Gyotaku 101

        The reason I chose this video, was because one of my earliest memories is going to a festival at one of the Hongwanji on the island, and learning how to gyotaku. Gyotaku is literally translated to "fish impression". Gyotaku is a traditional form of Japanese art that began over 100 years ago as a way for fishermen to keep a record of the fish they caught. They would apply sumi ink to one side of a freshly caught fish, then cover the fish with rice paper and rub it to create an exact image of the fish. In Hawai'i, this art form is particularly popular and artists there demonstrate incredible skill and detail when they color over the initial print to really bring the fish back to life. Back home you know you walked into a fisherman's house when they had prints of their trophy catches decorating the walls. When I got into fishing more, I would sometimes attempt to print some of my own catches, which were nowhere near the same quality as the masters, but the effort was there and at least the prints still resembled fish. Anyways, while watching the video I found it extremely insightful, the artist used different techniques than any I have ever seen before, where he would glue the fishes fin to an elevated piece of wood in order to get a more even print, and I'll be sure to try that the next time since I usually have the most trouble with the fins. Gyotaku is not limited to just fish, I have seen it done with crabs, lobsters, octopus, chickens, and even a wild boar. The beauty behind gyotaku is that it preserves the spirit of the fish in a way that can't be fabricated since it's an exact impression of that specimen. And for fishermen, there is no better way to honor one's catch. 

On the language side of things, I was able to recognize hiragana characters in the Nihongo subtitles. When I read the word or phrase  I feel like I was able to predict the pronunciation of it in Nihongo which makes me feel that my basic understanding and memorization of hiragana are improving.

魚拓のとり方

Here is a picture of an 'Omilu or blue-fin trevally my brother and I caught this past summer, and a family friend printed it for us

This is a Munu that we caught a while back, and my brother actually printed it himself. The print came out better than we thought but clearly not as good as the 'Omilu.