Over two years ago my friend Masaki and I went fishing together to shot the first video for this website. It was then that I was exposed to my first glimpse of a rich tenkara culture, and a part of it that has become some kind of a ritual in my outings: kotsuzake, a drink which requires only sake and the lightly charred bones of an eaten fish.

Kotsuzake, to me, is underpinned with ceremonial and philosophical significance – though you should not picture a tea ceremony here. It is primitive and raw. The bones of the precious trout, after being separated from the meat, are placed over the coals of the fire and lightly roasted to bring out oils and flavor, after which they are immersed into the warm sake. The result is sake with subtle and tantalizing fish flavors, and a practice that is a personal routine if I must eat a trout that I catch.

The only way I ever prepare trout nowadays is with a simple coating of sea-salt over its skin, what is called “shioyaki” (or salt-grilled). The trout is skewered firmly, with a skewer never puncturing its flesh until the end. The absence of other seasonings, only salt enhancing its flavor, and the skillful use of a skewer preserving the integrity of its flesh are the best way to honor its meat.

Small trout from a fish-farm in Japan, lunch for 5.

Kotsu means “bone”, zake is just a modified version of “sake”. However, while the traditional drink, and even the drinks’s name imply the use of the bones only, another common way of drinking it is to use the entire fish, cooked, and submerged in sake. The correct name for that being “Iwanazake“, after the fish more commonly used for such a drink the Iwana. I have not yet tried this way of drinking it, thinking of it as a waste of trout.
In the mountain areas I spent time in, kotsuzake made this way (whole fish) is somewhat a staple. In a few local farmers’ markets I even found the neat prepackaged kotsuzake sets of the picture below. The package on the left side contained a piece of hollow bamboo that would serve as a cup along with a dried Iwana. The instructions illustrated heating the fish, putting it in the container, and finally pouring sake over it. The one of the right, I have no idea, I gave it to a friend as a gift. It looked like a cup with pieces of dried Iwana, not the entire fish. When shaken, it rattled. The package was neat, a good souvenir.

Preparing and drinking kotsuzake, is an act of homage to the principle of not wasting the resources that nature provides. I wish I had a better, cleaner picture of kotsuzake. The image below, in contrast with the sterile packages above, will automatically make you think “disgusting!” As I said, it is primitive, particularly when done stream-side. However, do not be taken back by it, it tastes much better than it looks. The ritual feels even better.

We still don’t even have a press page, yet articles on tenkara and Tenkara USA continue appearing in the media and are becoming more common in the US and abroad. Now, to catch up with recent mentions of tenkara in the media, there has been some great coverage recently. Thanks to those who have written about tenkara and to the magazines that have embraced talking about something so off the mainstream.

A couple of months ago French guides Yvon Zill and Guillaume Durand went tenkara fishing in New Zealand, the land of enormous trout. They submitted an article with excellent shots of tenkara fishing to the New Zealand Trout Fisher magazine. One of the shots got featured on the cover (below)! They had some other incredible shots of 20″+ in the article. Those guys have been doing a great job at spreading tenkara in France, and now in NZ! Checkout this shot:

Then, our friend Tom Sadler was featured in a beautifully written story, with great photography, in Garden and Gun magazine. Despite the magazine name, this was one of the best written, and most accurate pieces on tenkara I have read so far, and the images taken were very fresh. Definitely check out the article, and the photo gallery.

Just yesterday I received my copy of Field and Stream magazine, which finally featured an article on tenkara, well written by Joe Cermele. I knew there was an article on tenkara in there somewhere, the first time I browsed the pages I couldn’t find it. And, then it struck me. The “cover” for the article was an anime-style illustration – very funny. The cover says, “How a reelless 13-foot rod is revolutionizing flyfishing”. The author went on to say, “because tenkara rods are so sensitive, I instantly felt the trout in that seam pick up the fly.” Nice!

A couple of weeks ago, right before the Tenkara Summit, I saw a post on Twitter indicating Gordon Wickstrom’s article on the periods of fly-fishing had been published on no less than the Orvis’ blog. If you read the article you’ll see that Gordon splits fly-fishing history into 6 periods. I suspect this article was partially inspired by tenkara, and Gordon asserts that we’re currently in the “New Period” of fly fishing, which is defined in part by tenkara and our introduction of a simpler method of fishing “to these shores”. I had read this article a few times before, and have the “periods of fly-fishing” table on display in my tenkara museum. But, I had a good smile when I saw it posted by Orvis. So, I posted on Twitter that, “Orvis may have just accepted that the new period of fly-fishing is marked by tenkara”, not missing a beat the folks at Orvis responded, “@TenkaraUSA I wouldn’t go that far…. “. I enjoyed that exchange.

Ah, and there is Trout Unlimited. They featured a very nice article on their Trout magazine about tenkara. If you’re not a member of Trout Unlimited, please join them in their efforts to protect trout waters. Trout Unlimited has several noteworthy programs, and we support them through our 1% for the Planet commitment because of their efforts. Talking about 1%FTP, they also just released a recorded interview/podcast with me about tenkara and our 1% for the Planet commitment, in which we pledge to donate at least 1% of our revenues to environmental organizations: Podcast

And, then there was a new article at American Angler magazine, a mention of tenkara by John Gierach in his new article for Fly Rod and Reel (disclosure, I have not yet read this one, but have heard a few people mentioning it) and one for Outdoor Bozeman….

Well, a lot of catching up to let you know where tenkara is being featured. I’m thankful for all those who have taken an interest in tenkara and are helping spread the word on it. I think our sport can only gain from the acceptance of tenkara into the fly fishing communities. Maybe next time we can have tenkara on the cover of one of these mags!

As mentioned here, the first Tenkara Summit was by most accounts and opinions a great success.  Over 100 people came, to enjoy the conversations, meet other tenkara anglers and of course fish in Montana. Following the summit our party, which consisted of Dr. Ishigaki, Masaki Nakano, Chris Stewart and filmmaker Brian Flemming, enjoyed several more days of tenkara fishing on the Madison, Firehole, Gallatin and Gibbon Rivers. Since we had Brian taking many pro-shots, I didn’t take many pictures this time. Below are some of my favorites:

One of my favorite pictures during the Summit, Ryan giving a very entertaining talk about tenkara and the backcountry:

What about that drag-free drift?

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There are several things I want to write about following our trip to Montana. I could write about the 17″ rainbow I caught when no one had caught anything bigger than a 10″. I could write about a day fishing with my business idol and fellow tenkara angler, Yvon Chouinard. Or about the 1% for the Planet film we shot. But, as I reviewed photos of the 5 days we spent in one of the greatest fishing destinations anywhere, I relieved one of the saddest sights of the trip, and one that made me sad as an angler and a purveyor of angling.

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