Genryu Fishing of Japan #48

The River of Sebata-san’s

by Keiichi Okushi 

One day in March, I received a FB message from Sebata-san. There was a link, so when I clicked on it, it seemed that a dedicated section for tenkara fishing was opened in Kuro-kawa, which flows through the village of Okorogawa in Mae-Nikko. Kuro-kawa is the mountain stream where young Sebata-san first met tenkara fishing many years ago.

Sebata-san took on the ambassador for this Tenkara-only section because of the relationship at that time. Recently, this kind of special sections dedicated to Tenkara fishing have been opened in some rivers in various places of Japan. The special section of Kuro-kawa is the second special section dedicated to Tenkara fishing in Tochigi prefecture.

"I want to fish in the river that Sebata-san fished on his young day. ","I want to see the sceneries of the river that Sebata-san saw." I talked it with some genryu fishing friends.

Then one Saturday in April, about a month later. I was driving west on the highway in the early morning toward the Okorogawa. Okorogawa is a mountain village located in the Mae-Nikko Mountains, which lies on the south of Nikko, which is registered as a World Heritage Site, and also about 20 km west of Utsunomiya, the prefectural capital of Tochigi Prefecture. From Mito where I live, I can reach Okorogawa in about 2 hours using the highway.

Around 7:00 am, after passing the last big town Kanuma, the scenery became a rural landscape. Eventually, the road ran along the Kuro-kawa and gradually entered the mountains.

When I entered the village of Okorogawa, I saw the brave figure of Mt.Nikko-Nantai beyond the gorge in the direction of travel. Okorogawa was a beautiful village that retains the atmosphere of a Japanese mountain village in the good old days. I had heard from Sebata-san many times about Okorogawa and the stories of learning Tenkara fishing there. "OK, this is the scenery of Koraigawa.” I wondered in my mind.

When Sebata-san was only 20 years old, he was working at an automobile company in Utsunomiya. At that time, Sebata-san was absorbed in the mountain stream fishing he just learned, and if he had time, he would go out to the mountain stream near Utsunomiya and spend all his time fishing. Sebata-san was still doing bait fishing then.

 One day, Sebata-san encountered a mysterious fishing in Okorogawa. That was the fishing which casts only the kebari and line without bait or weight. That was the tenkara fishing that was handed down to Okorogawa in Mae-Nikko. Eventually, Sebata-san met Mr. Juntaro Tanaka, who was fishing for yamame in Tenkara fishing in Okorogawa. Sebata-san begged for the teaching of Tenkara fishing. Mr. Tanaka was willing to teach Sebata-san how to make kebari, how to make tenkara lines, and the fun of tenkara fishing.

However, he never showed Sebata-san how to fish, and Sebata-san later thought that Tanaka-san probably wanted Sebata-san to learn tenkara fishing from yamame(It means to do fishing and study by myself). In addition, Tanaka-san always said, "Tenkara is an interesting fishing. If you catch 5 or 6 fish, you can't stop it anymore." “Tenkara is easy fishing. Just cast and pick up the rod then you can hook fish.”

However, when Sebata-san actually tried it, tenkara fishing was not so easy. Sebata-san says that the word "Quick setting hook for yamame" was stuck in his head, and it made tenkara fishing difficult. In the end, it was said that one season was over without the feeling that he was convinced that he had fished yamame. One day in the second season of Tenkara fishing, one cast did not go well, and the tippet and the line stayed slack and fell on the water surface. Sebata-san thought “Ah, this is useless”. Then yamame appeared and bit the kebari. he could not set the hook because the line was slacked. Anyway Sebata-san thought yamame had already escaped, but when he pulled the line that Yamame was still biting the kebari, and Sebata-san could catch the yamame. Sebata-san thought this was it. "If there is slack in the line or tippet, yamame does not spit out the kebari immediately. Then setting hook is easy even if it is a bit slow." It was the moment Sebata-san opened his eyes to tenkara fishing. Decades have passed since then, and Sebata-san has become one of Japan's leading tenkara fishermen. Kuro-kawa, the river of Sebata-san’s memories, flows through there in Okorogawa village.

