(b Sakai, near Osaka, 1522; d Kyoto, 1591). Japanese master of the tea ceremony (see JAPAN, fig. 204). His aesthetic ideals and refinement of the type of tea ceremony called wabicha, which is based on concepts of wabi (‘simple, austere, natural beauty’), are regarded as the epitome of that tradition and have pervaded many aspects of Japanese culture. Unlike the military élite of the period, who viewed the tea ceremony as a way to relax, to entertain friends and allies and to display newly acquired wealth and status, Rikyu increasingly stressed the spiritual aspects of the tea ceremony, emphasizing the fundamental links between Zen Buddhism and chanoyu (‘the way of tea’). He sought the potential inner beauty of commonplace things and urged an appreciation for time-worn and imperfect objects. Through innovations in the conduct of the tea ceremony, garden design, utensils (see fig. 1) and architecture, Sen no Rikyu dramatically changed the practice of tea, and his formulation of wabicha, although further developed and expanded by his followers over the centuries, continues to be the essence of that ceremony (see also JAPAN, §XIX, 1).

• Sen no Rikyu
  • Garden, §VI, 3(ii): Japan: Medieval
  • Japan, §XIV, 1(i): Tea ceremony: History
  • Japan, §XIV, 4(ii): Tea ceremony calligraphy: Influence of 16th–early 17th-century tea masters
  • Japan, §XVI, 2: Bamboo and basketwork
  • Japan, §XVI, 9(ii)(a): Flower arrangement, 6th–18th centuries
  • Momoyama period
  • Osaka, §I, 3(ii)(a): Art life, late 15th century and after
  • Tawaraya Sotatsu, §1: Life and work
  • collaboration
    • Kyoto, §III, 1: Centre of ceramics production, late 16th century–late 17th
  • personal collection
    • Kyoto, §IV, 5(i): Daitokuji: Layout
  • pupils
    • Furuta Oribe
    • Oda Nobunaga
  • teachers
    • Takeno Joo
  • works
    • Iga
    • Japan, §VII, 1(iii)(c): Calligraphy: Kamakura, Muromachi and Momoyama periods
    • Japan, §XII, 2(v): Metalwork: Momoyama and Edo periods
    • Japan, §XIV, 1(ii): Tea ceremony: Philosophy
    • Japan, §XIV, 2(i)(b): Tea ceremony architecture: Small tea-rooms
    • Japan, §XIX, 2: Patronage, 13th–16th centuries
    • Japan, §XIX, 3: Patronage, 17th century–late 19th
    • Raku