Given the energy and vitality of the Northern and Southern Court period, the (Kitayama) culture during the reign of the third Shogun, Yoshimitsu, was centralized and authoritarian, influenced both by aristocratic and warrior culture and by Chinese culture, while by contrast, the (Higashiyama) culture during the reign of the eighth Shogun, Yoshimasa, was based in commoner culture and was heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism, for example in the twin aesthetic principles of wabi-sabi (the beauty and pathos of loneliness, simplicity, and imperfection).
南北朝時代の活力が背景にあり、3代将軍義満の時代（北山文化）は中央集権的で公家文化と武家文化の影響や中国文化の影響があるのに対し、8代将軍義政の時代（東山文化）は庶民的で「侘び・寂び」という禅宗などの影響が強いのが特色といわれる。