Shijō school

Its primary patrons were rich merchants in and around Kyoto/Osaka and also appealed to the kamigata who were of the established aristocrat and artisan families of the Imperial capital during the late 18th/19th centuries.

Maruyama Ōkyo was an experienced and expert painter of sumi-e ink paintings, and accomplished a great degree of realism in his creations, emphasizing direct observation of depicted subjects which was a direct contravention of the officially sponsored schools of the time, Kanō and Tosa, which emphasized decorativeness with highly formalized and stylized figures taught to its students via copying paintings of past masters.

The artists of the Shijō school sought to reconcile the differences between these two styles, creating works that synthesized the best elements of both.

It concentrates less on the exact depiction of its subject, but rather on expressing the inner spirit and usually has an element of playfulness and humor compared to the Maruyama school.

Popular motifs include tranquil landscapes, kachō (bird and flower), animals, and traditional subjects from Chinese poetic and Confucian lore, but there is generally little or no interest in legends, history, or classical literature.