nd Motoori, of whom there
will be occasion to speak by and by.

FINE ARTS

Tsunayoshi's patronage extended also to the field of the fine arts.
The Tokugawa Bakufu had hitherto encouraged the Kano School only
whereas the Tosa Academy was patronized by the Court at Kyoto. This
partiality was corrected by Tsunayoshi., He invited Sumiyoshi
Gukei--also called Hirozumi--the most distinguished pupil of Tosa
Mitsuoki, bestowed on him a revenue of two hundred koku, and gave him
the official position of chief artist of the Tosa-ryu, placing him on
an equal footing with the chief of the Kano-ryu. It was at this time
also that the ukiyoe (genre picture) may be said to have won popular
favour. Contemporaneously there appeared some dramatic authors of
high ability, and as the ukiyoe and the drama appealed mainly to the
middle and lower classes, the domain of literature and the fine arts
received wide extension. Thus, Chikamatsu Monzaemon, of Osaka, the
greatest dramatist that his country ever possessed, composed plays
which have earned for him the title of the "Shakespeare of Japan;"
and as for the light literature of the era, though it was disfigured
by erotic features, it faithfully reflected in other respects the
social conditions and sentiments of the time.

THE MERCANTILE CLASS

From the commencement of Japanese history down to the second half of
the seventeenth century, the canons and customs were dictated solely
by the upper class, and neither merchants nor artisans were
recognized as possessing any social or literary influence whatever.
But in the middle period of the Tokugawa Bakufu--the Genroku period,
as it is commonly called--the tradesman became a comparatively
conspicuous figure. For example, in the realm of poetry, hitherto
strictly reserved for the upper classes, the classic verse called
renga (linked song) was considered to be sullied by the introduction
of any common or every-day word, and therefore could be composed only
by highly educated persons. This now found a substitute in the
haikai, which admitted language taken from purely Japanese sources
and could thus be produced without any exercise of special
scholarship. Afterwards, by the addition of the hokku, an
abbreviation of the already brief renga and haikai, which adapted
itself to the capacities of anyone possessing a nimble wit or a
sparkling thought, without any preparation of literary study, the
range of poetry was still further extended. Matsuo Bas