Schools of Japanese tea ceremony

"Schools of Japanese tea ceremony" refers to the various lines or "streams" of the Japanese Way of Tea. The word "schools" here is an English rendering of the Japanese term "ryūha" (流派).

an-Senke

There are three historical households (家) directly descended from the 16th-century tea master Sen no Rikyu which are dedicated to transmitting the Way of Tea that was developed by their mutual family founder, Sen no Rikyu. They are known collectively as the "san-Senke" (三千家), or "three Sen houses/families." These are the Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushakōjisenke (see Mushanokōjisenke). Another line, which was located in Sakai and therefore called the Sakaisenke (堺千家), was the original "Senke" (Sen house) founded by Sen no Rikyu. Rikyu's natural son, Sen Dōan, took over as head of the Sakaisenke after his father's death, but it soon disappeared because he had no offspring or successor. The school named Edosenke (江戸千家; lit., Edo Sen house/family) is not descended by blood from the Sen family; its founder, Kawakami Fuhaku (1716-1807), became a tea master under the 7th generation head of the Omotesenke line, and eventually set up a tea house in Edo (Tokyo), where he devoted himself to developing the Omotesenke style of the Way of Tea in Edo.

The san-Senke arose from the fact that three of the four sons of Genpaku Sōtan (Sen no Rikyu's grandson) inherited or built a tea house, and assumed the duty of passing forward the tea ideals and tea methodology of their great-grandfather, Sen no Rikyu. Kōshin Sōsa inherited Fushin-an (不審菴) and became the head ("iemoto") of the Omotesenke line; Sensō Sōshitsu inherited Konnichi-an (今日庵) and became "iemoto" of the Urasenke line; and Ichiō Sōshu built Kankyū-an (官休庵) and became "iemoto" of the Mushakōjisenke line. The names of these three family lines came about from the locations of their estates, as symbolized by their tea houses: the family in the front (omote), the family in the rear (ura), and the family on Mushakōji Street.

Other schools

The three lines of the Sen family which count their founder as Sen no Rikyu are simply known as the Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushakōjisenke. Schools that developed as branches or sub-schools of the san-Senke, or separately from them, are known as "~"ryū" (from "ryūha"), which may be translated as "school" or "style." New schools often formed when factions split an existing school after several generations. There are many of these schools, most of them quite small.

Current schools

* Oribe-ryū 織部流 (founder: Furuta Shigenari)
* Anrakuan-ryū 安楽庵流
* Chinshin-ryū 鎮信流
* Edosenke-ryū 江戸千家流
* Enshū-ryū 遠州流
* Furuichi-ryū 古市流
* Fusai-ryū 普斎流
* Fujibayashi-ryū 藤林流
* Fuhaku-ryū 不白流
* Fumai-ryū 不昧流
* Hayami-ryū 速水流
* Higoko-ryū 肥後古流
* Hisada-ryū 久田流
* Hosokawasansai-ryū 細川三斎流
* Horinouchi-ryū 堀内流
* Kayano-ryū 萱野流
* Kobori-ryū 小堀流
* Kogetsuenshū-ryū 壺月遠州流
* Matsuo-ryū 松尾流
* Mitani-ryū 三谷流
* Miyabi-ryū 雅流　
* Nara-ryū 奈良流
* Rikyū-ryū 利休流
* Sakai-ryū 堺流
* Sekishū-ryū 石州流
** Sekishū-ryū Ikeiha 石州流怡渓派
** Sekishū-ryū Ōguchiha 石州流大口派
** Sekishū-ryū Shimizuha 石州流清水派
** Sekishū-ryū Nomuraha 石州流野村派
* Sōwa-ryū 宗和流
* Uedasōko-ryū 上田宗箇流
* Uraku-ryū 有楽流
* Yabunouchi-ryū 薮内流 (founder: Yabunouchi Kenchū Jōchi [1536-1627] , who, like Sen Rikyū, learned chanoyu from Takeno Jōō)

External links

* [http://www.omotesenke.jp/english/tobira.html Omotesenke official website]

* [http://www.urasenke.or.jp/texte/index.html Urasenke official website]

* [http://www.sohenryu.com/ Sōhen-ryū official website]

* [http://www.mushakouji-senke.or.jp/aisatsu2.html Mushakōjisenke official website]

Japanese * [http://www.edosenke.jp/index.html Edosenke official website]

Japanese * [http://www.yabunouchi-ennan.or.jp/ Yabunouchi official website]

Japanese * [http://www2.neweb.ne.jp/wd/hayamiriyu Hayami-ryū official website]