Gyotaku: The ancient Japanese art of printing fish - K. Erica Dodge

Key Takeaways

[Music] how big was that fish you caught this big this big this big without photographic evidence there's nothing that proves you caught a Whopper and that's been true since the dawn of fishing in fact hundreds of years ago long before photography could capture the moment Japanese fishermen invented their own way to record trophy catches they called it gyotaku Kotaku is the ancient art of printing fish that originated in Japan as a way to record trophy catches prior to the modern-day camera Gio means fish and taku means impression there are several different stories about how gyotaku came about but it basically started with fishermen needing a way to record the species and size of the fish they caught over 100 years ago fishermen took paper ink and brushes out to sea with them they told stories of Great Adventures at Sea since the Japanese revered certain fish the fishermen would take a rubbing from these fish and release them to make the rubbing they would paint the fish with non-toxic Sumi ink and print them on rice paper this way they could be released or cleaned and sold at Market the first prints like this were for records only with no no extra details it wasn't until the mid 1800s that they began painting eye details and other embellishments onto the prince one famous nobleman Lord Sakai was an avid fisherman and when he made a large catch he wanted to preserve the memory of the large red seab bream to do so he commissioned a fisherman to print his catch after this many fishermen would bring their gyotaku prints to Lord Saki and if he liked their work he would hire them to print for him many prints hung in the palace during the period after this period gyotaku was not as popular and began to fade away today gyotaku has become a popular art form enjoyed by many and the prins are said to bring good luck to the fishermen but the art form is quite different than it used to be most artists today learn on their own by trial and error before the artist begins to print the fish needs to be prepared for printing first the artist places the fish on a hollowed out surface then the artist spreads the fins out and pins them down on the board to dry they then clean the fish with water when it comes time to print there are two different methods the indirect method begins with pasting moist Fabric or paper onto the fish using rice paste then the artist uses a too or a cotton ball covered in silk to put ink on the fabric or paper to produce the print this method requires more skill and great care needs to be taken when pulling the paper off the fish so the paper doesn't tear in the direct method the artist paints directly on the fish and then gently presses the moist Fabric or paper into the fish with both of these methods no two prints are exactly alike but both reveal dramatic images of the fish for the final touch the artist uses a chop or stamp and signs their work and can hold it up to say the fish was exactly this big [Music]