Kanō Masanobu (狩野 正信, 1434? – August 2, 1530?, Kyoto) was the chief painter of the Ashikaga shogunate and is generally considered the founder of the Kanō school of painting which is the most influential in Japanese history with a 400 year dominance that is peerless in world history. Kano Masanobu specialized in Zen paintings as well as elaborate paintings of Buddhist deities and Bodhisattvas.[1]
The Kanō school was a style of painting that maintained dominance over 400 years from Masanobu's time up through the Meiji Restoration (1868). But it was not truly codified into a distinct style under Masanobu; this took place when Masanobu's son Kanō Motonobu took over as head of the school.
Masanobu was influenced by the priest-painter Tenshō Shūbun, and some sources indicate that he may have received the bulk of his artistic education under Shubun. He worked in the suiboku style, derived from Chinese painting, but added a Japanese touch to the style with more defined forms. Very few of his works survive.
Kanō Masanobu served the Muromachi government as an official painter (御用絵師, goyō eshi), succeeding Sōtan to the post.