THE MUROMACHI PERIOD. 1393-1573
The reason that the Ashikaga shōguns established themselves at Muromachi
in Kyōto, the civil capital, was that the seat of the Southern dynasty
being near and the tide of battle sweeping again and again as far as
Kyōto, the exigencies of the struggle made it necessary that the
imperial city should also be the headquarters of the feudal government.
Takauji had to intrust the administration of the eastern provinces to
his son Motouji, as the regent (_kwanryō_) at Kamakura, and also to
another general the control of the southern island of Kiushū. At first
the supporters of the Southern sovereign kept busy the regent of
Kamakura and the warden of Kiushū, who remained loyal to the Muromachi
shōgun so long as this trouble lasted. It might have been foreseen,
however, that in time of peace the vantage ground occupied by these
magnates would be turned against the interests of the overlord. Nor did
the central government at Muromachi promise a greater security to the
will of the Ashikaga, for its functions were performed by men who,
unlike several of Yoritomo's counselors, were at the same time the
greatest landlords of the country. They might readily defy an effete
shōgun and lapse into a bitter quarrel among themselves. Special
circumstances were not wanting to hasten the coming of the logical
consequences of the careless organization of the Ashikaga feudalism.
It so happened that the third shōgun, Yoshimitsu, under whom the rule of
the Ashikaga seemed to have risen to its height, was also arbitrary and
vainglorious. He ceded the shōgunate, in 1393, to his son Yoshimochi,
and received for himself the appointment of chief minister of state
(_daijō daijin_), an unprecedented procedure for a feudal overlord since
Yoritomo. After a brief interval, however, he resigned that post also,
and having adopted the tonsure, nominally retired from official life.
Always prone to luxury, he now more freely than ever gave the reins to
his fancy for pomp and splendor. Whenever he moved abroad, he was
accompanied by an escort large enough for an ex-emperor, and such was
the magnificence of his mansion at Muromachi and so great the profusion
of blossoming trees among which it stood, that men gave to it the name
of the Palace of Flowers. After his retirement from official life he
established his residence at Kitayama, where he erected a three-storied
house with timbers and stones of the finest quality, contributed by the
territorial magnates of the land. Its columns, doors, alcoves, ceilings,
and floors were decorated with gold dust. Nothing could exceed the
elegance and splendor of this edifice. The people called it
"Kinkaku-ji," or the golden temple, and it stands to this day one of the
most interesting relics of ancient Kyōto. On the completion of this
gorgeous mansion, Yoshimitsu--or Tenzan Dogi as he was then called--took
up his residence there, and thither all the magnates of state had to
repair in order to obtain his sanction for administrative measures.
Banquets were often given there on a sumptuous scale, the illustrious
host amusing himself and his guests with displays of music and
dancing--_Budō_, _Sarugaku_, and _Shirabyōshi_. The example thus set by
the ex-shōgun was readily imitated by the military men of the time, and
to support all this luxury, it became necessary to increase the burden
of taxation. Yoshimitsu had strong faith in Buddhist doctrines, and
devoted large sums to the building of temples. The doctrines of the Zen
sect found special favor with him, and its priests were the recipients
of much munificence at his hands. He levied contributions on all the
provinces for the purpose of erecting for the sect in Kyōto a temple of
unparalleled magnificence called Shōkoku-ji.
Amid the exercise of all this pomp and while the power of the shōgunate
was thus supreme from end to end of the country, the seeds of future
misfortune were sown. Not long after the death of Yoshimitsu the country
began to fall into disorder. The generals and military partisans of the
Southern dynasty supposed that a return to the system of alternate
succession between the two lines of Jimyō-in and Daikaku-ji had formed
part of the arrangement under which peace was restored, in 1393, and
Gokomatsu raised to the throne. Hence, after the demise of that
sovereign, they looked to see a prince of the Southern line assume the
scepter. But the shōgun's government crowned Shōkō, of the Northern
line. Discontented with this act, Kitabatake Mitsumasa of Ise declared
war against the shōgun, and a number of military men in or about Kyōto
and in Mutsu raised the standard of revolt. Serious disturbance was
averted on that occasion by the shōgun's promising that a prince of the
Southern line should be the next sovereign. The partisans of the latter
dynasty imagined, therefore, that at the death of Shōkō, Prince Ogura, a
son of Gokameyama, would come to the throne, whereas the Ashikaga
family, disregarding the engagement entered into by its chief, again
secured the succession to a prince of the Northern dynasty.[1] This
breach of faith led to a renewed demonstration by Kitabatake, who, in
collusion with the military men at Kamakura, unsheathed the sword in
behalf of the son of Prince Ogura. There rose also another revolt in
Yamato. The supporters of the Southern line, however, never effected any
material success. But before their energy withered away, combats and
tumults of the most inveterate character devastated the land. The
Ashikaga shōguns found themselves perpetually confronted by disturbance
and disaffection. One, probably the principal, cause of the frequent
insurrections, was that the Ashikaga made immense grants of land to
their supporters without, at the same time, elaborating some efficient
system for the control of the territorial magnates thus created. Many
nobles developed such puissance under these circumstances, and acquired
command of such vast local resources, that they gave themselves no
concern whatsoever about any government, whether that of Kyōto or that
of Muromachi, and sided with whatever party they found most convenient.
