The style of flies used by tenkara fishermen in Japan do look quite a bit different from dry flies as tied here in the U.S. though our style of flies will work just fine on a tenkara rod. http://www.tenkarausa.com/index.php?cPath=24 shows some of the Japanese style flies. I have used everything from bluegill poppers to nymphs to micro jigs while fishing with a tenkara rod with good results. The only comment I'd like to add is the lighter the fly the better it will cast.