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A buddy just found his dads Kiraku cane fly rod and asked me about it. I don't really speak 'boo, so I have no idea about what a Kiraku is, if it's got any value, is common or rare, etc.
Anyone point me towards a reference source on this topic? A Google search got me suprisingly little info. I see there is one on eBay, but that auction just started and wasn't much of a revelation.
At the end of World War II, as the Americans were helping rebuild Japan, one of the things they started was bamboo rod production. Millions of these rods were produced and thousands of GI's brought them home.
In general, they were not fashioned correctly and do not hold up under fishing stresses. Rather than planing each strip of bamboo into equilateral 60 degree triangles, the Japanese rods were a lesser number of strips then planed to shape, removing much or most of the power fibers that give cane its strength and resiliency.
They are excellent conversation pieces, and some folks have fished with them gingerly, but it has little value monetarily or as a fishing tool. Mint Japanese rods in the box with no wear or use might go for close to $100 on eBay, max.
Hope this helps.
RS
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Very helpful, thank you!
Ditto the reply from RStouff. I have several of these rods that I have acquired from EBAY. One of these days I plan to try to refinish them. As much for gaining some experience as anything else. I have fished them for trout and panfish and they do OK. In general they run between $40 and $60 on EBAY but can go for up to $100 every so often.
My first fly rod was a Japanese cane... still have most of the pieces.
I remember buying it in a department store in early '60s when I was a knee-high.
It cost $3.00