts about tenkara in the web. That time I lived in Russia, tenkara fishing came to Russian Far east region directly from Japan, because the nature and the fishing conditions are close. I had bought my first tenkara rod from Japanese web-store. It was named by two Japanese characters means “light in the sky”. It was little softer and lighter than my DIY rod and had cork handle. Also I had reversed hackle at my lovely flies and continue fishing. Was it tenkara fishing? Definitely YES.
Let me calculate the difference arithmetically – the result is cork handle and reversed hackle. It is nonsense.
That is why I fully support Daniel; Rather than ask here “what is tenkara?” consider asking “what is tenkara to you?”
With the best wishes
Oleg AKA tenkara.cz
John,
The problem of tenkara being considered fly fishing is not limited to the UK unfortunately. The last time I checked here in PA I was told I couldn’t tenkara in FF only water. The tenkara battle for recognition is apparently far from over here in the US. So perhaps calling this mixed bag of methods that we’re using “fixed line fly fishing” is better after all. It always amazes me how much attention this topic gets. I’m at fault on that point as well. I still believe that in the end there will be a fragmentation. As more big companies get involved they will not fail to see the opportunity to expand the idea of tenkara to its limits. There will be the Kelly Gallup Sex dungeon meat hook big fish rod, the orvis 4 foot, minus 3 wt trout bum, the Oregon steelheader tenkara switch rod. And on an on and on. So hold on to your hats and look out for the “tenksploitation”. And then look back an remember these good old days.
Defining what is tenkara and what isn’t may not be possible unless you make dividing lines that are almost completely arbitrary. Fishing methods and equipment don’t always come in discrete steps that make clearly identfiable boundaries.
Tenkara fishing in Japan seems to be pretty rigidly defined, but if so it is not because they have already had this discussion and have come to a definition everyone can agree upon. I don’t believe they’ve asked the questions. In Montana after the 2011 summit I had a fairly long discussion with Dr. Ishigaki trying to nail down just what is and isn’t tenkara. It was not an easy discussion – even apart from the language differences – because it was very clear that I was asking questions that no one had ever asked him and that he had never before considered.
I am sure he could, and many times has in his presentations, defined tenkara in one sentence. The problem, there and here, is where, exactly, are the dividing lines between what is tenkara and what is not tenkara. The most basic question – is it still tenkara if you are not fishing for trout? Took a while to answer. No one he knows does tenkara fishing for other species, so he pretty much had to define tenkara – or at least define the boundaries of “tenkara” and “not tenkara” for the first time. Same thing with still water vs. streams, weighted flies, strike indicators, multiple flies and on and on. Perhaps the easiest one was the use of a fly line (running or shooting line) rather than a furled or level line. He knew people who used PVC coated running line, and it was considered tenkara although he didn’t seem very happy about it. At the end of the discussion the only hard and fast demarkation seemed to be the use of only one fly or multple flies (on your line, not in your fly box). Easy distinction to make, very clear cut. One fly – tenkara, add a dropper and it is no longer tenkara. It seems completely arbitrary to me, but that is how he defines tenkara.
We didn’t even get into equipment, because by then I hadn’t yet discovered (by accident) that you can cast a tenkara line very nicely with a rod that didn’t say tenkara on it.
The biggest problem I see in trying to define tenkara outside of Japan is that we are doing things that they don’t do there. No one does tenkara fishing for bluegills in Japan (let alone tarpon). No one tries to fish the bottom of 10′ deep pools. No one fishes a hopper/dropper. No one tries to fish streams that are choked with rhododendron. Is any of that tenkara? In Japan, no. Here, we’re still trying to decide.
Another problem is that there has by now been so much buzz about tenkara that there is an undercurrent or implied value judgement of tenkara = good. Not tenkara, well, not as good. It may or may not be intended, but it very definitely is perceived. That is most noticeable with respect to fishing a sakasa kebari as opposed to other flies, even though not all Japanese tenkara flies, by any means, are sakasa kebari. However, that implied value judgement definitely extends to other areas as well. That can easily develop a perception of elitism that will not be good for the sport.
