Kanō Eitoku (Kyoto, 1543-1590) was a Japanese painter of the Azuchi-Momoyama period and one of the most prominent figures of the Kanō school, which dominated much of Japanese painting for centuries. He matters because, during a period of political upheaval, he reshaped the school's repertoire with a scale and energy that influenced later painting.
He was the grandson of Kanō Motonobu, an official painter for the Ashikaga shogunate, and trained under him from an early age. At about ten he had an audience with the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru alongside his grandfather. In his early twenties he produced two works now designated National Treasures: the folding screen Rakuchū rakugai zu, showing the scenery and customs of Kyoto and its surroundings, and the sliding-door paintings Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons at Jukō-in, a subtemple of Daitoku-ji.
His patrons included Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who hired him at the age of 34. His screens, sliding doors, walls and ceilings decorated Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle, Hideyoshi's residences in Kyoto and Osaka Castle. His signature contribution was the so-called monumental style (taiga), with bold, rapid brushwork, dominant foregrounds, oversized motifs and generous use of gold. He also ran an efficient workshop of students and assistants.
Most of his works were lost in the turmoil of the Sengoku period. His legacy was fixed by later tradition: his great-grandson Einō codified the monumental style in his History of Japanese Painting, which traditionally attributes it partly to Eitoku's busy schedule and to the martial spirit of the warlords he served.
Works (4)
Folding screen painting by Kanō Eitoku, dated 1550, showing karajishi, the Japanese name for lion-like creatures of Chinese style, familiar figures in East Asian art. As a byōbu-e, the work takes the form of a folding screen, a format used to divide and furnish interior spaces. It is best understood within the Kanō school's painting tradition.
Where to see the work
- Tokyo National Museum Tokyo · 1
- Museum of the Imperial Collections Tokyo · 1
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Kanō Motonobu 1476–1559
Curiosities
A commission taken from a rival
According to the sources, Eitoku once managed to intercept a warlord's commission that had been directed to the rival studio of Hasegawa Tōhaku. The episode shows that keeping the Kanō School at the top required political and organizational skill as much as artistic talent. His workshop secured a steady stream of commissions that helped him hold that position against other painters of his time.
Messengers of the sun goddess
Symbolic motifs such as pheasants, phoenixes and trees appear often in his works. The pheasant, the national symbol of Japan, is regarded as a mythological messenger of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Its presence on screens and sliding doors therefore carried meaning beyond simple decoration, reinforcing the symbolic language that the rulers of the period sought in their interiors.