Higashiyama (Ashikaga) Yoshimasa in black robe and his attendant watch the birds flying over a cold river on a windy evening. Ashikaga Yoshimasa (January 20, 1436 – January 27, 1490) was the eighth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1449 to 1473 during the Muromachi period of Japan. On August 16, 1443, 10-year-old shōgun Yoshikatsu died of injuries sustained in a fall from a horse. He had been shōgun for only three years. Immediately, the bakufu elevated Yoshinari, the young shōgun’s even younger brother, to be the new shōgun.Several years after becoming shōgun, Yoshinari changed his name to Yoshimasa, by which he is better known. During Yoshimasa’s reign Japan saw the growth of the Higashiyama culture (Higashiyama bunka),10 famous for tea ceremony (Sadō), flower arrangement (Kadō or Ikebana), Noh drama, and Indian ink painting. Higashiyama culture was greatly influenced by Zen Buddhism and saw the rise of Japanese aesthetics like Wabi-sabi and the harmonization of imperial court (Kuge) and samurai (Bushi) culture.