Sakura Seki ReiThe Sakura Seki Rei is a very nice (and nicely finished) 6:4 tenkara rod available in 11' (330 cm) and 12' (360 cm) lengths. It is made by the same company as the Kongo tenkara rods, and while I was not a fan of the Kongo rods I tried, I liked the 11' Seki Rei quite a lot.
The 11' Seki Rei I borrowed is just a bit stiffer than the 11' Tenkara USA Iwana. Although the difference is readily noticeable, the rod doesn't really feel stiff when casting. I think "crisp" would be a better term. Probably because of that I felt that a size 4 Hi-Vis Fluorocarbon line seemed to be a little better match to the rod than the size 3 I usually fish with the 11' Iwana. (Even though I spent more time fishing the Seki Rei with a size 3 line just because I like the way the lighter line fishes, I do suspect most people would prefer the heavier line.)
As with its Kongo cousins, the fit and finish of the Sakura Seki Rei is really very nice indeed. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the light green color may not be your cup of tea, but the care and detail that went into the finish is remarkable. As with the Kongo Betuatsurae, the rod is painted with fine striations that match the fibers in some plant stems. I'm not sure if young bamboo has those striations, but that is the mental image I get when looking at the Seki Rei.
The Sakura Seki Rei has a straight, cylindrical wooden grip, fashioned out of paulownia. Paulownia has an open grain that provides a truly excellent non-skid grip. Although I'd have to say I am not a fan of wooden grips, I definitely prefer paulownia to the red pine used on the Tenkara USA Ebisu. With the crisp feel, the extreme detail in the paint job and the very nice nonskid paulownia grip, one would probably expect to pay a pretty penny for the rod. One would be right. This is not an inexpensive rod. Given the volatile nature of the yen/dollar exchange rate, prices may change from week to week. When this was written, the website of Tenkara Fisher, the importer and US agent for Sakura, gave the price for the 11' model at $316 and for the 12' model at $331, which includes shipping and handling to your door. Because the rod I reviewed was borrowed (and I would like to thank Adam Trahan for letting my borrow his rod), I am not exactly sure what the rod comes with. I do not believe it comes with a hard rod case like the Tenkara USA rods. I do not know that any of the Japanese tenkara rods do. As someone who recently broke a borrowed tenkara rod, I would be much more concerned with the availability of replacement parts. It was not reassuring to read that Sakura's response to the question of replacement parts was "our rods don't break." If replacement tips are truly not available, I would have second thoughts about spending over $300 on a rod that could be rendered useless by a moment's carelessness. That no one else in the US has broken a Sakura Seki Rei is not reassuring. After all, I too had never broken a tenkara rod - until I did. That they don't break while fighting a fish is also not reassuring. Most of the tenkara rods that are broken are not broken fighting a fish. Of the last two rod breaks I know of, one was caught in a tree and the other was caught on a backpack. The Sakura Seki Rei is 20% glass, which would make it less susceptible to breakage, but "don't break"?? Adam is adamant that they don't.
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