Higashiyama Culture

While the culture during the reign of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, flourished around Yoshimitsu's Kitayama villa (the Golden Pavilion of Rokuon-ji Temple) and is therefore known as Kitayama culture, this term is commonly used to describe the culture that emerged in the mid-Muromachi period around the Higashiyama villa (the Silver Pavilion of Jisho-ji Temple), which was run by the eighth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (reigned 1443-73).

The Higashiyama culture period was a time of rise and fall of the ruling class, when the new trends brought by the emerging powers and the traditional culture of the past blended together to produce a unique culture that has also left a deep mark on the lifestyles of modern Japanese people. The central figure in the creation of Higashiyama culture was the unique warrior aristocrat Yoshimasa, but the activities of the Gozan school of Zen monks who gathered around him, the nobles, the warriors (shugo daimyo and their vassals), and the Doboshu (people with the title Ami, many of whom whose place of origin or family background is unknown but who were selected for their outstanding talent in certain arts and served closely under Yoshimasa) were also prominent. Furthermore, various people were involved, such as Noh performers who further developed Noh (Sarugaku Noh) perfected by Zeami, and the Senzuikawaramono, who were considered lowly in the society of the time but excelled in the art of garden design and were highly praised for it. In addition, the economic power of townspeople, including usurers such as sake merchants and doso, who rose to prominence as commerce and industry developed, played a major role. Higashiyama culture was thus made up of the interaction of the traditional aristocratic culture from the Heian period, the samurai culture and Zen culture from the Kamakura period, and the common people's culture that emerged prominently during this period, as well as the highly valued arts and crafts known as karamono, which were imported during the Japan-Ming trade. Yoshimasa, with his extremely unique sensibility and aesthetic sense, tried to select the best elements from the tastes of people of various classes and statuses and to integrate them. Higashiyama Villa (Higashiyamadono), which he built in his later years at the foot of Higashiyama in Kyoto, was left unfinished, but it is considered to be a concentrated expression of his ideals in architecture, gardens, and all other aspects.

Higashiyama culture has many characteristics, but the two most important are the widespread influence of Zen Buddhist thought and the strong elements of its lifestyle and culture, which can be seen in areas such as ink painting, shoin-zukuri architecture, gardens, Noh, tea ceremony (chanoyu), and rikka (ikebana). Higashiyama culture also had a cultural and economic base that reached a wide range of people, which played a major role in it gradually spreading throughout the country through shugo daimyo and sengoku daimyo, eventually taking root deeply in the lifestyle and culture of local communities and standardizing the unique lifestyle and cultural preferences of the Japanese.

[Kiyoshi Yokoi]

"Higashiyama Culture" by Haga Koshiro (1962, Hanawa Shobo) "Higashiyama Culture" by Hayashiya Tatsusaburo (included in "Iwanami Lecture Series: Japanese History, Middle Ages 3", 1963, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

室町幕府3代将軍足利義満(あしかがよしみつ)の時代の文化が、義満の北山(きたやま)山荘（鹿苑寺金閣(ろくおんじきんかく)）を中心にして栄えたので北山文化とよぶのに対して、室町時代の中期、8代将軍足利義政(よしまさ)（在位1443～73）の時代に義政が営んだ東山山荘（慈照寺銀閣(じしょうじぎんかく)）を中心にして生み出された文化を、このように呼び習わしている。

　東山文化の時代は下剋上(げこくじょう)の時代にあたっており、新興勢力がもたらす新しい風潮と、旧来の伝統的な文化とが渾然(こんぜん)と融合して独特の文化を生み出すとともに、現代の日本人の生活様式にまでも深い刻印を残した。東山文化の創造の中心をなしたのは義政という個性的な武家貴族ではあったが、彼の周辺に集まっていた五山(ござん)派の禅僧や、公家(くげ)、武家（守護大名とその家臣たち）・同朋衆(どうぼうしゅう)（阿弥(あみ)号をもち、多くは出身地や家柄などが不明でありながらも、特定の技芸に際だった才能を認められて抜擢(ばってき)され、義政のそば近くに奉仕していた人たち）の活躍が目だった。さらには世阿弥(ぜあみ)によって大成された能(のう)（猿楽(さるがく)能）をいっそう発展させた能芸者たちや、当時の社会で身分的には卑賤(ひせん)とされながらも作庭の技芸において優れ、それによって高い評価を得た山水河原者(せんずいかわらもの)など、さまざまな人々が関与していた。そのうえ、商工業の発達につれて台頭してきた酒屋・土倉(どそう)などの高利貸業者をはじめとする町衆(ちょうしゅう)の経済力が大きく働いた。したがって東山文化は、平安朝以来の伝統的な公家文化、鎌倉時代以来の武家文化や禅宗文化、そしてこの時代に顕著に現れてきた庶民文化が互いに交流しあい、さらには日明(にちみん)貿易で輸入された唐物(からもの)とよばれる美術工芸品の数々が珍重されることで成り立っていた。義政は、きわめて個性的な感覚・美意識によって、いろいろな階級・身分の人々の好みのなかから優れた要素を選び抜き、それを統合しようとした。晩年に京都の東山の山麓(さんろく)に造営した東山山荘（東山殿(ひがしやまどの)）は未完成のままに終わったが、彼の理想を建築、庭園その他万般にわたって集中的に表現したものとみられている。

　東山文化の特徴となると多岐にわたるが、その特質については、一つには禅宗思想の影響が広く見受けられる点、二つには生活文化としての要素が強くうかがわれる点が重視されており、これらは水墨画、書院造、庭園、能、茶（茶の湯）、立花(りっか)（いけ花）などの諸分野において確かめられる。また、東山文化は、幅広い階層の人々を文化的・経済的基盤としていたことが大きく働いて、しだいに守護大名、戦国大名を通じて全国各地に広まり、やがては地域社会の生活文化のなかに深く根づいて、日本人に独特な生活様式や文化的な好みを定型化してきた。

［横井　清］

『芳賀幸四郎著『東山文化』（1962・塙書房）』▽『林屋辰三郎著「東山文化」（『岩波講座　日本歴史　中世3』所収・1963・岩波書店）』

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