Ashikaga Yoshimasa
The art of flower arranging developed slowly, with many schools only coming into existence at the end of the 15thcentury following a period of the civil war. The eighth , Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490), was a patron of the arts and the greatest promoter of - tea ceremony - and , flower arrangement. Yoshimasa would later abdicate his position to devote his time to the arts, and developed concepts that would then go on to contribute to the formulation of rules in ; one of the most important being that flowers offered on all ceremonial occasions, and placed as offerings before the gods, should not be offered loosely, but should represent time and thought.