Sardines

"Sardines" presents one of Japan's most abundant and culturally significant fish — the ma-iwashi (Japanese sardine; Sardinops melanostictus) — which has fed Japan's fishing communities, urban populations, and agricultural fields (dried sardines as fertilizer) for centuries. Sardines travel in enormous shoals visible from the surface, and their seasonal arrival was a major event in fishing communities. Bakufu's rendering of sardines, likely grouped in the bundle or school formation typical of their depiction, extends his fish compendium to include the humblest yet most economically important of Japan's marine species.