- Related Topics:
- tokonoma
- Metabolist school
- shoin
- sukiya style
- chigai-dana
The brief span of time during which first Oda Nobunaga (1534–82) and then Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536/37–1598) began the process of unifying the warring provincial leaders under a central government is referred to as the Azuchi-Momoyama, or Momoyama, period.
The dating of the period is, like the name, somewhat relative. The initial date is often given as that of Nobunaga’s entry into Kyōto in 1568 or as that of the expulsion of the last Ashikaga shogun, Yoshiaki, from Kyōto in 1573. The end of the period is sometimes dated to 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu’s victory at Sekigahara established his hegemony; to 1603, when he became shogun; or to 1615, when he destroyed the Toyotomi family. It should be noted that the rigid application of an essentially political chronology to developments in the arts can be deceptive. Many important cultural figures were active not only during the Momoyama period but in the preceding Muromachi or succeeding Edo period as well. Similarly, artistic styles did not necessarily change with each change in political system.
In any case, Nobunaga’s rise is the referent event for the start of the period. He selected Azuchi, a town on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa, a few miles to the east of Kyōto, as the site of his new government. It was there that a purportedly magnificent castle (now known only through records) was constructed between 1576 and 1579 and destroyed shortly after Nobunaga’s death. A product of military necessity as well as an extension of the bold and outsize personality of its resident, this innovative structure presented enormous decorative challenges and opportunities to Kanō Eitoku (1543–90), the premier painter of the period.
Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was, of the three hegemons of the period, perhaps the one most enthusiastically involved with the arts. He constructed several castles, including one at Momoyama, just to the south of Kyōto. The name Momoyama has since become associated, as has Azuchi, with the lavish and bold symbolizations of political power characteristic of the period.
The fact that the two castle sites lend their names to the era seems especially appropriate artistically because the castle was the single most important crucible for experimentation in the visual arts in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The development of the castle also points up several salient features of the age: a display of massive power held by provincial warriors not previously noted for high cultural aspirations, growing confidence in national stability, and the conscription of artists to articulate the new mood.
The Japanese castle was a totally indigenous architectural form that developed in the 16th and early 17th centuries, a by-product of the hostile military conditions that existed in Japan from the time of the Ōnin War and in the following 100 years. Before that time military architecture had primarily consisted of small wooden fortresses; the earliest stone structure was probably constructed in the 1530s. Castle architecture experienced its florescence and most imaginative expression in the period from 1600 to 1615. In fact, most of the extant castles are products of that period. By 1615, however, each domain was allowed only one castle, and all other castles were ordered destroyed. Indeed, further castle building by the domain lords, or daimyo, was later banned. Continuing need for fortification would have implied either hostile intention or impending instability. Either suggestion was unacceptable to the Tokugawa rulers.
The general castle layout consisted of a donjon, or reinforced tower, called the tenshu, around which were arranged gardens, parks, and fortified buildings used for both official and private purposes. The whole was surrounded by deep moats and massive stone walls. Castle interiors presented a new dimension of decorative challenges. Large, generally dark spaces were subdivided by sliding panels (fusuma) and folding screens (byōbu). These two elements provided the format, depending on the wealth and predilection of the patron daimyo, for extensive painting programs. While architectural and religious iconographic needs of previous eras required paintings of considerable scale, the quantity, stylistic bravura, and thematic innovations of the Azuchi-Momoyama period are singular in the burst of confident national energy that they represent.
The shoin style noted first in the Muromachi period continued to be refined. A veranda linked the interior of most structures with the carefully arranged, highly cultivated exterior gardens. An interior room with shelving and a tokonoma (alcove) for the display of a hanging scroll of painting or calligraphy continued to be the primary showroom for fine arts, although fusuma and byōbu decorated with large-scale paintings could be found throughout the structure. The main room was often divided into two levels, the slightly raised one, which was backed by the tokonoma and fronted by decorative wood carving, being reserved for the highest-ranking person present. Unlike the shinden style, which used curtains and folding screens to partition small areas of a single large room, shoin-style structures were divided into several rooms by fixed walls and sliding doors. With variations in scale, this was also true for the architecture of religious establishments.
The Tokugawa, or Edo, period
At the death of the Momoyama leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, his five-year-old son, Hideyori, inherited nominal rule, but true power was held by Hideyoshi’s counselors, among whom Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) was the most prominent. Ieyasu assumed the title of shogun in 1603, and the de facto seat of government was moved from Kyōto to his headquarters in Edo (now Tokyo). Ieyasu completed his rise to power when he defeated the remaining Toyotomi forces in 1615. These events marked the beginning of more than 250 years of national unity, a period known as either Tokugawa, after the ruling clan, or Edo, after the new political centre.
