Sublime

Iki is a term born during the Edo Period. It was used first in samurai circles to designate men of worth and elegance who followed the code of honor.

Hideyoshi’s supremacy, followed by the systematic repression of daimyo autonomy by Ieyasu (1524–1616), the first Tokugawa shogun, spelled the gradual end of Japan’s ‘Christian century’ and the brief era of openness in overseas trade.