the history of chanoyu 12

**Wabisuki, the pursuit of wabi-flavored chaonyu, progresses

SEN NO RIKYU ended his life by committing SEPPUKU(harakiri; the warrior's way of honorable suicide), as ordered by HIDEYOSHI, and this successor was a warrior by the name of FURUTA ORIBE(古田織部). Oribe did not carry RIKYU's chanoyu forward as was, however, but promoted a style that reflected his own ideas. The main characteristic of his chanoyu was its bold design. This found expression in the implements and tea room, which some people criticized for its 'extremist' style, though today his achievements are highly respected. Oribe, too,suffered the fate of ending his own life by SEPPUKU, as ordered by SHOGUN TOGUGAWA IEYASU(徳川家康) because OREIBE was suspected of having committed treason.

The leading figure after ORIBE was the feudal lord KOBORI ENSHU(小堀遠州), who was a chanoyu disciple of ORIBE. He too, while respecting RIKYU'S WABISUKI ideal, promoted his own style of chanoyu. It is generally described as having been characterized by its consideration of the official social customs of the warrior class, and its incorporation of the court culture of the ancient HEIAN days.

ENSHU was active during the same era as RIKYU's grandson, SEN SOTAN(千宗旦), as well as KANAMORI SOWA(金森宗和),who was of DAIMYO(大名) heritage. It is considered that SOTAN faithfully preserved the chanoyu of RIKYU, and that SOWA, who had close associations with those of the aristocracy, aimed at a style of chanoyu that was comfortable acceptable to that social class. Later, the DAIMYO KATAGIRI SEKISHU(片桐石州) appeared upon the scene as a chaonoyu, and consequently many DAIMYO families subscribed to his chanoyu style.

In the 17th century, there thus were various individuals actiev in promoting their own styles of chanoyu, and chanoyu effectively spread among not only the townspeople but also the warrior and aristocratic classes, so there were many social classes of people enjoying chanoyu. Furthermore, chanoyu schooling may be said to have become considered essential to a person's education. Amid these developments, the wabisuki chanoyu established by RIKYU was not necessarily accepted outright, and it seems that more people supported the style developed by ENSHU and SOWA. Even though ORIBE, ENSHU, SOWA,SEKISYU, and such others based their chanoyu on RIKYU'S WABISUKI, they each aimed at a style of their own, and so we can say both that WABISUKI developed, and in another sense, that its quality changed.

The WABUSUKI that RIKYU promoted was as devoid of playfulness as possible, and was an extremely serious activity in which, through training, the practitioner should reach an ideal state of being within the circumstances of life. It may be that people in general shied away from this ascetic focus, and the chanoyu style of ENSHU and SOWA, which may not have been so severely demanding, thus won popularity. In fact, from the 17th century the recreational aspects of chanoyu increased, and not much focus was placed on the idea that chanoyu was a means of spiritual training.