was a master of the

tea ceremony Tea ceremony is a ritualized practice of making and serving tea (茶 ''cha'') in East Asia practiced in the Sinosphere. The original term from China (), literally translated as either "''way of tea''", "''etiquette for tea or tea rite''",Heiss, M ...

and a well-known

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

of the 16th century in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. His name has come down in Japanese cultural history because he followed

Murata Jukō is known in Japanese cultural history as the founder of the Japanese tea ceremony, in that he was the early developer of the wabi-cha style of tea enjoyment employing native Japanese implements. His name may also be pronounced Murata Shukō. Bi ...

as an early proponent of

wabi-cha ''Wabi-cha'' (; ; ), is a style of Japanese tea ceremony particularly associated with Sen no Rikyū, Takeno Jōō and its originator Murata Jukō. ''Wabi-cha'' emphasizes simplicity. The term came into use in the Edo period, prior to which it was ...

, and was chanoyu teacher to

Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, was a Japanese tea master considered the most important influence on the ''chanoyu'', the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of '' wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspect ...

. It is believed that the family descended from the Takeda clan who were guardians of

Wakasa Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the southwestern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Wakasa''" in . Wakasa bordered on Echizen, Ōmi, Tanba, Tango, and Yamash ...

. His father, Nobuhisa, changed the family name to Takeno, and after roaming the country, settled in

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its '' kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun ...

, where he built up a thriving business dealing in leather goods used by warriors. Nobuhisa married the daughter of a priest of Kōfukuji temple in

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...

(present-day Nara Prefecture), Jō'ō's mother. While carrying on the family business in Sakai, Jō'ō, whose common name was Shingorō (新五郎), did religious duty as an attendant at the

Hongan-ji , also archaically romanized as Hongwanji, is the collective name of the largest school of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism (which further sub-divides into the Nishi and Higashi branches). 'Hongan-ji' may also refer to any one of several actual temple bu ...

temple in the Yamashina,

Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the '' Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto it ...

(nowadays Kyoto). In 1532, he took the tonsure and came to be known as Jō'ō. Evidence shows that until the age of thirty-five, he aspired to become a teacher of ''

renga ''Renga'' (, ''linked poem'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 morae (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets ...

'' (group poetry composition involving verse-linking). In Kyoto, he was able to learn the secrets of ''

waka WAKA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Selma, Alabama, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Montgomery area. It is owned by Bahakel Communications alongside Tuskegee-licensed CW+ affiliate WBMM (channel 22); B ...

'' (Japanese poetry) from the aristocratic master of the art, Sanjōnishi Sanetaka. Being extremely wealthy, Jō'ō was able to amass an impressive collection of classical works on the art of ''waka''.''Genshoku Chadō Daijiten'' In Kyoto city, chanoyu (the

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or lit. 'Hot water for tea') is a Culture of Japan, Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . The term "Japa ...

) had suddenly risen in prominence, and Jō'ō became interested in developing a style that was suited to the people's customs in Sakai rather than Kyoto. Sanjōnishi and his ''renga'' circle were influential in this development, as was the Zen training that Jō'ō underwent. Two of his important chanoyu pupils in Sakai were the wealthy merchant

Imai Sōkyū was a 16th century merchant in the Japanese port town of Sakai, and a master of the tea ceremony. His ''yagō'' was Naya. Biography A relative of the Amago and Sasaki samurai clans, Sōkyū originally came from Yamato Province. After settl ...

, who was married to his daughter, and

. Eventually he became reputed as the foremost chanoyu master in Sakai. When he died in 1555, his legitimate son, Takeno Shingorō (a.k.a. Takeno Sōga 武野宗瓦; 1550–1614), was a mere six years old. Shingorō inherited his father's fabulous estate, and in time he too became known as a tea master. Imai Sōkyū acted as his guardian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takeno, Joo 1502 births 1555 deaths Japanese merchants Japanese tea masters Buddhists of the Muromachi period