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Article: The arts of the Momoyama period in Japan.
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- September 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Momoyama period (1568-1615) in Japanese history takes its name from the location of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's retirement castle at Momoyama (Peach Blossom Hill), near Kyoto.
Hideyoshi rose from a common foot soldier in the 1550s to become the military dictator of Japan in the 1590s. He helped to unify the country after a century of warfare and then reshape the capital city of Kyoto through his extensive building projects and lavish patronage of the arts, which, incidentally, were important ways for the newly empowered military to assert cultural as well as political hegemony. Shortly after Hideyoshi's death in 1598, Emperor Go-Yozei (1571-1617) declared him a Shinto ...