Painter, printmaker and caricaturist
Kawanabe Kyosai
河鍋暁斎
Wild, brilliant painter of demons, ghosts and sharp political cartoons.
On Picturepops™ cards · 2
The life
1831-1889Born Koga, Shimosa Province (now Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan
Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎) was born in Koga, north of Edo, the son of a samurai, and grew up in Edo. As a small boy he studied for a short time with the print designer Utagawa Kuniyoshi, then trained in the Kano school, where his teacher called him a demon of painting. In the years around the Meiji Restoration he became known for caricatures of the new times, and he was arrested more than once over his work. He painted Buddhist figures, animals, crows and above all demons and ghosts, with skill and humor. The English architect Josiah Conder studied with him for years. His Pictures of One Hundred Demons was published in 1889, the year he died. Picturepops cards use demons from that book and his Shoki the demon queller.