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Fire, the destroyer of so many fine
relics of Japanese civilization, visited this library more than once,
but during the reign of Go-Hanazono (1429-1464) it was restored and
extended by the Uesugi family, who also rebuilt and endowed schools
for the study of Japanese literature in the province of Kotsuke.
Among these schools was the Ashikaga-gakko, under the presidency of a
priest, Kaigen, in the day of whose ninth successor, Kyuka, the
pupils attending the schools totalled three thousand. A few great
families patronized literature without recourse to priests. This was
notably the case with the Ouchi, whose tradal connexions gave them
special access to Chinese books. Ouchi Yoshitaka, in particular,
distinguished himself as an author. He established a library which
remained for many generations; he sent officials to China to procure
rare volumes, and it is incidentally mentioned that he had several
manuscripts printed in the Middle Kingdom, although the art of
block-printing had been practised in Japan since the close of the
eighth century. A composition which had its origin at this epoch was
the yokyoku, a special kind of libretto for mimetic dances. Books on
art also were inspired by the Higashiyama craze for choice specimens
of painting, porcelain, and lacquer. Commentaries, too, made their
appearance, as did some histories, romances, and anthologies.
PICTORIAL ART
As Japan during the Ashikaga period sat at the feet of the Sung
masters in philosophy and literature, so it was in the realm of art.
There is, indeed, a much closer relation between literature and
pictorial art in China than in any Occidental country, for the two
pursuits have a common starting-point--calligraphy. The ideograph is
a picture, and to trace it in such a manner as to satisfy the highest
canons is a veritably artistic achievement. It has been shown above
that in the Muromachi era the priests of Buddha were the channels
through which the literature and the philosophy of Sung reached
Japan, and it will presently be seen that the particular priests who
imported and interpreted this culture were those of the Zen sect.
There is natural sequence, therefore, in the facts that these same
priests excelled in calligraphy and introduced Japan to the pictorial
art of the immortal Sung painters.
There were in China, at the time of the Ashikaga, two schools of
painters: a Northern and a Southern. The term is misleading, for the
distinction was really not one of geography but one of method. What
distinguished the Southern school was delicacy of conception,
directness of execution, and lightness of tone. To produce a maximum
of effect with a minimum of effort; to suggest as much as to depict,
and to avoid all recourse to heavy colours--these were the cardinal
tenets of the Southern school. They were revealed to Japan by a
priest named Kao, who, during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339),
passed ten years in China, and returning to Kyoto, opened a studio in
the temple Kennin-ji, where he taught the methods of Li Lungmin of
the Sung dynasty and Yen Hui of the Yuan. He revolutionized Japanese
art. After him Mincho is eminent. Under the name of Cho Densu--the
Abbot Cho--he acquired perpetual fame by his paintings of Buddhist
saints.
But Mincho's religious pictures did not help to introduce the Sung
academy to Japan. That task was reserved for Josetsu--a priest of
Chinese or Japanese origin--who, during the second half of the
fourteenth century, became the teacher of many students at the temple
Shokoku-ji, in Kyoto. Among his pupils was Shubun, and the latter's
followers included such illustrious names as Sotan, Sesshu, Shinno;
Masanbbu, and Motonobu. It is to this day a question whether Japan
ever produced greater artists than Sesshu and Motonobu. To the same
galaxy belongs Tosa no Mitsunobu, the founder of the Tosa school as
Motonobu was of the Kano. That official patronage was extended to
these great men is proved by the fact that Mitsunobu was named
president of the E-dokoro, or Court Academy of Painting; and Motonobu
received the priestly rank of hogen.
APPLIED ART
Industries in general suffered from the continual wars of the
Ashikaga epoch, but the art of forging swords flourished beyond all
precedent. Already Awadaguchi, Bizen, Osafune, and others had
attained celebrity, but for Okazaki Masamune, of Kamakura, who worked
during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339) was reserved the renown of
peerlessness. His long travels to investigate the methods of other
masters so as to assimilate their best features, are historically
recorded, and at the head of the great trinity of Japanese
swordsmiths his name is placed by universal acclaim, his companions
being Go no Yoshihiro and Fujiwara Yoshimitsu.* In Muromachi days so
much depended on the sword that military men thought it worthy of all
honour. A present of a fine blade was counted more munificent than a
gift of a choice steed, and on the decoration of the scabbard, the
guard, and the hilt extraordinary skill was expended. Towards the
close of the fifteenth century, a wonderful expert in metals, Goto
Yujo, devoted himself to the production of these ornaments, and his
descendants perpetuated his fame down to the middle of the nineteenth
century. The Gotos, however, constitute but a small section of the
host of masters who will always be remembered in this branch of art.
