Book Illustration, Kaigara Danmen Zuan (Cross sections of seashells)

Captivated by the patterns he saw while researching shells and dissecting them at various angles, Hirase captured the shells' forms and patterns in seal ink for this 1913 book. Over his career as a scientist, Hirase recorded more than 3,500 seashells, 1,000 of which were entirely new discoveries. Though he never called himself a designer or an artist, Hirase recognized the “inside wonders” of these shells and explored their pattern potential with illustrator Jun Nishikawa. The publisher, Unsōdō, still makes fine woodblock prints and books today and maintains an archive in their shop in Kyoto of the original blocks.