From the architectural point of view, we must observe that side by side with a new style of building as shown in the Dhyana temples there arose in Kamakura a plain form of private dwelling, known as the tBuke-tsu kunp style).
The troubled state of the times necessitated the manufacture of warlike implements, and great progress is noticed in the making of armors and swords. Lacquer work also made a considerable advance. And it is during the Kamakura period that Kato Shirozaemon originated the,Seto pottery on his return from China where he went to learn the ceramic art.
The Era of the Ashikaga Shogunate (1393-1573 A.D.).— The period that followed the reunion of the Southern and the Northern branches of the Imperial line of descent was one of exorbitant luxury, in which the Sho guns of the Ashikaga family were sybarites enough to live. The astounding indulgence which marked out Yoshimitsu and Yoshimasa from. among other extravagant Shoguns of the time did much to enhance the great develop ments both in arts and industry.
It is, however, not to be forgotten that the austere simplicity and directness of the Dhyana doctrine also fostered a taste for serene beauty among the people and that the tea cere monial was very much in vogue as a form of its expression in the daily life. Hence the studied avoidance of wild luxuriance in the works of art of the period. The pictorial art of the Ashikaga period was totally under the in fluence of the Sung and Yuan masters. Priest Myn-Cho drew his Buddhas and Chinese sages, closely following the modes of delineating things as seen in the pictures of the Takuma school and those of the Sung and the Yuan dynasties. When the ink-drawing had begun to.make its way among Japanese artists, among its votaries were Priest Josetsa and his dis ciple Shubun in the Oei period. These two gradually formed their own school by an eclectic of the Chinese masterpieces. Among their illustrious followers are Shinno, Jasoku, Sesshu, Sotan, Shingei, Shinso, Shokei and Masanobu.
Of all these well-known names that of Ses shu is most conspicuous, his works giving tests to his exquisite way of brushing as well as his fullness of manly strength. Indeed, he may
be said to be the greatest artist Japan had yet produced, his works being marked by great sublimity. Masanobu is the originator of the Kano school. His son Motonobu made a deep investigation of the Sung and the Yuan mas ters, which he deepened by a study of the technics peculiar to the Tosa school. That is how he came to complete what his father had begun. Sesson was also one of the great artists in this period. The Tosa school had dwindled into common place during this period, and Mitsunobu was the only artist of the line who breathed a new life through his assimila tion of the Sung mode of delineation. Sculp ture showed a sign of decay in this period. No great names honored once so flourishing a branch of art. Nobleness of features which characterized the Buddhistic images was not to be seen in the new productions, whose very fineness of outward form only suggest effemi nacy and formality. It is to be specially men tioned, however, that a new activity arose in the carving of the masks for the No-dancers a phenomenon that appeared as an outcome of the rise of the lyric drama.
In the field of architecture, the Dhyana style of Buddhistic edifices had reached its perfection, and the so-called "Shoin-dzukuri" ("Study-room-style") was called into exist ence. The manner of building the room where the tea ceremonial was to be exercised was something wholly unknown in the former periods and as a consequence greatly affected the style of gardening.
All forms of industry had made great progress through the increased demand and encouragement on the part of patrons. The making of armors and swords as well as the peaceful art of decoration was successfully car ried on by their respective masters. Plain, gold or silver lacquering too came to be prac tised with wonderful skill and art. The great zeal with which the fashionable arts of the tea-drinking and the incense tournaments were pursued proved a most favorable stimulus for the production of the much-famed examples of the ceramic art. Many exquisite works of this period came from the furnace of Shozui, who visited China to learn how to make the celadon porcelain from the Ming artists.