a city in northern Nigeria, the administrative center ofKano State. Population, 351, 200 (1970). Kano has a railroadstation and is a highway junction; it has an international airportand is a major center of trade for peanuts, cotton, goatskins, andhides. Manufacturers of peanut oil, canned meat, soap, leatherfootwear, tannin, and cement are there, as well as a textile factory. Prior to the 19th century Kano was the capital of thecity-state of Kano of the Hausa nation.
a school of Japanese painting, dating from the second half of the 15th century. It was named after its founders, Kano Masanobu and Kano Motonobu. Early Kano paintings, from the second half of the 15th century to the second half of the 16th, were primarily landscapes and depictions of “flowers and birds” on scrolls, screens, and folding doors. Based on the traditions of the yamato-e school and monochromatic painting, they are characterized by the combination of a stylized and decorative composition with emphatically lifelike details (for example, birds and tree branches). Kano painting was at the peak of its development during the late 16th and mid-17th centuries. At this time, individual details became somewhat stylized and were totally subordinated to the ornamental and decorative arrangement of the composition; this is seen in the paintings of Kano Eitoku, Kano Sanraku, and Kano Tanyu. The works of Kano artists of the late 17th to the 20th century, such as Kano Yasunobu, Kano Tsunenobu, and Taikan Yokoyama, were masterfully executed. However, sometimes these paintings are essentially repetitions of old motifs and are cold and lifeless.