Tenkara Tanuki Pocket Ninja
While fishing with some of the Japanese anglers the day before the summit, I found myself admiring a strange looking contraption at the end of Masami Tanaka’s tenkara rod. It was a clear plastic sleeve with a black strap around it. Much different than the wooden rod plug most of us in the West are familiar with (and sometimes curse for its unrivaled ability to go AWOL). I made a quick inquiry about it and went back to getting rigged up. But very unexpectedly, Japanese generosity was about to shine in my favor (again).
While I was rigging up my rod in the trunk of TJ’s FJ Cruiser, Eiji Yamakawa walked up to me. He noticed that I took a liking to Tanaka-san’s rod cap and said that he would give me one. I graciously accepted but felt a little bad because I didn’t have anything to give back. Tanaka-san brushed it off saying that they were cheap and it was no big deal but it really meant a lot to me.
I’ve seen pictures of these caps before but never in person. Right away, I can see the advantages. First of all, they’re bigger than the ubiquitous wooden rod plugs and thus harder to lose (if you’ve ever tried to find a dropped wood colored rod plug on the forest floor, you know what I mean). Second, they’re very secure. The rubber strap holds the cap very tightly and there is no chance of escape.
They come in different sizes to accomodate different rod diameters. Unfortunately, you can only get them in Japan but if anyone is interested in a group purchase, let me know and I can put one together.
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Yeah I’ll take one! I just lost my rod cap again, probably for good this time.
If it loves you, it will come back.
Hi Jason, I think I’m on my fourth home-made rod plug. I would be interested in on of these. Cheers.
Actually I just got word these might be available in the States soon. I will keep you posted.
That looks pretty cool. I would be interested in getting a few. Thanks
I could be interested in a couple, though so far I’ve not lost a plug.
I’m having lunch with tomorrow with a colleague who spent the summer doing research in Japan — and whom I’d asked to scout out some line spools for me, based on one of your earlier posts. How close she got, as a non-angler, remains to be seen.
Luckily I have yet to lose one…..but I did just start a few months ago….fingers crossed
Hi Jason
Good device named as it is called in Japanese pravelno?
I lost my rod plug about a month ago, however with my particular rod keeping it rigged with the line spool and all seems to keep the rod together pretty well, but I was deffinitely be interested! Oh and can you leave you road rigged and ready as with standard rod plugs?
Glad to see your blog active again. Always good reading.
Alas, I think it’s gone. It was in my waders pocket and now it ain’t. It may have ended up in my parents’ car or perhaps in the mud next to the river that I spent two days on in Vermont. Anyway, regardless of how it feels about me, I love it, so I’ve set it free.
Thanks! Good to be back.
…I’ll be happy to participate in a group order… I could use 4 or 5… Do we need to rod diameter, etc.?…
I would be interested also. I like the idea…… Let me know
Thought I’d write here very quickly.
Jason and I always seem to be in the exact same wavelength regarding a lot of things in tenkara. Just a few hours before this post went up I had placed an order for these caps. This was not known to him. It is a way for us to be able to offer a “universal” rod cap that will fit all rods as well as a good system that will allow the line to be tied to the rod tip while still having a protecting cap on. It was simply incredible to see this post go up so shortly after. It is not even the first time something like this has happened.
We expect to have these ready for sale in early October. They should fit all the rods and will be very reasonably priced.
Daniel
Tenkara USA
Hi Daniel, thanks for the update. So it will be a “one size fits all” cap instead of various sizes?
Funny that I missed this post.
I actually purchased a handful of these in July for some telescopic interline rods (non-tenkara). They are simple and do the trick well (although a ballpoint pen cap can also do the trick in a pinch).
Now that Tenkara USA carries them, ordering them will be greatly simplified (hopefully it’s the size 12 that the carry, which should work well for both my interline AND tenkara rods).
VERY interested! I would probably want 4 of them…. Let’s get the group buy going! 🙂