Personal ambition and individual aggrandizement were too often the
ruling motives of the time. No bonds proved strong enough to secure
men's union amid these scenes of tumult. Even brothers, as in the time
of Takauji and Yoshinori, did not hesitate to belong to opposite camps,
nor were other family ties considered more sacred. In the days of
Yoshimitsu, a great territorial magnate, Yamana Ujikiyo, whose estates
extended over ten provinces so that men spoke of him as _Rokubuichi-shi_
(lord of a sixth of Japan), took up arms against the Ashikaga. So, too,
Ōuchi Yoshihiro rebelled because his success in subjugating Kiushū had
given him confidence in his own powers. The regent at Kamakura, also, to
whom was entrusted the government of the eastern provinces, became so
puissant that his influence almost equaled that of the shōgun, who
regarded the growth of his relative's power with no little uneasiness.
So independent was the attitude of this Kamakura official and so openly
did he affect autonomic state, that we find him adopting the precedent
of the Muromachi ruler and nominating two of the Uyesugi
family--Yamanouchi and Inugake--to the office of _kwanryō_ or regents.
Immense estates were also held by the branch house of Ogigayatsu
Mitsukane, grandson of the first Kamakura _kwanryō_. Motouji (son of
Ashikaga Takauji), carried away apparently by his wealth and strength,
supported the insurrection of Ōuchi Yoshihiro, mentioned above, but had
no difficulty in making peace with the Muromachi shōgun on the defeat
and downfall of Yoshihiro. Thus feud succeeded feud, and campaign,
campaign, arising out of the universal creed that a prize scarcely
inferior to the scepter itself lay within reach of any noble whose
territorial influence and military puissance enabled him to grasp it.
On the death of the fourth Ashikaga shōgun, Yoshimochi, in 1428, there
was no heir in the direct line to succeed him, his son Yoshikazu having
died in childhood. His younger brother, Prince Giyen, but later named
Yoshinori, was supported to the shōgunate by the _kwanryō_. This
chagrined the Kamakura administrator, Ashikaga Mochiuji, who had aspired
to the office, and who now entered into an open warfare with the
_Kwanryō_ Uyesugi Norizane and the new shōgun. Mochiuji was defeated,
and the Uyesugi family intrusted with the sole administrative control in
the eastern provinces.
Yoshinori, although a man of rare administrative ability and military
achievement, was vain and profligate, and treated his generals and
_samurai_ with contempt. An object of his constant dislike was Akamatsu
Mitsusuke, whom he ridiculed because of his short stature and upon whom
he put many slights. This Mitsusuke was the grandson of Akamatsu
Norimura, who, in consideration of conspicuous services rendered to the
Ashikaga in the days of Takauji, had received, and bequeathed to his
children, broad estates. The shōgun's dislike for Mitsusuke was exceeded
only by his affection for a relative of the latter, Sadamura. He would
fain have deprived Mitsusuke of his domains in order to bestow them on
Sadamura. Mitsusuke was indignant at the notion of such confiscation in
the absence of any misdeed to justify it. In June, 1441, he invited the
shōgun to his mansion, where a splendid banquet was spread and a new
kind of dancing was displayed. While the entertainment was in progress,
Mitsusuke killed and decapitated Yoshinori, set fire to the house, and
carrying with him the head of the shōgun, fled to Harima. Thereafter
Yoshikazu, eldest son of Yoshinori, was proclaimed shōgun by the
_kwanryō_. Hosokawa Mochiyuki and Yamana Mochitoyo, having received the
emperor's mandate, marched against Mitsusuke, destroyed his castle of
Shirahata and killed him. Yoshikazu commissioned Mochitoyo to govern the
three provinces over which Mitsusuke had ruled, and the Akamatsu family
was exterminated.
