For Takeya, the decorative herring boat boards provided his first exposure to design. He started photographing and studying them while still at his student days. Wanting now to see them again, he traveled to the former Saga family fishing base in Romoi. From March to May each year, at the time of the herring catch, many migrant fishermen and boat masters lodged there from both within and outside Hokkaido. The bases were known as Herring Hostels. This was one of the herring fisheries that operated for 113 years from the late Edo to mid-Showa Period and, to convey those years of prosperity, is now designated as a place of national historical interest. Even 70 years on, Takeya is impressed by the skill of the old ship carpenters revealed in the decorative boards.

“The chisel marks have been left on purpose to good effect,” says Takeya. He observes that the technique of securing effect by leaving the rough marks of sculpting is harder that neat polishing. The decorative boards were attached to the sterns of the vessels. Looking at those marks, Takeya observes they convey “powerful and adventurous design.” Herring boat design was, first and foremost, about protecting the lives of the fishermen. The decorative boards expressed the carpenters’ resolve to show what else they could do. “I love the way they are so unexpected,” says Takeya, reflecting on what makes them so fascinating.

The decorative board was the place where the carpenter could display his skill. There were flowers such as chrysanthemums and peonies, and also lions, peaches, arabesques and various other motifs depicted in vivid colors. The meanings of those designs cannot be found described in any extant records of the fishing culture, but, “Going to sea was to put your life at risk,” says Takeya, “and I expect they were regarded as talismans and bringers of bumper catches.” Gods of the sea and fishermen such as Funadama and Ebisu were enshrined at the herring base, and various supplicatory rites for safety at sea and rich catches were also performed there through the year. Thinking back to his childhood, Takeya remembers similar carvings, too, in the shrines and fishermen’s houses, and wonders now about those further connections.