To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air,,,,,,, Herbert Hoover To go fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.

From the last centuries of Japan's Heian era (784-1192) living the selfless life was held up as the ideal, and was referred to as kokoro-zukai which in poetic terms means something like "living by considering others from the heart." Being selfless means Mu-Shin. Mu- shin is based on the influence of the Zen concept of Mu in Japanese thinking and behavior. Kokoro-zukai also must be paid for fishes, birds,,,all creature in the field of flyfishing. In this point of view it is extremely needed for one to pay consideration of Kokoro-zukai for the nature with Mu-Shin. Mu (also expressed as ku ) means "emptiness," "selflessness" or the non-existence of self. Shin ( can mean heart, mind, or spirit--the Japanese word "Kokoro" mean the "spiritual Mind or Heart," quite different from the physical heart, "Shinzo.") Here the heart- mind-spirit no longer becomes attached, though that does not mean "callous. " The founder of Japanese Zen Buddhism, Dogen Zenji, said, "The way to realize the Self is to forget the Self." Just the opposite of ego-attachment. Mu-Shin  is the same with Mu-Ga and is the way to realize the Self is to forget the Self. ....quoted from Internet site about Mu or Mushin.  The water of the stream, the wind, the light and the shadow, gently chuckling such as riffle, leaves, twittering of birds,,,,,,All in the fly fishing field are free. These are just Mu-Shin, so that I always want to be free and Mu-shin too in the field. But it is hard to be so.

The most important thing is for me to hold nature in reverence. I must have the grove of the village shrine in my heart.

painted on paper by Tanyuu Kanou (1602-1674)Edo era an otter is said to  arrange his fishes on the rock of a riverside and behave like dancing around his catch. So that an otter has another name "Dassai" in Japanese. He is quite innocent and free. (Otter is Kawauso , Dassai means dance of Kawauso in Japanese.)

My backing line of reel is 756 denier silk I don't want to abandon disused tippet  (click on ball) but I unawares seldom abandon small trash of silk. I would like to prefer silk to nylon as a tippet because silk is easy to weather. Feb. 01.02 I read an article of Science Magazine about the strongest thread  by bio-technology. This thread is made from spider web silk in  protein of a cell of cow or hamster and this is able to weather.(return to the earth) The strength of it is 3 times of Du Pon Kevlar's strength so that becomes about 6 times of nylon's. The name is "bio-steel" please read more details in Science 2002 January 18; 295:p.472-476. (in Reports) When this thread appears on the market of fishing business ,nylon might disappear in the fishing,,,,, Even if the day would come, I will still use silk thread in my flyfishing silk thread

silk line rack I use this tool to care and dry damp silk fly line after fishing. I believe good omens that maintenance of silk line is for better fishing next time, for possibility of spending a day wonderfully and comfortably in the stream. The fly fishing is the play of spending much time and more effort on its preparations.

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