How did Japanese fishermen record their trophy catches centuries ago when there was no camera? In comes Gyotaku: the art of fish printing. It was a smart way to “photograph” the catch and eat it at the same time.

Art is often inspired by nature. Look at Gaudi who drew much of his architectural inspiration from trees and sea creatures. In running a fish business sometimes we forget to pause and admire the beauty of our product. Thank goodness we don’t sell plastic but rather Mother Nature’s footprint.

Luckily we were introduced to Master Artist in residence at JACCC, Mr. Hirokazu Kosaka. Sensei Kosaka came to our facility and performed a demonstration on Gyotaku with various seafood. We opened up the event to our chef friends and the artist community. This was a first for many of our colleagues who have been working in the fish industry for years. Everyone had fun and we printed squid, shrimp, black bass, butter fish and golden eye snapper. Hopefully we can do more events in the future that combine art and fish.

To learn more about gyotaku, here is a fun video from TedTalk.

By Winnie Kho
March 21, 2016