Yoshikazu died in childhood and was succeeded in the shōgunate in 1449
by his younger brother Yoshimasa, who thus became the eighth Ashikaga
shōgun, the _Kwanryō_ Hatakeyama Mochikuni being intrusted with the
administration of affairs and showing great zeal in the service of the
shōgunate. As Yoshimasa grew older he gave himself up to sensual
excesses, and paid no attention to business of state, leaving everything
in the hands of favorite officers. Thus by degrees disaffection began to
appear among the generals and _samurai_. Moreover, the two _kwanryō_
Hatakeyama and Shiba, ceased to work harmoniously and engaged in
competition for the possession of power. Taking advantage of this state
of affairs, the partisans of the Southern dynasty once more raised their
heads and Kyōto again witnessed scenes of disorder, while Mochiuji's
party renewed their opposition in the Kwantō and the rebellion of the
Shōni family still continued in the west. Yoshimasa, nevertheless,
continued his life of extravagance, devoting great sums to the
gratification of his pleasures and to the building of a magnificent
mansion. Careless of the dilapidated condition of the capital, Kyōto, he
caused the celebrated pavilion Ginkaku-ji to be constructed at
Higashiyama, covering the doors, walls, and ceilings with dust of silver
in order to rival the golden pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) built by Yoshimitsu
at Kitayama. In this new building he brought together rare paintings and
costly objects of virtu, Chinese and Japanese, and there also, in
chambers specially planned for the purpose, he inaugurated the tea
ceremonial (_cha-no-yu_), afterward so fashionable in Japan, devoting
his days to the practice of effeminate dilettanteism.
Official duties received no attention, and by degrees his financial
circumstances became so straitened that, finding it impossible to
procure money for the indulgence of his whims, he began to lay heavy
imposts on the people of the provinces and on the merchants of Kyōto
especially, who were taxed five or six times in the course of the year.
Under these circumstances, great discontent prevailed and riots
occurred, the poor breaking into the houses of the wealthy, and
destroying all certificates of debt that were found there, by which
means the shōgun himself was simultaneously relieved of his monetary
obligations. To this device, endorsed in effect, as it was, by the
authorities, the people mockingly gave the name of _tokusei_, or the
government of virtue, and Yoshimasa found it altogether to his taste,
since it extricated him from many of his financial embarrassments. The
shōgun did not even shrink from sending envoys to China with
instructions to prefer requests for money to the Chinese government, and
the latter were not unwilling thus to purchase immunity from the raids
to which their ports were exposed at the hands of Kiushū pirates. Under
Yoshimasa's administration the power and prestige of the shōgunate
declined sensibly; the affairs of state fell into confusion; the most
cruel mandates were frequently issued; customs opposed to the dictates
of humanity and the principles of morality prevailed; the _kwanryō_,
following the shōgun's example, subserved the duties of their office to
selfish ends, and finally this hopeless misgovernment culminated in the
celebrated war of the Onin era, marking the darkest age of Japan's
history.
The proximate causes of the Onin conflict are to be sought in personal
ambition. Yoshimasa, weary of official duties, determined to intrust to
his younger brother, Gijin, the task of administering affairs. Gijin had
entered the priesthood. He was not averse, however, to falling in with
Yoshimasa's plan on condition that in the event of a child being born to
the latter, it should be devoted to a life of religion. This compact
having been made, Gijin abandoned the priesthood, and taking the name of
Yoshimi, assumed the direction of the affairs of the shōgunate, Hosokawa
Kazumoto acting as controller of his household. By and by, however,
Yoshimasa's wife bore a son, Yoshihisa, and being ambitious that her
child should succeed to the shōgunate, instead of retiring to the
cloister, she took into her confidence Yamana Sōzen, a nobleman
possessing domains as ample and power as extensive as Hosokawa Kazumoto
himself, the idea of the confederates being to contrive the abdication
of Yoshimi. A parallel conjuncture occurred in the family of Hatakeyama
Mochikuni, the _kwanryō_. Having no son, he nominated his nephew
Masanaga to succeed him, but on the subsequent birth of his son
Yoshinari, he resolved to deprive Masanaga of the distinction. Further,
the vassals of the other _kwanryō_, Shiba, became split up into two
parties, one espousing the cause of Yoshikado, the other that of
Yoshitoki. Yoshikado and Yoshinari allied themselves with Yamana Sōzen,
and Masanaga and Yoshitoshi were supported by Hosokawa Kazumoto.
