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

A sheet from Kawanabe Kyosai's Kyôsai hyakuzu series, this woodblock print likely draws on the Buddhist and supernatural iconography that permeates Kyosai's output across all media. The Hyakuzu series included depictions of Emma-ô (the king of the Buddhist underworld), Shôki the demon queller, and various oni in both threatening and comic situations—subjects Kyosai treated with a disregard for conventional reverence that periodically attracted official censure. The nishiki-e polychrome process translates Kyosai's brushwork into carved blocks and printed color areas, with the keyblock capturing the gestural authority of his original drawings. Bokashi gradation likely appears in sky or ground passages to establish spatial depth without elaborate architectural detail. The series title, One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai, frames each sheet as an individual performance within a larger demonstration of range—reflecting the artist's self-conscious projection of his own virtuosity as a marketable identity in the early Meiji print world.