The background of this painting, composed of gold leaves and gofun pigment, reinforces the elegancy of the color of gold without being over conspicuous, and highlights the subject of sweetfish with fresh green foliage. Hayami Gyoshu vividly depicts the beautiful shapes and movements of the sweetfish, to the extent that even the turning over of the one on the right is carefully-captured. This work is mounted in the style of gyo no gyo, or semiformal of semiformal, also called ‘sandanhyoso’ (three tiered mounting), with the fan-shaped gold-grounded paper fixed in the center, or the so-called ‘daihyogu.’ The present work, however, instead of appearing merely in the ‘daihyogu’ mounting style, is rather reminiscent of the grilled sweetfish aesthetically presented in a fan-shaped gold-grounded plate at a Japanese restaurant. This masterpiece is executed on June 18th, 1934, and is included in Gyoshu taisei collection of the artist’s works.

Hayami Gyoshu (nihonga painter; 1894–1935)
Also known as Kako; Konen.
Tokyo-born nihonga painter. His real name is Makita Eiichi. Studied under Matsumoto Fuko at Anagado Gajuku, and later was invited to join Tatsumi-gakai and Ugo-kai. Active at Koji-kai and Sekiyo-kai. Exhibited at Inten. Innovatively infused modernity into the decorative nihonga genre. Received orders of merit from the Italian and German governments.