The enmity between these rival factions gradually deepened, until in the
first year of the Onin era, 1467, Sōzen attempted to remove Hatakeyama
Masanaga from the office of _kwanryō_, and to replace him by Yoshinari,
at the same time expelling the partisans of Kazumoto from the Hatakeyama
house. A collision ensued in Kyōto between the parties of Masanaga and
Yoshinari, and the shōgun gave orders that they should settle their
dispute by a combat, the guards attached to them alone taking part in
the duel. Sōzen, however, contrived secretly to render aid to Yoshinari,
so that Masanaga suffered defeat. This result caused much chagrin to
Hosokawa Kazumoto, who considered that his honor was tarnished by his
failure to assist Masanaga. He, therefore, privately assembled all his
troops and partisans, to the number of about a hundred thousand, and
posting them to the east of Muromachi, guarded the residence of
Yoshimasa. Sōzen, on his side, mustered a force of some ninety thousand,
and encamped on the west of Muromachi. Then commenced a long series of
fights in which victory nearly always rested with Kazumoto's side.
Kazumoto had the countenance of the retired shōgun, Yoshimasa, and also
procured the recognition of the emperor and ex-emperor, while Sōzen,
taking advantage of the strained relations between Yoshimasa and his
successor Yoshimi, invited the latter to join him, and also obtained the
support of the former partisans of the Southern dynasty by declaring in
favor of the grandson of Prince Ogura.
Combats occurred almost daily, and were accompanied by numerous
conflagrations. The citizens of Kyōto fled from the city, and the
streets were left desolate. In 1470 Sōzen and Kazumoto both died, but
their parties continued to fight as fiercely as ever. Not until 1477,
when Yoshimi had escaped to Mino, did the generals abandon the campaign
and retire to their castles.
[ILLUSTRATION: SOUTHERN JAPAN]
Kyōto had then been a battlefield for over eleven years, and during the
course of the fierce fighting, the imperial palace, the mansions of the
nobles, the residences and warehouses of the people, and many of the
largest temples, had been burned to the ground, books and documents
transmitted from ancient times and invaluable heirlooms and works of art
being destroyed at the same time. In truth, the once splendid city was
reduced, after this war, to a state of desolation and ruin. The military
and civilian classes alike were plunged in poverty. The laws were
discarded; the administration of justice was in disorder. The
territorial magnates in the provinces discontinued the payment of taxes,
closed their districts against communication from without, and governed
according to their own will. The mandates of the sovereign commanded no
respect. After the palace was leveled with the ground its inner
buildings were later reconstructed, but, inasmuch as the territorial
magnates ceased to pay taxes to the central government, the court nobles
found themselves without revenues and the administrative officials were
without salaries, so that some of them had no resource but to wander
about the country and depend on the farmers for means of sustenance.
Under such circumstances the usual court ceremonials were, of course,
dispensed with. Such was the impecuniosity in Kyōto that the Emperor
Gotsuchimikado was unable to hold the wonted ceremony on the occasion of
his accession, and at the time of his death, his funeral rites could not
be performed owing to lack of funds for the funeral. It was not until
the utmost exertions had been employed that the sum of a thousand _hiki_
(2500 _yen_) was collected and the burial rites were performed. On the
succession of Gokashiwabara, also, the coronation ceremony had to be
abandoned for similar reasons, nor could it be performed until
twenty-two years had elapsed, when the lord abbot of Hongwan-ji
contributed a sum of ten thousand pieces of gold for the purpose. While
Gonara was on the throne, even the daily necessaries of life could not
be procured in the imperial court without difficulty, neither could the
palace buildings be repaired, though they had fallen into a state of
much dilapidation. The court, at that era, experienced the extremity of
poverty. It is on record that Sanjōnishi Sanetaka, one of the courtiers,
persuaded Ōuchi Yoshitaka to provide funds for carrying out the
coronation ceremony, which must otherwise have been left in abeyance;
and that the Emperor Ōgimachi, under similar circumstances, had recourse
to the pecuniary assistance of Mōri Motonari.[2]
Not less did the shōgun himself suffer in this period of great
decentralization and lawlessness. He was a tool in the hands of the
_kwanryō_, and the house of the latter was divided against itself. The
stories of usurpations and murders, which continually disfigured the
annals of this period, are too tedious to be related. Finally, in 1565,
the Shōgun Yoshiteru was assassinated by a rear vassal, and his brother,
Yoshiaki, fled for life. It was in this connection that the great
warrior-statesman, Oda Nobunaga, came to the front, for through his aid
Yoshiaki regained his ground and rose to the shōgunate. Unfortunately
the young shōgun was unable to brook the overshadowing power of
Nobunaga, and took means to compass his ruin. The contest which followed
proved too unequal. In 1573, Yoshiaki forsook his office and fled to
Kawachi, thus ending the two hundred and fifty-eight years of the
Ashikaga rule,[3] as well as a century and a half of lawlessness.
