Learning wisdom from our historical predecessors that is relevant to the present day, NHK Educational TV's program "The Power of Our Ancestors: The Fountain of Wisdom" (Tuesdays at 10pm) will feature Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, on June 10th. He was a useless shogun with a bad reputation for being indecisive and one of the causes of the outbreak of the Onin War, but the construction of Higashiyama Villa, which he planned in his final years, was a major gamble that saved his life!
The subtitle of the program that day was "The Useless Shogun Yoshimasa Ashikaga's Desperate "Comeback Home Run". The Higashiyama Villa, which would later be known as Ginkakuji, was where Yoshimasa poured his full attention into expressing his own aesthetic sense.
The artists he selected to serve under him were up-and-coming artists who had yet to be established at the time. The gardens were designed by Zen'ami, a former riverside merchant, and his students. The sliding screen paintings were done by Kano Masanobu, who had come to Kyoto from the eastern provinces. Higashiyama Villa was a "temple of beauty for a new age" that brought together up-and-coming pop stars, demonstrating to the world the restoration of the shogunate's prestige.
However, the construction costs were enormous. So what amazing alchemy did Yoshimasa use?
