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

This woodblock print opens the later portion of the Kyôsai hyakuzu series. The hyakuzu format — one hundred images bound by a single artist's name and sensibility — had precedent in Chinese painting albums and Japanese surimono anthologies, but Kyosai's version is unusually heterogeneous in subject matter. This early-numbered entry may depict one of the Buddhist figures or Zen-related subjects that anchor the series' tonal range: a Daruma in angular meditation, a skull with philosophical inscription, or an arhant in contemplative repose. Such subjects allow Kyosai to demonstrate the sumi ink calligraphic disciplines underlying all his work — the economy of means, the confidence of the single unrepeated stroke — before the series expands into its more raucous supernatural and satirical registers. Printed on washi with minimal color overlay and prominent ink bokashi passages.