I have been thinking about this topic a lot recently during guide trips the past few days. We teach what I would call “traditional” tenkara if that is what the client requests. It is usually where we start because it demonstrates the simplicity aspects, then if the client requests, we move on to hybrid methods and that demonstrates the versatility. One thing I am very cautious about is avoiding the elitist mentality with my clients. I agree with Chris, an elitist mentality will erode this sport from within.
Here is another wrinkle to throw in. We have spent the last 8 weeks developing tenkara methods for people with disabilities. When working with quadriplegic clients we have had to do everything from two handed spey type casting to strapping a rod to their hand with ACE bandages and figure out how to cast by using large gross motor function with only a bicep to cast the rod.
Yesterday we spent a day with 5 upper extremity amputees with disabilities ranging from missing one arm at the shoulder to missing one or both hands and two triple amputees. One missing both legs below the knees and one hand, and the other missing both legs above the knees and one arm above the elbow.
Working with 2 prosthetists from Hanger Prosthetics, we all worked together to find ways to cast which involved a lot of duct tape and some real outside the box thinking. There is a prosthetic “hand” device we are working on with Hanger Prosthetics but that is going to be a while to get all the design and function details worked out.
Is any of this tenkara? I don’t give a shit. It improves lives, brings simple joy to those that participate. If I have to duct tape a tenkara rod to a prosthetic arm and anchor a chair to the river bank so someone without legs can fly fish then, that is tenkara to them and that is ultimately what matters.
This academic debate is appropriate to those involved in the tenkara industry, it is important to them to have some clear cut parameters. To the person in the wheelchair or the person with one or less arms, it doesn’t matter one bit. They are fishing and having fun, that is what matters.
I have learned a lot in the past 8 weeks about what tenkara really means to me and yesterdays trip really made it clear to me. Tenkara is not about cork grips, one fly, rod length, it is about learning to enjoy the simple things in life.
Yeah, that guy with no arms definitely wasn’t holding the rod with the correct grip!
Tenkara in the west is so difficult to define because we are doing stuff that has never been done in tenkara before. Ever.
My question is more along the line of, would tenkara have developed similarly in the west as it did in Japan? The answer is obviously no. The western world developed its own style of fishing different from tenkara because it’s what works on a majority of the water.
We are taking something that did not grow up in America and adapting it to our world. It’s an invasive species. Just like the brown trout. The brown trout does not belong in this hemisphere, yet it thrives. When I tell people I caught brown trout, I have sometimes been asked, “A german brown?” This kind of a question baffles me. There is nothing german about the trout I caught. It was born and raised in the US in a wild environment much different than its native range.
What if the brown trout has developed different marking or different habits that are not found in its native range? Is it still a brown trout, or should we call it an american brown? Are europeans sad that about what’s happening with the brown trout in America?
I think there are some experts who care that tenkara be defined exactly the same in the west and in Japan. There are some experts that don’t care that tenkara in the west is defined differently. Ask ten people what tenkara is, get ten answers.
The definition of tenkara is now Ten Colors.
As an artist and newcomer to Tenkara I will share my “perception” of tenkara and my opinion as both a fisherman and consumer. (Experience as fisherman: Western Fly Fishing and tYer since early youth. Just felt like capitalizing that. And Tyer with Y is symbolic of this topic.)
Don’t ask how I stumbled on it earlier this year but I found out there was something called tenkara and it was a form of fly fishing from Japan.
TUSA was my first site that I visited. Reading from afar and not posting I discovered I want to investigate this thing they call tenkara by trying it out. It was new to me and I love trying new and different things be it food, or whatever plus it looked fun.
Upon further investigation looking at Japanese websites and finding numerous forums and sites dedicated to this fixed line form of Japanese fishing in the USA I was “hooked”. It seemed like a cool way to fly fish and being the rebel I am I thought this will be interesting to appear on my local rivers in front of other fly fisherman with this setup.