Kuro-kawa gradually took on the appearance of a mountain stream from Satokawa(village stream), and I arrived at the Tenkara-only section. I met a friend, Kubota-san, in the car parking next to the house of the fishing ticket office. We were served cups of tea by the old man at the fishing ticket office, and we chatted about Sebata-san for a while, and he kindly told about recommended fishing points.

 We entered the point of Otaki (Big water fall), the most upstream part of the dedicated section. Kuro-kawa was a mountain stream with paved roads along the river, but the flowing water was wonderfully clear and clean. This day was a sunny day like early summer, and the temperature rose steadily as the sun rose. When we went down to the stream, many mayflis were already hatching and dancing on the stream. It was the best day for kebari fishing. I connected my traditiona Japanese bamboo tenkara rod, and we started fishing immediately. However, although we could see some yamame were staying in the water, they were not active, and we took turns fishing for a while, but I only caught one small yamame. While fishing the pool of Otaki, Ishimori-san and Hirasawa-san arrived by a car at the parking lot above the waterfall. We finished fishing and went up from the river once and talked for a while.

After talking somewhile, Ishimori-san wanted to do fishing, he started fishing a little downstream and immediately caught a good yamame over 25cm. Then, we move downstream altogerther, there was a good flow with some nice points that were looking better than upstream. As soon as Ishimori-san and I started fishing, Ishimori-san caught another 25cm over yamame again. Although it was discharged fish, it was beautiful yamame. I got motivation looking at that yamame, and I took turn of fishing in the good current, good-sized yamame was a hit in the flow immediately. He bent my bamboo rod and fought well. It was healthy 24cm yamame. Overall, it seemed that a fair number of yamame have been released in the tenkara-only section. The size of some yamame were also quite good.

 When I fished the good-sized yamame, I received an incoming call on my cell phone. It seemed that radio waves came in the stream because it was close to the village. When I answered the phone, it was from Takahisa-san, the eldest son of Sebata-san. Takahisa-san probably heard from Sebata-san that we would go to Okorogawa on that day. He said that he would come to Okorogawa in an hour because he had just some errands to do. It had been a few years since I met Takahisa-san last time.

About an hour later, when we just got up from the stream and were taking a break, Takahisa-san arrived. Since it was the first time for the other three people to meet Takahisa-san, I introduced them, and we talked about latest situations for a while. It was a good time, so we had lunch at a soba restaurant nearby. The weather was nice, so we took seats on the terrace. It seemed that there was a small campsite just below, and a good number of people are setting up tents on a sunny Saturday. I thought they might be anglers who were also camping. The topic of the talk went about Sebata-san. Takahisa-san said that Sebata-san’s legs became weak, and he could no longer walk in the genryu. Still, a few weeks ago, Sebata-san visited Okorogawa and stood by the stream, and he was happy to meet old friends living in Okorogawa. The soba sets had been served. The soba made with local buckwheat flour were accompanied by the local wild vegetable tempura, pickles, and rice, which was very delicious.
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Takahisa-san said he would retire from his work in June. He had been very busy with work and away from genryu fishing for a long time, so he said he would like to start genryu fishing again after his retirement. So, we promised to go genryu fishing together in this summer and we said good-bye.

When I was driving home on the road along the Kuro-kawa after leaving the village of Okorogawa, I remembered that Sebata-san saying "In the old days, I could see a bunch of good yamame swimming in every single pool in Kuro-kawa." Sebata-san was smiling with longing eyes.

Soseki's Modern Tenkara and Various Tenkara Techniques in Different Districts

Soseki’s Modern Tenkara and Various Tenkara Techniques in Different Districts

Submitted by Eiji Yamakawa

Yamamoto Soseki was well known to Japanese tenkara fishers. He introduced tenkara to mountain-stream anglers through his many books and articles. Based on one of his articles of a fishing magazine (Ancestry of Tenkara, The cutting edge of mountain stream fishing 1988, page 68-73, published by Weekly Fishing Sunday), this report has been prepared to introduce Soseki’s tenkara technique and various tenkara techniques in different districts in Japan. Although that article is a bit old, I think this report provides you with some interesting information on Soseki and many types of tenkara techniques.

