A caricature of commodity prices, triptych, 1867

A satirical [triptych](/glossary/triptych) from 1867 commenting on the runaway inflation of commodity prices that plagued Japan's final Tokugawa years as Western trade disrupted traditional markets and the country's economy lurched toward crisis. Kyosai was among the sharpest social commentators of his era, and his caricatures of economic grievance spoke directly to ordinary people struggling with the cost of daily necessities. The triptych format allowed him to stage a small theater of complaint, with figures representing consumers, merchants, and the market itself in comic collision.