In the Muromachi period alone we have such names as Aoki Kaneiye,
Myochin Nobuiye, Umetada Akihisa and others.** Armour making also was
carried to a point of high achievement during the epoch, especially
by Nobuiye.***
*Chamberlain in Things Japanese says: "Japanese swords excel even the
vaunted products of Damascus and Toledo. To cut through a pile of
copper coins without nicking the blade is, or was, a common feat.
History, tradition, and romance alike re-echo with the exploits of
this wonderful weapon."
**For an exhaustive analysis see Brinkley's China and Japan.
***See Conder's History of Japanese Costume; Vol. IX. of the
"Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan."
LACQUER
It is generally conceded that the Japanese surpass all nations in the
art of making lacquer. They not only developed the processes to a
degree unknown to their original teacher, China, but they also
introduced artistic features of great beauty. Unfortunately, history
transmits the names of Jew masters in this line. We can only say that
in the days of Yoshimasa's shogunate, that is, during the second half
of the fifteenth century, several choice varieties began to be
manufactured, as the nashiji, the togidashi, the negoro-nuri, the
konrinji-nuri, the shunkei-nuri, the tsuishu, and the tsuikoku.
Choice specimens received from later generations the general epithet
Higashiyama-mono, in reference to the fact that they owed so much to
the patronage of Yoshimasa in his mansion at Higashi-yama.
PORCELAIN AND FAIENCE
To the Muromachi epoch belongs also the first manufacture of faience,
as distinguished from unglazed pottery, and of porcelain, as
distinguished from earthenware. The former innovation is ascribed--as
already noted--to Kato Shirozaemon, a native of Owari, who visited
China in 1223 and studied under the Sung ceramists; the latter, to
Shonzui, who also repaired to China in 1510, and, on his return, set
up a kiln at Arita, in Hizen, where he produced a small quantity of
porcelain, using materials obtained from China, as the existence of
Japanese supplies was not yet known. The faience industry found many
followers, but its products all bore the somewhat sombre impress of
the cha-no-yu (tea ceremonial) canons.
ARCHITECTURE
The architectural feature of the time was the erection of
tea-parlours according to the severe type of the cha-no-yu cult. Such
edifices were remarkable for simplicity and narrow dimensions. They
partook of the nature of toys rather than of practical residences,
being, in fact, nothing more than little chambers, entirely
undecorated, where a few devotees of the tea ceremonial could meet
and forget the world. As for grand structures like the "Silver
Pavilion" of Yoshimasa and the "Golden Pavilion" of Yoshimitsu, they
showed distinct traces of Ming influence, but with the exception of
elaborate interior decoration they do not call for special comment.
A large part of the work of the Japanese architect consisted in
selecting rare woods and uniquely grown timber, in exquisite joinery,
and in fine plastering. Display and ornament in dwelling-houses were
not exterior but interior; and beginning with the twelfth century,
interior decoration became an art which occupied the attention of the
great schools of Japanese painters. The peculiar nature of Japanese
interior division of the house with screens or light partitions
instead of walls lent itself to a style of decoration which was quite
as different in its exigencies and character from Occidental mural
decorations as was Japanese architecture from Gothic or Renaissance.
The first native school of decorative artists was the Yamato-ryu,
founded in the eleventh century by Fujiwara Motomitsu and reaching
the height of its powers in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth
century Fujiwara Tsunetaka, a great painter of this school, took the
title of Tosa. Under him the Tosa-ryu became the successor of the
Yamato-ryu and carried on its work with more richness and charm. The
Tosa school was to a degree replaced after the fifteenth century in
interior painting by the schools of Sesshu and Kano.
RELIGION
As one of Yoritomo's first acts when he organized the Kamakura Bakufu
had been to establish at Tsurugaoka a shrine to Hachiman (the god of
War), patron deity of the Minamotos' great ancestor, Yoshiiye, so
when Takauji, himself a Minamoto, organized the Muromachi Bakufu, he
worshipped at the Iwashimizu shrine of Hachiman, and all his
successors in the shogunate followed his example. Of this shrine
Tanaka Harukiyo was named superintendent (betto), and with the
Ashikaga leader's assistance, he rebuilt the shrine on a sumptuous
scale, departing conspicuously from the austere fashion of pure
Shinto.* It may, indeed, be affirmed that Shinto had never been
regarded as a religion in Japan until, in the days of the Nara Court,
it was amalgamated with Buddhism to form what was called
Ryobu-shinto.
relics of Japanese civilization, visited this library more than once,
but during the reign of Go-Hanazono (1429-1464) it was restored and
extended by the Uesugi family, who also rebuilt and endowed schools
for the study of Japanese literature in the province of Kotsuke.
