TedTest

From the Ted Talk by K. Erica Dodge: Gyotaku The ancient Japanese art of printing fish

Unscramble the Blue Letters

How big was that fish you caught? This big? This big? This big? Without pphoaotrhgic ecenidve, there's nothing that proves you caught a whopper, and that's been true since the dawn of fishing. In fact, hundreds of years ago, long before photography could ctarupe the moment, Japanese fishermen invented their own way to rerocd trophy catches. They called it Gyotaku. Gyotaku is the aecnnit art of printing fish that oitineragd in Japan as a way to record tprohy catches piorr to the modern day camera. Gyo means fish and taku means impression. There are several different stories about how Gyotaku came about, but it basically satertd with fishermen needing a way to record the species and size of the fish they caught over 100 years ago. Fishermen took paper, ink, and buershs out to sea with them. They told stories of great adventures at sea. Since the Japanese revered certain fish, the fieesrmhn would take a rubbing from these fish and release them. To make the rbunibg, they would paint the fish with non-toxic sumi-e ink and print them on rice paper. This way they could be released or cleaned and sold at market. The first prints like this were for records only with no etrxa details. It wasn't until the mid 1800's that they began painting eye details and other eielmlentmhsbs onto the prints. One famous nobleman, Lord Sakai, was an avid fisherman, and, when he made a large catch, he wanted to preserve the memory of the large, red sea bream. To do so, he commissioned a fisherman to print his cacth. After this, many fisherman would bring their gkayotu prnits to Lord Sakai, and if he liked their work, he would hire them to pnrit for him. Many prints hung in the palace during the Edo period. After this period, Gyotaku was not as popular and began to fade away. Today, Gyotaku has become a plouapr art form, enjoyed by many. And the prints are said to binrg good luck to the fishermen. But the art form is quite different than it used to be. Most aitstrs today learn on their own by trial and eorrr. Before the artist begins to print, the fish needs to be prepared for printing. First, the artist places the fish on a hollowed out surface. Then the artist spreads the fins out and pins them down on the board to dry. They then clean the fish with water. When it comes time to print, there are two different methods. The indirect method begins with ptnsaig moist fabric or paper onto the fish using rice paste. Then, the artist uses a tompo, or a cotton ball covered in silk, to put ink on the fabric or paper to produce the print. This method requires more sklil and great care needs to be taken when pluinlg the paper off the fish so the paper doesn't tear. In the direct mthoed, the asrtit paints directly on the fish, and then gently psreses the moist fabric or paper into the fish. With both of these mtehods, no two prints are exactly alike, but both reveal dramatic images of the fish. For the final tcouh, the artist uses a chop, or a smtap, and signs their work, and can hold it up to say, "The fish was exactly this big!"

Open Cloze

How big was that fish you caught? This big? This big? This big? Without ____________ ________, there's nothing that proves you caught a whopper, and that's been true since the dawn of fishing. In fact, hundreds of years ago, long before photography could _______ the moment, Japanese fishermen invented their own way to ______ trophy catches. They called it Gyotaku. Gyotaku is the _______ art of printing fish that __________ in Japan as a way to record ______ catches _____ to the modern day camera. Gyo means fish and taku means impression. There are several different stories about how Gyotaku came about, but it basically _______ with fishermen needing a way to record the species and size of the fish they caught over 100 years ago. Fishermen took paper, ink, and _______ out to sea with them. They told stories of great adventures at sea. Since the Japanese revered certain fish, the _________ would take a rubbing from these fish and release them. To make the _______, they would paint the fish with non-toxic sumi-e ink and print them on rice paper. This way they could be released or cleaned and sold at market. The first prints like this were for records only with no _____ details. It wasn't until the mid 1800's that they began painting eye details and other ______________ onto the prints. One famous nobleman, Lord Sakai, was an avid fisherman, and, when he made a large catch, he wanted to preserve the memory of the large, red sea bream. To do so, he commissioned a fisherman to print his _____. After this, many fisherman would bring their _______ ______ to Lord Sakai, and if he liked their work, he would hire them to _____ for him. Many prints hung in the palace during the Edo period. After this period, Gyotaku was not as popular and began to fade away. Today, Gyotaku has become a _______ art form, enjoyed by many. And the prints are said to _____ good luck to the fishermen. But the art form is quite different than it used to be. Most _______ today learn on their own by trial and _____. Before the artist begins to print, the fish needs to be prepared for printing. First, the artist places the fish on a hollowed out surface. Then the artist spreads the fins out and pins them down on the board to dry. They then clean the fish with water. When it comes time to print, there are two different methods. The indirect method begins with _______ moist fabric or paper onto the fish using rice paste. Then, the artist uses a tompo, or a cotton ball covered in silk, to put ink on the fabric or paper to produce the print. This method requires more _____ and great care needs to be taken when _______ the paper off the fish so the paper doesn't tear. In the direct ______, the ______ paints directly on the fish, and then gently _______ the moist fabric or paper into the fish. With both of these _______, no two prints are exactly alike, but both reveal dramatic images of the fish. For the final _____, the artist uses a chop, or a _____, and signs their work, and can hold it up to say, "The fish was exactly this big!"

