Koraigawa, Nikko City 
Tenkara fishing only
Catch & release section OPEN

"New Edition: Valley Story" Author Yuzo Sebata Published by Tsurijinsha Co., Ltd.

"Predecessors of Nikko Tenkara" Mae-Nikko Mountains/Korai River

Edited by: Meeting to connect Nikko Tenkara in Koraigawa
 

  Speaking of Juntaro Tanaka, who is now deceased and lives in Nikko and Nishikoraigawa, he was a well-known Tenkara master in the neighborhood.

After suffering a serious illness in his mid-sixties, he hardly ever stood in the valley, but through his grandson, Isamu, the kindness of the Tanaka family, who treated him like a relative, is unforgettable. vividly revived.

Yes, Juntaro was my Tenkara teacher.

 

　

 

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The day I first visited Juntaro at Nishizawa's house was Obon, a month late. There was no rain for a while, and the water was dry, so it was not a good day for fishing. I was in the middle of it.

Over 30 well-matched yamo yamo lined up tightly in a large charcoal furnace in the garden. "You haven't come here... You can't go fishing from now on. Take it easy in the evening and stay the night."

He welcomed me, who had just come to visit, with these words.

On that day, on Juntaro's recommendation, Isamu and I fished a short distance from Todoroki-fuchi to Sugasawa-deai, aiming for twilight bluefin trout. We caught seven fish together.
 

As a matter of fact, since I had just started a household in May of that year, I should have been in a position to decline the Tanaka family's kind offer to stay overnight, but I had already tasted it. The afterglow of the response of the yamo was so strong that I was finally not allowed to return to my home where my new wife was waiting.

And, of course, the story of Tenkara, which I listened to in the night talk with Mr. Juntaro, as well as the story of killing (gun hunting) in which Mr. Juntaro was young in the mountains and fields, and how to wind hair burrs. This night was a precious night in my fishing life.

 When I met Mr. Juntaro, my interaction with the Tanaka family increased rapidly. Thinking about it, since then, I have looked up to Mr. Juntaro as my teacher, and started to walk the path of Tenkara.

As far as I was concerned, I had a desire to see Juntaro-san fishing and his teacher's Tenkara at least once. However, it is a pity that I was not blessed with the opportunity to see him fishing even once in my life because I was not the type of person to take time off from mountain work unless there was an extraordinary circumstance. However, the stories of Tenkara that I have heard countless times since then have drawn me into the world of Tenkara more and more. In particular, the various conflicts over Tenkara between Mr. Juntaro's master of Tenkara and Kagosaku, who he believed in, are excellent.

 

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Kagosaku was a master of Tenkara, who owned a toriyaba (wild bird catching ground) in addition to making baskets, and engaged in professional fishing in his spare time. “It was a splendid fly fishing,” recalled Mr. Juntaro. Kagosaku, who was known around the neighborhood as a ``eccentric,'' was a person who never showed anyone, not only his fishing appearance, but also his hair burrs and gimmicks. It is said that when he went to a fishing spot, he would walk away quickly with a fishing pole in one hand and a hair burr hidden in his palm. Because of that kind of personality, it seems that Juntaro-san, too, usually only glanced at him with his long-distance eyes, and had never really seen him up close.

However, one day, by chance, Juntaro succeeded in obtaining the secret hair burr of this basket. When this matter came up, Mr. Juntaro's narrative suddenly became enthusiastic and filled with pride.
 

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It was in 1929, soon after Juntaro started his family. At that time, Juntaro, who was working as a mason, one day finished logging the opposite bank of Otaki and Kotaki, which is located above the residence of Ii, and was rushing home. It is said that Saku was actively waving his hair.

Just when I always wanted to see Tenkara made in baskets to my heart's content, luckily for me, I thought I had a chance, so I took a position at a high place with a good view, hid myself in a thicket beside me, and made a basket. I had the opportunity to take a closer look at Tenkara.

Juntaro-san is holding his breath and peeking out from behind. Unaware of this, Kagosaku is immersed in fishing and is in a trance. Mr. Juntaro was astonished to see Tenkara made of baskets for the first time. It seems that he was overwhelmed by the way he caught it, as if he was using a magic trick.

