Prominent painters of the Kanoha group include the founder Masanobu KANO, who worked for Yoshimasa ASHIKAGA, the eighth Seii taishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians") of the Muromachi shogunate; his heir, Motonobu KANO, a grandson of Motonobu; Eitoku KANO, who created screen paintings of the Azuchi and Osaka castles; a grandson of Eitoku, Tanyu KANO, who moved from Kyoto to Edo and supervised the creation of screen paintings of Edo Castle and Nijo Castle; Sanraku KANO, who stayed in Kyoto, thus representing a group called 'Kyo Kano.'
狩野派の代表的な絵師としては、室町幕府8代将軍足利義政に仕えた初代狩野正信とその嫡男・狩野元信、元信の孫で安土城や大坂城の障壁画を制作した狩野永徳、永徳の孫で京都から江戸に本拠を移し、江戸城、二条城などの障壁画制作を指揮した狩野探幽、京都にとどまって「京狩野」と称された一派を代表する狩野山楽などが挙げられる。