Sometimes referred to as Kyō-ha 京派 or the Kyoto school. A painting school in Kyoto which was popular during the late 18th century and into the 19th century. Part of the term is derived from the name of Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙 (1733-95), the founder of the Maruyama school, Maruyama-ha 円山派, who drew inspiration from a number of sources. As a youth, Ōkyo worked for a toy merchant and through this connection began making *megane-e 眼鏡絵, often of actual scenes in Kyoto, which employed Western techniques of one-point perspective and shading. The volume of forms and logical space remained important aspects of his mature style. Ōkyo is known for sketching directly from nature *shaseiga 写生画 which can be seen in his sketchbooks, and he promoted this method among his numerous students. Although Ōkyo's art shows aspects of Western realism, it did not depart from Japanese traditional style, techniques and themes. Rather, he successfully synthesized certain realistic elements with aspects of Japanese Kano school *Kano-ha 狩野派 style which he learned from his early mentor, Ishida Yūtei 石田幽汀 (1721-86). His painting was also influenced by *Rinpa 琳派, *Tosa-ha 土佐派, and *Nagasaki-ha 長崎派 styles, as well as Chinese bird and flower paintings. Ōkyo is known to have invented a technique called *tsuketate 付立, in which forms were created using a single sweep of a stiff brush designed for this purpose. Ōkyo's most talented and best known students were Nagasawa Rosetsu 長沢蘆雪 (1754-99) and Komai Genki 駒井源き (1747-97).
Matsumura Goshun 松村呉春 (1752-1811) established a school on Shijō 四条 street in Kyoto, which later became known as the Shijō-ha 四条派. Goshun had begun his career as a *nanga 南画 artist, studying under Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716-83). When Buson died, Goshun changed painting styles in mid-career by turning to Ōkyo for inspiration. The Shijō school is similar to the Maruyama school in subject matter and technique. However, rather than Ōkyo's emphasis on meticulous detail, the Shijō style retained a freer, softer brushwork stemming from Goshun's training. Of Goshun's students, his younger brother, Matsumura Keibun 松村景文 (1779-1843), and Okamoto Toyohiko 岡本豊彦 (1773-1845) are most famous. Toyohiko's student Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1807-91) is also well-known. Although there are subtle differences between the Maruyama and Shijō styles, they lessened with time. The work of later followers is marked by increasing mannerism and virtuoso brushwork with less attention to nature. The collective term Maruyama Shijō-ha has been used since about the end of the Edo period.