2025/01/15 00:00
Text: Keisuke Kimura
Kant orowa yaksuno aran kepu sinep kaisam
Not a single thing is brought down from heaven without a role to play.
This is a proverb of the Ainu, a people indigenous to Hokkaido.
The Ainu people believe that the soul resides in everything, and they have the mentality of not wasting nature's blessings. This way of thinking should never be forgotten in today's capitalist society, where mass production and mass consumption are the mainstream.
That is why we at RIV ROBUST focused on “Hokkaido Materials”. The term “materials” refers to the materials used to make hair hooks for fly fishing and tenkara fishing. The main materials are animal hair, bird feathers, or materials made by artificially imitating them. Anglers enjoy catching fish with hair hooks made by thinking about the combination of those materials and how to wind them.
Hokkaido is home to a wide variety of wildlife.
According to a survey conducted by the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, there are nearly 20,000 species of mammals alone. Among these, Hokkaido, which has long been separated from the continent and surrounded by the sea, has nurtured endemic species. Brown bears and striped eagles are probably widely known throughout Japan. Although such endemic species are valuable from a biological point of view, some of them are hunted. This is because of the commercial value of their fur and meat, or because they are vermin that destroy fields and harm people.
Hokkaido Materials" handled by RIV ROBUST are basically made from scraps of fur from hunted animals. The only animal that is not hunted anymore is the Ezo squirrel, whose numbers have been reduced due to overhunting in the past, so we obtain and commercialize fur that was once used to make fur. The materials that should have been discarded can be further utilized as a material. This method of commercialization, which is in line with an Ainu proverb, is also an expression of our desire to preserve the richness of nature, as exemplified by our “to the Earth” initiative.
Moreover, Hokkaido Materials did not commercialize these products by force. We know that many endemic species that grow in cold regions have characteristics that make them suitable for making hair hooks. Take the brown bear, for example. Its body hairs are thin, numerous, and hollow. This makes them very suitable for dry fly wings. Foxes have abundant underfur and long, soft guard hairs that are very suitable for making nymphs and streamers.
Using these materials, I reel my flies in a relaxed manner while thinking of the trout of Hokkaido, and then I stand on the majestic rivers of Hokkaido and face the trout. This is what attracts many fly fishermen to this area.
Although we cannot avoid the fact that the quantity of these materials in circulation is lower than that of general materials and their price range will be higher, we can confidently tell you that they have added value for the price. We sincerely hope that you will be able to enjoy the richness of Hokkaido's natural environment through these materials.
