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{{Short description|Japanese artist (1831–1889)}}
{{family name hatnote|Kawanabe|lang=Japanese}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Kawanabe Kyōsai
| image            = Kawanabe_Kyosai_photo.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = Kanawabe Kyōsai in 1880s.
| native_name      = 河鍋 暁斎
| birth_name       = Shūzaburō
| birth_date       = 18 May 1831
| birth_place      = Koga Ishimachi, Shimousa Province, (currently Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1889|4|26|1831|5|18}}
| death_place      = Zuirinji Temple, [[Tokyo]], Japan
| resting_place    = [[Taitō]] Ward, Tokyo
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| nationality      = Japanese
| education        = [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]], [[Kanō Eitoku]]
| movement         = [[Ukiyo-e]], [[Japanese Zen]], [[Nihonga]]
| training         = 
| field            = Painting, drawing, portraits
| works            = 
| family           = [[Kawanabe Kyōsui]] (daughter)
}}

{{nihongo|'''Kawanabe Kyōsai'''<ref>He took the art name Kyōsai in 1857, and in 1871 changed the first character of this name from 狂 (wild, crazy) to 暁 (dawn, enlightenment), after one of his several releases from prison. 暁 has two [[Kanji|On-readings]], "kyō" and "gyō", the latter being more well-known (many dictionaries provide only this reading), so the artist's name is also falsely romanised as Kawanabe Gyōsai.</ref> |河鍋 暁斎|extra=May 18, 1831&nbsp;– April 26, 1889}} was a [[Japan|Japanese]] [[painter]] and [[Caricaturists|caricaturist]]. In the words of art historian Timothy Clarke, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting".<ref>Clark, p.16</ref>

== Biography ==
Living through the [[Edo period]] to the [[Meiji period]], Kyōsai witnessed Japan transform itself from a feudal country into a modern state. Born at [[Koga, Ibaraki|Koga]], he was the son of a [[samurai]]. His first shock was at the age of nine when he picked up a human head separated from a corpse in the [[Kanda River|Kanda river]].<ref>J.Conder, Paintings and studies by Kawanabe Kyôsai, 1911, Kawanabe Kyôsai Memorial Museum, page 2 : "One day, at the age of nine, he was exploring the banks of the Kanda river which was swollen into flood after torrents of rain..."</ref> After working for a short time as a boy with [[ukiyo-e]] artist [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]], he received his formal artistic training in the [[Kanō school]] under Maemura Tōwa (前村洞和, ? – 1841), who gave him the nickname "The Painting Demon", but Kyōsai soon abandoned the formal traditions for the greater freedom of the popular school. During the political foment which produced and followed the [[Meiji Restoration|revolution of 1867]], Kyōsai attained a reputation as a [[Caricature|caricaturist]]. His very long painting on ''makimono'' (a horizontal type of Japanese [[handscroll]]/scroll) "The battle of the farts" may be seen as a caricature of this foment. He was arrested three times and imprisoned by the authorities of the [[shogunate]]. Soon after the assumption of effective power by the Emperor, a great congress of painters and [[intellectuals|men of letters]] was held at which Kyōsai was present. He again expressed his opinion of the new movement in a caricature, which had a great popular success, but also brought him into the hands of the police, this time of the opposite party.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Kyōsai, Sho-Fu|volume=15|page=960 |inline=1}}</ref>

Kyōsai is considered by many to be the greatest successor of [[Hokusai]] (of whom, however, he was not a pupil), as well as the first political caricaturist of Japan. His work mirrored his life in its wild and undisciplined nature, and occasionally reflected his love of drink. Although he did not possess Hokusai's dignity, power or reticence, he compensated with a fantastic exuberance, which always lent interest to his technically excellent draughtsmanship.<ref name=EB1911/>

[[File:E-shimbun Nippon-chi.jpg|thumb|''E-shimbun Nippon-chi'' (1874), published by [[Kanagaki Robun]] and [[Kawanabe Kyosai]].]]

He created what is considered to be the first [[Manga|manga magazine]] in 1874: ''Eshinbun Nipponchi'', with [[Kanagaki Robun]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arn |first1=Jackson |title=The Japanese ‘demon of painting’ who invented manga in 1874 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/japanese-manga-kawanabe-kyosai/index.html |website=CNN |access-date=4 June 2024 |language=en |date=14 December 2018}}</ref> The magazine was heavily influenced by ''[[Japan Punch]]'', founded in 1862 by [[Charles Wirgman]], a British cartoonist. ''Eshinbun Nipponchi'' had a very simple style of drawings and did not become popular with many people, and ended after just three issues.

