noted in his precise depictions of quail. His flower pieces were elegant, and given some tender sediment. Mitsuoki's sternness of his older style, never lost its dignity, but gained gentleness and tranquility. The Emperor, nobles and rich families collected and preserved his books. Works The Tosa School The Tosa school, in its own history, expressly stated that the school founded in the ninth century owed nothing to the influence of China. But the style of the Tosa school looks like it was greatly influenced by Chinese painting. Apart from religious subjects, it occupied a special position in art specializing in the taste of the Court of Kyoto. Quails and Peacocks, cherry tree branches in flower, cocks and hens, Daimyōs with their samurai in gorgeous ceremonial costumes, were painted as time went on with extreme care and patience and attention to detail. As the years went on, their style became more and more precise, almost down to a science. The Tosa painters towards the end of their popularity, lost much of their prestige to artists of the later Kanō school, whose studies included a wider scope and bigger variety of subject matter. The paintings of the Tosa school were distinguished by the elegance and precision of its design, while their counterparts, the Kanō school, was well known for its power and freedom of design. Tosa School and Kanō School If the past works of the Tosa school and Kanō school are closely observed, there is clear proof that both of the traditional schools have a similar way of handling their draftsmanship. Both were patronized from the Japanese courts around the same time period, and specialized in Yamato-e and ukiyo-e paintings. At the same time, they both served different uses within the Edo court. Kanō painters were usually commissioned to paint the screens and hanging scrolls displayed in official audience halls and other public spaces in shōgun and daimyō residences where men gathered and intermixed. The courtly style of the Tosa artists, on the other hand, was usually deemed more appropriate for the decorations of the private rooms occupied by women and children and for the albums and scrolls that were often included in weddings. However, there was a clear stylistic relationship among the members of the two schools. Not just the artwork was similar between the Tosa school and the Kanō school, the family line between the two has even been