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

This sheet from Kyosai hyakuzu likely depicts a scene from classical Japanese literature or history — perhaps a passage from the Tale of Genji, a Heian court episode, or a subject drawn from the warrior chronicles that Kyosai knew through his Kano school education. Figural compositions from literary sources typically present one or two principal figures in aristocratic dress against architectural or garden settings, the costumes rendered with layered flat color and fine pattern work in the printing. Kyosai's approach to classical literary subjects was distinguished by the psychological animation he brought to figures that in other hands could become stiff or formulaic. The washi ground would allow the saturation of the court costume colors — deep indigo, pale lavender, moss green — to read clearly. Such sheets in the series demonstrate Kyosai's range beyond the supernatural subjects for which he was most celebrated.