Tatars playing polo and hunting

This pair of screens depict the equestrian activities of the nomadic Tartars of northern China. Tan'yu's screens are unusual in that they are preliminary sketches of full screen compositions. Tan'yu's ink monochrome and light color renderings are accompanied by various notations indicating his intentions for the use of color in the full polychrome production. Kano Jinnoji (active 1610-40), whom the completed pair is attributed, was Tan'yu's uncle. Unlike his uncle, Tan'yu arranged the scenes in this painting as genre episodes within a seasonal progression from right to left, spring to winter.

In order to be readily accessible to the shogunate, which he served as principal official painter, Tan'yu lived near the gate of Edo castle, at Kajibashi. The residence gave its name to a school of painters who served, in effect, as the painting academy during the Edo period (1615-1868). Tan'yu served not only the shogunate but also a wide range of Edo collectors for whom he was aesthetic adviser and authenticator of Chinese and Japanese painting.