Tokyo fishgraphs by Naohiro Harada

Naohiro Harada’s (b. 1982, Japanese) series is an attempt to explore the origin of the eccentricity of Japanese visual culture through the usage of traditional methods by composing a fictional documentary for the audienceless 2020 Olympics, which was postponed due to the restrictions of the pandemic.

During this phantasmal time, Harada decided to convert the strange experience into a series of contemporary Mitate-e, i.e. a genre term within Japanese art that witfully plays with allusions, puns, and gaps in what we understand, by depicting and parodying historical and traditional events.

There are three main themes in this series of Mitate-e:

• Fish
• Empty Tokyo Streets
  
• Utagawa Hiroshige
  

The book contains 32 ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (b. 1797, d. 1858, Japanese) and a preface written by the author.