Page 311 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

swords, and fans. Imports included copper cash,
raw cotton and cotton textiles, Chinese ceram-
ics, books, and religious texts.
From the Kamakura period (1185-1333) a
coinage-based economy had been developing in
Japan, with copper coins imported in great
quantities from China in the fifteenth century.
The Ashikaga shoguns did not attempt to mint
their own coins, preferring, or finding it easier,
to control the flow of Chinese coins. During the
Muromachi period a variety of Chinese copper
coins of the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1279-
1368), and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties were in
use. Because the coinage was not standardized
and the quality of coins fluctuated wildly,
traders hoarded good coins, despite frequent
shogunal and daimyo edicts to the contrary.
As Columbus' Journal attests, greed for
gold was the spur that pricked his expeditions
along. Though the gold-roofed palace of Marco
Polo's account never existed, a more modestly
golden palace had been built in 1397 by the
third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu (r. 1368-
1405) as a shogunal retreat in the Northwestern
Hills (Kitayama) of Kyoto, overlooking a lake.
The three-story building, covered with gold
leaf, came to be known as the Golden Pavilion
(Kinkaku-ji). It symbolized Yoshimitsu's politi-
cal and cultural leadership and his interest in
Zen and Pure Land Buddhism, and became a
center of the cultural spirit of Yoshimitsu's age,
known as Kitayama culture. The ground floor
was an Amida worship hall, formal and sym-
metrical in its architecture (a style known as
shinderi)-, the second story was a Kannon wor-
ship hall in the more informal warrior style
(buke-zukuri); and the upper story was a
Chinese style meditation chamber.
Yoshimasa's Ginkaku-ji, completed two years
before Columbus sailed, reflected the straitened
circumstances of the shogunate in Yoshimasa's
day. Built as a Kannon worship hall, the two-
story building was to have been faced with fig. 2. View of the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji), Kyoto
silver leaf; although this was never done, the
building came to be known as the Silver Pavil-
ion and became a center of the culture of the
Higashiyama era. has been described as a "golden age" in Japan Shortage of gold and silver throughout the
In Japan as in Europe, gold was prized. It was for the lavish use of gold in paintings and deco- medieval period prevented their use in a reliable
found in rivers and streams in several provinces, rative arts. The most bountiful gold mines were coinage. The commercial economy that
although the supply was not abundant before in Kai and Hitachi provinces and on Sado Island. developed vigorously in the Kamakura and
the sixteenth century, and some was imported Like gold, silver was used from early times Muromachi periods relied on imported Chinese
from the continent. In the Nara (710-794), for art objects, ornaments, and exchange. Its use copper cash, with occasional reversions to barter
Heian, and Kamakura periods it had been used was restricted only by the limited supply prior caused by the inadequate or erratic supply and
for personal accessories, coins, Buddhist sculp- to the sixteenth century. From the sixteenth quality of the coins. In the late fifteenth and
ture, and works of art and craft. Gold was effec- century silver mines were opened up by many sixteenth centuries gold and silver began to
tively combined with lacquer, paper, and metal sengoku daimyo seeking financial resources for inundate the Japanese economy. The warrior-
to produce some of the finest works of Japanese armaments, warriors, and castle construction. unifiers, Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, coveted pre-
art. Gold mines began to be exploited by the Two of the largest and most famous were the cious metals and used them in large quantities
sengoku daimyo and gold was mined in increas- Omori and Ikuno mines in the provinces of to finance their military campaigns. Hideyoshi,
ing quantities in the sixteenth century, which Iwami and Tamba. in particular, sought to monopolize the mineral

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