CNN.com - Millennium

Gold-Plated Optimism

In Hideyoshi's hands, the nation bloomed for the first time in more than a century. There was a new wealth and optimism as cities teamed with life again. Temples and palaces, ravaged by civil war, were restored and covered with gold.

Spectacle was power, and Hideyoshi loved spectacle. This was the period when the tea ceremony evolved as a piece of theater, designed for Hideyoshi by his closest friend and confidante, Senyo Rikyu.

"In recent years," it was reported at court, "Rikyu provided himself with tea implements of a new type and sold them at high prices." The tea-master's disgrace was surrounded by other rumors. He had glorified himself with a portrait sculpture. He had dabbled in Christianity and corruption. Lapses of taste were also alleged.

From Transworld Publishers, Ltd.

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