I threw some hair burrs into the loose stream of the deep pool and gave me a quick match. It is said that he caught about 30 fish at Kotakinofuchi while Juntaro was watching.

 

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It seems that Juntaro, who was watching this, thought that Kagosaku was like a brilliant magician. Completely fascinated by the virtuosity of the basket work, he said, "I forgot to breathe...", his eyes shining with deep emotion. "There's no other way to catch such a splendid fish," said Mr. Juntaro. As soon as I got there, Juntaro added, "It's truly a divine skill...". "Ah... I'll try that kind of fishing too."

At that time, Juntaro thought from the bottom of his heart.

Unexpectedly, I looked closely at the tenkara, which was made in a basket like a magic trick, but I couldn't see the hair burr itself at all, because it was far away. I thought, ``I don't mind if it's just that one needle.

However, at this time, it seems that the god of the mountain took sides with Juntaro. "It's bad for Kagosaku, but he caught a needle on a tree."

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Perhaps Juntaro-san's wish was understood by the god of the mountain, so as soon as he changed his fishing seat and moved five or six steps upwards and raised the rod, a burr was caught in the branches of the bushes covering his head. be. “I did it!!” Seeing this, Juntaro-san secretly smiled inside his heart.

If you look at it, Kagosaku is busily trying to remove the tangled hair burrs. Unable to see how he was struggling, swinging the branches up and down, Juntaro tried to put his hands on the yamachake attached to his waist several times. I held my breath and watched over him.

Too thin to climb, too thin, not thick enough to break. In the end, Kasaku, who couldn't contain himself and boiled over, pulled Michiito strongly as if this was the last time.

Heartlessly, the gimmick of Kagosaku snapped off in the middle of Michiito. Kagosaku continued to look at Michiito, who was hanging slightly above his head, with a reproachful expression. Unable to give up, he finally started a great struggle, poking and entangling Michiito hanging on a tree branch with the tip of a fishing pole.

Even so, Kagosaku finally began to show signs of returning home, as if he had finally given up on the tangled tension that did not come off. "I'm done!" Juntaro yelled loudly in his chest.

Juntaro saw off the back of Kagosaku, who was pulling up the steep cliff at dusk while holding on to a tree as he was unsteady on his feet. I cut down a tree about the size of my thigh with a machete.

At the edge of the valley where the darkness was creeping in, Juntaro felt his hands tremble with an inexplicable emotion when he picked up a hair burr tangled in a tree branch.

When I got the hair burrs, I carefully wrapped them around my fingers and flew home at full speed.

It is said that the Kagosaku's hair burrs, which I gazed intently under the light, were unexpectedly simple.
It was a body wrap with pale yellow fuzz on the sleeves, and the hair was a very crude hair burr with brown chicken feathers wrapped around it. Juntaro was a little surprised. Is this the tension that the yamo bites like before? It seems that it was not surprising.

 

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Michiito (tapered line) was also simple, which surprised Juntaro. It was made by twisting eight strings of horse silk into a two-and-a-half-ten (4.5-meter) long mat. Hari was more than a little discouraged by the fact that he had more than two feet of cotton thread, and that the burrs that he had obtained at the end of such a strong desire were rough.

 

However, Juntaro's Tenkara, which started with a hair burr that he got by chance, has inherited Kagosaku's Tenkara splendidly. In the world of individual skills such as Tenkara, there are many cases of inheritance in this form.  

After making this basket, he learned later that he had learned the hair-bari fishing that had been handed down in the Nikko region since ancient times in the early Taisho era, without being taught by anyone, but by imitating what he saw. It seems that he told Juntaro.

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Koraigawasuji alone has tenkara history of more than 100 years.

It should be said that it is a geographical advantage, and it is blessed with fish shadows that are different from the present day and night. It saddens me that there are only a handful of teachers today.

However, after coming here, the number of successors has increased not only in the Nikko region, but also in the southern region of the prefecture and outside the prefecture.

As a descendant of Juntaro Tanaka's disciple of the brilliant Nikko Tenkara, I am trying my best.

I feel like it's a goodbye to the late Juntaro.  

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