Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), influential Japanese artist, the first great master of the Momoyama period (1568-1600) in Japanese history. Born into the already well-known Kano dynasty of painters, Eitoku was trained in the family's heritage of techniques. His early style showed mastery of traditional monochrome ink-painting, as in his Pine and Crane (1566) at Daitokuji Temple in Kyôto, Japan. At this time he also learned to fill and articulate large areas of wall space.

For Oda Nobunaga and other warlord patrons of the turbulent Momoyama period, Eitoku originated a style that typified the brash vigor of the age, using colorful, sharply outlined forms on flat gold backgrounds. These brilliant, heroically proportioned designs served to illuminate the dark interiors of the warlords' vast castles; however, much of Eitoku's work perished when these castles were later destroyed.

His great decorative cycle for Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle in Azuchi province was destroyed along with the castle soon after Nobunaga's death in 1582. Eitoku also decorated Ôsaka Castle for General Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He died in Kyôto while working on a composition for the imperial palace. Only a few of his mature works survive, such as his Cypress Trees in the Tokyo National Museum.