Lit. recent ages. The proto-modern age that includes the Momoyama and Edo periods (1568-1868). During the former period castle architecture and great warriors' residences took precedence over temples and shrines. Architecture was embellished with brilliantly colored, decorative relief sculpture and sparkling accents of metal fittings. The gorgeous decoration was often bold and unrestrained to the extent that the basic beauty of architectural forms was frequently lost. The Momoyama style culminated in the buildings at the Tōshōgū 東照宮, the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1542-1616). During the Edo period, architecture gradually became sterile. Some scholars have suggested that in part at least the degeneration of architecture in the Edo period could have resulted from the system of families of hereditary master carpenters who rigidly guarded their secret structural methods passing them from generation to generation. Thus there was no motivation for creativity and inventiveness.