能登の七尾（今の石川県）に生まれ、30代で京都に出ました。当時いちばんの勢力だった狩野派に負けない画家として、豊臣秀吉にも認められます。金や色をつかった華やかな障壁画と、墨だけの静かな水墨画の両方にすぐれていました。霧の中に松が浮かぶ《松林図屏風》は、日本の水墨画の最高傑作の一つとされる国宝です。
Tōhaku was born in Nanao, in Noto (now Ishikawa), and moved to Kyoto in his thirties. He became a rival to the powerful Kanō school and won the favor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was a master of both bright gold-and-color wall paintings and quiet ink paintings. His Pine Trees screens, showing pines in mist, are a National Treasure and one of the greatest Japanese ink paintings.
