were men of culture and evinced
their love of elegance and refinement by the palaces which they built in
Kyoto. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was shogun from A.D. 1368 to 1393, and at the
latter date retired in favor of his young son Yoshimotsu, but lived in
official retirement in Kyoto till A.D. 1409. He built the palace now known
as the Buddhist monastery Kinkakuji.(133) Its name is derived from
_kinkaku_ (golden pavilion) which Yoshimitsu erected. The whole palace was
bequeathed by him to the Zen sect of Buddhists and is still one of the
sights best worth seeing in Kyoto.

Yoshimitsu has been visited by much obloquy because he accepted from the
Chinese government the title of King of Japan, and pledged himself to the
payment of one thousand ounces of gold as a yearly tribute. It is said in
explanation of this tribute that it was to compensate for damages done by
Japanese pirates to Chinese shipping. But it was probably negotiated for
the purpose of securing an ambitious title on the one hand and on the
other making a troublesome neighbor a tributary kingdom.

Another building which takes its origin from the Ashikaga is the To-ji-in.
It was founded by Ashikaga Taka-uji and contains carved and lacquered
wooden figures of the Ashikaga shoguns which are believed in most cases to
be contemporary portraits.(134)

Another of the notable Ashikaga shoguns was Yoshimasa, who held the office
from A.D. 1443-1473. He retired at the latter date, and lived as retired
shogun until A.D. 1490. In this interval of seclusion he cultivated the
arts, and posed as the patron of literature and painting. That curious
custom called _cha-no-yu_, or tea ceremonies,(135) is usually adjudged to
him as its originator, but it is most probable that he only adopted and
refined it until it became the fashionable craze which has come down to
modern times. These ceremonies and his other modes of amusement were
conducted in a palace which he had built called _gin-kaku_ (silver
pavilion). Yoshimasa left this palace to the monks of Sho-koku-ji, with
directions that it should be converted into a monastery, and in that
capacity it still serves at the present time.

The period of the two imperial dynasties lasted until A.D. 1392, when a
proposition was made by the Shogun Yoshimitsu to the then reigning emperor
of the south, that the rivalry should be healed. It was agreed that
Go-Kameyama of the southern dynasty should come to Kyoto and surrender the
insignia to Go