Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan (Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture) Paperback January 11, 2006

Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture

by Donald Keene

Yoshimasa may have been the worst shogun ever to rule Japan. He was a failure as a soldier, incompetent at dealing with state business, and dominated by his wife. But his influence on the cultural life of Japan was unparalleled. According to Donald Keene, Yoshimasa was the only shogun to leave a lasting heritage for the entire Japanese people.

Today Yoshimasa is remembered primarily as the builder of the Temple of the Silver Pavilion and as the ruler at the time of the Onin War (1467–1477), after which the authority of the shogun all but disappeared. Unable to control the daimyos—provincial military governors—he abandoned politics and devoted himself to the quest for beauty. It was then, after Yoshimasa resigned as shogun and made his home in the mountain retreat now known as the Silver Pavilion, that his aesthetic taste came to define that of the the no theater flourished, Japanese gardens were developed, and the tea ceremony had its origins in a small room at the Silver Pavilion. Flower arrangement, ink painting, and shoin-zukuri architecture began or became of major importance under Yoshimasa. Poets introduced their often barely literate warlord-hosts to the literary masterpieces of the past and taught them how to compose poetry. Even the most barbarous warlord came to want the trappings of culture that would enable him to feel like a civilized man.

Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion gives this long-neglected but critical period in Japanese history the thorough treatment it deserves.

Genres: Japan, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Asia, Japanese History, Medieval History

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Donald Keene was a renowned American-born Japanese scholar, translator, and historian of Japanese literature. Born in Brooklyn in 1922, he developed a love for foreign cultures early in life. He graduated from Columbia University in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he studied Japanese at the Navy Language School. After the war, he returned to Columbia for his master’s and later earned a second master’s at Cambridge, followed by a PhD from Columbia in 1949. He studied further at Kyoto University and became a leading authority on Japanese literature.
Keene taught at Columbia University for over fifty years and published extensively in both English and Japanese, introducing countless readers to Japanese classics. His mentors included Ryusaku Tsunoda and Arthur Waley, whose translations deeply influenced him. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Keene retired from Columbia, moved to Japan, and became a Japanese citizen under the name Kīn Donarudo. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 2008, the first non-Japanese recipient. Keene remained active in literary and cultural life in Japan until his death in 2019 at the age of 96.

Reviews

[Steve]

Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490)

[Nota bene: This is a twofer.]

Life and Culture in Predatory Medieval Japan


Japan was ruled by its warrior class from approximately 1185 till 1868, with a relatively brief return to that status quo in the first half of the 20th century. That is a long time to be under the thumb of the military, and I know of no other such country on the face of the earth. H. Paul Varley's The Onin War: History of Its Origins and Background (1967) and Donald Keene's Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan (2003) treat, respectively, the political/social/administrative history and the cultural history of the first portion of that span, the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates, until around the end of the 15th century.

In the late 12th century Minamoto Yoritomo defeated the Taira clan and founded the Kamakura bakufu, thereby forcing the emperor to become a mere figurehead. The Mongol overlord of China, Kublai Khan, sent armies to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281, and though the Japanese managed to defeat the Mongols and their allies (and not just with the help of the kamikaze - holy wind), the strains had weakened the shogunate to the point that the Hojo clan, reading off the game plan of Yoritomo, set up a regent for the shoguns. Now the emperor and the shogun were both figureheads and the actual power was in the hands of the Hojo regent.(*) In the early 14th century the then reigning emperor, with the support of many samurai including Ashikaga Takauji, overthrew the declining Hojo's and the Kamakura shogunate and re-established the emperor's rule. For less than three years. The ambitious Takauji swept away the emperor's military support and founded the Muromachi bakufu. Once again, the emperors were figureheads.



Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), originally erected by Yoshimasa's famous grandfather, Yoshimitsu(**)


This general outline is fairly well known, but Varley, apparently relying heavily on prior work by Japanese scholars, explains the dynamics of the social and political situation during this period; it was anything but static. In Varley's portrait Japan was a constantly evolving and bitter struggle between the peasants, the estate owners, the local samurai, the bakufu representatives and the central government itself, a struggle in which every man was for himself; the local samurai eventually became the big dogs in the yard, at least until Takauji figured out how to bind enough of them to himself to take over. Varley also makes clear the regional differences within Japan that add significant nuances to the picture, nuances also relevant for the Japan of later centuries.

During the Ashikaga (Muromachi) shogunate yet another dynamic manifested itself in which the bakufu representatives gathered the power to themselves, weakening the shogunate to the point that for an entire decade, 1467 -1477, the new powers - the daimyo - fought it out in the capital city itself while the emperors and shogun (Yoshimasa) stood by helplessly. When the Onin War was finally over,(***) very little was left standing in Kyoto (the Kinkaku-ji was one of the exceptions). The fires had ravaged not only the buildings but also all the cultural artefacts accumulated by the emperors and shoguns over the centuries. Fortunately, the most important Buddhist monasteries scattered across central Japan had long become cultural centers in their own right and so some of the brilliant pre-1467 culture remains to us.

Keene sketches this culture for us in his book with an eye towards establishing the claim that the nihon no kokoro - the soul/heart of Japan - was crucially formed during the reign of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Though Yoshimasa may have been one of the worst rulers in Japan's history from the point of view of actual governance, his tastes in everything from architecture, interior design, painting and poetry to garden design and the tea ceremony shaped Japanese culture down to the present, at least in Keene's view. Keene succeeds in making this assertion plausible, but for me the primary interest lies in his portrait of medieval Japanese culture, which I have lamentably neglected in favor of other periods. That is going to change.


(*) Eventually, the Hojo regent became a figurehead and the power devolved to the Hojo clan council!

(**) The pavilion was burnt down in 1950 by a mentally disturbed monk and subsequently restored. Mishima Yukio entered into the mind of this mad monk in his The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

(***) Varley's book includes a translation of extensive excerpts (some sixty pages) of the Ōnin Ki (The Chronicle of the Onin War), written sometime from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 16th century. It is a very interesting, nearly contemporaneous view of the causes and course of the war.

[BattlecatReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 really but it had so many details that I did not care about. This is a book about Ashikaga Yoshimasa, arguably the worst Shogun to ever shogun and I find this hilarious on its own. He was a horrible warrior, a terrible husband and father, and useless as regent, BUT boy, did Yoshimasa love the arts. You name it, he put his money there. Ikebana, tea ceremony, architecture, painting and most importantly Nō (this was the time of Nō legends such as Zeami). And he built the now famous Ginkaku-Ji, the silver pavilion that stands in Kyoto today as much of a contrast to the golden Kinkaku-Ji as it was back then, humble, calmer, further out and dedicated to peace and quiet, or maybe just a way to keep people out of Yoshimasa’s hair?
The book was written in typical Donald Keene style, not too dry but still serious enough to be academic and used as a proper source text. I enjoyed that and the descriptions of things that are still relevant in Japanese culture today, but I did think it had a lot of not really relevant detail in it. There is literally a page about some Nō dude and then we learn he had no impact whatsoever on Yoshimasa. Well, thanks, then?
Donald Keene was one of the greats in Japanese studies and if you want to know more about various aspects of Japanese culture a little more in-depth: Pick up some of Donald Keene’s writings.

[Mark Darrah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of value to scholars, less so to the general reading public.

Ashikaga Yoshimasa may have been the least effective shogun in Japanese history. When he resigned in 1473, Kyoto, the political and cultural capital of country, had been utterly destroyed by an internecine civil war Yoshimasa was unable to prevent or conclude. Thereafter, he devoted himself to his quest for beauty.

