True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger
- Date:
- Late Edo period, sixth month of 1860
- Medium:
- Yokohama woodblock print in ōban format; ink and color on paper
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 36 × 24.4 cm
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
A remarkable large-format yokohama print from the sixth month of 1860 — the very year Japan opened its treaty ports to Western trade — depicting a living wild tiger, drawn from life or near-life by Kyosai when tigers were still a sensation capable of drawing enormous crowds. The print documents a specific moment of cross-cultural wonder: Japan encountering the great cats of Asia at close quarters for the first time, and Kyosai, then twenty-nine, recording the encounter with a combination of naturalistic ambition and dramatic composition that became his standard approach to animal subjects.
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
Woodblock print

Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban

1935
Color woodblock print; oban

1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper

1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎) in Late Edo period, sixth month of 1860.
True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger depicts animals.
True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger measures 36 × 24.4 cm (Oban format).