Fish, Flower & Kanon

Fish, Flower & Kanon is a Buddhist woodblock print by Shiko Munakata combining three of the sosaku-hanga master's most beloved motifs in a single composition. The bodhisattva Kanon (Avalokitesvara) is the central image, flanked by a stylized fish and a full-blooming flower, all rendered in Munakata's unmistakable black-and-white idiom of thick, calligraphic line and crisp white reserves. This impression is documented through ukiyo-e.org via the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Kanon, the bodhisattva of compassion, was a lifelong devotional subject for Munakata, who described his prints not as artworks but as offerings; his Pure Land Buddhist faith ran through every block he carved. Fish and flowers were equally fundamental: the fish recalls his birthplace of Aomori on the Tsugaru Strait and the abundance of the sea, while flowers appear constantly in his work as exuberant, almost dancing emblems of life and natural force. Compositionally, the print abandons any attempt at perspective. Each element occupies its own zone of the paper and is connected only by the rhythm of the carving. Munakata worked directly on the block, drawing with charcoal and then attacking the wood with small knives in long, unbroken strokes, sometimes pressed so close to the surface that his face nearly touched the block. The result is the immediacy that drew the attention of Yanagi Soetsu and the mingei (folk craft) movement, who championed Munakata as embodying a pre-modern, unselfconscious creative energy. By blending sacred and secular imagery, this print typifies the inclusive religious vision that defined Munakata's mature career and made him one of the most internationally celebrated Japanese printmakers of the twentieth century.