Considered to be the fifth head of the Maruyama line of painters, Maruyama Ōbun was known for his landscapes and kachōga (flower-and-bird paintings) painted in a naturalistic manner. His creativity and skill are evident in this unusual painting of a black carp swimming straight at the viewer. Traditional renderings of fish are usually shown from a side-view perspective, swimming across or up the picture plane, or from a bird’s-eye-view of the water. However, the decision to show the carp facing the audience gives the image a confrontational edge. Unlike the colorful carp that were beginning to be selectively bred in nineteenth century, this carp appears to be an ordinary black magoi carp.