(15) Kano Yukinobu

(b 1643; d 1682). Great-niece of (11) Kano Tan'yu. Her maternal grandparents were Nabe, Tan'yu's younger sister, and the Kano painter Kotari Joan ( fl first half of the 17th century). Her grandfather and her father, KUSUMI MORIKAGE, were regarded as two of Tan'yu's four greatest pupils, and Yukinobu herself was apprenticed to Tan'yu by the age of 16. Her debt to him can be seen in her deft manipulation of ink wash in hanging scrolls such as the White-robed Kannon (the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; New York, M. and J. Burke priv. col.; see Kokka (1894), p. 281) and her portrait of Wang Zhaojun, the legendary Chinese beauty of the Han period (206 BC-AD 220; Tokyo, ex-M. Hisada priv. col.; see Kokka (1940), p. 239), but the pale tones used in these works and the emotional warmth of the figures recall the style of her father. While still apprenticed to Tan'yu, she eloped with a fellow pupil, Hirano Ihei Morikiyo ( fl mid-17th century), and they were both forced to leave the Kano school. Her daughter, Harunobu, also became a talented artist.

Part of the Kano family

See the Abbreviations for further details.