As much as anyone, Yoshimasa's dedication established the Zen aesthetic. In his years as an art patron, he painstakingly oversaw the design and construction of Ginkaku-ji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion, one of the most beautiful spots in the world. During this time, the no theater flourished. Poetry, ink painting, flower arranging, and distinctive gardening developed reflecting Yoshimasa's tastes and vision. Even the the traditional Japanese tea ceremony started in a little room at Yoshimasa's mountain retreat.

In this book, though, Yoshimasa remains elusive. The surviving documents from that era, the author points out, do not allow for a well-rounded understanding of the failed shogun turned Zen priest and patron of the arts. The author proposes Yoshimasa can be understood through understanding his aesthetics. To the reader, that feels like a circular endeavor.

Donald Keene spends a substantial portion of the book taking his readers through the convoluted history leading to the Onin War. Although well-researched, the telling is not compelling. Even as the fighting neared the Shogun's home, Yoshimasa remained indifferent. Reading Donald Keene's account, it is no wonder. During the years of death and destruction of the war, Yoshimasa inexplicably lived extravagantly and pursued his love of the arts. The politics and war narrative of this book provides little insight to Yoshimasa's choices.

This study also disappointedly provides little insight to Yoshimasa's decision to become a Zen priest and how that practice influenced his aesthetics and the artisans he nurtured.

Through his work as a translator and scholar, Donald Keene opened Japanese literature and culture to the West. He, too, must have felt frustration at not being able to provide a well-rounded portrait of this man who was so important to the development of the traditional Japanese arts, crafts, and culture.

[Arup Guha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read three wonderful books in first three months of 2021. One of the three, Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion is a great way to get started on Japanese history if you are into that kind of thing. i have always been intrigued by Japan and Germany as cultures. While I have read some amount on history of Germany, this is my first book on Japan. Donald Keene is not only an erudite scholar of Japanese culture and literature; he also has a very readable writing style. This should appeal to readers who are put off by more scholarly ways of writing.
If the image Japan conjures up in your mind is dominated by the samurai and clashes of the katana, be prepared for a very different life in this book. Its one of failure and art and culture and simple but elegant tea ceremonies. The broad story is simple. How the last shogun of the Asikaga dynasty: Yoshimasa, having failed to control the country, the administration, the warlords, his wife and finally his son, built and retired to a mountain retreat and spent the last 7 years of his life creating all that we know as Japanese culture today. Its a story of failure in day to day life, but its also a story of elegance and art and culture and soul. You can read the rest, its an easy read.
My big takeaway was this. If you fail in your immediate short or medium term goals, do not despair. Yoshimasa, was a complete failure in his life. But the things he created, that is the Japan we know of today. Who remembers which daimyo fought who; but everyone knows of the tea ceremony, No, flower arrangement and Japanese architecture that Yoshimasa nurtured into completeness. Think long term.

[Arjen Taselaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small book is a little gem. It is about Ashikaga Yoshimasa, shogun of Japan from 1443, who resigned in 1473 but remained the power behind his son and successor until his death in 1490. Yoshimasa is generally regarded as the worst shogun in Japanese history. During his reign, the Ōnin war raged which was the most destructive civil war in medieval Japan. During that war, when Kyoto was largely destroyed, Yoshimasa hardly occupied himself with fighting (though as shogun he was the supreme military leader), but he did build huge palaces. Donald Keene calls his biography Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion. The Temple of the Silver Pavilion or Ginkaku-ji is, as a building, Yoshimasa’s most visible legacy. After his resignation it served as his mountain retreat in the Higashiyama area of Kyoto that gave its name to the short period of cultural growth that, says Keene, shaped Japanese culture as we still know it. The second and best half of the book is devoted to Yoshimasa’s role in shaping this culture, such as in architecture, gardening, flower arrangement, poetry, painting, the tea ceremony, and nō theatre. This, according to Keene, is what makes out Yoshimasa’s significance in the long run. And he argues it convincingly.

[Anttoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise narrative of the life of Yoshimasa during a turbulent time, who still managed to affect many of the traditional arts of Japan.
And that is what the book mainly is: a narrative of the life of Yoshimasa and his relationship to, for example, garden planning and the Way of Tea.
Because of the title of the book, I would have expected more to be said of the arts. Still, an interesting book and a worthy read to better understand the Onin war and its effects and the part Yoshimasa played in all that.

[Alex Helling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The worst shogun in history might seem to be an odd subject for a book; who wants to know about abysmal failure five hundred years ago? But while a complete failure as a ruler Yoshimasa was pivotal as a cultural figure in Japan and his failures in the political realm were to be a significant catalyst for the cultural. What to do when you can't influence anything and have falling revenues; redefine art and culture! Yoshimasa lived at the very start of the period in which feuding daimyo would plunge Japan into war. He was the Shogun, the leader who was supposed to control the daimyo. The power of the Ashikaga Shogunate was already in decline, but after the Onin war it was truly broken, and Yoshimasa retired to his cultural pursuits. Donald Keene’s biography Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion seeks to capture both the political and the cultural. The subtitle ‘The creation of the Soul of Japan’ shows why this failure in his role is worth reading about.

The creation of the soul of Japan might seem to be a very big claim indeed. How much influence can one person, who may be nominally in charge but in practice had little power, really do in creating a nation’s ‘soul’. It turns out quite a lot. Yoshimasa had an interest across the arts and many of the things we consider uniquely Japanese were either his inventions or grew considerably under his patronage. Of the first might be said the tatami mat, flower arranging and the tea ceremony and the latter noh and painting. Such is the diversity that Keene often barely touches upon them and could surely have managed a much longer biography than we have.

And it is a short biography; only a couple of hundred (quite small) pages and the main text ends at p166. So there is not a huge amount of detail on anything, which of course is both a plus and a minus; no one is going to find too much time is spent on a subject they find dull and tedious but on the other hand the book is quite shallow in all areas.

Being short makes it nice and quick to read. And this is aided by being quite readable. In a more detailed account the political side could have been very confusing, but here it is paired back to the core elements of the conflict and how it affects Yoshimasa, so anyone will be able to navigate it. Keene has clearly thought about his audience and realises that he will often be introducing people to the period and the situation in Japan; he does not take for granted things like knowing the religious situation but provides quick introductions to ensure the reader understands the context without being overwhelmed.

Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion is therefore an excellent introduction to Japanese history of the period, as well as to Japanese cultural transition in the Muromachi period (1336-1573; roughly the late middle ages in Europe). A quick read for pretty much anyone really.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

As was the case with the other book of Keene’s which I read recently, Frog in the Well, his expertise in publishing numerous books on Japan’s literature and a few others on its history was demonstrated clearly in a number of ways in Yoshimasu and the Silver Pavilion.

First and foremost for any scholar is the fact that the author reviewed, assimilated, and integrated information from a wide array of primary and secondary sources. These were referenced clearly in the text and summarized in 24 pages of notes at the end of the book. A 5 page bibliography confirmed Keene’s renowned fluency in the Japanese language because many of the books and articles were in that language.

Second, he provided explanations of the social, political, and cultural context in which the reader could understand the life of Yoshimasu. The influence which his father Yoshinori had on his time as Shogun (military ruler) over the country in the mid/late 15th century was clearly noted. The Ashikaga Shogunate was never a powerful force in the country. The reasons for this were explained by Keene. Additionally, the ways in which Yoshimasu undermined his already limited authority were also articulated concisely.. Finally, the significance which Chinese language, literature, visual arts, and Buddhism played in Yoshimasu’s cultural aspirations were noted throughout the narrative. In fact, if anything there were times when the author’s descriptions of the history of tea, poetry, and Noh drama were so thorough with many individuals named as to become somewhat esoteric, if not TMI.

