The Tea Ceremony

An important temple of the Rinzai sub-school of Zen in Murasakino, Kyoto, at the close of the Kamakura Period, Shuho Myocho built a small teahut here. The temple was devastated in the Onin Wars, but revived under Ikkyu Sojun.
There are deep links between the Daitoku-ji and tea. Murata Juko was influenced by IkkyuÕs Zen in the formulation of his tea theories, and after this, most tea masters studied Zen, from JukoÕs student Sogo, to Takeno Joo and Sen Rikyu on. The profundities of Zen were inserted into tea to give it its own inner mysteries.
The Daitoku-jiÕs tea was fairly exclusive, but this ended with the Onin Wars when monks fled the fires, many going to Sakai. It was the wealthy citizens of that city who paid to rebuild the precincts when peace returned. JooÕs teacher, Kogaku, had built the Nanshu teahut in Sakai, which was later transformed into the Nanshu-ji (i.e. a temple) through the patronage of Miyoshi Nagayoshi. This was established as a subsidiary of the Daitoku-ji. Both temples grew in wealth and prestige. At the Daitoku-ji, this formulation was proposed: ÔZen and tea have the same tasteÕ (zencha ichimi). The links grew and grew closer and closer.
Trouble came when Rikyu commissioned a statue of himself for instalation in the Daitoku-jiÕs great gate. Hideyoshi, entering the temple, walked under his own servantÕs feet. This was lese majesty on RikyuÕs part, and he had to pay for it with his life. It is argued that Rikyu had not intended any arrogance, but rather had agree to making the statue only at the request of monks, such as Kokei, who feared that at already over seventy, he would soon leave them.