Saba- Mackerels

From the Dai Nihon Gyorui Gashu series, this print depicts saba, the Japanese mackerel, a fish central to the nation's culinary culture and coastal fishery. Ohno Bakufu renders the mackerel with the naturalist accuracy that defines the series: the vivid blue-green of the dorsal surface, the irregular dark striping across the back, and the bright silver of the belly required multiple carefully registered color blocks to achieve the sharp tonal transition at the lateral line. The streamlined, muscular body of the mackerel — built for speed in open water — is rendered in a composition likely employing a strong diagonal or lateral orientation that conveys the vitality of a living fish rather than the stillness of a museum specimen. Printed on washi using traditional tools including the baren for ink transfer, the print exemplifies the series' dual achievement: scientific documentation with the formal rigor of the woodblock tradition. The mackerel's reflective scaling required delicate bokashi work to suggest metallic sheen.