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Kawanabe Kyōsai

Kawanabe Kyōsai was a Japanese painter and artist (1831–1889). He was born in Koga and died in Tokyo Prefecture.

Also recorded as Nyokū Nyūdō · Seisei Kyōsai · Tōka Kawanabe · Kawanabé Kiosa

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Calligraphy and Painting Party, 1880, by Kawanabe Kyōsai

Kawanabe Kyōsai · The Cleveland Museum of Art · Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund · CC0

Biography

The authorities additionally record the headings Nyokū Nyūdō, Seisei Kyōsai, Tōka Kawanabe, Kawanabé Kiosa and Shuransai Raisui.

2 children are recorded: Kawanabe Kyōun and Kawanabe Kyōsui. Other recorded relations include Suzuki Kiitsu and Sakakibara Kenkichi.

Training under Kanō Eitoku is recorded. Josiah Conder, Gyōtei Mano and Hayakawa Shōzan are recorded as having studied under Kawanabe Kyōsai.

The field of work recorded is erotic art and shunga.

Work by Kawanabe Kyōsai is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Minneapolis Institute of Art, National Museum of World Cultures, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cleveland Museum of Art.

Catalogued output

Works

Their recorded dates run from 1800 to 1888.

A city with western-style buildings (in Japan?), in which a western couple are observed by Japanese. The Buddhist guardian deity, Fudô Myôô, reading a government propaganda publication, enthusing about Western customs and modernisation: one attendant prepares meat, another warms sake in the sacred flame. Three designs: a sculptor working on the head of a huge wooden statue of a guardian deity; a sage riding backwards on an ox's back; and an artist whose painting of fire has come to life. Above, a festival procession held on the fifth day of the fifth month; below, cherry blossoms at Koganu, west of Tokyo.

  • Hell Courtesan

    1870 · Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Crow on Branch

  • Squirrels Eating Chestnuts

    1886 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  • Yamauba and Kintarō

    1850 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  • Yang Guifei Adjusting her Hair

    1850 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  • Female Ghost

    Cincinnati Art Museum

  • Playful Demon

    Yale University Art Gallery

  • Frolicking Figures and Animals

    1870 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Painting Party

    1880 · Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Sketch Book

    1872 · Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Boy’s Day Carp Streamer and Shōki Banner

    1850 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Sketches of East Asian Legendary Figures

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Three Kyōgen Dancers

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Preliminary Drawings of Demons

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

The complete catalogue · 24

  • Squirrels Eating Chestnuts

    1886 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  • Yamauba and Kintarō

    1850 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  • Yang Guifei Adjusting her Hair

    1850 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art

  • Female Ghost

    Cincinnati Art Museum

  • Playful Demon

    Yale University Art Gallery

  • Frolicking Figures and Animals

    1870 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Painting Party

    1880 · Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Hell Courtesan

    1870 · Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Sketch Book

    1872 · Cleveland Museum of Art

  • Crow on Branch

  • Boy’s Day Carp Streamer and Shōki Banner

    1850 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Sketches of East Asian Legendary Figures

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Three Kyōgen Dancers

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Preliminary Drawings of Demons

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Sketches of Birds and Animals

    1868 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Viewing Its Reflection in Water

    1878 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Shakyamuni Conquering the Demons (Shaka Gōma-zu)

    1888 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Crow and Willow Tree

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Bird and Frog

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Crow Flying in the Snow

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Owl Mocked by Small Birds

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Eagle Holding Small Bird

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Fox Catching Bird

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Cranes in Marsh

    1887 · Metropolitan Museum of Art

A further 29 recorded entries stand behind this article and are held on the record.

Dated record

Life and career

Explore 1831–1889

  1. 1831

    Life

    Kawanabe Kyōsai was born in 1831 at Koga.

  2. 1850

    Institution

    Yamauba and Kintarō (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

  3. 1850

    Institution

    Yang Guifei Adjusting her Hair (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

  4. 1850

    Institution

    Boy’s Day Carp Streamer and Shōki Banner, dated 1850, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  5. 1850

    Institution

    Yang Guifei Adjusting her Hair, dated 1850, held by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

  6. 1850

    Institution

    Yamauba and Kintarō, dated 1850, held by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

  7. 1868

    Institution

    Sketches of Birds and Animals, dated 1868, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  8. 1870

    Institution

    Frolicking Figures and Animals (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

  9. 1870

    Institution

    Frolicking Figures and Animals, dated 1870, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  10. 1870

    Institution

    Two Crows (1870) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.

  11. 1878

    Institution

    Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Viewing Its Reflection in Water, dated 1878, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  12. 1878

    Institution

    Sketches of East Asian Legendary Figures, dated 1878, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  13. 1878

    Institution

    Preliminary Drawings of Demons, dated 1878, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  14. 1885

    Institution

    Eagle Attacking a Mountain Lion digitised by Internet Archive.