Having briefly sketched the political history of the Muromachi period,
we shall now turn our attention to the remarkable history of the foreign
relations of this era. After the repulse of Kublai Khan's invasion in
the thirteenth century, the sovereign and people of China conceived
sufficient respect for the prowess of the Japanese to refrain from any
renewed onset. But the priests of the two empires continued to
communicate with one another. When the long and bitter struggle between
the rival dynasties greatly impoverished the country, some of the larger
provincial nobles sought to replenish their exchequers by engaging in
trade with China and Korea. The custom of officially recognized trading
with China also came into vogue from that time, restrictions being
imposed on the number of ships engaged and the amount of capital
involved. Perhaps more noteworthy than the trade are the exploits of the
Japanese pirates, for about this time the Japanese living on the
southwestern coasts began to make raids upon the seaside towns of China
and Korea, taking advantage of the internal dissensions then prevailing
in those countries. These raiders were aided by Chinese insurgents, and
entered the districts of Shantung, Fuhkien, and Sikkong, burning towns
and putting the inhabitants to the sword. They were in China called
_wakō_, whose very name struck terror among the inhabitants of the
coast. From 1369 the dynasty of Ming, which had just overthrown Yuan,
sent envoys to Japan urging that steps be taken to prevent the raids of
Japanese pirates into Chinese territory, but no satisfactory steps were
taken. A more serious complication was barely averted when, in 1384, an
envoy sent to China by the Southern dynasty of Japan entered into a plot
in collusion with one of the Chinese ministers, Hu Weiyung, to
assassinate the father of the Chinese emperor. The plot was discovered,
and the incensed sovereign would have sent an expedition against Japan
had he not recalled the ill success attending the Chinese arms in
previous conflicts with the Japanese. He contented himself with the
issue of an edict forbidding all further intercourse with the Japanese.
Stringent measures were at the same time taken for the defense of the
coast.
Korea also had suffered severely from the attacks of Japanese pirates,
who engaged in open conflict with the Korean troops, killing their
generals, destroying their barracks, and plundering houses, ships, and
grain-stores. In these encounters the army of Korea showed lack of
courage, frequently retreating before the Japanese raiders without
striking a blow. The earnest requests of the Korean king, in 1367 and
1375, that measures should be taken to repress the pirates, were only
met by the increased audacity of the Japanese raiders. In 1392 Li
Sei-kei, a Korean general who had been commissioned to beat back the
Japanese, raised the standard of revolt and usurped the sovereignty,
changing the name of the country from Kōrai to Chōsen. He dispatched an
envoy to Japan, seeking to establish amicable relations, and the Shōgun
Yoshimitsu ordered Ōuchi, governor of Kiushū, to treat the delegate with
all courtesy. Thereafter Japan often asked for books of various kinds
and Buddhist manuscripts, and the Koreans showed the utmost goodwill in
acceding to these requisitions. Nevertheless the littoral population of
Japan did not desist from raiding the Korean coasts.
After the union of the Northern and Southern dynasties, the ex-Shōgun
Yoshimitsu frequently sent envoys to China, and on several occasions
caused the pirates to be arrested and handed over to the Chinese. Much
pleased at this action, the Chinese emperor sent to Japan, in 1404, a
hundred tickets (_kango_) of the nature of passports, and from that
time, once in every ten years, gifts were forwarded from China to a
fixed number of ships with a fixed personnel, the articles sent
consisting of head-gear, garments, brocade, gold, antiquities, and old
pictures. Even an imperial commission of investiture was also sent, for
China habitually regarded other nations as tributary to herself.
