The Tea Ceremony

He was already an established, independent tea master at the age of 16 or 17, and was soon employed by Nobunaga. Hideyoshi then too him over on NobunagaÕs death. He built on the wabi tea that had emerged among the common people, and formalised it. He espoused the independent teahut, and utensils designed for the purpose. He learned Zen when young, and sought to fuse his two interests. He is known as the first sage of tea, who established its practice. Previously, tea drinking had been largely for relaxation or fun. Rikyu ended all trivialities and cut down on the quantities of food served along with tea. He advocated wabi, even altering the 4.54 mat teahut in use since Juko and Joo, to push reduction to its extreme, as can be seen in the 2-mat Tai-an.
RikyuÕs teahuts had a great impact on subsequent Japanese architecture. He used a potter called Chojiro and had him make raku ware of a very heterodox type. He was not interested in the cult of famous objects, preferring new or nameless pieces. The peak of his power came at the Great Kitano Tea Gathering when he and Hideyoshi were close, but they fell out, and he was forced into suicide. Hideyoshi was unifying the states under his control and needed no alternative locus of authority, and he found RikyuÕs new style of tea increasingly annoying. After RikyuÕs death, his other great teamen Ð Yamanoue Soji, Tauda Sokyu and Imai Sokyu - left too.