Characteristically it is a fusion of the traditional culture of nobility and the new-risen culture of the samurai class through the upheaval in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan), and it is also influenced by continental culture through Kango trade with the Ming (dynasty) and Zen sect (Buddhism).
南北朝時代(日本)の動乱を経て、それまで伝統的であった公家文化と、新興の武家文化の融合が特色で、明との勘合貿易、禅宗を通じて大陸文化の影響も受けている。