Ashikaga Yoshinori
was a dōbōshū (artist and art connoisseur for the shogunate) in the service of the Ashikaga shogunate, an esteemed suiboku (monochrome ink) painter, renga (linked verse) poet and tate-bana flower artist. He was especially closely involved with the 6th shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori and the 8th shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Nōami served the Ashikaga shogunate as the curator of the shogunate’s collection of artworks known as the ‘Higashiyama Gomotsu’. An astute art connoisseur, Nōami collected and evaluated the imported artworks for the shogunate and developed elaborate guidelines for the display of artworks in shoin rooms such as the mannerisms for displaying hanging scrolls, ornamenting chigai-dana (staggered shelf alcove), displaying flowers and vases on alcoves, and displaying pieces on shoin writing desks. These guidelines are captured in the "Reference for the Display of Objects of Beauty" (Kundaikan Sō Chōki 君台観左右帳記) available from the National Diet Library Digital Collections. He served as an advisor in the ways of Japanese tea ceremony, kōdō (incense) and a variety of other elements related to the arts.