Kyōsai (born Shūzaburō) Kawanabe was a political satirist, cartoonist, painter, and print artist born on May 18, 1831, in Ibaraki Prefecture. From the age of six, Kyōsai studied under Utagawa Kuniyoshi before transferring to the Edo-based Kano school in 1840. Over the next seven years, Kyōsai studied with Maemura Towa before entering the private ateliers of Kano Tohaku, head of the Surugadai branch of the Kano school. He produced his first known work, Bishamon, in 1848 and completed his studies the following year. 

Kyōsai produced a variety of works until the death of his instructors in 1854 prompted him to sever ties with the school. The subsequent break thus enabled him to develop his own unique genre known as kyōga (lit. "crazy pictures"), which would become the hallmark of his professional career. In 1857, Kyōsai opened a shop in the Hongo district of Edo, where he began operating commercially. There, he produced hundreds of prints and illustrated books, most notably Kyosai Gafu (1860), Go-joraku Tokaido (1863), Kyōsai Hyakuzu (1863–1866), and Kyōsai Gadan (1887). Kyōsai also created what is considered to be the first manga, Eshinbun Nipponchi, in 1874. 

With his commercial success, Kyōsai had developed a reputation as a political satirist and caricaturist, resulting in multiple arrests by the authorities. Still, he would not relent and continued painting. In addition to collaborations with Kunisada and contributions to A Journey Around Hell and Paradise (1869–1872), Kyōsai exhibited at the Vienna International Exposition in 1873 and Paris Exposition in 1883. He passed away six years later from stomach cancer at the age of fifty-eight. 

With his personal eccentricities, love of saké, and wild exuberance, Kyōsai is widely considered to be the true successor of legendary ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai.Kyōsai produced a variety of works until the death of his instructors in 1854 prompted him to sever ties with the school. The subsequent break thus enabled him to develop his own unique genre known as kyōga (lit. "crazy pictures"), which would become the hallmark of his professional career. In 1857, Kyōsai opened a shop in the Hongo district of Edo, where he began operating commercially. There, he produced hundreds of prints and illustrated books, most notably Kyosai Gafu (1860), Go-joraku Tokaido (1863), Kyōsai Hyakuzu (1863–1866), and Kyōsai Gadan (1887). Kyōsai also created what is considered to be the first manga, Eshinbun Nipponchi, in 1874.

With his commercial success, Kyōsai had developed a reputation as a political satirist and caricaturist, resulting in multiple arrests by the authorities. Still, he would not relent and continued painting. In addition to collaborations with Kunisada and contributions to A Journey Around Hell and Paradise (1869-1872), Kyōsai exhibited at the Vienna International Exposition in 1873 and Paris Exposition in 1883. He passed away six years later from stomach cancer at the age of fifty-eight.

With his personal eccentricities, love of saké, and wild exuberance, Kyōsai is widely considered to be the true successor of legendary ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai.