Culture
As Nobunaga conquered Japan and amassed a great amount of wealth, he progressively supported the arts for which he always had an interest, but which he later and gradually more importantly used as a display of his power and prestige. He built extensive gardens and castles which were themselves great works of art. Azuchi Castle on the shores of Lake Biwa is said to have been the greatest castle in the history of Japan, covered with gold and statues on the outside and decorated with standing screen, sliding door, wall, and ceiling paintings made by his subject Kanō Eitoku on the inside. During this time, Nobunaga's subject and tea master Sen no Rikyū established the Japanese tea ceremony which Nobunaga popularized and used originally as a way to talk politics and business. The beginnings of modern kabuki were started and later fully developed in the early Edo period.
Additionally, Nobunaga was very interested in European culture which was still very new to Japan. He collected pieces of Western art as well as arms and armor, and he is considered to be among the first Japanese people in recorded history to wear European clothes. He also became the patron of the Jesuit missionaries in Japan and supported the establishment of the first Christian church in Kyoto in 1576, although he remained an adamant atheist and never converted to Christianity. During a visit by the Jesuits in March 1581, Nobunaga's interest was piqued by a slave in the service of a Jesuit inspector of missions, and it was requested that he be left in Nobunaga's service. This slave, later called by the Japanese name Yasuke, was highly favored by Nobunaga and fought in the final battle at Honnō-ji. During that time, the persecution of Buddhists was motivated mostly by separating politics from religion. Though it was not fully realized under Nobunaga's rule, he attempted to create a public, rational political authority. The concepts brought up during this change had the potential to radically change society in Japan. The new ideas that came forth were either incorporated into common discourses without changing it fundamentally, built upon at a later time, or opened up new options in the later Tokugawa era that were expanded on.
Read more about this topic: Oda Nobunaga
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)