, also known as , is the 4th in the hereditary series of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese tea masters who have been head of the
Urasenke
is one of the main schools of Japanese tea ceremony. Along with and , it is one of the three lines of the family descending from , which together are known as the - or the "three houses/families" ().
The name , literally meaning "rear hous ...
family. Although he was the first person in the Sen family to use the name "Sōshitsu" which has been the exclusive hereditary professional name of the head of the Urasenke line of the family ever since, he is counted as Sōshitsu IV to distinguish him as the 4th generation in this line, which, as do the other three lines of the Sen family, counts its founder as
Sen no Rikyū
, also known simply as Rikyū, is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on ''chanoyu,'' the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of '' wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspects ...
.
Biography
Sensō Sōshitsu was the youngest son of
Sen no Sōtan
(1578–1658), also known as Genpaku Sōtan 元伯宗旦, was the grandson of the famed figure in Japanese cultural history, Sen no Rikyū. He is remembered as Rikyū's third-generation successor in Kyoto through whose efforts and by whose very be ...
; and he was a great-grandson of Sen no Rikyū. Before becoming the head of the Urasenke line of the Sen family, he studied under a physician of Kyoto named Noma Gentaku, aiming to become a physician. Due to the death of Noma, however, he returned to live with his father and concentrate on making a life of carrying on the
chadō
The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is sel ...
tradition of the Sen family, founded by his great-grandfather, Sen no Rikyū. Through his father's hard work and connections, he landed a position as magistrate in charge of chadō matters for the head of the wealthy
Kaga domain
The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871. .
[Genshoku Chadō Daijiten, entry for Urasenke, Sensō Sōshitsu. Tankosha Publishing Co., 1985, 10th printing (Japanese)] At first he served under Lord
Maeda Toshitsune
was an early-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd ''daimyō'' of Kaga Domain in the Hokuriku region of Japan, and the 3rd hereditary chieftain of the Maeda clan. Toshitsune was a brother of Maeda Toshinaga and a son of Maeda Toshiie. He was ...
, and after Toshitsune's death, Lord Maeda Tsunatoshi, who was a great patron of the arts and provided Sensō with comfortable quarters in the town of
Kanazawa
is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was .
Overview Cityscape
File:もてな ...
. He spent a great deal of his life in Kanazawa, and his first son, who succeeded him as the fifth head of the Urasenke line of the Sen family, Fukyūsai Jōsō, was born in Kanazawa. Sensō finally retired from his position with Tsunatoshi and returned to Kyoto when he was sixty-six years old, though he continued to make visits to Kanazawa on occasion, and that is where he died on the 23rd day of the 1st month of 1697, at the age of seventy-five.
[Section on the biography of the Fourth-Generation Grand Master, Sensō Sōshitsu, in ''Chanoyu: The Urasenke Tradition of Tea''. Ed., Sōshitsu Sen XV; tr., Alfred Birmbaum. (John Weatherhill, Inc., 1988)]
Achievements
Sensō Sōshitsu is particularly remembered for his role in taking the potter Chōzaemon, who worked at the
Raku family's workshop in Kyoto, to Kanazawa, and helping him to establish a kiln in the Ōhi section of town. This represented the birth of Ōhi ware pottery, an offshoot of Raku ware pottery. Also, Sensō Sōshitsu is credited with helping the kettle maker Miyazaki Kanchi to establish the Kanchi foundry in Kanazawa. In these ways, Sensō Sōshitsu made major contributions to the art of chanoyu
as well as the culture of Kanazawa.
References
External links
Urasenke official home page*http://www.ohimuseum.com/ (brief information from the Ōhi Museum about the origin of Ōhi ware)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senso Soshitsu
1622 births
1697 deaths
Japanese tea masters