Sen Rikyu

Sen Rikyū was born in Sakai, a prosperous city of merchants and craftsmen, in 1522. His father was a warehouse owner who later adopted the family name Sen, and his mother was the daughter of a paper manufacturer. His childhood name was Yoshiro. He began to study the tea ceremony under Kitamuki Dōchin, a townsman of Sakai, when he was 17 years old. At 19, he became a disciple of Takeno Jōō, who is also credited with developing the wabi aesthetic of simplicity and rusticity in tea. He received the Buddhist name Sōeki from the Rinzai Zen priest Dairin Sōtō of Nanshūji temple in Sakai. He married Hōshin Myōju around 1543 and had three sons with her. He also underwent Zen training at Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. Rikyū rose to fame as a tea master when he became the chief tea instructor for Oda Nobunaga, the powerful warlord who sought to unify Japan, in 1579. He followed Nobunaga's death in 1582 by serving his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who completed the unification and became the de facto ruler of Japan. Rikyū enjoyed a close relationship with Hideyoshi and became his most trusted confidant and adviser. He was granted the Buddhist lay name and title Rikyū Koji by Emperor Ōgimachi in 1585. He also played a central role in the Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony, a lavish event hosted by Hideyoshi at the Kitano Tenman-gū shrine in 1587, where he invited hundreds of tea practitioners to display their skills and utensils. Rikyū is regarded as the greatest tea master in Japanese history, who refined the tea ceremony to its ultimate form. He emphasized the principles of wabi and sabi, which value simplicity, humility, and naturalness over ostentation, luxury, and artificiality. He designed several styles of teahouse architecture, such as the two-mat room and the nijiri-guchi (crawling-in entrance), which created a sense of intimacy and equality among the guests. He also influenced the tea-garden landscaping, the selection and arrangement of flowers, and the choice and creation of tea utensils. He favored the raku ware, a type of pottery that is hand-shaped and irregular, over the imported Chinese porcelain. He also introduced the use of local and humble materials, such as bamboo, wood, and iron, for the tea equipment. He composed many poems and letters related to tea, and left behind a collection of his teachings, known as the Nanpō roku. Rikyū's life ended tragically when he fell out of favor with Hideyoshi, who ordered him to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) in 1591. The exact reason for this is unclear, but some possible causes are: his involvement in a conspiracy against Hideyoshi, his refusal to give his daughter to Hideyoshi, his placement of a statue of himself in a temple gate, or his disagreement with Hideyoshi over the aesthetics and politics of tea. Rikyū complied with the order and ended his life at the age of 69 in Hideyoshi's Jurakudai palace in Kyoto. He left behind a death poem that reads: I raise the sword This sword of mine Long in my possession The time is come at last Skyward I throw it up Rikyū's legacy lives on in the three main schools of tea ceremony that claim descent from him: the Omotesenke, the Urasenke, and the Mushakōjisenke. His influence can also be seen in various aspects of Japanese culture, such as art, literature, philosophy, and cuisine. He is widely revered and respected as a cultural icon and a symbol of the spirit of tea.