Senso

4th Generation Sensô Soshitsu (1622-97) 仙叟 宗室

Hororisai 朧月斎

Sensô Soshitsu was known as Chôkichirô during his childhood years. At first he studied medicine under Gentaku, and took the name Genshitsu. When his mentor passed away he returned to his fathers hushold and received instruction in the way of tea. At the age of 30 in 1653 he became tea master for Maeda Toshisune’s, lord of Kaga (present-day Ishikawa and Toyama Prefectures). He served untill 1658 when the lord passed away. Then he spent a time in Kyoto before eventually returning to Kaga to serve Maeda Toshisune’s successor in the same capacity. It was during his very first year as Maeda Toshisune’s tea master that he changed his name to Soshitsu. He served in Kanazawa until 1688.

 

He helped to establish a flourishing tea culture in the Kaga region. Senso took the potter Chozaemon (a student of the 4th generation in the Raku line) to Kaga, where Chozaemon established the Ohi kiln to produce tea ceramics. Senso also encouraged Miyazaki Kanchi to establish a foundry to cast tea kettles there.

Sotan’s fourth son, Senso, inherited the property containing the Konnichian tea house, where he established the household which later became referred to as the Urasenke. This was during the peaceful and culturally effervescent Genroku period.

In the early 1670s, his brothers Sosa and Soshu, heads of Omotesenke and Mushakojisenke, respectively, passed away, leaving him the sole elder of the three families. In that capacity, he held the thirteenth memorial anniversary for his father and the one-hundredth anniversary for Rikyu. In 1690 Senso built the Okumachiai at KOnnichian to house the Rikyû statue in connection to the 100th anniversary memorial for Rikyû Koji.

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