Among these schools was the Ashikaga-gakko, under the presidency of a
priest, Kaigen, in the day of whose ninth successor, Kyuka, the
pupils attending the schools totalled three thousand. A few great
families patronized literature without recourse to priests. This was
notably the case with the Ouchi, whose tradal connexions gave them
special access to Chinese books. Ouchi Yoshitaka, in particular,
distinguished himself as an author. He established a library which
remained for many generations; he sent officials to China to procure
rare volumes, and it is incidentally mentioned that he had several
manuscripts printed in the Middle Kingdom, although the art of
block-printing had been practised in Japan since the close of the
eighth century. A composition which had its origin at this epoch was
the yokyoku, a special kind of libretto for mimetic dances. Books on
art also were inspired by the Higashiyama craze for choice specimens
of painting, porcelain, and lacquer. Commentaries, too, made their
appearance, as did some histories, romances, and anthologies.
PICTORIAL ART
As Japan during the Ashikaga period sat at the feet of the Sung
masters in philosophy and literature, so it was in the realm of art.
There is, indeed, a much closer relation between literature and
pictorial art in China than in any Occidental country, for the two
pursuits have a common starting-point--calligraphy. The ideograph is
a picture, and to trace it in such a manner as to satisfy the highest
canons is a veritably artistic achievement. It has been shown above
that in the Muromachi era the priests of Buddha were the channels
through which the literature and the philosophy of Sung reached
Japan, and it will presently be seen that the particular priests who
imported and interpreted this culture were those of the Zen sect.
There is natural sequence, therefore, in the facts that these same
priests excelled in calligraphy and introduced Japan to the pictorial
art of the immortal Sung painters.
There were in China, at the time of the Ashikaga, two schools of
painters: a Northern and a Southern. The term is misleading, for the
distinction was really not one of geography but one of method. What
distinguished the Southern school was delicacy of conception,
directness of execution, and lightness of tone. To produce a maximum
of effect with a minimum of effort; to suggest as much as to depict,
and to avoid all recourse to heavy colours--these were the cardinal
tenets of the Southern school. They were revealed to Japan by a
priest named Kao, who, during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339),
passed ten years in China, and returning to Kyoto, opened a studio in
the temple Kennin-ji, where he taught the methods of Li Lungmin of
the Sung dynasty and Yen Hui of the Yuan. He revolutionized Japanese
art. After him Mincho is eminent. Under the name of Cho Densu--the
Abbot Cho--he acquired perpetual fame by his paintings of Buddhist
saints.
But Mincho's religious pictures did not help to introduce the Sung
academy to Japan. That task was reserved for Josetsu--a priest of
Chinese or Japanese origin--who, during the second half of the
fourteenth century, became the teacher of many students at the temple
Shokoku-ji, in Kyoto. Among his pupils was Shubun, and the latter's
followers included such illustrious names as Sotan, Sesshu, Shinno;
Masanbbu, and Motonobu. It is to this day a question whether Japan
ever produced greater artists than Sesshu and Motonobu. To the same
galaxy belongs Tosa no Mitsunobu, the founder of the Tosa school as
Motonobu was of the Kano. That official patronage was extended to
these great men is proved by the fact that Mitsunobu was named
president of the E-dokoro, or Court Academy of Painting; and Motonobu
received the priestly rank of hogen.
APPLIED ART
Industries in general suffered from the continual wars of the
Ashikaga epoch, but the art of forging swords flourished beyond all
precedent. Already Awadaguchi, Bizen, Osafune, and others had
attained celebrity, but for Okazaki Masamune, of Kamakura, who worked
during the reign of Go-Daigo (1318-1339) was reserved the renown of
peerlessness. His long travels to investigate the methods of other
masters so as to assimilate their best features, are historically
recorded, and at the head of the great trinity of Japanese
swordsmiths his name is placed by universal acclaim, his companions
being Go no Yoshihiro and Fujiwara Yoshimitsu.* In Muromachi days so
much depended on the sword that military men thought it worthy of all
honour. A present of a fine blade was counted more munificent than a
gift of a choice steed, and on the decoration of the scabbard, the
guard, and the hilt extraordinary skill was expended. Towards the
close of the fifteenth century, a wonderful expert in metals, Goto
Yujo, devoted himself to the production of these ornaments, and his
descendants perpetuated his fame down to the middle of the nineteenth
century. The Gotos, however, constitute but a small section of the
host of masters who will always be remembered in this branch of art.
