was a Japanese painter and founder of the Hasegawa school.
He is considered one of the great painters of the AzuchiâÂÂMomoyama period (1573-1603), and he is best known for his folding screens, such as Pine Trees and Pine Tree and Flowering Plants (both registered National Treasures), or the paintings in walls and sliding doors at Chishaku-in, attributed to him and his son (also National Treasures).
Hasegawa TÃ Âhaku, born in 1539 in Nanao, a town in Noto Province (in the vicinity of present-day Ishikawa Prefecture) to a noted local family of cloth dyers, although evidence shows that TÃ Âhaku's original family name was Okumura and that he was adopted into the Hasegawa family.
Tà Âhaku started his artistic career as a painter of Buddhist paintings in his home province of Noto. His pictures include: Portrait of Takeda Shingenâ (Seikei Temple of Mount Kà Âya), âÂÂPicture of Twelve Devasâ (Ishikawa Shà Âkaku Temple) and âÂÂPortrait of Nawa NagatoshiâÂÂ.
By the age of 20, Tà Âhaku was a professional painter, and by his thirties had moved to Kyoto to study under the prestigious Kanà  school, then headed by Kanà  Shà Âei. The Kanà  school was well known at the time for their large bold paintings that decorated the castle walls of many a wealthy warlord patron. These were often ink on white paper or gold-leaf decorative wall panels that served a dual purpose of reflecting light around the dim castle rooms as well as flaunting the castle owner's abundant wealth to commission such extravagant pieces. Many of Tà Âhaku's earlier works are in the style of the Kanà  school, such as his Maple, Chishaku-in painted in 1593.
At the same time, he also studied the older Song, Yuan and Muromachi periods' styles of ink painting by examining scrolls from Mu Qi and Sesshà « Tà Âyà Â, which he is believed to have gained access to in his time at the Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. After a period of time in Kyoto, Tà Âhaku developed his own style of which in many ways departed from the bold techniques indicative of the Kanà  school, and called back to the minimalism of its predecessors. The works of Sesshà « Tà Âyà  in particular influenced Tà Âhaku's redirection of artistic style as Tà Âhaku also studied under Sesshà «'s successor, Toshun for some time. Tà Âhaku was in fact so much enamored with the techniques of Sesshà « that he attempted to claim rights as his fifth successor, though he lost in a court battle to Unkoku Togan. Still, the influence of Sesshà « is evident in many of Tà Âhaku's mid to late works, such as his , which were declared a national treasure of Japan are argued to be the first paintings of their scale to depict only pine trees as subject matter.
The school founded by Hasegawa Tà Âhaku is known today as the Hasegawa school. This school was small; consisting mostly of Tà Âhaku and his sons. However, its members conserved Tà Âhaku's quiet and reserved aesthetic, which many attribute to the influence of Sesshà « as well as his contemporary and friend, Sen no Rikyà «. It is suspected that these simple aesthetics protested the usage of intimidation and wealth rampant in the Kanà  school.
Tà Âhaku's most noted contemporary was Kanà  Eitoku, who often competed with Tà Âhaku for the patronage of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Eitoku's death in 1590, Tà Âhaku stood alone as the greatest living master of his time. He became the official painter for Hideyoshi, and produced some of his greatest and most elegant paintings under his patronage. He and his atelier produced the wall and screen paintings in Shoun-ji (temple), commissioned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1593. The paintings were moved to Chishaku-in (temple), Kyoto and have survived. At the age of 67, Tà Âhaku was summoned to Edo and granted the priestly title of by the Tokugawa Ieyasu. There he stayed for the remainder of his life.