京都で、代々の絵師の家・狩野家に生まれました。祖父の元信に学び、若くして才能をあらわします。織田信長の安土城、豊臣秀吉の大坂城や聚楽第などの障壁画を、弟子たちを率いて描きました。金地に大きな木や獅子を描く豪快な画風は、まさに天下人の時代の顔です。しかし多くの作品は城とともに失われました。
Eitoku was born in Kyoto into the Kanō family of official painters. He studied with his grandfather Motonobu and showed great talent young. Leading his workshop, he painted walls and screens for Oda Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Osaka Castle and Jurakudai palace. His bold style, with huge trees and lions on gold, was the face of that age. Sadly, many works were lost with the castles.
