Spring landscape with blossoming cherries

The spring scene with blossoming cherry trees set off against a deep green background of pines is painted in a style typical of the Kano school of professional painters. Kano painters were expertly trained in Japanese and Chinese painting techniques and were capable of painting in formats ranging from fans and handscrolls to folding screens and murals. Their highly organized workshop system and elite patronage centered in the politically dominant warrior class ensured the continuity of the Kano school from the late fifteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century.