Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Viewing Its Reflection in Water late 19th century Kawanabe Ky?sai Japanese Although this image has traditionally been identified as a fox, which is a subject the artist frequently depicted, the shape of the animal’s face and the end of its tail indicates that was more likely meant to depict a tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog. Both the fox and tanuki are celebrated in Japanese lore Caught in mid-leap as it gazes at a sketchily delineated and ambiguous form, the beast envisioned here recalls the tanuki’s fabled power to assume diverse transformations, frequently that of a beau

Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Viewing Its Reflection in Water late 19th century Kawanabe Ky?sai Japanese Although this image has traditionally been identified as a fox, which is a subject the artist frequently depicted, the shape of the animal’s face and the end of its tail indicates that was more likely meant to depict a tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog. Both the fox and tanuki are celebrated in Japanese lore Caught in mid-leap as it gazes at a sketchily delineated and ambiguous form, the beast envisioned here recalls the tanuki’s fabled power to assume diverse transformations, frequently that of a beautiful woman, and to beguile the Ky?sai was one of the most prolific and original painters of the late Edo and early Meiji eras. His mastery of traditional painting techniques acquired by apprenticeship in the Kano school was transformed by strong personal eccentricity to gorge the lively original art exemplified here. The style and signature, "Seisei Ky?sai," indicate that this is a work of his final decade, the 1880s, when Ky?sai was at the height of his powers and was one of the earliest Japanese artists to be avidly admired and collected in Europe and the United Tanuki (Racoon Dog) Viewing Its Reflection in Water. Kawanabe Ky?sai (Japanese, 1831–1889). Japan. late 19th century. Hanging scroll; ink on silk. Meiji period (1868–1912). Paintings

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