- Birth: 1543
- Death: 1590
- Sons: Kanô Mitsunobu (1561-1608), Kanô Takanobu (1571-1618)
- Distinction: Painter
- Japanese: 狩野永徳 (Kanou Eitoku)
Eitoku was the son of Kanô Shôei (1514-1562) and carried on the Kanô school of painting as established by Kanô Masanobu (1434-1530). He has been described as "the most celebrated painter of his time"[1], and is indeed celebrated today as one of the greatest painters of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
Eitoku was likely tutored at a young age by his talented grandfather Kanô Motonobu (1476-1559), who introduced him to shôgun Ashikaga Yoshiteru in 1552. In 1566 he produced a number of paintings for the Abbot's Quarters of the Jukôn-in in the Daitoku-ji. He was contracted by Oda Nobunaga to produce all the wall paintings (shôhekiga) for Azuchi castle around [[1578], and afterward produced works for the Jurakudai and Osaka castle for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as well as for the Imperial Palace.
Eitoku, like all top-level Kanô artists, worked alongside a number of pupils and other fellow artists, completing works as an atelier or workshop, despite the works being signed only by the master. Even so, it is said that he found himself so busy with these commissions that he no longer had the time to produce the kind of detailed works he was once known for; a highly detailed rakuchû-rakugai-zu byôbu ("Scenes In and Outside the Capital Screen") by Eitoku was given as a gift by Oda Nobunaga to Uesugi Kenshin in 1574. In order to better accommodate the large and numerous compositions now expected of him, Eitoku developed a new style and painting method using great bold strokes and sometimes brushes made of straw rather than hair.
Eitoku died suddenly in 1590 and his unfinished projects were completed by his son Mitsunobu, though it was Kanô Sanraku, a pupil of Eitoku's who was not a blood relative, who succeeded him as head of the school.
References
- Initial text from Sengoku Biographical Dictionary (Samurai-Archives.com) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005
- Sasaki, Johei. "The Era of the Kano School." Modern Asian Studies 18:4 (1984).
- ↑ Sasaki. p648.