(b Kyoto, 1543; d Kyoto, 1590). Son of (3) Kano Shoei. Having received his early training from his grandfather, (2) Kano Motonobu, he is said to have shown extraordinary artistic talent as a child, and by his early 20s he had established himself as the leading painter of Kyoto. His father may have entered a monastery c. 1572, from which date Eitoku would have been head of the Kano school. His success was due to his creation of a monumental style of painting, later known as taiga (‘big painting’): this was based on the Kano school style established by his grandfather but incorporated larger compositions, massive forms and rugged brushwork. According to Kano Eino (1631–97), the author of the Honcho gashi (‘History of Japanese painting’; 1693), Eitoku developed this taiga style because the increasing demand for his work meant that he had no time for meticulous brushwork, and he began to use a coarse brush of straw for his ink painting. Eitoku is best known for his screen-and-wall paintings in vivid colours and gold leaf (kinpeki shohekiga), but he also worked in a saiga (‘small’ or ‘elaborate painting’) style. The former were popular with the rival warlords of the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600), who employed the artist to decorate their residences in a manner grand enough to satisfy their aggressive ambitions. With the taiga style, Eitoku transformed the aesthetic vision of a whole generation of artists and patrons. The sheer bravado of his brushwork appealed especially to members of the military establishment. Typically Eitoku’s bold designs swept kinetically across continuous wall panels of residential halls, amplifying the grandeur of the architecture. Most of these buildings were destroyed in the wars of the period, so little of Eitoku’s work survives despite his prodigious output.

Part of the Kano family

• Kano Eitoku
  • Azuchi Castle
  • Japan, §II, 5: Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism
  • Japan, §VI, 4(i)(b): Late painting: Momoyama period
  • Kano
  • Kano: (3) Kano Shoei
  • Kano: (7) Kano Mitsunobu
  • groups and movements
    • Kano school, §1: Introduction
    • Kano school, §2: Before 1600
  • patrons and collectors
    • Japan, §I, 2(iv)(c): History: Age of Military Houses: Momoyama
    • Japan, §XIX, 3: Patronage, 17th century–late 19th
  • pupils
    • Hasegawa Tohaku, §1: Life
    • Kaiho Yusho
    • Kano: (8) Kano Sanraku
    • Unkoku Togan
  • works
    • Japan, §II, 6: Bushido
    • Japan, §VI, 4(iv)(a): Late genre painting: Fuzokuga
    • Japan, §X, 2(vi): Lacquer: Momoyama period
    • Kano: (5) Kano Eitoku, §2: 1576–82
    • Kano: (5) Kano Eitoku, §3: After 1582
    • Kano school, §4: After 1868
    • Kyoto, §IV, 5(ii): Daitokuji: Architecture and art works
    • Momoyama period
    • Oda Nobunaga
    • Screen (ii), §1: East Asia
    • Toyotomi Hideyoshi
  • workshop
    • Kyoto, §IV, 4(i): Nanzenji: Main temple