A third strength of YatSP was the fact that Keene underscored many of the points he was making throughout the book with quotations from his sources. Many examples of the poetry which was popular, some of which been written by Yoshimasu, were included. These allowed the reader to thoroughly grasp the points being described.

Much of the Japanese language vocabulary was translated by the author. It would have been better had he taken the time to ensure that all of it was, however.

There is a photo of the Silver Pavilion and a handful of reproductions of portraits of a few of the people and some of the objects described in the narrative. It would have been preferable had there been more of these.

Readers like myself who have visited the Silver Pavilion and/or have a deep interest in the history of the country will probably find the book worthwhile. Others with more of a passing curiosity might find it too detailed to sustain their engagement.

[カイラーワトソン · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authored by the Japanology GOAT Donald Keene, this is an exploration of the complex figure of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, whom despite being probably the worst of the Ashikaga shoguns as a statesman, contributed the most lasting cultural legacy as a patron of the arts. Keene’s background as primarily a literary critic and translator offers an unpretentious and compelling description of the facts of Yoshimasa’s life (section on his father Yoshinori sticks out) and the second section describing Yoshimasa’s influence on arts like Noh, tea ceremony, and poetry are unparalleled. Worth a read for anyone looking to fill in knowledge of the often overlooked Muromachi era and those interested in the development of Japanese traditional arts.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yoshima and the Silver Pavilion charts the course of the titular Shogun from his birth, to his death and beyond. It is a fascinating read, particularly if you are interested in Japanese history, but also in respect to history in general. Donald Keene makes no secret of what he thinks of Yoshimasa and his administration, calling him in the first few pages a failed ruler. Yet, by the end of it, I came away wondering if Yoshima was indeed a failed ruler at all?
Donald Keene is a master of weaving this story. It has heart, history and humour. It is a great read and I highly recommend it.

[Harold Hoss]

A light, quick overview on the "worst Shogun in the history of Japan."

I enjoy books like this and (readable) histories of Asia in English are few and far between.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been many years since I've read Donald Keene and studied Japanese culture closely, but reading this book reminded me of his great work in this area. It's amazing that the Ashikaga shogun Yoshimasa, who was rated as perhaps the worst shogun in Japanese history, was at the forefront of establishing so many areas of what we associate with Japanese culture: noh theatre, gardens, flower arrangement, chanoyu (tea ceremony), and temple architecture.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keene's lucid, concise, and humane prose illuminates the life of shogun Yoshimasa and his times. It's a perfect mix of history, sociology, and psychology that leaves the reader feeling like they understand both the man and the time better. Keene is a must-read for anyone interested in Japanese history, and this is an excellent book.

[Vivian Blaxell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One is not fooled by the highly discursive accounts and side stories Keene so artfully uses to compensate for the extreme slenderness of the historical resources on Ashikaga Yoshimasa. One still comes away from this book felling that there has been a close encounter withe the man and his mind when in fact the encounter is mostly with his times and the genealogy of those times. Very good.

[Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the book I've been waiting for because I found myself personally spiritually attracted to his final residence, the Ginkakuji Temple.

[Devin Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Left unfinished. Nothing offensive about it, perhaps a little too sterile. Seemed to take forever to get anywhere with what it was trying to say, so I'm going to set it aside.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb

[David]

Donald Keene comes into this one with an argument: that Yoshimasa created the soul of Japan. Or, at least, that without his sense of aesthetics, traditional Japan would not be the aesthetic marvel that it is. The book is easy to read, well laid out, and includes a lot of interesting material from Muromachi literature. Keene's observations and the way he structures his argument are a pleasure.

Yoshimasa built the Temple of the Silver Pavillion, and was a patron of the arts with a deep sense of detail, apparently. He is considered weak, and criticized for having brought on the Onin war. So, as a governor of men he was, perhaps, not successful. But, as a patron of the arts his legacy is eternal.

I recommend this one highly, if you are interested in a picture of traditional Japan in the Muromachi period.