What Is the Tan-yū Style?

Kanō Tan-yū was active as a painter for the Tokugawa Shogunate in the early Edo period. He was a great man who laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Kanō school in the Edo period, and his ability was such that the later art philosopher Okakura Tenshin called him “the Tokugawa Ieyasu of the art world”.

The style of expression that Kanō Tan-yū created for the prosperity of the Kanō school is commonly known as the “Tanyu style”. This time, I would like to introduce this style.