Being a rebel who stems from my belief of questioning authority because I find that many authorities only push their thoughts on others in order to control them not because they are there to “protect” them nor to help them . . . . So as a rebel and non conformist as I like to think for myself unlike many folks dare I say the word? “sheep” I pursued Tenkara. As one that is a historical photographer using early 19th Century techniques or “the pure forms of photography” I very much liked the idea of adopting an early form of fly fishing. This is Coool!!! In so doing I pursued a Japanese fly rod as I figure that is more pure than a replica created by some of the tenkara rod distributors we see out there. I ended up buying a Japanese rod a “short” rod of 9 feet to see if I would like it to begin with. Now for those that are not sure a 9 foot rod would fit into the category rest assured it does as I discovered on more than one Japanese site that they do indeed sell rods of 9 feet designed specifically for Tenkara. Keep in mind I am a consumer. Munch munch more please consumer.
Took the rod out on a river in my area and caught 15 and 16 inch bows with it. Now I am really “hooked” and decide I want a larger longer rod because the reach was not quite enough for my “taste”. So I buy another Japanese rod much longer than the first by about 12 feet.
Ok so where am I going with this? Well to be frank I realize I need a bamboo rod now made in the tradition of the Japanese “mountain stream fisherman” if I want to be a true tenkara fisherman because while these fancy artificial carbon fiber rods mimic the tenkara rods of yesterday they are in fact not true tenkara rods. Further I found out I need horsehair line as my study increased into the history of tenkara. I want to merge with the earth ya know what I am saying? I want to use nothing artificial instead I wan bamboo in my hand and horsehair in the air with a fly tied in the tradition of the Japanese mountain stream fisherman. Alas not easily to be had at least as far as a traditional bamboo rod is concerned. Till I find it I will fish with an artificial tenkara rod made of whatever they tell me it is and will try many as the years go by “God willing”.
I will listen to the arguments and debates over what Tenkara is and is not and gently chuckle to myself saying they just don’t get it do they especially in light of kicking some folks off of forums (not tenkara) because they are not drinking the kool aid of why their artificial non bamboo idea of tenkara is not right like their artificial non bamboo idea of tenkara is. You see as a consumer I know what the bottom line is and it is not about what tenkara is or is not. Call me a cynic because I am. I have seen enough read enough to know which tribes are being honest and which are not. They are loosing potential customers “consumers munch munch munch” over it.
Truth is all I want is a rod that does the job of fishing with a fly that makes my life a bit simpler and adds to my serenity which by the way for those that have not figured it out yet is “the” most valuable commodity in life.
As a consumer I have witnessed the rhetoric less than honest and moreover one learning about tenkara has become limited on certain spots because they have a product. As far as I am concerned get rid of forums on any business site because you are automatically limited instead there needs to be forums and they are hatching and growing that have no attachment to any one outlet of said product in this way will open and honest communication be possible. You always will have the folks that only buy apple products but the only reason for that is they are “sold” on them and are in some ways . . . Ahhh never mind. However on the Apple forum they do not ban one from discussing non Apple products. Disclosure: I have Apple products
Anywho tenkara for me is fishing with a fixed line for fish using a fly with a line I am able to cast effectively with that I may put my fly in front of the fish. I have found that it is in fact a technique because no one offers bamboo rods within reach “price point” created as they did back in the days of yore. Horse hair lines are available however and so are they types of flies used historically. I understand where Daniel is coming from I understand where Chris S. is coming from. I also understand that things have been lost in translation and trying to preserve a business. There seems evidence of lost translation between the “Japanese masters” (whatever that means fulfills ego I spose) and those that give us the interpretation of what they said into English. I can not help but wonder what questions were asked and what was told to the Japanese masters in order to get the syntax and Japanese feelings and opinions being given us here in the USA.
You know what? My conclusion is that tenkara as known today with the carbon rods offered is not pure. Oh well… My conclusion is that one can pick up a rod and fish the technique of tenkara as taught by numerous Japanese fisher folk. My conclusion is that it is just fishing albeit with a rod that is a mixture of carbon and epoxy created in a factory not by hand in China by kids “maybe” and sold in the USA marketed as a Japanese rod. LOL sorry could not help myself!!
