#2 About Sen no Rikyu

About Sen no Rikyu

Sen no Rikyu

  Sen no Rikyu is the father of Japanese tea ceremony "Wabicha". He was born in Izuminokuni - current Osaka- in 1522 as the child of merchant. His father's job is warehouse business, but he didn't inherit the job. His childhood name is Yosirou. He enjoyed the tea ceremony from youth and in his 17, he started to change the tea ceremony with his master Takeno Jyouo. His great sense and passionate about the tea ceremony made his name famous. By the way, Sen no Rikyu is not his name. His name is Housennsai . It is something like his title that given by Oogimachi emperor. Because those days, people of merchant rank cannot attend the tea party. But a person who has a title, he can join the tea party. And, he was employed as a master of tea ceremony by Nobunaga Oda. After Honnoji incident, he served Hideyoshi toyotomi. He began the use of bamboo flower cases, making of tea bowl and creation of Soan tea room and leaves for the completion of Wabicha. That is in his 60. 1591, Rikyu touched the wrath of Hideyoshi, he forced to perform hara-kiri. He died, at his 70.
 Then what is Rikyu's Wabicha? The base of Wabicha is universality. He denied established sense of values  to respect a noted product. He removed the decoration of tea tools and used the tea tool which was not expensive at all. It is thought that his this sense of values was influence of his master Jyouo. He thought that the most beautiful thing is imperfection, anhe called it Wabi. But this is only about tea tools. Sen no Rikyu extended an object of wabi in the structure of the tea-ceremony room and a style of whole tea party including the manners of tea serving as well as a tea tools. Whem he was asked by pupil with the secret of the tea ceremony, he answered that "It is basic". When you treat a guest, the expensive thing showing off your authority is not necessary. The necessary thing is the space where the guest settles, a tea and a heart of motenashi. Why did he take good care of a guest as it? Because he thought the time when he and his guest meet it this way is holy quality to never come. This is spirit of so-called Ichigoichie
 After his death, but his wabicha didn't die. His pupils succeeded tea by each way of thinking.