Kanō Zuisen

Kanō Zuisen (狩野随川): One Name, Two Bearers

Kanō Zuisen (狩野随川) is an artist name within the Kanō school, and it belongs to those cases in which a gō was used by more than one person. It was borne by two brothers: Kanō Minenobu (1662–1709), who founded the Hamachō-Kanō house, and his younger brother, who was adopted in 1708, headed the house as Oku-eshi, and died in 1745. The name is also written as Zuizen.

The Brothers from the House of Tsunenobu

Both were sons of Kanō Tsunenobu, and their brother was Kanō Chikanobu, who as third head led the Kobikichō-Kanō house. The bearers of the name Zuisen thus belong to the same web of relationships that connected the four Oku-eshi houses with one another: sons were adopted into other branches, daughters married off, houses carried on through adopted sons. The Hamachō-Kanō house was one of these four foremost painter houses in the service of the shogunate.

Why the Distinction Matters

For an individual hanging scroll, the question of which of the two brothers painted it is not immaterial: between the death of the one and that of the other lie 36 years, a good painter generation. Signature and seal provide clarification, in some cases in conjunction with a rank title. Whoever attributes a work under this name should keep the possibility of both attributions in mind, rather than committing to one.

Mount Fuji in the Morning Mist

Mount Fuji above a mist-shrouded plain is one of the core motifs of Kanō landscape painting. Its effect arises not from the mountain itself, whose form leaves little room for variation, but from its surroundings: from the height at which the bands of mist begin, from a formation of wild geese, from a temple roof at the edge. As an auspicious and New Year's image, such a Kakemono has its fixed place in the tokonoma at the start of the year.