Muromachi period

Okay going back to the research for my daughter's garb I think we've decided on being easy on ourselves and doing the Muromachi period. My daughter didn't seem too keen on the 12 layer royal outfits of the Henian period. I figure after spending two plus days researching the clothing of the period she wants her persona in, I should also gather some other info as well for her to get to know. 

What is the Muromachi period?  (thanks to the MMA)

The era when the Ashikaga family occupied the position of shogun (the clan occupied the shogunate for nearly 200 years). Rivalry between daimyo resulted in the Onin War (1467–77) and the collapse of the shogunate's power. This caused the Age of the Country at War, which extended from the last quarter of the fifteenth to the end of the sixteenth century.Despite the social and political upheaval, the Muromachi period was economically and artistically innovative.Contact with China, which had been resumed in the Kamakura period, once again enriched and transformed Japanese thought and aesthetics. One of the imports that was to have a far-reaching impact was Zen Buddhism. Although known in Japan since the seventh century, Zen was enthusiastically embraced by the military class beginning in the thirteenth century and went on to have a profound effect on all aspects of national life, from government and commerce to the arts and education.

Kyoto, which, as the imperial capital, had never ceased to exert an enormous influence on the country's culture, once again became the seat of political power under the Ashikaga shoguns. The private villas that the Ashikaga shoguns built there served as elegant settings for the pursuit of art and culture. While tea drinking had been brought to Japan from China in earlier centuries, in the fifteenth century, a small coterie of highly cultivated men, influenced by Zen ideals, developed the basic principles of the tea (chanoyu) aesthetic. At its highest level, chanoyu involves an appreciation of garden design, architecture, interior design, calligraphy, painting, flower arranging, the decorative arts, and the preparation and service of food. These same enthusiastic patrons of the tea ceremony also lavished support on renga (linked-verse poetry) and No dance-drama, a subtle, slow-moving stage performance featuring masked and elaborately costumed actors.

An example of a classy Muromachi Period lady, wearing a katsugu on her head Japanese

Painters of the Muromachi Period (1338-1573) The Chinese-art of ink painting was first introduced to the Japanese through trading during the Muromachi period. The first painters were the Buddist priests who taught Zen Buddism. They regarded these paintings as tools to spread doctrines. As they started to use painting as a medium in Buddism indoctrination, many art forms started to lose its Buddist quality, such as sculpture.

Famous painters of this period were Shubun (1500), Sesshu (1420–1506) and Josetsu (1425). Their inspiration was of landscapes. In this period, paintings on fusuma, or Japanese screen doors, started. Onkoku Togan was another great artist in this period. Inspired by Sesshu, his works include the fusuma paintings found in the Obai-in Temple in Kyoto. In this temple alone can be found 44 fusuma paintings done by him.