Yoshimitsu seems to have condoned the nominal humiliation so long as he
was certain of the gifts of the sovereign of the Middle State, but when
at his death the Ming sovereign dispatched an envoy to confer on the
deceased shōgun the posthumous title of _Kyōken-ō_ (the King Kyōken) and
to offer various gifts, the new Shōgun Yoshimochi politely, but
emphatically, declined to receive these marks of favor. This incident
terminated the official intercourse between Japan and China. Trade
relations, however, still continued.
A striking incident occurred in 1419, when a flotilla of thirteen
hundred ships of war from Mongolia, Korea, and Namban (the countries
south of China) appeared off Tsushima. The Kiushū barons, headed by the
Sō and the Shibukawa families, who held the office of governors of
Kiushū, beat off the invaders and slaughtered an immense number of them.
Thenceforth Korea held Japan in awe and made no attempts against her. In
1440 the Korean government established amicable relations with the Sō
family, sent presents of valuable books and opened commercial
intercourse. The same year another Chinese envoy arrived with dispatches
demanding in a peremptory tone the establishment of amity between the
two empires, but the Shōgun Yoshimochi declined to entertain the
proposal. In the time of the Shōgun Yoshinori, however, official
intercourse with China was reopened, the emperor sending to Japan two
hundred tickets in the nature of passports which were placed by the
shōgunate in the charge of the Ōuchi family. The Sō family was then
appointed to control the trade with Korea, that with China being
intrusted to Ōuchi. Under the Shōgun Yoshimasa intercourse with China
received considerable development, and parcels of books as well as
quantities of copper coin were frequently forwarded to Japan at her
request. The Ming sovereigns always complied with Japan's wishes in
these matters, but considerable irregularities occurred in the trade
between the two nations, owing to selfish disregard of the regulations
issued for its control. Moreover, Japanese from Kiushū and other places
crossed over to China, carrying with them not only legitimate articles
of trade, but also implements of war. They pretended that the latter
were gifts from the Japanese government to China, but they did not
hesitate to use them for purposes of intimidation when they found an
opportunity to plunder the Chinese.
Still later, in the closing years of the Ashikaga shōgunate, outlaws
from Kiushū entered China and Korea in constantly increasing numbers for
purposes of plunder, the provinces on the Chinese littoral sustaining
great injury at the hands of these marauders. On the flags of the
Japanese piratical ships were inscribed the ideograms _Hachiman-gu_
(Hachiman, the God of War). The Chinese consequently termed these
vessels _Papan-sen_, "Papan" being the Chinese pronunciation of
"Hachiman," and regarded them with the greatest apprehension. With them,
too, Chinese pirates were associated, and the people of China suffered
so much from their raids that the emperor deputed two of his principal
generals to attack and destroy the raiders, but the task could not be
successfully accomplished. From Korea, too, came a request to the Sō
family that they would restrain the Japanese from further incursions
into the peninsula, but the head of the family paid no heed, and the
result was that the Koreans treated with great cruelty a number of the
inhabitants of Tsushima who happened to be sojourning in the peninsula.
This procedure so enraged the people of Tsushima that, in 1510, they
attacked Fusan in force, and having destroyed its fortifications,
returned unmolested to Tsushima. After this, the pillage of the Korean
coast towns by Japanese pirates continued without intermission. It will
be seen in the next chapter that this long history of piracy in Korea
culminated in an organized invasion into the peninsula of large Japanese
forces under the leadership of their best generals.
The closing days of the Ashikaga shōgunate are also noted for the
opening of Japan's relations with the Europeans. Merchantmen of Portugal
arrived for the first time, in 1542, at the Island of Tanegashima, off
the coast of Ōsumi. They subsequently visited Kagoshima, and thence
proceeded to Bungo, where their captains concluded with the nobleman
Ōtomo Sōrin a convention opening commercial intercourse. Thenceforth
Portuguese vessels frequently visited Kiushū for purposes of trade, the
people competing with each other to purchase the rare and valuable
articles offered by the strangers. It was then that firearms were for
the first time introduced into Japan, and the military class, fully
appreciating the advantages of such a weapon, set themselves eagerly to
learn the method of handling and manufacturing it. With trade and
weapons came also religious teaching. In 1548 Francis Xavier, a Jesuit
missionary, with two disciples, arrived at Nagasaki, and by permission
of the Shimazu family, began to preach Christianity throughout the
provinces of Kiushū. This was the first time since the introduction of
Buddhism that the tenets of a foreign religion were laid before the
Japanese people. The alien creed soon began to spread in the island, as
also in the neighborhood of Kyōto, and afterward in Kwantō, Mutsu, and
Dewa. The largest number of converts were found in Kiushū, where the
people built chapels for the purpose of Christian worship. The great
noble Ōtomo Sōrin was an earnest believer, while Ōuchi Yoshitaka, as
well as the Shōgun Yoshiteru, were also converted. So successful was
Christian propagandism in those early days, that in 1581 the Ōmura and
Arima families of Hizen sent envoys to Rome with letters and articles of
Japanese production for presentation to the Pope. Thus in religion, as
in piracy and trade, this period was characterized by a certain
unconscious freedom, which stands in great contrast with the policy of
restriction and exclusion which was adopted by the Japanese rulers of
later ages.
