Tomioka Tessai 富岡鉄斎
(1836-1924)

“Fish Market”

Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
85.9 x 57.5 cm. (33 7/8 x 22 5/8 in.)

Inscription:
“Ken Kon (the trigrams for Heaven and Earth). (The Emperor Shen Nong) established a market at noon, causing all the people beneath the heavens to gather all the goods beneath the heavens and exchange them before returning home, each having achieved their goals. This must have been done on the basis of the trigrams shi-shi.
This occurs in the chapter jici of the Yiqing (“Book of Changes”). Note: Shen Nong taught the people living along the rivers and on the seacoast to catch fish and turtles, and he taught woodcutters in the mountains and valleys to gather firewood, and then to exchange these for what they have not. This, then, was the origin of markets. Tetsu-gai.”

Artist’s seals:
Yo yo estu do-jin; Shin shin jo sui