Nanbo-ryu is the name given to the line associated with Nanbo Sokei, a monk said to have been Rikyu's disciple in Zen. The Namporoku, presented as Sokei's record of Rikyu's words, has been among the most widely read texts in early modern tea theory.
Lineage and the question of authenticity
Sokei lived at Shuun-an in Sakai and is said to have received Rikyu's teaching directly. The Namporoku entered circulation when Tachibana Jitsuzan, a retainer of the Fukuoka domain, copied and edited it in the Genroku period. Doubts about its date and authorship were raised early, and current scholarship largely holds that Jitsuzan composed a substantial part of it himself. The text remains important for what it shows about how the Edo period understood Rikyu, which is a different thing from being a record of what Rikyu said.
Sources
- 南坊流 / コトバンク(日本大百科全書)
Supports: 福岡藩家老・立花実山が『南方録』を根拠に興した流派であること
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