History of Rikyu Shichitetsu and Tea Ceremony

Earlier, when I wrote an article about Sen no Rikyu's seppuku, I said I would write about Rikyu Shichitetsu.

So today, I would like to write Rikyu Shichitetsu while studying the history of the tea ceremony.

History of the tea ceremony

The tea ceremony is a ritual of boiling water and making tea.
Nowadays, when it comes to tea ceremony, " Matcha " It is common to use sencha, but in the Edo period, sencha-do uses sencha. Is also included.

[ Tea ] Is said to have been brought back to Japan by the monks who were studying abroad at the time of the envoy to Tang.
However, at that time, [ tea culture ] Will gradually fade out without taking root.

However, during the Kamakura period, Eisai Introduced the method of tea using matcha, and during the Nanbokucho period of the Muromachi period, entertainment that gathered in a certain place and guessed the tea production area [ Tocha ] Has become popular.
However, gambling using Tocha was rampant, and a ban was later issued.

In the middle of the Muromachi period, the Shoin-zukuri, which was an aristocratic building, became popular as a house, and the tea ceremony held at the Kaisho began to be held in the hall of the Shoin. Noami, the same member of the group, completed the method of Shoin tea.

The disciple of Noami, Murata Juko Is a simple [ underground tea ceremony that was popular among the common people. ] We will make a tea ceremony that incorporates the style and the spirit of Zen, and create a spiritual and artistic tea ceremony.

After Murata Juko passed away, Takeno Jōo Instead of the Karamono tea ceremony, " Wabi-cha " is a combination of everyday miscellaneous items in the tea ceremony. , Which was merely entertainment, rituals, and manners, will be sublimated into a tea ceremony with a spirit of wabi.

After that, the founder of "Wabi-cha", Takeno Jōo, and his disciple Sen no Rikyu It will be completed in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Rikyu's tea ceremony is until the disciples called Rikyu Shichitetsu form a school called samurai tea ceremony or daimyo tea.

After Sen no Rikyu's death, after going through the second generation, Sen no Rikyu, the third generation, Motohaku Sotan, the second son, Ichio Somori, the third son, Koshin Sosa, and the fourth son, Sen no Sōtan, respectively. Sen no Rikyu, Suspicious An, Today's An Following the path since Sen no Rikyu, Mushakojisenke , Suspicious hermitage is Omotesenke , Today's hermitage is Urasenke Divided into three thousand families.

In the late Edo period, there were voices calling for a tea ceremony that was easy to enjoy, disliked the tea ceremony that used matcha, which had been well-established as a samurai culture.
Around this time, sencha was popular among the people as a luxury item, and there was a call for a "way" for sencha, so we decided on the method of sencha [ sencha-do . ] Was completed.

Feudal system collapsed in the Meiji era Then, each tea ceremony school becomes financially difficult.
Under such circumstances, Urasenke and Iemoto at that time settled in the new capital, Tokyo, and promoted the tea ceremony to leading business people. Perhaps because of that, the tea ceremony was incorporated as a liberal arts subject for girls.
With this, the tea ceremony becomes [ Wabi-cha ] Apart from " Girls' culture 』I got the element as.

In the tea ceremony after the defeat of Japan, the Iemoto of the tea ceremony [ approached a powerful person and received a special distribution ], It is criticized.
Under the occupation of the United States, Westernization is progressing rapidly, and it is a culture unique to Japan [ Tea Ceremony ], But from the perspective of preserving its own culture, the tea ceremony world, including Urasenke, has spread the tea ceremony as a culture unique to Japan and continues to this day.

History of the San-Senke

Omotesenke / Urasenke / Mushakojisenke , the origin of tea in Kyoto San-Senke Is called.

Sen no Rikyu , the ancestor of the San-Senke After being ordered to seppuku by Hideyoshi, his children Doan and Koan Will be able to escape to the countryside. A few years later, Ieyasu Tokugawa and Toshiie Maeda Koan returns to Kyoto and succeeds Rikyu's Senke. Subsequently, Doan also returned to Tokyo and succeeded to Sakai's Senke, who was from Rikyu, but this family line was cut off after Doan's death.

In the world of Tokugawa, Koan serves Ieyasu and receives 400 stones, but soon resigns and retires to Saihoji Temple.

At this time, the child of Koan [ Sotan ] Succeeded to Senke, and the first one to run was [ Suspicious An 】was. When Soutan retires, the suspicious hermitage is [ Koshin Sosa ], And he is new to [ Kyouan ] Will be built. After that, Kyouan Sensho Sect Room Soutan further [ Matahidashi ] Will be built and his second retreat will be done.

Sen no Sōtan did not serve anywhere in his life, but his three children were Kishu Tokugawa, Kaga Maeda, and Sanuki Matsudaira . Tea Head I was made to serve as an officer. Among them, Ichio Somori, who was a tea head in the Sanuki Matsudaira clan, resigned and then went to Mushakojisen [ Kankyuan . ] Built, this completed the foundation of the 3,000 family as a tea house.

• Suspicious hermitage on the left of Koshin Sosa =Omotesenke
• Kyouan of Sensho Sect Room =Urasenke
• Mushakouji Senke-an =Mushakoji Senke

As it is now.

By the way, this XX hermitage is a tea room.

Rikyu Shichitetsu

In addition to his excellent sons, Sen no Rikyu also had reliable disciples.

Among the many disciples, the ones who are particularly excellent are called Rikyu Shichitetsu.

1. Gamo Ujisato (first)
2. Tadaoki Hosokawa
3. Shigenari Yoshida
4. Munetsuna Shibayama
5. Nagabusa Seta
6. Dom Justo Takayama
7. Toshisada Makimura