Load, Send and Bend; A Look at the Evolution of Tenkara

As an adult that enjoys catching fish, I have used many forms of fishing rods. From casting lures to casting lines, my specialty or chosen practice is fly fishing. As I advance in fly fishing, I study how fishing rods work which leads me to understand how they are built. In my experience, I have spent time with bamboo and composite craftsman learning their craft and ultimately choosing to make bamboo fly rods myself. As I have shared this before, all of this prior to my choosing to understand practice and study tenkara.

Now, as I return to fly fishing after fourteen years, I would like to share a little more of what I’ve learned about the business end and evolution of a tenkara rod.

Is Tenkara fly fishing?

I look at how a rod works, how it is constructed in order to understand each method.

In western fly fishing, the rod is variably loaded and released (casting) which dynamically sends the line and ultimately the fly to its target. The energy, or casting of the rod is transmitted to the line as it runs through guides along the length of the rod. This energy is transferred, dynamically. The variable length of the cast is described by the amount of force applied to the bending potential of the rod. The loading of the rod is released and energy of the bend is sent through the line, the cast length displaying how much force was applied to the rod. The amplitude from the cast and wavelength in the line is variable and dynamic in the potential length of the cast.

Tenkara is fly fishing, Japanese style fly fishing complete in its own form.

With tenkara, the line is attached to the tip of the rod and that connection seamlessly transmits the potential energy from the rod loading into the line. The amplitude and wavelength are essentially fixed by the chosen length of the line.

The technique of casting, imparting action into the rod, has an effect of how well the system transmits the energy to the fly. The results in technique are directly proportional to the understanding of how to balance the application of power through the casting stroke. The timing of casting stroke and the type of stop determines the efficiency of sending the energy to the fly and how the energy is dissipated at the fly.

The bend and resistance or potential energy of the rod is affected by the variations of construction techniques.

The type of material the rod is constructed of and the taper of the rod, thick at the handle, thin at the tip has an effect on the transfer of energy from the rod bend. The material has a speed which the energy of bending resists and wants to return to its resting state.

Carbon fiber cloth is pre-impregnated (pre-peg) with epoxy resin that is rendered stiff by the application of heat. The epoxy in this cloth contributes to the resistance of bending once the epoxy has been catalyzed by heat. The pre-peg composite fabric that modern tenkara rods are made of is often described by the term, modulus. The modulus in relation to the bending and recovery speed of the rod is described numerically. The shape of the cloth once cut and applied to the mandrel, higher modulus number describes a faster return to resting state or speed of elasticity. Carbon fiber cloth with a higher modulus number is denser and more compact with carbon fiber. The shape that the pre-peg cloth is cut into also affects the flex profile of the rod.

In constructing a western fly rod and or a tenkara rod, the material and the taper (how wide at the handle and thin at the tip) will affect the flex profile and the rate of return or speed of the rod. Typically, the faster the rod is, the bend is primarily focused in the tip yet you can create a fast-recovering full flexing rod or a slow recovering tip flexing rod using the variability of materials and taper described.

Joints are part of the rod construction and can be used in the design of the rod Joints affect the bend or flex profile of the rod. Lots of joints, double the material, stiffer and where are those joints placed in relation to the bend affect the speed and flex profile.

Rod design and manufacture consider each element when crafting rods for market, regarding the market, he evolution of a tenkara rod is also affected by the people who practice it.

The evolution of tenkara has a lot to do with how rods perform the way they do.

Born in Japan, tenkara fisherman of old made their own rods from bamboo, the lines from horsehair and the hooks from bent needles. There wasn’t much in the way of descriptions of how the rod performed or even communicated between tenkara fishermen. The method of tenkara was professional in nature and the trade secrets were not shared freely. The results that tenkara fisherman brought to market were much more important. Tenkara rods were the tools of professional fishermen and competition to bring fish to market isolated the descriptions of the tools to of the early tenkara fishermen.

Up until 1960s, rods were made of bamboo. During that time, rod makers offered their craft in small shops in the same villages and cities where the fish were sold. Wazao rod makers or traditional bamboo rod craftsmen made rods available for purchase and use. Making rods took time away from fishing, and fishermen worked with rod makers to produce rods with the desired qualities for their skill in catching fish. Aesthetically pleasing rods that performed well brought the highest prices yet the skill in presenting the fly far outweighed a beautifully crafted rod that was expensive to purchase. Skill was earned through experience and fishing an expensive rod was not the key to making money or feeding your family.

