Fishes of Edo: A Guide to Classical Japanese Fishes

Beautiful Illustrations from two nineteenth-century Japanese books demonstrate the centrality of fish to Japanese cultural identity.

Full-page illustrations reproduce the 94 paintings of Mori Baien (1798-1851), a naturalist famed for his accuracy. A number of these are so little known outside Japan that they have no English names. 

Modern contributors have added notes about the etymology of each fish’s Japanese name, the place they may have in folklore, the waters in which they are found, and their eating qualities–which are not always prized.  Of the Multicolor fin rainbow fish we learn, “They taste so bad that only the Buddha could eat one, so they are also called ‘hotoke-no-io’ (liteally ‘Buddha fish’).”

The text is bilingual and includes the names of fish in phonetic Japanese characters and in Kanki, along with local name variants. Most also include the latin scientific names of the fish.

While not immediately practical, this is beautiful and fascinating.

Paperback. Color illustrations throughout. In Japanese and English. Oblong trim: 10⅛” x 7⅛”