Kanō Kazunobu (, 1816 – November 3, 1863) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

of the

Kanō school The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji era, Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided i ...

. Kazunobu produced mainly Buddhist paintings and he is best known for his highly acclaimed ''Five Hundred Arhats''. Some of his other surviving works are housed at the Senso-ji temple in

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known for Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as . History The development of Asaku ...

and the Shinshō-ji temple in Narita. He did not use the surname Kanō during his life, but rather signed with his wife's surname as ''Henmi Kazunobu'' () or with the art name ''Ken'yūsai Kazunobu'' ().

Works

is a set of 100 hanging scrolls created between 1854 and 1863, the year Kazunobu's death. The work depicts one hundred scenes from the lives of five ''

arhats In Buddhism, an ''Arhat'' () or ''Arahant'' (, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and has been liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth. The unde ...

'', disciples of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

. It is widely considered one of the most important religious paintings from the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, variously praised by its "unique style" and "strong characters in thick colors" and its "visually disturbing, original interpretation of the subject". It was commissioned by the

Zōjō-ji is a Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is the main temple of the Jōdo-shū ("Pure Land") Chinzei sect of Buddhism in the Kantō region. Its mountain name is San'en-zan (三縁山). Zōjō-ji is notable for its relations ...

temple in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

, the Tokugawa-sponsored main temple of the

Jōdo-shū Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"), is a Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Kamakura era monk Hōnen (1133–1212). The school is traditionally considered as having been established in 1175 and i ...

buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

sect, to which it now belong. Kazunobu's ''Five Hundred Arhats'' was mostly overlooked through the twentieth century but it has attracted attention in recent years, with an exhibition of 2 of the scrolls in 2006 at the

Tokyo National Museum The or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō wards of Tokyo, ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the , is considered the oldest national museum and the largest art museum in Japan. The museum collects, prese ...

, and the first ever exhibition of the complete set in 2011 at the

Edo-Tokyo Museum The is a historical museum located at 1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida-Ku, Tokyo in the Ryogoku district. The museum opened in March 1993 to preserve Edo's cultural heritage, and features city models of Edo and Tokyo between 1590 (just prior to the ...

. As of 2017, a changing set of 10 scrolls is displayed in the Zōjō-ji Treasure Gallery. Daily Life, Five Hundred Arhats, Scrolls 1 & 2.jpg, scrolls 1 & 2 Birds and Beasts, Five Hundred Arhats, Scrolls 61 & 62.jpg, scrolls 61 & 62 Earthquake, Five Hundred Arhats, Scrolls 81 & 82.jpg, scrolls 81 & 82 A second set of 50 scrolls of is owned by the

. Perhaps a test for the final version, each scroll is about a quarter of the size of the Zōjō-ji version, and it includes two scenes instead of one. The work was exhibited in its entirety in 2006.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kano, Kazunobu 1816 births 1863 deaths 19th-century Japanese artists 19th-century Japanese painters Kanō school

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