So-ami [Soami] was another great mind who lived a little later. The rock garden of Ryoanji and that of Daisen-in, both in the suburb of Kyoto, are still celebrated as unique works of So-ami, though the former is attributed by some to Zen-ami, who is also accredited by them with designing for Shogun Yoshimasa (1436-1490), the famous garden of Ginkakuji, which has generally been up to recent times attributed to So-ami. There are a number of others with which his name is connected, and fortunately some of these and other celebrated historic gardens have now been placed under national protection to be preserved to all posterity. The founder of the Ashikaga dynasty and his successors were great patrons of art and took deep interest in gardens, having created special officials to supervise them, stimulating their development. It is to be observed that one of the peculiarities of the garden of this period was created by suggestions received from the landscape paintings of black monochrome then in vogue. Furthermore, it was during this period that the three styles of elaboration, shin, gyo and so (finished, intermediary and rough) to be explained more fully later, came into vogue in the art of garden-making as in other branches of art.
[Soami, also called Shinso, was a Japanese painter, critic, poet, garden designer and tea master]
