Can you find all of them? Find fishermen in traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e pictures!

Our exhibition, THE ANGLING CULTURE IN JAPAN : History, Diversity, and Philosophy of Fishing is offering a new and interesting way to enjoy traditional Ukiyo-e pictures. The method was also mentioned in this blog written by curator Miyano.

Do you know the picture book, “Where’s Waldo?” It’s a very fun book; your mission is to find a very small image of Waldo on every page. Waldo is usually standing amongst a crowd of people and that makes it really hard. You can expect to have the same kind of fun while viewing some traditional Ukiyo-e pictures! There are no Waldos to be found in Ukiyoe-pictures of course. Instead, there are many fishermen. Finding them in the pictures is really difficult! Unlike “Where’s Waldo?”, those Ukiyo-e drawings are antiques. Some of the fishermen are almost fading in color! Still, it isn’t mission impossible. If you look very closely at every picture, you can recognize the lively figures of fishermen, sometimes at the river bank, or on the boats, etc… (Please come and see ukiyo-e to find them!)

This new method of viewing ukiyo-e will give you something more than just finding “Waldo-fishermen”. It offers time travel to the Japanese olden days! By staring at the ukiyo-e pictures in an attempt to find fishermen, you’ll notice some other interesting things. I’ll show you some examples.
On the famous Rakuchu-rakugaizu screen, you’ll find this Edo style fisherman image. He made an appearance in our poster as a mascot of the exhibition! 

Please take a closer look at the picture. That will give you a feeling of a time trip! You’ll see what I mean.

Yeah! Just found a samurai, practicing archery! His neighbor must be a sword smith!

 

Look! There is a barber on your right! Is that a thief standing in front of the monk?
(I’m only guessing!)
There are some more interesting images in pictures. Viewing each of them while imaging the stories is fun!

Rakuchu rakugaizu depict the scenery of Kyoto, and there are many of them. The one Fukuoka City Museum has is one of the 5 Rakuchu rakugaizu that are designated as cultural properties. Now is your chance to see this valuable artifact! The open period will close October 16th. Please don’t miss this rare opportunity!

Curator Kawaguchi, who is in charge of the fishing exhibition, its column, and its crayfish event is waiting for you! (Look how busy she is, grappling so many tasks on her own! In addition, she's grappling this gigantic lure as well! ) The lure she is holding is exhibited on the 2nd floor! You'll be able to take pictures with it.

Please visit the following website to check out curator Kawaguchi’s blog.
http://tsuri-douraku.jp/column.php

Posted by Takamura