Ch: dijiantu. The genre of paintings of advice and admonition *kankai-zu 勧戒図 or didactic paintings which depict the deeds of famous Chinese emperors. The genre is based on the Chinese book Dijian tushuo (Jp: Teikan zusetsu 帝鑑図説, Illustrated Mirror of Emperors) which was written by the Ming scholar Zhang Juzheng (Jp: Chō Kyoshō 張居正, 1525-82), published with illustrations in 1572, and presented to Emperor Shenzong (Jp: Shinsō 神宗, 1048- 85). Of the 117 stories, 81 tell of imperial good deeds and 36 tell of wicked emperors. The accounts begin with the legendary Xia dynasty Emperors Yao 尭 and Shun 舜, two rulers of the Northern Song.
The Teikan zusetsu reached Japan in the Momoyama period, and Toyotomi Hideyori 豊臣秀頼 (1593-1615) had it copied and republished in 1606. Teikan-zu often were painted by Kano school *Kano-ha 狩野派 artists for shogun patrons, because Japanese military rulers felt that the Confucian values espoused in teikan-zu helped legitimize their hegemony. Typically, they commissioned paintings only of righteous emperors, particularly those from the Han dynasty. Noteworthy examples include the screen by Kano Sanraku 狩野山楽 (1559-1635, Tokyo National Museum) and wall paintings at Nagoya-jō 名古屋城 by Kano Tan'yū 狩野探幽 (1602-74).