Today’s tiffin

Dal makhani and matar paneer, to bring back memories of dinnertime on the banks of the Ganges in Uttrakhand.  To think I was only there but two months ago!  Sat at my desk at work in front of the computer, I couldn’t resist putting my spoon down and eating a little with my hands; surreptitiously, as my Japanese colleagues would be shocked at the sight of something so barbaric.  Whenever the subject of eating with one’s hands comes up, I always echo the words of Mughal Emperor Shahjehan (or it may have been the old soak Jehangir): “Eating with cutlery is like wooing a woman through an interpreter.”  Whilst it always seems so hedonistic – mostly making me recall Frankie Howerd’s Up Pompeii – the food really does taste different when eaten with one’s fingers.  On the campsite in India, we would obligingly hold out the jug of water for each other to wash our hands before and after each meal, a most civilised yet intimate ritual.  Whilst you probably won’t get that in your local Indian restaurant, an after-dinner fingerbowl with a slice of lime in it – to refresh one’s lips – always brings back memories of eating tandoori chicken by the campfire to a background of nightjars and the rushing waters of the Ganges, and my daily mealtime attempts at learning Hindi, butchering the language to the indulgent smiles of my dining companion.  Here in Japan, sushi is one of the few Japanese foods that traditionally should be eaten with one’s hands, and it always seems so much tastier to me that way, and it seems a shame when the beautifully crafted sushi falls apart in the soy sauce dish after being clumsily handled with chopsticks. 

Traditional Mabuna Fishing in Chiba

It was a wonderful Autumn’s day out, with a background of golden rice ready to be harvested and the air thick with dragonflies of all colours.  After no success at the first spot, we tried another, an impossibly small drainage ditch, but I snagged a mabuna with my first cast.

Back from Chiba

Sagamiko Wakasagi Fishing

The ‘dome ships’ (doumu-sen) on Sagamiko; a seafaring man would cringe at the name, as they are really just moored rafts with huts built on top.  With an oil heater inside – where you can boil a kettle - and Western-style toilets without, they are very well-equipped for a relaxed day’s fishing.  The manager ferries you across in a small panga and you are free to come and go, such as for lunch or shopping, with just a phone call.

View of Samagiko itself:

After stuffing myself with tenpura, the leftover wakasagi were wind-dried overnight and stowed in the fridge:

For breakfast, I skewered a few of the fish and grilled them; they were quite good.

ワカサギの天ぷら

やっぱり釣りもので作ったものは美味しい。いいつまみになりました。

World’s Smallest Game Fish?

Not quite (that particular honour falls to tanago, I imagine) but these fish are tiny: wakasagi.  Taken on Sagamiko yesterday.

Despite being set upon by the office cats and having to bribe them with some of my catch, the bag was good:

Many thanks to Tenguiwa, of Fujino.

Wakasagi rods complete

Finished in exactly two weeks; I will test them on Sagamiko tomorrow..

These two are designed to be fitted with ready-made fibreglass tips:

I wrapped the pegs with 20 metres of nylon line each, and the rods are now ready for use!  My third rod – which you can see the end of in the top of the photo above – will be 100% bamboo and requires a lot more work before it is ready.

Nearly there

Last night I put on a layer of special red-brown lacquer and the rods went into the box.  When I rose this morning, it was with some trepidation I lifted the lid to check.  Well, it wasn’t a disaster (as has been the case in the past, at my teacher’s workshop) and although the lacquer didn’t quite come out 100% how I wanted, generally the colouration is very rich, and with none of the dreaded specks of dust – the enemy of lacquer – that so ruins the finish.

The joints need to be sanded and re-lacquered maybe once more, then I can wrap the line pegs on and the rods are basically finished!  Ready for my trip for wakasagi fishing next week, definitely.

NB: the rod at the front is not lacquered with the special stuff, which still just has the undercoat on.

Starting

to look like fishing rods after three layers of lacquer…apart from their ridiculously small size of course…

Wakasagi rods latest

I finally got round to wrapping the other two rods, and set to lacquering them.

Then I made the trip to Ueno, to the specialist lacquer shop Watanabe Shoten. 

I got everything ready for my first attempt at lacquering at home, and put on the first layer of lacquer on the rods.