In the domain of learning and literature, the Muromachi period has left
little to posterity. The continual and widespread warfare and
devastation naturally turned men's attention away from intellectual
refinement. Sporadic efforts were made by some lords to encourage
learning, but the latter had almost completely passed into the monopoly
of the Buddhist priests, some of whom continued in active communication
with the source of enlightenment, China. In short, literature must be
said to have suffered great neglect as compared with the attention
bestowed on it in earlier ages. But the contrary is true of the fine
arts. During the period of the Southern and Northern dynasties many
Japanese priests traveled to China for the purpose of studying the books
and paintings of the Sung and Yuan dynasties. Moreover, from the time of
Yoshimitsu, and especially in the days of Yoshimasa, a general tendency
prevailed to refined pleasure and artistic display of all kinds, so that
objects of virtu and paintings by the old masters were enthusiastically
admired and sought after. Under such circumstances art industry
naturally made great progress in Kyōto. Imperial patronage was extended
to painters, an office being established at court, under the name of
_edokoro_, where affairs relating to pictorial art were controlled.
During the reign of Gotsuchimikado the great painter Tosa Mitsunobu,
founder of the Tosa school, flourished. His style was elaborate, his use
of colors skillful and striking, and his brushwork showed great
delicacy and boldness combined. Previous to his time, Chinese paintings
of the Sung masters, distinguished for refined simplicity of conception
and execution, had stood very high in Japanese estimation, their vogue
being increased by the widespread popularity of the Zen sect of
Buddhism, which had been brought from China to Japan during the era of
the Sung sovereigns. People's taste had been educated to prefer simple
water-color sketches to the more showy and labored productions of the
Yamato school. During the Oyei era (1394-1427 A. D.), three celebrated
painters, Mincho, Josetsu, and Shubun, flourished. Mincho's second art
name was Chodensu. His skill in painting figure subjects, Buddhas,
Rishi, Arhats, and so forth, was most remarkable. His pictures were
generally of large size and the few that remain are immensely prized.
Josetsu took for his models the masters of the Sung and Yuan dynasties,
and developed great skill in depicting figure subjects, landscapes,
birds, and flowers. Shubun was a pupil of Josetsu. His favorite subjects
were those of his master, and he excelled in lightly tinted
water-colors. Among his pupils were the renowned artists Oguri Sotan,
Soga Dasoku, Sesshū, the priest Shokei, and others. Sotan painted
landscapes of the most charming and faithful character, and was also
great in figure subjects, birds, and flowers. Dasoku was conspicuous
for the boldness and strength of his touch. Shokei, who is often called
Keishoki, was famous for his pictures of sacred figures and landscapes,
and Sesshū excelled even his master in the directness of his methods,
the sentiment of his pictures, and the delicacy of his execution. During
the Kansei era (1460-1465), he crossed to China in order to study the
landscapes and foliage of that country. The journey added to his fame,
for in the neighboring empire he found no peer, and the emperor of China
as well as the people paid him great honor. Sesshū has had few equals in
the art of depicting landscapes, figures, floral subjects, dragons, and
tigers. Students of his style were Sesson, Soyen, and Tokan (called also
Shugetsu), all artists of note. A contemporary of Sesshū, Kano
Oyenosuke, was taken under the special patronage of the Shōgun
Yoshinori, and his son, Kano Masanobu, who had studied under Oguri
Sotan, was employed in the decoration of the Golden Pavilion, where, by
order of the ex-Shōgun Yoshimasa, he painted the eight Siao-siong views.
