THE FIRST TENKARA ROD
“And how you should make your rod skillfully, here I will teach you. You must cut, between Michaelmas and Candlemas, a fair staff, a fathom and a half long and as thick as your arm.”
“And how ye shall make your rode craftly here I shall teche you. Ye shall kytte between Myghelmas & Candylmas a fayr staffe of a fadom and an halfe longe: & arme grete of hasyll: we lowe: or aspe. And bethe hym in an hote ouyn: & sette hym euyn Thenne lete hym cole & drye a moneth. Take thenne & frette hym faste with a cokeshotecorde: and bynde hym to a fourme or an euyn square grete tree. Take thenne a plummers wire that is euyn and streyte & sharpe at the one ende. And hete the sharp e ende in a charcoal fyre tyll it be whyte: and brenne the staffe therwyth thorugh; euer streyte in the pythe at bothe endes tyll they mete. And after that brenne hym in the nether ende with a byrde broche/ & with other broches eche gretter than other. & euer the grettest laste: so that ye make your hole aye tapre wexe. Thenne lete hym lye styll and kele two dayes. Vnfrette hym thenne and lete hym drye in an hous roof in the smoke tyll be be thrugh drye. In the same season taek a fayr yerde of gre ne hasyll & beth hym euyn & streyghte. And lete it drye with the staffe. And whan they bend rye make the yerde mete vnto the hole in the staffe: vnto halfe the length of the staffe. And to per fourme that other halfe of the croppe. Take a fayr shote of black e thorn: crabbe tree: medeler. or of Icnypre kytte in the same se ason: and well bethyd & streyghte. And frette theym togyder fe tely: soo that the croppe may iustly entre all in to the sayd hole. Thenne shaue your staffe & make hym tapre wexe. Thenne vyrell the staffe at bothe endes with longe hopis of yren or la ton in the clennest wise w;yth a pyke in the nether ende fastynyd with a rennynge vyce: to take in & out youre croppe. Thenne set your croppe an handful within the ouer ende of your staffe in suche wise that it be as bigge there as in ony other place aboue. Thenne arme your croppe at thouer ende downe to be frette with a lyne of .vj. heeres. And dubbe the lyne and frette it fast in be toppe with a bowe to fasten on your lyne. And thus shall ye make you a rode soo preuy that ye make walke therwyth: and there shall noo man wyte where abowte ye goo. It woll be lyghte & full nymbyll to fysshe with at your luste. And for the more redynesse loo herer a figure therof in example.” [The Trestise of Fishing with an Angle” Dame Juliana Berners 1496]
The above is a description of how to make a rod for fishing. The writer advises that: “If you want to be crafty in angling, you must first learn to make your tackle….” The author goes on to describe all the things that you need to learn to do, since there wasn’t any place to buy your tackle.
To make your rod you need to go out “between Michaelmas and Candlemas” [Michaelmas – Sept 29 & Candlemas – February 2nd] and select a “fair staff, a fathom and half long and as thick as your arm. It should be “of hazel, willow, or aspen.” You needed to soak it and then heat it in a hot oven, and set it straight. It needed to cool and dry for a month, and then you needed to tie it to a large timber and run a hot wire through it from top to bottom to burn out the pith. You were to use a wire of increasing size as you approached the butt of the rod. Once this was accomplished you put it on the roof in the smoke until it dried out completely. This was the butt section of the rod.
In the same season you needed a “fair rod of green hazel,” soaked, straightened and dried. This apparently was the mid-section of the rod. Then you needed a “fair shoot” of blackthorn, crabtree, medlar, or juniper.” You cut this at the same time and treated it the same way as the other two sections.
Once the pieces were prepared they were fit together. In some fashion the rod folded up so that it looked like a walking stick. “And thus you will make yourself a rod so secret that you can walk with it, and no one will know what you are going to do.”
Despite the description the author described the rod this way: “It will be light and very nimble to fish with at your pleasure. And for your greater convenience, behold here a picture of it as an example:
Compared to a modern rod, I would doubt that this rod would be either light or nimble and would seem to be better suited for poking bats out of a chimney. Note the spike-like projection on the butt section of the rod. It appears that you could stick the rod into the ground, much like a cane pole used for fishing with a bobber and a worm. If you have ever read Dame Juliana’s Treatise you know that those early anglers were far from being purists!
There were no guides and no reel. The line was attached to the rod at the spliced joint between the tip and the middle sections, and then strung through a guide on its blackthorn tip. Such a system had a cushioning effect when the rod was stressed, and in case of a fracture, the line was still fastened securely. “Then, with a cord of six hairs, strengthen your upper section at the upper end as far down as the place where it is tied together; and arrange the cord neatly and tie it firmly in the top, with a loop to fasten your fishing line on.”
The illustrations in the original manuscript show an angler landing a fish on his rod, and the image is very similar to ones that I have seen using a modern Tenkara Rod. It seems that there is truly nothing new under the sun!
Research material:
The Origins of Angling by John McDonald, 1957
Trout by Ernest Schwiebert , 2 Volume Set, 1978
The Trestise of Fishing with an Angle” Dame Juliana Berners 1496