Urasenke

Urasenke is one of the three lines of the Sen family, along with Omotesenke and Mushakōjisenke. Sen no Rikyū’s grandson, Genpaku Sōtan had four sons. One of them left the house, thus three successors continued Rikyū’s legacy establishing three tea ceremony schools: Kankyuan, Fushinan, and Konnichian. Omotesenke was called Fushinan, Urasenke was called Konnichian, and Kankyuan was called Mushakōjisenke referring to the location. Today, Urasenke has the largest following among the Japanese tea ceremonies both in Japan and overseas.

Sen Sōshitsu (1622-97), the grandson of Rikyū inherited the tea house named Konnichian and established Urasenke there. The school’s motto is “Harmony, Respect, Purity, and Tranquility” derived directly from Rikyū’s legacy together with the attitude of Ichigo-ichie literally meaning “one time, one meaning”. Ichigo-ichie is a fundamental philosophy of appreciating the moment. A certain set of circumstances occurs only once in one’s lifetime and as such is precious. As the current Grand Master put it “It is simply a matter of taking in everything we encounter, touch, hear, see, and feel around us, moment to moment, without pretense.”

Urasenke emphasizes the bond between the mind of the host and the guest. The satisfaction of the guest is essential, the host is supposed to provide a harmonic and beautiful environment that the guest can enjoy to the fullest. All the utensils and decorations are expressions of the spirit of hospitality.

The head of the school now is the 16th generation “Iemoto”, Grand Master Sen Sōshitsu Zabosai. He describes tea ceremony as a versatile source of enjoyment. "First of all, there is the enjoyment of whisking a bowl of tea and savoring it. Then there is the spirit of hospitality expressed in the confections and other foods, and the enjoyment derived from how the flowers, the charcoal-laying, and the incense-burning have been thought out. There are its connections with Zen, with painting and calligraphy, and with many crafts such as ceramics, kettle-casting, and lacquerware. Tea-house architecture, landscape gardening, and etiquette are also part and parcel of this cultural realm. What is more, chanoyu provides us with the time and place where we can sense and appreciate the subtle signs of nature's changes through the annual cycle of its seasons. Considering all of this, I see chanoyu, or Japan's "way of tea," called "chado" in Japanese, as a portal to Japanese culture."