A school of painters active from the 16th century to the 19th century founded by Kaihō Yūshō 海北友松 (1533-1615) and passed down for eight generations. Each artist after Kaihō Yūsetsu 海北友雪 (1598-1677) served in turn as the master painter to the Imperial Court *goyō eshi 御用絵師. Yūshō was born into a samurai family serving the Asai 浅井 clan of Ōmi 近江 province. While still young, Yūshō was sent to the Kyoto Zen 禅 temple Tōfukuji 東福寺, to become a novice, thus escaping the 1573 attack by Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 (1534-82), which destroyed his family. Yūshō is said to have studied with a Kano painter, either Kano Motonobu 狩野元信 (1476-1559) or his grandson Eitoku 永徳 (1543-90). Yūshō, however, developed an individualistic style of painting, highly charged with energy, reflecting his military upbringing and his Zen training. For artistic inspiration, Yūshō looked to the sources of the Kano school *Kano-ha 狩野派, Song and Yuan painting *sōgenga 宋元画, in particular, the works of Liang K'ai (Jp: Ryō Kai 梁楷, mid-13th century). With the assistance of his contacts in the Zen community, Yūshō received commissions for paintings from a number of temples in Kyoto, and was patronized by Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 (1536-98) and Emperor Goyōzei 後陽成. Characteristic of Yūshō's style are his use of ink washes and his "bag like" figures, rendered with a minimum of long brushstrokes *genpitsu 減筆, seen for example in his painting of Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove *Chikurin shichiken 竹林七賢 at Kenninji 建仁寺 in Kyoto. Numerous monochrome and polychrome ink works by Yūshō survive, the largest number preserved at Kenninji. Kaihō Yūsetsu, son and successor of Yūshō was influenced by the then current Kano school manner, as were his descendants in the Kaihō school. Yūsetsu is remembered for his screen painting at Myōshinji Rinshōin 妙心寺麟祥院 in Kyoto. Kaihō school artists after Yūsetsu include Yūchiku 友竹 (1654-1728), Yūsen 友泉 (1736-41), Yūsan 友三 (active ca. 1770), Yūtoku 友徳 (active ca. 1818-30), and Yūshō 友樵 (1817-68). Paintings by the later Kaihō artists are scarce.