Zabosai

Zabosai is the name most commonly used to refer to the 16th Urasenke Grand Tea Master (Oiemoto). His formal name is Sen (Genmoku) Sōshitsu XVI (b. June 7, 1956). 玄黙 宗室 Zabōsai 坐忘斎. All Urasenke oiemotos take the name of Sen Soshitsu, thus they each are commonly referred to by one of their other names, often the name they receive when they are ordained as a Buddhist clergyman. On December 22, 2002, Zabosai Soshitsu’s formally succeeded his father as the head of Konnichian.

The following profile information is from http://www.urasenke.or.jp/texte/greetings/greetings.html:

SEN Soshitsu XVI, Zabosai, was born in Kyoto on June 7, 1956, as the first-born son of SEN Soshitsu XV, Hounsai. The name he was given at birth is Masayuki. He is a graduate of the Department of Letters at Doshisha University, located in Kyoto. In 1982, on his twenty-sixth birthday, he was ordained as a Buddhist clergyman by Zen master NAKAMURA Sojun, chief abbot and master at the monks’ training hall of Daitokuji temple, and received from him the Buddhist name Zabosai. On October 28th of that year, he was confirmed as heir apparent (wakasosho) of the Urasenke grand master (iemoto). Later, he undertook training under Zen master MORINAGA Soko of Myoshinji temple, and he has now become the resident abbot of Kyoshin’an, a temple of the Myoshinji branch of the Rinzai Zen sect. He officially succeeded his father as lord of the Konnichian estate, and became the 16th-generation grand master of the Urasenke chado tradition, on the 22nd of December, 2002. As the Urasenke grand master, he acquired the hereditary name Soshitsu.
Grand Master SEN Soshitsu XVI exercises authority within the Urasenke organization as chairman of the Urasenke Foundation (Ippan Zaidan Hojin Konnichian), chairman of the Urasenke Tankokai Federation (Ippan Shadan Hojin Chado Urasenke Tankokai), and president of the Urasenke Gakuen Professional College of Chado (Urasenke Gakuen Chado Senmon Gakko). Through his roles in these posts, he is striving to nurture able chado followers and teachers. In the field of education, he also holds a professorial post at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, teaching in the Department of Historical Heritage, and is a visiting colleague at Nankai University and Beijing Foreign Studies University, China. Among his various other current positions outside the Urasenke organization, he is a trustee of the Japan Society for Psychological Research on Emotion, and a trustee of the Kyoto Prefectural International Center.
His personal enjoyments include writing, and several book-length literary works of his have been published. He is married and has three children.

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