Landscape with Temple

Between two mountains we can see the entrance to a countryside villa tucked into a grove of pine trees. The dark, distant peak and subtle glow around the architectural structures suggest a nighttime scene. At the beginning of the 1600s, the main branch of the Kano house relocated to the new capital, Edo (present-day Tokyo), and received the patronage of the new military rulers, the Tokugawa. One branch of the Kano remained in Kyoto and received commissions from aristocratic families and temples in the old capital. This branch, known as the Kyōgano-ke, or “Kyoto Kano house, ” was led first by Sanraku and his adopted son, Sansetsu, who painted this hanging scroll.