Once the box of flies (kebari in Japanese) are added, along with a spool of fluorocarbon line, snips and forceps, the whole package weighs in at 153 grams, and the smaller items fit in a pocket. As a survival tool to take along on any multiday hike or wild camping trip, I’d challenge you to find anything with a better weight-to-benefit ratio. After a knife, firesteel and water filter, this may be the next must-have kit.

But of course, Tenkara offers more than a way to survive. Filtering water is not an enjoyable pursuit in itself, and neither is sparking magnesium into a pile of birch bark. But even the most lightweight of camping expeditions will be enhanced by a couple of hours exploring the riverbanks and by a freshly caught Rainbow Trout sizzling over your fire.

The most obvious difference between Tenkara and other forms of fly fishing, and a significant factor in keeping the weight down, is that the line is attached directly to the end of the rod, with no reel involved. In this way Tenkara has stayed true to its humble, improvised origins. But Paul Gaskell gets to the crux of this difference more eloquently when he says: “It’s like plugging directly into nature. Less gear means less barriers between you and your surroundings.”

From a practical point of view, the longer rod and lack of a long spool of line mean that (with a bit of practise) you can place your fly more precisely in different areas of the stream than you would be able to with Western fly fishing equipment. This makes Tenkara perfect for mountain rivers where fast-flowing water can whip longer lines downstream very quickly.