Sen no Rikyu

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi consoidated his power in 1582, he kept Nobunaga's tea people in place, but gradually gave power over his household affairs to Sen-no- Rikyu, who had been Takeno Jo-o's student. Rikyu, first with the help of his master and then alone, made many alterations in the tea ceremony, defining what the traditional tea ceremony would become.

"hand-bucket" mizusashi, and chaki tied with fukusa (invented by Rikyu)

It was Rikyu who brought many bamboo objects into the tea room. He also invented the raku tea bowl; shrunk the size of the fukusa and hung it from his obi; designed with Jo-o the six-foot-square tea room; and designed many new and different shapes for tea objects, from the "well-bucket" mizusashi to the wooden furo for outdoor use. In tea, his creativity knew no bounds.

tabidansu (portable tea cabinet) invented by Rikyu

Rikyu also fully developed the ideas of wabi and sabi. Sabi refers to the rustic beauty of the antique and imperfect, while wabi refers to the wllingness of host and guests to accept simplicity rather than ostentation. While Hideyoshi was quite open about his wealth and power--designing a gold-leaf covered tea room for himself, for example--he appreciated Rikyu's love of the small, natural and imperfect.

letter from Rikyu (dec 94)

By 1590, however, Rikyu had a falling out with Hideyoshi, the circumstances of which are shrouded in mystery and conjecture. The result, however, was that Hideyoshi condemned Rikyu to death, and on February 28, 1591, Rikyu took his own life in the ceremonial ritual of seppuku. His son Doan died in 1607, so his son-in-law Shoan received permission from the newly-established Tokugawa shogun to continue his father-in-law's tradition.

Letter from Koetsu (nov. 94)

After Rikyu's death, his pupil Furuta Oribe became the tea master for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo period. He put some of the showiness back into the tea ceremony that Rikyu had taken out--but he too was forced to commit seppuku in 1615. Oribe's pupil Kobori Enshu then established what became known as the daimyo style of tea, most common among the nobility.  Oribe and Enshu were concerned more with aesthetics than with the wabi/sabi ideas of Rikyu.

Sen Sotan

In the meantime, Sen Sotan (1578-1658), son of Shoan and grandson of Sen no Rikyu, worked at re-establishing the tea ceremony as a wabi discipline. He lived a frugal life, refusing to attach himself to any lord, and made his living teaching tea students. Slowly, his reputation grew throughout Japan, and while most of the nobility preferred the greater showiness of the daimyo schools, Sotan insured that his grandfather's principles did not die out.  In fact, he "parceled out" his three sons each as tea master to separate daimyo.

Joshinsai, seventh grand master of Omotesenke school of tea

When Sotan died, his estate was split between his three sons, who established the three main branches of the Senke ("house of Sen") schools of tea: Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushanokoji- senke. In these schools, direct descendants of Sotan's sons continue as tea masters to this day. Each has made minor alterations in the practice of tea, but all work to remain true to the principles of their ancestor Rikyu.