Kyosai Oni in priest's robes — Kawanabe Kyosai

The life of Kawanabe Kyosai witnessed the old Edo period and the new Japan that emerged after the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Kyosai was a very independent individual and his art is extremely rich and expressive.

This article is to provide a mere glimpse into the art of Kyosai but in order to understand the richness of Kyosai then many other articles will be written in the future. Therefore, I am only going to focus on one aspect of Kyosai and this applies to the spirit world and underworld of Japan.

Yokai represent the mystery of folklore in Japan and the transformation of Tengu is also fascinating in its own right. The yokai are creatures with supernatural powers and the tengu are one of the most widely known monster-spirits in Japan.

The tengu have constantly gone through transformations in Japanese folklore and while early artists depicted the tengu with beaks this changed in time and now the most distinctive feature is their long nose.

Within Buddhist thought patterns the tengu were demons and it was believed that they were harbingers of bad times and this applies to war. However, within Shintoism the tengu were sometimes worshipped as revered spirits (Shinto kami) which had magical powers. Therefore, the tengu also witnessed the fusion of aspects of Buddhism and Shintoism because in time their image changed into a more protective force.

However, despite this transformation the tengu still had dark and dangerous powers and people in the mountains and forests had to tread carefully because of the several natures of the tengu.

Kyosai certainly depicts the power of the tengu and the mysterious features and nature of various types of yokai. Therefore, Kyosai is showing images of the old world despite the new reality of the Meiji period.

In Japanese history the tengu went from negative aspects into positive aspects. For example if we apply this to children then in early Japanese history the tengu were believed to abduct children but in the Edo period this all changed because tengu became enlisted in searching for children who were scared and needed help quickly.

Another positive side of the tengu is that their shape-shifting power applies to animal and human form and this meant that their attributes were powerful. Therefore, the tengu used this in order play tricks on arrogant Buddhist priests or people who abused their power.

In this sense, while the tengu belong to Japanese folklore it could be said that Kyosai shared some characteristics and this applies to attacking political elites. Kyosai was a well known political caricaturist and he often got in trouble with the law and the dominant political power of his day.