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

This print from Kyosai hyakuzu likely depicts a comic or grotesque figure drawn from the tradition of caricature and satirical imagery that constituted one of the most distinctive currents in Kyosai's work. Kyosai was arrested in 1870 for publishing prints deemed politically satirical, an incident that shaped but did not extinguish his engagement with satirical subjects. A figure with exaggerated features — a corrupt official, a pompous merchant, or a comic monk — would be handled with the confident distortion that distinguishes caricature from simple portraiture. The key-block linework in such subjects is fluid and economical, achieving character through a minimum of strokes while maintaining structural clarity. The series as a whole closes with sheets that demonstrate the full range of Kyosai's wit and technical versatility, and this print near the series' midpoint contributes to the compendium's portrait of an artist for whom no subject — sacred, demonic, natural, or comic — was beyond reach.