No. I guess we don't "all understand." Should we? Don't "we all understand" that small, over-grown streams could be an amazing place for a 4 ft. tenkara rod? Or a 6 ft. tenkara rod? Apparently, again - no, we don't "all understand."
If the method, in it's simple form, takes fish with an 11 - 13 foot rod - then why wouldn't it take fish at 4 pr 6 ft long? Well, it would - but some of you can't seem to wrap your head around the idea that those of us discussing a short rod aren't talking about taking them out to a "tenkara sized" river and fishing them there. Obviously, an 11 ft rod would be perfect where it's designed to be fished. But it would be a disaster in a 3 ft wide Appalachain or eastern stream. Un-fishable wouldn't be too strong a word. If you're fishing a wide open river, like in Daniel's videos then of course you wouldn't want to handicap yourself with a 4 ft. long rod, when a much longer rod would be more effective. But no one is wanting to use a 4 ft rod on a stream like that, as far as I can tell...
Here's the thing:
Why talk about a shorter tenkara rod?
Because we can? Why not discuss it? At one time, I'm sure someone posted about tenkara on a fly fishing site and someone said " why are we discussing cane poles?"
It's just chatting. It's not as if we're burning tenkara rods in an anti-tenkara protest or anything.
Do you have to "let it be" a specific thing to belong to this club? Can I not be "not quite satisfied" with an 11 foot rod, if I'd like to try tenkara on a 2 ft. wide stream? If I wanted to shorten a bamboo rod to 5 ft. long would that be so horrible?
What is the benefit of keeping it "pure?" Is it a method of fishing, or a way of life - or both? Can it not be changed? Is it somehow immoral to even want to "tinker" with tenkara? Didn't the Japanese "tinker" with it when they were first discovering the methods and creating what we know of as tenkara? (Surely they did, as it's hard to imagine them getting it right the very first time someone tried to catch a fish on a rod with a line and fly)
Is there a reason to lament that some people might want a shorter ( or longer?) rod...
Although there is surely more to tenkara than catching fish ( as there is with most Japanese traditions and cultural things, as I understand it) I can't really say that I understand making a fishing method more than what it is...a way to catch fish. If it's a religion, then I'll stick to my Cabela's 3 wt. and Ross Reel, thanks.
PS - I was thinking last night about another question I have about tenkara's early years....if these guys that invented it were " professional" fisherman...meaning, from what I'm reading - that they fished for meat - to feed their families or sell the fish...then why would they fish with flies? Did flies come later? Did they fish live bait in the beginning? And to that end, if so - should we all be fishing red wigglers in order to keep it "pure?"