Kaiho Yusetsu

Kaiho Yusetsu was born in Kyoto in 1598 and died in 1677. He was an early Edo-period painter, the heir born in the late years of Kaiho Yusho, one of the leading painters of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His given name was Doki, and Yusetsu was his art name.

From the Kan'ei era on, on the recommendation of Kasuga no Tsubone (the wet nurse of Tokugawa Iemitsu), he was warmly employed by the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. Departing from the Chinese-style manner of his father, Yusho, he was characterized by a decorative and approachable style, and he was also skilled at Yamato-e and genre painting. This meant that a painter born in Kyoto was also valued by the shogunal house in Edo.

In his later years he worked with the Kano school on wall and screen paintings, producing several for the Kyoto Imperial Palace, including the Shodaibu-no-ma and the middle room of the Nyogo Palace. His "Dragon in Clouds," painted at Rinsho-in, the family temple of Kasuga no Tsubone, is a representative work. His works include the "Genpei War" screens.