Flying Fishes

Flying Fishes is a Japanese woodblock print by Ohno Bakufu (1888-1976), the shin-hanga artist whose long career produced what is widely regarded as the most ambitious twentieth-century visual catalogue of Japan's marine life. This impression, recorded on ukiyo-e.org through an Art of Japan listing, sits squarely within the body of work for which Bakufu is best known: shin-hanga fish prints that combine scientific observation with the aesthetic conventions of traditional Japanese woodblock design. Flying fish (tobiuo) were a recurring motif for Bakufu, who depicted them mid-glide above the water's surface, their elongated pectoral fins fully extended to reveal the translucent membrane that allows the species to skim across open sea. Bakufu studied marine specimens directly, often working from fresh catches at coastal markets and aquariums, and his prints reflect that firsthand engagement in the accuracy of fin ray counts, body proportions, and coloration. He produced his celebrated multi-volume Dai Nihon Gyorui Gashu (Great Japanese Fish Picture Collection) from the 1930s into the 1980s, and individual flying fish compositions belong to this larger taxonomic project that distinguished him from contemporaries focused on landscape or beauties. The shin-hanga movement encouraged collaboration between designer, carver, and printer to revive Japanese woodblock printmaking for a modern collector base in both Japan and the West, and Bakufu's fish prints became one of the movement's most distinctive contributions. Flying Fishes typifies the formula: a clean negative-ground field, restrained palette, sensitive bokashi gradation for water and sky, and a draftsman's confidence in the line that defines each fish.