Sen no Rikyu

JAPAN; Momoyama period

Sen no Rikyu was a well-known tea practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony. He had an original family name of Tanaka and was also known as Soeki. He was granted the title Rikyu Koji by Emperor Ogimachi (reigned 1557–1586) in 1585.
Rikyu’s approach to preparing tea embodied the spirit of Murata Juko and the etiquette of Takeno Joo. When he was 15 years old, he practiced meditation under abbot Dairin Soto at Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto, and diligently studied Murata Juko’s concept of “Tea and Zen are of one taste,” which advocates the idea of creating harmony between drinking tea and having a meditative mind. He enhanced the art of tea ceremony and strived to transform the tradition of drinking tea into a form of spiritual practice, promoting the ideals of “harmony, respect, and serenity.” Consequently, Sen no Rikyu greatly impacted the tea etiquette in Japanese Zen temples.
His tea house was simple and made of dirt walls, much like a grass hut. The interior, however, was clean and the decor was consistent with the simplicity and beauty of tea ceremony. His Zen-inspired style differed from the extravagant tea houses of the nobility during the Muromachi period (1392–1573), and was thus adapted into the design of tea houses at temples around Kyoto
His calligraphic work entitled Farewell Verse of Rikyu, as well as his self-made bamboo Tea scoop, is kept at the Omotesenke Fushin’an Foundation in Kyoto.