Modern Day Gyotaku Has Begun To Include Jin Shofu Collage Work

The Gyotaku fish print is an Asian art form that originated during the 1800's. In famous fishing locals such as Asia and Hawaii gyotaku is still used as an artistic method of documenting the size and girth of a fishermen's prized catch. Today the art form has expanded to include a variety of new "subjects" and artistic mediums, including jin shofu (wheat paste) collage techniques.

In Japanese Gyo=Fish, and Taku=Imprint, as Gyotaku art uses freshly caught fish, plants or other sea life to create unique outlines on paper or cloth. The "subject" is recorded for posterity, then ready to eat, as gyotaku uses non-toxic pigments to create one-of-a-kind imprints.

Traditionally gyotaku prints were created using rice paper and a carbon-based sumi ink. Today most gyotaku is printed on a variety of paper and cloth materials, and artists often substitute the sumi ink for non-toxic acrylic paints. Artists may also incorporate other mediums such as color pencils, watercolors and pastels, to create colorful renditions of the original species.

Most gyotaku subjects are various types of fish, but there are a lot of other unique specimens which make wonderful gyotaku "subjects". Octopus, with it's long tentacles covered in suckers, is a relatively new and very interesting gyotaku subject. Some gyotaku artists even highlight the octopus prints using real octopus ink! Another modern gyotaku subject are sea shells and coral. Artists can place an octopus or small reef fish around the shells/coral to create and underwater scene.

Collage techniques, or the layering of different papers and cut-outs has become a very well received form for interpreting gyotaku art prints. This technique often uses jin shofu, or wheat paste, and has the artist imprinting the fish (or other gyotaku subject) onto a lacy or see-through piece of rice paper. This print is then backed with two or more extra pieces of paper to create a unique print of various colors and paper textures.

Rice paper, which is also called washi, is made from parts of the rice paper plant or other plants materials such as hemp, bamboo and mulberry. Rice paper has been used for centuries for writing, drawing and gyotaku fish prints. It is also a useful medium for making kites, lanterns, surfboards, collages, shoji screens and artificial flowers. Today most rice paper is made using the rice plant straw, bamboo, hemp, mulberry, wingceltis and gampi. The jin shofu collage technique is a wonderful way for the artist to highlight the beauty, texture and coloring of the rice paper. Very often by placing a lacy paper over top another colored/textured paper, it will create a multi-dimensional coloring scheme creating a visually stunning contrast for the gyotaku print.