Different slant on the origin of the word "tenkara"

[Paul G]

Satoshi Miwa kindly provided his thoughts and information sources on why he believes "tenkara" to derive from a straightforward translation of "fly fishing" as "tenkara tsuri"; where tenkara refers to generic flying insects (originally referring to a moth; but probably latterly used in the same way that we use "fly" to refer to all kinds of winged insects).

Blog post here: www.discovertenkara.co.uk/mothfly-fishing-the-most-convincing-case-for-why-we-call-it-tenkara/

[orangeotter]

as Shakespeare wrote - ' What's in a name ?' That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet .

[flatsghost]

Agree with your sentiment totally Louis. With the complexities of the Japanese language it is hardly surprising that there are different interpretations.
Thanks Paul, another interesting piece.
Glyn

[Paul G]

Ha ha - on the subject of scent; I am about half way through this book which my sister gave to me recently: www.amazon.co.uk/The-Secret-Scent-Adventures-Perfume/dp/0571215386

It is fascinating and, amongst other things explains why roses smell the way they do (and the vocabulary that professionals in the scent industry use to describe different individual and families of smells is just fantastic!) and the tricky process of reproducing that scent in bottled form.

I guess, like etymology, I find that greater understanding yields greater appreciation and enjoyment