Kanō Yasunobu (, 10 January 1614 – 1 October 1685) was a Japanese painter 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 ...

of painting during 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 ...

. He was the third son of

Kanō Takanobu Kanō Takanobu (, 1 December 1571 – 18 October 1618) was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school of painting during the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–). He was the father of Kanō Tan'yū, one of the most prominent painters of the sch ...

, who had been head of the school, and succeeded Kanō Sadanobu as head of the

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

branch in 1623 until he joined his brothers in . Yasunobu was the youngest brother of

Kanō Tan'yū was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school. One of the foremost Kanō painters of the Tokugawa period, many of the best known Kanō works today are by Tan'yū. Biography His original given name was Morinobu; he was the eldest son of K ...

, one of the most prominent painters of the Kanō school. His best remembered work is the ''Gadō Yōketsu'', a Kanō school history and training manual. He also worked under the

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin Chinese), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by artists, poets and writers in the Sinosp ...

s Eishin () and Bokushinsai ().

Life and career

Kanō Yasunobu was born in Kyoto on the 1st day of the 12th month of the 18th year of

Keichō was a after '' Bunroku'' and before '' Genna''. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1596 : The era name was changed to ''Keichō'' to mark the passing of various natural disaste ...

(10 January 1614). His father was

(1571–1618) whose two elder sons Tan'yū and Naonobu moved to

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 ...

(modern Tokyo) to become , an exclusive position painting for the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. The Kyoto line continued after Takanobu's death in 1618 under

Kanō Mitsunobu Kanō Mitsunobu (, 1565–1608) was a son of Kanō Eitoku and an influential artist of the Kanō school of Japanese painting. Biography Scholars disagree on the year of Mitsunobu's birth, placing it in either 1561 or 1565. The earliest record o ...

's son Sadanobu, who adopted Yasunobu as he had no heir. Yasunobu succeeded him as head of the Kyoto Kanō in 1623. Yasunobu thus continued the Kyoto line until he also was made ''goyō eshi'' and moved to Edo, though he maintained his claim as head of the Kyoto branch. Yasunobu was a dedicated scholar and painter, but his skill is considered inferior to that of his brothers. His was a studied technique learned through faithful copying of masters' models. His colour work was in the idiom of Tan'yū, and his

ink wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses Wash (visual arts), washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged duri ...

had a realistic vigour. His most important work was not his painting but the ''Gadō Yōketsu'' (, ''"The Secret Way of Painting"'', 1680), a training manual for Kanō painters and

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

of the school. Before this book's publication, Kanō techniques were passed down orally from master to apprentice, and there was disunity in the teaching methods of the school's branches. Yasunobu died in Edo on the 4th day of the 9th month of the 2nd year of

Jōkyō was a after ''Tenna'' and before ''Genroku.'' This period spanned the years from February 1684 through September 1688. The reigning emperors were and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'' p. 415./ref> Change of era * ...

(1 October 1685). He also worked under the

s Eishin () and Bokushinsai (). Tokugawa Ietsuna.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 25 - Kanō Yasunobu - Chūnagon Asatada.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 26 - Kanō Yasunobu - Fujiwara no Takamitsu.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 27 - Kanō Yasunobu - Mibu no Tadamine.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 28 - Kanō Yasunobu - Ōnakatomi no Yoritomo Asomi.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 29 - Kanō Yasunobu - Minamoto no Shigeyuki.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 30 - Kanō Yasunobu - Saneakira Asomi.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 31 - Kanō Yasunobu - Minamoto no Shitagō.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 32 - Kanō Yasunobu - Kiyohara no Motosuke.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 33 - Kanō Yasunobu - Fujiwara no Motozane.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 36 - Kanō Yasunobu - Nakatsukasa.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 34 - Kanō Yasunobu - Fujiwara no Nakafumi.jpg Sanjūrokkasen-gaku - 35 - Kanō Yasunobu - Mibu no Tadami.jpg

References

Works cited

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kano, Michinobu 1614 births 1685 deaths 17th-century Japanese painters Kanō school Edo period in culture