Twenty years ago, when the above-referenced article was published, every mountain-stream angler knows that “tenkara” is a name of a technique for fishing mountain-stream fish with a fly. However, just twenty to thirty years before that time, tenkara was a fishing technique that was performed only in limited districts and had been handed on from one generation to another in respective districts by only a limited number of people. The fishing technique and the name for tenkara had a large variety among those districts. This variety will be described latter.

Tenkara in Kiso

Tenkara had long handed on in Kiso district in Nagano Prefecture since old times. Its techniques and fly patterns were well known as an orthodox mainstream of tenkara. The fly patterns in Kiso had the collectively theorized components for practical use to fish amago, which was called “tanabita” in that district.

Dr. Sugimoto, who ran an internal medical clinic in Fukushima in Kiso, was Soseki’s master of tenkara. After Soseki learned tenkara by Dr. Sugimoto’s book, he visited him to have his face-to-face training. It was summer in 1964.

According to the technique of traditional tenkara there, they fished the mid deep to near surface region with a fly immersed in the water, and it was very difficult technique especially to beginners. That technique was all the same as bait fishing except using a fly instead of a real bait. The most difficult point is in how to detect a fish bite. You needed to have a good skill to hook a fish upon a glance at a fish turning around in the water.

Why had that difficult technique been handed on? In those days, it was practical to immerse a fly in water. There were two reasons for that: first, a natural material fishing line looks so transparent in water that it is difficult for fish to find it; second, a natural material fishing line has unevenness in thickness, and the water prevents as a cushion the fishing line from breaking due to an instantaneous large force when hooking a big fish.

When a nylon fishing line was put on the market, it replaced the conventional natural material fishing line. It was light, strong, and chemically stable.

On response to the emerge of the nylon fishing line, Dr. Sugimoto conceived a new tenkara technique, improving the traditional tenkara technique.

His new technique had two major features. One was to lure a fish out to the surface and to hook it there. This thrilling technique was created owing to a fine but strong nylon tippet. The other was a simple style of fly. In the water, an unsophisticated fly is easily found out to be an artificial bait, and therefore, a fly has to look like a real bait. However, on the surface, fantastic flies have the following advantage.

With this new technique, a fly is shown off to fish through a bail of the water. The fish sees upwardly the fly though water from deep in the water, in other words the fish looks toward the bright place from the dark place. In the morning and evening, the situation is especially enhanced, thus a fantastic fly is more effective.

Dr. Sugimoto focused on this point and came up with a fly only having a simple hackle and body, setting up the “Wing Vein Theory” which insists that the veins of the wing are important in flies because only the veins can be seen if you see the wing of a mayfly by transmitted light.

Tenkara in Other Districts

The fishing is inherently distinctive in different districts. The same kind of fish has different names, and the fishing techniques are different. Those respective techniques have been handed on in respective districts, and tackles and fishing rigs have been locally developed, and are thus locally distinctive. However, most of the differences in techniques and tackles seem to have been lost due to printings and visual materials. Printings and visual materials such as TV help a fishing technique of some people or some district to prevail as a standard technique.

In the northern area of Tohoku (meaning “north-east”) district is the technique in which three to five flies are tied like tree branches, and the flies are dragged on the surface. This technique is called “Mosquito Fly Fishing”.

In Nikko, Gorocho fly has been well known as a fly for the mountain stream fishing, and it is famous as a pattern of fly instead of as a fishing technique. As the name of the fly implies, this fly is made similar to a gorocho (a dialect word representing an adult aquatic insect of some kind).

The features of mountain stream fish especially iwanas depend on the rivers where they live, due to a stream size, properties of water, bottom stones, vegetation in the river basin, brightness, and so on. Therefore, their feeding habits can also differ in different streams. Thus, the following situations can occur. Earth worms are effective in A river, but in B river they are not at all effective, instead aquatic insects are a must. Of aquatic insects, caddices are effective in C river, but mayflies are effective in D river. The same thing goes with flies, and we have to prepare unusual flies for rare use in addition to our favorite flies for regular use.

