Kano Kazunobu

JAPAN, Tokyo, Sumida; Edo period

Kano Kazunobu, also known as Toyojiro or Kenyusai, was a painter from Edo Honjyo Hayashi-cho (present day Sumida, Tokyo). He studied Chinese ink painting of the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties. Later, he studied the techniques of the Shijo and Tosa schools of painting, as well as the style of Kano Sosen Akinobu, after whom he adopted his family name.
His painting, Encounter of Ushiwakamaru with Benkei on Gojo Ohashi Bridge, which he created in 1847, was presented to the Avalokitesvara Hall of Sensoji Temple in Tokyo. He then painted Sixteen Arhats during the restoration of Genkoin Temple in 1850.
In 1856, Kano completed a mural in the Acala Hall atrium of Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in Chiba. The scene was painted using ink, gold, and woodblock prints against a gold background. Also in Acala Hall, he painted a mural of Buddha Teaching the Dharma, which in vibrant ink and gold paint features Sakyamuni Buddha, Manjusri and Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Ten Great Disciples. In 1900, it was chiseled off the wall and mounted into a hanging scroll. Acala Hall also houses a series of Five Hundred Arhats statues which are said to have been sculpted according to a draft composed by Kano.
Kano vowed to paint a set of 100 scrolls featuring the Five Hundreds Arhats. Although he spent 10 years working on the collection, he passed away upon completion of the 96th piece. The remaining four scrolls were completed by his wife Myoan and his disciple Kazumi. Today, the paintings are collected at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo. Each scroll measures 172.3 cm in height and 85.3 cm in width, and displays five arhats in various themes that carry over between every two scrolls. An earlier set of Five Hundred Arhats paintings, which were painted onto silk in 50 scrolls is currently kept at the Tokyo National Museum.