Snapper- Tai — マダヒ

The Snapper Tai (red sea bream; マダイ; Pagrus major) is Japan's most celebrated food fish, occupying a unique position in Japanese culture as the fish of celebration and good fortune. Its very name — tai — is embedded in the Japanese word "medetai" (auspicious, happy), making it the fish of weddings, birthdays, and New Year's. Bakufu's rendering of the tai in his fish compendium treats the species with the reverence it commands in Japanese culture, its brilliant red-pink coloration and elegant proportions captured with characteristic precision.