Pilchard

The pilchard (Sardinops melanostictus, known as the maiwashi in Japanese), a small pelagic fish closely related to the sardine, appears in Ohno Bakufu's 'Dai Nihon Gyorui Gashu' as a subject of both economic and aesthetic interest. Pilchards were among the most heavily harvested fish in Japanese waters, used as food, fertilizer, and oil. Ohno's print likely presents multiple specimens together, their compressed bodies and metallic silver flanks arranged to demonstrate the species' form from multiple angles. The distinctive dark spots along the upper flanks are rendered with fine carving. The challenge of depicting a small, schooling fish lies in balancing compositional clarity with the accurate rendering of scale pattern and the delicate color transition across the body.