t Houses) the families of Shiba, Hosokawa, Hatakeyama, Rokkaku,
and Yumana. At the ceremony of his investiture as chancellor (dajo
daijiri) he presented to the Throne a sword forged by Kunimitsu; one
hundred pieces of white silk; one thousand silver coins; ten tigers'
skins, and fifty pounds of dyed silk. To the ex-Emperor he gave a
thousand silver coins; fifty pieces of white silk, and a sword, and
among the Imperial princes and Court nobles he distributed ten
thousand pieces of silver. Such was his parade of opulence.

ENGRAVING: ASHIKAGA YOSHIMITSU

The chief obstacle to conferring on him the title of chancellor had
been that the records contained only one instance of a military man's
appointment to that exalted post. That instance was Taira no
Kiyomori, whose example should have been deterrent to a Minamoto.
Yoshimitsu overcame the difficulty by nominally transferring his
military functions to his son Yoshimochi (1423), and constituting
himself the patron of literature. It was now that his love of luxury
and splendour assumed its full dimensions. He had already beautified
his Muromachi mansion by constructing there a park so spacious and so
brilliant at all seasons that it went by the name of Hana no Gosho
(Palace of Flowers). This he now assigned as a residence for his son
and successor, Yoshimochi, transferring his own place of abode to the
site occupied by the Saionji family, to whom was given in exchange an
extensive manor in Kawachi. Here the Ashikaga chancellor built a
palace of such dimensions that sixteen superintendents and twenty
assistant superintendents were required to oversee the work. Most
conspicuous was the Kinkaku-ji, or golden pavilion shrine, so called
because its interior was gilt, the gold foil being thickly superposed
on lacquer varnish. On this edifice, on the adjacent palace, and on a
park where deer roamed and noble pine trees hung over their own
shadows in a picturesque lake, immense sums were expended. Works of
art were collected from all quarters to enhance the charm of a palace
concerning which the bonze Sekkei declared that it could not be
exchanged for paradise.

Yoshimitsu prayed the Emperor to visit this unprecedentedly beautiful
retreat and Go-Komatsu complied. During twenty days a perpetual round
of pastimes was devised for the entertainment of the sovereign and
the Court nobles--couplet composing, music, football, boating,
dancing, and feasting. All this was typical of the lif