Jason Borger on Tenkara

Posted by Jason Klass on Feb 5, 2013 in Tenkara Interviews | 8 comments

At this year’s Denver Fly Fishing Show, I caught up with Gary Borger after one of his presentations.  I asked him if he had tried tenkara.  He hadn’t, but told me that his son, Jason, had done quite a bit of tenkara.  So, I took Gary over to the Tenkara USA booth, let him wiggle a rod, and offered to send him one to try out.  I’m happy to report that he now has it in his hands and will likely review it this spring.  But I was curious about Jason Borger’s perspective on tenkara.

Jason needs no introduction.  In addition to being an expert angler in his own right, he is also a master rod builder, author, and accomplished artist.  You can see examples of his work on his blog, Fish, Flies & Water.  So, what does Jason think of tenkara?  I asked him a few questions to find out…

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Interview with Yoshikazu Fujioka

Posted by Jason Klass on Jan 23, 2013 in Tenkara Interviews | 15 comments

In my early reseach of tenkara, one of the first sites I came across was Trout and Seasons of the Mountain Village. The site has vast amounts of information on tenkara techniques, and streams and fish species in Japan. But I was particularly impressed with the vast collection of Japanese fly patterns there and to see how they varied by region. Yet I really didn’t know much about the site’s author, Yoshikazu Fujioka. But after recently digging through his site a little deeper, I have come to discover that Mr. Fujioka is a fascinating man.

Not only is he a master tenkara angler, but also an accomplished artist. You can see some of his fishing-inspired paintings here and he even has another site called Paper Trout where you can download free templates to cut out and make, well, paper trout!

In 1979, he and his friends founded the Tsuttenkai fishing club and they have met twice a year since. Mr. Fujioka has fished all over Japan and has a broad knowledge of tenkara so I was honored when he agreed to do the following interview.

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Interview with Eiji Yamakawa

Posted by Jason Klass on Oct 30, 2012 in Tenkara Interviews | 23 comments

Anyone who frequently visits the Tenkara USA forums has probably seen posts by someone named “Eddie”.  What some may not know is that “Eddie” is actually Eiji Yamakawa, an expert tenkara angler from Japan.  We first came into contact when he helped me get my Nissin Prosquare tenkara rod and we have kept in contact ever since.  But it was my privileged to meet him in person for the first time at the 2012 Tenkara Summit in Utah where we were able to fish together.  Eiji is not only an expert tenkara angler, but a consummate furled line maker and it was fascinating to see him demonstrate his line making machine in person.  Given his passion for tenkara, perhaps it’s no coincidence that “Yamakawa” translates to “mountain stream”.  Yamakawa-san was gracious enough to do an interview with me and I think you will find some of his answers very interesting.

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Interview with Tenkara no Oni

Posted by Jason Klass on Oct 22, 2012 in Tenkara Interviews | 19 comments

I was ecstatic when Masami Sakakibara (AKA, “Tenkara no Oni”) recently agreed to do an interview with me.  Tenkara no Oni is not only a tenkara master but is known for his amazing casting style which is often referred to as “magical”.  He recently put up an English language website called Masami Sakakibara’s World of Tenkara which is an amazing resource filled with articles, blog posts, interviews, and videos on tenkara.  For anyone just getting started in tenkara, this website should be in your bookmarks.  I had a long list of questions prepared but at the last minute, decided to ask readers of the Tenkara Talk blog if they had any questions.  So, I picked a couple of mine, some of yours and sent them to the master.  Here are his answers…

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Have a Tenkara Question? Ask a Tenkara Master

Posted by Jason Klass on Oct 9, 2012 in Tenkara Interviews | 11 comments

I recently posted about Masami Sakakibara’s (AKA Tenkara no Oni) new English-language website and how it opened up a world of information to the western world.  Well now, I’m pleased to announce that Sakakibara-sensei has agreed to do an interview with me!  My first reaction was to send over a list of my own questions and just post his responses.  But then, I thought it might be more beneficial to the western tenkara community if I opened it up to Tenkara Talk readers and get YOUR questions answered (not just mine).  

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