The Servants of the Dragon King of the Sea: Fish and Shells (Tatsu no miyatsuko gyokai fu)
A Japanese woodblock picture book of sea creatures, produced in Edo in 1802 by the artist Kitao Masayoshi (1764-1824) for an audience of readers and collectors interested in marine life. Its pages pair fine ink drawings of fish, shellfish, crabs and octopus with short verses written in kana beside them. A designer could take its spare, confident line work, open white space and calligraphic text placed in columns as a model for minimal botanical or natural-history layouts.