The government system implemented by the Tokugawa rulers is called the bakuhan, a combination of bakufu (“tent government,” or military shogunate) and han (“domain of a daimyo”). The new order allowed for comparative discretionary rule within the several hundred domains, but the daimyo were required to pay periodic visits to Edo and to maintain a residence there in which family members or important colleagues remained, a gentle form of hostage holding and a major factor in the city’s rapid growth.
In order to legitimize their rule and to maintain stability, the shoguns espoused a Neo-Confucian ideology that reinforced the social hierarchy placing warrior, peasant, artisan, and merchant in descending order. The early economy was based on agriculture, with rice as the measured unit of wealth. The warrior, the highest-ranking member of society, was salaried on rice and soon found his net worth fluctuating as wildly as the annual harvest yields. The merchant, on the other hand, who ranked lowest because he was understood to live off the labour of others, prospered in this time of peace and dramatic urban growth, a phenomenon that gave the lie to his theoretical value in the social order. Thus, from the inception of Tokugawa rule there was an implicit tension between the realities of a strong emerging urban culture, an inefficient agrarian economy, and a promulgated ideal of social order.
Most direct contact with foreigners was limited during this period, especially after a policy of national seclusion was instituted in 1639. The Dutch trading post of Deshima in Nagasaki Harbour was Japan’s primary window on the outside world, providing a steady stream of Western visual images, most often in print form and frequently once removed from Europe through a Chinese interpretation. Western themes, techniques, and certain optical technology suggested new ways of seeing to Japanese artists.
Through the 18th century the conduit at Deshima was controlled by the whims or interests of individual administrations. Tokugawa Yoshimune (reigned 1716–45), for example, allowed a considerable influx of foreign books. This was a stimulus to the great intellectual and artistic ferment of that century. In the 19th century, however, relations with the outside world ceased to be a controlled exercise in curiosity. Although Japan’s limited natural resources offered no major temptation to colonizers, Western nations increased pressure on Japan to open its ports. The transition in sea travel from sail to steam put new demands on Western trading and naval fleets. Japan’s strategic location, with its potential as a port for refueling and trade, was ever more evident. During the 1850s, treaties agreed to by a weakened shogunate raised the ire of many. In the south and west the domains of Chōshū and Satsuma, which held long-festering resentment of the Tokugawa reign, led rebellions during the 1860s. They overpowered the shogunal forces and “restored” the emperor in 1868, ending Tokugawa rule.
The feelings of nationalism that contributed to the imperial restoration had begun to develop in the 18th century, when a school of nativist ideology and learning arose. Partly in response to the shogunate’s emulation of Chinese culture, this mode of thinking posited the uniqueness and inherent superiority of Japanese culture. It encouraged detailed research of classical Japanese literature, formed a philosophical base for a systematization of Shintō, and promoted direct national allegiance to the emperor rather than the shogun—especially when the shogunate seemed to fail in its duty to repel the encroaching Western powers. In the visual arts this “national learning” (kokugaku) was expressed by an increase in an existing interest in courtly and classical themes.
Architectural developments reflected the major tendencies found in other aspects of the visual arts. There were the quite differing perspectives provided by the aristocratic revival and the bombastic display favoured by the newly powerful. The mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, begun in 1636 and located in the mountainous area of Nikkō, north of Edo, features an abundance of polychrome decorative carving and exaggerated curving lines and is perhaps the quintessence of the floridly decorated, ostentatious form. But much residential architecture also began to feature elaborate decorative carvings on interior and exterior panels and joints.
The Katsura Imperial Villa, built between 1620 and 1624 on the southwestern edge of Kyōto, is the most outstanding example of a cohesive attempt to integrate a mannered interpretation of Heian styles with the architectural innovations spurred by the development of the tea ceremony. Carefully planned meandering paths lead to and from the central structures through gardens dotted with small pavilion structures and tea huts offering orchestrated and allusive views. Perhaps a more moderate and quite beautiful example suggesting more subdued tastes within the shogunal and daimyo ranks is Kenroku Garden and its surrounding structures, located at Kanazawa, capital of the Maeda family domain northeast of Kyōto. In general, the Edo garden, which underwent various refinements throughout the period, is bold and beautiful but more obviously crafted than the tea gardens of the Muromachi period. Nature’s flaws have been disguised and the hand of the landscaper shows clearly.
