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The Silver Pavilion That Was Never Silver — Yoshimasa and Higashiyama Culture

The eighth Muromachi shogun Yoshimasa abandoned politics and retreated to Higashiyama, where he built the Silver Pavilion — which was never actually covered in silver. His pursuit of wabi-sabi shaped the prototypes of Japanese culture.

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The eighth Muromachi shogun Yoshimasa was a poor politician — his indecision helped trigger the Onin War — but a first-rate aesthete. In 1482 he built the Silver Pavilion at Higashiyama, which was never actually silvered, reflecting his wabi-sabi ideal. The Higashiyama culture of his era established shoin architecture, dry gardens, tea ceremony, and ink painting — the prototypes of Japanese culture itself.

Ginkakuji (Jishoji) — the Kannon Hall Yoshimasa built at Higashiyama, never silvered, embodying the beauty of wabi-sabi

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Ginshadan at Ginkakuji — a dry garden representing water with white sand, a masterpiece of the Japanese garden born of Higashiyama culture

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Tea ceremony — the tea culture nurtured by Yoshimasa's Higashiyama era was later perfected by Sen no Rikyu as wabi-cha

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

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Key Figures

Ashikaga Yoshimasa