Born in Koga in Shimosa Province (present-day Ibaraki Prefecture), Kawanabe Kyosai was a prodigy who became an apprentice of Katsushika Hokusai at age seven. He absorbed painting at such speed that Hokusai himself reportedly declared, "This child is a monster." He later also studied under Utagawa Kuniyoshi. A devoted drinker, Kyosai was famous for his "drunk painting" style — taking up the brush only after reaching a state of glorious inebriation. Throughout his life he produced savage political caricatures mocking the powerful, whether the old shogunate or the new Meiji government. In the early Meiji period he was actually imprisoned for paintings critical of the new regime; released, he continued as before, proudly calling himself "Gaki" (the Demon Painter). His dynamic depictions of monsters, ghosts, and dancing skeletons are direct ancestors of modern manga and anime, and attracted passionate admirers among foreign artists. The British architect Josiah Conder — designer of the Rokumeikan and the former Iwasaki residence — studied Japanese painting under Kyosai, and after his master's death wrote an English-language biography to share Kyosai's work with the world. In 1985, a Kyosai work sold at Sotheby's for a world-record price for Japanese art at the time, proving once again the genius of the "last great monster-painter of Edo."

A rule-breaker who loathed authority. Alcohol and painting were his entire life, and no political pressure could make him stop drawing what he loved. His simultaneous humor and cruelty, and his aesthetic sense that bridged East and West, make him one of the last and greatest genius painters of the Edo tradition.

His lineage of monster, ghost, and skeleton painting connects directly to modern Japanese pop culture — manga, anime, and games. Through his teaching of Conder, he also influenced the West. His unyielding defiance of power throughout the turbulent Meiji transition is still held up as a model for all artists.