Japan Kebari: Hirata-san

When I arrived in Gifu Prefecture I went with my guests in a small fishing gear shop located a few steps from the Itoshiro river held by Hirata-san. Located a few steps from the river this little shop is the place to stay in the region to be informed of the fishing conditions in the area and buy what you need.

In many ways the Hirata-san shop reminded me of those still existing  fifteen years ago in my area and that were held by true fishing junkies and where we were going to buy as much as our material for the simple pleasure to discuss. Hirata-san's tackle shop is exactly that kind of shop. 

If Hirata-san's shop is small it offers no less than anything you need to practice ayu, esa zuri and tenkara. The latest gear rubs beautiful tamos manufactured by the master of the house and bamboo tenkara rods.

I did take advantage also of Hirata-san advices to purchase some spools of fluorocarbon tippet then I became interested in the contents of two wooden boxes placed on the counter of the shop. One of them contained the famous "mamushi kebari".

This kebari really deserves to be described as "one of a kind" as Hirata-san uses the skin of gloydius blomhoffii, a highly venomous viper which is called "mamushi" in Japan. Having met several of these snakes when I was in the mountains around Tadami I can assure you that the behavior of this snake is typically that of a viper: it does not flee at your approach, quite the contrary.

Hirata-san uses the skin of this venomous snake to make the body of its kebari. To people who tell him that they are too expensive kebari, around USD 8.50 each, he replies with a smile: "I risk my life to tie these kebari!"

Hirata-san is used to tie his kebari with a pair scissors as sole tool and the result is nonetheless very successful, that is the evidence of a long experience of tool-free tying.

But Hirata-san's kebari are not only beautiful, they are also very strong as he uses nail varnish as a glue. Hirata-san uses  Owner Kuwahara Tenkara hooks.

The second box on the counter of the shop contained other kebari tied by Hirata-san. He of course also ties them without tools on the same hooks but with embroidery thread as a body. When I visited all of them had a beige body but differed in the colors of their hackles ranging from grizzly to black through  furnace brown.

Hirata-san also finishes these kebari by a thin layer of nail varnish on the body to make it more durable. As he stated varnish body does not change in appearance when the kebari has been submerged.  Like most of the tenkara anglers I did meet in Japan Hirata-san has  observed long ago that  it is not the kebari that catches fish but the angler who knows how to use it wisely. 

Japan Kebari: Dr. Hisao Ishigaki

During my stay in Japan I was lucky thanks to the intervention of my friend Kazumi Saigo of Dr. Hisao Ishigaki meet with whom I did fish an afternoon on the legendary Itosihro. It was of course a very good experience and a joy to meet one of the most notable ambassadors of tenkara.

Ishigaki-sensei and I exchanged some of our kebari after fishing.

We all know the Ishigaki sakasa kebari and most of us have tied this pattern in their tenkara beginnings but the original tied by Ishigaki Sensei are very different from western versions  which in most cases show excessive attention to details.

The tenkara technique of Dr Hisao Ishigaki is based on a rational observation of salmonid behavior, especially their sense of vision.

If the details in the pattern may be important for the fisherman they have none for fish which, because of the quasi-spherical and rigid lens of their eyes are myopic. 

Made of tying thread and a cock hackle feather a tenkara angler who considers his technique more important to meet success than the choice of a particular pattern will use this kebari as a dry, an emergent or a wet fly. When Ishigaki sensei opened his box to give me some of his kebari he took two other models that have no name.

Both kebari are tied on Varivas barbless hooks, they are of great simplicity and flawlessly efficient in fishing. The movements of their hackle on and under the water surface is certainly no stranger to their efficiency.

Ishigaki Sensei has developed a downstream wet fly fishing technique called "Tomezuri". This technique is very effective and allows successful downstream fishing at short distance. I was initiated by Ishigaki sensei himself and I can state that these kebari tied with long supple hackles perfectly work. Not only in Japanese mountain streams but on any stream.

As the masters of tenkara Ishigaki sensei has demonstrated during his career that while remaining faithful to the principle of simplicity of tenkara he was able to develop a range of effective techniques based on rational observation of salmonids.

John and Paul of Discover Tenkara have released an excellent video starring Ishigaki sensei that you can watch by clicking here.

Learn more about Ishigaki sensei and his tenkara experience in the very interesting interview he did with Adam and that was published on the Tenkara Fisher forum. 

Itoshiro Tenkara

It was only 7:30 a.m when I joined my friend Kazumi "Ajari" Saigo in his car and this day was beginning under good omens: the sky was prefectly clear and bright blue. Although the previous days had been rainy and stormy we hoped for clear waters on the Itoshiro river where we had planned to join friends and go fishing. We did drive for a little more than three hours during which we had the opportunity to get acquainted because until now we only know each other though social network. We of course mainly talked about tenkara and I was satisfied to realize that we had a  very similar idea of tenkara.
Before arriving at our final destinataiton we made a detour by Hirata-san's tackle shop that is located only a few steps away from the Itoshiro so nobody can give more updated informations about the stream condition better than him. 

It was really a nice experience to meet him in person and to have an overview of his talents that encompass tamo making, horsehair furled lines and more. I did take advantage of this opportunity to purchase a few of his famous "Mamushi kebari".

Arrived at our home base I had the opportunity to meet Akai Kitsune who is really friendly and truly passionate about tenkara with whom I share many viewpoints about this fishing technique. He has been living in Japan for several years and has met the most famous and experienced tenkara anglers from whom he has learned a lot. He has the good idea to document his meetings with the tenkara masters to help the conservation of these anglers techniques and knowledge. 

Our conversation was interupted by the arrival of a car from which came a man know by anyone interested in tenkara at least for his famous kebari pattern: Hisao Ishigaki.

If you have watched some of his videos or DVDs and think that this very experienced tenkara angler is very friendly and does not take himself for serious you are right. This is probably why he decided to call himself the "King of tenkara"! A funny and healthy way to ridicule the fake experts and other self-proclaimed specialists.

It was decided to split the group in two, Ishigaki sensei and I would fish together while others would fish further upstream so I joined my guide onboard his vehicle. We continued the conversation seriously this time and I was not very surprised that ishigaki sensei was interested by the development of tenkara in Europe, I even think that ha is happy to know that some European anglers are sincerely interested in tenkara. After a few minutes we did arrive at a temple, the Chukyo Hakusan Jinja where Ishigaki sensei is used to come when he goes fishing  the Itoshiro. Mount Hakusan is, along with Mount Fuji and Mount Tateyama, one of the three sacred mountains in the Japanese beliefs. People are used to come here and pay homage to the mountains. When leaving the temple Ishigaki sensei asked me what I had asked the mountains to give me.
"A good day of tenkara" did I answer

"So did I" answered Ishigaki sensei.

We had no doubt about the fact we were going to have a great fishing time.

Arrived on the banks of the river we were talking about the theory of Ishigaki sensei on the vision of the fish and handed me one of his kebari and I knotted it to my tippet before giving him my rod. Having seriously studied everything I could find on the subject and viewed countless times his videos I thought I understood the technique of Ishigaki sensei and I would now have the chance to have him for a personal tuition.

I was a little bit surprised when the doctor asked me why I had caught this Iwana. I replied that the fish had bitten because I had used the right technique then Ishigaki sensei told me, laughing, "No, it is because a kebari used up by the king of tenkara". These famous kebari are very simple but if they are used by a fisherman who understans that a single pattern can fish in any water they can do wonders. Tenkara  is based on the fishing technique, not the choice of a particular pattern. A rod, a line, a fly.

I was invited by Ishigaki sensei to take the lead. I quickly hooked an Iwana, a beautiful fish with  its sides studded with white dots.

It was followed by many others. We fished either in turn or one behind the other, one in front was fishing upstream and the other downstream which allowed us to take a lot of fish over fairly short distances. The downstream fishing technique of Ishigaki sensei is very effective as I realized it. The afternoon passed quickly despite the sweltering heat that day we spent a lovely time and we noted with enthusiasm that the mountain of the gods had granted our wish.

Running out of cold tea and satisfied by our tenkara fishing session we decided to wuietly walk down the stream to go back to the car.  Along the way we discussed about tenkara and I realized also that Isihgaki sensei was very interested by what is happening with tenkara in Europe and the United States. We will continue the conversation with the entire group during a dinner under the stars placed under the auspices of good humor, friendship and tenkara.

The time came Ishigaki sensei left us and I thanked him for being my guide during this anthology day. Thank you!