It's too darn hot to fish. 96 degrees here today. Still about 91 degrees at 8p.m. A little time under the ceiling fan playing on the internet seemed like the better option.

I discovered an interesting essay titled 'A Study of Tenkara Aesthetics". I suppose aesthetics could be defined as a sense of taste for what is considered beautiful or elegant.

The essay may be too much of an encouragement for folks who want to make to much of a Zen thing of Tenkara. But it's fun to try to understand the essay. Telling of how the Tenkara tradition was at one time fading away. Now this one time work of the fisherman has been revived and has new interest. Wherein it is described as a method of fishing that is fine and delicate yet bold. Why tenkara fish? For a sense of life and unity with nature.

It is written in Japanese and translated by google which always gets some words totally wrong and the placement of the words are the wrong way round in the sentence for us English language speakers . I suspect that the words translated as apology and rust are completely incorrect. The rust term, I think, is really referring to tea. Or rather well made tea. As in the tea ceremony. Other terms I have no clue what they mean. Though the poor translation requires a lot of reading between the lines to try and understand even half of the meaning its still a kind of fun essay to try to understand. Maybe the most fun was trying to understand the meaning of Wabi Sabi. Terms used throughout the essay. The videos trying to explain the concept of Wabi Sabu are perhaps more fun that the essay itself. It is said one has to live in Japan for 30 years to understand Wabi Sabi.

A tea ceremony house is said to be wabi sabi. Wabi - class with quiet and cleanliness. Sabi - old fashioned elegance.

Would you say Tenkara is Wabi Sabi too ?

A short 1:43 video explaining Wabi Sabi. Read the text below the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHikSWYTuMg&feature=related

A ten minute video explaining Iki and Wabi Sabi. Some beautiful Japanese gardens and other scenery.
"What is Wabi Sabi"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysevNSJJcEc

The essay itself,
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ikufuan.com%2Ftenkara%2Fbunko16.htm

Even if the meaning of the essay is mostly not understandable maybe the videos were fun. A little peak at trying to understand Japanese culture. And the essayist attempt to link Tenkara fishing to the Tea Ceremony and Wabi Sabi.

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テンカラ釣りは楽しいのです。

I can only read the translated words and then try to comprehend the sentence in a way that makes sense to me. Chest Foot was a tough one to grasp. Sometimes I think I might understand, however I'm never really sure with these puzzles. It was interesting to read anyway. I thought maybe the reader was comparing the original practicallity of Tenkara fishing as being a persons way of obtaining food for a living. And then comparing this to how people have then turned it into something different and full of a sort of mystical meaning. The tea ceremony, and Wabi Sabi being examples of changing meanings. Showing how people are always in search of putting meaning to something that was just plain simple to begin with. But at the same time maybe I'm way off.
It was 102 here. Everything outside gets done early for me. Brutally hot and dry here, all the streams are dried up around me.

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テンカラのイモリ
Tenkara Mushroom

I have been a student of Urasenke Chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) for about 7 years now. Wabi sabi is a huge component of the tea ceremony asthetic. The easiest way to describe what wabi sabi to western culture is: the appreciation of imperfection in its relation to function. Traditional Japanese tea ceremony bowl (chawan) appear very rough hewn, lots of imperfections in the clay, glaze, shape, and yet that imperfection is perfectly balanced with the intended function of the bowl.

In tenkara I see the tamo as one wabi sabi component. The net hoop and handle are formed from a single tree limb complete with knots, strange twists, textures, and even non-rounded net hoops. The craftsman works with the natural material to enhance its organic nature and imperfection and strive to create balance of organic imperfect form and function.

Wabi sabi is uniquely Japanese. In the modern world we strive for order and symmetry. Wabi sabi is the appreciation of organic imperfection and perfect function. It is an art form like say, modern art, hard to describe but you know it when you see it.

John

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Tenkara Guides LLC

Thanks John,

Perhaps these pictures of Guinomi, from Fujioka's Best Streams web page, fit in with the pottery used in Urasenke Chanoyu.

( click on each piece for a pop-up giving some back ground on where and why it was added to the collection)

http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/amago/b-streams/equipment/guinomi2.html

Some pieces surprisingly link to a story of a kebari collected during the trip.

He skips the tea ceremony. However, fishing a little, then sharing some sake stream side followed by taking a nap under the shade of a tree. Sounds ok too.

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テンカラ釣りは楽しいのです。