Hon’ami Kōetsu

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Read Next

Aerial view of Florence (Firenze), Italy from the campanile of the Duomo, with the gigantic dome (designed by Filippo Brunelleschi) in the foreground. Unidentifiable tourists are visible on top of the dome, which provide a measure of the building s scale.

25 Famous Paintings to See the Next Time You’re in Florence

Vandalized Art list. Combo of EB owned illustration (top) and parent Asset 182294. 4 of 11 The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velazquez was hit with a meat cleaver by Mary Richardson

Art Abuse: 11 Vandalized Works of Art

Painting palette with oil paints and brushes. Rainbow colored paints, arts and entertainment

Art History: The Origins of 7 of Your Favorite Art Supplies

Members of the public view artwork by Damien Hirst entitled: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - in the Tate Modern art gallery on April 2, 2012 in London, England. (see notes) (1991) Tiger shark, glass, steel

Vile or Visionary?: 11 Art Controversies of the Last Four Centuries

Sculpture of woman before restoration (left) and after restoration on the exterior of an office building in Palencia, Spain. (art restoration)

5 Art Restorations Gone Wrong

Discover

John F. Kennedy as a boy with his family

What Did We Call America’s Elite Before the “1 Percent”?

Flags That Look Alike

Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time

Santa Claus flying in his sleigh, christmas, reindeer

Was Santa Claus a Real Person?

Thanksgiving Celebration Traditional Dinner Setting Food Concept

Why Is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Celebrated on a Thursday?

Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that

America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci

Hon’ami Kōetsu

Japanese painter

Also known as: Hon’ami Kōyetsu

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Quick Facts

Kōetsu also spelled:: Kōyetsu

Born:: 1558, Kyōto, Japan

Died:: February 27, 1637, Kyōto (aged 79)

Also Known As:: Hon’ami Kōyetsu

See all related content

Hon’ami Kōetsu (born 1558, Kyōto, Japan—died February 27, 1637, Kyōto) was a celebrated Japanese painter of the Tokugawa period who was also an innovator in lacquerwork (with raised inlays of metal and shell and bold designs), a calligrapher, a potter, a connoisseur of swords, a landscape gardener, and a devotee of the tea ceremony.

He was born in the imperial city of Kyōto and followed his father’s profession as purveyor of swords to the imperial court. In 1615 the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu granted him a territory in Takamine, northwest of Kyōto, where he established a hermitage called the Taikyo-an. Together with his equally remarkable relative Sōtatsu, he founded a school of painting that was continued by Ogata Kōrin, the style of which was colourful and strongly decorative, recapturing the Yamato-e tradition of classical Japan.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.