Japanese Woodblock Print, originally published in the 19th century, this is a recent edition published by Tsutomu Mitamura

SIZE IN INCHES: 5.25 x 8 inches

COMMENTS: his print comically illustrates men who have been tricked by foxes. In the upper part, a fox takes the reigns and rides on the back of a man who has been tricked into acting like a horse, while an attendant holds a tattered umbrella overhead, and another man foolishly leads the way. Below, a man has his topknot tied by a fox acting as a hairdresser, while another uses votive tablets typically offered at fox deity shrines as a pair of mirrors to inspect his hairdo.

KAWANABE KYOSAI (1831-1889) was a Japanese artist, and in the words of art historian Timothy Clarke, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting". Living through the Edo period to the Meiji period, Kyosai witnessed Japan transform itself from a feudal country into a modern state. Born at Koga, he was the son of a samurai. His first aesthetic shock was at the age of nine when he picked up a human head separated from a corpse in the Kanda river. After working for a short time as a boy with ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi, he received his formal artistic training in the Kano school under Maemura Towa (d.1841), who gave him the nickname "The Painting Demon", but Kyosai soon abandoned the formal traditions for the greater freedom of the popular school. During the political ferment which produced and followed the revolution of 1867, Kyosai attained a reputation as a caricaturist.

Kyosai 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. He created what is considered to be the first manga magazine in 1874: Eshinbun Nipponchi, with Kanagaki Robun. 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, Kyosai painted a large number of pictures and sketches, often choosing subjects from the folklore of his country, No drama, nature and religion, for example The Temptation of Shaka Niorai or The goddess Kwannon on a dragon. 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. The Kawanabe Kyosai Memorial Museum was established in 1977, located at Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

Fine, no flaws