Other more popular forms of fishing rods were produced by larger manufacturing firms. The manufacturing of fishing rods already had progressed, and larger markets were served. Fishing companies such as Sakura was one of the earliest to commercially popularize tenkara to a broader audience. Technology from other forms of fishing rods were used in the production of tenkara rods and in the 1970’s the first composite (fiberglass and carbon graphite) tenkara rods were being produced and sold.

The largest companies that produce rods marketed their products by several means. Tenkara rod manufacture being a smaller portion of the larger market still grew with the advance of better materials and construction. Early tenkara rods were one piece bamboo or wood, the rods being long and the tips of the rods being somewhat fragile, those early rods were left near where the fisherman lived in the mountain streams where they fished.

As rods began to be manufactured in cities far from the streams they were used on, multi piece rods were produced for ease of travel. Some of the first multi piece rods being produced were called “in stick” as the smaller sections were stored inside the larger sections. In-stick configuration progressed to the telescoping or nesting rods as this configuration is far more efficient and compact.

Japanese fishing rod manufacturers marketed their goods by describing the performance and by the aesthetics of the rod. Books on tenkara were written, magazines included tenkara and there were films produced by production companies all which supported the small tenkara communities scattered across Japan. Analyzing what was being sold was part of production and the tenkara rod market was carried along by the broader market of other types of fishing rods but the manufacturing and performance qualities was shared with the tenkara rod manufacture and marketing.

Which brings us to modern times.

It is not widely known that Yuzo Sebata introduced tenkara to America in 1990. However, at that time, in Japan, rods were described by “tone” and by flex profile. A hard tone rod typically had a 7:3 profile. The business of tenkara was already established and reported on thoroughly. In 2009, tenkara was commercially introduced outside of Japan by the Internet and by the information stream from an American company. Marketing tenkara was outside of Japan for the first time and the early marketing was somewhat ackward and wandering as the allure of tenkara was accepted by a large consumer base for many reasons.

Beyond 2009 and the "Outside of Japanese Tenkara Influence" 

During this time, in America, tenkara was supported by one major rod seller. The information coming from this single company was honest and true however the growth of the community and the increased availablity of tenkara equipment from Japan and subsequent growth of the market caused growing pains and in-fighting within our community.

The method of tenkara was reported on and spread by many people that had not been to Japan. The research material was there however the language barrier still very significant and the cost and difficulty in importing Japanese products was not supported broadly. Tenkara, the method was readily adapted by many enthusiasts of simple fly fishing. The method was easy and lent itself to other types of fishing. 

The Japanese term, gyakuyunyu or to re-import became evident as tenkara began to grow in popularity inside of Japan because of the popularity outside of Japan.

Books on tenkara were written by authors outside of Japan, fanzines, Internet HP (home page) produced and the business of tenkara is established outside of Japan. "American tenkara" is now well established.

Tenkara, the method has grown from a small group of Japanese fly fishers bringing mountain stream trout to market. Their rods and methods are generally known throughout the world as Internet access displaces the media information once brought to the general populace through newspaper, books, magazines and film. The equipment and methods can be described and built by non-Japanese sources. It is no longer necessary by the public court to travel to Japan and bring forth the tenkara experience.

Epilogue

I find that tenkara is my connection to Japan and my practice of tenkara connects me to that small community where it all began. Tenkara Fisher is fashioned after Japanese tenkara communities home pages where many of the enthusiasts are shared within the content. I look at my writing here as a blog and nothing more than that. I am reflecting on my experience with it. I now have a history of practicing tenkara and am realizing how the rods were made, the evolution and construction by Japanese technicians in the rods that I use. Often it is cause for my time spent in sharing my experiences as an American tenkara fisher.

