What is gyotaku? Here is Wikipedia's definition:
Gyotaku (Japanese 魚拓, from gyo "fish" + taku "rubbing") is a traditional form of Japanese fish printing, dating from the mid
What is gyotaku? Here is Wikipedia's definition:
Gyotaku (Japanese 魚拓, from gyo "fish" + taku "rubbing") is a traditional form of Japanese fish printing, dating from the mid-19th century, a form of nature printing used by fishermen to record their catches. There are two methods used in gyotaku. The direct approach is the best way to do gyotaku. In order to make a gyotaku print, one places the subject (e.g. fish, crab, scallop shell) on a wooden bench and paints one side with sumi ink. Modern gyotaku artists often substitute acrylic or other painting material for the traditional sumi.
From my own research, I found out that some modern artists use rubber replica fish to create gyotaku. These are probably a bit easier to deal with, but for our children the sensory experience of touching, examining, and smelling the fish was too important to pass up. It is even more important than perhaps it might be in some other parts of the country or the world since the ocean is so far away from where we live. Many of the children in our cl