Somersaulting goldfish

Somersaulting goldfish captures the fish mid-rotation, an unusual variation on the more static goldfish print. The implied movement requires the designer to resolve a complex pose through the keyblock alone — the curve of the spine, the inversion of fins, and the trailing tail must read clearly without the aid of shading. Such studies of animal motion belong to a lineage that includes Kuniyoshi's lively warrior and animal prints and Kyosai's spirited brushwork, and they reward careful observation of how a fish actually behaves in a tank or bowl. Color, in mokuhanga of this type, is concentrated in the body and fins, with vermillion and red-orange laid down through one or two blocks and white or pale ground reserved for the surrounding water. Working in a Kuniyoshi-influenced vein, Fukami's choice of an active rather than reposing fish suggests an interest in the kinetic possibilities of the genre.