Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
RETURN TO UNITY
After a succession of power struggles, the country was finally united in the late 16th cen-
tury by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The first Europeans to arrive in Japan were the Portuguese, who landed on the island of
Tanegashima, south of Kyūshū in 1543.
By the late 16th century, Kyoto's population had swelled to 500,000 and Hideyoshi was
fascinated with redesigning and rebuilding the city, which had been devastated by more
than a century of war. Prior to his death in 1598 he transformed Kyoto into a castle town
and greatly altered the cityscape by ordering major construction projects including bridges,
gates and the Odoi, a phenomenal earthen rampart designed to isolate and fortify the peri-
meter of the city, and to provide a measure of flood control. He also rebuilt temples burned
by Nobunaga, including the stronghold of the Ikkō sect, the great Hongan-ji.
The rebuilding of Kyoto is usually credited to the influence of the city's merchant class,
which led a citizens' revival that gradually shifted power back into the hands of the
townspeople. Centred on Shimogyō, the commercial and industrial district, these enterpris-
ing people founded a
machi-shū
(self-governing body) that contributed greatly to temple
reconstruction. Over time, temples of different sects were consolidated in one quarter of the
city, creating the miniature Tera-Machi (city of temples), which still exists.
The Azuchi-Momoyama period has been referred to as the 'Japanese Renaissance', dur-
ing which the arts further prospered. Artisans of the era are noted for their boisterous use of
colour and gold-leaf embellishment, which marked a new aesthetic sense in contrast to the
more sombre monotones of the Muromachi period. The Zen-influenced tea ceremony was
developed to perfection under Master Sen no Rikyū, who also wrote poetry and practised
ikebana. The performing arts also matured, along with skill in ceramics, lacquerware and
fabric-dyeing. A vogue for building castles and palaces on a flamboyant scale was also nur-
tured, the most impressive examples being Osaka-jō, which reputedly required three years
of labour by up to 100,000 workers, and the extraordinary Ninomaru Palace in Kyoto's