His eldest son, Kohōgen Motonobu, was the initiator of a new style based
on the Yamato school of Nobuzane and the methods of the Sung and Yuan
dynasties. His colors were applied with the greatest feeling and
delicacy, and the facility and force of his brush were evidenced by
noble paintings of landscapes, figure subjects, and foliage. He was the
ancestor of the Kano family, and his son, Shoyei, and grandson, Eitoku,
worked on his lines with conspicuous success.
Sculpture and the ceramic industry made progress not less remarkable
than that of painting during the Muromachi epoch. Muneyasu of the
Myochin family stood at the head of workers in metal. He made for the
Shōgun Yoshimitsu a helmet of extraordinary beauty. Another helmet
equally remarkable for the grace and fineness of its workmanship was
forged for Takeda Shingen by Nobuiye, also a Myochin. The era was also
rich in swordsmiths of note. Of these Gotō Sukenori was the most famous.
A short sword made by him for Yoshimasa was considered a marvel of
skilled forging. Glyptic work in various metals found masters of the
highest craft in the representatives of the Gotō family. They took their
decorative designs from pictures painted by the artists of the Kano
school, and reproduced these charming conceptions on sword fittings with
extraordinary fidelity, using the chisel as though it were a painter's
brush. Aoki Kanaiye and Myochin Nobuiye were specially celebrated as
makers of sword-guards, a part of the warrior's equipment on which much
manufacturing care was lavished.
The vogue attained by the _cha-no-yu_ (tea ceremonial) cult under the
Ashikaga shōguns and owing to the efforts of Sen-no-Rikiu, a celebrated
dilettante of Hideyoshi's time, had a marked influence in encouraging
the development of ceramics, and several experts of the craft made their
appearance. During the reign of Gokashiwabara, a potter named Shozui
traveled to China to study the processes of his art, and on his return
established a kiln in Hizen, where the first Japanese translucent
porcelain was produced. Shozui adapted his methods to the canons of the
_cha-no-yu_ cult, making simplicity and purity of style his chief
objects.
The lacquerer's art also made great progress in this era. Its experts
found munificent patronage owing to the luxurious and costly tastes
which prevailed at the time in obedience to the example set by the
Ashikaga rulers. Objects of extraordinary richness and delicacy were
produced, especially in the line of gold lacquer, where the Japanese
workers developed unique skill. Their _chefs-d'oeuvre_ were not more
valued in Japan than in China, where they were known as "_Yatpun
T'sat-ki_." Two other famous varieties of lacquer work had their origin
in this era, namely, _tsuishu_, or red lacquer, chiseled in high relief,
and _tsuikoku_, or lacquer laid on in alternate layers of red and black
and carved deeply, the edges of the design being sloped so as to show
the gradation of layers. Despite the continued warfare and unceasing
disturbance of the Muromachi epoch, the shōguns and the great nobles and
generals affected a most luxurious and refined manner of life, and it
consequently resulted that the blackest era of Japanese history, so far
as concerned the preservation of public peace and order and the security
of life and property, was nevertheless a time of marked artistic
development.
FOOTNOTES:
[1]
100. Emperor Gokomatsu, 1383-1413.
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101. Emperor Shōkō, 1413-1429.
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102. Emperor Gohanazono, 1429-1465.
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103. Emperor Gotsuchimikado, 1465-1501.
[2] The following is the list of the emperors of this period:
103. Emperor Gotsuchimikado, 1465-1501.
104. Emperor Gokashiwabara, 1501-1527.
105. Emperor Gonara, 1527-1558.
106. Emperor Ogimachi, 1558-1587.
107. Emperor Goyōzei, 1587-1612.
[3] The shōguns of the Ashikaga family and the years of their
rule were as follows:
1. Ashikaga Takauji, 1335-1358. 8. Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 1449-1473.
2. Ashikaga Yoshiakira, 1358-1367. 9. Ashikaga Yoshihisa, 1473-1489.
3. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, 1367-1394. 10. Ashikaga Yoshimura, 1489-1493
4. Ashikaga Yoshimochi, 1394-1423 and 1508-1521.
and 1425-1428. 11. Ashikaga Yoshizumi, 1493-1508.
5. Ashikaga Yoshikazu, 1423-1425. 12. Ashikaga Yoshiharu, 1521-1545.
6. Ashikaga Yoshinori, 1428-1441. 13. Ashikaga Yoshiteru, 1545-1565.
7. Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, 1441-1449. 14. Ashikaga Yoshinaga, 1565-1568.
15. Ashikaga Yoshiaki, 1568-1573.