Genryu Fishing of Japan #35

Images and reference to the book, "Iwana and Commercial Fisherman of the Headstream" by  Toshiji Shimura

Shoku-ryoshi (Professional Keiryu Fisher)

There used to be professional fishermen called “Shoku-ryoshi” in the mountain villages of Japan. They were the fishermen who caught Iwana or Yamame (Mostly Iwana in our region) by only fishing in mountain streams. We Japanese people normally call professhional fishermen “Ryoshi”. They are the fishermen in the ocean, lakes or lower part of river, but only those who did catch Iwana or Yamame by fishing with a fishing rod in mountain streams were distinguished by being called “Shoku-ryoshi”. They lived in mountain villages and went into deep mountains to fish Iwana or Yamame. Some Shuku-ryoshi were staying in the mountains for a week or more sleeping in a coarse hut made by themselves or a rock cave. It is not certain when this work from was established, but probably hundreds of years ago, I guess from around the Edo period. And it is said that they were probably the fishermen who first invented fly fishing in the mountain streams in Japan.



Naturally there was no convenient fishing gear like modern days in those eras when Shoku-ryoushi were active. There were no light weight carbon rods or strong nylon or fluorocarbon lines. They used one piece bamboo rods made by themselves and hand- made taper lines made of horse tail hair. There was also no convenient camping gear too. They refined the necessary equipment from their daily used goods and went into the mountains with all equipment putting in the shoulder basket knitted with ivies or tree skins. Footwear used was straw sandals called “Waraji”. They used up a pair waraji in one day. So they needed to take many pair. In those days it was unable to imagine such as wading shoes. When it was raining, they wore straw rain-coat called “Mino”. For the foods, they took rice, miso, salt, some preserved meals, and they ate fish, wild vegetables, mushrooms whatever they could get in the mountains. There was no flashlight of course. They made bonfire and warm up themselves and lighted up the night. They fished during the daytime and grilled the fish caught with bonfire in the night. In most cases they entered the mountains alone. It was probably to keep the routes to their good fishing streams and fishing technics secret. Their lives of them and their families were dependent on the result of fishing.

The fish Shoku-ryoshi caught were grilled unseasoned or smoked normally and sold to neighboring villages by their families or merchants of their villages. At that time, fish were valuable for mountain villagers living far away from the sea in the days when there was no refrigeration technology. Iwana or Yamame were sold at a considerably high prices compared with the present age. That was why a job called Shoku-ryoshi could be established. In addition, Iwana and Yamame, which were delicious rare mountain fish, became very popular in mountain hot-spring towns. Some Shoku-ryoshi fished Iwana or Yamame in a daytime and carried them in a same day with overnight trip to a hot spring resort.

When I started keiryu fishing, I liked reading books of fishing stories or essays especially about mountain stream fishing. At that time, I was a businessman in Tokyo, and reading books was good fun in a commuter train. When I was reading those books about such mountain stream fishing, one day I found a book about Shoku-ryoshi. It was the book written about 4 Shoku-ryoshi who lived in the era of the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa (About from1900 to 1985). The book was edited by hearing stories from them about their lives and fishing. For me, who was just crazy about kebari fishing in the mountain stream, this book was a wonderfully interesting. I was really absorbed in the stories about Shoku-ryoshi, and realized they were pioneers of Japanese genryu fishing and kebari fishing. In the long history of Japan, it is worthy that Shoku-ryoushi (Professional mountain stream fisherman), was the firm job and it was continued from a pretty old era in remote mountain villages. I felt that fact was one of the most important folklore studies for Japan.

Indeed, three of the four fishermen on that book were doing kebari fishing mainly and catching Iwana. Especially, I was more interested in Hirano Sokichi’s stories than other three gays. Hirano Sokichi was living in Hinoemata village, where I visited frequently for fishing. He was born in Hinoemata village in 1900. He started fishing as Shoku-ryoshi from the age of 14 years old, and in 1987 when the book was published, he was still fishing Iwana even when he was 87 years old. Starting from Oze (Now Oze area is very famous and popular National Park.) to the main stream of the Tadami River (One of the biggest mountain main streams in Main island of Japan.) and entered the headwater areas of the tributaries, he fished Iwana all the day and slept at the poor mountain hut or Iwaya (Natural rock cave.) at night. He also grilled the Iwana and dried it until very late every night. He spent 7 to 10 days in one expedition in the mountains. Fish he caught was sold as valuable protein source to the people living in the neighbor villages by his families.

