monial. It is not to be supposed,
however, that these Korean artisans showed any superiority to the
Japanese as artists. The improvements they introduced were almost
entirely of a technical character. Another benefit derived by Japan
from her contact with Korea at this time was the introduction of
movable type. Up to this time the art of printing had been in a very
primitive condition in Japan, and the first book printed with movable
type made its appearance in the Bunroku era (1592-1595).

ENGRAVING: SIGNATURE OF TAKEDA SHINGEN

ENGRAVING: NAGOYA CASTLE

CHAPTER XXXVI

THE MOMO-YAMA EPOCH

MOMO-YAMA

THE epochs of Japanese history from the eighth century until the fall
of the Ashikaga shogunate are generally divided into the Nara, the
Heian, the Kamakura, the Muromachi, and the Higashi-yama. To these
has now to be added the Momo-yama (Peach Hill), a term derived from
the name of a palatial residence built by Hideyoshi in the Fushimi
suburb of Kyoto. The project was conceived in 1593, that is to say,
during the course of the Korean campaign, and the business of
collecting materials was managed on such a colossal scale that the
foundations could be laid by September in the same year. Two months
sufficed not only to construct a mansion of extraordinary
magnificence and most elaborate interior decoration, but also to
surround it with a spacious park presenting all the choicest features
of Japanese landscape gardens. The annals state that fifty thousand
men were engaged on the work, and the assertion ceases to seem
extravagant when we consider the nature of the task and the
singularly brief period devoted to its completion. It was Hideyoshi's
foible to surpass all his predecessors and contemporaries alike in
the magnitude of his designs and in the celerity of their
achievement. Even his pastimes were conceived on the same stupendous
scale. Thus, in 1594, at the very time when his armies in Korea were
conducting an oversea campaign of unprecedented magnitude, he planned
a flower-viewing fete which will live in the pages of history as more
sumptuous and more magnificent than the hitherto unrivalled
festivities of Yoshimasa. The places visited were the cherry-clad
hills of Yoshino and the venerable monastery of Koya, and some idea
of the scale of the fete may be gathered from the fact that to a
shrine on Koya-san, dedicated to the memory of his mother, Hideyoshi
presented a sum equivalent to L14,000 or $68,000.