Look I don’t mince words. “much” It is like reading how Ashleigh defines herself on this blog. Actually she describes what she does not who she is as she is a spirit residing in a shell “body” that has had many experiences and has feelings and believes or does not believe certain things and is human and is not defined by a website nor her job if one has the eyes to see what we as humans really are. Nor is tenkara. It is a spirit “of sorts” an “idea” translated numerous times throughout history and is not once again being translated in the west. The idea of “pure” is out the window for me unless one has a cane or bamboo rod with horsehair and is fishing for the native trout species. Period, less than that and it is not pure if one is to draw lines historically on the subject.
Time to toss in the swords fellers and shake hands because this is only creating a black eye from the consumer perspective and has created disillusionment speaking for myself as a “consumer munch munch munch” in regards to tenkara. I love it I am using it I intend on purchasing more rods in the future and all I want to do is go fishing. Leave me alone with the rhetoric. I can find out what tenkara is or is not all by myself I do not need anyone to tell me. What I have learned in life and see reflected in the tenkara community is that some folks just take themselves to seriously.
This is what tenkara is from my soul looking out through these devices on my frame called eyes:
Quiet stream, hear water, close eyes, feel breeze brush across my frame, spirit merge with air, lift arm cast line. All by myself not another spirit around except the animal spirits watching me. Feel the wind of the bird on my face as it sweeps by catching the insects out of the air. Ripples.
fish dances
colors, many
rainbow
splash
wet, line taught, fish in hand, smile inside.
My spirit drifts upward looking downward on the body that houses my soul relinquishing all, just being I am alive on this earth standing. In the sacred thing you can not hold, water. Life. . grocking the meaning of the water and all it contains and all it is, and all that will not be should it vanish. Fish talk to me do you war and argue like us fool human spirits do over an idea over a fool piece of silver? Or do you share and invite all to partake of what your spirit has to offer. Do you offer water to your fellow spirits like we should?
Do you grok that?
Love and much peace in the “spirit of ten colors”
Jonathan C Hall
“splash. . . . . butterfly effect. . . . ripples. . . . Share water always.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you CAN make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is”, said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”
The western tenkara world has landed in Wonderland. Like Alice many are wondering can we make words mean so many different things? Like Humpty Dumpty many are pondering, which is to be master? Maybe too many people want to be Humpty Dumpty. The master in control of what tenkara is. Or maybe. They don’t care either way and would just like to see harmony restored. Good idea.
If we can change one thing from the essence of what tenkara is, as practiced in Japan, and still call it tenkara. Then, I think, we want a more open acceptance of what tenkara is and we are also free to change a lot of other things too. We have already changed many things, we fish in many different ways than in Japan using tenkara equipment. Yet most people still think of it as tenkara without much objection. Why there is a division over one more change is a mystery to me.
I think everyone will agree that tenkara is fly fishing. Put a baited hook on the end of the line attached to a tenkara rod and it is no longer tenkara. But does it cease to be tenkara when we put a fly on the end of the line and put a non-tenkara rod on the other end? For me it doesn’t.
For me the most important part of what is tenkara is. Is the way of fishing – Long reel-less rod, fixed length line, casting a fly. Manipulate the fly to entice the fish to take the fly. That’s it.
People like to experiment to discover what combination of equipment and setup works best for them on the streams, or ponds or bays they fish. Many of us anxiously await the release of the next model of tenkara rod or tenkara line to discover if we like it better than what we are currently using. People tie different kinds of flies for the same reason. And try different types of rods for the same reason.
People were smart enough and adventurous enough to give tenkara a try. If a purpose built tenkara rod is superior for tenkara fishing there ought to be more confidence shown in the superiority of the design and more trust in people’s ability to discover this for themselves. Many of us have fished with both types of rods. I think we understand the compromises in each choice and know which one works best in different places.
I have been fishing a tenkara rod since 2008. Caught many fish using many different flies and techniques. Tenkara is dapping, high sticking, nymph fishin, stripping streamers even bait fishing. I feel sorry for all the folks who will never try it because all the information available is so snobbish ie: one fly, this or that line etc. fishing is fun, tenkara rods are fishing fun on steroids. Love the purple kabari, hope you dont take it all to serious. Enjoy and thank you.
Ps. On windy days I use my tenkara rod and line to fly a small kite and it is awesome