In addition to his caricatures, Kyōsai painted a large number of pictures and sketches, often choosing subjects from the [[folklore]] of his country, [[Noh|Nô drama]], nature and religion, for example ''The Temptation of Shaka Niorai'' or ''The goddess Kwannon on a dragon'' (on ''[[Kakemono|kakejiku]]'' frame).<ref>J.Conder, page 113,  explanations about this picture pages 51 to 54</ref> A fine collection of these works is preserved in the [[British Museum]]; and there are also good examples in the National Art Library at South Kensington and the [[Guimet Museum]] at [[Paris]].<ref name=EB1911/> The Kawanabe Kyōsai Memorial Museum<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~kkkb/ENG/index.htm |title=Kawanabe KyosaiMemorial Museum, Official English Home Page |access-date=2009-04-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420070603/http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~kkkb/ENG/index.htm |archive-date=2009-04-20 }}</ref> was established in 1977, located at [[Warabi, Saitama|Warabi]], [[Saitama Prefecture]], Japan.

[[Erwin Bälz]] wrote in his diary that Kyosai died because of gastric cancer.<ref>Erwin Bälz - Das Leben eines deutschen Arztes im erwachenden Japan, Hrsg. Toku Bälz, 1930</ref>

A [[Kyōsai (crater)|crater]] on [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] has been named in his honor.

==Bibliography==
The most important work about Kyōsai's art and life was written by himself: ''Kyōsai Gadan'' (暁斎画談), or "Kyōsai's Treatise on Painting", half autobiography and half painting manual. An important contemporary work concerning the artist is ''Kawanabe Kyōsai-ō den'' (河鍋暁斎翁伝), or "Biography of the Old Man Kawanabe Kyōsai", by Iijima Kyoshin (飯島虚心). The work was finished in 1899, but published only in 1984.

Many westerners came to visit Kyōsai, and their memoirs about the artist are valuable. The two important ones, both rare, are:
* [[Émile Étienne Guimet]], ''Promenades japonaises'', Paris, 1880
* [[Josiah Conder (architect)|Josiah Conder]], ''Paintings and Studies by Kawanabe Kyōsai'', Tokyo, 1911. Conder was a serious student of Japanese art; after some initial rejections, he was accepted as Kyōsai's pupil, and accompanied him for ten years until the master's death.

The most updated, and easily available, reference to Kyōsai's life and works in English is:
*Timothy Clark, ''Demon of painting: the art of Kawanabe Kyōsai'', London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by the British Museum Press, 1993

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode=packed heights=180>
Image:Bake Bake Gakko.jpg|''Bake-Bake Gakkō'' (化々學校), or "School for Spooks". In August 1872, the Meiji government decided to implement a system of compulsory education. In this caricature, both demons (above) and [[kappa (folklore)|kappa]] (center) are learning vocabulary concerning their daily life. The former are taught by [[Zhong Kui|Shōki]] the demon queller, dressed in western-style uniform. Some goblins try to enter the school (below), but are blown away by the Wind God.
Image:Kawanabe Kyosai Renshishi2.jpg|''Renjishi'' (連獅子), or "Dance of a Pair of Lions", by Kyōsai. ''Renjishi'' is a famous dance in the [[Kabuki]] theatre.
Izanagi and Izanami giving birth to Japan c1870 after Kawanabe Kyosai.jpg|Izanagi and Izanami giving birth to Japan, c. 1870
Guimet - Promenades japonaises, 1880 (page 16 crop).jpg|Promenades japonaises, 1880
File:Flowers and Birds, Kawanabe Kyōsai.jpg|''Flowers and Birds'' (花鳥図), 1881, Exhibited at The second National Industrial Exhibition.
Kawanabe Kyōsai - Frolicking Animals, Nekomata and Tanuki Badger.jpg|Frolicking Animals, Nekomata and Tanuki Badger
Kawanabe Kyōsai, A Beauty in Front of King Enma's Mirror.jpg|A Beauty in Front of King Enma's Mirror
Kawanabe Kyosai Jigoku Dayu (Hell Courtesan).jpg|[[Hell Courtesan]]
Kawanabe Kyosai - Full Moon with Crow on Plum Branch - 1930.203 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|Full Moon with Crow on Plum Branch, 1930
「今昔未見 生物猛虎之真図」-Never Seen Before- True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger (Konjaku miken, Ikimono mōko no shinzu) MET DP148115.jpg|Never Seen Before - True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Kawanabe Kyōsai}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Kawanabe Kyōsai}}

{{Ukiyo-e artists}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawanabe, Kyosai}}
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1889 deaths]]
[[Category:Ukiyo-e artists]]
[[Category:19th-century Japanese painters]]
[[Category:Japanese caricaturists]]
[[Category:Buddhist artists]]