Quote Originally Posted by jszymczyk View Post
If you mean the Japanese anglers who know what Tenkara is, it is because they typically are fishing only a specific place and time for a specific kind of fish.

I get a laugh out of the "I fish Tenkara" and "I fish WESTERN" comments. Get real, guys. If you are fishing a body of water in North America with your pole and string rig, you're fishing Tenkara in name only. Whatever, I don't care, I just gotta laugh. ( I lived in Japan, and was exposed to Tenkara-style fishing while I was there.) We tend to make a whole lot more out of labels and image than we do out of the activity itself.
You may be right about the specific place / time / fish thing in Japan. My own take is that they are following a tradition of using a simple, effective system to put food on the table ( kind of like farm boys using worms to bring home some dinner - how many kinds of worms are there ?? ) or have something to take to the market for a profit.

As to distinguishing between one style of or approach to angling and other styles or approaches, words are helpful, at least to those of us who have some interest in communicating about such things. Tenkara is a word that in this country at this time on this Bulletin Board pretty much suggests a certain approach using a particular kind of gear, to distinguish it from conventional or "western" fly angling gear, and from switch and spey gear, for example.

For the vast majority of us, it's not a matter of making stuff out of lables and image, it's actually a way of talking about the activity itself.

I do think that some of your comments disparage the owner of the FAOL website and this Bulletin Board who chose to provide a Tenkara Forum for people to share their experiences, and a lot of good people who enjoy the opportunity to do so. If all that makes you laugh, you are most likely laughing alone.

John