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Painters influenced by Sesshu
As mentioned in the previous article, “Sesshu and Freedom” Sesshu created a uniquely Japanese style of ink painting, which has influenced many famous painters since then. For example, Hasegawa Tohaku, who competed with the Kano School during the Momoyama period, called himself “Sesshu V.” In the early Edo period, Kano Tanyu of the Kano School consciously adopted the “Sesshu style,” which later became the standard of the Kano School.
In this article, we will discuss Hasegawa Tohaku and the Kano school with which he was competing.
Hasegawa Tohaku
Hasegawa Tohaku became a famous master painter of the Momoyama period (1573-1603), who is also known as a master painter alongside Kano Eitoku (see below). As described in “Kaido yuku: Sakai-Kishu Kaido” the Momoyama period was a time when the power of merchants grew strong and the culture of wabi and sabi, as well as the luxurious style typified by gold brocade, were in vogue.
Tohaku was born in 1539 in Nanao, Noto (present-day Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture), and after working as a painter and Buddhist priest in his hometown, he moved to Tokyo and began creating paintings from his base at Honbo-ji Temple. Tohaku intervened in the production of the wall paintings of the Imperial Palace, which the Kano school was supposed to be in charge of, but Eitoku’s side reneged and Tohaku’s attempt failed, showing that Tohaku’s ability at that time was on the same level as that of the Kano school.
Hasegawa Tohaku was initially regarded as an ink painter, and the right screen of “Tiger and Bamboo” depicts a tiger lying face down on its upper body on the right screen, looking for signs of its prey hiding in a bamboo grove, while the left screen shows a tiger scratching its neck with its hind legs.
His “Pine Trees,” designated as a national treasure, is highly regarded as a solitary work in Japanese ink and wash painting.
The “Chishakuin Barrier Paintings,” also a National Treasure, are gold and blue screen paintings with a motif of lovely flowers and grasses combined with giant trees full of vitality in the style of Kano Eitoku, and not simply an imitation of the Eitoku paintings that were popular at the time.
There is also a novel by Ryutaro Abe on Hasegawa Tohaku.
Kano school
The Kano school is a specialized group of painters centered on the Kano family, which is connected by blood, and has always been a school of painting that has been responsible for the work of the shogunate.
Kano Masanobu, the founder of the Kano school, was an official painter of the Ashikaga family during the Muromachi period (1336-1573). Until then, the official painters of the Ashikaga family were Zen monks, but Masanobu did not train as a monk, but as a specialized painter, studied not only Buddhist painting but also various Chinese styles to meet their requests, and even painted portraits. After the Ashikaga family, he painted various pictures as an official painter for Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Momoyama period and for the Tokugawa family in the Edo period.
Kano Masanobu initially painted in a variety of ink and wash styles to order. Motonobu, who succeeded Masanobu, developed a new clientele that included not only the shogunate and Zen temples, but also court nobles and influential merchant families, and as orders became more diverse, it became necessary to establish a system that enabled group production.
Motonobu’s grandson, Kano Eitoku, visualized in his paintings a grandiose worldview with an eye toward Western Europe favored by Oda Nobunaga, the ruler of the time, and a sense of intimidation due to the brilliance of gold in a style known as “giant tree expression.
This style became one of the representative styles of the Momoyama period and was followed by all painters. The magnificent worldview of “Cypresses” and “Chinese Lions” captured the hearts of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Kano Eitoku was also viewed as a rival by his contemporary Hasegawa Tohaku, as mentioned above, and there were conflicts such as the “Tsushiya Incident.
Books on Kano Eitoku include “Raku-chu Rakugai-gaiga-kyoden Kano Eitoku” and “Kano Eitoku.
Kano Eitoku’s grandson was Kano Tanyu, who left Kyoto and went to Edo (now Tokyo) to join the Tokugawa shogunate and create works. He created the Tanyu style, with its beautifully shaped frames and beautiful margins, which became the defining style of the Edo period.
The Kano school was the official painter of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and with the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, it lost its patronage and disappeared, giving way to the Meiji art world described in “Meiji Art: Fenollosa, Okakura Tenshin, and Tea Books“
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