Kanō School is the largest school in Japanese painting history, which emerged in the middle of the Muromachi period and continued through the Momoyama (1568-1600) to Edo periods (1603-1868). The founder was Kanō Masanobu (1434-1530) who became the official painter of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). His son Kanō Motonobu established the Kanō school style by combining the technique of Yamato-e painting (a traditional Japanese style painting) with the technique of Chinese painting inherited from his father. Kanō Eitoku (1543-1590), a grandson of Motonobu, developed it into a more energetic expression and was given important posts by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, playing a leading role in the Momoyama painting world. Their works are based on Chinese Northern Song Dynasty paintings and feature a harmony of strong lines drawn in Japanese ink painting and Tosa style deep coloring.