Masanobu Kano

Japanese: 狩野正信 - かのう・まさのぶ

Year of death: 7/9/1530 (August 2, 1530)
Year of birth: Eikyou 6? (1434)
A painter from the mid-Muromachi period. Founder of the Kano school. His pen name was Seigen. Also known as Yusei. He was appointed Oinosuke, Echizen no Kami, and Hokkyo. He is thought to have come from a samurai family in the Kanto region, and there are various theories about his origins, including the Kano clan of Izu and the Kano clan of Kazusa. It is said that he went to Kyoto and studied under Oguri Sotan, but there is no definite proof. The first record of his paintings was in 1463 (Kansho 4), when he created the sliding screen paintings "Kannon" and "Sixteen Arhats" at Shokoku-ji Uncho-in. He is thought to have subsequently succeeded Sotan as an official painter for the Muromachi shogunate, and in 1483 (Bunmei 15), he painted the sliding screen painting "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" for Ashikaga Yoshimasa's Higashiyama Villa (Ginkaku-ji Temple). From that year 17 to the following year, he painted "Ten Monks" for the Jibutsudo Hall of Higashiyama Villa (Togudo), and the details of its creation can be traced in the Inryoken Diary. The process of borrowing a Chinese painting as the drawing material, sketching a rough sketch, showing it to the client, incorporating their opinions, and finally completing the work well illustrates the reality of painting at the time. It is also recorded that when painting the portrait of Hino Tomiko, who died in 1496, he used Tosa Mitsunobu's "Portrait of Karakumon'in" as a reference. This historical material shows Masanobu's active adoption of Yamato painting techniques. There are several other records of the creation of portraits of Ashikaga shoguns and others, but the only one that remains is the "Portrait of Ashikaga Yoshihisa" (1489, owned by Jizo-in Temple). Strongly handed down works bearing the "Masanobu" seal include "Zhou Maoshu Loves the Lotus" (private collection), "Landscape" (private collection), "Landscape" (Chorinji Temple collection), and "Hotei" (private collection), but researchers cannot agree on which of them is the genuine work. There is also doubt about his year of death in 1530 (Kyoroku 3), as there are no records of any paintings made in the last 30 years of his life. It is said that he had two sons, of which Motonobu inherited the family headship and established the foundation for the rise of the Kano school. There are various theories about the existence of the other son. <References> Watanabe Hajime, "Research on Higashiyama Ink Paintings," Ueno Noriyoshi, "The Ashikaga Nagao Clan and the Early Kano School" (Art History, no. 132)

(Yuji Yamashita)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：享禄3.7.9?(1530.8.2)
生年：永享6?(1434)
室町中期の画家。狩野派の始祖。号は性玄。別名は祐勢。大炊助,越前守,法橋に任ぜられる。関東の武家の出身と推測され,伊豆の狩野氏,上総の狩野氏などその出自には諸説ある。京都に上って小栗宗湛に師事したと伝えるが確証はない。画作の記録の初出は,寛正4(1463)年の相国寺雲頂院での「観音図」「十六羅漢図」障壁画の制作。その後,宗湛の後を継いで室町幕府の御用絵師になったと思われ,文明15(1483)年に足利義政の東山山荘(銀閣寺)に「瀟湘八景図」襖絵を描く。同17年から翌年にかけて東山山荘持仏堂(東求堂)に「十僧図」を描くが,この制作の経緯は『蔭涼軒日録』によって詳細にたどることができる。画本となる中国画を借り出し,下絵を描いて注文者に見せ,その意見を入れて,ようやく完成させる様子は,当時の絵画制作の実態をよく表している。また明応5(1496)年に没した日野富子の肖像画を描くに際して,土佐光信の「嘉楽門院像」を参考にしたことが記録される。正信のやまと絵技法の積極的な摂取を示す史料である。その他にも足利将軍などの肖像画の制作の記録がいくつかあるが,現存するものは「足利義尚像」(1489,地蔵院蔵)のみである。「正信」印を押す有力な伝承作品としては「周茂叔愛蓮図」(個人蔵),「山水図」(個人蔵),「山水図」(長林寺蔵),「布袋図」(個人蔵)などがあるが,いずれを真筆とするかという問題については,研究者間での意見の一致をみない。享禄3(1530)年の没年についても,晩年約30年間に画作の記録がみられないことから疑問がある。2子があったと伝えるが,そのうち元信が家督を継ぎ,狩野派の隆盛の基礎を固めた。もうひとりの子の存在については諸説がある。<参考文献>渡辺一『東山水墨画の研究』,上野憲示「足利長尾氏と初期狩野派」(『美術史』132号)

(山下裕二)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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