The Eel Master (Unagi danna), illustration from Bugei Kurabu (Literary Club) 1866 - 1908

Mizuno Toshikata created this print, "The Eel Master," as an illustration for Bugei Kurabu. Its gentle colors and clear lines create a calm, domestic scene. The composition is divided by a screen, which is partially open and adorned with vines. On the left, we see a man seated, smoking a pipe, while on the right, a woman is standing, holding a sake bottle and cup. The lines of their striped kimonos draw the eye across the pictorial plane. The background is separated into geometric shapes, in a tension between flatness and depth. Toshikata uses patterns not merely as decoration but as structural elements. The tension created between form and representation invites us to look beyond the surface, revealing the complex interplay of signs and signifiers, which underscores that meaning is relational.