As mentioned in a recent Sunday Morning Riffles, Tenkara Rod Co. has released a new rod called the Hafu, a pocket-sized model that is currently being funded via Kickstarter. The rod is offered in two lengths (240cm & 300cm) and can be backed as a standalone rod, part of a full lightweight fishing kit, or even together in a rod combo package. The estimated delivery date of the Hafu is September 2024.
If you pay attention to the tenkara market, the Hafu may look somewhat familiar and that’s no coincidence. I reached out to Drew Hollenback, founder and El Presidente of Tenkara Rod Co. yesterday to get a little more information about this new rod…
“So basically what happened is river peak reached out to us and asked us if we wanted to do another rod collaboration with them. We had previously done the Kita rod with them and it was a very seamless process and everyone at river peak was great to work with. The Kickstarter we did for the Kita went well, with so we said ‘yes’ and began testing out different rods.
I liked the idea of doing a pocket rod because they are so versatile for backpacking, bikepacking, hiking, and a lot of the types of fishing we like to do in the headwater type streams in the mountains of Idaho. We had never made a rod smaller than 8 feet so the 240cm (7’10”) rod was super appealing. Ever since we started TRC we have received emails from people asking for small rods even as short as 5 feet! 5 feet obviously doesn’t make a lot of sense (although it sounds kind of fun). The 240cm option is a good compromise and turns out to be a really fun rod to fish.
It weighs only 1.5 ounces so we are really excited for the the backpacking and bikepacking potential. But 240cm isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea so it made sense for us to do a longer one as well. Even though these are more than likely going to be a limited run it’s really fun for us to share these Japanese rods with our audience.
The term Hafu means half Japanese, half American. We felt like this is a great way to describe tenkara in the United States. A Japanese derived activity that has taken on its own life and style here in the U.S. So its fitting that a Japanese rod maker is making rods for an American tenkara brand. It’s also kind of neat that the rods are half the collapsed size as a normal tenkara rod.”
As of writing this article, the Tenkara Rod Co. Hafu has already met its funding goal with just under 200 backers. It’s amazing the reach Tenkara Rod Co. is able to get with these Kickstarter campaigns. It’s certainly been a template for success and I’m curious to see how many of these rods get backed over the next month of of the initial offering.
For those that are interested, good luck on those early bird deals and happy backing!
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So to be clear its not just a repaint of the Sangoku? Like the the Kita/Kiwami?