In the Muromachi period alone we have such names as Aoki Kaneiye,
Myochin Nobuiye, Umetada Akihisa and others.** Armour making also was
carried to a point of high achievement during the epoch, especially
by Nobuiye.***
*Chamberlain in Things Japanese says: "Japanese swords excel even the
vaunted products of Damascus and Toledo. To cut through a pile of
copper coins without nicking the blade is, or was, a common feat.
History, tradition, and romance alike re-echo with the exploits of
this wonderful weapon."
**For an exhaustive analysis see Brinkley's China and Japan.
***See Conder's History of Japanese Costume; Vol. IX. of the
"Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan."
LACQUER
It is generally conceded that the Japanese surpass all nations in the
art of making lacquer. They not only developed the processes to a
degree unknown to their original teacher, China, but they also
introduced artistic features of great beauty. Unfortunately, history
transmits the names of Jew masters in this line. We can only say that
in the days of Yoshimasa's shogunate, that is, during the second half
of the fifteenth century, several choice varieties began to be
manufactured, as the nashiji, the togidashi, the negoro-nuri, the
konrinji-nuri, the shunkei-nuri, the tsuishu, and the tsuikoku.
Choice specimens received from later generations the general epithet
Higashiyama-mono, in reference to the fact that they owed so much to
the patronage of Yoshimasa in his mansion at Higashi-yama.
PORCELAIN AND FAIENCE
To the Muromachi epoch belongs also the first manufacture of faience,
as distinguished from unglazed pottery, and of porcelain, as
distinguished from earthenware. The former innovation is ascribed--as
already noted--to Kato Shirozaemon, a native of Owari, who visited
China in 1223 and studied under the Sung ceramists; the latter, to
Shonzui, who also repaired to China in 1510, and, on his return, set
up a kiln at Arita, in Hizen, where he produced a small quantity of
porcelain, using materials obtained from China, as the existence of
Japanese supplies was not yet known. The faience industry found many
followers, but its products all bore the somewhat sombre impress of
the cha-no-yu (tea ceremonial) canons.
ARCHITECTURE
The architectural feature of the time was the erection of
tea-parlours according to the severe type of the cha-no-yu cult. Such
edifices were remarkable for simplicity and narrow dimensions. They
partook of the nature of toys rather than of practical residences,
being, in fact, nothing more than little chambers, entirely
undecorated, where a few devotees of the tea ceremonial could meet
and forget the world. As for grand structures like the "Silver
Pavilion" of Yoshimasa and the "Golden Pavilion" of Yoshimitsu, they
showed distinct traces of Ming influence, but with the exception of
elaborate interior decoration they do not call for special comment.
A large part of the work of the Japanese architect consisted in
selecting rare woods and uniquely grown timber, in exquisite joinery,
and in fine plastering. Display and ornament in dwelling-houses were
not exterior but interior; and beginning with the twelfth century,
interior decoration became an art which occupied the attention of the
great schools of Japanese painters. The peculiar nature of Japanese
interior division of the house with screens or light partitions
instead of walls lent itself to a style of decoration which was quite
as different in its exigencies and character from Occidental mural
decorations as was Japanese architecture from Gothic or Renaissance.
The first native school of decorative artists was the Yamato-ryu,
founded in the eleventh century by Fujiwara Motomitsu and reaching
the height of its powers in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth
century Fujiwara Tsunetaka, a great painter of this school, took the
title of Tosa. Under him the Tosa-ryu became the successor of the
Yamato-ryu and carried on its work with more richness and charm. The
Tosa school was to a degree replaced after the fifteenth century in
interior painting by the schools of Sesshu and Kano.
RELIGION
As one of Yoritomo's first acts when he organized the Kamakura Bakufu
had been to establish at Tsurugaoka a shrine to Hachiman (the god of
War), patron deity of the Minamotos' great ancestor, Yoshiiye, so
when Takauji, himself a Minamoto, organized the Muromachi Bakufu, he
worshipped at the Iwashimizu shrine of Hachiman, and all his
successors in the shogunate followed his example. Of this shrine
Tanaka Harukiyo was named superintendent (betto), and with the
Ashikaga leader's assistance, he rebuilt the shrine on a sumptuous
scale, departing conspicuously from the austere fashion of pure
Shinto.* It may, indeed, be affirmed that Shinto had never been
regarded as a religion in Japan until, in the days of the Nara Court,
it was amalgamated with Buddhism to form what was called
Ryobu-shinto.
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