Paintings of Fish in Edo Period, Part 1
This article features the paintings of fish drawn in 1835. To see them let us know how people in that period recognized fish. And they give us the idea how people in the Edo period looked at fish, in general. These paintings are from a pictorial encyclopedia on fish, called Baien-Gyohinzusei 梅園魚品図正(ばいえんぎょひんずせい), drawn by Baien […]
The Japanese Approach to Carp Fishing
Carps are a very familiar fish for Japanese people. There are many ponds that have carp all over Japan. And I can even say that it may be hard to find a pond without any carps. We love carps with colors, and we had been breeding carps for their unique colors. In Europe, colored carps […]
Fishing for Spangled Emperor, in Japan and in Australia
The Spangled Emperor is living in the Indo-Pacific coasts. In Japan, this fish is called Hamafuefuki or Taman, and one of the great target fish in southern Japan. When we go across the equator and look at Australia, the same species is also a popular game fish there, too. In this article, after we review […]
Smelt whiting, the swift in the surf
Smelt whiting is one of the most popular targets in surf fishing, especially on sand beaches. As a target of angling, its size is not big, but there are unique attractive points in this fishing. I will show you the current fishing styles (from the shore) for this fish, after you will know about this […]
Sabiki in Japan
Sabiki is a well known word, standing for one type of boat fishing rig, globally. It has a kind of down shot style, with multiple branched hook leaders attached on the main line. Often there are 6 to 8 pieces of hooks attached, and each hook has additional materials on its shank. With these materials, […]
Origin of Tenkara Style Fishing
Tenkara (Japanese traditional fly fishing) is now established as one of the major fishing styles in the freshwater fishing market in Japan. Many people are enjoying this in many types of streams, where main target fish live. In Japan, there are even artificial fisheries dedicated to Tenkara. Though this fishing style can be applied to […]
Why so many kinds of hooks in Japan?
There are many kinds of hooks in Japan. Since angling became a kind of a leisure activity in the Edo period, there came a lot of shapes of hooks. In a fishing guide book, Kasenroku, written in 1723, the author recorded the various kinds of hooks. This book was written by an author who lived […]
Japan’s Favorite Fish; Madai
Tai is the favorite fish for Japanese people. There are many fish called -tai or -dai (“dai” is the variant pronunciation of “tai”, so here tai and dai means the same.) There are Kuro-dai, Me-dai, Fuefuki-dai, etc. You can say that Tai is the typical image of fish for Japanese people. And it is highly […]
History of Inchiku; the Ingenuity of Japanese Fisherman
Inchiku is easy to use and a very effective lure for offshore fishing. This Inchiku is often called an Inchiku Jig (the brief explanation about this lure on this New Zealand website.) This Inchiku is from Japan, but its origin is not so clear for us. In this article, I would like to venture to […]
Vintage Pattern of Tenkara Fly
This is except from a Japanese book about traditional river fishing. Original name of the book is shown at the end of this article. This book explores the tradition of river fishing (commercial fishing as well as angling.) It shows a lot about the intericate interaction between men and rivers. Among these interesting contents, please […]