Tenkara Casting: Yes It's Actually Fly Casting

Go on any fly fishing forum/group that's not explicitly a tenkara forum/group and you will inevitably encounter the armchair expert who will tell you that TENKARA ISN'T FLY FISHING IT'S A CANE POLE CRAPPIE POLE DAPPING YADA YADA YADA.

What makes it fly casting: the line loads the rod. Your casting the weight of the line, it's just a much thinner line than a typical PVC fly line. The rod is correspondingly more flexible to allow that light line to load the rod.

Yes you can only cast so far. Bowhunters can only shoot so far, but no one questions if they're actually "hunting" as compared to the guy with 6.5 Creedmore sighted for 400 yard shots.

Yes it's not for BIG fish, but the rods are far more capable than you'd imagine. The whole rod acts as a sort of drag, and you can get fish in just as fast as you can with a fly rod and reel.

Don't go chasing giant browns or steelhead with one, but trout to 18" are well within the capability of the rod demonstrated, and it is on the lower end of the power scale as it is my "teaching rod" and a slower softer rod is easier for a beginner to master.