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from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu) by Kawanabe Kyosai — Japanese Woodblock print

from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)

by Kawanabe Kyosai

Medium:
Woodblock print
Image courtesy of
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Description

From the Kyôsai hyakuzu series, this print reflects Kyosai's sustained engagement with Buddhist iconography and supernatural folklore. Subject matter across the series ranges from fierce Fudô Myôô to playful animal parodies of human behavior, and prints in this numeric range frequently depict creatures from Japanese ghost lore — elongated yūrei with trailing robes, or shape-shifting kitsune caught mid-transformation. Kyosai's compositional instincts, trained under both Utagawa Kuniyoshi and the Kanô school, produce figures of unusual anatomical energy: limbs extended beyond conventional proportion, facial expressions exaggerated toward the grotesque. The woodblock rendering on washi captures ink-wash gradations through fine bokashi passages that soften contours while preserving the underlying drawing's vitality.

More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai

Frequently Asked Questions

from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu) was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).

Yes — from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu) is part of the One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai series by Kawanabe Kyosai.