| a) History | <MOMOYAMA PERIOD 1573-1614> In 1568, one hundred years after the Onin War, Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto and seized power. Nobunaga was followed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified the country. Hideyoshi built the palace Juraudai as his own residence in the center of Kyoto. He then attempt to fortify the city, by assembling Buddhist temples that had been scattered throughout the city in one area and by building a 23-kilometer earth wall (called odoi, constructed in 1591) around the city perimeter to limit contact with the outside to a few points. Another castle was built in Fushimi in 1594, just south of the capital. In 1603, the center of power shifted away from Kyoto again, this time to Edo (present-day Tokyo), with the founding of a new shogunate under Tokugawa Ieyasu. In Kyoto, Q. Nijo-jo (Nijo castle) was built as a symbol of the authority of the Tokugawa Shogunate and as a stage for celemony. The commoners of the city found Hideyoshi's perimeter wall an obstacle to development and began to dismantle it, eventually removing it entirely. New cultural development emerged during the period from the end of 16th century into the early 17th century, as political stability was achieved, commerce and industry prospered in the cities, and trade contacts developed with foreign countries including those of Western Europe. Momoyama culture was shaped by the military men who had taken power and by the elite merchants who profited from trade. Reflecting their spirit, the period is characterized by opulence and boldness, represented in the castles of the time and, more generally, in an architecture richly decorated with sculpture and painting. Properties representing Momoyama culture include the Sanpo-in residential complex and garden at F. Daigo-ji (Buddhist temple), which Hideyoshi is said to have designed himself, the large Buddha worship halls and magnificent reception hall of P. Hongan-ji (Buddhist temple), which Hideyoshi moved from Osaka to Kyoto as a symbol of the city's revival, and the castle Q. Nijo-jo, of which the Ninomaru Palace survives today. Although both Hongan-ji and Nijo-jo were reconstructed just after the end of the Momoyama Period, the architectural style of these buildings can be said to reflect the characteristics of the Momoyama style. Figure: Distribution of the properties in the early 17th Century |
