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Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889) was a 19th century Japanese artist described by some as 'perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting'. Born in Koga, Kyosai was the son of a samurai and was briefly tutored under Utagawa Kuniyoshi before settling in the Kano school.<br/><br/> Kyosai picked up a reputation for himself as a caricaturist, the first political caricaturist in Japan, after the revolution of 1867 that led to the Meiji Restoration. His caricatures resulted in multiple arrests and imprisonment by the shogunate authority. He was considereed by many as Hokusai's greatest successor, despite not studying under him.<br/><br/> In his personal life, Kyosai was wild and undisciplined, abandoning formal tradition for greater freedom. He loved to drink and was very exuberant, lacking the dignity, power and reticence of Hokusai and some other renowned Japanese painters of the time.
Hyakki Yagyo, variation: hyakki yako, (lit. 'Night Parade of One Hundred Demons') is a concept in Japanese folklore. It is a parade which is composed of a hundred kinds of <i>yokai</i> (supernatural monsters).<br/><br/> Legend has it that every year the yokai Nurarihyon, will lead all of the yokai through the streets of Japan during summer nights. Anyone who comes across the procession will perish or be spirited away by the yokai, unless protected by handwritten scrolls by anti-yokai onmyoji spellcasters.<br/><br/> According to the account in the Shugaisho, a medieval Japanese encyclopedia, the only way to be kept safe from the night parade if it comes by your house is to stay inside on the specific nights associated with the Chinese zodiac or to chant a magic spell.
This print, by Kyōsai, depicts a variation of the Jigoku Dayu tale. One day, when the monk Ikkyū came to the brothel, he sat to enjoy a meal of fresh fish and sake, which are forbidden to Buddhist monks. Jigoku Dayu, with her sharp mind, assumed that this person was an imposter claiming to be the famous Ikkyū.<br/><br/> She summoned entertainment for him, and hid behind her screen to watch him. When she looked, she saw Ikkyū happily dancing along with skeletons, and knew that he was who he said he was.<br/><br/> This can be interpreted in a number of ways: Ikkyū is famous for reminding everyone of the inevitability of death with his skull-stick, and had commented often that under our skins which we so earnestly protect, is only a skeleton which will one day be all that is left of us.<br/><br/>