Couldn’t help but laugh when combing the internet for the latest in tenkara news and notes. Came across this clever t-shirt, that pokes a little bit of fun at the “seriousness” that can, unfortunately, run rampant in our larger tenkara community.
I reached out to Team Ratskin Canoe (see Fall 2016 issue of for an explanation) to see if they needed a webpage to “host” the sale of these tees… hence this post & redirect.
“Ok Gang, so we are going to finally get moving on something that some of us have been wanting to do for a while… we are starting a fund to help bring some Japanese guys to the US to hang out and fish Tenkara with us.
We are going to kick it off with a long-sleeved, non-cotton athletic shirt that’s designed for fishing on stream, hiking and wearing around town.
Brought to you by Ratskin Canoe & Friends, we offer to everyone the “Do You Even Tomezuri, Bro?” tenkara shirt. The price will be $35 plus shipping. All proceeds will go to the Ratskin Canoe Tenkara Education Fund, or RCTEF, which aims to educate Americans about Japanese Tenkara, and promote real-life social interactions and meet-ups between Tenkara enthusiasts from different countries.
You can place an order using the PayPal button below. $35 plus $3 shipping.”
For those that don’t understand the joke, “Tomezuri” is one of many fly manipulation techniques used in tenkara fishing. This particular technique actually anchors the fly in the current and can be seen in action below in this video from Akai Kitsune: