Artworks

Fusuma paintings of the Kangakuin guest hall, Onjōji

Artwork · Kanō Mitsunobu · c. 1600 · fusuma-e · Mii-dera Temple

The paintings of the guest hall of the Kangakuin, commissioned in 1600 by Hideyoshi’s son Hideyori — one of the most successful works of Kanō Mitsunobu (1561/65–1608), Eitoku’s son, a less ambitious painter than his father who preferred a flatter, more elegant and detailed manner and yamato-e themes. The flowers and trees of the four seasons run from right to left: plum blossoms and camellias on the east wall, cedars and flowering cherries on the south, summer flowers on the west, autumn leaves on the north, and winter — a waterfall over a snowy shore — in the tokonoma. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 257–258, figs. 297–298. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.