Umi no sachi 海の幸

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Commentary by Jeannie Kenmotsu

Posted December 3, 2017

Umi no sachi (Treasures of the sea) presents haikai poems and illustrations of fish lavishly printed in color. Produced in large format on an unusual theme, this project is thought to be the private production of a poetry circle. The verses of its members and their sobriquets are printed on forty-seven illustrated double-page openings, as well as across several pages at the end of volume two. Most of these poets are unknown today, but it has been speculated that some of the contributors to the work were high-ranking samurai. [1]

The first volume opens with a preface by the esteemed haikai poet Baba Songi 馬場存議 (1703–1782), a leading figure within the Edoza school of haikai by the 1760s. He encourages the reader to appreciate the book’s poems with a discerning but generous eye: much like fish themselves, there are those which are beautiful and those which are ugly. Three further texts, one by the book’s editor and fellow poet Sekijukan Shūkoku (石寿観秀国) and two by artist Katsuma Ryūsui, introduce the work. Shūkoku’s preface indicates the allusion present in the title of Umi no sachi. He chose a title for the collection based on a reference to the Kojiki 古事記 (A record of ancient matters); he is referring to the tale of two brothers, Umi no Sachi Hiko 海幸彦 (Prince luck of the sea) and Yama no Sachi Hiko 山幸彦 (Prince Luck of the mountain), descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu. [2]

With more than one hundred species depicted, the book presents a veritable catalogue of the bounty of the sea, rivers, and lakes. These aquatic creatures range from established delicacies like sea bream, tuna, octopus, eel, and various kinds of shrimp to more exotic subjects like the whale—so vast it is represented by the inky darkness of a page printed in reverse—and the semi-mythical minogame (or hairy-backed turtle, a symbol of longevity). Every fish portrayed is also identified by name, sometimes with several Chinese variations, as if to imitate the conventions of natural history texts.

The book’s sustained engagement with color printing techniques throughout its two volumes predates the development of full-color nishiki-e in sheet prints by three years. Every illustration shows at least two printed colors (in addition to black), and most display up to five or even six colors. The profuse and elaborate color printing is often quite subtle, enhancing the efforts of Ryūsui to depict each fish, mollusk, or crustacean with a degree of naturalism. The at times startling morphological verisimilitude of the representations further signals the growing interest in the period in honzōgaku, or natural studies.

Early printings of this work rank among the very finest examples of early multiple-block color woodblock printing, and are further enhanced by special techniques like applications of mica that make the fish seem to shimmer on the page. The Pulverer copy of this work is a later printing, issued in 1778 by the large firm of Maekawa Rokuzaemon (前川六左衛門). [3] Many of the illustrations in the Pulverer impression display the elegant coloration that made the book so highly appreciated. The colophon retains the name of the original block-carver, Sekiguchi Jinshirō (関口甚四郎), and gives the name of a new printer, Shirai Tōsuke (白井藤助). Naming these artisans in the colophon indicates continued appreciation of Umi no sachi as an innovative work of color printing technology, sixteen years after its first publication.

Three years after the book’s publication, the team of artist Ryūsui, editor Shūkoku and carver Sekiguchi Jinshirō produced another two-volume book, Yama no sachi 山の幸 (Treasures of the mountain). Extending the leitmotif and allusions of the earlier collaboration, Yama no sachi paired haikai poems on the natural theme of plants and insects together with a few reptiles and rodents, with beautifully color-printed illustrations.

Selected readings:

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, 2 vols. (London: Sotheby’s Publications by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1987), esp. vol. 1, 237–43.

Kira Sueo 雲英末雄, “Tashokuzuri ebaisho ni tsuite” 「多色摺絵排書について」, in Shiika to imēji: Edo no hanpon ichimaizuri ni miru yume 『詩歌とイメージ：江戸の版本・一枚摺にみる夢』, edited by Nakano Mitsutoshi 中野三敏 and Kōno Minoru 河野実, Shohan, (Tokyo: Bensei Shuppan, 2013), 1–22.

Mori Senzō 森銑三, “Katsuma Ryūsui” 「勝間龍水」,vol. 4, Mori Senzō chosakushū『森銑三著作集』(Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1971), 337–48.

Yasumaro Ō and Gustav Heldt, The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014).

Copies in other collections:

Art Institute of Chicago

British Library, London

British Museum, London

Special Collections (The Getty Research Institute), Los Angeles

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

National Diet Library, Tokyo

New York Public Library, New York City

Tenri University, Tenri Central Library, Nara Prefecture
Tōhoku University Library, Sendai

Waseda University Library, Tokyo

[1] Kira Sueo suggests that several of the poets may be daimyo. See Kira 2013, 16.

[2] Both the Kojiki and Nihon shoki contain versions of this story. For an English translation of the story based on the Kojiki, see Ō and Heldt 2014, 53–60.

[3] There is another 1778 imprint, issued by the publisher Noda Shichibē (野田七兵衛).