Regarding this troublesome issue, there are two different convincing assertions A and B, and they make this issue more troublesome. To make this difficult issue simple, let’s discuss bait as an example. Assertion A insists that the bait that the fish usually have is better, and to the contrary, assertion B insists that an unusual bait is better. You can buy either assertion. Although the two assertions are opposite to each other, both can make sense and are persuasive to unconfident anglers.

The same thing goes with flies, and thus you have trouble to decide what kind of pattern to use. The best pattern depends on uncertain conditions such as weather and water level in addition to the aforementioned constant conditions such as properties of water, bottom stones, and vegetation of the river bank, which relates to the kind of bait inhabiting there. In this regard, you can learn a lot from the visual features of traditional flies that have locally long been handed on. From this point of view, Gorocho Fly is distinctive in Nikko district.

In Yamanashi Prefecture is a technique called Taiko (meaning “drum”) Fishing. The reason why it is called by that name is that an angler changes points while drumming the water surface with a fly. It is quite an exciting technique. A fly is not shown to fish for a long time, instead it is repeatedly shown for a very short time to confuse the eyes of a fish. After showing off the fly that way, the fly is presented on the water for the fish to bite. Such a manipulation of fly reminds us of an image of a dragonfly dipping its tail in the water to lay eggs.

In the southern part of Kyusyu Island is a technique that is totally opposite to Taiko Fishing in Yamanashi Prefecture. In this district, yamame is called madara (meaning “spotty”) or enoha (meaning “leaf of nettle tree”), and there is a tenkara technique called Hashirakashi (meaning “to sweep quickly”). The presented fly is manipulated so as to scratch the water surface quickly.

In Shidara County in Aichi Prefecture is a tenkara, which has long been handed on. That tenkara is basically the same as Kiso tenkara, but Kiso tenkara is thought to be older.

In Fukui Prefecture is also a tenkara technique, and Soseki actually saw this technique in the Itoshiro River in 1965. The angler was old and nearly blind due to cataract but waded very lightly, jumping from one stone to another while casting at short intervals. His line system is the same as that of Kiso tenkara. He casted and picked up after he presented a fly and counted “one, two, three”. With this technique, a fish is most likely to bite the fly at the moment the angler counts “three”. It was a repetition of counting “one, two, three” and not very exiting, but the angler caught far more fish than Soseki, Soseki was a beginner at that time, though.

In Totsukawa Village is a bit different technique. It is a technique using a level line. It is called Tobashi (meaning “casting”) and has been performed by forestry work workers. The line system employs a 10lb to 14lb nylon line and about one meter of a thinner tippet tied to the end of the level line. In addition, an ear of a dead pampas grass is tied on at the upper part. Its weight helps casting, and it works as an indicator as well.

Mr. Takekabu in Owase City has taken over this orthodox technique of the level line tenkara and is developing the technique. His technique is better to be called Takekabu Style than to be called level line tenkara. His level line is eight to ten meters long, which is much longer than typical level lines. He can easily cast this long line without any indicator or weight.

The tapered line is easy to cast due to its tapered shape, but a long level line needs more skill and more physical strength to cast. The reason he still sticks to his style is that hooking rate is very high with his style. Judging from Soseki’s experience, you can hook typically seven out of ten fish but miss three fish. However, Takekabu Style is said to hook all the ten fish.

Why there is such a difference? It is because you can stay away from the spot owing to that long line, and a fly can be presented on the water surface naturally enough. However, it is not good for bushy small streams, and in addition you have to have a good eye sight.

Deep Mino and Hida district is a Sakasa Kebari. Since its hackle is tied in the opposite direction to normal flies, and it looks like swimming in the water when the line is tensioned.

Is Tenkara Difficult?

Tenkara has long been said to be difficult, and Soseki believed the same way at first. But through his experience, twenty years for bait fishing and another twenty years for tenkara, he said tenkara was simpler and easier.