Different people see different layers of beauty in things in the world. From Flowers to Tenkara.
Just enjoy looking at the flower. Or also become excited about how they trick bees into pollinating them, and how the bees make honey, and how do they navigate from hive to flower and back again, and …
Some people see beauty only by looking at the flower, and feel that seeing the deeper layers as diminishing its beauty.
Others also see the beauty of the flower, and feel that seeing the deeper complexity layers as increasing its beauty. Maybe the best path is to find the the layer(s) of Tenkara you like seeing, and be happy with the choice.
Ode to a Flower -
Richard Feynman’s short, sublime soliloquy on why knowledge enriches life rather than detracting from its mystery (or beauty),
the more complicated you make it … the more clever you can seem to be
words on paper or in the ether of the interwebs amount to little - you come across overcomplicating of simple things anywhere that hobbyists gather
on the Ukulele forums they will argue about “proper” tuning ie. reentrant or low G - and whether it’s “proper” to use a pick …
on guitar forums they’ll debate the mods that you need to make to an amp for it to sound good … which capacitors, which tubes, which potentiometers… etc…
It all sounds so complicated that you’re left thinking that there’s no way you can have a good sounding guitar and amp without a degree in electrical engineering … when in reality a real guitar player can make your $200 guitar and $80 amp sound like a million bucks 'cause he’s got the skills to pay the bills…
one doesn’t need the lingo or any formal training to be a whiz bang tenkara angler
the truth is out there
minding it’s own business catching fish
oh and believe me I get the irony and hypocrisy my comments here (regarding internet expertising) - but in the end it’s all just fun and games … messing about in water with a stick and a string and a hook, some bailing wire a bit of fluff and a head full of childish joy
my thing is this - folks want to add lots of lingo and name things that people just do naturally with experience …
all of the guts of which you speak are all there for the discovering - and sure they have been discovered and described and named previously - and there is historical and interest value therein if one wants to learn historic perspective - but knowledge of those names is not needed. Just like a bird doesn’t need to describe what he does when he flies - scientists can study his flying and describe it but it doesn’t change anything for the bird
so it is with tenkara (or any skill) there are those that do it and don’t worry about the naming of things and the categorizing - and I think that’s where I get a little bit squeamish
It is not that tenkara does not contain an infinite variety of variation and expression, and layers, and depth… but that I often find it a bit overdone to name every one of those things - and then act as if the naming of a thing is the knowing of it…
The only point of naming things is that it makes communication much easier. Without names for items and actions, it becomes very difficult to convey any information. If you cannot convey information, you cannot teach other than in real time in person so the learner can watch.
You are correct that the guts are there for the discovering, but with names for things and actions, you don’t HAVE TO discover everything for yourself. You don’t have to learn ONLY by your own experience .You don’t have to reinvent the wheel if you can read about wheels.
Think how much harder and more time consuming it would be to talk about fly fishing if there were no names for the following acts: back cast, forward cast, retrieve, mend, strike, hook set, etc, etc.
Extreme examples? Perhaps, but there is a point to naming things. Some people prefer to learn on their own, but that limits what they will learn. There are things they’ll never think of that others do as a matter of course. There is more to just about any subject, tenkara included, than any one person can learn on their own.
for sure - it’s just that sometimes hard won experience is diminished by some when it’s not accompanied by the “proper” abracadabras and alakazams…
not you Chris … but I’ve run into it
and I will steadfastly adhere to the idea that a certain amount (maybe a large amount) of that lingo and jargon jiggery pokery does not aid in elucidation but in fact results in obfuscation and apparent complication - … a sort of effete over-intellectualuzation aimed at creating the illusion of expertise
I think it’s all rooted in the different ways people enjoy their activities.
Can you enjoy fly fishing (tenkara or otherwise) without knowing the latin names for bugs? Some can, but others enjoy it much more when they know the scientific side behind what they’re doing. Neither is right or wrong.
Some people prefer a highly technical/scientific approach to learning things. Others prefer to get out there and learn by doing. Again, neither is right or wrong…approach this pastime in the way that you most enjoy and ignore the rest. If someone thinks they’re better than you because they do it a different way, that just makes them a jerk.
Experts explain in terms of academic terms
Excellent experts convey the truth with familiar words
That’s because the experts are still under study academic terms・・・It’s a joke
Me too
I have doubts about the books and articles of now tenkara
Because tenkara fishing does not cost money, fishing gear manufacturers did not sell much to do
It has become necessary to unify the tenkara of different fishing methods for each region under the influence of the world・・・This is considered to be the cause
There are many how to get a angler’s than fish
I think that the information for selling gear and the information of tenkara fishing are in different places
It may be on this blog
If not, let’s make a topic
Then you can understand each other and have more fun
I have no problem with naming things. I have no problem with experts, but your end note of naming a thing as knowing it hits the nail on the head. Then again there is nothing wrong with academic experts. I have learned a lot in my life from academic experts. University is full of academic experts…not all of them could implement their academics in the real world. Most of what I learned in university help form me, the actual implementation of what I learned applied in the field is where the real learning and understanding comes into play.
What set this thread off for me is the passing oneself off as an expert, then continuing by over complicating the description of concepts that are better described simply. Part of education is clear concise communication.
Its like getting into the topic of why drag free drifts are an important part of fly presentation and starting with the structure of water molecules and discussing drag coefficients as an introduction.
Is it an accurate description of what is going on? Yes.
Is it a clear concise way to communicating with an audience? No.
Most tenkara concepts can be explained in a sentence. Most interview footage I have seen of Japanese anglers confirms this. It seems like a western trait to want to fluff it up into something that is overly complicated. Not everyone does this, but lately there has been a lot of it going on.
the naming of a thing idea is really just an example … I read a book by a famous fly angler once and he had all of these different names for all of these different casts… it was really stupid
most of what he was categorizing and naming was very simple things that everybody does anyway … and in the end it was essentially useless … an exercise in ego it seemed to me
I totally think there’s a place for more “academic” discussion if that floats one’s boat - but I chafe at the way certain “experts” act as though that academic discussion is somehow a prerequisite
But more than that is the way that overly complicated discussions can easily deter folks from trying something out
For years I avoided fly fishing because it seemed so complicated - finally I dove in and realized that 95% of the complication was totally irrelevant
Then comes tenkara as an easy entry - and I hear that over and over - how folks are trying tenkara because they were deterred by the seeming complication of fly fishing … and then I see all this fuzz and lint starting to stick to tenkara like a lollipop in a pocket …
I am all for different strokes for different folks - 100% - no if ands or buts at all
Anyway I just hope that the message that fly fishing and tenkara can be much, much less complicated than many of the magazines and/or forums may make it seem
I hate to see that fact obscured by the arcana surrounding these things