Solution

touch
catch
prior
error
extra
skill
gyotaku
stamp
artists
print
presses
rubbing
evidence
bring
method
record
photographic
trophy
methods
capture
originated
prints
brushes
artist
embellishments
ancient
fishermen
started
pulling
pasting
popular

Original Text

How big was that fish you caught? This big? This big? This big? Without photographic evidence, there's nothing that proves you caught a whopper, and that's been true since the dawn of fishing. In fact, hundreds of years ago, long before photography could capture the moment, Japanese fishermen invented their own way to record trophy catches. They called it Gyotaku. Gyotaku is the ancient art of printing fish that originated in Japan as a way to record trophy catches prior to the modern day camera. Gyo means fish and taku means impression. There are several different stories about how Gyotaku came about, but it basically started with fishermen needing a way to record the species and size of the fish they caught over 100 years ago. Fishermen took paper, ink, and brushes out to sea with them. They told stories of great adventures at sea. Since the Japanese revered certain fish, the fishermen would take a rubbing from these fish and release them. To make the rubbing, they would paint the fish with non-toxic sumi-e ink and print them on rice paper. This way they could be released or cleaned and sold at market. The first prints like this were for records only with no extra details. It wasn't until the mid 1800's that they began painting eye details and other embellishments onto the prints. One famous nobleman, Lord Sakai, was an avid fisherman, and, when he made a large catch, he wanted to preserve the memory of the large, red sea bream. To do so, he commissioned a fisherman to print his catch. After this, many fisherman would bring their Gyotaku prints to Lord Sakai, and if he liked their work, he would hire them to print for him. Many prints hung in the palace during the Edo period. After this period, Gyotaku was not as popular and began to fade away. Today, Gyotaku has become a popular art form, enjoyed by many. And the prints are said to bring good luck to the fishermen. But the art form is quite different than it used to be. Most artists today learn on their own by trial and error. Before the artist begins to print, the fish needs to be prepared for printing. First, the artist places the fish on a hollowed out surface. Then the artist spreads the fins out and pins them down on the board to dry. They then clean the fish with water. When it comes time to print, there are two different methods. The indirect method begins with pasting moist fabric or paper onto the fish using rice paste. Then, the artist uses a tompo, or a cotton ball covered in silk, to put ink on the fabric or paper to produce the print. This method requires more skill and great care needs to be taken when pulling the paper off the fish so the paper doesn't tear. In the direct method, the artist paints directly on the fish, and then gently presses the moist fabric or paper into the fish. With both of these methods, no two prints are exactly alike, but both reveal dramatic images of the fish. For the final touch, the artist uses a chop, or a stamp, and signs their work, and can hold it up to say, "The fish was exactly this big!"

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
record trophy	2
trophy catches	2
moist fabric	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
record trophy catches	2

Important Words

adventures
alike
ancient
art
artist
artists
avid
ball
basically
began
begins
big
board
bream
bring
brushes
called
camera
capture
care
catch
catches
caught
chop
clean
cleaned
commissioned
cotton
covered
dawn
day
details
direct
dramatic
dry
edo
embellishments
enjoyed
error
evidence
extra
eye
fabric
fact
fade
famous
final
fins
fish
fisherman
fishermen
fishing
form
gently
good
great
gyo
gyotaku
hire
hold
hollowed
hundreds
hung
images
impression
indirect
ink
invented
japan
japanese
large
learn
long
lord
luck
market
means
memory
method
methods
mid
modern
moist
moment
needing
nobleman
originated
paint
painting
paints
palace
paper
paste
pasting
period
photographic
photography
pins
places
popular
prepared
preserve
presses
print
printing
prints
prior
produce
proves
pulling
put
record
records
red
release
released
requires
reveal
revered
rice
rubbing
sakai
sea
signs
silk
size
skill
sold
species
spreads
stamp
started
stories
surface
taku
tear
time
today
told
tompo
touch
trial
trophy
true
wanted
water
whopper
work
years