Kanō Eitoku

While there are various theories regarding the exact years of creation, in his early twenties, he created two works that are now considered National Treasures: Rakuchū rakugai zu byōbu (洛中洛外図屏風, Views in and around Kyoto) and the fusuma (襖, sliding doors) paintings entitled Kachō zu fusuma (花鳥図襖, Birds and flowers of the four seasons) at Jukō-in, a subtemple of the Daitoku-ji Temple.

Subsequently, Oda Nobunaga acquired the artwork to demonstrate his control over Kyoto and the shogunate, and presented it to Uesugi Kenshin.

Contemporary accounts indicate that Eitoku was one of the most highly sought-after artists of his time, and received many wealthy and powerful patrons.

[4][5] His signal contribution to the Kanō repertoire was the so-called "monumental style" (taiga), characterized by bold, rapid brushwork, an emphasis on foreground, and motifs that are large relative to the pictorial space.

The traditional account for this style, codified by Eitoku's great-grandson Einō (1631–97) in his History of Japanese Painting (Honcho gashi), is that it resulted partly from the exigencies of Eitoku's busy schedule, and that it embodied the martial and political bravura of the warlords, Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.