Since fishing can only be done from early summer to autumn, he had a few fields in the village and did hunting in the mountains from winter to spring. So Sokichi fed eight families mainly by doing Shoku-ryoshi. There were several other Shoku-ryoshi in Hinoemata village, but the notable point of Sokichi was the extent of his range of fishing. Sometimes seeking for Iwana, he climbed over 3 mountain ranges and explored into a deep mountain valley where people could not ever come over. I fished around those areas and know quite a bit of the areas. It is tremendous deep mountains and even climbing over one mountain range and going beyond is real hard work. Moreover, there was no track or footpath in the mountains. He only traced his own route. It is difficult to visit those areas even in modern times where the forest roads were improved to a certain extent.



There is Mt. Komagatake altitude 2100m towering in the north of Hinoemata village. Sokichi liked a stream called “Merugamata-zawa” which is running over that mountain, but he had to climb over the mountain ranges three times to get the stream, and there was a huge snow bridge called “trimodichi-gura” hanging over the lower part of the stream. In the year when they had plenty of snow, he said that he had to go up stream while wading in the water for 300 meters under the dark snow bridge. I surely think he could catch enough Iwana even though he did not go to such a great deed outback.

While reading his biography, I believe that Sokichi did not go over that outback because he wanted to fish a lot of Iwana. Sokichi thrust into deep in the mountains because he just wanted to go to the places where no one had ever been and wanted to see the sceneries of the valleys no one had seen. It must be because of his strong adventurous spirit. We also have a similar feeling when we are on a genryu fishing trip. We often feel what kind of scenery is there ahead of this bend, or what flow is there if we climb over this waterfall? I think it is one of the reasons for being fascinated by mountain stream fishing.

In the story of Sokichi, he said that he did bait fishing at the beginning, but kebari fishing eventually became main method of his fishing. It was "Kebari fishing" then. Not “Tenkara fishing”. There was no word of "Tenkara Fishing"in the era in his district. Sokichi said that he was fishing while looking at the flowing kebari. It seems that his kebari fishing was just like dry fly fishing. Many of Shok-ryoshi also prefered kebari fishing. There are some reasons. Some people said because they did not have to catch and keep the baits. Some other said because it was easy to arrange the size of the fish. Others point that the result of fishing was fast.



For them, Shoku-ryoshi, the streams with lots of Iwana, or good baits, good kebari, fishing methods were all very important corporate secrets. So they did not teach people how to make good kebari, line system or fishing methods, etc. It was an important secret that they talked only to a very limited person such as disciples and children. A form of transmission called "isshisoden" in Japanese. It means transmission of the secrets of tenkara fishing from father to only one child. So tenkara fishing tackle system and fishing methods have never spread to general fishing people until recent days.

Nowadays some famous Shoku-ryoshi have been introduced to public by books etc., and we know some famous Shoku-ryoshi like Toyama Shinaemon of Kurobe river, Yamada Kametaro of Akiyama-go, Hirano Sokichi of Hinoemata village, but there had been much more Shokuryoshi were doing their business at many places in Japan since many years ago. I think they are pioneers of genryu fishing in Japan and also kebari fishing (Tenkara fishing) definitely. Those Shoku-ryoshi invented and developed kebari fishing over a long period of time. So to speak, tenkara fishing is a fishing method of professional fishermen basically. I'm not quite sure, but how about the fly fishing history that has been developed in the Western countries? Even with the same fly fishing, it seems like fly fishing has been developed more like as sport or recreation. If it is correct, it would be one of the big differences between tenkara fishing and fly fishing.

When I was fishing in genryu areas of Tadami River, there were 2 mountain huts along Tadami River. Those huts are called “Desakugoya” or “dezukurigoya” and people lived in the hut only during the summer as a base for field works and mountain works. One of those huts was then owned Sokichi. Yes, back then Sokichi was still living there by Tadami River and sometimes entered the genryu streams for fishing. I think that he was over 90 years old at that time already. I remember the hut was built with sturdy timbers and vegetables were grown in small fields in front of the hut. Sometimes smoke was rising from the chimney of the hut.

One day I heard from someone living in Hinoemata village that Sokichi died. That was not the reason, but I gradually ceased to go to the Tadami River area. Sometimes, I think of what is going on for that Sokichi's hut. I wonder if someone of Sokichi's family still takes care of the hut. It has been more than ten years since Sokichi passed away. Now, there is no more real Shoku-ryoshi in Japan. They have disappeared into the flow of time.