Ono Otsū
小野お通
Hotei with a Child - Ono Otsu (1624)
Born	1559-1568
Died	1631
Other names	Ono Ozu
Occupation(s)	Painter, calligrapher, Musician and poet

Ono Otsū (小野お通, 1559 or 1568–1631), also known asOno no Ozū, was a Japanese noblewoman,calligrapher,poet,painter andmusician.^[1] She was a student of the arts inKyoto, studying painting, calligraphy, music, chanting, andwaka poetry.^[2]: 41 Her work was noticed by members of theTokugawa shogunate, includingTokugawa Ieyasu andTokugawa Hidetada,^[2]: 41 and she was often hired by them to teach members of their court.^[3] Because she was the author of works that impacted Japanese art during theAzuchi-Momoyama andEdo period, and served several prominent figures, Otsū was proclaimed one of the leading female calligraphers ofpremodern Japan.^[4]

Ono Otsū was born in 1559 into a noble samurai family, but there is not much information about her early life. According to some sources,Ono Masahide, an ally ofOda Nobunaga and owner of a fiefdom inMino province, would take care of Ono Otsū after her father's death. She may have married a daimyo ofNoto province and then relocated to Kyoto following the death of her husband in battle. In the capital, she studied arts, includingwaka composition with the noblemanKujō Tanemichi (1507–1594) and was subsequently welcomed into aristocratic and high-ranking military circles. Learned writing fromKanoe Nobutada, a member of theEmperor's court in Kyoto, one of the Three Calligraphers of Konoe.

She worked throughout her life as alady-in-waiting in the courts of families of important leaders such asToyotomi Hideyoshi,Tokugawa Ieyasu andTokugawa Hidetada. Skilled in poetry, she also tried her hand at calligraphy, painting, music, and cha no yu (tea ceremony). She became famous for her artistic talent and taught both poetry and calligraphy at the various courts. During her life, she was said to have servedFujiwara noHaruko (Emperor Go-Yōzei's mother), Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi,Kodai-in (Nene),Yodo-dono. Some accounts declare that she served in the retinue ofTokugawa Masako, the chief consort ofEmperor Go-Mizunoo and mother ofEmpress Meishō. She was also said to be close to thedaimyo ofUeda Domain andMatsushiro domain,Sanada Nobuyuki.^[4]

Otsū apparently married a member of theToyotomi clan, but they divorced due to her husband's alcoholism.^[2]: 41 After this, she became a tutor for a noblewoman.^[2]: 41

Celebrated above all as a calligrapher, Ono Otsū was also important for her paintings in which she placed a calligraphic inscription on the image. Her style of calligraphy marked by ornamental decorations became a great inspiration for women of the highest castes of theEdo period. She was thought to be the author of theJoruri Monogatari, the precursor toJoruri. She created distinctive style calligraphy, decorated sheets of decorated paper in a pair of albums with scenes fromThe Tale of Genji painted by an anonymous artist from theTosa school. Otsū wrote mainly inkana, interspersed with extravagantkanji for poetically evocative words. The variations, sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic, in the weight of the brushstrokes and the radical spacing between the characters and groups of characters are hallmarks of her style.

Otsū also demonstrated her mastery of the “scattered writing” technique, by which she skillfully placed the poem's records on the page and sometimes positioned the lines of the poem out of sequence. She was also known for her paintings ofZen Buddhism subjects in monochrome ink in the traditional style. Selections of her calligraphy are in the collections of theMetropolitan Museum of Art,^[4] including a 1624 piece known asHotei with a child.^[5]

• Rikei

• 1631 deaths
• Japanese women poets
• Japanese ladies-in-waiting
• 16th-century Japanese calligraphers
• 17th-century Japanese calligraphers
• 16th-century Japanese women writers
• 17th-century Japanese women writers
• 16th-century Japanese poets
• 17th-century Japanese poets
• 16th-century Japanese painters
• 17th-century Japanese painters
• Women calligraphers
• 16th-century women artists
• 17th-century women artists
• Women in the Sengoku period
• People of Azuchi–Momoyama-period Japan
• People of Edo-period Japan

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• Year of birth uncertain