Tenkara Podcast: The Road to Akiyamago & Yamada-san

A tenkara podcast recorded “on the go” as we headed to visit and study with Yamada-san (Mountain-Inn owner, professional/survival tenkara angler, bear-hunter and foraging expert).

Behind the Scenes in this Tenkara Podcast Video Episode

It’s a great insight into the thrill of discovery for each of the three people in this car heading towards the historic and remote mountain village of Akiyamago – and the wonderful experience of spending time learning from Kazuyuki Yamada in his mountain guest house “Yuzanso“. It was a rare and privileged insight into someone with a true and direct connection to the professional tenkara angler or “Shokuryoushi” tradition that is so important to Japanese mountain culture.

So much of what he showed us chimed with and greatly extended information that we’ve picked up from anglers like Hirata-san – who also has a strong Shokuryoshi background. Not only did it expand our knowledge of where tenkara came from – it has also improved and expanded our skillset with modern tenkara too.

I’m really glad that we captured our excited conversation on our way to making some of those discoveries. It’s wonderful to look back and see the “before” picture ahead of the amazing and fascinating discoveries that have enabled us to create and share a much richer version of the story of tenkara outside Japan.

Our chat also includes such a lot of the background information that – when you haven’t heard it before – makes it really difficult to get a “gut feeling” for tenkara. By driving along those winding, mountain pass roads and talking about the typical winters, the geography, the people (and also that the leading cause of death up until the 1930s across Japan was starvation); you really get a feel for the conditions where this style of fishing was created.

So, sit back and (if you really want to get into the tenkara podcast mood) crack open a cold Japanese beer and eavesdrop on our conversation as we head towards some of the most memorable fishing, food and hospitality I’ve ever experienced.

Podcast audio?

Let us know if you’d like us to include just the audio from this (and any future) episodes and please do let us know your feelings on this episode in the comments section below:

Paul