The city of Nikko, located in Tochigi Prefecture, is quite popular with tourists. I had visited a few months ago and had a great time visiting the Nikko Tosho-gu and Futarasanjinja – but the natural beauty of Nikko was the real draw for me. The Yutaki waterfall, Ryuzu waterfall, Senjogahara wetlands, … Read More
The Silver Grass Autumn Flower Every year in late August the head high grass called susuki (すすき) blooms en-mass. The soft gold grass “flowers” are quite beautiful despite their lackluster coloring. It is always a little sad to see the susuki blooming though as it signals the rapidly approaching end to … Read More
On the way home from my recent fishing trip in Nagano, my buddy and I stopped in at a locally made goods shop. I was looking for one thing in particular, a sugegasa (菅笠) – also known as a conical bamboo hat. Well lucky for me they had a bunch … Read More
Ever since the release of the video Fishing Café “Tenkara with Hisao Ishigaki” this April, it has become quite popular within the Tenkara community. I enjoyed the video immensely and after watching it, I wanted to experience the world of Shokuryosha firsthand. So after a bit of sleuthing I found the minshuku (民宿) … Read More
When dinosaurs roamed the planet, and long before the Shokuryoshi (discussed in detail later) entered the scene, the Izu Peninsula of Japan was just a tiny collection of small volcanic islands in the Southern Pacific Ocean. Then these islands began moving north on the Philippine Sea Plate and eventually collided with Honshu, the … Read More
The mountain town of Minakami (みなかみ町) is located in the northern edge of Gunma Prefecture. It is also the headwaters for the Tone River and the home of Tanigawa-dake (aka The Mountain of Death) and is also the gateway to Oze National Park. So when my friend Hama asked me to … Read More
Tenkara Fly Fishing, Off Piste Skiing, and Nihon Kawanezumi This week started out with one last ski tour before the end of the ’15/’16 season. I went to Norikura Kogen, which is a 3026 meter tall mountain in the Northern Japanese Alps. This week was Golden Week – the most popular holiday in Japan. Consequently, … Read More
According to Keiichi Okushi’s interview on Tenkara Fisher a honryu is “When two or more of the rivers are joined, the flow that forms the most fundamental”. In a way I guess all rivers are honryu when viewed in this manner; but the kanji 本流, which translates directly to “mainstream” in English, helps … Read More
Recently I wrote about The Breakfast Club, which is one of my favorite bars in Yokosuka. While the Breakfast Club is a great place to go for food and a mean highball, if you’re looking for a place with a little more class and an extensive selection of wine and … Read More
Genryū (源流) is translated as a “river source, headstream, or headwaters”. It is in the genryū of Japan that I prefer to fish with my Tenkara rod. There are several reasons for this preference but my main reason is that I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg to … Read More