(b Koga, Shimosa Prov. [now in Ibaraki Prefect.], 1831; d Tokyo, 1889). Japanese painter and woodblock-print designer. He is best known for his lively painting style, weird and fantastic subject-matter and for his exploits as a drinker and teller of tall tales. His work covers a range of sizes and formats and virtually every subject and stylistic tradition found in Japanese painting and printmaking. He was an individualistic artist who came of age during the transition from the Edo (1600–1868) to the Meiji (1868–1912) periods in Japan; this may account for the complexity, apparent contradictions and evolving mixture of the traditional and the progressive in his life and art. At the age of six Kyosai entered the studio of Utagawa Kuniyoshi (see UTAGAWA, (6)) and from the age of nine was a student of the academic KANO SCHOOL. He became independent professionally from c. 1857. He was much influenced by his study of a great variety of Japanese and Chinese painting. Although not a Western-style painter, he was nevertheless involved with contemporary trends and was associated with Westerners such as Emile Guimet, Ernest Fenollosa, Mortimer Menpes and the architect JOSIAH CONDER, who was his pupil. Rather than relying solely on his technical skills, Kyosai believed in balancing knowledge gained from working from nature with traditional Japanese ideals in design, colour, patterning and the representation of the figure, which he learnt from a broad study of old and new masters. He also selectively incorporated into his art prevalent Japanese aesthetic sensibilities such as the idea of producing fresh angles and creative twists on conventional themes. Applying these ideas to current topics, Kyosai created playful and humorous images, which can often be read simultaneously in a number of ways, such as parodies of old themes, satires of contemporary events or references to more than one legend or tradition in the same work. At the same time he produced more serious artistic works.

• Kawanabe Kyosai
  • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(f): Prints, 1868–c 1900
  • pupils
    • Conder, Josiah
  • works
    • Japan, §VI, 5(iii)(a): Modern painting: Nihonga in the Meiji period
    • Japan, §VII, 1(iii)(e): Calligraphy: Modern