Guardian Lion Paintings by Kano Sanraku

Flanking the Buddhist altar in the Main Hall are three large paintings by Kano Sanraku (1559-1635), each measuring 45 by 198 centimeters. They show pairs of shishi, the guardian lions seen in statue form at shrines and temples across Japan, rendered here in vivid color and dynamic movement against gold leaf backgrounds, manes and tails animated mid-motion. Sanraku trained under Kano Eitoku and eventually led the Kano school, producing work for both the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans. These paintings represent the school's bold, naturalistic style at a moment when Japanese art was navigating the shift from civil war to the relative stability of the early Tokugawa period.