Tokyo X

fried up the norabou greens from Itsukaichi in the manner recommended by the locals, stir-fried in a wok with some meat; in this case, a fishing buddy had given me a bag of bloody Tokyo-raised pork, the unusual breed known as “Tokyo X“.  To my surprise, the norabou was as delicious as the farmers and locals had raved about – it cooks very quickly and has not a hint of the bitterness or stringiness you get with spinach – and my only regret is not having laid in more.

Today was the day I finished another of my urushi lacquered pens (the one on the right) using a different kind of finish compared to my previous one:

I celebrated this by cracking open a microbrewery beer, a Weizenbier-style creation from a place called Echigo Beer.   I have drunk the real thing in Bavaria and countless imported bottles in the UK, and even home-brewed a version when I was a student, but even so in my opinion this beer was actually pretty good.  If I were to do a blindfold test alongside something like Schneider Weisse I think I would struggle to identify the ‘real’ German one.

Lastly, I forgot to post this when I got back from Yozawa.  When I was setting up my rig on the stream bank I spotted a delightful little Japanese five-lined skink (Linnaeus’ P. japonicus) at my feet; a sure sign that spring is upon us.

Tanago rods latest

Put a layer of red lacquer on my tanago rods.  It looks a poor-john dull mauve colour but with a year or so, the lacquer should come up a nice rich red colour (the longer you leave urushi, the clearer and brighter it comes out).  Whilst these rods are made as a pair, I believe I shall keep one (the thicker of the two, probably) for my own fishing, and sell the other.  Check back soon for updates on the progress of the making of bamboo rod cases for both.

Made the trip to

Aoki again, to buy some bamboo for my rod making.  As always, I was made most welcome and came back home positively laden with bamboo and supplies.  Indeed, the rod-maker most generously gave me two enormous bundles of bamboo for practising cane-firing for free, and the root-bamboo at a highly discounted price.  Thank you as always, to Mr. Y. of Kawaguchi, Saitama.

The bamboo I immediately set to dry on my balcony, and I look forward to the (labour-intensive) firing as I am sure it will make good practice.  I took the precaution of buying some root-bamboo for my future rod making, which was much cheaper than buying it here in Tokyo, and of better quality:

Anyway, the professional rod maker also gave me some thick pieces of bamboo to make cases for my tanago rods…which I gladly accepted with only a token resistance.  As another shot to add to my locker I hope to learn how to make good bamboo rod cases for the fishing rods I make, and I am most grateful for the supplies and the generous advice given to me on the day.

Anyhow, urushi lacquering of my tanago rods progresses as usual, and now is the time to decide what kind of finish to do the wrapped parts in.  We shall see how they turn out…

At last

starting to look like a proper tanago rod:

After firing the bamboo once more (it warps in the humidity of the lacquering, as you can see in the photo) then I can set to lacquering the wrapped joints and then the body of the rod.  We shall see how it turns out!

Astronomy; smoked salmon; urushi lacquering

On my way back from work I snapped the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter.

Anyway, I didn’t go out fishing over the weekend so I cold-smoked some salmon I bought at my local supermarket (it is not particularly high quality, but answers pretty well).  It came out better than my last batch as I reduced the brining time, as a high-salt cure is not needed at this time of year (being so cold).  Whilst it is perfectly tasty when sliced thin and eaten with onions, capers and squeezed lemon, or stirred into hot pasta, or tossed in a salad, I set half the fish aside to make a coarse-textured smoked salmon paté with cream cheese, black pepper and herbs.  The photo doesn’t do it justice but it is quite delicious on bread, toast, crackers or even baked potatoes.

Also I finished lacquering a ballpoint pen and a new pair of chopsticks.  The latter didn’t quite come out as I had hoped but the pen came out a rich, deep sheen with a very smooth finish.  The original wood is called keyaki in Japanese (Zelkova) and has a nice grain that picked up the lacquer quite well.  Like most lacquer it looks best in natural light, unlike this photo, and in a couple of years will look even better.

Tanago Rod Update

Progress on my new 50-cm, four-piece tanago rods.  After a long day today managed to fit all three insert pieces of one of the rods.  The wrapping and filing process can warp the bamboo slightly so after the other rod is fitted I will fire them both again and then they are ready for lacquering.

The rod held in my hand, to give some idea of its size.  The tip and the rod section that holds it have clearly warped a bit.

Tanago rods wrapped

with silk thread.  This photo was taken just before I lacquered them.  The silk thread absorbs the lacquer and hardens to form the rod joints.  The long strands on the end of the tips will be tied into a lilian knot later.

Just to make sure you know

I can make sea-fishing rods as well…this is my mid-water whiting rod I made last Autumn but ready for use now.  The red urushi has come up nice and bright and the mother-of-pearl is really nice now (although its true beauty is not done justice in the digital photography).  I still haven’t worked out a way to photograph a fishing rod in its entirety and still retain the required resolution, so here are some close-up shots only.

Close-up of the bamboo root-butt:

And also a close-up view of the mother-of-pearl inlaid wraps on the rod:

Tanago Rod Making

Laid down the bamboo for two tanago rods.  These will be the first bamboo rods I am making completely on my own, without my teacher’s instruction or he firing the bamboo for me.  Both are four-piece rods and are designed extra-small for the extra-small fishing at Lake Teganuma.  Click through for the full post.

Teganuma Tanago Fishing

New record fish!  Caught on one of my home-ground hooks at Lake Teganuma yesterday.  Not quite the almost-legendary 1-yen-coin fish but by far my smallest tanago yet (a 1-yen coin is smaller in diameter than the first joint on my middle finger, whereas this fish is clearly longer than it).

Despite the sunny weather there was a very strong unseasonal wind blowing, the Japanese version of the  mistral perhaps, which made fishing almost impossible in the morning (on several occasions, the wind actually picked my tackle out of the water and set it flying, parallel to the ground, as a kind of fish-pennant).  Instead I had a good chat with one of the local regular tanago anglers (whose rod I lacquered previously) and in addition to a great deal of advice, kindly made a gift of a great number of things: two tanago rods, some hooks, a float rig, a set of three diamond files for grinding hooks and a bunch of yadake bamboo and split cane (for tips) for my own rod-making.  I look forward to using them!

Since the strong winds precluded any real fishing we set out to a local restaurant for an unagi lunch.  I have been to this restaurant before and they serve a special dish, which contains twice as much eel as an ordinary one:

After a hefty lunch we set to tanago fishing at the same spot as my last visit to Teganuma in February; curiously enough, the same anglers as last time were there too and it was pleasant to chat with them again.  One of them made me a gift of one of his secret tanago ground hooks and it was amazing to see the difference in my rate of catching.  At the same time, we spoke of some tanago anglers who claimed to have caught a specimen 13mm in length (a 1-yen coin is 20mm in diameter), and of another who said his fish was still an alevin – with a yolk sac attached (!), to which my companion dourly asked how he could tell it was a tanago.   Anyway, it was nice to make a catch of progressively smaller fish and to give my own ground hooks a try, and receive lots of advice (and gear) from veteran anglers who know so much.  In my own experience I have always found Japanese anglers to be generous with their knowledge and always eager to offer some friendly advice. 

Anyway, we fished till twilight and all tanago were released, traumatised perhaps but otherwise healthy, to fight another day.  Many thanks as always to Mr. I for everything, and also to Mr. Greentree and Mr. Redfeather for their generous gifts and advice!