岩佐又兵衞
Matal was the youngest son of Murashige Araki, the Lord of Settsu, and also he was known as Katsumochi. He was only two years old when his father was killed by Nobunaga Oda. After he was rendered an orphan his nurse took him to Nishi-hongan- ji Temple in Kyoto to a relative, who was named Iwasa and whose name he eventually took.
Growing up he entered the service of Nobuo Oda and about this time he began painting. After the death of Nobuo he set forth on an aimless tour till he came to Kyoto where he met and beiriended Shin-gan, a priest of Koshuji Temple (1624). Shingan took him to Fukui and introduced him to Tadanobu Matsudaira. He began working for Matsudaira and soon won fame as a painter. When Shogun Iemitsu daughter, Chiyohime, was married to Mitsutomo Tokugawa he was invited to Edo to paint the bride’s wedding gifts in 1639. He later painted the masterpiece known as 36 kasen (36 distinguished waka poets) and presented the work to leyasu Tokugawa. Excelled in paintings after the Kand, Tosa and Unkoku style, though he later originated a style of his own. Most of his genre pictures were scenes from the Chinese and Japanese classics.
