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1624 rebuilding campaign in preparation fifteen, Tan'yü was appointed painter-in- 126 Exemplary emperors
for the 1626 visit of Emperor Go-Mizunoo service to the Tokugawa shogunate (goyd Kano Tan'yü (1602-1674)
(1596-1680; cat. 19). The Ninomaru Palace eshi) in Edo. In 1619, assisting his cousin set of four sliding door panels; ink,
dates from this period. Thereafter much Kano Sadanobu, Tan'yü played a leading color, and gold-leaf on paper
of Nijó Castle was extensively renovated; role in the decoration of the newly refur- each 192.0 x 140.5 (755/8 x 55^4)
and in the course of this work some build- bished Empress' Quarters at the Imperial Edo period, 1634
ings were removed from the site. Palace in Kyoto. Two years later Tan'yü Nagóya City, Aichi Prefecture
The interiors of the Ninomaru Palace was given a sizeable tract of land in the Important Cultural Property
precinct, consisting of three architectural Kajibashi district in Edo (present-day To-
blocks, were decorated in 1626 by a team kyo), which became his home and studio. This set of four sliding door panels origi-
of painters of the Kano school, headed by In 1623, at age twenty-one, he began the nally was installed in the Jórakuden or
the twenty-four-year-old Kano Tan'yü decoration of the sliding doors at Osaka "Guest house" built in 1634 as an annex to
(1602-1674). Over the years, the paintings Castle. The Ninomaru decoration cam- the main complex of Nagoya Castle, the
have been damaged and extensively re- paign followed soon after, from 1624 headquarters of the Matsudaira, the dai-
painted, especially in their details, but the to 1626, and marked the beginning of myo of Owari Province (now Aichi Prefec-
overall composition has retained the style Tan'yü's rise to preeminence among mid- ture) and a branch family of the Tokugawa.
of the young Tan'yü, who was inspired by seventeenth-century Japanese painters. The construction of the Jórakuden (liter-
the heroically monumental style associ- The commanding form of the pine ally "building for a journey to the capital")
ated with his grandfather Kano Eitoku tree and the hawk, symbol of endurance, started in the fifth month of 1633 and con-
(1543-1590). fortitude, and martial prowess (cats. 95, tinued through the first six months of
At the age of ten, accompanied by his 129), may be a pictorial expression of the 1634. The intention was to provide lodging
father, Kano Takanobu (1571-1618; cat. 18), political power at the top of the social hier- for the third Tokugawa shogun, lemitsu
the talented Tan'yü was granted an audi- archy, proclaiming the new era of Japan (1604-1651), and his entourage on their trip
ence with shogun Tokugawa leyasu at that had just been inaugurated under the to Kyoto in the seventh month of that
Sunpu (currently Shizuoka City) in 1612. effective rule of the shogunate and the year. Along with numerous other buildings
This event signalled the advent of the daimyo. YS that constituted the Nagoya Castle com-
Kano school's monopoly over official plex, the Jórakuden survived well into the
painting commissions from the shogunate twentieth century. On 14 May 1945, the
as well as the imperial court, and including entire castle structure, including more
the daimyo. Five years later, in 1617, at age

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