Tosa was a school of Japanese painting that was prevalent in the Emperors court between the 15 th and the 19 th centuries. It was founded it in the goal of preserving the traditional Japanese painting style of “Yamato-e”, but it was also influenced by the Chinese art flooding the market in that time period. Its roots are traditionally conservative and ritualistic, in the style most common in the city of Kyoto . The first Tosa-schooled artists mastered the technique of painting the surface of the paper in a sophisticated and vivdly colorful way that involved the use of finely-hammered gold gilt. In the days of the first shoguns there was a decline in this style's popularity, but in the 16 th and 17 th centuries it was revived to its former, decorative beauty by Tosa Mitsunobu [1434-1525], who brought new life to it and stirred interest in it again.