Kanō Motonobu (1476-1559) was a Japanese painter, son and heir of Kanō Masanobu, the founder of the Kanō school. Under his leadership the school became the most influential force in Japanese painting, and the system he organized trained most of the painters of the Edo period (1603-1868). After his death he was known by the posthumous name Kohōgen.
Motonobu showed promise early and received commissions from major patrons from the age of nine, including the Ashikaga shogunate, members of the imperial aristocracy, Kyoto merchants and the city's shrines and temples. One of his earliest documented contracts was a set of votive plaques depicting the Thirty-six Immortals of Poetry for the Itsukushima shrine, commissioned by Sakai merchants in 1515. He married the daughter of Tosa Mitsunobu, head of the Tosa school, and ran a workshop of family members and apprentices. He designed the works and organized the projects, while his assistants carried out the less important parts.
His style joined Chinese monochrome painting with a distinctive brushwork, making him a pioneer of suiboku-ga (sumi-e) in Japan. His works, made mainly for samurai interiors in fusuma and byōbu screens, show organic, dramatic forms. Drawing on the yamato-e tradition associated with the Tosa school, he blended Chinese iconography with Japanese aesthetics, creating what became known as wa-kan. This fusion gave the Kanō school its lasting identity, and its influence can be traced through later Japanese art.
Works (1)
Painted by Kanō Motonobu in 1513, this work is a fusuma-e, a painting on the sliding doors that divide rooms in Japanese buildings. Its subject is birds and flowers linked to the four seasons, a theme Japanese painters often explored. Made for sliding doors, it was meant to be part of the room's architecture.
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Kanō Masanobu 1434–1530
Curiosities
A businessman as well as an artist
Sources describe Motonobu as a shrewd businessman, known for his charm and intellect. He often sought numerous commissions from the shogun together with his fellow merchant Hasuike Hideaki. Yet his time spent on marketing did not distract him from painting. His organization of the workshop allowed commissions to grow and the school to expand.
A workshop run by rank
Motonobu painted the most important rooms of the buildings commissioned from him and distributed the rest of the work according to the workshop's hierarchy. Tasks ranged from grinding pigments and preparing paper to applying background colour or filling large areas. In this way, apprentices, relatives and assistants learned by watching the master at work.