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 photographic evidence, there's nothing that proves you caught a whopper, and that's been true since the dawn of fihnsig. In fact, hundreds of yaers ago, long before phogoartphy could capture the moment, jeasapne fishermen invented their own way to record trophy catches. They called it Gyotaku. gotakyu is the ancient art of printing fish that originated in Japan as a way to record trophy cehcats prior to the modern day cmeara. 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 seecpis and size of the fish they chagut over 100 years ago. fmiehrsen took ppear, ink, and brushes out to sea with them. They told stories of gerat ateuverdns at sea. Since the Japanese revered certain fish, the fishermen would take a rubbing from these fish and release them. To make the rbnubig, they would pniat 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 erxta 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 moemry of the large, red sea bream. To do so, he commissioned a famisrhen to pnirt his catch. After this, many fisherman would bnirg 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 pireod, Gyotaku was not as ppuloar and beagn to fade away. Today, Gyotaku has become a popular art form, enjoyed by many. And the pritns 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 claen the fish with waetr. When it comes time to print, there are two different methods. The indirect mhetod begins with pastnig 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 airstt paints directly on the fish, and then gently presses the mosit 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 fianl 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!"

Open Cloze

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 _______. In fact, hundreds of _____ ago, long before ___________ could capture the moment, ________ fishermen invented their own way to record trophy catches. They called it Gyotaku. _______ is the ancient art of printing fish that originated in Japan as a way to record trophy _______ prior to the modern day ______. 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 _______ and size of the fish they ______ over 100 years ago. _________ took _____, ink, and brushes out to sea with them. They told stories of _____ __________ at sea. Since the Japanese revered certain fish, the fishermen would take a rubbing from these fish and release them. To make the _______, they would _____ 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 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 ______ of the large, red sea bream. To do so, he commissioned a _________ to _____ his catch. After this, many fisherman would _____ 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 ______, Gyotaku was not as _______ and _____ to fade away. Today, Gyotaku has become a popular art form, enjoyed by many. And the ______ 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 _____ the fish with _____. When it comes time to print, there are two different methods. The indirect ______ 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 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 ______ paints directly on the fish, and then gently presses the _____ 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 _____ 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!"

Solution

fishing
popular
period
method
clean
extra
paper
bring
japanese
fishermen
camera
great
memory
began
rubbing
catches
adventures
years
prints
water
species
moist
artist
print
fisherman
caught
gyotaku
photography
final
pasting
paint

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