(b 1397; d Hase, Nara Prefect., 1471). Connoisseur–curator and founder of the Ami school of ink painting (suibokuga). Although many paintings are attributed to Noami, most attributions are questionable. A work widely thought to be by Noami is the White-robed Kannon hanging scroll (ink on silk, 1468; priv. col., see Tanaka, p. 43), and an inscription by the artist indicates that he painted it for his son Shuken. The angular, formal ink-painting of the work blends the Chinese Southern Song (1127–1279) academic styles of XIA GUI and MA YUAN. As a connoisseur, Noami was responsible for compiling the Gyomotsu on’e mokuroku (or Gyomotsu gyoya mokuroku), an inventory of the Chinese paintings in the shogunal collection. He may also have been involved in the writing of the Kundaikan sochoki (catalogue of the shogunal collection with display instructions), possibly completed by his grandson (3) Shinso Soami.

Part of the Ami family

• Shinno Noami
  • Ami
  • Connoisseurship, §3: Japan
  • Japan, §XVI, 9(ii)(a): Flower arrangement, 6th–18th centuries
  • Japan, §XIX, 2: Patronage, 13th–16th centuries
  • Murata Shuko
  • works
    • Japan, §VI, 4(iii)(a): Ink painting in the Muromachi period: Early practitioners
    • Japan, §VI, 4(iii)(g): Ink painting in the Muromachi period: Post-Shubun schools
    • Japan, §XXII, 1: Connoisseurship and historiography: Painting contests and catalogues
    • Kyoto, §IV, 8: Ginkakuji
  • writings
    • Japan, §XXI, 1(ii): Collectors and collections, to 1868