Shrimp — えび

This print from Ohno Bakufu's Dai Nihon Gyorui Gashu series depicts ebi (えび), shrimp, extending the series' scope beyond fish to the crustaceans of Japanese coastal waters. Shrimp presented Ohno with a subject that rewards the woodblock medium's capacity for fine linear detail: the segmented abdomen, the fan-shaped tail, the multiple pairs of walking legs, the long antennae, and the compound eyes are all structures requiring precise keyblock carving to remain legible at print scale. The translucent quality of live shrimp — the visible internal anatomy through the carapace — posed coloristic challenges that Ohno likely addressed through restrained, layered color blocks over a minimal ground. The reddish-orange tones of cooked shrimp may differentiate this print from a living-specimen depiction; alternatively, the cooler, almost transparent grey-blue of a live specimen would require very different printing treatment. The composition may present a single specimen in careful lateral profile to maximize anatomical clarity, or arrange multiple shrimp together in the overlapping style he used for schooling fish subjects.