Hasegawa Tohaku

JAPAN, Nanao, Ishikawa; Muromachi to Momoyama period (1392–1615)

Hasegawa Tohaku was also known as Matashiro, and before the age of 20 he was known as Shinshun, which was later changed to Tohaku. He was a painter from Nanao, Noto (present day Ishikawa) who excelled in the colorful Yamato painting style and emerged as a talented local painter of Buddhist images and figures.
Hasegawa moved to Kyoto in 1571 where he could often be found in the company of tea ceremony masters and Zen monks. As a result, he was exposed to popular paintings from the Chinese Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties, in addition to those of the Muromachi period in Japan. With much adoration for the painting styles of Liang Kai, Mu Xi, and Sesshu Toyo, he adopted the art of Chinese ink painting. Hasegawa used a natural still-life drawing technique in combination with Yamato painting style to create a magnificent style which he painted upon paper screens. With the development of this unique and innovative style, he was thus regarded as the founder of the Hasegawa school of painting.
Pine Trees, by Hasegawa, was painted on two screens with six panels. The piece measures 156 cm high by 347 cm wide and is currently kept at the Tokyo National Museum. The screen paintings of Old Shounji Temple are kept at Chishaku Temple in Kyoto and now listed as a National Treasure. Other works include Sakyamuni and Prabhutaratna Buddhas, collected at Daihoji Temple in Nagano, and Mahaparinirvana kept at Honpoji Temple in Kyoto; both paintings are Important Cultural Properties. Additionally, Hasegawa’s depiction of Fenggan, Hanshan, and Shide, painted on a screen divider, is collected at Myoshinji Temple in Kyoto.