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

Among the subjects Kyosai returned to repeatedly throughout the Kyōsai hyakuzu series was the animal kingdom rendered with anthropomorphic qualities — frogs, foxes, tanuki, and crows engaged in human pursuits. Such imagery belonged to a long tradition of Japanese satirical art, from the twelfth-century Chōjū-giga scrolls through Edo-period kibyōshi fiction, and Kyosai revitalized it with his painterly brushwork translated into the woodblock medium. In this print, the collaboration between artist, block carver, and printer would have required careful registration to preserve the weight and spontaneity of Kyosai's original ink drawings. The color palette typical of the series — subdued mineral pigments punctuated by passages of bold red or black — reflects the aesthetic conventions of late Meiji woodblock printing. Kyosai's humor and his technical command coexist without one compromising the other.