Walkaround - Nature Technicolour Clear Rivers in Japan No. 01 Ayu/Sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis)

First. Walkaround. Ever. Nervousness!  

The first figurine of this particular set features arguably the most loved of all Japanese river fish, the Ayu. Its other name, the Sweetfish, is due to its unique sweetness of the flesh, and many people say that the smell of Ayu is likened to watermelon and cucumber. Ayu fishing is almost an obsession for anglers in Japan, with people going down in droves onto streams during summer to participate in this very specialised type of fishing.

The figurine itself is about 5 cm in length making it around 1:5 to 1:6 in scale. and depicts two Ayus in a classic pose : an intruder Ayu (top fish) being warded off an algae-covered rock by the resident Ayu (bottom fish). In fact, an entirely unique fishing technique called ayu-no-tomozuri takes advantage of this behaviour where the angler releases a live Ayu fitted with trailing hooks into the feeding territory of another Ayu. When the resident fish attacks the intruder,the hooks will invariably snag into the attacking fish and it too is then caught.

As per standard with most Nature Technicolour set, it sits on top of a base with the katakana, English, and Latin names of the species on a golden plaque. Ayu is a small, subtly beautiful salmonid and it is reflected in the flowing feeling between the two fish. As expected with Kitan, the detail and composition of the models are very much on the forefront. The fins are of semi-transparent plastic and shows even the fin ray branchings. Little things like the shape of the snout and teeth indentations, also the segmentation of the gill operculum are visible and adds more depth to the likeness. As usual, even the rock where the models discreetly sit on is not just a "rock" because it contributes to the whole story of the model, in this case they even have the distinctive scrape marks just under the bottom Ayu where the fish has been feeding on the algae with their teeth.

To summarise, this is an exceedingly well-made and well-thought-of model which pushes all the right buttons with my inner fish geekiness!  

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Japan Times Article
Ayu at Fishbase

A very nice walk around and information.

Nervousness? I wished that after all these years I was able of opening a walk around as nice and informative as you did.
It is also an impressive figure representing how wonderful is Nature, so, a fantastic start and I hope we are lucky enough to have more great walk arounds like these from you!

Great pics great figurines :)

Roger wrote:

Nervousness? I wished that after all these years I was able of opening a walk around as nice and informative as you did.
It is also an impressive figure representing how wonderful is Nature, so, a fantastic start and I hope we are lucky enough to have more great walk arounds like these from you!

Roger expresses it totally right

I also enjoy this walkaround enormously, and I am happy to learn about the Ayu
What a fantastic wakaround of a fantastic model

Thank you all!

Will try to do better in next walkarounds.