Fly Selection Masterclass

[Inchlaggan]

OK, that's the languages learnded and China and Japan's contributions to fly-fishing investigated as Dr Zommerheid requested.
Sadly, I think I fell into Zoomerheid's  trap, and have confiscated his crayons.
Upon the surface there is little to learn from these two great cultures.
Obviously, they were "closed" cultures for most of the period in question. Marco Polo seems little interested in fishing (if you accept that he was real in the first place) and the two monks who smuggled out the silk worms in their walking canes clearly missed the point of tying the silk to the end of the bamboo and stopping for a cast or two on their way home.

That said, let us deal with them in turn, China first.

Well, as with most things Chinese, it all comes down to Confucius. His philosophy of ethics became the basis of Chinese law for almost 2,000 years, and if you thought "no fishing on the Sabbath" was bad, cop this-
"One rod, one hook, no landing net, and if you ain't going to eat it you can't go fishing at all".

Nae catch-and-release?

Not a fly-fisherman was he?

That's China dealt with, now Japan.

Hee haw until 200 years ago, or, if you believe the Americans,(more of which later), not until 1946. It was a skint English diplomat that introduced the Japanese to the noble art. We know he was skint because despite living in a land fu' of bamboo he couldnae afford a split cane rod, nor a reel nor a line- just a nicked six foot garden cane and a line shorter than the rod. His excuse was that this was "not to cause a major preoccupation with the equipment". Aye, right! Skint. This is now called "tenkara" fishing now, wrongly, used as a pejorative term by Zoomerheid and his like to describe any fly-fisherman who does not own a Sage XPWSWF1000Xiii or similar.

Supposedly, the Americans (more of which later) gubbed Japan in order to introduce proper American-style fly-fishing, I doubt it, and they're wrong about most things anyway.

For the moment, let us ignore the absence of any direct contribution to the development of fly-fishing and look at the indirect influences.

Both cultures display a respect (bordering on veneration) of their elders- we need more of that on this forum- have supplied a multitude of botanical specimens for culture here- flooers- mummify and retain deceased fauna- deid things- and, we must be honest here, you are only reading this because of the hardware in your PC, designed in Japan and produced in China.

Back to Primary Sources and what better than the excellent Japanese Fishing Forum, JFF? To be found at www.jff.gr.jp (we need a link and cooperative agreement with this one Fred- not least because they organise "Women Special Events" -see the tab on the home page!)

It is all too easy to mock the mangling of English to be found in the Google translations of these pages that you will have to read. I, of course, having learned the language this morning, can appreciate the nuances of the original, but even in the mangled version there is much truth.

I did say that I would come back to the Americans, here is what the  JFF has to say about them- "England is the birthplace of the United States"  Disagree with that one if you can!

On sea-fishers- "If you are heavy with the weight of food before and have seen the ocean surf casting and rock fishing, throw away."

On casting a dreh flee- "Fling to flow, and live to fly like insects".

The mend- "Fishing in the foreground across a fast flowing, the you need to become Mending."

Finally one for the casting instructors amongst us, this makes as much sense as anything they have ever posted-

"By the return swing of the arm and wrist, especially in produce precise casting of the basic movements before and after the release of energy into the rod. The Bali hair tied down to a small spot on the tip of the line and grow the visual measurement of the distance to the point and extending the length of the line, it becomes easy to carry arms and integrally from the head command is issued. Anything else is up exercise"