  15. 1885

    Institution

    Eagle Attacking a Mountain Lion (1885) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.

  16. 1886

    Institution

    Squirrels Eating Chestnuts (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

The full dated record · 31 entries

  1. 1831

    Kawanabe Kyōsai was born in 1831 at Koga.

  2. 1850

    Yamauba and Kintarō (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

  3. 1850

    Yang Guifei Adjusting her Hair (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

  4. 1850

    Boy’s Day Carp Streamer and Shōki Banner, dated 1850, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  5. 1850

    Yang Guifei Adjusting her Hair, dated 1850, held by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

  6. 1850

    Yamauba and Kintarō, dated 1850, held by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

  7. 1868

    Sketches of Birds and Animals, dated 1868, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  8. 1870

    Frolicking Figures and Animals (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

  9. 1870

    Frolicking Figures and Animals, dated 1870, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  10. 1870

    Two Crows (1870) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.

  11. 1878

    Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Viewing Its Reflection in Water, dated 1878, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  12. 1878

    Sketches of East Asian Legendary Figures, dated 1878, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  13. 1878

    Preliminary Drawings of Demons, dated 1878, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  14. 1885

    Eagle Attacking a Mountain Lion digitised by Internet Archive.

  15. 1885

    Eagle Attacking a Mountain Lion (1885) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.

  16. 1886

    Squirrels Eating Chestnuts (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

  17. 1886

    Squirrels Eating Chestnuts, dated 1886, held by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

  18. 1887

    Two Children Playing with Goldfish, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  19. 1887

    Monkey Hanging from Grapevines, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  20. 1887

    Squirrels Gathering Chestnuts, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  21. 1887

    Waterfall, Eagle and Monkey, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  22. 1887

    Pheasant Caught by a Snake, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  23. 1887

    Owl Mocked by Small Birds, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  24. 1887

    Singing Bird on a Branch, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  25. 1887

    Eagle Holding Small Bird, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  26. 1887

    Crow Flying in the Snow, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  27. 1887

    Crow on a Bamboo Branch, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  28. 1887

    Crow and Willow Tree, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  29. 1887

    Cat Catching a Frog, dated 1887, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  30. 1888

    Shakyamuni Conquering the Demons (Shaka Gōma-zu), dated 1888, held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  31. 1889

    Kawanabe Kyōsai died in 1889 at Tokyo Prefecture.

Named by the record

Places

Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.

  • Koga

    Birth place

  • Tokyo Prefecture

    Death place

Where the work is held

Collections

Where material relating to Kawanabe Kyōsai is held.

Primary material

Documents and archives

scholarly publication

authority file

reference work

Literature

Bibliography

Kawanabe Kyōsai: espectador de la construcción de una nueva identidad japonesa, Anales de Historia del Arte, 2020. Flowers in the Dawn: Kawanabe Kyōsai and the Search for Modernity, New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan, 1997. 112, 16 figs, 67 plates. London, The British Museum Press, 2006, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 2007.

  • A Japanese Menagerie

  • Animal Pictures by Kawanabe Kyōsai

  • Edited by Rosina Buckland, Timothy Clark and Shigeru Oikawa

A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.

Citations

References

Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.

Every cited source · 9
  1. 01

    A Japanese Menagerie. Animal Pictures by Kawanabe Kyōsai. Edited by Rosina Buckland, Timothy Clark and Shigeru Oikawa. With a foreword by Israel Goldman. pp. 112, 16 figs, 67 plates. London, The British Museum Press, 2006, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 2007

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  2. 02

    Flowers in the Dawn: Kawanabe Kyōsai and the Search for Modernity, New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan, 1997

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  3. 03

    Kawanabe Kyōsai, Oxford Art Online, 2003

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  4. 04

    Kawanabe Kyōsai: espectador de la construcción de una nueva identidad japonesa, Anales de Historia del Arte, 2020

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  5. 05

    Zashikigei Chūshingura : caricature et parodie chez Santō Kyōden et Kawanabe Kyōsai, Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident, 2023

    scholarly publication · Scholarly

    Consult the source
  6. 06

    Gemeinsame Normdatei 118725688, Kawanabe, Kyōsai.

    authority file · Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

    Consult the source
  7. 07

    Getty Union List of Artist Names 500092866, Kawanabe Kyōsai.

    authority file · Unverified · The Getty Research Institute

    Consult the source
  8. 08

    Wikidata, structured authority record Q2838030: Kawanabe Kyōsai

    reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation

    Consult the source
  9. 09

    “Kawanabe Kyōsai”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading

    reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikipedia

    Consult the source

Held on the record

Further particulars

Open the remaining particulars

Those registers additionally record the forms Kawanabe, Dōiku, Nyokū Nyūdō, Shuma, 河鍋, 狂齋, セイセイ, キョウサイ, Kawanabe, Gyōsai, Dōiku and カワナベ, ギョウサイ.

He trained under Kanō Eitoku.

Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.

The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.

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