was a Japanese painter and caricaturist. In the words of art historian Timothy Clark, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting".
Living through the Edo period to the Meiji period, Kyà Âsai witnessed Japan transform itself from a feudal country into a modern state. Born at Koga, he was the son of a samurai. His first 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 Kanà  school under Maemura Tà Âwa (Ã¥ÂÂæÂÂæ´ÂÃ¥ÂÂ, ? â 1841), who gave him the nickname "The Painting Demon", but Kyà Âsai soon abandoned the formal traditions for the greater freedom of the popular school. During the political foment which produced and followed the revolution of 1867, Kyà Âsai attained a reputation as a caricaturist. His very long painting on makimono (a horizontal type of Japanese handscroll/scroll) "The battle of the farts" may be seen as a caricature of this foment. He was arrested three times and imprisoned by the authorities of the shogunate. Soon after the assumption of effective power by the Emperor, a great congress of painters and men of letters was held at which Kyà Âsai was present. He again expressed his opinion of the new movement in a caricature, which had a great popular success, but also brought him into the hands of the police, this time of the opposite party.
Kyà Âsai 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, Kyà Âsai painted a large number of pictures and sketches, often choosing subjects from the folklore of his country, Nô drama, nature and religion, for example The Temptation of Shaka Niorai or The goddess Kwannon on a dragon (on kakejiku frame). 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 Kyà Âsai Memorial Museum was established in 1977, located at Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Erwin Bälz wrote in his diary that Kyosai died because of gastric cancer.
A crater on Mercury has been named in his honor.
The most important work about Kyà Âsai's art and life was written by himself: Kyà Âsai Gadan (æÂÂæÂÂç»è«Â), or "Kyà Âsai's Treatise on Painting", half autobiography and half painting manual. An important contemporary work concerning the artist is Kawanabe Kyà Âsai-à  den (æ²³éÂÂæÂÂæÂÂç¿Âä¼Â), or "Biography of the Old Man Kawanabe Kyà Âsai", by Iijima Kyoshin (飯島èÂÂå¿Â). The work was finished in 1899, but published only in 1984.
Many westerners came to visit Kyà Âsai, and their memoirs about the artist are valuable. The two important ones, both rare, are:
The most updated, and easily available, reference to Kyà Âsai's life and works in English is: