History of Chanoyu

Prehistory of Chanoyu
In the “Cha-kyo” (The Classic of Tea) written by Rikyu (733-804), who is known as the “Sage of Tea” during the Tang Dynasty, it is said that tea drinking began with the legendary Chinese god of agriculture, Shennong (c. 2780 BC). Shennong is also said to have written the “Shoku-kyo” (The Classic of Food), which contains the passage “Tamei-kyu-fuku, hito-wo-ryoku-yoshi-shi. (If one drinks tea for a long time, it will make one strong and give one a pleasant spirit).
In the “Shennong Herbal Classic”, it is written “Shennong tasted 100 different kinds of grass, and one day he was poisoned by 72 different kinds of poison, but he was able to cure himself with tea”.
It is thought that the original form of the “Shennong Bencao Jing” was organized in the latter half of the 2nd century, but in later generations, it seems that many different versions of the text were produced, with differences in the number of medicines and the text, etc. Tao Hongjing (456-536) 456-536) compiled three volumes of the Shennong Bencao Jing, a total of 730 medicinal herbs, by collecting ancient texts that were being passed down at the time around 500 AD. The first volume contains a legend and an introduction to the theory of medicine, while the second and third volumes contain detailed discussions of individual medicines. The three classifications of superior, middle and inferior are used in the natural classification of stones, plants and trees, and are adopted from the original “Shennong (Bencao) Jing” The 365 drugs and their descriptions that were adopted from the original “Shennong (Bencao) Jing” were written in red ink, while the 365 drugs and their descriptions that were taken from the “Mingyi Bielu” (A Separate Record of Famous Physicians), a medical text that contained at least 730 drugs, were written in black ink, and the two were clearly distinguished. Tao Hongjing added his own notes throughout the text, and it was compiled into three volumes of “Bencao Ji Zhu” (Collected Notes on the Compendium of Materia Medica), which were later revised into a seven-volume edition.
In the dictionary “Jiga” by Duke Zhou (d. 753 BC), it is written that “du is a bitter herb” and “du is a bitter herb”, and in the “Jiga” commentary by Guo Pu (276-324), it is written that “the tree is small and looks like a gardenia, and the leaves grow in winter. Now it is called ‘dah’ for early harvest, ‘myo’ for late harvest, and ‘kudzu’ for the one with the top of the leaf curled up.
In the Shijing, China’s oldest collection of poems, which is said to contain 300 poems selected by Confucius (551-479 BC) from ancient poems, there is a description of tea that says “Who says tea is bitter, its taste is like that of Qi” is mentioned in the “Annals of Yan” by Yan Hui (c. 500 BC), and this shows that tea was already fairly widespread at this time.
In Wang Bao’s “Doyaku” (a contract with a slave) dated January 15th of the third year of the Han Dynasty (59 BC), there are the phrases “Pung-da-jin-gu” (to prepare all the utensils for making tea) and “Buyang-mai-da” (to buy tea in Buyang), showing that going to Buyang to buy tea was included in the contract with the slave. (to buy tea in Buyang)”, and the fact that buying tea in Buyang was included in the contract with the slave shows that tea was already a commercial product at the time.
In the dictionary “Kouga” written by Zhang Ji of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), it says, “In Jingba, they make cakes from the leaves, and when the leaves are old, they make cakes from the rice paste. To make a drink, first roast the leaves until they are red, then grind them up and put them in a porcelain bowl, pour hot water over them, and add spring onions, ginger and tangerine peel. The drink helps to sober up and keeps you awake. “During the Keiha period, the leaves were used to make rice cakes. For the older leaves, rice paste was used to make the rice cakes. If you want to drink the tea, first roast it until it turns red, then pound it and place it in a porcelain bowl, cover it with hot water, and mix it with spring onions, ginger and mandarin oranges. If you drink it, it will sober you up and keep you awake. (In the area between Jingzhou, Hubei Province and Ba, Chongqing, Sichuan Province, the leaves are collected and made into cakes. The older the leaves, the firmer the rice paste becomes. To make the tea, you first roast the tea leaves until they turn red, pound them in a mortar, put them in a porcelain bowl, soak them in hot water, and mix them with spring onions, ginger and mandarin peel. (Drinking this will sober you up from the effects of alcohol and prevent you from sleeping.) It seems that the tea leaves are formed into a rice cake-like shape, and when drinking, they are first pounded in a mortar to make a powder, which is then put into a porcelain bowl, hot water is poured over it, and then the condiments are added. This is not very different from the way of drinking described in the ‘Cha-kyo’ (The Classic of Tea) that we will discuss later.
By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), tea had spread throughout China, and the custom of drinking tea had become popular among the general public. From the time of Emperor Xuanzong’s Kaiyuan era (713-41), tea houses began to appear in the city of Chang’an appeared in the city of Chang’an, and by the late Tang dynasty, Wang Shi, a scholar who had passed the state examination, had written a humorous book called “Tea and Wine”, in which he had tea and wine describe their respective benefits using personification, and then have them compete with each other.
In this context, Lu Yu wrote “The Classic of Tea” around the year 760 (the first year of the Shougen era). The Chajing, which begins with the words “Cha-sha, nanboku no kaboku ya” (Tea is a fine tree of the south), is a systematic summary of knowledge about tea from the Tang Dynasty and before. In the preface to the Chajing, Chen Shidao (1053-1101) of the Song Dynasty wrote, “The first person to write a book about tea was Lu Yu, and it was also he who first put tea to practical use. Lu Yu truly deserves the title of ‘tea sage’.” (The first person to write a book about tea was Lu Yu. Tea was first used in the world by Lu Yu. Lu Yu was truly a great contributor to tea.) As you can see, Lu Yu came to be revered as the “Sage of Tea” and the “God of Tea”.
In Japan, it is thought that the custom of drinking tea was accepted early on with the arrival of Buddhism, and in the Shosoin Documents from the Nara period (710-84), there are references to “15 bundles of tea” and “7 bundles of tea”.
In the book ‘Kuji-Kogen’ by Ichijyo Kanryo (1402-81), it is written that in 729, Emperor Shomu “summoned 100 monks to the inner sanctum and had them recite the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, and on the second On the second day, tea was served in a ceremony called ‘gyochan no gi’”. In the ‘Toudaiji Yoroku’ (a record of the history of Todaiji Temple), it is written that ‘Gyoki (668-749) built 49 halls and temples in various provinces, and also planted tea trees’.
There is a legend (in the “Hie Shrine Shinto Secret Records”) that Saicho, who returned from China in 805, brought tea seeds back from China and planted them in the area of Sakamoto at the foot of Mt. Hiei, and in the “Kobo Daishi Chronology” written in 1833 written in 1833, it is said that “when the priest Kukai returned from China, he brought tea back with him and presented it to Emperor Saga”. It is also said that Kukai, who returned to Japan in 806, brought tea back from China.
The first appearance of tea in the official historical record is in the Nihon Kouki, which states that in April of the 6th year of the Kounin era (815), the priest Eichiu (743-816) presented tea to Emperor Saga (786-842) at the Boushaku-ji temple in Omi. and passed by the temple of Sōfuku-ji. The high priest of the temple, Eitō, and the priests Gōmyō and others led the monks to greet him outside the temple gate. He got out of the imperial carriage, went up to the hall, and paid homage to the Buddha. He then passed by the temple of Bōshaku-ji. He stopped the carriage and composed a poem. The Crown Prince and the courtiers and many others joined in the celebration. The great priest Eitatsu personally brewed tea and presented it to the Emperor.” In the same month, Emperor Saga ordered that tea be planted in the imperial gardens and in the provinces of Omi, Tanba and Harima, and that it be presented to the court every year.
In the imperial poetry anthology “Ryounshu” (Compiled in 814), a poem by Emperor Saga titled “Kan’in-in of the retired Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu on a summer’s day” includes the lines “Singing poems should be willing to recite poetry and pound tea, and should listen to elegant music with great enthusiasm. In the “Bunka Shūrei-shū” (818), there is a passage from a poem by Prince Ōtomo (later Emperor Junna) that says “I carry my koto and pound tea tea leaves” and in the ‘Kyokoku-shu’ (827) a poem by a lady-in-waiting of Emperor Saga says ‘I will respond to the tea song of the Governor of Izumo’ and goes on to say ”The tea leaves in the mountains, the branches of early spring. When the buds are picked and made into tea. The old man by the mountain admires it and makes it into a treasure. He sits alone facing the gold brazier and toasts it dry”. Poems like this, which show how the upper classes of the time enjoyed tea, have been passed down to us.

The origins of chanoyu
In Japan, chanoyu is said to have originated in the Kamakura period, when Eisai (1141-1215), the founder of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism, introduced the powdered green tea ceremony together with Rinzai Zen.
In the Azuma Kagami (a chronicle of the Kamakura shogunate), the following passage from the 4th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year of the Kenpou era (1214) reads: “The shogun (Sanetomo) is suffering from a slight illness. Everyone was running around, but perhaps it was the aftereffects of drinking too much the night before? At this time, the priest Eishu (Eisai) was performing a ritual to pray for the Shogun’s health, and when he heard about this, he called it a good medicine and brought a bowl of tea from his temple. He also presented a scroll of calligraphy, which praised the virtues of tea. As it says, “The shogun was delighted by this,” Minamoto Sanetomo, the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, was suffering from a hangover when he was offered a cup of tea, and at that time, “The Book of Health Benefits of Tea” was also presented to him.
In the section “Six Methods of Preparing Tea” of the same book, it says, “In the Song Dynasty, tea was picked in the morning, steamed immediately, and then roasted. Those who are lazy and negligent should not attempt it. Spread paper on the roasting rack. If the paper is not burned, then use a lighter to burn it. Do not be lazy or impatient, and roast it all night. Keep the tea in a good bottle, tightly closed with a bamboo leaf, and it will not spoil over the years. (In the Song Dynasty, when you see tea being roasted, it is steamed immediately after being picked in the morning, and then roasted immediately after that. It is something that cannot be done by someone who is lazy or negligent. Paper is laid on the roasting rack. The fire is carefully controlled so that the paper does not burn, and the tea is roasted. It is not done carelessly, and it is not done lazily, and it is roasted overnight without sleeping, and it is roasted during the night. If you put it in a favorite bottle and tightly seal it with bamboo leaves, it will not spoil even after many years.” Looking at this, the basic method is the same as that used to make the rough tea (aracha: tea before the stems and veins have been removed) that is used to make powdered green tea (matcha) by grinding it in a stone mortar.
The method described here seems to be basically the same as the method for making tencha (green tea leaves before they are ground into matcha) in Uji, as described by Joao Rodriguez (1561-1634), a missionary who lived in Japan at the same time as Sen no Rikyu, in his book “History of the Church in Japan”.
According to this, the roasting furnace is a deep wooden box with no lid, and charcoal is burned inside. It says that ash is then thrown on top to reduce the heat, and a bamboo lattice is placed on top, with cardboard laid on top of that, and the steamed tea leaves are thrown in and slowly roasted, moving the paper around constantly to prevent burning. It seems that the tea-making method that Eisai would have seen was the same as it was in the time of Sen no Rikyu.
However, in the “First, the Way to Drink Tea” section of the “Tea and Health” book, it says, “Boiled water is simply boiled water. Drink it when it is extremely hot. Use a spoon the size of a coin and take two or three spoonfuls. The amount is up to you. However, it is said that “one should prefer a small amount of hot water. This also depends on one’s preference”, but the way of drinking powdered tea by pouring hot water is the same for both matcha and mochi tea, so it is not possible to tell from this description whether it is matcha or mochi tea. It is also not possible to confirm whether a tea whisk is used.
However, the first time a tea whisk appears in writing is in the “Great View of Tea” (1107) by Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, which was written before Eisai’s arrival in China, so it can be inferred that by this time, tea whisks had begun to be used as a tool for stirring and frothing powdered green tea, replacing the bamboo chopsticks of the Tang Dynasty and the tea spoons of the Northern Song Dynasty.
There is nothing contradictory about the idea that Eisai used a tea whisk to make tea.
However, in the Southern Song Dynasty’s “Tea Utensil Illustration” (1269), there is a picture of a tea whisk, but it is different in shape to the tea whisk used today or in the time of Sen no Rikyu. The tea whisk we use today, with its outer and inner tines, is said to have been developed by Takayama Sokyu at the request of Murata Shuko. Rikyu also used this type of tea whisk.
Even if Eisai had used a tea whisk to prepare powdered green tea, it would have been quite different in style to the one used in Rikyu’s time.

At Kennin-ji Temple, which was founded by Eisai, a tea ceremony called the “Yotsugashira Tea Gathering” is held on April 20th every year to celebrate Eisai’s birthday (the Kaisan Hotsu Hoyo memorial service). The name “Yotsugashira” comes from the fact that there are four main guests, and each main guest is accompanied by eight other guests, so the total number of guests is 36.
The main room of the large hall is decorated with a portrait of Eisai as the main object of worship, and on either side of this are three pairs of ink paintings of dragons and tigers. On the table in front of the room are three sets of incense burners, vases and candlesticks, and in the center of the room is a large incense burner.
When the four main guests and accompanying guests have taken their seats on the tatami mats laid out around the room, a priest called a samikou offers incense, followed by four priests called kyokyu, who enter the room on tiptoe and distribute sweets placed in a tray and tenmoku tea bowls filled with tea in turn to the guests. After this, the priest enters the room holding a tea whisk attached to the end of a tea pot with both hands, and bows low in front of the guest of honor (left knee up), while the guest holds the tea bowl on the tea tray. removes the tea whisk from the spout, holds the tea whisk horizontally against the spout, pours hot water from the water jar into the bowl, and then, holding the water jar in his left hand, scoops up the tea with the tea whisk in his right hand. In front of the guests, he makes the tea in the same way while standing and bending over slightly. The guests also drink the tea with the bowl stand.
This tea ceremony, in which the tea is made while standing and decorated in front of Buddha is considered to be an old form of Zen temple tea ceremony, in which the tea is prepared while standing and the tea is served while standing.
However , it is not known whether or not Eisai made tea in this way.
It is said that the tea ceremony in Zen temples was established by Dogen, who studied under Eisai and later went to China to establish the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism, by establishing tea ceremonies such as the tea ceremony, the tea ceremony in which tea is served, and the tea ceremony in which tea is served to a large group of people.

Eisai (Eisa)
Eisa, 1141-1215 (Eiji 1-Kenpo 3) Eisa’s posthumous Buddhist name was Mingan. He was the founder of Kennin-ji Temple. He was also known as Yokojo (Yōjō) Fusa, also known as Senkō Hōshi. He was born into the Kaya family, who were the chief priests of the Kibi-tsunomiya shrine in Bitchū, and at the age of 11 he began studying at An’yō-ji Seishin in Nakayoshi, becoming a monk at the age of 14 and studying Tendai under Ariben at Eizan at the age of 18. , he went to China in April 1167, visited the Tiantai Mountain and the Ayuwang Mountain, and was exposed to Southern Song Zen. He returned to Japan in September of the same year, bringing back 60 volumes of new commentaries on Tiantai.
In 1187, he went to China again (1187), he went to China again, where he studied under the Rinzai Zen priest Kian’ei of the Kōryū school and became his disciple. On his return to Japan in 1191, he sought out tea seeds and planted them at the Ryozenji temple in Hizen Province, and later transplanted them to the Sefuri mountains, where he encouraged their cultivation.
In 1195, he founded the Seifukuji temple in Hakata, the oldest Zen temple in Japan, and spread Zen Buddhism in northern Kyushu. (1195), he founded Shofuku-ji, the oldest Zen temple in Japan, in Hakata, and spread Zen Buddhism in northern Kyushu.
Following a complaint from Mt. Hiei , the imperial court banned Zen Buddhism in 1194. In response, Eisai, who had gone to the capital, wrote a three-volume treatise entitled “Kōzen Gokoku-ron” (1198) to refute the ban, but in order to avoid persecution from the Eizan sect, he went to Kamakura, where he gained the patronage of the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo and his wife, Hojo Masako he built Jufukuji, and then in 1202, at the request of Minamoto no Yoritomo, he founded Kenninji in Kyoto, but out of respect for Eizan, he made it a branch temple and a temple where the three studies of esoteric Zen Buddhism were practiced. In 1207, he sent tea seeds to Myoe Shonin Takuan of Toganoo.
In 1215 (1215) on June 5th.

The Book of Health Benefits from Drinking Tea
A medical text written by Eisai. Two volumes. The first volume discusses tea, including its name (notation), tree shape, benefits, tea picking and preparation. The book explains that the five flavors (sour, spicy, bitter, sweet and salty) that the five internal organs like are difficult to obtain, especially the bitter flavor that strengthens the heart, so it is necessary to drink tea to supplement the bitter flavor. In the second volume , it lists five types of illness – water poisoning, paralysis, anorexia, scabies and beriberi – and explains that all of these can be cured with mulberry. Methods include eating mulberry porridge, drinking mulberry decoction, or chewing mulberry bark. For this reason, it is also called the “Tea Mulberry Sutra”. there is some debate as to whether the book presented to Shogun Sanetomo in the Azuma Kagami can be immediately identified as the “Kissa Yojoki”.

The Popularity of Tōcha
As the times went on, during the Nanbokuchō period, the game of Tōcha, in which people gathered in a fixed location to guess the “honpi” (true or false) of the tea, became popular.
The word “hon” refers to tea from Toganoo, while “non” refers to tea from other regions. Myōe Shōnin, a disciple of Eisai and the abbot of Kōzan-ji temple in Toganoo, Kyoto, succeeded in cultivating tea here, and it became known as “honcha” (literally “true tea”) because of its extremely high quality.
The book “Ise Tei In the “Kokai-Orai” (a book of etiquette), it is written, “The most famous mountains in our country are Toganoo, Ninna-ji, Daigo, Uji, Hanamuro, Jingo-ji, and these are the supporting mountains. In addition, the names of tea utensils such as tea whisks, tea cloths, and tea scoops appear, so it is clear that at that time, the tea ceremony was already well established. , Musashi Kawauchi tea, etc. are all mentioned in the text, and the names of tea utensils such as the tea whisk, tea cloth and tea scoop also appear, so we can see that the method of serving powdered green tea, as we know it today, was already in use at the time.
Now, according to the ” Kissa Orai (A Guide to Tea Drinking) says that the tearoom was called a “tea-drinking pavilion”, was two stories high, had windows on all sides, and was bright inside, with a garden around it and white sand on the ground.
It is thought that the Kinkaku and Ginkaku pavilions were also like this.
First, when the guests arrive, they would be offered three cups of sake, then a bowl of somen noodles, followed by a meal of delicacies from the mountains and the sea, and then sweets and other refreshments. After this, they would look at the garden or rest in the shade of the trees , and then, when the tea party began, they went upstairs. On the walls inside were various Buddhist paintings, and there were also imported craftworks such as lacquerware, as well as a variety of unusual items that were being offered as prizes.
The tables were covered with gold hangings and the guests sat on chairs covered with leopard skins.
The tea tasting involved drinking four different types of tea ten times each to distinguish the true and false of the tea, and whoever got more correct answers won. After the tea tasting was over, there was a banquet where delicious food was served and people drank alcohol and sang and danced to music until late at night.
There were also tea tastings where , there were also gatherings where the number of tea varieties ranged from ten to one hundred, and the number of servings ranged from twenty to one hundred.
The way of doing Tōcha was reformed in the time of Rikyū and called Chakabuki, and it is said that it was passed down to the present day as a tea party with three varieties and five servings, and is counted as one of the seven ceremonial rules of the Senke school.

‘Iseitei (Iseitei Kin’ōrai)
This is said to be a work from the early Muromachi period by Tōfuku-ji’s 15th abbot, Shoren (1278-1346). It is also known by the alternative names “Iseitei Kin’ōrai”, “Mori (Torii) Ōrai”, “Shinsen no Shōsoku”, “Shinsen Shōsoku Ōrai”, “Reizei Ōrai”, “Jūnigatsu Ōrai”, etc.
It is an old correspondence (correspondence) from the Nanbokuchō period , these are old correspondence (correspondence) created during the Nanbokucho period, between the years 1358 and 1372. Each month, two letters are sent back and forth, making a total of 24 letters per year. Each letter contains a group of categorized words that were necessary for social life at the time of writing. The words are Buddhism (122 words), Chinese literature, culture and education (461 words), human relations, occupations and professions (32 words), food, clothing and shelter (222 words), weapons (77 words), miscellaneous (24 words), a total of 938 words.

Kissa Orai Kissa-orai
A book that uses the format of a correspondence to explain the knowledge of tea ceremonies and tea houses in the early Muromachi period. It describes the tea-tasting contests and the atmosphere of the tea ceremonies, and is a valuable resource for understanding the tea ceremonies of the early Muromachi period. This book is made up of two sets of correspondence, the first half of which consists of a letter from Sabonosuke Ujikiyo to Danjo Shobun Kuninobu and a reply, and the second half of which consists of a letter from Shuho Yukimura to Gojyunin Minamoto no Genzo and a reply. It is said to have been compiled by Genkei, but this is not certain.
The following is a letter from Sabonosuke Ujikiyo to Danjo Shobun Kuninobu the letter from Sabusuke Ujikiyo to Danjo Shobun Kuninobu is reproduced below.
I am deeply disappointed that you were unable to attend the tea gathering yesterday. The guests were all looking forward to seeing you. What is the matter? To begin with, the state of affairs at his house was that the inner guest hall was hung with a curtain of jewels, and the front garden was paved with jade sand. The eaves were hung with curtains , and curtains are hung at the windows. After the guests have arrived and the meeting has begun, they first drink three cups of water-based sake, then eat some noodles, and then have a cup of tea. After that, they are served a meal of delicacies from the mountains and seas, and are treated to sweets from the garden. After that, they , and retire from the room, or take refuge from the summer heat in the shade of the pine trees and cypresses by the artificial hill in the north window, or face the flying waterfall in the south room and relax in the cool breeze and water.
There is a pavilion here. It is a two-story balcony, and the view opens in all directions. This is the tea-drinking pavilion, the place to enjoy the moon. On the left is a on the left is a statue of the Buddha in the colors of the Shakyamuni, and on the right is a statue of the Goddess of Mercy in the ink painting of Bokkei, both of which are magnificent. There are also paintings of Samantabhadra and Manjusri on the left and right, and portraits of Hanshan and Jittoku on the right. In front is a painting of the Double Ninth Festival, and behind is a painting of the Moon. The lips of the unspeakable Danju are full of charm. The eyes of the lotus eyes are bewitching. On the table, gold brocade is draped and a bronze vase is placed. On the desk, brocade is spread out, and brass incense scoop and chopsticks are placed upright, and the flowers outside the elegant vase are in full bloom, and the makeup of the Chiba region of Mt. The incense in the fragrant furnace is mistaken for the smoke of the three-tined incense burner on the seashore. The guest’s seat is covered with a leopard skin, and the host’s seat is a bamboo stool facing the golden sand. The floor of the guest’s seat is covered with leopard skin, and the bamboo armrest of the host’s seat faces the golden sand. In addition to this, various Chinese paintings are displayed on the shoji screens here and there, and the Four Elders have retreated from the world to the moon of Mount Shang, while the Seven Sages hide their bodies in the clouds of the bamboo grove. The dragon rises to the water, and the tiger sleeps in the mountains. The egret flowers, and purple mandarin ducks play on the willow fluff. All of these are not from the later days of the Japanese, but are all from the Han Dynasty. The incense stands are all red and vermilion incense boxes. The tea jars are all tea bags of Tsuga and Takao. In front of the west wing, there is a pair of decorative shelves, on which various kinds of sweets are piled up. Under the north wall, there is a pair of folding screens, on which various hanging scrolls are arranged. A kettle is placed in the middle to boil water, and drinks are lined up around it to cover the tablecloth.
After the guests have taken their seats , the host’s son offers tea and sweets, and the young men in plum and peach blossom garb pass the tea bowls. Holding the tea pot on the left and the tea whisk on the right, they proceed from the highest seat to the lowest, offering tea without confusion. Although tea is not , but one must show respect by returning the tea several times, and even though one uses a proper serving of sake, one must not drink even a single drop. Or, it is not just about having fun in the moment, but also about discussing the merits and demerits of the four seasons and the ten types of tea, or about criticizing the good and bad of the capital and the provinces. It is truly a way of life, and there is nothing like it. Lu Tung says , if there is little tea and a lot of hot water, then the clouds will disperse. If there is a lot of tea and little hot water, then the porridge will gather together. It is truly entertaining and moving. Who would not want to enjoy it?
Then, as the sun begins to set, the tea ceremony is almost over. Then, the tea utensils are removed, the food is prepared, the sake is offered, and the cups are passed around. The doors are discussed before the third course, and the drinking is encouraged by drawing it out fully. The faces of the drunk are like the red leaves of frost, and the makeup of the mad is like the movement of the wind trees. They sing and dance in order, and the excitement of the whole group increases. They play the strings and the pipes again and again, and they surprise the listeners on all sides. The setting sun sets, and the evening sun moves to the window. The red wax lights are lit in the hall, and the scent of musk is wafted outside the screens. The details of the party are not fully described. I look forward to a meeting with you. I am very sorry.

In the ‘Yamagami Sō In the “Yamagami Sōniki” it says, “The origins of chanoyu (tea ceremony) date back to the reigns of Fūkōin-dono (Ashikaga Yoshinori) and Rokuon-in (Ashikaga Yoshimitsu), when various Chinese goods and picture scrolls were collected. At that time, the tea masters were Zen’ami and Mai’ami.” As the “Kitayama culture” period, represented by the Kinkakuji Temple of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, came to an end, the style of tea rooms and tea gatherings gradually changed.
The tea rooms, which were called “kissa no tei”, were also called “kaisho” at this time, and this seems to be a transformation of the meeting place for poetry contests and linked poetry.
The decoration of the utensils ing of the utensils seems to have changed little, but the tea ceremony became a graceful tea ceremony that incorporated the themes of the Kokin Wakashu and Wakan Rōeishū.
In addition, at the tea gatherings of the court nobles , small tea gatherings were held at which the aim was not to judge the merits of the tea, but to enjoy the tea in a relaxed atmosphere.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the Muromachi period, a new type of tea gathering called rin-kan-cha began to be held.
Rin-kan (also written as rinkan) refers to a light bath that causes one to perspire, and the idea was to offer tea to guests after they had taken a bath.
In the “Kyogaku Shiyosho” (a record of the events of the day) written by the head priest of the Daijō-in temple at Kōfuku-ji in Nara, there is a passage dated May 23rd, 1469 (Bunmei 1st year) that reads In the ‘Kyōkaku Shiyōshō’ written by the head priest of the Daijō-in temple at Kōfuku-ji in Nara, there is a passage dated May 23rd, 1469 (Bunmei 1st year) that says, “Today is the first day of the forest bath (rin-kan), and the servants and the Koichi clan and their young retainers have been told to mingle and have a good time. At the bathhouse tea and two tea utensils (one for Uji tea and one for miscellaneous tea), two tubs of white melon, a tray of wild peaches, and also somen noodles, with a leaf of the paulownia tree placed on top, and after I had finished, there was one offering, and after the upper class of the Koichi family and the young retainers, including Nagai, Yokoi, and and others, a total of 150 people, all of the men having gone up, the women of the Koichi household having entered”, and on the 3rd of the same month, ‘Today, there was a tea ceremony in the forest, and there was also a flower viewing, and there were also those who went to see the bathhouse’. Furthermore, on the 10th of the same month, ”There were also two hanging scrolls hung on the east and west, and there was also a small folding screen on the flower viewing stand, and there was also a hanging scroll, and there were two vases of flowers and a censer, and there was also a flower arrangement on the ceiling of the bathhouse, and there was also a flower arrangement on the ceiling of the bathhouse, and there was also a flower arrangement on the ceiling of the bathhouse, and there was also a flower arrangement on the ceiling of the bathhouse, and there was also a flower arrangement on the ceiling of the bathhouse, and there was also a flower two hanging scrolls, a small folding screen was placed on top of the water vessel, a hanging scroll was placed on top of the screen, two vases of flowers were placed, and a censer was placed, and the flowers were arranged on top of the ceiling of the bath, and the locals and other people gathered to watch.
In the bathhouse a folding screen is set up, and the room is decorated with paintings, incense burners and vases. Two hanging scrolls are displayed at the tea ceremony, flowers are arranged, and when the guests have finished their baths, the tea ceremony begins. Fruit and somen noodles are served as a light meal. People also gather from far and wide to watch the event.
After Rikyu After Rikyu, the custom of serving tea in the bath did not disappear completely, and in the waiting room of the tea room “Kanden-an” of the late Edo-period tea master Matsudaira Fumai, there was a steam bath, showing that the custom of serving tea in the bath was still being practiced.
In the middle of the Muromachi period , the “Higashiyama culture” period, the shoin-zukuri style of aristocratic architecture became popular for use in private residences, and tea ceremonies that had previously been held in meeting halls began to be held in the reception rooms of shoin-zukuri residences. The decorations also changed from the style used in meeting halls to the shoin-zukuri style, and the method of arranging tea utensils on a stand and serving tea was also devised.
It is said that the shoin-zukuri style shoin-style decoration is said to have started in the Nanbokucho period with Sasaki Doyo (1296-1373).
According to the ‘Taiheiki , it is said that when the Sado Hangan Nyudo Dojo was defeated, the general who was staying at the inn was so impressed that he replaced the general with a new one, and laid out large tatami mats in the six-mat room, and arranged the main image, side images, vases, incense burners, pots , and even the tray, the incense burner, and the kettle are all in place. In the study, there are the calligraphy of Yoshino and the literary collection of Han Yu, and in the sleeping quarters, there are the pillow of Chin and the nightwear of Donzu. In the twelve-roomed In the distant guard room, birds, rabbits, pheasants and swans were hung on three poles, and a large barrel with only three stones in it was filled with sake. Two hermits were detained, and they were told to offer a drink to anyone who came to this inn. Kusunoki was the first to be the two hermits went out to meet them, and they were sure to enter this humble house. They were told to offer them a drink, and they were greeted by the Zen priest Dojo, who served them sake. It is said that when Sasaki Dojo was forced to flee the capital as the forces of the Southern Court advanced, he laid tatami mats on the floor of the meeting hall and decorated it with a complete set of tea utensils, including the main object of worship, the side paintings, vases, incense burners, etc., as well as a pair of hanging scrolls, one with a poem in the cursive script of Wang Xizhi and the other with a piece of writing by Han Taixu. This is said to be the origin of the “Shoin Shichisho Kazari” (decorating a Shoin-style room with seven sets of tea utensils).
During the period of Shoin-cha, there were no dedicated tea rooms.
The rooms in the Shoin were places for the common arts and entertainment, such as renga poetry and Noh theater, so even if a tea gathering was held there, it could not be called a dedicated tea room, and moreover, there was no hearth like the tea rooms of later years.
In other words, in shoin-style tea ceremonies, the place for making the tea and the place for drinking the tea were separate, and the tea was served in the so-called “tea-making and serving” style. At the Higashiyama Villa of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, there was a tea-making room called the “chayu-no-ma”, and the tea made there by the members of the same clan was then taken to the shoin.
Nohami, a member of the same clan as Ashikaga Yoshinori and Yoshinori, perfected the art of decorating a Japanese-style shoin with Chinese-style ornaments, and also invented the art of using a dais, a stand used to offer tea to Buddha, in a tea ceremony , and he also incorporated the manners of the samurai class, such as using the way of handling a ladle to control the bow, and he incorporated the steps of Noh dance into the way of walking when carrying tools, and he completed the manners of the shoin-cha ceremony.

Dōbōshū
When considering the shoin-cha of the Muromachi period, it is essential to consider the existence of the dōbōshū, who served as attendants to the shogun and performed miscellaneous tasks. Tracing their origins, we arrive at the Jishū, or Jishū-shū, which were priests of the Jishū sect who accompanied military commanders from the end of the Kamakura period to the Nanbokuchō period. The main purpose of accompanying the army was to pray for the souls of the warlords at the end of their lives and to treat the wounded.
When the Kamakura Shogunate attacked Chihaya Castle, there is a record of 300 Jishu accompanying the army.
Among these military monks were those who were skilled in renga poetry, dance and other arts, and there were also occasions when their talents were fully displayed in the intervals between battles.
The Dōhōshū gradually became incorporated into the shogunate’s administrative system in the early Muromachi period, and eventually came to be close to the shogun and in charge of various miscellaneous tasks, including arts and entertainment. The name “Doho” is said to have come from the words “Dobo” or “Doho”, which have a stronger religious meaning.
Also worth noting is that they always had the name “Ami” (the Ami name was not exclusive to the Jishu, but the Dohoshu always had the Ami name. It is said that the origin of the name is taken from the middle two characters of “Namu Amida Butsu”).
Sarugaku no Otoami, the garden designer Zen’ami, the Noh actors Noh’ami, Gei’ami and Ai’ami, who were in charge of overseeing imported goods, the incense and tea masters Sen’ami and Rikka’ami, etc., all served as retainers to Ashikaga Yoshinori and Yoshinaga.
Retainers existed in various fields, but those involved in tea were called “tea retainers”. In addition, although originally they were one of the administrative systems of the Muromachi shogunate, there were also retainers of the military commanders who were part of the same group, such as Hariami, who died fighting at Honnoji alongside Nobunaga, and Tomoami, who served Hideyoshi at tea ceremonies.
The fact that all of the members of the same group had the title of ‘Ami’ shows that the origins of the same group were derived from the Jishu.
In fact, the expansion of the Jishu network by Ippen Shonin spread the performing art of dancing and chanting to various places, while at the same time it also expanded the possibilities of a “promised economic culture” based on things like fusan (a system of calculating the amount of rice to be given as alms). From this, people with the Amigo name were born one after another. These were people who excelled in some kind of profession. However, they were all houtai. They were monks, which means they were people who had renounced the world. In fact, documents from the time refer to them using terms such as “monks who live in seclusion” and “monks who serve as intermediaries”.
Meanwhile, among the shogunate and powerful samurai families, people with these Ami titles were first used for miscellaneous tasks in the lord’s residence and meeting halls, and later for gardeners and serving food.

Ashikaga Yoshinori
Ashikaga Yoshinori, 1394-1441 (1st year of Oei – 1st year of Kakyoku) 6th shogun of the Muromachi shogunate (1428-1441). He was the son of the 3rd shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. He was originally called Yoshinobu, but changed his name to Yoshinori.
As the son of the Ashikaga shogun, he entered the Buddhist priesthood and took the name Gien, and was the head priest of Seiren-in. In 1428, the first year of Shouchou, his older brother, the 4th shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi, and his son, the 5th shogun Ashikaga Yoshikazu, died suddenly , and it was decided that one of the brothers, Kajiwara Yoshiaki, Daikakuji Yoshiaki, Koyama Nagataka, or Yoshinori, would be chosen as shogun by lot at Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine, as per the will of Ashikaga Yoshimochi and the suggestion of Hatakeyama Mitsuka, the governor of Kyoto. From this, Yoshinori came to be known as the “lot-drawn shogun”.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408) (Nanbokucho: Shouhei 13 / Hokuchou: Enbun 3 – Ouei 15) The third shogun of the Muromachi shogunate (1368-1394). His childhood name was Haruou. He was the son of the second shogun Ashikaga Yoshisane. His legal wife was Hino Nagako, the daughter of Hino Tokimitsu, a grand councilor.
In 1401 (the 8th year of the Oei era), he sent the merchant Hifumi and the priest Soa from Hakata as envoys to the Ming Dynasty in China, and was crowned king of Japan by the Ming Emperor Jianwen, replacing the previous Southern Court Prince Kaneyoshi. emperor, and began the kangō trade system of paying tribute to the Ming emperor in 1404 (the 11th year of the Ōei era). In 1397 (the 4th year of the Ōei era), he built a villa centered around the Kinkaku-ji temple in the Kitayama area of Kyoto. The culture of this period is known as the Kitayama culture.

Zen’ami
Zen’ami, 1386-1482 (Genchū 3-1482) His origins are unknown. He was a so-called “riverbank dweller”, but he was favored by the 8th shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, and from 1458 (Chōroku 2) he was active in the construction of gardens, beginning with Kagerōken, and in 1461 (Kanshō 2) he was also involved in the construction of the garden at the Izumi Palace in the Flower Palace, and he is also known for his work with the popular bonsai style of the time. It is thought that he may also have been involved in the construction of the gardens at the various sub-temples of Shokokuji Temple and the Takakura Palace in 1462 (Kanshou 3). After 1463 (Kanshou 4), he was involved in the creation of gardens at the Daijoin and various other halls of Kofukuji. He died in 1482 (Bunmei 14) at the age of 97. He is frequently mentioned together with Zennami, who was in charge of the creation of the Higashiyama Sansou garden.

Kyogaku Shiyosho (Selected Extracts from the Private Writings of Kyogaku)
Kyogaku (1395-1473), the son of Kujo Kyokyo, the regent, was the abbot of the Daishoin temple at Kofukuji. The original manuscript and other copies of this work still exist today. The content focuses on the state of the temple and the management of its land, but also includes information on the situation in Yamato, including the movements of the Tsutsui and Furuichi clans, as well as information on Kyoto and the performing arts, making it an extremely important basic historical document for the study of medieval social and economic history.

Noami
Noami (1397-1471) was a retainer of the Asakura clan of Echizen, and his real name was Saneyoshi Nakao. His Buddhist name was Saneyoshi, and his pseudonyms were Ousai and Shunousai.
As a member of the shogun’s inner circle, he served Ashikaga Yoshimasa and played an important role in the formation of the Higashiyama culture by appraising and collecting calligraphy, paintings and antiques that had come from China.
The calligraphy, paintings and antiques that Nohami appraised and collected for the shogun’s household during this period are known as the “Higashiyama Gomotsu” and are considered to be very valuable.
As a painter, he is said to have studied ink painting under Shuho.
He formed the Ami school of painting over three generations: his son Geami (real name: Shingei, 1431-85) and his grandson Soami (real name: Shinsho, 1472-1525).
His most famous work is the “Statue of the White-robed Kannon”. He was also skilled at composing Japanese waka poetry, and his renka (linked verse) was included in the Shin-Sen-Tukuba-Shu (New Collection of Tsubaki Poetry) compiled by Sōgi.
He was also well-versed in the tea ceremony, and he recommended Shuko as a tea master to Ashikaga Yoshimasa. The book “Kindaikan Zuisho-cho Ki” (Record of the Right and Left Views of the Tea Master’s Seat), which describes the works that he appraised and collected, was compiled by Soami.

Murata Shuko and Takeno Jouou
Murata Shuko, who studied shoin-cha under Nohami, incorporated the simple and unpretentious style of “jicha-no-yu” that was popular among the common people at the time, and added the Zen spirit he had learned from Ikkyu Soun of the Daitoku-ji temple, to create a form of tea ceremony with spiritual and artistic content.
While Nōami used a 18 tatami mat-sized shoin-style reception room, Shuko devised a 4.5 tatami mat-sized tea room. At first, the large reception room was partitioned off with screens, and later the tea room was also called a “kakoi”. By limiting the size of the tea room to 4.5 tatami mats, the decorations were necessarily limited, and the tea ceremony was transformed into a place where a limited number of people could communicate with each other.
It is said that Shuko advised Ashikaga Yoshimasa to make the size of the study in the Togudo and the Donshinsai 4.5 tatami mats.
He also promoted the spirit of wabi by replacing the ivory and silver tea scoops with bamboo ones, and changing the display stand from real lacquer to a bamboo stand made from wood. In addition, after receiving a certificate of approval from Ikkyu Zenji in the form of a calligraphy scroll by the Song-period Zen master Huanwu, Shuko began to hang Zen calligraphy scrolls instead of Buddhist paintings or Chinese paintings on the tokonoma.
The Nambō Roku (Record of Southern Travel) says, “The four-and-a-half tatami mat room was made by Shuko. It is a true tatami room, with white-painted toriko paper, a ceiling with no borders made of pine boards, a small-planked hōgata-zukuri roof, and a one-ken-long floor. He hung his treasured calligraphy scrolls and decorated the tokonoma. After that, he had the brazier removed and a tokonoma stand placed in its place. He also placed ornaments in the shoin, but there were few things in the room.
There are few contemporary records of Shuko’s life or the nature of his wabi-cha, and the majority of what we know comes from the “Yamagami Soji Ki”, a book of tea ceremony secrets written by Soji Yamagami, a disciple of Sen no Rikyu. As the quote above shows, we can see the essence of Shuko’s wabi-cha in the way he found unexpected beauty in the contrast between wabi and famous items.
After Shuko passed away, Takeno Jouou perfected wabi-cha.
After the Onin War, Kyoto was devastated and people who had fled the fighting gathered in the free city of Sakai. Shōō also went to Kyoto to study the art of tanka poetry, but at the age of 31 he returned to Sakai, shaved his head and took the name Shōō, devoting himself to the tea ceremony.
In the Nanbo Roku by Nanbo Shokei, Shōō is quoted as saying that the poem by Fujiwara no Sadaie “Looking out, there are no flowers or autumn leaves to be seen. It is autumn dusk at the seaside hut” is a simple expression of the spirit of wabicha. He explained that “the word wabi is used to describe a humble, unassuming attitude, and although it has been used in various ways in poetry, it is most commonly used to describe a truly humble and unassuming attitude. He explained that the essence of wabi in the tea ceremony was “being content with what you have and acting with modesty”. Like Shuko, he also reformed the tea ceremony room and tea utensils, cutting out the sunken hearth from the straw-roofed 4.5 tatami mat room to create a tea hall, and changing the tea utensils from Chinese-style to Japanese-style tea utensils made in Shigaraki, Seto and Bizen.
In the “Nanbokuroku” it says, “Shōō changed it to a four-and-a-half tatami mat room, and replaced the paper sliding doors with bamboo lattices, removed the skirting boards from the shoji paper sliding doors, and painted the floor in light colors or left it plain. On this tatami mat floor, Shōō did not display a tea ceremony stand.”
In this way, the spiritual aspect of the tea ceremony came to be emphasized more than the location or the utensils, and the tea ceremony, which had previously been little more than a form of entertainment or a ritual, was sublimated into a “way” with a spirit of wabi, and came to be called “sadō”.

Murata Shuko
Murata Shuko (1422-1502) was the son of Murata Mokichi, a teacher at the Nara Imperial Palace. At the age of 11, he entered the Shorin-in temple at Shomyoji and became a Buddhist priest. However, he took to tea at a young age and indulged in the Nara-style tea ceremony, which was popular at the time, and from the age of 20 he began to dislike his life as a monk and neglected his duties at the temple, so he was disowned by both his parents and the temple, and at the age of 25 he left the priesthood.
After wandering, he went from Nara to Kyoto, made his fortune as a merchant, studied Zen under Ikkyu Sojun of the Daitoku-ji temple, and reached a state of oneness between tea and Zen, perfecting wabi-cha and being called the founder of tea in Japan.
Shuko preached the equality of all people at a tea gathering, the importance of the host and guest roles in holding a tea gathering, and the prohibition of alcohol and food, and he completely changed the popular, recreational tea ceremony of the time. The most important point, however, was that he improved the tea room and tea utensils and attempted to create something completely new.
He completely changed the style of tea ceremony from the Chinese style to the Japanese style, by replacing the large reception rooms of the previous shoin style with the four-and-a-half tatami mat rooms of the thatched cottage style, inventing the sukiya style of decoration, placing calligraphy by famous Zen monks above the tokonoma alcove instead of Chinese antiques, and using bamboo tea scoops instead of ivory or silver ones.

Takeno Jouou
Takeno Jouou (1502-55) A tea master from the Warring States period who thoroughly deepened the tea ceremony of Murata Shuko and explained the fundamentals of the wabi-cha tea ceremony. He refined the four-and-a-half tatami mat tea ceremony of Shuko even further, and sought peace of mind in a small tatami room. This is said to be the essence of the wabi-cha tea ceremony that Shōō founded. Tsuda Sōkyū and Imai Sōkyū were his leading disciples. He had a strong influence on the next generation, including Sen no Rikyū.
Shōō’s father, Nobuhisa Takeda, was a descendant of the Takeda clan, who were the feudal lords of Wakasa, and after traveling around the country, he settled in Sakai in the Senshu region and changed his surname to Takeno. With the support of the Miyoshi clan, he established a leather business, which was necessary for making weapons, and made a living.
Shōō had aspired to the art of tanka poetry from a young age, and at the age of 24 he went to Kyoto. At the age of 27, he met Sanjōnishi Sanetaka, the foremost scholar of classical Japanese literature of his time, with the help of the renga poet Insei. From then on, until Sanetaka’s death at the age of 35, he studied classical Japanese literature and tanka poetry.
While researching the art of tanka poetry, he also became acquainted with the famous renga poets of the day, such as Sōseki.
He studied the tea ceremony under Sōgo and Sōchin, and this was a tradition of the shoin-style tea ceremony that had been passed down since Nōami, who was a student of Fujita Sōri, a disciple of Murata Shukō. It is said that he realized the essence of the tea ceremony after listening to a lecture on the “Essentials of Poetry” by the great waka poet Fujiwara no Teika, who was also a master of the tea ceremony. He returned to Sakai at the age of 31 to avoid the war, and after shaving his head, he took the name Shōō and devoted himself to the tea ceremony.
Later, he received the name Ikkan Koji from Sōtō Obayashi of Sakai. Shōō was a tea master who perfected the wabi-cha style of tea that Shuko had idealized, but he was content with what he had and preached the importance of acting with modesty. For this reason, he avoided the aristocratic-style tea ceremony of the shoin-style tea ceremony room, and instead used a straw-roofed 4.5 tatami mat room with a brazier cut into the middle as a tea room, and chose tea utensils from everyday crockery from places like Shigaraki and Seto instead of tea utensils from China.
He himself practiced the idea that the most important thing in tea ceremony is the way you approach it, rather than the space or utensils used, and in his later years he built a tea ceremony room called Daikoku-an next to the Ido Tea House in Shijo, Kyoto, where he continued to quietly teach the art of tea.
The creation of the three-mat and two-and-a-half-mat small tea rooms is symbolic of Shōō’s tea. He also made a name for himself in the art of incense.
He is said to be the founder of the revival of the tea ceremony, having infused the spirit of wabi into the tea ceremony, which had become a form of entertainment and a formality, and having made the aesthetic of renka (linked verse) called “hie-kare” (cold and withered) his ideal.
Shōō also found the ideal of the wabi-cha of the thatched hut in the famous poem by Teika, “Looking out, there are no flowers or autumn leaves to be seen. It is autumn dusk at the thatched hut by the shore”.

Sen no Rikyu
Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) was born in Sakai in 1522, the son of Tanaka Yohei, a fishmonger and member of the Naya-shu guild, and was known as Yoshiro. He became familiar with the tea ceremony at a young age, and according to the “Matsuya Hisamasa Fudoki” (a record of the tea master Matsuya Hisamasa), he held a morning tea gathering in Kyoto on February 13th, 1537, and it says “Yoshiro was 16 years old this year”.
In the “Nanbokuroku” (a record of the tea master Nanboku), it says “Soeki, who was called Yoshiro, loved tea from the age of 17, and studied under the tea master Chochin. He became a disciple of Shōō through the introduction of Dōchin. At the age of 17, he studied the shoin and daiso styles of tea with Kitamuki Dōchin, who was a practitioner of the Tōzan school, and then, through Dōchin’s introduction, he became a disciple of Takeno Shōō and studied the sōan style of tea of the Shukō school.
When he entered the school of Shōō, he entered Daitoku-ji temple and had his hair cut off, and it is said that he was given the name “Sōeki” by Ōbaku Sōtō at this time, based on the fact that in the “Ichimoku-gō” by Shun’oku Sōen, it is written, “Sōeki is the elegant name of a Zen priest, and his former teacher was commonly called Kokushi (the name of a high-ranking priest)”.
In 1568, Nobunaga Oda, who had come to Kyoto with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, imposed a tax of 20,000 kan on Sakai. The townspeople were divided into two groups: those who wanted to fight and those who wanted to make peace. became close friends with Imaizumi Munehisa and Tsuda Sōyū, who were close to Nobunaga, and they began to serve Nobunaga as tea masters together with Munehisa and Sōyū. According to the “Sen no Rikyū Yūsho Sho” (Biography of Sen no Rikyū), Nobunaga appointed them as tea masters and gave them 3,000 koku of rice.
In the “Imai Sōkyū Chayū Shibori”, it is written that on April 2nd 1570, Imai Sōkyū received a bowl of usucha (thin tea) from Sōeki in front of Nobunaga, and that on November 24th 1573, when Nobunaga held a tea ceremony at Myōkaku-ji temple in Kyoto, Sōeki performed the tea ceremony for him.
On March 28th 1574, Nobunaga, who had gone down to Nara, cut off a piece of the famous incense “Ranjatai” from the Shosoin Repository, and gave it to only two people, Tsuda So’yu and So’eki , in Ota Ushikazu’s “Chronicles of Lord Nobunaga” from 1575, it is written, “On the 28th day of the 10th month, 17 people who served as tea masters in Kyoto and Sakai were summoned and served tea at Myoko-ji Temple. … The tea ceremony was taught by Soeki. It was a topic that was remembered by each person before their death. That’s all.” From this, it is thought that Soeki served Nobunaga and was the tea master. In 1576, the Azuchi Castle was completed, and on the 7th of the following year (1577), the tea ceremony was held at the Azuchi Castle with Soeki as the tea master.
On June 2nd, 1582, after Nobunaga was killed in a plot by Akechi Mitsuhide at Honnoji, Soeki came to serve Hideyoshi.
The first record of the relationship between Soeki and Hideyoshi is a joint letter from Hideyoshi and Soeki Hōsen-sai, dated around the end of Genki or the beginning of Tenshō (1573). The first appearance of the name “Housensai” is also thought to be in this letter, and some people think that the name may have been chosen because it means “throwing away the fish basket (used to catch fish)”, and that it was chosen to express the idea of abandoning the fishmonger’s business and becoming a tea master.
In the “Imai Sōkyū Tea Ceremony Diary Extracts”, it is recorded that a tea ceremony was held by Hideyoshi in Yamazaki on November 7th, 1582, and that Sōkyū, Sōeki, Sōkyū and Sōji were invited. In the entry for May 24th, 1583 in the Tsuda Sōyū Tea Diary, he is listed as “Sōyū of the tea hall” at a morning meeting held by Hashiba Chikuzen no Kami Hideyoshi, and it is thought that by this time he had become Hideyoshi’s tea master.
Soon after Hideyoshi became the regent on July 11th 1585, he took Soeki with him to the imperial court and held a tea ceremony there, giving him the name Rikyu. On this occasion, the imperial court bestowed the name Rikyu on Soeki. In the “Kohan-so” (literally “Pond Hermitage”) by Kokei Sōchin, it is written, “Sōetsu of Sennan, who is also known as Sen no Rikyū, has been my student for 30 years. He is a man who devotes himself to the tea ceremony. Recently, he was honored with the title of Rikyū.
As evidence of Rikyu’s power at Osaka Castle at this time, on April 5th 1586, Hideyoshi’s younger brother, Hashiba Hidenaga, wrote to Otomo Sorin, saying “The private matters are the responsibility of Soeki, and the public matters are the responsibility of the Prime Minister (Hidenaga). There is a passage in the Otomo Family Document Record that says, “I see that there is no one who will speak to the Lord Kanpaku on behalf of Soeki (Soeki is the name of Hideyoshi’s younger brother, HASHIBA Hidehisa).
On July 14th 1587, Hideyoshi returned to Osaka after conquering Kyushu, and on July 28th, the notice for the Kitano Grand Tea Ceremony was posted.
The following is a copy of the notice posted on July 28th: “Regarding the tea ceremony: From the first day of the tenth month to the tenth day of the same month, depending on the weather, a large tea ceremony will be held in the Kitano Forest. and farmers, etc., regardless of rank, should bring one kettle, one ladle, one tea utensil, or even a tea strainer, and perform the tea ceremony.　　 1. As for Japan, it is not necessary to mention it, but even those from foreign countries who have a taste for the strange should be allowed to attend. 1. The date for the event should be extended until the first day of the tenth month so that people from distant countries can attend. 1. As for those who have been invited to attend, if they find the wabi tea ceremony inconvenient, , those who do not attend will be considered to have no need of tea in the future, and those who attend but do not participate will be considered to be of no use, and those who do not attend will be considered to be of no use, and those who attend but do not participate will be considered to be of no use, and those who do not attend will be considered to be of no use, and those who attend but do not participate will be considered to be of no use, and those who do not attend will be considered to be of no use, and those who attend but do not participate will be considered to be of no use, and those who do not attend will be considered to be of no use, and those who attend but do not participate will be considered to be of no use, and those who do not attend will be considered to be of no use, and those who attend but do not participate will be considered to be of no use, and those who do not attend will be considered to be of no use, and
In 1589, the upper part of the main gate of the Daitoku-ji temple, the Kinko-kaku, was completed with a donation from Sen no Rikyu.
On January 22nd, 1591, Hashiba Hidenaga died, and within a month, the wooden statue of Rikyu that was housed in the Daitokuji temple gate became a problem, and Rikyu was ordered to stay at home. On February 13th, Rikyu went to Sakai. According to the ‘Sen no Rikyu Biography’, on his departure, he wrote a single verse of a kyoka poem on a vertical piece of paper, saying “Rikyu is a man who is always in a hurry to get his reward, and he thinks he will become a minister like Suganori”, and on the top of the paper he wrote “Rikyu, who is always thinking of O-Kame”.
Only Hosokawa Tadaoki and Furuta Oribe secretly came to see Rikyu off at the Yodo ferry as he was going down to Sakai, and in a letter written by Rikyu himself to Matsui Sadomori Yasuyuki, he wrote, “I am very grateful for your efforts to come all the way here. As I have received your letter, I have sent Hayao and Koori to Yodo to bring you back to Sakai. sent them to you, and I found them in Funamoto, and was surprised. I am grateful for your help, and I humbly thank you. February 14th, Soeki (signature) Matsusa-sama, Rikyu”
In addition, it is recorded in the “Sen no Rikyu Biography” that the Grand Minister of State and the Lady of the North sent secret messengers to beg for their lives, and that Rikyu was advised to apologize to the Grand Minister of State, but he refused, saying, “We have made our names known throughout the land, and it would be a shame for us to beg for our lives, so we will ask the ladies to plead our case.”
On February 25th, a wooden statue of Rikyu was displayed on the Jurakudai Bridge. After writing his last words, Rikyu was ordered to go to Kyoto the following day, and he returned to his home in Kyoto, which was surrounded by 3,000 soldiers from the Uesugi clan, and waited for the envoy.
On the 28th day of the second month of the lunar calendar in 1591, three men were sent as inspectors: Amago Saburozaemon, Yasui Settsu no Kami, and Makita Awaji no Kami. They committed seppuku at their residence in Yoshiya-cho, Kyoto.
Posthumous poem
Seventy years of life are but a breath
I have killed the Buddha and the sword
I have killed
I have obtained the full set of armor
with a single sword
I have thrown it to the heavens
on the 25th day of the 19th month of the Tensho era
Rikyu Sōetsu, priest of Kōfuku-ji Temple, seal
In the section of the “Tamon-in Diary” by Hidetoshi of the Kofuku-ji Temple’s Tamon-in, dated February 28th, 1591, it is written, “The tea master Soeki has ended his life by committing harakiri this morning. In recent years, he has been selling new utensils at high prices. He is the top seller, and the Lord Kanpaku is very angry about this.”
In the Kitano Shrine Family Diary, it says, “On the 28th, it rained heavily today, and there was hail, big hail… On the 29th, although the person called Soeki is the best tea master in the world, he is busy with various things, so he is not well, and he is serving as the chief priest of the Daitokuji temple’s main gate, and he is making a way for his name to be remembered for generations to come I have made it in a way that I hope it will remain famous for generations to come, and I have made it with the utmost care, so I have come to inform the Lord Regent that, as it is even more profound than before, I have cut off the food and hung it together with the tree on the bridge of the Ohashi, and the elders of the Daitokuji are also said to be helping out, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the Grand Minister’s son, and the elders are helping out at the request of the Grand Minister and the
In addition, in the “Takenobu Monogatari”, it is written, “Lord Hideyoshi repeatedly ordered his father, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, to make his daughter, Tomita Sakon, a widow, and to make her work as a servant in the Shogun’s palace, but she refused to do so. was unable to fulfill his wish, and he was deeply saddened by this. A couple of years passed, and perhaps because his luck had run out, he consulted with the priest Kokkei of the Daitokuji temple and had a wooden tablet erected to commemorate the reopening of the temple gate. The wooden statue was made to be a standing statue, dressed in a kosode kimono with a crested pattern, with a square-shaped hood hanging down to the right, wearing a hakama, and holding a walking stick, with a posture that suggested he was looking into the distance. This was not hidden from the world. When it reached the ears of Lord Hideyoshi, he thought it was bad, and at times he even pointed out false accusations, saying that Rikyu had recently become close to people who were connoisseurs of tea utensils and had even taken them into his own possession. Even between father and son, there were false accusations. How much more so between a lord and his retainer? The repeated slander led to the death of Rikyu on February 28th, 1592, and his wooden effigy was placed on the gate of the Daitokuji temple, wearing straw sandals. This gate is used by the emperor and the imperial family, and it is extremely disrespectful to place such an effigy there. Furthermore, as it was also heard that there was a reason for the selection of the tea utensils, the inspectors, including Nijo Saburozaemon, Okuyama Sadomori, and Nakamura Norinobu, went to Rikyu’s residence. Rikyu was not in the least perturbed, and served tea in a small room, pouring tea with flowers, and as usual, he gave his disciple Sogen instructions for everything. When the tea ceremony was over, he sent the tea bowl from the kettle in the Amida Hall, the stone lantern to the Hosokawa clan’s Lord Tadaoki, and also gave his own tea scoop and Orikoshi tea bowl to his disciple Sogen. Rikyu then climbed onto the floor and cut his belly open in a cross shape, and at the age of 71, he passed away. Sogen wrapped Rikyu’s head in a cloth and carried it out to the sitting area, where it was handed over to three messengers. was ordered by Hideyoshi to be executed, and his head was placed on a wooden statue of himself in the Daitokuji temple gate. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of it. The statue was then nailed to a pillar, and Hideyoshi’s head was placed on top of ‘s successor
Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) had two sons, Mōō Dōan (1546-1607) and Shōan Sōjun (1546-1614).
Dōan was born as the son of Rikyu’s first wife, Hoshimyōju (d. 1577), and was initially known as Jōan. He joined Rikyu as one of the eight tea masters in the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598).
In the “Yamagami Sōji Ki” (Yamagami Sōji’s Diary), it is written that Sōji’s diary, “To the Lord Kanpaku: The tea masters of the day, Sōeki Tanaka (Sen no Rikyū), Sōkyū Imai, Sōyū Tsuda, Sōji Yamagami, Shigemune, Sōmu Sumiyoshiya, Sōan Mandaiya, and Sōan Tanaka (Sen no Doan)” is mentioned.
Also in the “Chawa Shigetsu-shu” (a collection of tea-related writings), it is said that “the person who shortened the length of the tatami mat to 4 shaku and 3 sun was Doan, but when he thought that it would be better to do it the way Rikyu did, he did it that way. Even the ash scoop, which in the past was made by inserting earthenware or bamboo, was made by Doan into a gold scoop with a handle. At first, Rikyu laughed at the ash scoop, which looked like a rice scoop, but he later also started using it. It appears that Rikyu also recognized Doan’s originality, and “Lord Hideyoshi asked Soeki (Rikyu) who should serve tea in the inner sanctum of the Great Buddha, and after some thought, Soeki replied that Doan should serve. This shows that Rikyu held Doan in high regard. Later, he changed his name to Doan and took the pseudonyms Fukuusai and Min’o.
Shōan was the stepson of Shūon (real name: Oriko; -1600), who became Rikyū’s second wife, and was known as Inosuke as a child. He later took the names Kichibei and Shirozaemon, and was known as Shōjun at first and then Shōan. His father is said to have been Miyao Saburōzaemon, a taiko drummer, but there are no definite records of this. In 1578, when his mother, Sōon, became the second wife of Sen no Rikyū, he became Rikyū’s adopted son and married Rikyū’s daughter, Kame.
On the 28th day of the second month of the lunar calendar in 1591, when Sen no Rikyu committed ritual suicide at the age of 70 at his residence in Yoshiya-cho, Kyoto, Doan and Shōan were both 46 years old, and it is said that Doan secretly fled Sakai and took refuge with Kanamori Nagachika in Hida.
The ‘Military Tales’ says, “Rikyu or his eldest son, Doan, fled to Hida, and the widow of the Shikoku-ya also disappeared. Shoan remained in Kyoto, and was granted a pardon by the Grand Minister’s wife.
It is said that Shōan either fled to the protection of Gamo Ujisato in Aizu or was ordered to stay at home under house arrest, and in Aizu Wakamatsu there is a three-mat tea ceremony room called “Rinkaku” that Shōan built for Ujisato.
Also, Motohaku Sōtan (1578-1658), the son of Shōan and Rikyū’s daughter Kame, was working as a serving boy (a young samurai with his hair tied up) for Shun’oku Sōen (1529-1611) of Sangen’in, a subtemple of Daitoku-ji, when Rikyū committed ritual suicide.

The revival of the Sen family
Three years after Rikyu’s seppuku, in 1594, through the good offices of Gamo Ujisato and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s anger was appeased and Shōan was allowed to return to Kyoto. The joint letter from Tokugawa Ieyasu and Gamo Ujisato informing Hideyoshi of his pardon is known as the “Shōan Sumidashi-jō” (Shōan Summoning Letter) and is still handed down in the Omote-Senke today.
After returning to Kyoto, Shōan was given a property in front of Honpō-ji Temple, and he succeeded in reviving the Sen family. Shōan, who succeeded to the position of Rikyū, moved Rikyū’s old tea house in front of Daitoku-ji Temple to in front of Honpō-ji Temple. This is the current Fushin’an of the Omote Sen family.
In the “Chawa Shigetsu-shu” (a collection of tea-related writings), it is written that “Lord Ieyasu Tokugawa and Lord Toshiie Maeda had long been unhappy about the situation of Soeki, and so, when they thought it a good time, they granted Soan and Doan permission to resign , and he was immediately forgiven. After that, he had Doan serve tea in a four-and-a-half tatami mat room, and the tea was viewed by the lord, who was impressed by how much it resembled Sōetsu’s. It also says, “Sotan was originally a monk at Shibafu (Daitokuji in Shibano), but when Hideyoshi Toyotomi visited Sotan on a number of occasions, he served him and became acquainted with him. As a result, Hideyoshi ordered Sotan to give him some of his tea utensils, and he received a long chest with three compartments. . When he was 15 or 16 years old, his father Shōan built the Shōnan-tei tea house in the Saiho-ji temple in the western mountains and retired there, and Sōtan took over the family business.
In the Bunroku era (1592-96), Doan was pardoned and became a tea master in the service of Hideyoshi again, and when Hideyoshi died in 1598, he changed his name to Doan he returned to Sakai and seems to have succeeded to Rikyu’s house, as we can see in Shun’oku Sōen’s “Ichimokkō” (“The Silent Manuscript”): “The old man Doan of Sennan brought a piece of white mulberry paper over to me and asked me to give him a poetic name. Unable to refuse, he gave him the name of Min’o… in the fifth year of the Keicho era…” This shows that he was in Sakai in the fifth year of the Keicho era at the latest.
Also, in the “Chawashigetsu-shu” (a collection of tea ceremony stories), it is written, “One time, Doan took Sotan with him to a tea ceremony hosted by Furuta Oribe, but the host (Oribe) asked for charcoal in the middle of the tea ceremony. Doan (Doan) pulled out a clay arrowhead and fixed the hearth, and then placed the charcoal. The charcoal was particularly interesting. On the way back, Oribe said that he was now the master of the tea ceremony, and that he had fixed the hearth, and that he would not put the charcoal in unless he was satisfied with it. From the fact that Sotatsu refers to Oribe as the current master (the foremost master of the tea ceremony of his time), it is known that he had dealings with Oribe and Sotatsu after Rikyu’s death and Doan’s pardon.
In 1601, he was appointed as the tea master of the Hosokawa family and was given a stipend of 300 koku of rice in the village of Mizusaki in Usa County. He died in 1607 at the age of 62 in the province of Buzen.

Sen Sōtan
In the book “Chawa Shigetsushū”, it is written: “Sōtan was originally a monk at Shibafu (Daitokuji in Shibano), but when Hideyoshi Toyotomi visited the temple on a number of occasions, he served him and, as Hideyoshi knew him, Hideyoshi ordered him to take the tea utensils that had belonged to Sōtan and use them as his own. As it is said that many of the utensils owned by Rikyu came from the Senke family, it is likely that they were among the utensils that Sotan received.” As you can see, Sotatsu (1578-1658) was called Shuri as a child, and from the age of 11 he trained as a kasshi (apprentice monk) at the Sangen-in temple of the Daitoku-ji temple under Shun’oku Shuen was 14 years old, he was faced with the death of his grandfather, Rikyu, and when his father, Shōan, returned to Kyoto and rebuilt the family home around 1594, Sōtan also returned home, and the Rikyu tea utensils also returned to the Senke family.
He succeeded to the headship of the family and the Senke school around 1600.
After the death of Rikyu, the tea ceremony in Japan was under the leadership of Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), and the “Tamon-in Diary” entry for March 22, 1599 On March 22 of the same year, the diary entry reads “Oribe, the tea master, has come from Fushimi”, showing that he was already well known as a tea master after the death of Rikyu. The “Oribe-style” tea ceremony swept the nation, and he became a tea master and the “master of the nation” who instructed the second Tokugawa Shogun, Hidetada, in the tea ceremony.
On June 11th, 1615, Furuta Oribe (72) was accused of communicating with the Toyotomi clan and committed seppuku (ritual suicide) at his residence in Fushimi. After Oribe, it was his pupil Kobori Enshu (1579-1647) who became the tea master to the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu.
In November of the 5th year of the Kanbun era (1665), Katagiri Sekishu served as the superintendent of the shogun Ietsuna’s household utensils, and after presenting the “300 Articles of Sekishu”, he gained the position of tea master to the shogun, and many daimyo and samurai followed the shogun’s example and changed to the Sekishu style.
In 1601, he was given the name “Genshuku” by Shun’oku Sōen of the Daitoku-ji temple, but he himself used the name “Genkaku”. Other names he used were “Dōtaku”, “In’ō”, and “Kan’un”.
Sōtan had a son, Sōsetsu (1592-1652), with his first wife, and a son, Sōshu (1593-1675: Mushanokōji branch), with his second wife. Koshin Sosa (1613-1672: Omote-Senke), his daughter Kure (the mother of Kuda Sōzen), and his fourth son Senso Soshitsu (1622-1697: Ura-Senke). There is some doubt as to whether Sōtan’s first son Sōsetsu and second son Sōmori were born when Sōtan was at Daitokuji, but there is no convincing theory. However, in recent years a new theory has been proposed by the Mushanokōji branch of the Senke school.
1614: Father Shōan dies.
Around 1618, he built a 1.5 tatami mat room and tried to promote the wabi tea ceremony, but he was not financially well off. He was called “begging Sotan”, but he did not take a government post. “Taking a government post is called ‘yakatairi’, but it is said that Sotan never took a government post, no matter how poor he became.”
In 1633, he held a tea ceremony in a newly built 1.5 tatami mat room for the shogun’s advisor, Nobuhiro Konoe. He was invited to the shogun’s residence many times after that, and his name became more widely known. The head priest of Daitokuji Temple promoted Sotatsu. Sōtan was introduced to Yagyū Muneakira by Takuan.
In 1642, Sōsa came into the service of the Kishū Tokugawa family. His four disciples also became government officials or established themselves as independent tea masters, and made a name for themselves.
In 1645, he retired from the world when his pupil, Noma Gentaku, a doctor, returned to his home. The following year, he built the Kyoan house and moved there. He died in 1659.
Eventually, Sōtan was invited to serve as tea master to the Tokugawa family and various feudal lords, but he stubbornly refused. It is said that this was because he felt strongly that his grandfather, Rikyū, had been driven to commit suicide because he was receiving a stipend from Hideyoshi, but it is also likely that he believed that the true essence of tea was to be found in the lives of ordinary people, and that the spirit of wabi could not be born from the luxurious lifestyles of feudal lords. As a result, Sōtan’s life was extremely difficult, and he was known as “Beggar Sōtan”. It could also be said that, because of his poverty, he became even more devoted to wabi, and reached a state of mind where he was one with the tea and Zen. In the 17th century, society moved from the turbulent Warring States period to the Edo period, under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. This stable social situation also brought about changes in the world of chanoyu. Sōtan had four sons. In contrast to his own attitude, Sōtan, who considered the social position of the tea ceremony in the context of the stable social background of the time, had three of his sons serve as tea masters in the service of the daimyo families.
According to the generally accepted view, Iō Sōmori was born in 1593, when Sōtan was 16 years old, but this is thought to have been calculated backwards from the year of Iō’s death in 1675, when he was 83 years old. As evidence, there is a poem written by the third (sixth) generation head of the Kankūan temple, Shinpaku, which reads “I have been eating and drinking tea for over 80 years, but where is the origin of this? even if you think that there is nothing to be done, you must do it.” In the ‘Senke Family Tree’ that Ryoan of the Omotesenke school sent to the Tokugawa family of Kishu, the words ‘He died of illness on the 19th day of the 12th month of the year of Enpo 3, in the year of the rabbit, and his age was not known’ were added, and this is thought to be the reason why the age of Ichio at death is recorded as 83. In the family register of the Keiko-ji temple, the family temple of the Yoshioka family, the adoptive family of Ichio Sōmori, it is written “Yoshioka Jinshiro, father, 72 years old, Ichio Sōmori, 4th year of Enpō, January”, and according to this, the year of Ichio Sōmori’s birth is 1605, making him the 28-year-old son of Sōtan. (Kankyuan Foundation “Kifu” No. 36)

Sotan and his sons
Sotan had a first son, Kan’ou Souseki (1592-1652), from his first wife, and a second son, Ichi’ou Soshu (1593-1675), from his second wife. three sons, Koshin Sosa (1613-1672) and Senso Sositsu (1622-1697), who were the children of his second wife.
The eldest son, Sōsetsu, served the Kaga Maeda family, but soon resigned. He was disowned by Sōtan and left the Senke family, but later it is said that he was allowed to return, and some of his works, such as tea scoops, have been passed down to the present day. He is buried at Shōden-in in Kyoto’s Nishigamo area. The tea utensils owned by the Mushanokōji Senke school, including the Tetsuunryūfūro and Unryūkama, both of which were made in 1784, are inscribed with the following: “This Tetsuunryūfūro is the favorite of Sen Sōtan’s son, Mushanokōji Sōsetsu. “Sosetsu was a skilled master of the tea ceremony. He lived in Kyoto, taking advantage of the spare time he had to devote himself to the tea ceremony, under the care of Isso Sosho. He was a skilled master of the tea ceremony. He lived in Kyoto, taking advantage of the spare time he had to devote himself to the tea ceremony, under the care of Isso Sosho. He was a skilled master of the tea ceremony. He lived in Kyoto, taking advantage of the spare time he had to devote himself to the tea ceremony, under the care of Isso Sosho. He was a skilled master of the tea ceremony. He lived in Kyoto, taking advantage of the spare time he had to devote himself to the tea ceremony, under the care of Isso Sosho. He was a skilled master of the tea ceremony. He lived in Kyoto, taking advantage of the spare time he had to devote himself to the tea ceremony, under the care of Isso Sosho. He was a skilled master of the tea ceremony. He lived
The second son, Sōmori, was adopted by Yoshimokujiya, a lacquerer in Mushanokōji, and Yoshioka Yosukeemon, and took the name Yoshioka Jinemon, becoming a lacquerer.
The third son, Sōsa, is mentioned in the “Bubeni Kibunsho” (“Military Tales”) as “Sōtan Sōsa. As is written in the “Buben Damon Shosho” (“A Record of Tales Heard in the Military”), “Sosa served the Terasawa Shima-no-kami and Ikoma Ikki-no-kami, and later went to work in Kishu. He initially served the Terasawa family of the Hizen Karatsu domain, which had a rice production of 123,000 koku, but when the Karatsu domain was punished for its role in the Shimabara Rebellion (1637-1638), Sosa lost his job. A year and a half later, in 1639, he was transferred to the Ikoma family of the Takamatsu domain in Sanuki, with a stipend of 173,000 koku, but the Ikoma family was stripped of their 173,000 koku in Sanuki due to a family dispute, and he was transferred to the Yuri domain in Dewa with a stipend of 10,000 koku, and once again lost his job. Later, in 1642, he was employed by the Kishu Tokugawa family, one of the three branches of the Tokugawa family, as a tea master for their 555,000 koku domain. He later succeeded to the headship of the Sen family, and became the Omote-Sen family.
The fourth son, Senso Soshitsu, was known as Chokichiro as a child, and studied medicine under Noma Gentaku (1590-1645), who was also a physician to the second and third Tokugawa shoguns, Hidetada and Iemitsu, and took the name Genshitsu. However, in 1645, he returned to his father Sotan after the sudden death of Gentaku.
Sotan took the opportunity of Genshitsu’s return to become a disciple of Noma Gentak to retire. The following year, in 1646, he gave the Fushian tea house to his third son, Sōsa, and built a separate retirement villa and the Kyoan tea house in the north garden of the villa, moving there with Genshitsu. Later, this retirement villa and the tea ceremony room “Kyoan” were passed on to Senso Soseki, and became the Urasenke school.
The second son, Soshimori, later passed on the lacquerer’s business to his son-in-law, Nakamura Hachie (the first of the Ten Craftsmen of the Senke School, Nakamura Soshitsu; 1617-1695), and returned to the Sen family name, setting up a residence in Mushanokōji Ogawa Higashi-iru. After that, he went on to become a tea master, and in 1650, at the age of 58, he was given the name Ichio Soshimori by the 185th abbot of Daitokuji, Gyokushu, and was first employed by the Yomei and Konoe families, and then in 1664, he became the tea master of the Takamatsu domain in Sanuki, with a stipend of 100 koku of rice. (Takamatsu Clan Records of Historical Figures)
The fourth son, Senso Soshitsu (Genshitsu), was taken into the service of the Maeda family of Kaga in 1651. It is said that he changed his name to Soshitsu in August of that year.
His second son, Muneshige, retired from his job as the tea master of the Matsudaira clan in 1667 and built the tea room “Kankyuan” in Mushanokōji.
The name of this tea room, Kankyuan, became the name of the family, and the location of the house became known as Mushanokōji Senke.