The Fishermen of Katase Hauling in Their Nets: The Purple Shell (Murasakigai)
- Date:
- 1821
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print with metallic pigments; surimono shikishiban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
The Fishermen of Katase Hauling in Their Nets: The Purple Shell (Murasakigai) is an [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) print by Katsushika Hokusai from the series A Matching Game with Genroku-period Poem Shells, completed around 1816 and held in the Art Institute of Chicago. Hokusai depicts coastal laborers at Katase, a fishing village near Enoshima Island in Sagami Province, drawing in heavy nets at the water's edge. The composition centers on physical exertion: shoulders straining against rope, feet braced in wet sand, hands reaching for the catch beneath the surface. Behind them, the sea opens to a horizon hinting at Enoshima and the wider Pacific. The design is paired with a Genroku-period waka poem and the symbolic murasakigai, or purple shell, which gives the print its undertone of restrained classical reference. Hokusai's [surimono](/glossary/surimono) prints from this series translate refined poetic culture into the rhythms of ordinary Edo-period work, offering urban poets a vision of coastal Sagami filtered through painterly composition. As an Edo ukiyo-e print, the surimono format permits richer color, metallic pigments, and blind embossing that bring the woven texture of nets and the gleam of wet sand into sharper relief. The Art Institute of Chicago's impression preserves these refinements, allowing the labor of Katase fishermen to remain present in Hokusai's small, jewel-like sheet nearly two centuries later.
1822
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
1822
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
c. 1832
Color woodblock print; oban
1820
Color woodblock printed book, one volume
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
The Fishermen of Katase Hauling in Their Nets: The Purple Shell (Murasakigai) was created by Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) in 1821.
The Fishermen of Katase Hauling in Their Nets: The Purple Shell (Murasakigai) depicts landscapes and fish.