Paintings

The Azuchi-Momoyama Period began in 1576 when Oda Nobunaga came into power. The Azuchi castle became his home when it was finished in 1579. Inside the castle were beautiful walls made by members of Kano Eitoku’s studio. The finish of the Azuchi castle started off the Azuchi-Momoyama Period, (named after the castle-towns of the time).

Kano painters had worked for the Shogun for many generations. By the Edo Period, they formed the style for the time for the Tokugawa shogunate. Much of Kano Eitoku’s work has been destroyed because some of the castles are no longer existent, but there are still a few monasteries and temples with his paintings.

A famous painter of the Edo period was Kano Tanyu. He was the grandson of Eitoku and painted in Edo and Kyoto for palaces and in the Nagoya castle. He was interested in all different types of painting, whether it was Japanese of Chinese. This was because of the collections of art records he studied. He then started recording himself. He took clear notes and simplified sketches of original works. Tanyu’s followers followed this recording tradition. These records are great resources for modern day historians.

Japanese mural paintings did not start with those found in castles, but from earlier years. These large paintings began as early as the 700’s. The castle murals covered the sliding doors and walls inside the castle. Many of these include nature related topics such as mountains, flowers, and animals. For example, in the Nijo Castle in Kyoto, there is a room where the Great Pine murals cover the interior walls.

The following are examples of castles with work by the Kano painters:

• The Himeji Castle has small windows, so in order to help reflect light into the larger, dark, rooms, painters screen painted on gold surfaces. There were also complete walls and ceilings finished this way.



• The Nijo Castle’s Ohiroma, or Great Audience Hall is located on the longer side of the castle where it faces the garden. The room has two main sections: a lower part for the shogun’s vassals and an upper part where the shogun sat. The back wall of where the shogun sat was where the Great Pine was located. It represented the great boldness and authority of the shogun.



• Walls of the Momoyama Castle were covered with paintings of landscapes and flowers on gold foiled walls and sliding doors. White Peonies is a piece of work by Kano Sanruku on the panels of sliding doors in the Momoyama Castle. The petals and leaves of the painting stress the showy characteristics of the time.