The *Rikyu Hyakushu* presents Sen no Rikyu's teaching as a hundred waka — didactic verses — conveying the frame of mind for practice, the essentials of gesture, and the handling of utensils in a form easy to remember. It is read across schools as an introductory text.
Composition
It was compiled after Rikyu's death and is very likely a later collection of didactic verse. It circulated in manuscript among practitioners through the Edo period and was set in type from the Meiji period into its present form. Details differ between schools and editions, and versions of ninety, one hundred, and one hundred and twenty verses are transmitted.
Two frequently quoted verses
One holds that the mind that wishes to enter the way is itself one's teacher. Another says that one may break and depart from the rules and forms once they are fully kept, but must not forget the root. The second is the standard formulation in the Japanese arts of the relationship between rule-following and freedom.
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