When I visited the Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians in Bryson City, North Carolina a few years back it was like opening a time capsule. There were exhibits containing countless rods, reels, and fly tying materials, not to mention photos, names, and the stories behind the many notable people and personalities that influenced fly fishing in that corner of the world. It was a lot to take in, but as someone who enjoys history in general, a very enjoyable experience. I could have easily spent two days taking my time to comb through it all, rather than the two hours actually afforded.
As I walked through the building (which has since moved to a new location), tucked over on the side, I was surprised to find a small display of tenkara gear, with some cards giving a very brief overview of tenkara through the American, and thus Southern Appalachian lens. It was cool to see the infamous blue spool, a vial of kebari, an early Tenkara USA Yamame rod (now discontinued), and a white rod sleeve TUSA also tinkered around with for a short time. Considering I didn’t expect to find any tenkara in the museum, this glass case made me smile. It also suggests that tenkara is actually now accepted in the Appalachians, which just feels nice.
But it also got me wondering, what should be in a museum solely dedicated to tenkara?
While I don’t claim to have the funds nor real estate to create an actual, physical one, (unless there’s a wealthy benefactor out there willing to invest 😉) I’ve often daydreamed or chatted with other likeminded tenkara friends in the past, such as Jason Klass, about what something like this might look like in real life. Perhaps the visual history of tenkara rods – from bamboo, to early models from Shimano or Nissin, to the more recent Western explosion of brands. Profiles on historical luminaries such as the Matagi, Soseki Yamamoto and Yuzo Sebata. Surely, a display of kebari, like the specimens chronicled at Yoshikazu Fujioka’s My Best Streams would be in order.
I’d personally propose a section highlighting the various social gatherings, such as the once annual Tenkara Jams, perhaps with an actual jar of Tenkara Jam on display (IYKYK). Regardless, all is certainly food for thought.
So I’ll turn around and ask, what would you propose be on display in a Museum of Tenkara?
I’d love to discuss in the comments below.
Postscript: As my mind continued to meander a bit, I thought about how revered Theodore Gordon is in fly fishing circles, (particularly in the Catskills) for being the first to “import” dry fly fishing from Europe in the late 1800s and popularizing it in the United States through his writing and angling. Heck, there’s even fly fishing organizations named in his honor. I wonder if Daniel Galhardo (or perhaps even Chris Stewart) will be looked upon in the same way among tenkara anglers 100+ years from now? The “Daniel Galhardo Guild of Tenkara Anglers” has an interesting ring to it…
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Hey Michael,
It would be wonderful to have a Museum of Tenkara. First we would have to show the history
of tenkara in Japan. We should cover the flies, rods, net making, and of course famous anglers.
We should include how something very similar started in Italy as well. We would also need to
compare Dabbing (its similarities and differences) to tenkara. Then we can show how America
discovered this sport and brought it back to the US. Since the history is not that long ago in
the US, we can accurately cover all the detail and people/companies responsible for tenkara’s
introduction to the US. From here we can examine how tenkara was integrated for American
anglers. We would be amiss not cover the controversy of traditional tenkara vs US tenkara and
the arguments over which style should we use. How was tenkara seen through the eyes of
Western Fly Fishing? Exploring words such as fixed line fishing, horse hair – braided line –
level line fishing, and “true japanese tenkara” can be explained. We should
recognize today’s japanese anglers that helped us in developing tenkara here in the US.
American tenkara rods compared to Japanese tenkara rods could be included with rods from
both groups. Finally, we cover the famous American tenkara anglers, kebari fly tyers, and internet
sites/forums/blogs along with magazines and books. Hopefully we will include Japanese tenkara
anglers to help us in this endeavor to maintain accuracy in our story of tenkara.
There is a lot of spin off from tenkara like art that occured from tenkara. Don’t forget the gatherings
that helped the spread of tenkara in America.
Hopefully pictures, stories, videos of kebari tying, tenkara bamboo rod making, video of braided
line making, crafting tenkara nets, and the struggles we faced getting tenkara to be excepted in the US fishing community. I remember having many discussions with fishing agencies to see’include tenkara
as a form of fly fishing.
I’m not sure why we had controversy in the first place and then we started fighting
among ourselves over tenkara. People actually got into fist fights over this and friendships were
terminated because of tenkara. Tenkara is a sport to be enjoyed and shared with family and friends.
Maybe you could collect the ideas of what people would like to be included in a Tenkara Museum which
could lay the groundwork for it to happen one day. I wonder how many companies, organizations,
and people would donate to see this materialize? Maybe someone with enough money would want
to leave a legacy for future tenkara anglers to enjoy. Thank you for mentioning this topic. Sorry I wrote
so much but you got me thinking. (that is a rare event for me)
Take care,
Mike Shelton
Wow, lots to ponder. Thanks for the thorough answer. I love all your ideas!
The history of Tenkara should also include the history of fixed line fly fishing here in the states, of which little is known, but definitely existed. Early Americans brought with them the sport of England. That includes fixed line fly fishing or “Angling” as it was simply called back then. It coexisted alongside the various evolutions of reels for several centuries.
I certainly know of an amateur historian that could help cobble together some of the information for the exhibit…
Yep, start in Japan, then chronicle tenkara’s spread outward from there – not forgetting Europe, and pioneers in the UK, or the likes of Bernhard Niedermair on the Continent – Austria in his case ((https://tenkaraangler.com/2020/07/23/tenkara-angler-interview-bernhard-niedermair/ ).
Thanks for the heads-up about the Appalachian museum! Had no idea it was there. Next trip…